Devils slip past Bruins for OT win
Pavel Zacha scored his second goal of the game at 2:42 of overtime and the New Jersey Devils snapped the Boston Bruins four-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
The Canadian Press New Jersey Devils celebrate , The Canadian Press
NEWARK, N.J. Pavel Zacha scored his second goal of the game at 2:42 of overtime and the New Jersey Devils snapped the Boston Bruins four-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
Jesper Boqvist and Yegor Sharangovich scored for New Jersey, which finished its home season with a 7-18-3 record. Mackenzie Blackwood had 33 saves in winning his fourth straight game.
Devils Fall 3-0 to the Playoff-Bound Bruins
Share this story
First Period
In a not-so-great start to the game, Miles Wood chases Charlie McAvoy on the forecheck just 15 seconds into the period, gets tangled up on the turn, and hits the ice clutching his leg. He does return to the ice for his next shift though fortunately, in a game where his presence is looking more important than ever. The name of tonight’s gameplay is FAST, and not showing signs of slowing any time soon, so Wood’s talents would be sorely missed if he was seriously injured.
Though speed is supposed to be our young team’s best trick, Boston is beating us at our own game so far this period. There’s a lot of back and forth, but the Devils aren’t able to set up much in the offensive zone when they get there, whereas the Bruins are at least getting a shot or two off on each entry. They’re also collecting all the rebounds our rebounds (which haven’t hit the net yet), their rebounds, my U16 roller hock
Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
If March was a tough month for the New Jersey Devils, then April was an absolute nightmarish month. They began the month to turn their shootout loss at Boston on March 13 into a four-game winless streak. After winning a game, they lost ten in a row. The Devils went into the final week of their month of 16 games with just one win in April. One. And it was on the road in Western New York. At least the Devils picked up a second and third win in April before April ended. It does not take away much of the pain that comes with a 3-11-2 month. They earned eight points; only two teams in the league finished with fewer points in April. And one of those two teams was Vancouver, who only played seven games due to the Coronavirus. It was a horrible month for the Devils.
South Philly Review
Flyers could learn a lot from the Devils
Or at least they should have.
The Devils, without much to play for these days, have put on a steady showcase of their young talent and the Flyers got a good look at it during a four game stretch in which the Devils took seven out of a possible eight points off of the free-falling Flyers.
It’s one thing to be concerned that the Flyers were able to salvage only one win in four games, with it coming in miraculous comeback fashion. It’s another to see the Devils’ young players outscore the Flyers’ prospects by a significant margin.
Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images
I hated what happened during The Week of Hate. I was concerned that the New Jersey Devils would flop again in a four-game week against the Second Rate Rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. Given the state of the Devils’ season and the state of the Flyers’ season plus the Flyers since 1976, I dubbed this past week The Week of Pity. Four games against two teams with nothing much to play for beyond contracts, pride, and bragging rights. Tonight was the end of The Week of Pity and it ended with a pleasing 4-1 win for the New Jersey Devils. How the Devils got the win demonstrated something I always enjoy seeing against a rival: a team showing no pity for their opposition.