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Good morning Devils fans. An injury-battered Devils team continued to struggle as they returned home to face the Capitals, losing 4-2. The 1st period looked hopeful early on for the Black and Red, particularly a hungry looking Dawson Mercer who was active in upfront pressure. Timo Meier also had some decent rushes, cutting through the Caps defense to send in a wide shot against Charlie Lindgren. Scoring was kicked off by Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who grabbed one from the faceoff circle with a rushing slapper to beat Vitek Vanacek. Immediately after the faceoff, Beck Malenstyn added his first of the season from the same spot, beating Vanacek and Luke Hughes. This led to an early pulling by HC Lindy Ruff to send in Akira Schmid. The Devils tried to respond with scoring chances but Lindgren shut them down. Schmid did his best to also keep the puck out of the net while players like Timo Meier and Tyler Toffoli tried to scratch their way onto the scoring sheet.
The 2nd didn’t start off much better for the Devils as they were down 2-0. A giveaway by a struggling Ondrej Palat nearly led to another goal, the shot going wide against Schmid. A combo of Evgeny Kuznetsov-Tom Wilson would lead to a 2-on-0, beating Kevin Bahl and Schmid to add to the score, 3-0. Bad luck would follow the home team as Toffoli would end up getting robbed glove side by Lindgren while Jesper Bratt and Mercer would have their chances stifled by the Caps netminder.
The 3rd saw a decent comeback attempt put forth by the Devils before being snuffed out. The first goal for the Devils came courtesy of Timo Meier, who finished a chance started all the way back in the defensive zone by Mike Mcleod. The next was scored by Dawson Mercer, who tipped in a cross ice pass from Tyler Toffoli following strong tape-to-tape passing in the neutral zone and patient decision making behind the net by Schmid. Unfortunately, an empty netter from Kuznetsov would finished the Devils 4-2.
The Devils may be missing Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. However, they still have the rest of the roster to rely on. In the offseason, they made moves to deepen the team offensively. That means scoring and defensive help should be expected from everyone on the ice. The team may have played better in the 3rd but that leaves 2 periods of time and decisions to make up for. Whatever the coaching staff is doing during practices to address these issues, it is not enough.
2. Mercer, Schmid Finding Their Groove
Two players who have struggled still this season, Dawson Mercer and Akira Schmid, have begun to look more comfortable in their roles for the team. Mercer looked much better on both ends of the ice, particularly as the game went on. Schmid came into the game after an early sub off for Vanacek and shut down some hard fought chances for the Caps. His stats for the season have improved to .898 SV% and 3.09 GAA. Not great, but better than how it started out for him.
3. Do We Need a Wakeup Trade?
News out of Calgary is that D Nikita Zadorov is looking for new scenery and the Garden State might be a mutually beneficial destination. Per Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com, the 28 year old Russian blueliner is frustrated with his current situation with the Flames and would be open to moving over here. The Flames are currently struggling to get goals and might be open if the price is right. The trouble is the Devils don’t have a ton of cap space. We could move Ondrej Palat and a pick/prospect with some retained cap to make it work. Not sure if the Devils or Flames are willing to bite, but food for thought.
The Devils (7-5-1) travel to Manitoba to take on the Winnipeg Jets (7-4-2) on Tuesday, 11/14. Puck drops 8 PM.
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