Five observations from New Jersey vs New York:
1. The Devils were completely out-matched The absences of Taylor Hall and, to a lesser extent, Sami Vatanen certainly didn't help matters but a performance like that says a lot about where the Devils are at right now. The New York Rangers are not a good team. They're not. They've won 22 of 50 games, own a minus-25 goal differential, and some of the worst underlying numbers in the league (at 5v5 they rank 30th in CF%, 29th in SCF%). That's really bad. And yet they still managed to beat the wheels off the Devils in their own building. Though the scoreline may suggest otherwise, I thought the game was very one-sided. At 5v5 especially. The Rangers constantly put the Devils on their heels for extended periods of time. It was wave after wave. Penalties got in the way of the Rangers as much as anything the Devils did. That's why, when all was said and done, the Rangers out-chanced the Devils 22-8 in better than 47 minutes of full-strength hockey. They were clearly the better team and deserved the two points.
2. There was no answer for NYR1 Entering play, the Chris Kreider - Zibanejad - Mats Zuccarello line had been on for 12 Rangers goals in ~100 minutes of 5v5 action. That's well over 7 goals per 60, which is absurd. Unsustainable? Yes, but still absurd. They've meshed insanely well together and last night's game was perhaps the best example of that. It felt like every time they touched the ice they were dangerous. They spent a ton of time in the offensive zone. A ton. They would cycle down low, wear out the defense, and find open players in space whenever there was a breakdown.
At 5v5, NYR1 accounted for both of the team's goals and posted 10-0 chance differentials. They were also extremely dangerous on the power play, helping create a pair of goals on four opportunities against arguably the league's best penalty-killing unit.
That was as dominant of a performance from a line as you'll see all year.
3. The top-9 was invisible I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that was the worst effort I've ever seen from a team's top-9. They generated absolutely nothing at 5v5. Nothing. No, seriously. The Devils recorded eight chances at 5v5, which is absolutely horrendous. None of them came from top-9 forwards. Not one. Kevin Rooney recorded four (two high-danger), Brian Boyle recorded three (one high-danger), and Egor Yakovlev picked one up on his goal. That's it.
Nico Hischier, Kyle Palmieri, Marcus Johansson, and the rest of the guys featured in the top-9 failed to record even one chance. Each line was caved in on the shot (attempt) clock, too.
4. Damon Severson made the most of his ice With Vatanen out of the lineup, John Hynes leaned heavily on Severson giving him nearly 26 minutes of ice. I thought he handled it fairly well. A couple pucks that bounced on him aside, Severson looked good and comfortable quarterbacking the top power play. His puck movement was good, he blocked clearing attempts to keep plays alive, and he didn't hesitate to put the puck on net if nothing else was available. At 5v5, he was the lone defenseman to finish with a Corsi For% of 50% or higher. Was he perfect? No. He did some good things, though, in a game where that could be said of very few Devils.
5. The power play clicked In just over 6:30 of 5v4 time, the Devils recorded 12 shot attempts, seven chances, and a pair of goals. They didn't have too much trouble entering the zone with possession. Once shop was set up, they did a nice job of working the puck into the slot area and getting some quality looks. Even on broken plays, they worked hard to win some extra possessions and made the most of them. That's how Nico Hischier's goal came about. In my opinion, it was one of the two or three best power play showings we've seen since the calendar flipped.
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