A few notes from New Jersey vs Philadelphia:
1) Throughout this extended losing streak the Devils have made a habit of shooting themselves in the foot and that was the case again last night.
The refs handed the Devils five consecutive power plays, a couple of which came on debatable calls, and they had just one goal to show for it. The conversion rate (20%) is fine in the big picture, but when you're given five straight power plays in the span of ~25 minutes you should probably get more than one goal and a couple chances.
The refs/Flyers were just begging the Devils to run away with the game. They didn't, and they paid for it when calls naturally started going the other way.
2) I'm not at all loving Travis Zajac and Brian Boyle on the same power play. If you want to have one of those big bodies out there to be a net front presence, fine, but I think the play really slows down, or dies altogether, whenever those guys touch the puck. Personally, I'd like to see Pavel Zacha be given a chance on the top unit. He's played well of late, he's an underrated playmaker, and he has a better and more powerful shot than both Zajac and Boyle. He has a big frame, too, so he could handle himself in front if that's where the Devils want to use him.
3) Speaking of Zacha, I thought his line was *really* good last night. They routinely sustained pressure in the offensive zone and generated some really good looks around the net. Zacha (4), Miles Wood (3), and Drew Stafford (3) were the only three Devils to record more than a pair of scoring chances at 5v5, according to NaturalStatTrick. They couldn't convert, which sucks, but it's still encouraging they were able to get so many quality looks.
4) As has often been the case over the last couple weeks, Cory Schneider was shaky between the pipes. He coughed up some big rebounds, allowed a goal or two you'd expect him to stop, and just didn't look sharp at all. He has now given the Devils sub .900 goaltending in five consecutive starts. The losses aren't all on him by any means but it's pretty tough to win games with that kind of goaltending regardless of the circumstances.
5) It was nice to see Kyle Palmieri get on the board with a power play blast. He's been a one-man shooting gallery of late and has generated a lot of chances so it feels like he could go on a bit of a hot streak. The Devils need that to be the case because the bottom-6 forwards who were playing way over their heads – such as Brian Boyle and Brian Gibbons – have really come back down to earth, as expected.
Recent Posts …‹On Severson, Santini, and optimizing the defense