Devils 3, Canadiens 2: Hughes, Daws lead the way

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A few notes on New Jersey’s shootout victory over the Montreal Canadiens:

Hats off to Nico Daws

Credit where it is due: Nico Daws played a helluva game against the Canadiens. I thought the Devils were the better team for much of the night but they still gave up plenty of opportunities.

Daws faced 33 shots, 13 high-danger chances, and 4.1 expected goals. Montreal was only able to convert all of that into just two goals.

In other words, Daws conceded less than half of what you’d expect from a goaltender in his shoes. That’s remarkable considering the circumstances.

Daws was playing in the latter half of his third(!) string of back-to-back sets in less than two weeks. That’s an extreme workload for, say, Igor Shesterkin or Andrei Vasilevskiy to handle; let alone a 21-year-old who played *checks notes* 10 competitive hockey games a season ago.

With Andrew Hammond not ready to play, Lindy Ruff and co. once again asked Daws to give much more than is fair for a kid still learning the ropes of pro hockey. And he answered the bell.

Say what you want about this kid but he has some real moxie. He continues to respond following off nights and is holding up about as well as possible given the situation.