A few notes New Jersey Devils notes on this off-day:
1) It took a while but Pavel Zacha finally appears to be figuring things out – at least offensively. The Devils have still given up their share of chances with Zacha on the ice, but at least they're getting some, too. Over the last five games, Zacha has three assists, 11 scoring chances, and 17 shot attempts. He's looked more confident with the puck on his stick, is doing a better job of using his size, and asserting himself, and he's actually using his plus-shot every once in a while. John Hynes has taken notice of Zacha's improved play and rewarded him 14:30 or more in four of the last five games after giving him that much ice just seven times in 21 games prior.
2) Barring the John Moore - Sami Vatanen pairing stringing together some quality games sooner than later, I think the Devils would be smart to break them up. In ~70 minutes together they're controlling 45% of the shot attempts and 43.6% of the scoring chances. Neither player is a world beater at 5v5, but they both have better numbers apart from each other and I'm guessing there's something to that. If the coaching staff wants to keep the Andy Greene - Steve Santini pairing together and give them the toughs, I think John Moore - Damon Severson and Will Butcher - Sami Vatanen could make some sense. It's worth a shot, anyway.
3) People like to complain about Cory Schneider like he's an AHL goaltender every time he has a rough night, or allows a questionable goal, so I'd just like to point out he ranks behind only Braden Holtby, Frederik Andersen, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Pekka Rinne in Quality Start percentage this season. He has given the Devils a QS in 68% of his games, which is well above league average (53%), according to hockey-reference. Like with all goaltenders there have been rough moments, or nights, but the good far outweighs the bad. Remember that.