1) While some may look at last night's game as the Devils' 11th loss in 12 games and feel hopeless about the team's future, I think there was a lot of good and reason for optimism in that game.
The Devils were on the road, in the latter half of a back-to-back, playing arguably the league's best team and they dressed their backup for the second night in a row. Despite that, they gave the Penguins all they could handle. The Devils generated 36 shots on goal, which is well above their season average, scored four times, and were in the game until Sidney Crosby iced it with ~30 seconds remaining.
What was most encouraging: essentially all of the best performances came from players who are expected to be part of the solution moving forward (John Quenneville, Pavel Zacha, Kyle Palmieri, Taylor Hall, Joseph Blandisi, etc.)
That's exactly what you want to see down the stretch.
2) I thought Quenneville was one guy who stood out last night. He picked up his first career point and had three shots on goal, a couple of which were pretty heavy and tough for Matt Murray to control. On top of that, Quenneville also broke even in possession at full-strength.
He played a real solid game against an excellent team and it did not go unnoticed.
Hynes on John Quenneville: "It looks like he's playing some good hockey. It looks like he's ready to help us."
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossRecord) March 18, 2017
Seems like Hynes is hinting Quenneville might stick around for the long haul.
3) Hall has had a lot of strong performances this season but that has to be up there with the best of them. He picked up a beautiful assist on Kyle Palmieri's opening goal, registered five shots on target himself, generated a ton of chances and realistically could/should have drawn two penalty shots after being chopped at on breakaways.
This is beautiful. pic.twitter.com/mNK1O8Af4X
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) March 17, 2017
4) Joseph Blandisi and Beau Bennett are quietly riding four-game point streaks after finding the scoresheet again last night. They are exactly the type of depth players you need to be successful in today's NHL and I'd like to see/expect to see both players stick around and hold a regular spot in the lineup next season.
5) Get Steve Santini back in the lineup for Dalton Prout. Enough is enough, already (I realize it's only been two games). Prout is not going to help the team and while losing down the stretch is cool, I'd rather win one extra game with Santini playing and developing than lose one more with him sitting in the press box every night.