Hope you don't hit any cars on the way home, drive safe! Fucking losers, what a lifeless sad team. You suck as a rival, I want a new one, you're no fun. "No Quit in NY" more like "Nothing but Quit in NY" amirite?
Let's review the tape this season against the Rangers so we can gloat a bit, shall we? 3-0-1, outscored them 16-4, with two shutouts at home. Their only win was in OT when we were entering the sunken place. That's the good stuff. Ideally that was the final nail in their coffin and while they technically aren't eliminated, Montreal is playing too well to seemingly give up much (if any) ground. The first time in franchise history the Devils have beaten the Rangers by 4 or more goals 3 times in the same season. Delicious.
I know I said the last lineup was the one, but this might actually be the one, until I praise the next lineup as the one. We clearly have a top six that can hang with anyone - Nico-Bratt-Noesen is a very dangerous line and can play a solid two-way game against the opposition's best. Timo-Mercer-Haula has been strong with the elevated play and production from Timo. I've liked the Tatar-Dowling-Palat line as a solid veteran 3rd line, low event, can get the puck in and cycle. Keefe started them each period for a reason. Glass-Cotter-Sprong had a rough outing from a metrics stand point, but they have more upside than anything else we can throw out there and really didn't give up anything all that dangerous, nor have I seen any egregious mistakes. Sorry to Bastian and Lazar, but this is the way. The D-Corps has been stabilized for now, Pesce-Luke has really stepped up as a first pair - top 15 in the league on xGF% and xGA, Kovacevic and Dumoulin have been a strong shut down pair, and I have been impressed with Dumoulin. Dillon-Casey had some adventures, but also contributed in significant ways.Top to bottom I liked it all.
Another strong first which has been a positive sign of late - we have officially moved past the slow starts that have been our issue for the better part of a year. To a man they were connected, had GREAT flow through the neutral zone, were tight on checks and dominated shot attempts (17-10) and xGF (70.95%). Igor had to make several good saves and finished the first with 1.1 GSAE. He's basically alone on an island there (see what I did there, haha I kill me). One thing that got mentioned in passing is our boys were able to get 2 practices in during the 4 game layoff, the same amount of practices they got in ALL OF MARCH. The Devils D-Zone structure had been falling off a bit, and the Broadcast said that is what they had been working on primarily. Also, good to get the new guys more in-tune with that. Offense comes from solid Defense so they say, and they are never wrong.
So I just said all that, so obviously the Rangers were going to show some pushback for the first 5 minutes or so of the 2nd. I Guessss they have some decent players, but their best offensive play drivers were Cullye and Bordzinski, which is bad for them. Marky stood tall though and cleaned up everything, and didn't kick out any gross rebounds. But that was about it for anything dangerous from them, the period started to get into some penalty trouble with the Devils taking the first one. We still got the most dangerous chance with Bratt on a truncated breakaway (hey dude, you don't need to go 5-hole every time). Marky made an outstanding stop on Zibanejad short side, right after a tip from Miller. When those tips aren't getting past him, you know he's locked in.
We got our first PP of the night, and set up perfectly on an O-zone faceoff aaaand we scored. 4 seconds, and what a sexy play. Nico wins it straight back, Luke drives a bit and hands off to Timo who unleashed a fucking ROCKET. The sound this thing made was crazy, I've watched it on high volume like 12 times. I'm no acoustician, but that was louder than the cannon in Columbus. That gives Timo 8 goals in his past 17 games, and his hot March continues into April, just like some lowly blogger predicted 3 months ago.
Uh-oh another penalty against, what ever are we gonna do??! Pull out the reverse Uno card and score again. LOL, what a shitshow the Rangers are. Elite play by Dillon that makes up for some of his questionable play of late. He read Mika creeping down the boards expecting a wrap, and he finds Bratt in the slot ready to go streaking with Nico on a 2-on-1. Bratt feeds Nico in the Nuetral zone, and puts his head down for the net. Stop the tape! Guys, Nico is so fucking good at hockey. There really isn't much that he doesn't do that is elite. He subtly opens his hips showing shot or pass, and baits Fox into sliding towards him (if you're a D, don't do that kiddos, always cut off the pass). Then he sends a flat, perfect chip saucer pass to Bratt who buries it. Kudos to Bratt for finding the space to receive that pass too - a very underrated skill as well. You can bomb to the net, but have to create the lane to receive the pass in a good shooting position. a 2-on-1 perfectly executed shorty is up there with pass-off-pad as one of my favorite goal types.
How good have our special teams been, eh? Devils are the best in the league combined: the only team in the top 4 on the PP AND the PK, sitting 4th on both. With Dougie coming back, I really don't see how you can break up this PP1 unit. Luke to Timo is a perfect connection, and with the spin coming off a Lefties stick vs a Righty it tees up Timo for his monster shot. It matters, trust me bro. Also, with Luke's dynamic skating and the movement they can create with Timo, Bratt, and Luke up top like they did on Nico's Hatty goal against Minnesota, adding Dougie's shot to PP2 will give us two lethal units. One can be predicated on motion and confusion, the 2nd can be more static and a traditional 1-3-1 predicated on Dougie shooting and crashing for rebounds. Whatever they do though, in Colliton we trust.
My only point of critique is the turtling in the 3rd while leading. Now, the Rangers haven't come back from a multi-goal deficit yet this season (sounds like a lot of Quit in NY) so it wouldn't matter, but this is something to keep an eye on come playoffs. We got dominated in shot attempts and scoring chances in the 3rd, 21-12 and 9-5 respectively, but we did manage to put this game away. I have been very hard on Mercer all season, but he has looked very good of late, and is a guy we could really use playing elite hockey come playoffs. He made an excellent drive, showing some power bullying past their D to get a 1 on 3 zone entry. The puck rimmed around to Timo, who blasted one wide - and our Irish Prince Seamus collected it and laid a beautiful cross ice pass (this was not an easy pass to make folks) to Timo who jammed it home. To revise my earlier statement: That gives Timo 9 goals in his past 17 games, and his hot March continues into April, just like some lowly blogger predicted 3 months ago.
So, we might have a little positional battle on our hands in Seamus vs Nemec. Right now I just think Casey has the juice and Nemec doesn't. Let's not get too carried away though and declare it over between the two, Casey has something like a .990 on-ice save percentage so his goalies have been good behind him, and every mistake Nemec makes winds up in the net. Their xGF% slightly favors Nemec (46% vs 51%) but their xGA/60 are basically the same (2.5) but Casey is giving up far fewer HD Chances against (1.5 vs 2.2). This last number leads me to think Casey is playing better within their D-zone structure and isn't making nearly as many egregious mistakes. Analytics tend to show regression to the norm, and if you are constantly getting caved in, eventually it will come back - so this is a caution anointing Casey some sort of permanent solution. The fact is, both barely "survive" in the Dzone, but Nemec isn't giving us anything offensively, and Casey is with his hands and skating he is far more engaged. He even had a nice stand up at the blue line in the 3rd that caused a turnover - all 150 lbs of him.
Further, Looking at the complexion of our D-Corps, we need someone who can create in the Ozone, and through the neutral zone until Dougie returns. Dillon made a great play on the Shorty, but generally the rest of the guys not named Luke handle the puck like it's a hand grenade. We need someone like Casey creating at the blue line, even if it costs us some D-zone time. I've mentioned this before but we basically only have 1 D-man contributing on offense (Luke) and our group is one of the worst offensive D groups in the league - so that added juice from Casey is the right move right now until Dougie returns.
Quick shout out to Palat - he got caved in but actually showed some offensive life. Need him to find that two way game to create some value for a trade this summer (as opposed to a buyout). Ned some "Playoff Palat" as the old men say.
Panarin and Miller were practically invisible all game. Luke, Pesce, and Nico shut down Parain while Mercer, Haula, Kovacevic, and Dumoulin took care of Miller. Neither cracked 1.5 xG over 60 minutes which is elite defensive play.
Marky was excellent and seems to be all the way back, stopping 3.75 GSAx (moneypuck). He is so fun to watch when he is fired up and in the gamer mentally. He isn't going to be satisfied with letting the puck just hit him - he wants to make saves. NEEDS to make saves. What a stud, he's back kiddos, 3 consecutive quality starts.This was very encouraging for the playoffs.
Some fun facts before I press send to the non existent editors:
- Nico 16 pts in his last 12 games
- Nico career high in goals, quietly in the top 15 with 35 goal season this year
- Nico's 96th multi-point game, tying Niedermayer for 12th in franchise history
- Nico's 9th 3 point game, tying him for 6th in franchise history
- 1st time on franchise history we have two goalies with 4+ shutouts
Nico will be top 3 in Selke (and hopefully wins), but honestly this guy should get some Hart votes - he is second in the league behind Leon in xGAR while playing 1st line, 1st unit PP, 1st unit PK, leads the league in Faceoffs. Crazy.
I don't want to play with you anymore Valiquette, your team sucks: no heart, no life, just a bunch of overpaid prima donnas. Carolina is our new #1 enemy.
LGD
