Rangers 2, Devils 1: The streak is over

Despite Mackenzie Blackwood's best efforts, the New Jersey Devils suffered their first loss of the preseason on Friday night.

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 observations from New Jersey vs New York:

Blackwood stole the show

Mackenzie Blackwood was very good during his preseason debut. He was flat out great against the New York Rangers. Watered down lineup or not, it was honestly one of the better performances we’ve seen from a Devils goaltender in recent years.

New Jersey started the game in truly miserable fashion. Forget generating zone time, scoring chances, or even shot attempts from range; they could barely touch the puck in the opening 20 minutes.

Shift after shift after shift they were chasing play in the defensive zone, which lead to a mind-numbing amount of breakdowns. It felt like every 30 seconds the Devils left a Rangers forward unmarked in the slot. Blackwood was constantly there to save the day.

While the Devils did a much better job of levelling the playing field over the final 40 minutes, they were lucky to have a chance at all.

After being out-attempted 36-6, and out-chances 16-4, it’s not an exaggeration to say the Devils could’ve easily been taken right out of the game by the end of the 1st.

With the team – and defense – the Devils will ice when the games count, they should very rarely need that kind of effort from a goaltender; but it’s nice to see they have someone capable of providing it.

Jack Hughes went full Jack Hughes