Losers No More, Devils Overshadow Rival Rangers, and Everyone Else

Fitzgerald knew his team would improve this season. Last year, with the conveyor belt of injured goalies, the Devils gave up 302 goals, fourth most in the league. This year, they have given up among the fewest high-danger scoring chances and have one of the highest rates of puck possession in the offensive zone.

This may simply have been the season that many of their high draft picks began to bear fruit. Since 2017, New Jersey has selected the top pick twice and also drafted seventh, fourth and second.

“When you’re at the bottom of the barrel for years, you get a lot of picks,” Hughes said. “We hoped to get there, but we didn’t know when. I can’t even say we are there yet. But we are playing really well as a team.”

Nico Hischier, the No. 1 pick in 2017, was named captain in 2021 when he was only 22. But this year, Fitzgerald said, Hischier has grown even more in the role.

“We are still young,” said Hischier, a terrific two-way center. “But we aren’t youngsters anymore. We have experience.”

The frustrated fan base also expected progress this year and showed scathing impatience when the season started poorly. The Devils lost their season opener in Philadelphia, and after the game Miles Wood, a left wing who has been with New Jersey since 2016, groaned that he was sick of being on a bad team.

Two nights later, when the Devils lost their home opener, Lindy Ruff, the head coach, caught the pitiless end of the spectators’ wrath as they chanted, “Fire Lindy.” It was the low point.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/sports/hockey/devils-rangers-hughes-nhl.html