Sunday, January 17, 2021

Sharangovich beats the buzzer! Devils beat Bruins in OT!

   Yegor Sharangovich (1) beat Jaroslav Halak with just under two seconds remaining in overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins Saturday afternoon at the Rock in Newark.

Kyle Palmieri grabbed the puck around the Devil net, passed it to Damon Severson across mid-ice and Severson hit Sharangovich with a no-look backhand to set up the one on one and the game-winning goal.

Myles Wood scored the other Devils goal (2) in the first period when Wood re-directed a Ty Smith shot past Jaroslav Halak.

The win gives the Devils a split of the two games against the best regular season in the league last season.

The Devils return Tuesday with their first road game of the season at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers.

Hell Raisers

1) Yegor Sharangovich's first career goal couldn't have come at a better time for the Devils.
With less than two seconds remaining, there would have been no time for a rebound and the rookie had to be perfect and it was almost so.
Jaroslav Halak caught a piece of the puck, but not enough to keep the puck from going into the net.

2) I know it's easy to get caught up in excitement over a win and there have been plenty of players to have fast starts and fizzle out, but something tells me that the Devils have found themselves a real player in Yegor Sharangovich.
In the two games, the guy seems constantly around the puck and has a smoothness about his game that yet doesn't suggest a player skating at half-speed.

3) The goaltending in this game was stellar by both Mackenzie Blackwood and Jaroslav Halak.
While Blackwood was playing for the second game in a row, Halak was almost his equal in his first game of the year.
As good as Blackwood was, Halak's game goes to show how much the late retirement of Corey Crawford is likely to hurt the Devils with the steep drop from Blackwood to backup Scott Wedgewood.
Boston can rely on a strong backup to give Tuukka Rask a break, right now the Devils cannot say the same.

4) Ty Smith now has a goal and an assist in his two games as it was his shot that Myles Wood redirected past Halak for the Devils' first goal.
Smith looked better on the defensive end than he did in the opener and gives me a little hope.

5) The Devils did give up a shorthanded goal when Boston's Patrice Bergeron scored in the second period.
The Bergeron goal saw Kyle Palmieri pushed off the puck by Brad Marchand and the Bruins took advantage.
It's the second game that Palmieri has been pushed around and that's unusual for him as he's never been a shrinking violet in the past.
Something to keep tabs on.

6) The Devils knew that Boston was likely to go after Myles Wood early after the altercation involving Wood in their previous game, but they may not have expected the game to begin with Wood scrapping with Kevan Miller.
Miller did what his team needed him to do, Wood gave and took what he expected was coming to him and when it was over, the game moved on- I wish more teams and referees would allow these things to play themselves out.

7)  Jack Hughes assisted on the first goal and it was Hughes that passed to Ty Smith on the first goal.
Hughes had two big chances in overtime and I have yet another feeling that Hughes is sitting on a breakout year.
Hughes still needs to get stronger and he can be pushed around, but I'm seeing flashes of what the Devils expected and he's getting closer and closer to busting out.
It's coming and maybe sooner than later.


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