Introduction

Well, it wasn’t the homecoming the New Jersey Devils wanted in their first two games with fans. While Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders was rather boring and ended in a loss, at least it was close for most of the game. Tuesday’s loss at the hands of the New York Rangers was brutal. New York scored not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six unanswered goals.

Like we’ve seen a few times this year with the weird scheduling, the Devils next game will once again be against the New York Rangers this Sunday. New Jersey carries a lengthy losing streak into Saturday afternoon’s matchup. After a demoralizing loss let’s hop the team gets back on track.

Keys To Victory

Quality, Not Quantity

The past two games have seen New Jersey outshoot their opposition. Still they come up short. While the Devils did have their fair share of pretty chances on Thursday that just wouldn’t go, they need to learn how to optimize them and get the rebounds.

For example, there were plenty of times the Devils had someone set up for the back door goal whose chance never came. On the opposite side of things, there were times the Devils missed on an open shooting lane due to hesitant on a shot and making one too many passes. Hoot often, but shoot smart.

Don’t Let The Rangers Get Momentum

The first period and a bit more was all Devils on Tuesday night. What changed every thing was Chris Kreider’s power play goal. That equalizer gave New York massive momentum swing and they never looked back. After that goal, little by little, the Devils began to control less of that game before it completely slipped out of their hands.

Score Second

Being the first team to score is always a good start to the night, but that doesn’t always guarantee victory. Look at the Devils who scored first in the first period’s only goal off the stick of Jack Hughes. In the past two games, the Devils have failed to score more than one goal. Let’s try to get to second one tomorrow, guys.

Players To Watch

Chris Kreider:

He’s the player Devils fans have loved to hate since he broke out in the league in 2012. Add that hat trick Thursday night to the list of reasons we don’t want to play against him. After such a huge performance against their biggest rival you know JKreider and company are going to want an encore performance.

Mackenzie Blackwood:

To put it lightly, Mackenize Blackwood did not have a good night Thursday. Blackwood was puled after allowing four goals. You can make the argument that not all those goas were his fault, but still it’s not the type of performance Blackwood wants to remember. Let’s hope he has a short memory. Blackwood is projected to be in net for Saturday’s game as well.

Janne Kuokkanen:

He may not have scored a point but Janne Kuokkanen had a surprisingly strong game. He tied with Kyle Palmieri for the team lead in shots with five. He also ended without a negative plus or minus, because that still matters to some people. Even more telling, he was second on the team in ice time for forwards. Kuokkanen had 16 minutes and 16 seconds. Only Jack Hughes had more ice time with 18 minutes and 53 seconds.

Prediction

They can’t lose every game, right? Let’s be optimistic here. 4-1 Devils. Let’s make it hard for the Rangers to build off of that performance.