Tonight, the Devils have an opportunity to even their series on home ice against their opponent after going down 2 games to none for the second time in these playoffs.
I’m a bit more concerned than I was against the Rangers though. This is a Carolina Hurricanes team that rarely makes the same mistakes twice, and is the most structured team in the NHL.
Carolina had chances in game 3, including three nerve-wracking shots that rang off the post. If those go in, we could be looking at a 3-0 hole right now. And that came in a game coach Rod Brind-Amour proclaimed ‘their worst performance of the entire season’ in post-game coverage.
A lot went right for the Devils though.
They found their game early, which is key against this suffocating Hurricanes forecheck and physical in-zone defense. Chasing the game against them is recipe for disaster, as evidenced in games 1 & 2.
Luke Hughes was great in his first career-playoff game, aside from his turnover on the powerplay, which lead to a Hurricanes goal. He had two assist and a generally very calm, smart game.
Moreover, his elite skating and puck-moving ability in the Devils D-zone is just what the doctor ordered against the forechecking attack the Canes run. Puck retrievals in the Devils zone and making the right first pass are absolutely key to winning this series, and Luke Hughes is by all means ELITE when it comes to both of those areas of the game. I’d say he’s staying the lineup for the foreseeable future.
The stars showed up too. Nico & Timo got their first goals of the playoffs and the proverbial monkey off their backs, while our newly-toothless superstar Jack Hughes lead the way in all regards with 2 goals, 2 assists, and 1 mini-scrap with Sebastian Aho, who is quickly becoming the most-hated player for Devils fans in this series. Jesper Bratt also had a couple of helpers, while that new-look line of Palat-Nico-Bratt looked lethal.
Brendan Smith was fine. The veteran defenseman made his first appearance since game two of the Rangers series and was generally serviceable while Ryan Graves missed his first game of the postseason with injury.
Vitek was shaky. Which gives me the most concern. He has simply been way below average in three games in the playoffs. Of 27 netminders that have appeared in the NHL playoffs this year, Vanecek is ranked 21 in save percentage, posting a .845, a record of 1-2, and a GAA of 4.02. That won’t get it done tonight.
Lindy has had a tendency to roll with winning lineups for the next game in both the regular and post seasons this year, which would indicate him starting Vanecek again and keeping Smith in the lineup.
In my opinion, those would be bad decisions. If I controlled the lineup card, I would go back to Akira. Although he got shelled in games 1 & 2, I don’t think the team did much to help in front of him. He has generally just looked much calmer and in more control than Vanecek in these playoffs, and you simply will not win another game against Carolina if you are required to score 5 or more goals. I’d also re-insert Ryan Graves over Smith, presuming he’s healthy enough.
I’m all good with the 11 forwards, 7 defensemen lineup, but I’ll take a semi-healthy Ryan Graves over Brendan Smith all day long in that scenario, because you can shelter minutes for him and Luke Hughes.
The home ice seems to have mattered in game 3, as the last-change advantage allowed Lindy to keep Hughes’ line away from Jordan Staal, and that appears to have worked big in our favor. I would assume Lindy looks to exploit that again tonight.
The Hurricanes will bring their best tonight. I’ve repeated that mantra a bunch in these blogs, perhaps because I want to expect the worst and not jinx the Devils. But it’s hard to believe they won’t. After two dominating performances to kickoff the series and looking very much like a team that is comfortable in the playoffs, mature and ready to move along to the next round, Carolina will want very badly to bring a stranglehold 3-1 series lead back to Raleigh with them, where they have been lights out over the last few seasons in the playoffs.
The dominant and consistent pairing of Pesce-Skjei was brutal in game 3 for the Canes – that won’t happen again. And while the Carolina goaltending doesn’t scare me on the whole, whoever is in net tonight won’t be as bad as they were either.
It’s going to take another near-perfect effort from the Devils to get this series even tonight, and the stars will need to keep shining.
I don’t expect it to be as high scoring as the last three affairs, which is why I’d be far more comfortable seeing Schmid between the pipes and Ryan Graves in the lineup.
But these boys have no quit in them, as evidenced by the entire season.
Let’s weather the Storm, eh?
Let’s. Go. Devils. Back to Raleigh tied up, wudduya say?
Word Of The Devil 