Palmieri celebrate after scoring versus the Kings. (Photo Credit to Mark J. Terrill of AP Photo)
Recap
The New Jersey Devils came into last night’s game looking to break out of a long rough stretch of this season where at times, it may have been painful to watch. They started their west coast road trip against the Los Angeles Kings and looked to begin the three-game road trip with a win. The Devils were successful putting up six goals on the Kings, which included one empty-net goal near the end for the final score of 6 to 3. The hope is that the win over the Kings will propel them to a solid road trip out west and will help them start winning on a more consistent basis again. The game last night was a great start and here is what made the Devils successful. Be sure to check out highlights from last night’s game at the end of the article as well.
Three Takeaways
Kyle Palmieri lit the lamp last night not just once but twice and has remained an offensive threat for the Devils, as he has been this season. The Devils are a team loaded with a lot of potential, but the problem has just been getting everybody going collectively.
A look at Kyle Palmieri's two goals that led the #NJDevils to victory out in LA. pic.twitter.com/lLCw9MwYh5
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) December 7, 2018
The Devils let up three goals in the contest, which as long as the team is scoring more goals than the opposition, that is not a problem. That said, no team can score six goals in every game so limiting the opposition’s chances is still something to work on. Kinkaid played between the pipes and only let in three shots out of the 32 that he faced.
The Devils typical traditional first line of Hall, Hischier, and Palmieri was all over the score sheet last night. Palmieri had two goals himself, while Hischier scored a goal by redirecting a shot from Sami Vatanen from the point. Hall also responded to being benched in the previous game with a much better performance and had three assists on the night. The other three goals came from Travis Zajac, Will Butcher, and Blake Coleman on the empty net.
This was one of the best ways the Devils could have started their road trip out west against a team they had to beat. There were a couple of mistakes that were still made, and almost no gameplan is ever executed to perfection. But this was a great performance and something the Devils can really build off of to get their season back on track after a brilliant start.
Final Score and Stats
Score: Devils 6 Kings 3
Shots: Devils 35 Kings 32
Hits: Devils 24 Kings 20
Power Plays: Devils 1 for 2; Kings 0 for 1
Faceoffs: Devils 46 (58.2%) Kings 33 (41.8%)
The Devils will look to continue their success on the California road trip against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday at 8PM ET.