N.J. Devils: Raining Fire and Brimstone Upon the West

From the desk of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

California Screaming..!

SUNDAY

New Jersey Devils

vs.

Anaheim Ducks

FROM

DisneyPlace

New Jersey Devils: Straight Outta Newark..!

There's a reason why the chase is always more fun than the catch itself.

So just live in the moment and give the Devils their due!

Newark is presently in possession of the second Wild Card.  With eleven games left, the Devils enter Sunday night's action five points ahead of the ninth place and surging Florida Panthers, and just one point behind both the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets, respectively.

The Sunrise Cats are twelfth (NHL) in scoring, and are 15-5-1 since February 1st.  They potentially have their own ace up their sleeves, as the Panthers have two games in hand over the competition.  The Devils therefore, must strive to at least open a six point lead over Florida by the time their own regular season expires on April 7.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets and Flyers woke up Sunday morning tied for sixth/seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings with 83-points each.  Entering the new calendar year, the Flyers were playing in the second division.  Since the New Year, they've leapfrogged over seven teams to gain their present standing (but have been knocked down a notch by the Pens).  However, their big push might be losing steam.  After posting a 17-5-2 record through January and February, Philadelphia is just 2-6-1 in March.  Columbus on the other hand is riding a seven game winning streak, and are 10-4-0 since Feb. 18th.

Here's Newark's problem: of the Devils remaining eleven games, none are against the Flyers, Blue Jackets, nor Panthers.  In lieu of playing them face to face, the Devils must instead battle the schedule makers, and more importantly, their own resiliency.

I have no doubt fans experienced a measure of dismay after home losses against the Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets, knowing a six game road trip to the western edges of NHL hell loomed ahead.

Three games in, though, the Devil's have sacked Nashville and Las Vegas, then marched on Los Angeles and besieged the Kings.  They outscored the trio by a 13-5 margin through nine periods of regulation play, and in doing so gained six crucial points within the last seven days.

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings peppered Keith Kincaid with 38 shots on goal.  He repelled a furious opening attack by the Kings, whom out-shot the Devils 19-4 in the first period alone.  Newark also forced themselves into six penalty kill situations through the first two periods.  Keith Kincaid withstood all of it en route to his first shutout of the season.

Tonight New Jersey faces the Anaheim Ducks, whom awoke Sunday morning enmeshed in a four way tie with the Avalanche, Kings, and Stars, for sixth place in the Western Conference standings (thanks in part to yesterday's Newark win over the Kings).



*Devil's Playground graffiti, Bushwick