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Following a dreadful loss to Montreal on Friday night, the New Jersey Devils went into Philadelphia and rebounded nicely with a 4-1 win over the Flyers.
A few notes:
1) If the Devils are to seriously contend for a playoff spot this season they're going to have to win some games when their backs are against the wall. That's what they did last night.
Cory Schneider, the team's best player since the turn of the calendar, was out with the flu. Andy Greene, the Devils' No. 1 defenseman and captain, was out with an injury. Beau Bennett, who has looked really good of late on a line with Pavel Zacha and Jacob Josefson, was also out with an injury.
But, wait, there's more.
The Devils were in the latter half of a back-to-back, they were playing on the road, and the Flyers were coming off a bye week. This was a recipe for a complete disaster yet the Devils came through with a much-needed two points.
2) The Devils did a good job of capitalizing on the chances they did get, which can't be said about the Flyers, but they really struggled at 5v5.
No matter who was on the ice, the Devils spent more time than not chasing play in the defensive zone. To their credit, they forced a lot of shots from the outside and did a nice job getting in the shooting lanes. Still, allowing 35 more 5v5 attempts than you take is not exactly ideal.
3) I don't understand Miles Wood. He skates like the wind, he is strong as an ox, he has a really good shot and yet every night he's in the red at 5v5. He'll spend the first 30 seconds of his shift chasing play in the defensive zone, then as soon as he gets the puck he takes off and makes something happen. It's like a soccer team that parks the bus, then darts down the field on the counter-attack as soon as a team makes a mistake.
4) In a game where Wood scored twice and fought one of the NHL's best power forwards in Wayne Simmonds, this was probably my favorite moment.
5) Pavel Zacha has been much better since he and Jacob Josefson started to play together. Josefson has been getting him the puck in good areas of the ice and Zacha's shot rate has increased. He has also started using his big frame to his advantage. I like what I see.
6) Wood is getting all the headlines, and rightfully so, but I want to give Keith Kinkaid some much-deserved recognition. He had another strong showing in goal and continues to prove he was the right guy for the backup job.
As good as he's been on the ice, Kinkaid's Twitter game may be even better.
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