Let’s hope the New Jersey Devils save some winning for the start of the regular season. With their 3-2 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sept. 30, the Devils moved to 4-0-0 in the preseason. Let’s highlight some main takeaways as the preseason starts to wind down, with New Jersey having just three exhibition games left before kicking off the regular season.
Vanecek Looking Sharp
The Devils had some decent moments last night, but it was not the best team game for the most part. That shouldn’t have been all that surprising since Jonas Siegenthaler, Dougie Hamilton and Brendan Smith were the only regular blueliners to dress. Most of the Devils’ main bottom-six forwards got the night off too.
That meant plenty of work for Vitek Vanecek, who got the full 60 minutes and overtime in net. He ended the night making 29 saves on 31 shots while stopping 0.84 goals above expected. His rebound control was solid, and when he gave up a rebound, he was kicking the puck away from Flyers skaters and out of danger.
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Vanecek was particularly great in the third period when the Flyers played their best. The Devils consistently got hemmed in their own end in the final frame, with the Flyers generating 1.43 expected goals at all strengths. Had it not been for Vanecek’s play, the game likely never gets to overtime, even though he gave up the tying goal late in the third (it wasn’t his fault).
Vanecek seems to have put his playoff struggles behind him, at least to start the preseason. He has a .952 save percentage in the game and a half-plus he’s played while stopping 1.77 goals above expected. His high-danger SV% is below .800, but it’s too small a sample to be concerned. Otherwise, he looks like regular-season Vanecek from a season ago.
What to Make of Holtz
There was good and bad in Alex Holtz’s game last night. Let’s start with the good, which was quite encouraging. Holtz found the back of the net for the second straight preseason game he’s appeared in. But unlike the last time he was on the ice, he did a much better job generating chances and getting pucks toward Carter Hart.
Holtz finished with three shots on goal, tied for most on the team. He also had four shot attempts, three scoring chances, and two high-danger opportunities. He nearly ended the game in overtime on a play where he showed plenty of patience until a shooting lane opened up for him, but he fired the puck wide of the net.
The offensive game, which is why the Devils drafted Holtz with a top-10 pick, is what you want to see from him. It’s encouraging his goal looked similar to his first this preseason, with him driving to the slot and putting home a grade-A chance.
On the flip side, his game off the puck still needs some work. Holtz finished last night with a 32.86 expected goals percentage (xG%), and some of his turnovers make you scratch your head. At the same time, no one had a good game off the puck; every Devils skater finished with an xG% below 50 percent.
It’s probably hard to take much from Holtz’s game away from the puck until we see him against stiffer competition, and that may not come until the regular season begins. But for now, he’s doing what you want from him in the offensive zone. He’s scoring goals, and last night, he took a step in the right direction in terms of generating more chances.
Devils Penalty Kill Changed the Momentum
Even from the opening faceoff, it didn’t seem like the Devils had their legs, but their penalty kill helped turn the tides early on. The Flyers drew a power play while already up 1-0, but the Devils managed to kill it without much trouble.
As soon as Tyce Thompson came out of the box for his tripping minor, he helped lead the Devils on an odd-man rush, which turned into a goal from Curtis Lazar to make it 1-1. Thompson showed great patience on this play to get the puck past a sliding Emil Andrae and to Lazar for the tally:
Later in the first, Ondrej Palát intercepted a poor pass from the Flyers and went the other way on a shorthanded 2-on-0 with Lazar. Palát connected with Lazar for a grade-A chance, but Hart made a great save to deny him a goal.
With the Devils struggling to generate much at five-on-five, their penalty kill created some offense and changed the momentum. It wouldn’t be long before Holtz scored to make it 2-1 later in the first period, which came on the heels of the Devils’ penalty kill stymieing the Flyers’ power play.
The process of the Devils’ penalty kill has been excellent, too. They’re 11/12 on the kill through four preseason games and are allowing just 4.00 expected goals per 60 minutes. Granted, most teams haven’t practiced power plays much yet or even iced their best units. But the Devils’ penalty kill seems to be picking up where it left off last season.
Devils Quick Hits
- Speaking of Thompson, he may have been the Devils’ best forward last night. As mentioned, there was his assist on Lazar’s goal. But he also finished with the best xG% among Devils skaters. He requires waivers to get sent down to the Utica Comets in the AHL, but he could force his way onto the roster if he keeps up his solid play.
- After playing well in his first preseason game, Cal Foote struggled last night against the Flyers. The Devils got out-attempted 28-5 with him on the ice at five-on-five, and his 11.45 xG% was second-worst on the team. He was always likely heading to the Comets to start the season, but that seems like a foregone conclusion now.
With the final week of the preseason getting underway tomorrow, the Devils should start icing lineups closer to their opening-night roster. That will give us an idea of what head coach Lindy Ruff and his staff are thinking for the final 23-man unit.
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Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick
