Welcome to 2023!
The New Jersey Devils enter this new year with some confidence and momentum after beating their rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday 4-2. The young team is second place in a very competitive Metropolitan Division and will face the first place Carolina Hurricanes at the Rock this afternoon.
Thoughts and Musings
1. The Devils are road warriors and their 13-2-1 road record reflects that. They’ve had their problems at home recently and have lost six straight games. The last victory at home was on December 6th against the struggling Chicago Blackhawks. Will they break the funk today against the Hurricanes?
2. After being benched by Lindy Ruff, Damon Severson is getting valuable playing time due to the injuries of John Marino and Ryan Graves and posted over 30 mins of TOI against the Penguins. Severson stepped up last season when Doug Hamilton went out with a jaw injury. Good to see him get back on track.
3. The 9 for 9 penalty killing in Pittsburgh was remarkable. When you have a good penalty killing unit, it changes the whole dynamics and outcome of a game. The Devils stayed aggressive, despite the terrible officiating.
Devils Dads
Dub for the dads! pic.twitter.com/BpZoQ93uJm
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 31, 2022
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Sam Woo is co-host and executive producer of the Let's Go Devils Podcast which can be heard live every Sunday at 9pm ET and Wednesday at 8:30pm ET.
You can follow Sam on Twitter: @PrimetimeSamWoo