Cory Schneider Shut The Door And Got His Closure In Finishing Off The Road Trip On A High Note

Some may consider a 1-2 road trip a disappointment considering how well the Devils had played leading up to it. I would not be one of those people. Not only because my expectations coming into the season were so low that one little two game skid feels like one hangover during a month long drinking binge, but also because I don't count games played in Western Canada. No, I am dead serious. I don't even know how teams perform in those conditions. Calgary? Edmonton? Vancouver? I applaud the Devils for even showing up. Playing in Western Canada is like playing in Western Pennsylvania. Ever spent multiple days in the middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania? Exactly. It's because there's nothing there. Just a barren state of bleakness. I'm surprised the Devils iced a full lineup last night. I would have thought at least two lines would have been held out with clinical depression. For that reason coming away with a win, against the best team, in the most meaningful game, is praiseworthy. If the Devils were going to lose two in a row this season it was going to be in Western Canada, where it's always the dead of winter, and the only thing colder than the weather is the hearts of it's citizens.

The main takeaway from this road trip? The fact that Devils were able to bounce back from what was likely their worst performance of the year in Edmonton. This team has proven that they don't let the results of one game effect their play in another. Going into Vancouver and getting Cory Schneider a much needed win over the team that traded him was exactly the kind of emotional lift the Devils needed coming out of Serbia...I mean Western Canada. Now sure, that win could be placed predominantly on the shoulders of Schneider himself, but the Devils still got timely goal scoring and made huge defensive plays when it mattered. It might not always be pretty with this team, but when you have one of the best goaltenders in the sport, thanks to the ineptitude of the Vancouver Canucks, it doesn't have to be.