Watching tonight\u2019s game between the New Jersey Devils and the Nashville Predators made something very clear to me: top-end talent matters a lot. This isn\u2019t anything new, every hockey fan (or sports fan in general) knows this. But watching tonight\u2019s contest made that sentiment crystal clear, as top-end talent was the difference in the Devils\u2019 4-2 win in Nashville this evening.<\/p>\n
Just look at who led the way for New Jersey tonight. The captain, Nico Hischier, netted a pair of goals, including a power-play marker that broke a tie late in the third period. They weren\u2019t exactly the prettiest things you\u2019ve ever seen, as both were pretty much coincidental bounces off his body and in. But those lucky bounces were just byproducts of Hischier constantly putting himself in position to generate offense. And besides, he created other scoring opportunities tonight other than the two goals.<\/p>\n
Next, there was Jesper Bratt. He paced everyone with three points, including his 19th goal of the season. He would later assist on both of Hischier\u2019s goals, once by doing something he almost never does, which was shoot from a tough angle. Though despite his newfound love of shooting the puck, he certainly didn\u2019t abandon his playmaking instincts. He was stickhandling his way through Predators every shift, dishing killer passes to teammates all over the ice. And his efforts were rewarded with a big three-point night.<\/p>\n
Then of course, there\u2019s Jack Hughes. The Devils\u2019 superstar finished with a pair of assists. His second helper of the evening came on Hischier\u2019s deciding goal, which was the second time in the game that Hughes had one of his shots carom fortuitously off one of his teammates and into the Preds\u2019 net. Beyond just his points, Hughes was dancing through defenders, threading passes, generating offense, and sustaining possessions like crazy. Ever since his Golden Goal, Hughes has been on another level. His usual brilliance was on display tonight.<\/p>\n
And if you want to count him, Timo Meier (who was good tonight) potted the empty-netter that sealed the deal with a couple minutes to go.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the ice, there were the Nashville Predators. It\u2019s not that Nashville is totally devoid of star power. Filip Forsberg had a quiet game, but he\u2019s an excellent player, though perhaps not quite in that top tier of players in the league. Roman Josi absolutely used to be, but the former Norris Trophy winner is 35-years-old now, and while he\u2019s still effective, he\u2019s simply not the player he once was. Ditto for Steven Stamkos who, not for nothing, got away with an absolutely egregious slashing call on Simon Nemec that directly led to a goal against the Devils tonight (though to be fair, the call that led to New Jersey\u2019s power play that ended up deciding the game was extremely soft, so I suppose it evened out in the end). And maybe you include Ryan O\u2019Reilly and Jonathan Marchessault in the category of \u201cused to be great but well past their prime\u201d as well.<\/p>\n
There were other factors that led to New Jersey\u2019s victory tonight. The aforementioned officiating blunders. The fact that Jacob Markstrom, while not stellar this evening, made a few key stops, including in a second period where the Devils were giving up odd-man rushes and breakaways like candy. Luke Hughes having another very strong outing. And probably a few others that don\u2019t readily come to mind.<\/p>\n
But in the end, star power made the difference tonight in my eyes. The Devils have it, the Predators don\u2019t. And while it might be too late to make a difference this season, it made a difference tonight. and perhaps most importantly, it might make a difference for the New Jersey Devils in the future.<\/p>\n
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com<\/a><\/p>\n An Unlikely Source Of Offense<\/p>\n I would be remiss if I did not mention Jonas \u201cBobby Orr\u201d Siegenthaler, who collected a pair of assists himself tonight. That\u2019s now two games in a row that Siegenthaler has registered two assists. Offensive superstar in the making? Who\u2019s to say.<\/p>\n In all seriousness, who would\u2019ve thought that we would see not one, but TWO multi-point games out of Siegenthaler, let alone in consecutive contests? Not to be rude, but it\u2019s mostly pretty fluky, as we all know he\u2019s not about to become an offensive juggernaut. But for now, it\u2019s been fun to watch the second-coming of Paul Coffey rack up points at will.<\/p>\n The Third Line Without Gritsyuk<\/p>\n For a while, the Devils were rolling with a third line of Cody Glass, Lenni Hameenaho, and Arseny Gritsyuk. It was a line that was really clicking<\/a>, with a steady veteran in the middle and two precocious rookies who were exceeding expectations on the wings. But Gritsyuk was injured in the last game against the Dallas Stars, and is now out week-to-week. It\u2019s a tough blow for a young player who was having a great season. We might not see him again until training camp, which is such a shame. I\u2019ll be pulling for him to get well soon.<\/p>\n So with Gritsyuk out, I was curious to see how Glass and Hameenaho would perform without him tonight. Head coach Sheldon Keefe decided to keep Glass and Hameenaho together on the third line, and simply inserted Evgenii Dadonov (more on him in a moment) into Gritsyuk\u2019s slot. At 5-on-5, that trio played 8:13 together and generated an Expected Goals For% of 96.91, which is astounding. If you\u2019re curious as to what the raw total was, they out-xG\u2019d their opponents 0.26-0.01. In other words, they were absolutely dominant defensively.<\/p>\n