G44 New Jersey Devils @ San Jose Sharks: The climb continues

The Devils have shot the lights out of late. That should continue against a struggling James Reimer.

Follow along on Twitter @ToddCordell | @InfernalAccess

Be sure to join the Discord channel to talk hockey, and everything else, with our writers and subscribers.

---

A few notes to get you set for New Jersey vs San Jose:

The shooting bender should continue

Remember when the Devils couldn’t finish any of their chances for a few weeks? Well, that problem has quickly disappeared.

New Jersey is back on track, having gone 6-3-1 over the last 10 games; and it has been their clinical finishing driving the bus.

The Devils have scored on 12.27% of their shots during that stretch, which is the 5th highest conversion rate in the league.

They’re not winning games because they’re dominating the run of play and generating significantly more chances than their opponent (although their underlying numbers are still fine). No, they’re winning because they’re shooting the lights out right now.

I think they’ll be able to continue doing so Monday afternoon against San Jose. Kaapo Kahkonen has been an unmitigated disaster this season and, after a respectable start to the year, projected starter James Reimer has joined Kahkonen in the gutter.

Since the beginning of December, 52 netminders have logged at least 300 minutes at 5v5. Reimer ranks 48th among them in save percentage (.884) and high-danger save percentage (.754).

That puts him in company with Kahkonen, Elvis Merzlikins, Petr Mrazek, and the league’s worst goaltenders this year.

Although San Jose has played well at 5v5 of late, they simply have no margin for error with the goaltending they’re getting. It honestly does feel like every good look ends up in the back of the net; a feeling Devils fans know all too well.

Given the way the big guns are playing, and how bad Reimer has been for a while now, the Devils should be able to outscore any problems in this one.

It’s Timo time