Devils 6, Red Wings 2: Redemption

Despite controlling a lot of the play, the Devils were blown out by the Red Wings in Game 2 of the season. They returned the favor on Tuesday night.

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A few observations from New Jersey’s bounce back victory over Detroit:

Vitek Vanecek responded

Vanecek made his 2nd start of the season on Tuesday night and didn’t exactly hit the ground running.

He conceded a very soft goal less than three minutes into the contest, leading any and all Devils observers to think ‘here we go again.’

On the surface the goal was defensible. Dylan Larkin got behind the Devils’ top pairing and scored while being relatively unmarked in the slot. The problem is the shot had little to no mustard on it and still completely leaked through Vanecek.

It was the kind of easily stoppable goal we’ve seen Devils netminders concede consistently for years and, more often than not, it has completely deflated the team.

Thankfully, it didn’t; and Vanecek gave the guys no reason to hang their heads the rest of the way.

He stopped 19 of the final 20 shots faced and didn’t get beaten again until the Devils had a three-goal cushion built up well into the 3rd period.

What felt like the beginning of another tough night turned into – on the scoreboard – the team’s most dominant performance of the season.

As I’ve stressed time and time again, the Devils don’t need great goaltending to win. They might not even need good goaltending. They just need whoever is between the pipes to come up big a couple times a game and otherwise stop the easy, low percentage stuff they’re supposed to.

Following a shaky start to the game, Vanecek did just that. He made a really nice save on a give-and-go that resulted in David Perron getting a great look on goal from the slot. He fought through traffic and made some difficult saves without leaving rebounds. And that was enough!

All told Vanecek conceded 2 goals on *checks notes* 1.99 expected. That’s exactly the kind of goaltending I, uh, expected when the Devils acquired Vanecek.

He’s not going to be a Vezina candidate. He’s not going to steal many games. But he generally hovers around that break even mark – and that’s all the Devils can ask for.

I would think he has earned the nod Friday against Colorado.

Nico Hischier is hitting another level