Month: September 2018

On the Devils’ radio feed of the game tonight, color man Ken Daneyko (who was filling in for Chico Resch on the radio side for this one) said that even though preseason games do not count, getting a win still goes a long way in terms of a team’s confidence. With a 5-3 Devils win at the Winnipeg Jets, they got just that boost of confidence.

The Devils played a game where they once again got into some penalty trouble – Winnipeg had four power plays on the night – but they also got some good play out of guys. And with final cuts coming before the team heads out to Europe for the 2018 NHL Global Series, some of the guys that stepped up really needed to.

This was the final preseason game for the Devils in North America. They will play in Bern, Switzerland on Monday. It was also a good challenge in a tough building on the road against a real Stanley Cup contender icing an NHL-caliber lineup. (Although the Jets were without Dustin Byfuglien for the night.)

One guy who was making his preseason debut was Miles Wood. Wood re-signed with the Devils just a few days ago and was held out of the game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. But he was in the lineup tonight and ready to get back into game shape.

In goal, Keith Kinkaid went for the Devils all sixty minutes. He made 21 saves on 24 Jets shots. For Winnipeg, Connor Hellebuyck started and finished as both teams were giving their starters the full game this late in the preseason. Hellebuyck made 22 saves on 27 shots in taking the loss.

The Devils hit the penalty box early, with Mirco Mueller going off for tripping at 8:22 of the first and Blake Coleman for high-sticking at 9:07 to give the Jets the early 5-on-3 man advantage. It would be shortened to a 4-on-3 when Winnipeg’s Mathieu Perreault was called for hooking at 9:47. The Devils weathered that storm. As mentioned, the Jets were 0-for-4 with three shots on the man advantage. The Devils were 0-for-2 with three shots as well.

Winnipeg seemed to have things in hand early in the game when Perreault – who had hit a post early in the period – scored from Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele at 13:11 of the first period. The Jets had most of their big guns in the lineup and had the early 1-0 lead.

But it took less than two minutes for the Devils to tie things up. At 14:57, Andy Greene scored off of a nice feed from Jesper Bratt with the secondary assist to Marcus Johansson.

New Jersey would take the lead before the first period was out when the puck went off of Kyle Palmieri’s leg, the post, his arm and in behind Hellebuyck. Palmieri reacted in a way to indicate that he did not purposely bat the puck in off of his arm. The officials had a conference and it was ruled a good goal. Taylor Hall and Sami Vatanen had the assists.

Vatanen would score his second point of the night when he scored just 1:21 into the second period from Hall (who also had a two point game) and Palmieri (who likewise had a goal and an assist). It was 3-1 Devils just like that.

But the Jets would hang around as Kyle Connor scored 9:10 into the second from Scheifele (who had a two point game as well) and Wheeler (the fifth player in the game with a multi-point game with two assists).

Following that goal, Kinkaid would make two huge stops on Patrik Laine midway through the second.

But in the third period, the Devils would retake a two goal lead when hometown boy, Winnipeg native Travis Zajac scored just 17 seconds into the final frame. He got assists from Wood and John Quenneville. The Devils were up 4-2, but that would not last long.

The Jets got back within one at the 3:07 mark when Skyler McKenzie scored from Joe Morrow and Seth Griffith. That made it 4-3.

The Devils would finally put the game away when Damon Severson scored from Johansson (also with a two point game) and Will Butcher. That gave us our final of 5-3. Severson had made a nice “glove save” earlier in the game when he batted a surefire Jets goal out of the air to keep deny them.

Late in the game – with less than four minutes left in the game – Ben Lovejoy was given an interference penalty against Kristian Vesalainen. While shorthanded, Pavel Zacha broke free for a breakaway but shot wide off the backhand, just missing making it 6-3 Devils.

Stats-wise, the Devils were led in time on ice by Vatanen, who had 24:12 (including 1:36 on the power play and 2:21 shorthanded). Zajac led all forwards with 17:27 (1:19 on the PP, 2:35 on the PK). Wood and Severson led in shots on goal with four each while Coleman had six of the Devils’ 18 hits to lead in that category. Greene led in blocked shots with three of the team’s 12.

Next up, the Devils travel to Bern, Switzerland to take on SC Bern of the Swiss National League in their final preseason tune-up. That game is at 1:30 PM on Monday and we will have highlights up for you as soon as possible.

Tonight the NHL Network debuted the new series “Behind the Glass: Inside the New Jersey Devils Training Camp” and it was a solid look at what goes in to a National Hockey League training camp.

The episode opened giving viewers an overview of where the Devils have been and where they were recently by subtly showing the Stanley Cup banners hanging in Prudential Center and head coach John Hynes talking about the recent lack of success for the team until making the postseason last year.

The opening establishes that they will be following captain Andy Greene as the grizzled vet looking to get one last shot at winning a Stanley Cup; 2017-18 NHL MVP Taylor Hall and the veteran core of the club as well as the young prospects and talent that is coming in trying to find their way on to the team.

Hall is shown at the NHL/NHLPA media tour in Chicago where he is doing interviews and other appearances on behalf of the league and the team. Hall said that he was “happy to be in New Jersey” and felt that the fans and franchise have really accepted him. He reiterated a few times during the episode that hearing the “M-V-P!” chants at Prudential Center down the stretch was a motivating factor to him and one of the coolest things to happen in his hockey career.

We then hear from Greene and see him arriving at The Rock for the opening of training camp. Coach Hynes then gives a pep speech before camp begins, preaching to the players about competing and starting with a clean slate: no one cares about what they did last season, they need to prove themselves fresh in 2018-19.

Hynes’ home life is profiled as we see him playing basketball and ping-pong with his family and he speaks to just being able to come home and not feel too much of the pressure he has during an NHL season.

We then switch to the goalie problems the team has been having due to Cory Schneider’s hip injury. Keith Kinkaid is trying to stay sharp and show that he can play well if needed again this year, should Cory need extra time to heal. We see Cory working out in the weight room and rehabbing.

John Quenneville’s road is covered. He was drafted by the Devils four years ago and feels this is his make-or-break year. His dream is to play in the NHL and he feels he could make the Devils out of camp. Quenneville’s grit is highlighted as he chirps teammates during scrimmages. Hynes mentions that he is “not a quiet kid.”

The story of Blake Speers making the opening night roster in 2016 is recounted and then his regression the following year as he felt he put way too much pressure on himself to make the team in 2017. He wants to make a push to make the team this year, but his plans hit a snag when he breaks his nose on the first day of camp. He, of course, would play through it and was wearing a full face shield in Montreal for the preseason game up there.

Kurtis Gabriel and his toughness and grit are profiled next. He is the kind of player that Hynes likes and will be given a chance because of what he brings to the team. He is shown during the Rangers game that would follow engaging the opposition and trying to get under their skin.

We then get to the preseason games, as the team has a split squad pair of games home against the Rangers and in Montreal against the Canadiens. The Devils, of course, lost in both games, but as the narrator points out, preseason is about finding a rhythm for the vets and for the rookies to make an impression. Speers did just that, scoring the lone goal in the Montreal game despite his injury.

That leads us to the final scene as management are all huddled together in a room giving each player a performance grade on a scale of one to five for the games the night before.

Overall it was a great start to a series that is groundbreaking for Devils fans. Although this has been done in the NFL and in the Road to the NHL Winter Classic, this is something totally different for the Devils. Under Lou, we would never have seen anything like this and the (semi)transparency is amazing. Although the team is only letting you see what they want you to see, it is still so much more of a connection than we would have gotten.

This franchise has come a long way in marketing and promoting itself. Success on the ice will hopefully continue to build because now, you really feel you want these guys to succeed on a human level.

The next episode airs at 7:30 PM on Monday, October 1 on the NHL Network. We will have a recap of the episode up for you here shortly after.