Devils 5, Predators 2: Masterclass

The Devils put forth another complete effort against the Predators en route to their third win in a row.

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A few observations from New Jersey’s eventful win over Nashville:

The Devils played a complete game

The Predators are not a good team. That doesn’t mean they’re not a threat. They have one of the league’s best goaltenders and a handful of stars who, on any given night, have it in them to score a couple of goals and win a game singlehandedly.

The Devils didn’t take the Predators lightly, treating them as a worthy opponent from the drop of the puck through the final whistle. They were rewarded accordingly.

New Jersey absolutely dominated Nashville. They had a ton of the puck in the offensive zone and were able to generate chances in bulk while sustaining pressure for extended periods.

They lived around the net and made life very difficult on Juuse Saros, testing him with quality and quantity while causing a lot of havoc in his office.

Defensively, the Devils were stout. They didn’t give an inch through the neutral zone and were routinely able to seal Predators off and win pucks back before their possessions really started.

Even when the Preds were able to navigate their way up the ice, the Devils held their structure and attacked in waves until a mistake was made and the puck turned over. They did not give anybody a moment to breathe.

Filip Forsberg, for example, had defenders in his hip pocket all night – and it was someone different every time.

Luke Hughes kept good gaps and didn’t give him space to put his lethal shot to use. Brett Pesce was constantly swatting pucks away and forcing resets. Brenden Dillon was feeding cross-checks and making Forsberg pay a price physically.

It was a total team effort and the Devils played that way for 60 minutes, taking Forsberg and Nashville’s most dangerous players completely out of the game.

When all was said and done, the Devils won the Grade A chance battle 20-6 against a desperate team. They did that despite spending 12+ minutes shorthanded.

I don’t care if the opponent is an AHL team; that’s impressive against anybody.

The best part about New Jersey’s performance: it felt par for the course.

The Devils aren’t going to win every night but they’ve proven – more often than not – we can expect structure, we can expect physicality, we can expect game-breaking plays from the stars, we can expect solid goaltending, we can expect quality special teams, and we can expect complete efforts where their game doesn’t completely disappear for long stretches.

This team is legit.

Nico led the way