The Devils hosted a red hot Blues team in Newark on Tuesday and, though they played well, New Jersey was unable to get the result they wanted.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored the lone goal in the game to extend St. Louis' winning streak to six games.
10 takeaways:
1. First and foremost, I thought the Devils played a good game. The Blues played the night prior, but they're one of the league's elite teams and New Jersey went toe-to-toe with them for 60 minutes. New Jersey had a few more shots and won the shot attempt battle, as well, but couldn't beat Jake Allen, who is 3-1-0 with a league leading .959SV% on the year. Tip your hat and move on.
2. St Louis is on a six game winning streak with wins over Anaheim, Chicago, Dallas, Colorado and New York (Rangers) outside of the Devils last night. You can do worse than losing to the Blues by one goal.
3. If you went on social media after last night's loss you'd think the Devils were winless on the year, but there they are sitting 2nd in the Metro division behind only the Penguins. The Devils were shutout by a great team while playing without two of their better offensive players in Mike Cammalleri and Martin Havlat. It's a long season and there will be ups and downs. Relax.
4. After a rough patch Cory Schneider has bounced back in a big way. He's allowed two goals or less in five of the last six games, and has posted at least a .940SV% in five of those six games. The Devils need him to continue to play well while they sort out their offense and wait for some bodies to get back.
5. Patrik Elias - Adam Henrique - Michael Ryder was by far the best line on the ice for either team last night. They didn't score, but each of those three had several great opportunities. All three of them can put pucks in the net, so if they continue to generate chances like they did last night the goals will come.
6. Even strength shot attempts for/against for that line:
Elias - 21/9 | +12 Henrique - 21/9 | +12 Ryder - 20-8 | +12
This while playing primarily against Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester. Impressive.
7. It seems as if Pete DeBoer is moving away from Bryce Salvador. He's still going to play on a nightly basis, but his minutes have been down of late.
Salvador played 20+ minutes in four of New Jersey's first six games and averaged almost 21 a game in that span. Since then he hasn't reached the 20-minute mark once in six games, and has averaged about 17 minutes. I don't think that's a coincidence.
8. I've really, really liked what I've seen from Adam Larsson the last few games. He wasn't great in his season debut, but after sitting a couple games before his next appearance he looks to have really settled down. Larsson's only averaged about 16 minutes, but he has a goal, four shots and New Jersey is generating ~70% of the shot attempts at even strength with him on the ice in the last three games. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
9. Travis Zajac is taking an absolute beating for his production thus far, but I think a lot of it is unwarranted. I'll admit, he certainly needs to produce more than his four points in 12 games. That said, it's not all on him. Jaromir Jagr hasn't produced much, either. He has two assists and has been held without a shot twice in his last four games, and their other linemate has primarily been Dainius Zubrus. It's tough to put up a lot of points against top competition with that unit.
10. Another thing regarding Zajac: He's never been a goal scorer and he never will be. He's a guy who will put up some points if he has quality linemates, drive possession, and limit the damage done by opposing team's top players. Claude Giroux had zero even strength points vs Zajac when they played. Steven Stamkos had zero even strength points. Joe Thornton had one (an empty-net goal). Ryan Johansen had zero (and his 10-game point streak snapped) playing primarily against Zajac. He may not be producing a lot of offense, but for the most part neither are the star players he's been matched up against. Give the guy a break and appreciate what he does do rather than what he doesn't. He's not going anywhere, so you may as well get used to him.
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