The Devils Got Challenged By a Desperate Team, Stood Their Ground, And Took Four Points in the Back-To-Back. More of that, please.
If the Devils are going to have any success come playoff time, they need far better efforts than some of the games we’ve seen of late.
After getting their doors blown off again by the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, the Devils were in a position where they needed to get right back out there the following night against what might be a similarly struggling team to themselves in the Minnesota Wild.
Much like the Devils, Minnesota hasn’t played their best brand of hockey since the Christmas break. Entering Saturday’s game, Minnesota was 20-17-1 since then, which is better than the Devils mark since then and certainly not bad. Either way, they haven’t exactly played their best of late. Like the Devils, they’re missing key players like Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek. Like the Devils, they have the feel of a team that will probably be one-and-done once the playoffs start. Unlike the Devils, they’ve fallen out of a Top 3 spot in their division, with Dallas having long overtaken them, a white-hot St. Louis Blues team effectively catching them, and the 9th place Vancouver Canucks getting a little too close for comfort this time of year.
For those reasons, I thought Saturday and Monday’s games were an interesting litmus test for this Devils team and where they are with the playoffs just a few weeks away. While its far more likely than not that the Devils and the Wild have already done enough to secure their playoff spots, its not officially locked in until its locked in and there’s that little “x” next to their name in the standings indicating they’ve clinched. The Devils just got destroyed on the road against a superior opponent and were going to be on the second half of a back-to-back with travel. Minnesota lost 2 of their last 3 prior to facing the Devils. Nothing is a given and you have to go earn it.
Additionally, nobody wants to back into the playoffs. This is the time of year where teams want to be playing well and ramping things up for what’s to come in the not too distant future. Minnesota is in a similar spot to the Devils where points are at a premium. Tensions are probably running a little high due to the extended period of mediocrity both teams have gone though, and you need to have that level of desperation that a team needs this time of year.
I say all that to say that I was very pleased to see the Devils not only win both games, but embrace those challenges head on against a team like Minnesota.
In Saturday’s case, it helps that the Devils got out to an immediate lead and never trailed throughout the game but the Devils shouldn’t apologize for getting out to a lead either. It’s better than the alternative.
Once the Devils got out to that lead though, I was pleased with how the Devils played to ultimately keep and build on that lead. The Devils skated hard to loose pucks and won on the boards to create opportunities. That’s not to say that Minnesota didn’t take advantage of their opportunities as they battled to get it to 3-2 NJ in the third period. But it would’ve been easy for the Devils to turtle once again like some recent losses, blow the lead, and squander at least one point if not both of them, and ultimately lose the game.
Part of why I was pleased was seeing the Devils players be their best players, which is something I consistently harp on but is ultimately true. They’ll go as far as guys like Nico Hischier lead them and he certainly did with the hat trick. Jesper Bratt continued his torrid point pace and is a legitimate threat to threaten the mark Jack Hughes set two seasons ago for most points in franchise history. Luke Hughes continues to emerge as the Devils best all-around defenseman and is playing with all sorts of confidence right now. Even guys who didn’t find the scoresheet like Timo Meier were good in this one.
But I was also pleased at the Devils response once Minnesota tried to drag the game into the mud. I was pleased with how Johnathan Kovacevic immediately dropped the mitts once Marcus Foligno delivered an unnecessary hit (and uncalled penalty) to Brian Dumoulin along the boards. I was pleased with how Jacob Markstrom finally had enough of random Wild players taking an extra whack at his pads and going after Vinnie Hinostroza after the whistle.
Minnesota tried to push the Devils around physically. The Devils pushed back and stood their ground.
That is exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to why physicality, finishing checks, and being tough to play against still matters and why its important to not be a soft team full of chumps who is easily pushed around.
It’s not a coincidence that the Devils played their best hockey this season in the early portion of the season where they were able to establish a forecheck, where the compete level was high and they played hard, where they won puck battles along the boards, and where they withstood and outlasted a physical response from the opposition. To an extent, the Devils got back to that these last few games.
Minnesota played a desperate game. The Devils were more desperate and won.
Fast forward to Monday and Minnesota came out of the gates with an immediate push and barrage of shots on Jacob Markstrom. Like I just said though, the Devils best players need to be their best players, and Markstrom played the best he has since he returned from the injured list. 4 goals allowed over two games isn’t going to jump off the stat page as being all that impressive but when you consider one goal against was off of a bad bounce off a turnover, one was off a scramble which does happen, and the others are off of redirections, blaming the goaltender would be short-sighted. Markstrom gave them a chance to win both games, which is more than he had been doing of late. It’s another positive sign.
The Devils withstood that barrage, took the lead on a Luke Hughes goal (again, your best players being your best players), and kept Minnesota an arm’s length away. That’s not to say that the game was never in doubt. The Devils had to overcome a bit of adversity between two overturned goals (one being the overtime winner until it wasn’t), a horrendous phantom holding call on Brian Dumoulin, and Brenden Dillon’s turnover that led to the game being tied 2-2 in the first place. But at the end of the day, the Devils best players stepped up, they overcame said adversity instead of folding like a cheap suit, and they got another much-needed character win.
More of that, please.
Yes, Minnesota is “just Minnesota”. They’re not an elite team. The Devils can’t control what Minnesota is and isn’t though. What they can control is how THEY play and how consistent they are in how they approach each game. And the Devils need to be more consistent playing like that. The level of competition won’t be getting any more difficult over the next six regular season games but it will get more difficult when the Devils travel to Raleigh for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal in a few weeks.
The Devils will face a Carolina Hurricanes team that takes pride in their forecheck, and while I wouldn’t consider Carolina to be on the level of the Florida Panthers when it comes to physicality and extracurriculars, they’re going to present challenges like what Minnesota showed. They’re well coached. They play hard. They have talent. And they’re going to play with a level of desperation. This is the playoffs after all.
The Devils are facing an uphill battle when it comes to actually winning in the playoffs. We know they’re not getting Jack Hughes or Jonas Siegenthaler back, and we don’t know what Dougie Hamilton will be if and when he comes back, so they have to work with what they have and make the most of it. Carolina might ultimately prove to be too much for them like they were two seasons ago. And even if the Devils get by Carolina, they’ll likely have Washington next followed by whoever survives the Atlantic Division side of the bracket. It’s not an easy road.
If the Devils are going to have any chance though, it’s going to be because they’re playing like how they’ve played the last few games. Is it perfect hockey? Absolutely not. Are the Devils a perfect team? Absolutely not. But for at least a couple nights in late March, they showed they’re capable of taking a punch and having a response. They showed a little character. They showed that yes, they can raise their game to some extent. They showed that the team that we saw in the first few months of the season isn’t completely dead and gone.
If the Devils can play with that compete level. If they skate hard and battle along the walls. If they can get enough timely saves. If their best players show up. If they can survive when the opposition pushes. If they can limit the high danger chances. If they can limit the mistakes. If they don’t wilt once they face the slightest adversity.
That’s a lot of “ifs”.
Ideally, the Devils turn those “ifs” into “whens”.
The Devils will probably lose at some point this spring to a better team. All I ask is that they don’t go down like chumps and go down swinging. If the Minnesota games are any indication, the Devils are capable of not only taking a punch or two, but giving one back. They showed they’re capable of playing a winning brand of hockey, and perhaps if some players raise their game even more, maybe they’re capable of stealing a series or two. Or at least making the other team earn it instead of having an effective first round bye.
That’s a reasonable ask of this group heading into the playoffs, all things considered.