Devils Keep Proving Detractors Wrong
Many NHL insiders don’t know what to make of the Devils this season. Eastern Conference basement sniffers for much of the past decade, with just playoff game victory to its credit since a 2012 run to the Stanley Cup Final, New Jersey has taken the league by storm, racking up 18 wins in its first 22 games following a 5-1 disposal of tormentor Washington at the sold-out Rock on Saturday night.
Obviously, there’s way too much hockey to be played to anoint the Devils as legitimate Cup contenders at this point in November. But to call them “fake”, as studio analyst Brent Johnson did on the Capitals postgame show, is something I found downright unprofessional.
Johnson, a former journeyman goalie, needs to be introduced to Bill Parcells, who famously quipped, “You are what your record says you are.” And while it would be illogical to expect the Devils to maintain a pace that has seen them win 15 of their last 16 games (including the franchise-tying 13-game streak that ended with a controversial 2-1 loss to Toronto on Wednesday), their 18-4 mark is all too real. Those points count the same as if they were earned down the stretch in April against a top seed.
Of course, we’ll know more about this team when the schedule stiffens in the coming months—New Jersey has yet to face last season’s Conference powers Carolina, Boston, Tampa Bay, Florida, Pittsburgh, or the Rangers. However, the Devils have posted some quality victories during the season’s first quarter, winning in Toronto and on Long Island, sweeping Edmonton and Calgary, and eking past reigning Cup champions Colorado.
Johnson seemed to think that because the injury-impacted Caps tilted the ice for much of Saturday’s contest, it diminished who the Devils are. Washington owned the official and advanced stat sheets, peppering Devils goalie (and their former teammate) Vitek Vanecek with 38 shots on goal. Despite missing top-six forwards Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson and defenseman Dmitry Orlov, they outchanced a New Jersey squad that was well of off their “A” game for much of the night.
Sorry, but that’s not how hockey works. While all that data can be useful, what matters is how many pucks find the back of the net. The Devils had the better goalie and made the most of their opportunities, the opposite of what happened in the first meeting between the two teams on October 24. In that game, it was the Devils who dominated, more than doubling Washington in high-danger scoring chances, per NaturalStatTrick.com. Unfortunately, New Jersey at the time was in a bit of a scoring dry spell and gifted the Caps several goals via brutal giveaways. From my recollection, no one called the Capitals “fake” after that 6-3 loss.
That defeat spurred the Devils forward and they haven’t looked back. They have used the same 18 skaters for the last 15 games (right wing Nathan Bastian’s shoulder injury in the first period might put an end to that streak on Monday when they visit the Rangers) who have developed a connection on the ice. Even when some guys might not have it going on a particular night, others pick them up.
On Saturday, it was mainly Vanecek and All-Star center Jack Hughes who rode to the rescue. Unlike on Wednesday night when the fans ignorantly littered the ice with debris after three Devils goals were disallowed, the team had no issue when hats came raining down during the third period after Hughes notched his first NHL hat trick.
Hughes, the Devils’ No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, is rapidly developing into that rare player who is a threat to score every time he touches the puck. Only six players have been on the ice for more high danger scoring chances for at five-on-five than Hughes this season, per NST. In addition, he was terrific in tracking back into his own end to help end Capitals plays on Saturday, for which he earned the praise of Lindy Ruff after the Devils Head Coach won for the 800th time in his career. NST did not ding Hughes for allowing a single high danger scoring chance against all night.
That didn’t stop Johnson from calling Hughes the lead “reacher” on a team of reachers who want to “play the fun game” without mucking it up too much along the walls. He said that Hughes’ reaches make him susceptible to injury, because that puts him at risk of taking shots up high.
No, it’s the Neanderthal principles that this league still embraces too often that put the stars in jeopardy. I’ve heard about others who went on air suggesting that Devils opponents should target Hughes like the way Bobby Clarke cracked a Russian star’s ankle during the 1972 Canada Cup. Heh, heh, that’s hockey. Numbskulls all.
Hughes’ first two goals showcased a brilliance that the league should go out of its way to protect (but won’t). About six minutes into the second period, Hughes picked off an errant John Carlson clearing attempt in the Washington zone and broke in alone on goalie Charlie Lindgren, who cut down the angle to force Hughes to go behind the goal line. Hughes simply adjusted by banking the puck off Lindgren’s left skate and into the net. Three minutes later, he took a Ryan Graves pass and walked into the left wing corner where, from the hardest of angles, he ripped the puck off Lindgren’s mask and watched it trickle in behind him.
Hughes acknowledged that luck was involved on both goals. But, like the Devils this season to date, they were real, and they were spectacular.