G51 New Jersey Devils vs. Seattle Kraken: Kick into high gear

The Devils have completed more than 60% of their season and are six points back of a playoff spot. They need to take things up a notch.

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A few notes to get you set for New Jersey vs. Seattle:

Open the floodgates

Jack Hughes has scored just one goal over his last 11 games dating back to before the most recent injury. This despite generating 33 chances, 39 shots, and upwards of 80 attempts in that span.

He is getting looks – and a lot of them. They just haven’t gone in. Hughes converted on only 2.56% of his shots, which is miles below the numbers we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.

Take the last 2.5 years, for reference. Hughes shot 15.8% in 2021-22, 12.8% in 2022-23, and is currently sporting a 10.1 SH% this season. Very good conversion rates.

Even if you believe Hughes is somewhat compromised from multiple upper-body injuries, I very much doubt that much of his shooting talent has been impacted.

So long as the chances continue to be there, it’s only a matter of time before he starts scoring again.

Tonight’s game against the Kraken appears to be a pretty decent Get Right spot. Although their 5v5 metrics are strong over the past 10, that largely stems from dominating xG against bottom-tier competition the last few games.

In the first five game stretch (against good competition), they posted a 43 xGF% and gave up 3.3 xG per 60 across all situations. Put another way, they were vulnerable defensively.

Hughes has looked dangerous in the couple of games since rejoining the lineup. I expect that to continue in this one and, if it does, he has a good chance of finding twine.

The danger zone