Young New Jersey Devils Continue To Show Resiliency

The New Jersey Devils have hit a bit of a rough patch. After their 13-game winning streak earlier in the season, the Devils have come back to Earth. Their poor play has allowed teams in the Metro Division to catch up. However, despite their losing streak in December, the one thing that was never missing was their resiliency and lack of fight.

The Devils have a different mindset this season when they take the ice. This young team knows that losing is not an option anymore. So when they lose especially those close games, they are not satisfied. There are no moral victories anymore for the players in the locker room. Instead, they take those losses to heart and want to make sure they do not experience that feeling again.

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With the New Jersey Devils underperforming recently, January is a big month for them. The Devils only won three of 12 games in the month of December. During that stretch, they had a six-game losing streak. However, since the calendar flipped, the Devils are 2-2 through four games, getting a huge win against their rivals the New York Rangers on Saturday coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in overtime.

Not only was this a big win for the team as a whole, but it was important to keep them two points ahead of the Rangers in the standings. Not to mention this could be a turning point for the Devils in their season. If this team wants to make the playoffs these are the types of games the Devils are going to have to win. This has been the message head coach Lindy Ruff has tried to emphasize to his players all season long.

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With the standings being so tight, every point matters to the Devils as they hit the road for a five-game road trip. So this was a big win for this young Devils team.

“Every game, every point, every period matters,” Jesper Bratt said post-game, “Obviously we didn’t get the start we needed to get an early goal. But it’s something we’ve been working on all season, never give up, always keep fighting and keep grinding. We know we have the skill and the type of team to really come back in these games, we came back, we showed great character and we’ve got a huge extra point.”

Winning on Home Ice Matters

The Devils resiliency was helped by the atmosphere at Prudential Center on Saturday. As previously mentioned New Jersey has not had the greatest of home records recently. Their road record is excellent. In fact, it is one of the best. But the building came alive when the Devils cut it to 3-2 on a goal from Bratt. The players fed off the energy in the building and that is what propelled them to victory.

It also helps when All-Star forward Jack Hughes has two goals in the game. Hughes now has 26 goals on the season matching his career high from a year ago. There are still 40 games left as Hughes looks to be the first Devils players in franchise history to hit the 50-goal mark.

Hughes was a man possessed today for the Devils. It seemed all the Devils’ offence was coming from Hughes or captain Nico Hischier. But that is not a bad thing. Management entrusted these players to be leaders and both have led by example especially Hughes as he has carried this team offensively. He must have heard his brother Luke Hughes’s words in his head telling him we are not losing this game.

This is still a young Devils team. However, they are continuing to take strides in the right direction. Having a never quit attitude and constant resiliency this team is never out of any game. It is still a learning curve for this team as the games get harder with each passing month. Because learning to win now will help the New Jersey Devils when they get to the playoffs.