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On Monday night the New Jersey Devils opened up their seven-game preseason schedule with a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals.
The Caps dressed an extremely watered down lineup, so a win was expected, but it was still nice to start off on the right foot and get a positive result.
Some thoughts and takeaways from the game:
1) The Devils had a really strong night exiting the defensive zone. Facing just four NHL forwards, one of whom (Alex Chiasson) is without a contract for this season, undoubtedly helped their cause but credit to the Devils for taking advantage.
It was no surprise Damon Severson and Will Butcher excelled -- moving the puck is what they do -- but Yaroslav Dyblenko leading the team in exits, and tying for the lead in possession exits, was.
2) I thought Nico Hischier was good in his first professional game. He didn't get pushed around along the wall, he had three shots on goal, played a couple shifts on a penalty killing unit that went a perfect 7/7, and showed a flash of brilliance on his 3rd-period goal. He wasn't dominant, but that was a good debut to build on.
3) I liked what I saw from Mirco Mueller. He used his skating ability to keep tight gaps and, on several occasions, he stepped up at the blue line to prevent easy entries. He was also physical (particularly with Lars Eller) and led all Devils defensemen in penalty kill ice with more than six minutes.
4) The goaltending was another positive in this game. Keith Kinkaid looked good stopping 15-16 -- the lone goal against came on a short-handed rebound -- and Scott Wedgewood went a perfect 14-14 in his first game action in 10 months. Again, it was against a poor lineup but if Wedgewood shows well in his next couple of appearances he could very well be claimed when the Devils try and send him to Binghamton.
5) Jesper Bratt, Joseph Blandisi, and Stefan Noesen were excellent together. They contributed to a pair of goals and their line was the Devils' best in terms of 5v5 shot attempt differential.
6) The biggest negative for the Devils last night was taking way too many penalties. At the forefront of that was Jimmy Hayes, who took four minors while logging just over 13 minutes of ice. John Hynes gave him a pass in his post-game conference -- he essentially said he'd prefer his players be overly assertive than passive -- but if Hayes doesn't clean that up, he won't be sticking around very long.
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