Miles Wood gets his first career hat-trick in the best game of his career so far. -Getty Images
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Summary
In a wild game at the United Center, the New Jersey Devils rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 7-5. That doesn’t even begin to sum up how crazy the game was to watch.
Miles Wood picked up his first career hat trick, two of which were power play goals. It was a solid performance from the offense, after initially looking like this game was going to be a rout in favor of Chicago. Keith Kinkaid was in net for the Devils. After an awful first period, he settled down and made 39 saves on 44 shots.
Takeaways
The offense still looks good…The Devils skyrocketed their “goals for” category to 61 following the onslaught. Nico Hischier ended his goal drought by notching his third of the season. Of course there was the Wood hat trick. Taylor Hall also made a beautiful play to pick up another goal. Brian Gibbons scored his team-leading eighth of the season, making it even more difficult for the coaching staff to remove some from the lineup upon the return of Travis Zajac.
The defense still does not- Let’s hope the Devils never have to play with only five defensemen again. After losing Mirco Mueller to injury early in the first period, it left New Jersey rotating only five blue liners for the rest of the game, and looked like it was costing them big in the first period. They looked disorganized and allowed 16 shots on goal, four of which got past Kinkaid, some blame can go to him as well. If the Devils continue winning they are going to need to make a move for an above average defensemen for the playoffs.
The Devils have the next three days off. They remain atop the metropolitan division at 11-4-2 with 24 points, good enough for second in the eastern conference and fourth in the NHL. Jersey’s team resumes action on Thursday November 16 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.