The New Jersey Devils have officially found their rhythm. On Sunday afternoon they earned their sixth victory of the season with an impressive 7-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The club is currently the top team in the Metropolitan Division and ranked third in the league behind the Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights.
It wasn’t exactly a large crowd as only 11,547 fans were in attendance for the matinee matchup. It was an afternoon of celebration as the team honored Ken Daneyko for his 40-year career as both a defenseman and broadcaster. The Stanley Cup champion was surprised with his own Silver Stick during a ceremonial puck drop before he made his way back to the broadcast booth.
Devils Looking to Find & Build Consistency This Season
Consistency is something the team has struggled with for the past several seasons, and is a source of frustration for Devils fans. Multiple players have spoken about it this season including veteran Brendan Smith who talked to the media about earning back-to-back wins.
“I think you try and preach even-keel,” Smith said after Saturday’s practice, “and I think the biggest thing is after a big win like it was [against the Avalanche], if you come out and stink it up the next game, what’s the point? So you want to keep building on those performances. It becomes a test to ourselves to keep moving this in the right direction. I know we’ve been cliché in saying to try to get better every day and be hard to play against but if you take those games off, or are being inconsistent, that’s the opposite of what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
Well, mission accomplished as the club had a very successful first month of the season with a record of 6-3-0 including two winning streaks of three consecutive games.
New Jersey’s New Look Penalty Kill Continues to Find Success
At I write this, the Devils have the fourth-best penalty kill percentage in the league behind the New York Islanders, Boston Bruins, and San Jose Sharks. New Jersey has not allowed a goal while shorthanded over the last three games going a perfect 11-for-11.
Related: 4 Devils Takeaways From 1-0 Win Over the Avalanche
Entering this season I was curious who would take over Jimmy Vesey and Janne Kuokkanen’s roles on the penalty kill. Even though the Devils have only played nine games, it seems that we have our answer. Erik Haula leads all forwards averaging 2:57 shorthanded, and behind him, it’s Yegor Shangovich, Nico Hischier, and Nathan Bastian.
Michael McLeod, who led all forwards last season, only played 35 seconds on the penalty kill last night. He has found his ice time diminishing in part because of the arrival of Haula. On Oct. 25, the Devils earned a victory over the Detroit Red Wings and were shorthanded three times. McLeod did not play once on the penalty kill as the coaching staff utilized the four aforementioned forwards.
Individual Devils Impress
It was a team effort Sunday afternoon as 13 different players earned at least a point. Let’s break down some of the more notable performances.
Jesper Bratt
The 24-year-old has picked up right where he left off last season. Through nine games Jesper Bratt has 11 assists and 15 points, which is fifth-best in the league behind Connor McDavid, David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl, and Artemi Panarin. He scored his fourth goal of the season Sunday afternoon and is tied for the team lead alongside Hischier. He is currently riding a nine-game point streak and has a point in each game to start the 2022-23 campaign. The only player in Devils history to have a longer season-opening point streak is Tim Higgins back in 1984-85 which spanned 10 games.
Jonas Siegenthaler
If there was one player I noticed in the first period, it was Jonas Siegenthaler. He seemed to be buzzing all over the ice, recording two shots on goal within the first two minutes of the game. He later drew an interference penalty, which led to the Devils’ first power play opportunity. In the second period, he had two early missed shots and it was not a surprise that he scored his first goal of the season in the third period. After the game head coach Lindy Ruff joked about Siegenthaler scoring a power play goal saying it was a rare call by the announcer.
Nico Hischier
The team captain has eight points (four goals, five assists) in nine games. On Sunday he earned his fourth goal of the season in addition to notching an assist on Fabian Zetterlund’s goal. After the game, coach Ruff talked about Nico’s start.
“You know, I said I always wanted to see the real Nico and I think what we are seeing is the best of Nico…there’s a lot of good stuff…he’s really taking this leadership thing to a whole new level, and he is the guy that I think everybody’s looking to.”
Notable Quotables
Lindy Ruff on Winning for Ken Daneyko:
“That win was for Dano [Ken Daneyko]. We actually talked about it before the game. 40 years with the same team, and I think that pumped our defensemen up tonight, they got three goals tonight. We said in honor of Dano, and we had some of his scoring touch.”
Nico Hischier on His Team’s Back-to-Back Performances:
“It shows character. Like I said earlier in the season, if we win we can’t get too high and if we lose we can’t get too low. We need to have that consistency. We came out to play today and it was an all-around fun game.”
Jonas Siegenthaler on Ryan McGill:
“He’s all about those little details. He repeats it on the bench and you hear it all the time. It’s kind of in the back of your head already, but you know it’s important for the game and I think everybody does a good job.”
After the game the players gathered outside the locker room to leave for their upcoming three-game road trip. They said goodbye to their families before they stepped onto the bus and headed towards the airport. The club will hold an afternoon practice today at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and will play the first game of their Western Canada trip on Nov. 1 versus the Vancouver Canucks. Check back on Tuesday afternoon for a gameday preview breaking down all the action.
