Devils 4, Penguins 2: Back on track

Led by Jack Hughes, Vitek Vanecek, Damon Severson, and an all-world penalty killing effort, the Devils got back in the win column.

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A few observations from New Jersey vs Pittsburgh:

Gut check SZN

That was by no means the Devils best performance of the season but it was certainly one of the more impressive efforts we have seen from them.

The Devils entered play having dropped eight of 10 games and seemingly everything was going wrong.

They lost their second pairing – Ryan Graves and John Marino – to injury. They couldn’t put the puck in the net and, when they did, goals were routinely overturned. They couldn’t draw any calls, nor get any saves.

While the process was mostly good, it doesn’t much matter when everything goes to shit around it.

Given the circumstances, it would’ve been easy to see the Devils folding on Friday night.

They trailed 1-0 early off a big time mishaps and Dougie Hamilton was essentially benched the remainder of the first period.

After tying it up, the Devils quickly fell behind again. They had a goal waved off where there wasn’t much contact. Lindy Ruff took a delay of game penalty and a bench minor. Miles Wood was given a penalty for pushing someone. The list goes on.

All told, the Devils took nine minor penalties against a Penguins team that had been humming on the power play.

Forget everything else; that alone should be a death sentence. It wasn’t.

The Devils not only survived more than 16 minutes of play undermanned; they won those minutes.

Nico Hischier netted the eventual game-winning-goal on the penalty kill and nobody scored otherwise.

Think about that for a moment. The Devils spent what equates to 83% of a full period undermanned and did not give up a goal. Not one!

Sidney Crosby, a truly elite player on pace for nearly 100 points in his 400th season, was not able to help facilitate a single goal in more than 12:30 of play with extra time and space to work with. That is not just amazing; it’s borderline insanity.

I think the Devils deserve a ton of credit for digging deep, fighting through everything that was working against them, and grinding out a much needed win.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing but we’re nearly halfway through the season and, as it stands, the Devils would be hosting a playoff series. If that holds, it’ll be games like this that are remembered as the difference makers.

Hats off to Severson