The New Jersey Devils returned to action on Friday evening, taking on a struggling St. Louis Blues team at the Enterprise Center. Akira Schmid got the start in net and had a stellar showing, despite two empty-net goals, making a 4-1 Devils’ loss seem way worse than it was.
A Nightmare for the Devils
Exactly nine minutes into the game, NHL points leader Jack Hughes was sent in alone on a partial breakaway, only to lose his footing and crash hard into the boards. The primary point of contact seemed to be his head/shoulder area. He stayed on the ice for quite some time, a period where time seemed to move in slow-motion and everyone’s hearts collectively sunk. He then skated off under his own power and returned a couple minutes later for a quick power-play shift.
After that shift, however, he went down the tunnel and was nowhere to be seen on the bench afterwards. This felt eerily similar to captain Nico Hischier’s injury against the Buffalo Sabres, where he came back for a shift and then left and has missed three games since. With Hischier already out, this was a situation that is close to a worst-case scenario for the Devils.
After the second period, Hughes was officially declared out with an upper-body injury. Following the game, head coach Lindy Ruff immediately remarked that he’ll be evaluated on Saturday, so everyone is temporarily in the dark. The Devils have an off day then, so any public answers should come Sunday.
If Hughes has to miss any time, Jesper Bratt will need to continue to carry a heavy workload in his absence. Bratt was double-shifting with the fourth line for most of the night.
Underperformance From Defensemen
It’s been way too long now that the team’s top two defensemen (John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler) have underperformed. It’s the primary reason why they’re fifth-worst in the league in even-strength goals-for percentage (GF%) at 41.03. (via Natural Stat Trick)
The Devils are now 6-3-1, which is respectable. But that’s been entirely because of their offense. Last season, the Devils were fourth-best in the league at even-strength with a 56.13 GF%. What they’re doing this season isn’t even remotely close; it’s a 15.1 percent drop-off.
Marino’s Corsi (CF%) in all situations is 41.7 percent, down from 54.4 percent last season. His expected-goals for (xGF) is 1.2 goals lower than his expected-goals against (xGA). That’s his worst differential since the COVID-shortened season in 2020-21. (via Hockey Reference)
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Siegenthaler’s xGF is 0.7 goals lower than his xGA as well, which happens to be the worst differential between the two in his career. He’s always been a net-positive player, but he hasn’t been this season. In this contest, the Blues created 21 chances to Siegenthaler’s 13 when he was on the ice (38.24 CF%). He was then benched by Ruff (along with Brendan Smith) for the last five minutes of the second period after they were unable to clear some bodies out of the crease, which led directly to the Blues’ second goal.
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These numbers show that both are failing to live up to their elite potential, but also (in most cases) hurting the team more than they’re helping. It’s almost indescribable how their play has plummeted, but there’s no way around it; they need to be better. The main culprit has been an inability to clear the puck along with untimely pinching which leads to odd-man rushes.
If Hughes misses time, defenseman Kevin Bahl admitted they have to be stronger in his absence, “Can’t win games 5-3 or 5-4, (now) we’ve gotta win them 2-1 or 1-0… we should be better all-around. I’ve gotta be better.”
That starts with the two top guys, who need to figure it out quickly.
Solid Goaltending Performance
With so much negativity surrounding this contest, there was an immense positive as Schmid gave the Devils their best goaltending performance of the season. He stopped 31 of 33 shots, good for a .939 save percentage (SV%) to raise his season total by 24 points, from .863 SV% to .887 SV%.
He looked much more like the poised, controlled, and confident Schmid from last season who made tough saves look easy. He was challenging shooters at the top of the crease and not letting up many rebounds.
Schmid was a huge factor in the Devils’ regular-season success last campaign, with a 2.13 goals-against average (GAA) and a .922 SV%. If he’s able to build off of this performance and hit the ground running, that will be crucial for the team the rest of the way.
While the defense has been extremely underperforming, they’ve lacked the big save from goaltenders when they need it most. Coming into the contest, they had the sixth-worst save percentage in the league (.881 SV%). In an ideal world, goaltending and defense will figure themselves out. But if just one of the two does, and the offense continues to produce, the Devils will continue to rack up victories.
Good Signs
Overall, there were some great signs as the Devils controlled most of the pace despite being without Hughes and Hischier. They had 62.96 percent of the high-danger chances in this game and Jordan Binnington had to stand on his head to steal a regulation victory.
Players like Bratt, Tyler Toffoli, and Timo Meier created a plethora of chances and were unable to finish. It happens. But with this occurring against a good defensive team in the Blues, it should give Devils fans hope that even if Hughes is out, they can get through.
Curtis Lazar got a well-deserved first goal of the season tonight, as he’s been top-five on the team in a good portion of advanced metrics, including first in Fenwick with 63 percent. They were also more disciplined as a team as they only ended up shorthanded twice. Both were successful kills.
They’ll face Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks in their next matchup at the United Center on Sunday night, 7:00 PM Eastern Time.