1. At this time of the year all that matters is winning games and, while the Devils' chances of making the playoffs remain slim, they still have a chance after beating the free falling Maple Leafs in regulation Sunday night. The Devils are now five points back of Detroit and Toronto for the two wild card spots, but they have a game in hand over the Leafs. SportsClubStats gives the Devils a 16% chance of making the playoffs and suggests New Jersey will need to go 7-1-2 or 6-0-4 down the stretch to give them a good chance of playing in the postseason. The odds aren't in their favor and they certainly have their work cut out for them, but they aren't done just yet.
2. Quick note as a follow up...The Devils have two games remaining on their schedule against playoff teams: next game against Phoenix and their season finale against Boston. In between they have the Islanders twice, the Sabres, Flames, Panthers, etc. They have to run the table the rest of the way but they're not exactly facing stiff competition.
3. Jon Merrill was an absolute stud against the Maple Leafs. He scored the game-winning goal, had a beautiful assist on Patrik Elias' goal and drove possession at a ridiculous rate despite facing pretty good competition playing primarily against Joffrey Lupul's line at 5 vs 5. He finished the game having been on the ice for 19 shot attempts for and just five against. For my money he was the best player on the ice and it wasn't really close.
4. More on Merrill: Pete DeBoer spoke to the media yesterday about his improvements and mentioned that while Merrill wasn't producing much offensively, he looked on the verge of a breakout and that the offense would come with time. Fittingly he has his best offensive game that night.
5. DeBoer's favorite son, Pete Harrold, was beat like a drum by Devils fans on social media last night, but I thought he played quite well. He effectively moved the puck out of the zone all night and didn't show any signs of rust. He also assisted on Merrill's goal, drew a penalty and posted ridiculously good possession numbers, though a good amount of the credit goes to Merrill for that. Overall I thought he played a strong game and if he can show any sort of consistency I think he'd be a better fit in the lineup than Anton Volchenkov. One thing I could do without is the kill shot he took at Travis Zajac's face on the power play.
6. Adam Henrique is turning into a damn good player right before our eyes, and it's real fun to watch. What I've been impressed by is not just his goal scoring ability, but his ability to make plays with the puck to create offense for teammates. He's also been reliable defensively and a staple on the penalty kill. Despite a slow start to the season, he's on pace for about 50 points having played on the 2nd line all year for a team that can't score. His contract is going to look real good for the Devils if he keeps this pace up and/or continues to improve, and there's no reason he shouldn't. No. 14 is making people who said he was just a by product of Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise look silly.
7. Cory Schneider wasn't tested all that much, but I thought he was very solid between the pipes for New Jersey. He made a few excellent stops and did just enough for the Devils to get the win. Schneider hasn't been great since the Olympic break, so a quality start against a team currently in a playoff spot should help him move in the right direction.
8. Patrik Elias played another strong game and his goal was beautiful, but he won just 12% of his faceoffs. I'm not one that thinks faceoff percentage is the be all and end all, but you'd like to see it in the 40 percent range at least.
9. I don't like Eric Gelinas playing forward, but if he's going to take a shift on the 4th line and play point on the powerplay, I'd rather have that than him sitting in the press box.
10. Randy Carlyle really likes to ride the crap out of his big guns. James van Reimsdyk played over 26 minutes. Dion Phaneuf played 26 minutes. Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak played 25. If Carlyle does that too often you have to think it'll bite the Maple Leafs in the ass come playoff time. I guess they have to get there first, though.
Prospect Updates
- Ryan Kujawinski scored his first goal of the playoffs in Kingston's 5-4 overtime win over the Peterborough Petes on Sunday. Kujawinski's Frontenacs now lead the series 2-0 heading back to Peterborough for a pair of games. I don't think the Petes will go down without a fight, so don't rule them out just yet.
- Ben Thomson and his 2nd seeded North Bay Battalion fell to Niagara 3-2 on Sunday which tied the series 1-1 heading back to Niagara. Thomson was held without a point and took two minor penalties, both of which were offsetting.
- Ben Johnson and his Windsor Spitfires lost two games to London this weekend, but Johnson produced. He had a short handed goal in the first game while in Game 2 he had a short handed assist and a powerplay goal.
- Myles Bell scored two goals in Kelowna's two wins this weekend, while Damon Severson had an assist on Bell's game-winner in the first game of the series. The Rockets are expected to go deep into the playoffs and perhaps advance to the Memorial Cup, so you'll hear a lot about these two over the next couple months.
- After a 97 point regular season, Graham Black has been held pointless in Swift Current's first two playoff games. Not surprisingly, the Broncos lost both games. They'll need Black to pick it up if they want to pull off an upset and come back in this series.
- Adam Larsson scored just once in his first 28 games with Albany, but he's now scored in consecutive games. He has three goals and 19 points in 30 games with the A-Devs.
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Email: NHLToddCordell@Gmail.com