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A few notes from New Jersey vs Vancouver:
1) The Devils have actually played a lot of good hockey of late. But, after consecutive defeats in Calgary and Edmonton pushed them back to 4-7-4, it wasn’t hard to imagine old habits creeping up and the team falling on its face in a 3-in-4 situation vs a surprisingly good Vancouver team. That didn’t happen.
While the Canucks predictably recorded more shots on goal, it was New Jersey getting the better of the chances. They mustered up five more high-danger opportunities, which really hits home when looking at the heatmap (all situations included).
It’s amazing what can happen when you record a few extra chances and actually get some saves from your starting goaltender.
2) Mackenzie Blackwood is taking over. The 22-year-old, like most players on the team, got off to a rocky start to the season. He posted an .820 save percentage and allowed 12 goals over his first three appearances, which not so coincidentally were all losses. This led some to question whether Blackwood was playing in the wrong league. He’s since answered those with a resounding ‘no’. The Devils have gone 5-1-2 in Blackwood’s last eight starts and he’s a big reason why, having posted a .918 save percentage. That’s higher than what Pekka Rinne, John Gibson, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Sergei Bobrovsky, among others, have managed over the same span. Not bad!
Cory Schneider is the name-brand goaltender with a $6 million salary and career .918 save percentage over 400+ games, however. his level of play is nowhere close to Blackwood right now. As long as that remains the case, I think the youngster will rightfully continue to get the bulk of the work.
3) I joked the Devils were petitioning the league to get Quinn Hughes and the Canucks in the Metro after Jack snapped out of an early funk and scored his 1st goal against them. If GM Ray Shero wasn’t working the phone with league offices then, he surely is now. While Hughes didn’t find the scoresheet this time around, he recorded six shot attempts, created some excellent chances that weren’t converted on, and played more than all but Taylor Hall up front. It’s amazing how fast his game is improving – we’re already approaching the point where, more often than not, Jack is one of the better players on the ice. And he doesn’t turn 19 until May.
4) I know a lot of people are frustrated with Taylor Hall right now. Plenty of hints he may be done with the team after the season (or sooner), a little too many head scratching turnovers, and just two goals to date. I think performances like last night’s are why we should be confident more will come. Hall posted game-highs with 10 attempts and five chances, all of which high-danger. While Hall didn’t score, he was once again as involved as anyone in terms of facilitating shots. I’d be much more concerned if that wasn’t the case. Hall is shooting just 3.4% and only has two goals despite 44 scoring chances. Call me crazy, but I expect him to convert on a much higher clip than that going forward. And even if, somehow, he didn’t – this is a guy with 15 points in 16 games. That’s a ~77 point pace for someone getting stopped on nearly 97% of his shots. Give him some time and let regression do its thing.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com
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