Five observations from New Jersey vs Nashville:
1. The Devils showed up Given the circumstances, I thought the Devils played a pretty solid game and deserved better than a three-goal loss.
I was really impressed with how they dug in and kept fighting against a Predators team far above their weight class. They played hard and worked their asses off to stay in the game a lot longer than you'd expect a team to without several key forwards and their 4th string(?) goalie starting.
Though the Preds had far more star power in their lineup, especially on defense, there weren't many times where the ice was tilted and the Devils were clearly out-played.
NaturalStatTrick actually credited the undermanned Devils with two more chances than the Preds. They just couldn't finish.
Pekka Rinne and puck luck were factors in that but, most of all, I just don't think the Devils have enough talent in their lineup to score goals right now. Until Taylor Hall and/or Marcus Johansson return, it'll be a big time struggle to finish.
I'd definitely recall John Quenneville because he can shoot the puck and the Devils need the offensive spark.
2. The top line was caved in again The Devils did have one line that struggled and that was their top unit of Jesper Bratt, Pavel Zacha, and Kyle Palmieri.
In ~10 minutes of 5v5 ice together the Predators managed to out-chance the Devils 11-1. This trio couldn't get out of their zone and by the time they did, they were gassed and had no energy to do anything other than dump the puck in and get off.
The Bratt-Palmieri wing duo has been significantly outplayed regardless of the center between them – it's not a Zacha thing. This happened the other night with Travis Zajac and the game before with Nico Hischier.
I don't know what the answer is other than hoping Hall is ready to go after the all-star break.
3. No Luck Nicoâ„¢ If it wasn't already the case, I think we can officially say Hischier is snake bitten. He generated a game-high five scoring chances, four of which were high-danger opportunities, yet failed to find the back of the net for the 9th consecutive game.
He's lived around the net and tallied 25 chances during that stretch so it's not as if there haven't been opportunities for him. Like the Devils as a team, he just can't catch a break right now.
If he continues to generate quality looks I think they'll start to go sooner than later. His goal scoring *should* pick up but, in general, I expect he'll be more of a finisher as his career progresses and he puts on muscle to get more zip on his shots. He has a deceptive release but there's still not a ton of power. Filling out will help.
4. Ken Appleby did his job Appleby's numbers weren't great – he posted an .889 save percentage – but he made some good stops throughout and kept the Devils in the game against one of the league's best teams until the final five minutes or so. That's all you could realistically hope for or expect from a guy with sub par numbers in the AHL making his first career start.
5. Shoot the puck The Devils are stuck in a rut right now so they're undoubtedly overthinking things but they really need to be a little more selfish and shoot the puck. Last night alone they had three or four odd-man rushes. I'm not sure they got one shot out of it. They continuously forced passes and it blew up in their face every time. Shoot the puck.