John Fischer is the editor-in-chief of InLouWeTrust.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JKFischer. We also dug up this rock person on Twitter @HellBlazerVice. We don’t know either.
Let’s start with something easy: Just what the hell are the Devils doing at the top of the standings in the Metro when most of their analytic numbers aren’t good?
HellBlazer: The first few weeks looked good when they were skating fast and generating dangerous chances, which lead to goals. However, their defense was their achilles heel and Hynes has stopped trying to turn every game into a track meet and has started to dial down the aggressiveness in order to stop bleeding goals against- which thanks to their lack of capable defensive players has failed miserably. They’ve managed to stay afloat thanks to Taylor Hall putting the team on his back and Brian Gibbons somehow putting up 7 goals. Occam’s razor suggests their success is a dead cat bounce and with the way they’ve played lately, it very likely is.
Fischer:
The Devils have been hot in the net and with their sticks throughout October. The Devils finished October with a hot 8-2-0 with a 10.38% shooting percentage in 5-on-5; a 92.74% save percentage in 5-on-5 play; four shorthanded goals; and a shooting percentage of 18.03% on the power play. You’re right in that most of their team metrics aren’t good. But when you’re shooting this well and the goalies have been great for the most part, then that makes up the gap. The Devils have cooled off in November with a 1-2-2 start to the month. They’re not just lighting teams up and while Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid have been very good, the team has bled a ton of shots and that catches up.
So why are the Devils still in first despite this? Easy: the other teams have not met expectations yet. The Washington Capitals have not played to their level of talent. The New York Rangers started off the season by gloriously falling on their face, mostly in their overrated building. The Carolina Hurricanes have continued to show great shot metrics and not much more – which is why their results have been limited. That said, the party may be over for the Devils soon unless they start winning some games and playing better games at even strength. The Columbus Blue Jackets have begun to assert themselves. Scarily, the Pittsburgh Penguins are around first place despite one of the league’s lowest PDO. Once that gets corrected, the Pens could rule this division with an iron fist. It has not happened – yet. If or when most of the other seven teams get their acts together, then the Devils will likely fall. For now, I’m just enjoying the view.
vs.
