After being handed their hat on Saturday night the New Jersey Devils bounced back on Sunday with a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Some notes on the game and the season as a whole:
1) Can we talk about how well Beau Bennett is playing right now? He's the team's 3rd best player in possession on the season and his speed has been a big factor for the team thus far. Despite strong play in the early going he had nothing to show for it. Over the last few days that has changed as he has three points in his last three games, including a beautiful assist on Pavel Zacha's 1st career goal and Mike Cammalleri's 3rd of the night vs the Hurricanes.
hat trick Cammalleri pic.twitter.com/jJwZWulx0K
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 7, 2016
Bennett did a nice job of backing the defender off and dishing to Cammalleri in the space he opened up.
Bennett won't score a lot but he adds an element of speed to the lineup, is good in possession, and an underrated playmaker. If he can stay fairly healthy he'll be well worth the 3rd round pick the Devils gave to get him.
2) Cammalleri had 23 shots in his first 10 games and did not score. He scored three on three shots last night and is now shooting 11.5% on the year, which is just below his career average. Regression comes at you fast.
3) I know Cammalleri, Palmieri and Henrique have been struggling but can we never do that thing again where none of them skate a shift on the power play? I'd much rather have them out there than Reid Boucher, Nick Lappin and Jacob Josefson.
4) We're getting to the point where every night Damon Severson stands out in a good way. His point streak was snapped but with Severson on the ice at 5 v 5 the Devils out attempted the Hurricanes 19-16 and out chanced them 7-2. Without Severson the Devils were out attempted 40-16 and out chanced 10-3. He is playing fantastic hockey right now and it's beautiful to watch. The Devils really needed him to step up this season and he's been better than they could have possibly hoped for.
Recent Posts Report: Pavel Zacha is here to stay