The Devils Dominion

  The Devils seem to have found themesevles in their own version of the movie Groundhog Day. Except their version takes place in a packed arena on Thanksgiving Eve.    Opening Scene *Pan Camera to the Prudential Center* The Devil’s take the ice on Thanksgiving Eve looking to extend their win streak as their opponents in blue come into town. The referees make & miss many questionable calls against them, they go down early in the first and the opposition goalie stands on his head. Fans clutch their chicken nuggets, with flashbacks to two years ago where they face a similar fate…thinking to themselves will this happen again every thanksgiving eve? *Fade to Black* End Scene Photos by Rich Graessle/Getty Images Before the puck drop, the team put together a wonderful presentation for Markstrom in honor of his 500 th game. That was the end of any of the good vibes last night. A few seconds into the game, the referees decided to ignore an obvious trip which lead to t...

As Luke laces up for his 100th NHL game tonight, I thought it would be fitting to write my first player spolight about his development and season so far. Entering the 24-25 season, Devils fans were excited to see the steps that Luke Hughes would make going into his second full professional season. Just over a month before the season started, it was reported that Luke had suffered a shoulder injury that would Photos by Derek Cain/Getty Images sideline him for 6-8 weeks. His season debut would come on the 11 th game of the season with his defensive partner Brett Pesce. The team has gone on to have a record of 10-4-1 since his return. Through the 15 games he has 0 Goals and 4 assists which has brought on negative comments from those who do not watch the Devils on a regular basis. A huge reasoning for this decrease in offence can be boiled down to a few factors: A. Returning from Injury: If we look at Dougie, he struggled to start the year with 4 points in his first 10 games. Now that...

  Photos by Rich Graessle/Getty Images Last night the Devils laid down their most dominate win of the season vs. the Predators with the trusted "Deserve to Win O'Meter" provided my Money Puck give us our highest percentage of the season at 92%. Not only did this team assert themselves offensively against Nashville, but they also refused to be pushed around and controlled the defensive/physical side of the game as well. The player who leads the charge with this mentality last night was the captain, Nico Hischier. Before his second goal of the night, Lauzon threw Nico down to the ice behind the play after they were tangled up in a net front battle. Instead of retaliating for a penalty or staying to the perimeter of the zone for the remainder of the powerplay, Nico waited patiently, drove to the net hard and ripped an absolute howitzer top shelf then stared down Lauzon. This mentality of toughness, togetherness & grit has infected the lineup and is creating something spe...

  The Devils saw themselves get a well-deserved break from action after a successful trip down to Florida. They had four days off in between games which was their longest break since returning from Prague. On their schedule this week were two crucial matchups against Metro Division rivals who are chasing us in the standings.   They look to finish their gauntlet of a schedule on a strong note. The game vs the Hurricanes was Markstroms 500 th start of his career and started the mom’s trip for the team as well. 11/21 Devils vs. Hurricanes They faced off at home against the Hurricanes who were playing the second game of their back-to-back. This season the Devils have struggled to take advantage of teams in this situation and the challenge was no easy feat against a team as conditioned as the Canes. This game was no different with the Canes dominating the first ten minutes of the period, they established their forecheck and neutral zone trap and outshot us 6-0. At the 11:30 ma...

                                                    Photos by Icon Sportswire/Getty Images Devils vs. Tampa The Devils face off against the Lightning tonight with both teams are coming off their biggest wins of the season. The boys in red will be looking to atone for the brutal 8-5 loss the Lightning handed them at the Rock in late October. Since that game, the Devils have gone on to win seven of their last eleven games averaging 3.63 goals for per game and 2.18 goals against per game. In that same period, the Lightning have won four of their last nine with a goal for per game of 3.00 and goals against per game of 2.88. From the start of the season the Devils have been putting up goals each game but the significant improvement in goals against has come from an improvement in goaltending and players like Pesce & Luke coming back fr...

  After a gutsy win on Tuesday, the team was rewarded with an off day in the Florida sun and a rematch against the defending champions, which is the first time in Devils history they have played the same team on the road back-to-back. This rare opportunity would give this team a chance to prove they can play at this level consistently, as Keefe said pregame "Anything can happen once. For us to duplicate the resiliency and the resolve that it takes to find your way through a game like that against a team like this. But also understanding that they are going to be better, and we need to be better." Last year the Devils had a record of 1-2-0 vs the Panthers where they each scored ten goals in those three games. While the games last year were close, the Panthers took it to us physically and bullied us all over the ice and our goaltending had a negative goal saved above expected in the two losses. In both games this week our goaltending has showed us they solidified their game a...

  Trigger Warning: We will be discussing last years Goaltending With nearly a quarter of the season gone after tonight’s game vs Florida, I wanted to do a deep dive into the improvements of our goaltending situation compared to last year. After last season I think our fanbase suffers from some serious PTSD when it comes to our goaltending (rightfully so, last year was a tough pill to swallow). Below I will be comparing the overall stats through the first nineteen games, looking into the underlying advanced stats thanks to the NHL EDGE analytics and give my thoughts on improvements Markstrom & Allen could make.                       Team Goaltending Stats Through 19 games                                            2023          ...

The first eighteen games of the season have been a rollercoaster for this Devils team looking to reassert themselves as one of the top teams in the league. There has been no better example of this than the team last three games. Over the weekend they showed us that no lead is safe with a comeback victory against the Islanders and no team should be taken lightly with a shutout loss to the Sharks. The Devils headed down to Sunrise, Florida to face-off against the defending champions who have been red hot, winning 7 straight.  It was announced pretty who would take the crease in last nights matchup which lead many fans to debate who should be getting the bulk of the current workload. Going into last night’s game Allen had the slight advantage with a 2.35 GAA & .914 SV% compared to Markstroms 2.67 GAA & .902 SV% and has been more consistent. Keefe and Fitz went with the big offseason acquisition and his ears must have been itching all day, because he went out and quieted the ...