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Devils 4, Rangers 2: Hall, Hughes steal the show

September 21, 2019, 10:38 AM ET [45 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Five takeaways from New Jersey vs New York:

1. The top line was exceptional

Taylor Hall, Jack Hughes, and Kyle Palmieri played together for the first time. It couldn’t have gone much – any? – better.

On the very first shift of the game, Hughes scored a nice breakaway goal following a Hall chop pass that shut down a Rangers rush. Hughes returned the favor later in the period, dishing Hall a nice pass upon entry and letting the former Hart Trophy winner do the rest.

Their puck movement was fantastic throughout and they were always dangerous. Hall didn’t look like he’s gone nine months without game action. Hughes looked like an NHL vet, carving up the Rangers defense with all these smooth moves and changes in direction. Palmieri, as usual, appeared to be the perfect compliment on the right side.

In ~10 minutes of 5v5 ice, they helped the Devils control almost 70% of the attempts and expected goals. They were as dominant as anyone could have hoped.

2. Mackenzie Blackwood looked sharp

The Rangers dressed a watered down lineup and they didn’t pepper Blackwood with shots. He didn’t have a crazy difficult workload. Still, you can only deal with what’s in front of you and Blackwood did a good job with that. He stopped 21 of the 23 pucks that were fired his way (.913SV%) and looked very poised and in control throughout. Prior to camp, goaltending appeared most likely area to be the team’s Achilles Heel. Meaningful games haven’t started yet, obviously, but the first few starts from Cory Schneider and Blackwood are *slowly* easing those concerns.

3. Travis Zajac turned back the clock

I thought No. 19 played fantastic from start to finish. He was always in the right spot defensively – as usual – and his playmaking abilities were on full display throughout. Zajac made a great pass to help create Blake Coleman’s goal and assisted on a team-leading seven shot attempts at 5v5. Having a 3C that can make the kind of impact Zajac did last night is going to be a big-time plus for the Devils this season.

4. Michael McLeod was a mixed bag

This guy really is a roller coaster. We’ll start with the good. He once again led his line in shot contributions (7) and was involved in *all* of the offense while on the ice. Though his goal was fluky, it’s not unreasonable that he found the scoresheet.

To the bad. McLeod posted the worst Corsi For% (36.84) and Expected Goals For% (34.25) on the team at 5v5. In other words, the Devils allowed a larger share of the shot attempts and chances with McLeod on the ice than any other player. Getting roughly one of every three attempts and/or chances is #NotGood. This is becoming a common theme with McLeod, too, as he was caved in last time out as well.

It’s good that he’s more involved offensively. It’s good that he’s being a little more assertive physically. The end on-ice results still have a lot of room to grow, though, and they will need to if he’s going to have a shot at cracking the roster.

5. The Wayne Train made some noise

All things considered, Wayne Simmonds’ team debut went well. He generated a couple good chances around the net and caused havoc there all night long. Simmonds was *very* aggressive physically while playing with the kind of fire that’s been lacking on the Devils in recent years. He certainly didn’t hold back in his debut, which was nice to see given his recent (minor) injury).

Shot contributions

Below are the 5v5 shot contributions (sorted by line and pairing). I should note that I made an error on Zajac’s graphed total. He did have seven shot assists, not six.





numbers via naturalstattrick.com

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