Pat Pickens
It may be too late, but the New Jersey Devils’ offense has finally come alive.
With their three-goal third period in their 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night, the Devils topped four goals for the ninth time in 13 games in March and kept their improbable playoff hopes alive with nine games left.
The Devils now have 52 goals in those 13 games this month (4.0 per game), keyed by red-hot Jack Hughes, who had four points and three in the third period. Hughes now has 10 goals and 24 points in March, and Sunday was his third multi-goal game this month.
The Devils’ Offense Has Been On Fire This Month
This was the Devils offense fans and pundits expected to see in during training camp.
Of course, Hughes’ unforced hand injury in Chicago in November left New Jersey without its most potent player for about six weeks. The Devils offense cratered in that span
But even when No. 86 came back, the Devils scored two-or-fewer goals 10 times in 19 games before a lower-body injury cost him the last three games before the Olympic break.
Hughes’ frustration in the Devils’ offense finally boiled over earlier in the month.
“You look at our team, and we’re like 30th in the league in goals, so we’re not going to win by outscoring teams,” Hughes said after the Devils’ 5-4 loss to the Calgary Flames on March 12. “It’s been pretty obvious … we can’t give up five and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Yet, the Devils have turned that around over the past three weeks. Despite continued substandard goaltending from Jacob Markstrom, the Devils rallied to move within 10 points of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot — the closest they have been since March 9 — with nine games left.
“I think good teams have that [resilience],” Devils captain Nico Hischier said Sunday. “That’s where we’ve got to get to.”
The Devils lead the NHL in goals per game this month. But this has not been a PDO-fueled (12.3 shooting% in March) offensive binge. It has not even the result of a white-hot power play — though they are 11 for 35 (31.4%) with the man-advantage after Connor Brown‘s power-play goal Sunday.
The Devils have 41 even-strength goals in March, tied with the surging Columbus Blue Jackets for second-most in the NHL. The Devils’ expected-goal total in that span, according to Natural Stat Trick, is 40.13, which means they are earning their goals.
Keefe explained what specifically has led to those goals, and the Hughes brothers have been the catalyst, to almost no one’s surprise.
“One of the things that drives play on the rush is controlled [offensive-zone] entries,” Keefe said. “On individual entries, Jack leads our team by a country mile, but Jack also is right there in assisting others in getting plays off the rush in controlled entries, and Luke [Hughes] is right there too.
“When we’ve had them both healthy and feeling good, we look a lot like we have in these past 16 games.”
The Devils are Getting Offense From Everywhere in March
As Hughes goes, so too does the Devils’ offense. But even though Hughes is likely to earn one of the NHL’s three stars for March, he hasn’t had to lift New Jersey’s offense alone.
Five Devils players have reached double-digit points in March, and 11 different players have at least two goals in those 13 games. Hughes is leading the way in March goals, but Hischier, Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt each have six goals apiece this month.
Meier’s performance especially is maddening, since he has more goals in March than he had in 20 games for the Devils in January and February combined (5).
But Meier has scored in three of the Devils’ past four games and is now up to 22 goals, second-most on the team. Meier had an assist on Dougie Hamilton’s game-tying, third-period goal Sunday.
“Timo, I thought was really good tonight, driving the play,” Keefe said Sunday.
Hischier once again leads the Devils in goals (26) and is nearing his third-career 30-goal season. Hischier is, of course, contract-extension eligible July 1, which makes his recent scoring burst well-timed too, especially since it comes on the heels of another phenomenal two-way season.
“I don’t give Nico Hischier a lot of easy shifts,” Keefe said. “He picks up a lot of slack in areas where we need him to take on extra duty for our team. Since the Olympic break, Nico and his line, had given up basically nothing. The best defensive line on our team.
“To have numbers like that and still be producing offense, is pretty tremendous.”
