Nikita Gusev and Jack Hughes each scored against Ottawa goalie Marcus Hogberg in the shootout and Mackenzie Blackwood held up the defensive end by stopping both Senator shots in the shootout to secure the victory.
The Devils also received goals from Damon Severson (6 power play ) and Kevin Rooney (2) in the win.
The Devils will travel to Nashville on Thursday for their first meeting with former coach John Hynes and the Predators.
Hell Raisers
1) Mackenzie Blackwood returned for the first time in ten days and looked pretty good in goal.
The Devils gave up two shorthanded goals on breakaways in the third period thirty-five seconds apart and neither could be placed on Blackwood.
Blackwood made his return a strong one, imagine what he could be if this team could ever put a defense in front of him?
2) About that defense, how in the world can a team make the same mistake twice in thirty-five seconds on the same power play with the game in the balance?
Hanging your goalie out to dry, no one getting back and almost allowing a game to get away.
The Devils will again need to address the defense in the off-season as they tried to do last time with P.K. Subban.
3) P.K. Subban jostled a bit with Brady Tkachuk at the end of the first period but didn't seem anxious to try Tkachuk out in sparring.
Tkachuk started on Subban in the middle period and didn't give Subban much choice other than dropping the gloves and it wasn't much of a match as Tkachuk won on my card easily.
Still, give Subban credit for hanging in there and giving it his best effort.
4) Brady Tkachuk is the type of player that you hate to see playing against you, but you love to have on your side.
The 4th overall pick in the 2018 draft scored 22 goals last season as a rookie and has 15 thus far this season.
Tkachuk is tough, physical and has a deft scoring touch, very much like his dad former NHL star Keith and I'm not sure I wouldn't trade any Devil other than Jack Hughes or maybe (maybe) Nico Hischier for Tkachuk tomorrow if he was offered in trade.
5) The goal by Damon Severson in the first period was a fortunate one as the puck bounced around through the crease, it nicked off the back of the skate of Marcus Hogberg and into the net.
Sometimes, you just need a break.
6) You don't expect smooth offensive moves from the fourth line and even fewer expectations from Kevin Rooney, but he looked very slick with taking the puck around the net and slipping the puck by Hogberg.
Fourth liners don't score a lot of goals and even fewer are scored like that one.
7) The Devils put 53 shots on the net against the Senators, which can happen when two bad teams (After the game, the Devils and Senators each have 43 points) play each other.
53 shots will win a fair amount of games against a bad team.
No comments:
Post a Comment