The New Jersey Devils headed to Columbus on Monday hoping to silence the cannon and return home with a second consecutive victory. They did so with courage, edge of the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 3-2.
Related: Blue Jackets failed on special teams in 3-2 loss to Devils
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Last season, the Devils struggled to string together a winning streak of more than three games. In fact, they haven’t won four in a row since a five-game stretch from January 7-16, 2023… more than 1,000 days ago.
In games following a win last season, they went 18-21-3 (.464 points%). When they lost, they were significantly better: 23-12-4 (0.641 points%). While their ability to bounce back from rough games has helped them get to the playoffs, most elite teams can string together a few long runs to establish themselves as forces within their division. The Devils obviously haven’t shown that ability yet, but stringing together two in a row early is a good start.
They will have to continue the positive momentum even if that doesn’t happen immediatelyit would be huge for them to get a 4+ game winning streak sometime before the holidays.
Timo Time…Ahead of schedule!
The advanced numbers have always said Timo Meier is as good a player for the Devils as he was for San Jose. But somewhat reasonably, fans wanted the counting stats to prove it.
There are two caveats as to why Meier has yet to climb back to the 40-goal plateau. The first is out of his control: he has been given significantly less power play, almost exclusively on PP2 when Jack Hughes is healthy. When I asked head coach Sheldon Keefe about Meier’s efforts after last season, he said, “A lot of it is with Jack and Bratt, they play the wings and do a great job. They’re elite at it.” [Similarly] Timo does a lot of his best work there, with his finishing ability in that flank. We tried it in different places and it didn’t go very well, so that’s something we need to look at [in the offseason].”
It seems like they certainly looked at it, as they had Meier running the flanks and bumper along with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. It has paid off on the very first chance while Meier scored.
The second caveat is that, outside of using power play, Meier has started all three full seasons as Devil at a snail’s pace. It’s no secret that he plays his best hockey in March, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because that’s usually when games are most important. However, he has now scored in his last two games and is a point-per-game player (3P in 3 GP). If that’s what the Devils get for a full 82, it could completely change the dynamic of the offense. Based on sheer skill alone, Meier is capable of single-handedly carrying them to victory every night.
More injuries…
As has been the theme in recent seasons, injuries continue to plague the Devils.
Tonight, Jake Allen was phenomenal through two periods, stopping 23 of 24 (.958%), including a host of high-danger opportunities. But surprisingly, the Devils took the ice for the third and Allen did not return to his crease; instead, Jacob Markstrom had to come in cold.
Fortunately, the team reported that it was just cramps. But that wasn’t the only injury scare: When the Blue Jackets scored with 20 seconds left in the third, Jacob Markstrom got off to a very slow start. As he took out the last taps, he rushed off the ice right after the final horn. It didn’t do much to convince him that he was actually doing well.
If there is an update, it likely won’t come until Wednesday as the Devils are off tomorrow (Tuesday). Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about.
Honorable mention: Punishment murder Success
The Devils certainly need to stay off the beaten path more than they already have. However, their penalty kill (PK) ranked second in the league last season at 82.7%. This offseason they added Connor Brown and Luke Glendening, two of the better PKers in the league, to that mix.
They went an incredible 5-for-5 on the PK and successfully held off the Blue Jackets’ desperate 6-on-5 attempts in a late-game one-goal effort. In 4:30 PK time with Jonas Siegenthaler on the ice, the Blue Jackets had just four shots attempts. Pretty phenomenal. (via Natural statistical trick)
Return to action
The Devils will look to continue the positive momentum on Thursday, October 16 for their home opener against the defending champion Florida Panthers.
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