The game didn’t go exactly as planned for the New Jersey Devils, but in the end, the fans left Prudential Center happy with an opening night win and giddy at the arsenal of talent on display. Head coach Lindy Ruff lamented postgame that his team didn’t play connected hockey and that there seemed to be a breakdown on every line. He said he could probably find something wrong with the performance of each individual, but in the end, he was happy to garner a win. Here are three takeaways from game one of what looks to be an exciting season.
Vanecek in Midseason Form
One of the biggest questions heading into the season was whether the Devils need to bolster their goaltending. In his first start of the year, Vitek Vanecek showed that general manager Tom Fitzgerald’s faith in him was not misplaced. The Devils began the game slowly and were only in the game at the end of the first period because of the stellar play of Vanecek. Despite being outshot 14-6, the period ended scoreless. He finished saving one goal above expected, which is crucial in a game his team won by only one goal. His play wasn’t lost on his teammates either.
“In the first period (Vanecek) was the only one who was ready, to be honest. He showed his quality and made some big saves to keep us in the game.”
Jonas Siegenthaler, Oct. 12, 2023
Vanecek’s signature in his successful 2022-23 campaign was timely saves and keeping the Devils in games to allow their offense time to score. Against the Detroit Red Wings, he played like vintage Vanecek. He was solid positionally throughout the game, and used his athleticism to shut down seemingly open nets. If the Devils can get this form out of Vanecek all season they will be difficult to handle and the Vi-tek chants will continue to rain down from the Prudential Center rafters.
“The New Jack Hughes”
Fans got to see the full spectrum of what makes Jack Hughes the elite talent the Devils have built a franchise around. Down 1-0 in the second, Hughes took the game over scoring two goals to give the Devils their first lead of the season. The first goal came on the power play when Hughes took a pass from Ondrej Palat on the left wing, skated around defenseman Moritz Seider, then below the goal line and banked the puck off the back of goaltender Ville Husso. Five minutes later he gave the Devils the lead when he took the puck off of the right half wall, skated to the middle of the ice and blasted a no-look wrist shot over the shoulder of Husso.
The goals weren’t the only story of Hughes’ night. He was called for two penalties, one for roughing Seider, and a second for a retaliatory slash. The second penalty was costly as the Red Wings tied the game on the ensuing power play. After the game Hughes acknowledged that he lost his composure and conceded that he could not make that kind of mistake. “Obviously that’s not a good penalty for me to take, so I gotta own up to that and just look myself in the mirror…I gotta check my emotions there and that’s a bad play…I put our team down and let them back in the hockey game.”
Ruff echoed those sentiments when commenting on Hughes’ night. “We actually talked about it (the below-the-goal line shot) this morning. We thought we were going to see it once or twice and he hit the perfect spot. And then the second goal, he created that all on his own. So for Jack overall I think he had a good night. Two goals ruined his chance at the Lady Byng, the new Jack Hughes,” He also discussed Hughes’ growth. “He’s at the point where he understands and he knows that we don’t want to take (penalties), we had pretty good momentum going, but we gave them momentum and it is one area we talk about, we don’t want to spend an excessive amount of time in the penalty box.” Hughes was simply electric all night and was showered with chants of MVP, MVP from the sold-out crowd. An in-form Hughes means the Devils are never out of a game and can weather slow starts and poor stretches.
Fourth Line Shines
While Ruff felt that the team didn’t appear connected and that there was at least one player on the top three lines that had a rough night, he did find time to praise Tomas Nosek and his linemates, Michael McLeod and Curtis Lazar. “Every team needs a line that has role players, penalty killers, and faceoff guys. I thought Nosek had a good night, there were parts of their game I thought were really good.”
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The stats certainly back up Ruff’s assessment. The line played 6:33 at even strength and finished with an expected goals percentage of 95. They tilted the ice and also drew multiple penalties. Any time you can get production from your fourth line is a win for a team. Lazar in particular had an aggressive game, drawing two penalties, taking one, and leading the team with four hits. As Nathan Bastian gets closer to drawing back into the lineup, it will be interesting to see how Ruff doles out playing time with this unit.
The Devils return to action tonight against the Arizona Coyotes and rookie phenom Logan Cooley. It is likely that Akira Schmid will get the start in net.
