A few thoughts from New Jersey vs Colorado:
1) The Devils are not the most talented team to begin with, as we’ve learned the hard way. Throw in the departure of Taylor Hall, as well as injuries to Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes, and the Devils have trouble keeping up with most teams – let alone elite ones – over the course of a full game. That’s what we saw Saturday night, although some controversial calls/non-calls didn’t help the cause.
To their credit I thought the Devils hung in pretty well for the first half of the game. They may not have been playing great offensively – understandable with the lineup they dressed – but they were mostly competent defensively, especially against Nathan MacKinnon’s line.
Avs coach Jared Bednar noticed as much and elected to move Mikko Rantanen back up to L1 for the occasional shift. That was the end of the game as we knew it.
Rantanen quickly scored to get the Avs on the board. The Avs ended up burying another before the 2nd concluded, and then Rantanen all but ended the game on the first shift of the 3rd (while playing L1).
That first goal didn’t just spark the top line. It sparked the whole team.
As you can see, the 1st period was rather even in terms of 5v5 shots. The Avs slowly started trending in the right direction and, one or two speed bumps aside, didn’t really look back after Bednar took matters into his own hands in P2.
It was a good effort from the Devils but, in the end, they just couldn’t keep pace with a much more talented Avs team once the latter ramped it up. And there’s no shame in that.
2) In my preview I noted the Devils needed more offensively from Coleman to even dream about being competitive against the Avs. Given his ability to create shots, I figured he was capable of providing more. That proved to be the case.
Coleman finished with game highs in attempts (7), shots on target (7), and managed to net one of the team’s two goals. What’s impressive is Coleman didn’t just create at 5v5. He also provided a big time spark on the PK, netting a goal and having at least one real opportunity to pot another.
It’s amazing how far Coleman has come since his rather unremarkable cup of coffee while debuting with the team in 2016-17. I wasn’t sure he’d be able to carve out a full-time NHL career. Now he’s one of the team’s most important players, and not just because they aren’t good.
3) Miles Wood may have played the most Miles Wood game of all time. We’ll start with the nightly tradition of taking a minor penalty. Wood did that again.
Offensively Wood attempted a handful of shots and used his speed well to create a couple Grade As on the doorstep. Nothing came of it (again).
With all due respect to Wood, it’s become crystal clear that he’s always going to be somebody who gets world class opportunities and converts them at a very subpar rate.
I think there’s a very real possibility he is traded, be it this season or in the summer.
4) Think Alain Nasreddine has found his favorite player? Damon Severson logged nearly 27 minutes last night and has played no fewer than 24 minutes in each of the last six games. Deservedly so.
I’ll probably touch on this more in the near future but, since Nasreddine took over, Severson’s underlying numbers are strong across the board *and* he’s also the only defenseman with a positive 5v5 goal differential. He's not exactly seeing cupcake minutes either.
Severson finally has a coach giving him some rope and letting him play his game and it is paying off. Along with Nikita Gusev, I think Severson might be the biggest beneficiary of the change.
numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com Recent Posts Midseason Norris Trophy picks