Five takeaways from New Jersey's crazy victory in Chicago:
1) I don't think the Devils played their best game last night — check that, I know they didn't – but they deserve a lot of credit for their effort.
They were on the wrong side of some crazy bounces, especially early on, and found themselves in a 4-1 hole as a result.
Being down three goals on the road vs a perennial playoff team, and going up against a very underrated goaltender in Corey Crawford, who has masked a lot of Chicago's problems in recent years, it would have been easy to mail it in.
The Devils didn't do that, though. They kept using their speed, had some bounces go their way, and ended up scoring 100 unanswered en route to a win.
I don't think a Devils team since 2011-12 has been capable of fighting back and scoring enough to win that kind of a game. This group has its flaws, but they can skate, and they can score. If not anything else, it's fun to watch them knowing they're never completely out of a game.
2) I'm usually not impressed by .886 goaltending, but Keith Kinkaid deserves credit for his performance. Simply put, he allowed some weird ass goals in the 1st period and it just seemed like one of those nights where the bleeding wouldn't stop. That didn't prove to be the case. Kinkaid went into the locker room after 20, regrouped, refocused, and looked fantastic over the final two periods stopping 26 of 27, including several Grade A shots. It's very difficult to keep pushing when it feels like everything is going against you – in life or in sports – so kudos to Kinkaid for fighting through a rough start and getting the result he was after.
3) Miles Wood was an absolute beast vs Chicago and most certainly played the best game of his career. He had a game-high seven shots, a game-high seven chances, a game-high six high-danger chances, a game-high four points, and he did all that in just 13 minutes of ice. It's amazing how far his game has come in the span of a year. Last season, he was just a guy who was really fast and had tools but didn't really know how to use them. Now, he's turning into a legitimately good player. He's averaging an extra 5v5 chance every two games and his possession numbers are up ~7%.
4) Damon Severson didn't get on the scoresheet, but I thought he played another strong game. He logged better than 24 minutes of ice, was one for 14 scoring chances for at 5v5 (no other player was on for more than 11), and was the lone player to finish with a positive shot attempt differential.
5) They say life is all about perspective, so I'm going to give you a good dose. Check out the table below, soak in the numbers, and we'll go from there.
Done? Good.
Player B is Jamie Benn, Player P is David Pastrnak, Player M is Evgeni Malkin, Player F is Filip Forsberg and Player C is Sidney Crosby.
What do those guys have in common? They all have fewer 5v5 points than Player N, Nico Hischier, and only two of them (Benn and Crosby, who is ahead by one) have more scoring chances.
There have been, and will be, some hiccups along the road, but Hischier is doing great for himself. If I read one more comment about him struggling to create offense or looking overwhelmed...I don't even know. Just don't put me through that, okay?
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