Writer’s Twitter = @ChrisMottHockey
Recap
The New Jersey Devils gave one of the best teams in the East a good fight for much of the game last night with the return of Pavel Zacha, but it was not enough. The Devils were home at the Prudential Center, and although the final score of the game was 5 to 1 Boston, it’s not indicative of the Devils effort, as the game was 3 to 1 with just under 2 two minutes left before Boston scored an empty net goal.
The Bruins jumped out to a 2 – 0 lead in the second period, but the Devils did answer with Drew Stafford scoring a goal to make the game 2 to 1. The Devils were unable to keep some of the big guns from Boston off the board, although Marchand did not score a goal. Patrice Bergeron scored twice and David Pastrnak scored once. Below will be some takeaways from this game and will also include a clip of the highlights.
Three Takeaways
Josh Jacobs had a decent debut. He was on the Devils’ third defense pairing with Yakovlev played well defensively most of the night. One aspect of his game that was most noticeable was his physicality and finishing his checks. The Devils are doing their homework and seeing what they have in the system and who is looking closer to being ready to play at an NHL level. There is the obvious fact that the Devils being decimated by injuries has also caused the need to call these young players up. But given the area of the Devils’ position in the standings, this would happen no matter what.
Defensive breakdowns were the Devils’ downfall last night. Bergeron opened the scoring because
Cory Schneider played great. There were times were Schneider was under siege by Boston, and he kept everything out. Tying into what was mentioned before about the breakdowns, here was how each goal was scored on Schneider, three back door passes and one redirect about three feet in front of him. There was not a goal that would be considered weak or something Schneider should have had. His play should help Devils fans become excited
The Devils next game will be Saturday March 23 against the Arizona Coyotes at 1PM ET at the Prudential Center. Below are the final score and stats as well as highlights.
Final Score and Stats
Score: Devils 1 Bruins 5
Shots: Devils 23 Bruins 27
Power Plays: Devils 0 for 1 Bruins 0 for 3
Faceoffs: Devils 23 Bruins 28
Hits: Devils 26 Bruins 15