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After a couple tough losses on the road to open the season the New Jersey Devils returned to the Prudential Center and beat the Anaheim Ducks, 2-1, for their first win of the year.
The Good
- The Devils' 5 v 5 play. They sat back with the lead a little bit in the 3rd period but through the first 40 minutes the Devils controlled ~62% of the shot attempts and had a lot of sustained zone time in the Ducks' end. They used their speed well, too, and were able to wear the Ducks out, which led to more than their fair share of penalties.
- Taylor Hall was relatively quiet in his first couple games but he broke out in a big way on Tuesday night. He scored both goals, one of which came on a beautiful deflection, he was good in possession, and he made a couple nice defensive plays including one in the final minute while protecting a one goal lead. And here I was told he couldn't play defense.
- Hall will get the headlines, and deservedly so, but Pavel Zacha played a heck of a game as well. The Devils were at their best with him on the ice at 5 v 5 as they out attempted the Ducks 12-4, out shot them 7-1 and out chanced them 5-0. He didn't get on the scoresheet but he made some excellent passes to setup teammates for good looks in dangerous areas. The give-and-go he had with Hall had fans drooling about what could be in the future.
- Yohann Auvitu was in the middle of everything from start to finish. He had a couple nice rushes with the puck, pinched to keep plays alive, was accurate with his passing and registered four shots on goal. Even if he is simply a depth guy at full-strength and a power play option the Devils have to be thrilled about getting him for nothing.
- Damon Severson played his best game of the season for sure. He looked a lot more confident and decisive with the puck and didn't hold onto it too long and get himself in trouble. His passing was good, he did a nice job getting his shot through on Hall's deflection goal and defensively his positioning was the best it's been. It seems John Hynes took notice as he led Devils' blue liners in ice and played more than 20 minutes for the first time this season.
- With another strong showing Cory Schneider boosted his save percentage to .935% on the year. Remember when people were worried about him after a couple poor preseason showings?
The Bad
- Mike Cammalleri did have a few good looks throughout, most on the power play, but he looked a little off. He forced a couple plays that weren't there, carelessly turned the puck over in the neutral zone, which led directly to a penalty shot, and finished negative in possession at even-strength.
- It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine as the Devils had trouble breaking out of the zone on quite a few occasions. That's bound to happen with the personnel they have on defense but they're going to get themselves in trouble if they don't clean things up a little bit. Nothing good comes from giving teams extra opportunities/offensive zone time.
- 5 v 5 shot attempt for/shots on goal for% by period:
1st - 60.8%/64.3%
2nd - 63.6%/71.4%
3rd - 31.3%/14.3%
Obviously a winless Ducks team would come out firing in the final frame but to me that says the Devils sat back with the lead a little too much.
- Maybe I'm nitpicking a bit too much but the spacing from Devils' defensemen, mostly on the PK late, was not good. Both defensemen were up almost at the hash marks, which gave Ducks' forwards plenty of time and space to make plays when the puck came down low. They were there first to pounce on rebounds, too, and the Ducks almost tied it a few times as a result. I'd like to see the defensemen back another couple feet because spacing like that, especially against a team that lives around the net, will only lead to bad things.
Stat Of The Game
Severson was the only Devils' blue liner to play more than 20 minutes.
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