Nemec shines, top line struggles, in Devils win over Rangers

Simon Nemec largely played well against the best lineup he's seen in preseason play.

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The New Jersey Devils took care of business Thursday night, beating the New York Rangers by a 3-1 scoreline. Let’s get into some observations from the game:

Simon says tilt the ice 🧊

Simon Nemec had a blunder – albeit partly due to bad luck – on New York’s only goal, holding the puck on a breakout before firing a pass off Adam Edstrom’s leg and into his own net. Otherwise, it was largely positive for Nemec against the Rangers.

He faced the best and deepest lineup he’s seen all preseason and handled himself well. The Devils dominated in his minutes, winning the shot attempt battle 30-11.

They had the quality to match as his xG share (76%) was actually higher than his attempt share (73%). It wasn’t as if the Devils sprayed low percentage shots but gave up better ones at the other end.

While Nemec was not perfect by any means, I continue to see real growth in his game – especially with the puck.

He is so much more confident and involved in all three zones. He’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting in breakouts and play build-up and actually looks to get in on the play in the offensive zone.

Nemec finished with seven primary shot contributions at 5v5, most of any defenseman on the roster.

A season ago, it almost felt like he didn’t want the puck to come his way. Now, he’s moving to find openings to get it back and keep possessions going.

Admittedly, I was a little worried the Edstrom hiccup would take his confidence away and have him play more hesitantly. That wasn’t the case and Sheldon Keefe made note of it after the game.

Another note before I move past Nemec: he once again led the team in ice time (and GameScore!) and took plenty of extra shifts after Brett Pesce left the game.

Keefe has made a concerted effort to play the crap out of Nemec in the preseason, whether he’s trying to instill confidence, test him out, or a combination of the two. So far, so good.

The top line looked out of sync 😬