What were you hoping for out of the Devils this past weekend? To see them put an end to the scratching and clawing by hitting the pesky Panthers with a tranquilizer dart while kicking the habit of playing both up and down to their competition in a fashion fit for a bi-polar drug addict? To see them put pressure on the teams that precede them in the standings so as to not be the ones left sweating the result of every out-of-town scoreboard like it might flash the test results for an unplanned pregnancy? To see their upstart goaltender continue to save everything including the daylight in pushing back midnight on his Cinderella spring? To see if Blake Coleman's offensive awakening had eyes for the opposition when it wasn't clad in black and yellow? To see if Nico Hischier and Will Butcher would make a conscious and deliberate effort to force maturation faster than a 19 year old giving his first fake ID thee old college try? To see if Sami Vatanen could stomach the very same minutes that kept triggering the gag relaxes of Damon Severson and John Moore whenever they had the puck on their stick? To see if Taylor Hall could recapture the magic that had the hockey world in Hart Trophy hysterics for weeks on end? I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that you'd have to greedier than the all-too-ambiguous y'all that's had DMX barking up a storm since his debut album if you were left wanting more out of the Devils this weekend. That's not to say they played some flawless brand of hockey because they most certainly didn't. However, when Mirco Mueller is leading soon-to-be game-winning shorthanded rushes and late-game 5-on-3 penalty kills are merely setting the dramatic stage for a goal unlike any Taylor Hall has ever scored in the NHL you tend to realize that the fake grass ain't greener on the other side of the Easter basket. The team that's had its fanbase in and out therapy by trending higher than a Snoop Dogg video shoot and lower than an episode of Intervention has (::knock on wood::) maintained some sort of consistent equilibrium that has them in a place that could only appropriately be referred to as Cloud 9. Speaking of...
No need to put up the Do Not Disturb sign, because apparently no distraction can deter the dominance that more than likely has Taylor Hall playoff-bound for the first time in his career. He made an entire Islanders' line look like it was sucking wind during triple OT of a dek hockey game, and I didn't even stand up to celebrate the goal because my legs were tired from the 3-4 times he had nearly completed plays that were just as impressive the period before. There aren't many times that he's touched the ice in which his case for MVP hasn't been strengthened, and the Devils have needed each and every rep to bulk up their point total to a place where they no longer have to hold their breath nightly. Sidenote: You're really pushing a nonsensical agenda if you're criticizing John Hynes for making Damon Severson the sacrificial lamb of a defensive pairing that needed to be put out to pasture weeks ago by healthy scratching him instead of John Moore. I'd presume the better player sat because the better player has been playing just as poorly as his worse counterpart and needed a fire lit under his ass. I can't believe a guy that has gotten career years out of castoffs, seamlessly infused a bunch of rookies into the lineup, and is well-respected throughout an incredibly cohesive locker room that surpassed expectations by mid-season still gets shit for every unpopular lineup decision. A young, inexperienced team with crappy coaching would have fallen apart during a season-defining 6-game road trip. It most certainly wouldn't have come together and ridden it's backup goaltender to the verge of a playoff spot following a come-from-behind win that was preempted by stellar situational awareness from behind the bench...
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