Wedgewood blanks Islanders, Devils win 2-0!

  Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves to allow the New Jersey Devils to avenge their previous game's loss to the New York Islanders and win 2-0 at the Rock in Newark.

Wedgewood's flawless night was supported offensively by second-period goals by Jack Hughes (3 Power Play) and Pavel Zacha (1) in the New Jersey victory.

The Devils will host (my most hated) rival Philadelphia at the Rock Tuesday night.

Hell Raisers

1) I know that many have questions ( you may rank me amongst them) about Scott Wedgewood as the backup to Mackenzie Blackwood and the Devils look at the situation in the same manner or they wouldn't have claimed Aaron Dell, but on this night there would be no worries as Wedgewood was excellent.

2) Scott Wedgewood isn't going to be that good every night.

Hey, I don't even expect him to be that good on Tuesday against the Flyers, but what he has to do is be good enough that he doesn't lose games right away by allowing soft goals for a Devils team to fall behind early that cannot afford to do so.

3) Jack Hughes with his third goal of the year as part of a power-play unit that thus far has been much improved over last season.

4) That unit has been improved for two different reasons.

The first is the addition of Myles Wood, who has been a plus due to his aggressiveness around the net.

On the goal by Jack Hughes, it was Wood working around the net and parking himself in front of Islander goalie Ilya Sorokin to allow Hughes to fire the puck by the netminder.

If Wood can harness that aggressiveness and not take stupid penalties, which he has been known to do,

he could be a key part of an improvement on the man advantage.

5) And Ty Smith, who entered the season with questions about whether he was ready for the NHL, has been key offensively.

On the Hughes goal, it was Smith playing the point and it was Smith picking up his fifth point in five games as he hit Hughes with the pass setting up his goal.

For now, Smith seems more comfortable offensively than defensively, but the Devils power play is much more effective with the rookie on point than veteran P.K. Subban.

Smith moves the puck far more than Subban does and that has made the difference.

6) The Islanders may have a good one in net with Ilya Sorokin, who was blocked by Myles Wood on one goal and the Pavel Zacha goal was a rebound that no one could be expected to stop.

Sorokin kept the Islanders' hopes alive by stopping several Devil chances and played very well.