After suffering a 6-1 beat down at the hands of the Penguins the New Jersey Devils bounced back Thursday night as they blanked a very good San Jose Sharks team, 3-0, in their own building.
The Good
- As a whole Keith Kinkaid's season has been a bit of a disappointment but he stepped up in a big way against the Sharks. He was perfect on the night stopping 30 pucks and making no shortage of quality saves in the process.
- Devante Smith-Pelly once again found twine as he scored what turned out to be the game-winning-goal. He will help the Devils - especially because of their lack of depth on the right side - but what we're seeing from DSP right now is not what we'll see going forward.
This season in Montreal he scored six goals in 46 games and had 60 shots on goal. Since being acquired by New Jersey he has scored three goals in four games having tallied just five shots on goal.
He's a career 8.8% shooter so I'm pretty confident in saying he didn't magically turn into a 60% shooter after being traded. If his shot rates don't go up - and significantly - the goals aren't going to be there.
- Reid Boucher had three shot attempts, two shots on goal and an assist while logging a little more than 15 minutes of ice. He's quietly had a very good season and should be able to put up some points if he gets consistent minutes.
- Travis Zajac scored a pair of goals - although one was an empty-netter - and finished the game with a team-high plus-4 shot attempt differential at even-strength.
The Bad
- The Devils were out shot 30-16, out attempted 67-37, and out chanced 32-12. If Keith Kinkaid wasn't on his game it wouldn't have been close.
- The play of the 4th line at even-strength. With Bobby Farnham on the ice the Devils were out attempted 11-1. With Jordin Tootoo on the ice they were out attempted 9-1. Stephen Gionta took a couple shifts with different linemates but he also finished with a discouraging minus-6 shot attempt differential at evens.
- Joseph Blandisi was rather quiet offensively and extended his pointless streak to seven games. All young players go through growing pains but it'd be nice to see him come out of it sooner than later and continue to progress down the stretch.
Stat Of The Game
The Devils posted their worst scoring chance-differential (-20) since January 16th against Arizona (-35).
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