This is what the New Jersey Devils needed. A victory.
The Devils were on a six game winless streak and playing on the second half of back to back games after losing to the Carolina Hurricanes the night before. Devils needed production out of Jesper Bratt and push back against the aggressive Florida Panthers, who lost their captain Aleksander Barkov to injury and have been targeting Devils captain Nico Hischier as a result.
The Devils answered the bell.
Despite losing Ryan Graves to injury early in the game and being down 1-0, Bratt scored two goals while Yegor Sharangovich and Tomas Tatar each added a goal a piece. Mackenzie Blackwood had a solid performance and made 34 saves for the win. Blackwood, who missed over 20 games this season, was sharp and kept his team in the game.
Thoughts and Musings
1. I am still not understanding why the Florida Panthers are taking out their aggression on Nico Hischier. Hischier is not a dirty player and the play that led to Aleksander Barkov’s injury was not premeditated, it was simply an accident. Matthew Tkachuk trying to bait Hischier into a fight last night was comical. Hischier is too smart to take on the challenge especially when he did nothing wrong. It would not be a fair fight for Hischier and he had nothing to gain. Devils did the talking with the scoreboard this time around. However, I do not see this “dramatic” issue going away.
2. Damon Severson has played solid since returning from the benching after that infamous giveaway against the Flyers. Severson logged 28:24m of ice time and stepped up when both John Marino, who did not play last night, and Ryan Graves are out with injuries. As of now, there are no updates on Ryan Graves’ injury.
3. With the victory, New Jersey is tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the Metropolitan Division lead with 46 points. However, Carolina has one game in hand.
Happy Festivus Podcast at American Whiskey in Newark tomorrow
Tomorrow is December 23rd and our podcast will be airing out our grievances! Come stop by American Whiskey at 51 Edison Place across the street from the Rock and say hello!
PODCAST - Devils Maul Panthers 4-2
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Sam Woo is co-host and executive producer of the Let's Go Devils Podcast which can be heard live every Sunday at 9pm ET and Wednesday at 8:30pm ET.
New Jersey Devils Blogger • 
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