On Oct. 27, the Devils headed into game seven against the Buffalo Sabres looking to rebound from a performance where their coach said they played “soft.” Head coach Lindy Ruff mixed up his line combinations at the morning skate to jump-start his team and get more ice time for Curtis Lazar. The team responded by defeating the Sabres 5-4, but the victory was expensive as a hit from Connor Clifton has sidelined Nico Hischier ever since.
Similarly, the Devils headed into Saturday’s matchup one game removed from a performance that Ruff called the worst he’s seen in his entire Devils tenure. The Devils began to climb out of the hole they constructed for themselves with a more detailed game on Friday (Nov. 24). Then, they followed it up on Saturday (Nov. 25)with a return to the type of hockey that propelled them to a team record in wins last season. Buoyed by the return of Hischier, the team scored four first-period goals and never looked back en route to a 7-2 thrashing of the Buffalo Sabres.
“I liked a lot about how we came out…We managed the puck a lot better, the decisions were better, we just got to continue to be diligent with that, a lot to like about how we went about our business in that game.”
Lindy Ruff
The Devils got everything they wanted out of the game. They got off to a quick start, didn’t allow odd-man rushes, scored in bunches at 5v5, and got a measure of retribution against the player who put their captain out of action for 11 games. Brendan Smith has been a revelation in two games as a fourth-line winger, adding physicality and energy to the forward group every time he climbs over the boards. After the game was in hand, Smith challenged Clifton and got the better of a quick wrestling scrum between the players, to the delight of many of the fans and earning him respect from his teammates and coach.
Return of the Cap
There was a buzz all afternoon that the Devils may activate captain Nico Hischier for the game almost a month from the day he last played. Hischier was welcomed by cheers from the early arrives when he hit the ice for warmups and was quickly treated to “Nico, Nico” chants early in the first period. The energy derived from his return was palpable, and the results tangible as the Devils played their best period of hockey since Game 7 against the Rangers.
Hischier led the way as his line put up six points in the first period, with he and Ondrej Palat each finding the net and Jesper Bratt assisting on each goal. The line was dominant and set the tone for the evening. Hischier’s impact was certainly felt on ice, but his return raised the spirit and focus in the room. Defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler shared, “We missed him a lot, and now he’s back. He played a pretty good game, and I think everybody is happy to have him back.”
Ruff described the impact that Hischier’s return had on the entire lineup, saying that Nico helps in many areas, including taking on the other team’s top line defensively. He also pointed to making it difficult on the opposition as now it could not just focus on shutting down Hughes’ line. Ruff also mentioned that Hischier’s return pushed some guys back down the lineup into spots they felt more comfortable playing in, and that comfort translated into better play.
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For someone as competitive and integral to the team, sitting out had to be eating away at Hischier over the last month. Siegenthaler, one of his closest friends on the team, said, “Yeah, it wasn’t easy for him. I talked with him a lot during that time. He’s a guy who always wants to help, especially he wants to help his team .He probably would have come back right away, but it wasn’t possible. He took his time, and he’s healthy, and it’s just good to have him back. We could really feel that he was back tonight.” That feeling was obvious in the way the team rallied around him.
5v5 Play Tells the Story
The Devils entered play with the second-worst shooting percentage at 5v5 in the NHL. As a team, they were shooting under 6.5% at 5v5 and had been outscored by 16 goals. New Jersey is creating chances 5v5 (xGF 51%) but simply not finishing (GF 38%). The forwards aren’t scoring, the defense is allowing too many opportunities, and the goalies aren’t making key stops. It isn’t just one easy fix. Or maybe it was. All the team had to do was reinsert Hischier, and the 5v5 problems evaporated.
For one night at least, it all seemed to change as the Devils crushed the Sabres at 5v5 almost from the puck drop. The Devils smothered the Sabres with their speed and forecheck and did not let up. For a team that came in -16 at 5v5 to outscore the Sabres, 5-0 is a great sign moving forward. The Devils entered the game averaging 51 xGF% but played to an xGF% of 84.11. They were dominant in every zone and throughout the game at 5v5, not just offensively but defensively as well. Shots were 32-9, scoring chances were 40-6, and high-danger chances were 17-3.
The success was achieved up and down the lineup as the Hischier, Palat, Bratt line, and the Erik Haula, Michael McLeod, and Alexander Holtz lines both played to xGF% over 90. Those two lines outchanced the Sabres 23 to 1. “I feel like this was one of our best 60-minute efforts for sure,” related Alexander Holtz after the game. “We talked a lot about that before the game to keep (connected) in the defensive zone, and the offensive zone will come.” It certainly won’t be this easy in every game, but the Devils should be happy to be moving in the right direction.
Secondary Scoring
Scoring has been at a premium the last few weeks as the Devils struggled to find offense anywhere other than the power play. That changed tonight as the team netted seven goals by six different players and none by leading scorer Jack Hughes. As the team gets healthier and players can return to their regular lines, it stands to reason that secondary scoring will improve. This isn’t a team that you would imagine having difficulty scoring, but you don’t have to look further than Friday’s (Nov. 24) game against the Blue Jackets, where they could only muster one goal on 41 shots.
The emergence of Alexander Holtz as a legitimate threat has taken time, but the organization’s patience is beginning to pay dividends. He scored his second goal in as many games and his sixth of the year. In the same amount of games, the 21-year-old forward has done a better job of finding open areas in the slot, making himself available to passers, and then burying his chances. He has found chemistry playing with McLeod, feeds off the center’s playmaking, and is the beneficiary of McLeod’s puck retrievals and forechecking.
“I just want to be a consistent goal scorer. I don’t want to have a slump, so I just want to keep producing every game…I feel like my forechecking game is getting stronger for sure, you get a lot more loose pucks and more trust from your teammates so of course my offense can open up.”
Alexander Holtz
Holtz isn’t the only forward contributing. Tyler Toffoli leads the team with 11 goals and has done exactly what he was brought in to do. Ruff has been very pleased with Toffoli, “He cares about winning. He cares about playing the game the right way. He’s been there before. He’s been in the battles, and that experience can be helpful to a lot of our guys.” The Devils got multi-point games from eight different players against Buffalo. With the depth this team deploys, these types of games should be the rule, not the exception, and are the key to climbing back into playoff position.
There is a chance that Timo Meier returns to play on Tuesday (Nov. 28) against the New York Islanders. Meier had been hot at the time of his injury, riding a three-game scoring streak in the absence of Hischier and Hughes. Adding him back into the lineup now that the top six is back to full strength should help ameliorate what has ailed New Jersey and give them a real chance to regain their footing and fulfill the promise they showed before the injuries took hold.
The Devils return to action Tuesday night (Nov. 28) at home against the Islanders.
