Five observations from New Jersey vs New York:
1. The Devils showed up New York may not be the flashiest or most skilled team out there. They’re very solid, though, because their structure is great, they stick to it, and they work their asses off. Things rarely come easy against the Islanders. If you’re not ready to play, you’re not going to have any success. Luckily, the Devils were ready to play.
While they were out-chanced in the opening frame, New Jersey did have a couple of the best looks. They only finished .13 expected goals below the Islanders as a result, and that was their *worst* period.
The Devils won that battle over the final two frames and ended up besting the Isles 2.65 to 2.45 when all was said and done.
The Isles are many things. A Washington-esque finishing team is not one of them. They don’t have an abundance of high-end talents or natural goal scorers so if they don’t work you into the ground, get the better of the top tier chances and/or better goaltending, they’re a lot more susceptible to defeat.
2. Nico is taking over No. 13 is making the transition from awesome player to all-star player right before our eyes and it’s a treat to watch. It feels like every night he has the puck on a string and can do whatever he wants with it. He’ll create for his teammates, as usual, and right now he’s piling up the opportunities for himself as well. Nico had another 10 shot attempts and six scoring chances to go with his beautiful net-drive goal vs the Islanders.
He’s now up to three goals, six points, 19 chances, and 28 shot attempts during this four-game point streak.
You know how they say the mark of a great player is consistency? Contributing nightly, even when not at your best. Well, Nico’s gone more than two straight games without a point once this season and it was in early November. He’s taking that step.
3. The Goose is running wild I thought Gusev’s line was very solid as a whole. He was probably the best of the bunch, though. The Devils out-attempted the Islanders 22-11 with No. 97 on the ice and he was doing a lot of the ice tilting. He had no problem carrying the puck through the neutral zone and his puck movement was awesome in the top half of the ice. Gusev passed into entries, dropped to trailers after gaining the line, and simply found the right target over and over again in New York’s zone. He may not be perfect defensively but everything he touches turns to gold in the offensive zone.
Evgeni Malkin, Brad Marchand, Artemi Panarin, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nathan MacKinnon and Bryan Rust are the only regulars averaging more points per 60 minutes than Gusev.
4. Mackenzie Blackwood picked up where he left off Blackwood ended 2019 with a fantastic showing, stopping 28-30 (.933 SV%) in a shootout win against one of the league’s best teams in the Boston Bruins.
He followed that up with another awesome effort vs the Isles. They didn’t pepper him in terms of raw shot volume but he did face his share of quality (14 high-danger looks). Blackwood once again had little problem dealing with them, even when his defense decided it’d be fun to take a few shifts off and leave him on an island.
This was just the latest in a truly spectacular run of play. Blackwood is 6-1-1 over his last eight starts and owns a league-best .946 save percentage at 5v5 since December 1st.
5. Three in a row The New Jersey Devils, of the National Hockey League, have won three consecutive games for the first time since The Stone Age. OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration but it’s been a long time nevertheless.
They have played well, too, winning the expected goals battle in all three games despite two of them coming against top-3 seeds in the Eastern Conference.
Though the season is a lost cause, it is so damn refreshing to be able to tune in and have reason to believe the game might be a) entertaining and; b) remotely competitive.
More of this, please.
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