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If the New Jersey Devils were to have any chance of staying in the playoff race, they needed to have a successful road trip through Western Canada and Minnesota.
They are certainly off to a good start as, despite playing three games in four nights, the Devils left Western Canada with a 2-0-1 record. As hard as it is to believe, the Devils are now just five points back of a playoff spot, though that number is likely to grow once Carolina and Ottawa play their games in hand on Philadelphia.
A few notes:
1) The Devils aren't playing trap era caliber defense by any means, but they're not bleeding as many chances as they were in November and December. They look more poised in the defensive zone and seem to be doing a better job of getting opposing players, and themselves, out of the way and allowing Cory Schneider to do his job.
2) Speaking of Schneider, he has been fantastic of late. In seven starts since turning the calendar he owns a .940 save percentage and has stopped at least 95% of the shots he's faced in five of those seven games. His SV% on the year is now .910 and climbing.
3) At times I have been critical of Pavel Zacha and his lack of production, but I thought he played fairly well against the Canucks. He was able to get a couple powerful shots off, made some nice passes throughout and finished positive in possession. He didn't get on the scoresheet but it was a step in the right direction.
4) Travis Zajac was excellent from start to finish. He was on the ice for just four shot attempts against in over 13 minutes of ice at 5v5 and he not only saved the game but helped the Devils win it in overtime. He backchecked hard and pickpocketed Sven Baertschi to prevent any damage being caused on the odd-man rush, then quickly moved the puck up to Taylor Hall to create a 2-on-1 the other way. Hall darted up the ice and next thing you know the Devils have won the game. I think it's fair to say Zajac has been the Devils' 2nd best player (after Hall) this season.
5) The Devils are routinely outplayed at 5v5, so I'd be ignorant not to point out they had a good night in that regard against Vancouver.
It's nice to see a lot of the Devils' best, young pieces (Hall, Zacha, Severson, Santini) in the green. They're the future of this team.
6) Can we stop taking goals away because a player was a millimeter offside 30 seconds before the puck ended up in the back of the net? If a ref standing on the blueline can't decipher if a player crossed the line before the puck did, and it takes 10 minutes to review, I feel like a goal should count. It's one thing if it's an odd-man rush and the Canucks are struggling to get players back. It's another if they have a set defense, get beat, and then take a flyer reviewing something so minor that a ref zeroed in on the play still didn't notice.
It goes both ways over the course of a season so I'd rather see the refs handle it than have lengthy reviews and take the flow right out of games.
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