Good morning Devils fans. The Black and Red continued their good form in the preseason, taking a 3-2 victory against the Rangers in the Garden. Tyler Toffoli opened up scoring in the first period due to Jack Hughes lacing through the Blueshirt defense to shovel a pass Simon Nemec’s way. He cross-ice passed it through the middle to Toffoli who backhanded in during mid-spin. After New York brought it back in the 2nd with an Eric Gustafsson goal, the 3rd period went the Devils way for the most part. Luke Hughes began a rush through the neural zone, dished it to Kevin Bahl who capitalized on the rush with a quick pass for a darting Jesper Bratt who beat his defender to knock it in on Louis Domingue, who relieved Igor Shesterkin. An empty netter by Michael Mcleod was punctuated by a consolation goal for the Rangers, courtesy of Brennan Othmann.

Overall, the Devils did well with puck movement, playing two way hockey to eliminate threats on rushes, and found pockets of space to attack the Rangers. Akira Schmid shutout the home team to earn a 1st star and played brilliantly. Backup Erik Kallgren (which I just learned was pronounced Shallgren throughout the game) did well for himself against tough up front chances. Simon Nemec looked solid on both ends, particularly offense. Jack Hughes is having himself a nice preseason with his 3rd assist. The Devils are undefeated, the only team in the division that remains so.

The Devils will continue their road trip as they take on Philadelphia tonight. As of this morning, I haven’t seen the lines posted anywhere. Most likely, they are running the group and lines from the last Philly game. They may use the other prospects in lieu of established roster players from the Rangers game to see what those prospects have before finalizing the next round of cuts. Again, I would keep an eye out on Clarke, Holtz, and Foote as they seek to grab a roster spot. Nosek may also be interested to watch this game as he wants to show the balanced skillset he’ll seek to bring to the fourth line. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next cut round is announced Monday.

Speaking of roster moves, the team cut 13 players from the preseason roster. Per Amanda Stein, the cuts included:

F: Filip Engaras, T.J. Friedmann, Joe Gambardella, Timur Ibragimov, Xavier Parent, Ryan Schmelzer, Josh Filmon

D: Colin Felix, Will MacKinnon, Robbie Russo, Topias Vilen, Tyler Wotherspoon

G: Tyler Brennan

The majority of the cuts will return to Utica with the exception of Tyler Wotherspoon, who must clear waivers before going back to the Comets, and Josh Filmon, who returns to the WHL’s Swift Current. No surprises here for the most part. I would have liked to see a bit more of Josh Filmon but alas, we’ll have to wait. The roster currently has 42 players and must whittle them down to 23 before the regular season starts.

What are your thoughts? Who should the Devils roll out and what would your lines be? Who are the next players to be cut?

Leave your thoughts and comments below. Raise Hell,

-Josh Biringer

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