Watching tonight’s game between the New Jersey Devils and the Nashville Predators made something very clear to me: top-end talent matters a lot. This isn’t anything new, every hockey fan (or sports fan in general) knows this. But watching tonight’s contest made that sentiment crystal clear, as top-end talent was the difference in the Devils’ 4-2 win in Nashville this evening.
Just look at who led the way for New Jersey tonight. The captain, Nico Hischier, netted a pair of goals, including a power-play
marker that broke a tie late in the third period. They weren’t exactly the prettiest things you’ve ever seen, as both were pretty much coincidental bounces off his body and in. But those lucky bounces were just byproducts of Hischier constantly putting himself in position to generate offense. And besides, he created other scoring opportunities tonight other than the two goals.
Next, there was Jesper Bratt. He paced everyone with three points, including his 19th goal of the season. He would later assist on both of Hischier’s goals, once by doing something he almost never does, which was shoot from a tough angle. Though despite his newfound love of shooting the puck, he certainly didn’t abandon his playmaking instincts. He was stickhandling his way through Predators every shift, dishing killer passes to teammates all over the ice. And his efforts were rewarded with a big three-point night.
Then of course, there’s Jack Hughes. The Devils’ superstar finished with a pair of assists. His second helper of the evening came on Hischier’s deciding goal, which was the second time in the game that Hughes had one of his shots carom fortuitously off one of his teammates and into the Preds’ net. Beyond just his points, Hughes was dancing through defenders, threading passes, generating offense, and sustaining possessions like crazy. Ever since his Golden Goal, Hughes has been on another level. His usual brilliance was on display tonight.
And if you want to count him, Timo Meier (who was good tonight) potted the empty-netter that sealed the deal with a couple minutes to go.
On the other side of the ice, there were the Nashville Predators. It’s not that Nashville is totally devoid of star power. Filip Forsberg had a quiet game, but he’s an excellent player, though perhaps not quite in that top tier of players in the league. Roman Josi absolutely used to be, but the former Norris Trophy winner is 35-years-old now, and while he’s still effective, he’s simply not the player he once was. Ditto for Steven Stamkos who, not for nothing, got away with an absolutely egregious slashing call on Simon Nemec that directly led to a goal against the Devils tonight (though to be fair, the call that led to New Jersey’s power play that ended up deciding the game was extremely soft, so I suppose it evened out in the end). And maybe you include Ryan O’Reilly and Jonathan Marchessault in the category of “used to be great but well past their prime” as well.
There were other factors that led to New Jersey’s victory tonight. The aforementioned officiating blunders. The fact that Jacob Markstrom, while not stellar this evening, made a few key stops, including in a second period where the Devils were giving up odd-man rushes and breakaways like candy. Luke Hughes having another very strong outing. And probably a few others that don’t readily come to mind.
But in the end, star power made the difference tonight in my eyes. The Devils have it, the Predators don’t. And while it might be too late to make a difference this season, it made a difference tonight. and perhaps most importantly, it might make a difference for the New Jersey Devils in the future.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com
An Unlikely Source Of Offense
I would be remiss if I did not mention Jonas “Bobby Orr” Siegenthaler, who collected a pair of assists himself tonight. That’s now two games in a row that Siegenthaler has registered two assists. Offensive superstar in the making? Who’s to say.
In all seriousness, who would’ve thought that we would see not one, but TWO multi-point games out of Siegenthaler, let alone in consecutive contests? Not to be rude, but it’s mostly pretty fluky, as we all know he’s not about to become an offensive juggernaut. But for now, it’s been fun to watch the second-coming of Paul Coffey rack up points at will.
The Third Line Without Gritsyuk
For a while, the Devils were rolling with a third line of Cody Glass, Lenni Hameenaho, and Arseny Gritsyuk. It was a line that was really clicking, with a steady veteran in the middle and two precocious rookies who were exceeding expectations on the wings. But Gritsyuk was injured in the last game against the Dallas Stars, and is now out week-to-week. It’s a tough blow for a young player who was having a great season. We might not see him again until training camp, which is such a shame. I’ll be pulling for him to get well soon.
So with Gritsyuk out, I was curious to see how Glass and Hameenaho would perform without him tonight. Head coach Sheldon Keefe decided to keep Glass and Hameenaho together on the third line, and simply inserted Evgenii Dadonov (more on him in a moment) into Gritsyuk’s slot. At 5-on-5, that trio played 8:13 together and generated an Expected Goals For% of 96.91, which is astounding. If you’re curious as to what the raw total was, they out-xG’d their opponents 0.26-0.01. In other words, they were absolutely dominant defensively.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, as according to Game Score, Glass and Hameenaho were among the worst forwards on the team tonight. Only Nick Bjugstad performed worse than them. To be fair, they were close to breakeven (Glass finished with a Game Score of -0.10, while Hameenaho was at -0.11), but just about every one of their teammates were in the positive.
Based on my own personal eye test, I thought they were okay. Not great, not awful…just okay. I did think Glass was his usual responsible defensive self. And I distinctly remember Hameenaho sharing a shift with Jack Hughes at one point, and Hameenaho finding a soft spot in the slot where Hughes fed him for a quality chance. But overall, I’d say it was a mixed bag for the two remaining members of the third line. Let’s hope they adjust to life without Gritsyuk sooner rather than later.
The Dadonov Decision
I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Evgenii Dadonov, who drew into the lineup in Arseny Gritsyuk’s absence tonight, will not be on the Devils next season. Despite that, his presence will still be felt. Dadonov has bonuses in his contract that award him $250,000 with each 10-game plateau he reaches. All the money he makes in bonuses will get rolled into next season’s total cap hit for New Jersey.
Why does this matter? Because Dadonov just played his 19th game of the season. If he dresses in another contest, another quarter-million gets tacked onto the Devils’ cap hit next season whether Dadonov is around or not. That might not seem like a lot, and in the grand scheme of things it really is a tiny percentage of the cap, but for a team like New Jersey, every dollar counts. There are players such as Gritsyuk and Nemec that will be exiting their cheap entry-level contracts. There will be free agents that the Devils should and will pursue. For a cap-ceiling team like the Devils, that $250,000 can make a big difference.
Will we see Dadonov again? If we do, it will have ramifications on next year’s squad. If I could press a button and have my way, I would make sure Dadonov does not see the ice for another game. The season is over anyway, and he has no future with the team. Sit him the rest of the way and go with a young gun who you can evaluate for next season.
Wild, Wild West
Entering tonight’s game, the Devils were a bewildering 20-10-0 against Western Conference teams. This included a big win against one of the top teams in the entire league, the Dallas Stars, on Tuesday. In a season where just about everything has gone wrong, matchups against the West have not.
Well after tonight’s game, New Jersey improves to an incredible 21-10-0 against the Western Conference this season. If a team like the Devils is taking out an entire conference like this, you know it’s a down year for that conference.
Next Time Out
The Devils wrap up their long road trip on Saturday when they travel to Carolina to battle the Hurricanes. Gametime is slated for an unusual 5:00pm ET start.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? Who impressed you the most? Who did you think struggled? What do you expect next time out? As always, thanks for reading!
