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In New Jersey’s final game of the season with a playoff spot locked in, it was understandable that the team rested a few of their players. That being said, the Devil’s squad made it an interesting 3rd going from a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 before Debrincat’s 38th of the season restored the 2 goal lead and Kasper’s 19th of the season into the empty net sealed the deal.
A lot of impressive things are happening even with a disappointing end to the season. Raymond has 80 points in 81 games, Kasper has a chance to hit 20 goals, Debrincat has scored 38 and become a stronger player in all 3 zones, and Larkin got his 4th straight 30 goal season. Edvinsson and Seider have now been paired together for 2 straight games and it looks like that may be the top tandem heading into next season. The big Swede now has 30 points on the season and his defensive play continues to improve. Both Dmen have a nice shot and the ability to contribute on the power play. It will be the penalty kill that will get a lion’s share of the attention over the summer.
The young players are stepping up and being noticed. Johansson seems to continue to improve and it seems that the veteran Dmen are on notice that the younger players could well be taking spots as they become more and more prevalent in minutes played and situational usage. The team’s top 6 needs more from the bottom 6 in terms of scoring and the upcoming crop may well help to facilitate that.
As the team wraps up the season against Toronto, the last order of business is (for me personally) rooting for Kasper to find #20. It won’t be an easy feat as Toronto is expected to ice their full team and this is a Leafs group that wants to have a deep playoff run. It could be a rough ride for Detroit to end the season, but there is a lot to like about what this team could look like in the fall.
1st Period goals:
At 7:40 Tarasenko seemed to open the scoring on the power play. Being challenged for goaltender interference as Compher’s stick looks like it made contact with the goalie. Goal was waived off.
At 17:07 Berggren got Detroit on the board. Larkin skated the puck into the zone up the middle, passed to Raymond on his right who sent the puck cross ice where Edvinsson made a nice redirect with his skate and over to Berggren who skated in and went bar down with a snap shot. 1-0 DET
Compher found some redemption at 5:20. #37 collected the puck as it came off of Rasmussen’s skate in the defensive zone, skated up ice all the way and snapped a high shot over the glove and in. 2-0 DET
At 2:55 Larkin scored his 30th of the year, now with 4 consecutive 30 goal seasons for the captain. Kane made a nice back pass to Seider who sent the puck to Edvinsson at the left point. The big Dman found the captain who snapped his 30th. 3-0 DET
3rd Period goals:
Devils get on the board at 11:32 on the power play 3-1 DET
Devils score again at 14:21 3-2 DET
At 17:09 Debrincat gets his 38th and restores a 2 goal lead during a 4 on 4. Seider got the puck to Larkin in the D zone, the captain skated up ice and found Debrincat with a back pass. The cat wristed in a beauty. 4-2 DET
With just 9.1 seconds left Kasper got his 19th on an empty net goal. Berggren chased down a potential icing, got the puck to Raymond who found Kasper. An initial try didn’t work out but the follow up saw Kasper get Detroit’s 5th of the night, Raymond now at 80 points in 81 games.
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