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Bruins 5, Devils 1: Five observations from another tough outing vs Boston

March 22, 2019, 10:22 AM ET [35 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Five observations from New Jersey vs Boston:

1. The talent gap showed

Boston is a true contender playing some of its best hockey of the season. New Jersey is an injury-plagued bottom feeder littered with AHL-caliber players. That was reflected on the scoreboard.

The Devils hung around early – I actually thought they got the better of the chances in the opening period – but the Bruins woke up in the 2nd and were decisively better over the final 40 minutes. In that time, they out-attempted the Devils 41-23, out-chanced them 21-9 and out-scored them 4-1. If not for Jake DeBrusk putting one on a platter for the Devils in the offensive zone, they wouldn't have scored at all.

I guess that's to be expected when Joey Anderson(!) is your leading forward in ice time against an elite defensive team.

2. Boston's top line cooked

Dating back to last season, Blake Coleman, Travis Zajac, and Stefan Noesen have been a very strong defensive trio – one that's often held their own against quality competition. That certainly wasn't the case last night against Boston's top trio.

Stopping them entirely is very difficult, if not impossible. Travis and the Texans weren't even able to slow them down remotely, though. In ~10 minutes going head-to-head with Patrice Bergeron and co., the Devils were out-attempted 9-2 (18 CF%) and out-scored by a pair. BOS1 was able to do whatever they wanted with little resistance. It honestly felt like one of those shinny games where a few players are clearly several notches above the rest and they're able to toy with the opposition no matter how hard everyone else is trying.

3. The defense was bad

There weren't many positive performances last night, especially on defense. Damon Severson had one of those games where he made some mistakes early and could not get out of his own way the rest of the night. Andy Greene looked shaky. Egor Yakovlev was crushed in the chance department despite playing a ton of minutes against the 4th line. Steven Santini forced some shots that weren't there and one of them ended up going the other way for a goal against. I thought Connor Carrick was OK, and Josh Jacobs landed a couple solid hits. When that's how you'd describe the better performers on defense, you know it's a tough night.

4. Michael McLeod showed signs of life

Relatively speaking, McLeod looked like as much of a scoring threat as Alex Ovechkin when he's teeing up power play one-timers on the left side. McLeod's speed was a factor in the neutral zone and he was able to get a few good looks around the net. McLeod finished 2nd on the team in shot attempts while leading the way with three scoring chances, all of which were considered high-danger.

After mustering just four shots and four chances (two HD) in his first eight games, McLeod has really taken it up a notch tallying 11 shots and 10 chances (seven HD) over his last six games. I think his first NHL goal will come sooner than later if he continues to play as he has over the last couple weeks.

5. Pavel Zacha showed little rust

I thought he was one of New Jersey's best players. Given his draft pedigree, and the lineup the Devils sent out, he should be but it was still nice to see. In a game where the Devils conceded 19 more attempts than they generated at 5v5, Zacha only finished with a minus-1 shot attempt differential (not bad!) while picking up the primary assist on the team's only goal. He also skated a regular shift on a penalty killing unit that went a perfect 3/3.

Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com

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