Saturday, March 4, 2023

Devils lose Shootout in Vegas

 The New Jersey Devils started fast and played well throughout regulation before dominating overtime and saw the Devils do everything but score against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

That led to a shootout defeat 4-3 and a disappointing end to another exciting game from a team waiting for their two newest players to arrive.

Devils goals to Jesper Bratt (25 Power Play), Dawson Mercer (21), and Miles Wood (11).

The Devils will finish their road trip Sunday night in Arizona for their first visit to Tempe and the 5,000-seat arena that the Coyotes share (snicker) with Arizona State.

Hell Raisers

1) Las Vegas can give almost all of the credit for their win to their netminder, Adin Hill.

Hill was amazing on this night and had he even been only above average, the Devils would have walked away with a relatively easy win.

2) Is it just me or are more and more hockey fans getting bored with the shootout?

Not just Devils fans because they lost this one but in general I've read more and more people complaining about the ending being decided by a skills competition and there was a vocal majority that liked it when they initially installed it as a decider.

3) Dawson Mercer's goal continued his goal-scoring streak and extended it to eight games, which tied the franchise record.

Quite the goal for the budding power forward and keeping the smile on Devils fans' faces that they were able to keep his services in Newark rather than include him in the Timo Meier trade.

4) Note above that I said franchise record, not team record for goals in consecutive games.

That is because the franchise record of eight games is held by Paul Gardner of the then-Colorado Rockies.

Gardner scored eighty-three goals for the Rockies in just under three seasons in Denver before he was traded in mid-season to Toronto in 1979.



No comments: