It's been a few days since I wrote up something, I'm sure nothing at all happened between the Nashville game and Detroit, nothing at all that I can remember. Nope. Blacked out.
Hope all of pucker nation had a lovely Thanksgiving, and as the spreadsheet boys like to point out, 75% of teams in a playoff spot at this marker make the playoffs. I think that's a little misleading because wildcards have changed that dynamic a lot, but our boys are an elite team and firmly in the top tier of the league. Numbers! YAY:
1st in xGF% all situations, 3rd 5v5, 1st in xG differential
9th in corsi all situations, 10th 5v5
1st in Net PP%, 5th in Net PK%
5th in shots for/game, 5th in shots against/game
But what does this all mean? It means your New Jersey Devils are so back boy and girls.
I was in charge of cooking this year, in someone else's kitchen. I wish a couple of dishes turned out a little better, one of my loafs of bread didn't rise like I wanted it to, but we got through the day, food was plentiful, politics successfully avoided, and my mashed potatoes were top 5 I've ever made.
If you haven't figured out the half ass analogy here, I'm also talking about goaltending. I'm sure Markstrom would want that first one back, but keep in mind that the stick technology and shooting ability of even the biggest scrub in the NHL is better than it has ever been in the league. We have discussed on the pod a few times about how league-average save percentage has declined each year, and now hovers around .900. Markstrom made multiple game saving stops after the first two goals, including a short-handed breakaway and several post to post hyper-athletic glove and blocker saves - the team is now 15-0-0 when leading after 2 periods. That means he is locking it down and getting us the wins when it counts. I take that all day.
Ok, now - how fuckin' good is the power play?! This is insane, we are having fun, this is fun. I know our 5v5 scoring needs to get a little better - sitting at league average in goals for and against differential - but if this PP continues to cook like this, we will win a lot of games. Speaking of 5v5, this is the last lingering issue from the Ruff regime: our offense was so reliant on rush chances, and we need to learn how to generate offense in-zone form the cycle and down low. Keefe mentioned this pre-game as well, and it has reared its head in the shoutout losses.
Prison seemed to really do wonders for Timo, that glorious sexy beast came out FLYING. 93% xG share, 83% corsi, 5 shots and a new "No Ragrets" tattoo. The noise his PP goal made was so goddamn sexy. He looked like the guy we traded for, and is a massive piece for us moving forward. He has historically started slow, and wasn't producing like we wanted but that was a very encouraging performance.
It was also good to see Nico and Jack get on the scoresheet in the same game with matching G/A stat lines. Having them both going at the same time will make us unstoppable. Nico did some real Selke shit at the end of the game, winning 3 massive draws, just absolutely massive "meet the moment" ..umm.. moments.
I've been pining for more production from the D corps, and it looks like Dougie has awoken. 3 goals in his last 4, and last night that was a SNIPE. Our favorite blond man rocket seems to be over the torn tittle.. 8th in D scoring int he league, It's going to be interesting to see if he gets any sort of consideration for the 4 nations rosters that get announced next week, but probably just will be on the outside looking in.
LUKEY! Holy shit man, I cannot get over the year 2 progression of this kid. He has been our best 2-way D the past 6-7 games by all metrics and play. He just toys with people at the blue line, and once he buries one the floodgates will open. Put Timo's PP goal right in his wheelhouse, which is an underrated skill.
Hey, Rasmussen... nice game ya fucking loser. Last on the team in game score, lost to our 4th best fighter, and you generally suck at hockey. Hope you're happy with that stupid shit you did to Jack. The one annoying thing is we clearly put out a revenge lineup but our best revenge guy didn't get a chance to "respond" after absolutely gassing himself up with smelling salts. Hopefully this doesn't hurt us for the back to back, as we have the caps today and were running 10 forwards for a large portion of the game.
Tuna getting hurt isn't great, I haven't seen an announcement about him yet, but hope it's not serious. Our depth is already being tested and Fitz may need to pull the trigger on a 4th line move or more call-ups (I think Halonen deserves a look now).
Speaking of call-ups, Utica has won 4 in a row. Before the Devils have. What a world. They dug themselves a serious hole and now need to climb out of it. Casey keeps racking up the points including a game winner last night. On their official social account, they put out a nice feature about Gambardella and his return from a lengthy injury. I laughed, I cried.
Around the division: I really wish the Caps and Canes would knock this shit off. .717 win % is a 116 pt pace. Fuck those guys. On the other hand the loser point merchants loser point merchanted again. At some point the Islanders need to be investigated by the FBI for this shit, but the blown losses... I am amused.
Taking a peek across the river and OH GOD OH NO WHAT HAPPENED??! 5 losses in a row? team imploding? No heart? What a shame, thoughts and prayers. I would never ever in a million years recommend a Larry Brooks column, but I will credit the absolute poetry he put out last night. Combined with Stan Fischler's twitter heater, I am seated and waiting on my popcorn.
Need a big W against the Caps and keep the train rolling. Strike first, strike hard, no mercy. Eat a dick Tom Wilson.
LGD
