Given the circumstances the New Jersey Devils put their best foot forward against the No. 1 seeded Washington Capitals on Fridat night.
It wasn't enough, though, as the Devils eventually lost 1-0 in overtime in what turned out to be a defensive battle.
The Good
- Scott Wedgewood put forth another strong effort stopping 25-26 in the loss. He didn't have to be spectacular, as the Devils didn't allow a lot of shots or high-danger looks, but he once again did his job and kept the Devils in it until the bitter end.
Unfortunately he received the Cory Schneider treatment in that he played a strong game but was given absolutely no goal support from the offense.
- Blake Pietila wasn't as involved against Washington as he was in his NHL debut but I thought he played another pretty good game. He was relentless after the puck, had a couple hits and had one of the best 5 v 5 shot attempt differentials on the team.
- Devante Smith-Pelly's hit on Karl Alzner was awesome, as was the Devils' willingness to match Washington's physicality. The Devils may be short on talent, but they didn't make things easy for the Capitals.
- The Capitals were the better team but I thought the Devils did an excellent job of locking things down considering they were in the latter half of a back-to-back against the top seeded team in the NHL. For the most part the Devils kept everything to the outside and Wedgewood was there to clean up the mess whenever he had to.
The Bad
- From start to finish the Devils really couldn't muster up any good looks against Braden Holtby. When all was said and done the Devils had just three high-danger chances and David Warsofsky is the only player who recorded more than two shots.
- The unofficial top line of Reid Boucher, Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri combined for just three shots and were hemmed into the defensive zone on a few different occasions throughout. The Devils need more from them.
- They held the 2nd highest scoring team in hockey to just one goal and didn't win the game. That's a tough pill to swallow any way you slice it.
- David Warsofsky led the team in shots on goal and shot attempts. That's probably not a good recipe for success.
Stat Of The Game
The Devils were held to just three high-danger scoring chances. That's their lowest total since December 17th against the Florida Panthers.
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