Devils Blank Predators 5-0 Despite Bottom Six Woes
The Predators were generally the better team Sunday night, but the Devils (and Nico Daws) took home the blowout victory anyway.
After a relatively disappointing 4-2 loss last night against the Dallas Stars, the Devils took on the Nashville Predators and routed them to the tune of 5-0.
Let’s get into some observations:
Top Six Dominant, Bottom Six Dominated
It was a tale of duality for the Devils, whose top six looked relatively unstoppable and whose bottom six looked abysmal.
The team’s best line was the Jack Hughes line with Ondrej Palat and Jesper Bratt. They controlled 85.10% of the expected goals at 5v5 when they were all on the ice together, out-attempting the Predators 13-7, outshooting them 11-2, out-chancing them 9-5, out-high-danger-chancing them 4-2, and outscoring them 2-0. By all accounts, 86, 63, and 18 tilted the ice.
The Nico Hischier, Tomas Tatar, and Stefan Noesen line was strong as well, being relied upon in the tougher minutes but still having the majority of the expected goal share (xGF%). The trio ended the night with an xGF% of 73.42% and only allowed 0.11 xG against them in the 9:01 where they all saw ice time. Tatar scored (finally), Noesen scored (on the power play), and Hischier had three assists.
Meanwhile, the bottom six largely struggled. Timo Meier was moved to the third line, presumably to be the primary playdriver on his own line (which is a good idea), but fell short of providing much offense at all. When all three of him, Dawson Mercer, and Justin Dowling were on the ice, the Devils generated just 0.16 xG. Granted, they only allowed 0.13 for an xGF% of 54.35%, but they didn’t generate anything at all offensively, which is why Timo was moved there to begin with. They only mustered two shots on goal in their time together.
The fourth line was just a complete disaster. Erik Haula, Paul Cotter, and Nate Bastian are good players in a vacuum but have simply not worked well with each other — tonight was no different. They were out-attempted 16-6, outshot 6-4, out-chanced 8-2, and most notably out-xG’d 0.88-0.33.
Something has to give with the Devils’ bottom six —soon —and it’s likely going to have to be via trade.
Nico Daws was Stellar
Man, what a stark turnaround between what Devils fans have become accustomed to and the goaltending this season. In Daws’ third start of the season, he absolutely stood on his head.
There may not have been any jaw-dropping saves, but he was extremely sturdy and positioned himself very well, not allowing the Predators to put in a puck on an empty net.
He saved 4.19 goals above expected according to MoneyPuck. This brings Daws up to +5.69 on the season in just three outings. By my calculations, this puts him first in the league in GSAx/60 despite the minuscule sample size. He’s been simply excellent when called upon.
Quick Notes:
Though not quite as much as yesterday, Dougie Hamilton was shooty. He logged seven individual shot attempts, second-most on the team behind Jack Hughes.
There was a massive shift to prioritizing the team’s defensive defensemen, with Brenden Dillon leading the way with nearly 25 minutes of ice time. Brett Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic were the only other two to log 20+.
Seamus Casey scored, sure, but he and Luke Hughes had a rough night on the third pairing. Casey ended the night with an xGF% of 37.47% and Luke had an xGF% of 36.08%.
Special teams was a difference maker tonight. The Devils went 1/1 on the power play and killed off all four penalties.
Jack Hughes is still operating on Four Nations tempo, leading the way in shot attempts (8) — he didn’t miss a single shot, either. All eight hit the net.
Quite the physical game from the Devils, who logged 39 hits to the Predators’ 20. This was generally indicative of the Predators controlling the play for the majority of the game.
6:01 of Dillon’s near-25 minutes came on the PK. Wow. No other player had more than 3:22.
J. Hughes and Bratt did their thing on the PK as well and silenced those who thought they could only handle the softer minutes. They logged a minute more than Hischier and had a high-danger chance of their own. In fact, they outshot the Predators 2-1 in their 3:18 of PKing time.
The Devils’ next game is against the Colorado Avalanche, who they’ll face at 9:30 PM on Wednesday. They’ll presumably be up against ex-Devil Mackenzie Blackwood in net, who is having a superb 2024-25 campaign.