N.J. Devils: Bracing For The Bolts - Round One

From the desk of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

2017 ~ 2018

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

ROUND ONE

Game One

New Jersey Devils

vs.

Tampa Bay Lightning

FROM

Florida Ice Cooler

New Jersey Devils: The Real Season Begins Now; Can These Young Demons Fend Off The Mighty Bolts?

They say once in the tournament throw everything out the window regarding the regular season.  But do the Bolts really want to play the Devils?  Past performance says no.  New Jersey swept all three games from Tampa this season with every game being decided by one goal.

• Oct. 7      NJD 5; TBL 4 shootout
• Feb. 17    NJD 4; TBL 3
• Mar. 24    NJD 2; TBL 1

In their first meeting of the season, Cory Schneider opposed Tampa goalie Peter Budaj.  Since then New Jersey's Keith Kinkaid and Tampa's Andrei Vasilveskiy each started the next two games of the series.  The first round should be no different, as Devils coach John Hynes elects to stick with the Keith Kinkaid despite former starter Cory Schneider returning from injury back on March 1.

With a superb 44-17-3 record, Vasilveskiy tied for the league lead in goalie wins this season.  He posted a 2.62 GAA, and a .920 save percentage through 65 regular season appearances.  Tampa managed to limit scoring attempts against him at a manageable 31.8 shots on goal per game.

As noted, coach Hynes has been riding Keith Kinkaid like a mule, and the goalie responded with a March run rivaling any in the league.  He wound up edging out Cory Schneider by one game to lead the team with 41 starts.  He posted a 26-10-3 record with a 2.77 GAA, and .913 save percentage.  However, he is flashing an elevated .937 save percentage through his last fifteen games dating back to Mar. 2.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

1st Place Metropolitan Division

1st Place Eastern Conference

54-23-5 (113-points)

Nikita Kucherov takes Tampa's triple crown with 39 goals, 61 assists, and 100 points.  Steven Stamkos was right behind him with 27 goals, 59 assists, and 86 points.  The Bolts have six players with at least 20 goals, and five players over 60 points.  Yanni Gourde led the NHL with a 34 plus/minus.

NHL RANK:

• Goals For - #1
• Goals Against - #13
• Power Play - #3
• Penalty Kill  #27

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

5th Place Metropolitan Division

8th Place Eastern Conference

44-29-9 (97 points)

Taylor Hall is New Jersey's triple crown leader with 39 goals, 54 assists, and 93 points.  However, Newark's second leading scorer is rookie center Nico Hischier, who has 20 goals and 32 assists for a distant 52 points.  Kyle Palmieri is second on the team with 24 goals in just 62 games.

NHL RANK:

• Goals For - #15
• Goals Against - #17
• Power Play - #10
• Penalty Kill - #8

N.J. Devils: Back in Playoffs After Five Year Absence

From the desk of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

44-28-9 (97-points)

SATURDAY

New Jersey Devils

vs.

Washington Capitals

FROM

Government City

New Jersey Devils: Newark Back In Playoffs For First Time Since 2012.

Nine games and 17 points later, Taylor Hall's consecutive point streak was snapped Thursday evening at the Rock.  However, that makes him no less responsible for helping lead the New Jersey Devils back to the playoffs after a five year absence.  A top league MVP candidate, this will also be Taylor Hall's first ever Stanley Cup tournament appearance in his eight year career.

Not ironically, the Devils clinching victory occurred against Lou Lamoriello's Toronto Maple Leafs. Newark last qualified for the playoffs during his tenure.  The Devils this season exceeded forty victories for the first time since 2012, when they won 48 games under Lamoriello and captured the Eastern Conference title.

Last year, the Devils finished with a 28-40-14 record.  In just his third season as Devils general manager, Ray Shero has them back in the tournament.  The Devils he constructed stormed to the finish, going 11-3-1 in their last 15 games.

N.J. Devils: Metropolitan Area Champs

From the desks of: 

THE BRICK CITY STYX  and  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

BATTLE of the HUDSON

Devils win series 3-1

I - NJD 3; NYR 2

II - NYR 5; NJD 2

III  NJD 4; NYR 3

IV - NJD 5; NYR 2

FINAL

Rangers  2

Devils      5

Travis Zajak scored within 25 seconds of the opening face-off.  By the midway point of the first period the Devils had built a 3-0 lead.

With Tuesday's victory over the Rangers, the Devils now have a five point lead over the Florida Panthers.  They have two games remaining, but the Panthers have three.

The Devils also slipped by the Philadelphia Flyers to move into seventh place in the conference, and are just one point behind the sixth place Columbus Blue Jackets.

Add four more points to Taylor Hall's consecutive points streak.  He now has 17 points in his last nine games.  Hall put the Rangers down 0-2 just 3:41 into the first period with his 38th goal (power play) of the season.  He notched his second goal of the evening unassisted at the 15:45 mark of the second period.  Taylor also assisted on each of Will Butcher's two goals giving him 54 for the season; a new career high; to go along with his career best 39 goals and 93 points.

The Devils were 3 for 4 on the power play, elevating their unit to ninth in the league.  They also killed two penalties improving their rank to seventh in the league.

They peppered Henrik Lundqvist with 20 shots in the second period, and 44 shots overall.

Newark hosts Lou Lamoriello and the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night at the Rock, then close out the regular season on Saturday at Washington.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

43-28-9 (93-points)

The Devils are this season's undisputed kings of the Metropolitan area.  They compiled a 6-2-0 record against their cross river rivals, defeating both the Rangers and Islanders each three games to one.

N.J. Devils: Taylor Hall Continues Hell of a Season

From the desk of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

Taylor Hall Picks Perfect Time For First Career Short-Handed Goal

New Jersey Devils: Like a man possessed ... Taylor Hall smells the playoffs and is zeroing in for the kill.

He's never been to the playoffs.  But you can tell he senses it.

Whether on the power play, at even strength, or shorthanded, Taylor Hall will not be denied.  He scored both on the power play and at even strength Saturday against the Islanders, then scored what proved to be the game winning goal while shorthanded against the Canadiens the very next night at Montreal.

In his second season with the Devils, Hall has established career highs with 37 goals and 89 points, and is just one favor away from tying his career high of 53 assists.  In the meantime, Taylor continues solidifying his candidacy for league MVP with plus-eleven play, and by extending his point streak to eight straight games in which he's now recorded thirteen points.

With Sunday's Newark win, and Florida's loss, the Devils have opened up a seven point lead over the ninth place Panthers.  Newark has just three games left to play against the Rangers and Maple Leafs at home, then against the Capitals at Washington in the regular season finale.  Florida has five games remaining against the Hurricanes, Predators, Bruins and Sabres all at home, then close out the season at Boston.

Keith Kinkaid started his sixth straight game, and both games on back-to-back nights.  After turning away 27 of 30 shots against the Islanders, Kinkaid stopped 25 of 26 Canadiens shots on goal for his 23rd victory of the season.

N.J. Devils: Let The Madness Begin

From the desk of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

STAND or FALL

TUESDAY

Devils       3

Penguins  2

Look what Newark did to the Penguins ... again!

Sidney Crosby opened Tuesday night's scoring 8:17 into the first period with his 21st goal of the season.  Four minutes later, Kyle Palmieri answered right back.  Taylor Hall and Pittsburgh's Matt Hunwick traded goals in the second period.  Stefan Noesen then gave New Jersey a 3-2 lead at the 5:01 mark of the third.  That's the way things would stay - barely - thanks to some traffic management in the crease by Andy Greene, and a pair of huge saves by Keith Kincaid with under twenty seconds left in regulation.

It was Newark's second victory over the Penguins this season in as many games.


New Jersey Devils: Ray Shero Ringing Hell's Bells.

On Feb. 19 of last season, all hell broke loose in Newark.

The Devils had beaten the Islanders the previous night, improving their record to 25-23-10 with 24 games left in the season.  But the Islanders struck back with a victory the very next night at Barclays Center.

That Devils loss was the first of what turned into a ten game losing streak.  By the Ides of March they had fallen to 25-31-12, after which, they closed out the season with another 11 losses over their final 14 games.

One year later, the Devils are 33-22-8 (74 points), and presently occupy seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.

General manager Ray Shero thought enough of this team to warrant the acquisitions of forwards Michael Grabner from the Rangers, and Patrick Maroon from Edmonton.  Grabner adds scoring and good two-way play, while Maroon (6'3" 225 lbs.) brings much needed grit and toughness.  Both will be unrestricted free agents come summer, but are nonetheless great rentals that will no doubt impact the Devils final push.

That being said, it's March.  Less than 20 games now remain in the regular season.  A spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs is theirs to lose. 

Let the madness begin!

To date, the Devils are 13-14-2 overall against the other 15 playoff contenders.  Twelve of the their final 19 games are against this group.  They otherwise have games remaining against Florida, Carolina, Montreal, the Islanders, and Rangers.

They are 9-9-2 against the other seven Eastern Conference contenders, with games remaining against Tampa, Toronto, Washington, and two against Pittsburgh.

They're 4-5-0 against Western Conference playoff contenders, with games remaining against Nashville, Winnipeg, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, and two against Las Vegas.

From March 10 through the 23rd, the Devils will attempt to cross their Rubicon - six straight road games against Nashville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, and Pittsburgh.

N.J. Devils: Newark Arrives at Pitchfork in the Road

From the desks of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

Bedeviled By Inconsistency

Eastern Conference

7) Devils         24-16-8 (56-points)

-------------------------

9) Rangers     25-20-5 (55-points)

10) Islanders  25-20-5 (55-points)

New Jersey Devils: The final thirty-four games will reveal how good they really are.

Who could have predicted the rebuilding Devils would achieve 56-points by the break, and be in sixth place of the conference standings?

So far, it's been a great story.  But they're slipping, and the only thing giving pause to their plight is this all-star break.  Otherwise they're presently in the midst of a four game skid.  But if you circle back to their five game win streak in December, the Devils have gone 2-7-3 since.

At this point last year, the Devils were floundering along with a 20-21-9 record and 49 points.  After which, their season really took a turn for the worse.  Having endured losing streaks of ten and six games respectively, the Devils went on to post an 8-19-5 record over their final 30 games.

Newark ended last year's regular season with a 28-40-14 record and 70 points, tying them for third worst in the league.  Through the NHL lottery system, however, they were awarded the first overall selection of the 2017 June entry draft.  

The Devils used that pick to select forward Nico Hischier.  Having turned 19-years old earlier this month, Nico has played in all of Newark's 48 games to date.  And with eight goals and 21 assists, he is third on the team with 29-points.

They've also had goalie issues of late.  Starter Cory Schneider and back-up goalie Keith Kincaid both have recently missed games with groin injuries, thus necessitating the services of Ken Appleby, called up from Binghamton.

Taylor Hall, the team leader in goals and assists, has recently missed a few games as well, and will certainly benefit from these few days off.

It is very clear what the Devils must do over their final 34 games of the regular season: avoid what happened last year.  

Easier said than done ...

But if they are to sustain their standing, they must obviously first snap their present losing streak with haste, then limit any potentially lengthy streaks down the stretch.  They've already suffered losing streaks of four losses or more on three different occasions this season, and might not survive many more.

That said, they also leave too many points on the table.  Their eight OT losses still remain tied for second most in the league.

Therefore the quicker the Devils learn the art of closing out games, the better off they'll be.

N.J. Devils: Bring On The Capitals

From the desk of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

METROPOLITAN DIVISION

1) Capitals  28-14-3 (59-points)

2) Devils      23-12-8 (55-points)

TONIGHT

CAPITALS

vs.

DEVILS

FROM

THE ROCK

New Jersey Devils: Not So Fast! Newark Turns Back Surging Islanders; Snap Six Game Skid.

Payback's a pitch..fork.

As things turned out, Cory Schneider seems to have picked the right night to call in sick.

When Anders Lee scored just 1:36 into the opening period, it looked as if the Islanders were merely picking up where they left off against the Rangers and Canadiens, and that the Devils were in for another long night.

But the league's second most potent offense failed to score again, mustering just 24 shots all game against Devils back-up Keith Kincaid.

Looking to avenge last week's shootout against the Islanders, Newark rolled into Flatbush where they punished the taxed and defensively challenged Islanders at Barclays Tuesday night.

After Kyle Palmieri tied the game at the 15:20 mark of the first, the period ended with Andy Greene and Brock Nelson dropping gloves.  The Devils then took over with three more unanswered goals in the second.  Fourth year defenseman Damon Severson set a new career high with his fifth and sixth goals of the season, and Taylor Hall closed out the scoring with his team leading 16th goal.

All told, the Devils peppered Jaroslav Halak with 42 shots.

The victory gives the Devils 54-points on the season.  For the moment, that's good enough for second place in the Metropolitan Division, and fourth in the conference.

New Jersey's biggest problem has been leaving points on the table.

The Devils finished at the bottom of last year's Eastern Conference standings with a 28-40-14 record (70-points).  Their 14 OT/SO losses were second most in all the NHL.  Their eight OT/SO losses so far this season are once again tied for most among current playoff contenders, and tied for second most in the league.

Tonight, they host the first place Washington Capitals with another two points up for grabs.