What you call getting lucky, I call getting rewarded. What you call an absurdly fortunate bounce off Adam Henrique's skate, I call a 30 goal scorer's "shooting" percentage making it's way back to it's mean. What you call a desperate, weak wrist shot trickling through a third string goalie's legs with two minutes to go, I call the odds that someone - over the course of an 82 game season - would finally finish a perfect set-up from Taylor Hall working in the Devils favor. What you call a blatant assist from a referee that would probably put him somewhere in the top 5 as far as Devils scorers go, I call an official actually being in a convenient position for once. Did the Devils play perfect last night? Absolutely not. Did they need Cory Schneider to be peak Cory Schneider for the first 5-10 minutes of the game? You're goddamn right they did. That said - aside from letting Oliver Ekman-Larsson stand by himself and tee one up like he was the old curmudgeon at the driving range that demanded he be left alone - the Devils put forth a hell of an effort last night. They surely needed some puck luck, but I also don't think their play dropped off enough in the 3rd to warrant blowing a two goal lead. Anyone that remembers the days of Peter DeBoer remembers a Devils team that refused to be up late in the game without looking like they had an in-locker room gambling ring where they solely bet against themselves. Despite how that scoring summary might read, that wasn't the case last night. The fact of the matter is that the Devils deserved that win. That's why you won't find me apologizing after Travis Zajac scored a pair of perfectly underwhelming Travis Zajac goals. A game winner and an insurance tally to move him to second on the team in scoring and they were just 'meh' enough for the uneducated Devils fan to continue calling him an offensive black hole while completely ignoring how crucial literally every other aspect of his game is to the lineup that has it's fair share of defensive deficiencies. Not every player is going to have the playmaking ability of Taylor Hall, but not just any player can make the Taylor Hall's of the world look more well rounded than they actually are with their play in their own end. Not only am I glad that the Devils have both, but I'm glad that their hard work showed up on the scoresheet - even if one was exponentially more awe-inspiring than the other.
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