3 Devils Storylines To Follow in Final Stretch

The deployment and success of young players like Holtz, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec will be key for Green’s chance to further his tenure past this season. Luke Hughes’ play has seen an uptick under Green, and Nemec has been their best defensive defenseman while chipping in with some offense as well. So far, so good.

Starting on the Wrong Foot

Nearly all season, the Devils have started things off on the wrong foot. They’ve allowed the first goal of the game 49 times – the worst mark in the NHL. That’s a whopping 70 percent of the time.

Even worse, if they do so nine more times in their remaining 12 games, they will tie the 2016-17 Colorado Avalanche (58) for the most first goals given up in a season…all-time.

It’s not a lack of talent that has seen them to falter early – it seems like it’s a mental thing at this point. They’ve scored the next goal after giving up the first goal 28 times (57.1% of the time.) That means they’ve been nearly twice as likely to score the second goal than the first. That has started to swing lately, though. Under Green, they’ve scored the first goal in each of their last three contests – the first time they’ve done so thrice consecutively all season. They’re now 14-5-2 when they score first. Imagine what they could have done if they started like that more often? 

This is a theme that even occurred in their franchise record 52-win bout last season, as they only scored the first goal in 40 of 82 tries despite having a plus-67 goal differential. Their 21 comeback wins is now tied for third in the NHL – but that’s somewhat misleading. They’ve given up the first goal so often that they were bound to bounce back and win some of them. Only two of those “comebacks” were from more than one goal. Last season, when they led the league in comeback wins, they had nine comebacks of two or more goals. 

Green spoke about the recently better starts: “You’re going to win more games than you lose if you score first every night. I’ve liked our starts the past couple games. It was a tight game…what I like is we stayed with it. We can create momentum as the game goes on and end up taking it over with special teams,” he said.

If they’re able to keep it up and evade the two-season long issue, that will bode very well for next season. Keep an eye on their starts.

Is the Tide Turning?

As has been the case for most of the season, the Devils have remained consistently inconsistent. They’ve often followed up important wins with losses, as they’ve not won three straight games since late December. They’ll have an opportunity to do so on March 23 against Ottawa. 

It’s obvious the players and fanbase feel a lot better when they’re winning. The crowd on Thursday night against Winnipeg was arguably their loudest, most energized crowd in months. When The Hockey Writers asked captain Nico Hischier about that, he responded with a big smile: “Gives us all the momentum. It gives energy, positive energy obviously…You can feel that as a player. It’s a great feeling,” he said.

Even if playoffs are likely out of the picture, the moral victories now could help translate to key victories next season. Therefore, no upcoming game is truly “meaningless”.