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Chris on Devils and Jack Hughes. |
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Oh No!
The Devils got back their second most important player last night, in goaltender Jacob Markstrom. However, 58 minutes later, they lost their most important player in Jack Hughes. In a season where positives have consistently been met with negatives, the trend continued last night.
They followed up a win with a loss, in which they have done for 12 straight games; W,L,W,L,W,L,W,L,W,L,W,L are the result of their last dozen. But, more importantly, they gained one healthy key player, and lost one healthy key player. To call 86 a key player is actually a bit of an understatement, he’s more like the key, and this Devils car won’t drive without him.
The way in which Hughes left the ice, hunched over, supporting his right arm with his left, is not inspiring any confidence that we see him in the lineup before the playoffs. If I had to guess, it’s a dislocated shoulder, but I’m not going to speculate(mostly because it’s quite difficult to type with my fingers crossed). There’s a ton of things to unpack if the injury is as severe as it looks, but I will await an official diagnosis which should come in the next day or so, before we dig deeper.
There were 58 minutes of hockey last night before the sky seemed to fall, and there are some things to take away from that. Let’s take a look.
Devils Goaltending
The return of Markstrom was an impressive one. Marky seemed to be back in top form after his 11 game absence. This is a massive upgrade over Jake Allen, who has struggled to control rebounds and track pucks. If you watched the games this past weekend, and I have a feeling many Allen apologists have not, Markstrom and Nico Daws are locked in on the puck for 60 minutes plus every night. They see the puck and stop it with purpose, either kicking it away from oncoming opponents, or smothering it and stopping play. This cool, calm, and controlled environment allows the Devils defenders to play in that same manner. There’s way less of what the GOAT, Doc Emrick would call, “Helter Skelter” play in front of the NJ net with Markstrom and Daws.
You can throw all of the stats you want out there to try to defend Allen, but there’s a reason the Devils have won just three of his last(and when I say last, I hope they were his absolute last with NJ) 14 starts. Allen’s indecisive and hesitant puck handling, inability to track pucks, inability to limit rebounds, and inability to put said rebounds into low danger areas have plagued the Devils in his appearances. While still showing the ability to make a great save, I don’t think 34 year old netminder is entirely done, but his days with the Devils should be.
Keep It Simple Stupid
Did we all see the simplicity and ease in which Vegas scored both of their power play goals last night? If you’re a Jake Allen defender you didn’t, because you don’t watch the game and just look at the box score, so let me explain.
The Knights had two early power plays in the third period in which they won the faceoff, fed the point man, put bodies in front, shot the puck, and scored. Between the two PPGs, they needed just a total of 39 seconds of power play time, 15 seconds, and 24 seconds into both man advantage situations and Vegas had a goal in each. When was the last time New Jersey has scored, let alone even attempted a shot that quickly into a power play? It’s far too often that the Devils(and they’re not the only NHL team guilty) win the draw, pass the puck around for 30 seconds, bobble the puck, the other team clears and then they struggle to gain the o-zone the rest of the way. While we all can’t agree on politics, here’s a campaign you can undoubtedly get behind, MAKE POWER PLAYS SHOOT AGAIN! I know the analytics say otherwise, but those same analytics also say Jake Allen gives the Devils a good chance at winning.
Stay Tuned
As soon as more news on Hughes breaks, I will have some takes on the Devils approach going forward with the trade deadline, playoffs and beyond.
P.S. if anything happens to me, it was most likely the Jake Allen Fan Club…
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