Patience Paying Off | 10 TAKEAWAYS

The loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last week - as drama filled as it was - feels like the tiniest blip on the radar of the Devils 2022-23 season to date. The level of emotion nearly burst the roof of Prudential Center. It was going to happen eventually, they weren't going to run the table for the remainder of the season, but it could also be one of the more important games, simply by virtue of how it was followed up a game later against the Buffalo Sabres.
This group was determined not to lose two consecutive games. They didn't and haven't since the opening two games of the season, where the roof of Prudential Center felt like it may have been blown off for a completely different set of emotions.
It's Nov. 29, 2022. The Devils have a 19-4-0 record.
It's kind of mind-boggling, for all the right reasons.
So here we go, exploring the Devils last week in 10 Takeaways, presented by Ticketmaster!

2.

In the win against the Rangers, the Devils pulled away with their play in the second period, building a two-goal lead. No one should have been surprised by it, least of all the team themselves. As Nico Hischier said after the game:
"The second period has been our period this year."
And he's not wrong. The Devils have scored 34 second-period goals in their 23 games this season putting them atop the league in goals for in the second period.

3.

If you're going to build that lead in the second period with those 34 goals, what's the point if you can't defend it, right?
Right.
They're not first in the least goals against in the third period, but they're a close second having conceded only 14 goals in the final 20 minutes.
Second only to the Boston Bruins 12.

4.

Here's a list of things that were going on the last time the New Jersey Devils sat as the league's best team in the standings.
That was all happening when the New Jersey Devils were last at the top of the standings in Oct. 2014.

5.

I asked Vitek Vanecek about his first career penalty, against the Rangers when he swatted back at Vincent Trochek who was getting a little too comfortable in Vanecek's blue paint. Vanecek said he had had enough, feeling like he was crashing too much into him, so as he turned to face the puck, he swatted (my word, not his) back, basically out of annoyance, and just wanted him out of there.
I don't know about you, but I enjoyed seeing Vanecek's wires cross at that moment.
Did you see the way Vitek said goodnight to the Rangers fans on Monday night at Madison Square Garden?
At this point in a game, I'm normally already waiting by the locker room, so I didn't see it live and only caught it on Monday's edition of Rewind, but it's fantastic. A little, thanks for having us, salute from Vitek. you can see it at the 1:24 mark of Rewind, but watch the whole thing to relive a great night at MSG!

Of course, the other possibility is that he knew someone in the stands that he was waving to. But, I like my version of the story!

6.

After the game against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 19, both Fabian Zetterlund and Jesper Boqvist were told by head coach Lindy Ruff to find apartments in New Jersey.
Full story coming on that soon, but that's code-talk for you're sticking around.

7.

Patience is a really hard thing. Trust me, I know. But it feels like we are here on the cusp of it paying dividends (or maybe beyond it?).
Patience in drafting well, patience in developing well. All these things take time to get to the point the club is currently in.
The Devils front office has never wavered from their position of 'doing things the right way',from investing in their drafting and development, and not seemingly ever making any panic moves.
They have stuck with a plan, and even though plans evolve and change, the end-goal has always remained the same. Grow from within, draft well, and develop well. Then surround the players with veterans.
Because, as I've learned through my years with the franchise, fans like comparisons (positive ones of course) between the Devils and Rangers, here's a prime example of what I mean:
Both the Devils and Rangers have number one picks on their roster - the Devils with two, the Rangers with one - but all the same, both clubs have higher-end players under 25 years old.
Last night, the Rangers' highest point-getting who was 25 or under was Filip Chytil.
He has 11 points this season.
The Devils?
Jack Hughes (21yrs), Jesper Bratt (24yrs), and Nico Hischier (24yrs) all have 25 or more points to begin the year. Hughes and Bratt have 26, and Hischier has 25.
Yegor Sharangovich (14), Fabian Zetterlund (12), and Dawson Mercer (14) all have more points than the younger of the Rangers forwards.

8.

The two-pad stack save by Craig Anderson on Miles Wood in Buffalo was absolutely wild and old-school.
In passing in the dressing room post-game I asked Miles about it, in a 'can you believe it' kind of way.
"Ridiculous," was Wood's answer. Shaking his head with his big toothless grin and a slice of post-game pizza in his hand.
It really was.

9.

There was something so fitting about watching Jack Hughes score his first career hat trick on the same night that Lindy Ruff became just the fifth coach in NHL history to win 800 career games behind the bench.
When tensions were high at the end of last season, it was Jack who publicly went to bat for Ruff in his exit interview. There were those on the outside who even doubted Jack's comments. But, just like I mentioned before, there is something profound about patience and sticking to a plan, not making any panic moves, when panic might feel very real.
"I really like Lindy and I want him to be around next year," Hughes said in May, "but we'll see what happens, but I really appreciate what Lindy has done for me the last two years."
Neither, it appears, really doubted the other.
And here we are.

10.

I'm around enough that the 'don't get too high, don't get too low' mantra is literally rubbing off into my own life. You hear it so much, it becomes ingrained in your brain.
And that's why I love comments like this one from Miles Wood after the Rangers game.
He was outright asked about the confidence of the hockey team.
Answering the question of "This is a very confident hockey team right now, isn't it?", Wood chose his words carefully.
Not to dissuade the confidence, but to manage it.
"We like our play, right now. But we can't get cocky about it, we know things can slip. We have to hold each other accountable here, and it's onto Nashville."
Did someone say
accountable
? It's a big reason why this team is where it's at.
It's not just lip service. And I spent weeks trying to figure out its definition. Turns out, there are many. Check it out in my
Big Read: The Evolution of Accountability