The Devils looked great in the return to The Meadowlands, and have been hot since the end of the All Star break.
The Devils entered the All Star break with hopes of the playoffs in serious jeopardy, but since the break have looked like a much better team. The Devils are 4-2-1 in their last seven games and now sit just two points behind Detroit for the final wildcard spot and five points behind the Flyers for third in the division, with two games in hand on Philadelphia. Hopes for the playoffs looked bleak just two weeks ago, but seem much more realistic now. The biggest reason for that absolutely has to be Nico Daws.
Nico Daws was great in the stadium series last night, but he’s been a god send for the Devils of late. In his last four games played, the Devils are 3-1 and Daws has a staggering .942 save percentage. In 12 games played total this season, Daws has a goals against average of 2.93 and a save percentage of .912. Both of which are drastic improvements over Vanecek and Schmid. The Devils biggest weakness for the last few seasons has been goaltending, and while it’s still a small sample size, Nico Daws is the answer to the Devils problems in net… at least for the time being. Schmid played great in the playoffs last year but has been underwhelming, to put it kindly, so far this year. So we all know a short stretch of brilliance doesn’t mean it’ll be continued indefinitely, but at least for right now, Daws is the hot hand the Devils need to ride.
Daws has been great, however hes not the only Nico on this team that deserves some praise. Devils captain Nico Hischier had two goals in the Devils return to East Rutherford last night and is having another incredible season. Hischier has six points in his last five games played and is now up to 38 points (18G 20A) on the seasons so far. Aside from being a great offensive player, Hischier is winning over 56% of his face-offs and one of the Devils most reliable penalty killers. Without Nico Hischier, this team would be up shits creek without a paddle. As great as Jack Hughes is, Hischier has a very strong argument for team MVP and is clearly the best captain they could have.
We are riding high as Devils fans right now, but this team still has a lot of work to do if they want to actually make the playoffs. The next three games are against Washington, the Rangers, and Montreal. The Caps are 2-6-2 in their last 10, the Rangers have been wildly inconsistent since starting the season hot, and Montreal is 14th in the conference. Winning all three is far from impossible and could go a long way to helping the Devils reach the playoffs. For the foreseeable future we as Devils fans need to root like hell for three things; Devils wins, Flyer losses, and Red Wing losses.
The Morning Skate 