GAME STORY: Devils 1, Bruins 0

BOSTON, MA -The Devils continued their dominance of Boston with a 1-0 victory Sunday night at TD Bank Garden to improve to 4-0-1 against the Bruins on the year.
Or, perhaps more appropriately put, goaltender Mackenzie continued his dominance of the Boston Bruins.
Blackwood made 40 saves, including 17 in the third period alone, to record first shutout of the season and sixth of his career. He is now 3-0-1 against Boston with a 1.19 goals-against average and .964 save percentage.

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The Devils finish their season-long, six-game road trip in Boston on Tuesday night. You can watch on MSG+ and listen on the Devils Hockey Network,
including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com.
Game time is 7:08 PM ET.
On the night, Blackwood…
-Came out far above his crease to stop Patrice Bergeron with a power-play chance early in the first period
-Got his arm on a high shot from Zach Senyshyn on a 3-on-1 for Boston in the second period
-Denied Anders Bjork from point-blank after Bjork stole the puck from Jack Hughes and cut to the goal on the penalty kill
-Made a sliding pad save to deny David Pastrnak under the circle on a power-play one-timer in the third period
-Stopped Charlie Coyle in the slot on an excellent shorthanded chance, also in the third period
-Got his skate toe on a puck that was nearly crossed the goal line with eight seconds remaining in regulation
Blackwood almost single-handedly stole two points for New Jersey, which is now 5-3-1 in its past nine games.
Here are some other observations from the game…
* The game required two lengthy referee reviews in the final 70 seconds of the game. The first came after the Bruins believed they tied the game with 1:10 left with a goal from Bergeron. However, Blackwood had the puck under his glove. It was jarred free by David Krejci and the Devils successfully challenged for goaltender interference.
The second review came when it appeared the Bruins tied the game with less than 10 seconds left. A bouncing puck was heading toward the goal line, and somehow Blackwood managed to push toward his goal post, get his pad inside the net and kick the puck away with his toe.
"I just saw it dropping there. You push and kick your leg at it as best you can," Blackwood said. "I saw it kind of going in so I was like 'here we go' and give it the best effort that you got."
* To follow up on that last Blackwood save, how incredible it was can't be understated. Blackwood had to have the presence of mind to not only get across with his leg, but pull his leg into the goal in order to kick the puck out. If he just pushes his pad toward the puck, then he would have knocked it in. It was not only an extremely athletic play, but also an extremely cerebral play.
"It was an unbelievable move on Blackwood's part," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "That's some serious stretching, some serious yoga, some serious control on his part to make sure that he isn't the one that makes it go the rest of the way over the line."
* Blackwood certainly deserves his credit, but the Devils' defensive effort shouldn't be overlooked. Particularly, for its efforts against Boston all season long.
Just consider the following…
-In five games this season for a total of 309:58 minutes, Boston has scored zero goals at 5-on-5; that's ZERO
-The Devils pitched a shutout sequence of 121:06 minutes
-During the above-mentioned shutout sequence, the team's goaltenders have combined for 82 saves (Blackwood, 42; Scott Wedgewood, 40)
* Your goaltender is always your best penalty killer, and Blackwood did his job on that front. But the entire unit passed a huge test early in the third period after Janne Kuokkanen was assessed a double minor high-sticking penalty on Charlie McAvoy.
The PK unit, which went 3-for-3 on the night, was pressuring the puck, winning battles, blocking shots and getting their sticks in lanes. Any breakdowns after that, which weren't many, were handled by Blackwood.
The Devils escaped without giving up a goal. Coming full circle, the power play ended when McAvoy took a tripping penalty with 14 seconds remaining after taking down Yegor Sharangovich to prevent a breakaway.
* Ty Smith, who has five assists in his past five games, is the Devils' best defenseman. I don't care that he's just 21 years old. I don't care that he's only a rookie that has played a meager 33 games. There is no one on the Devils' blue line that is as cool, as dangerous and as effective with the puck than Smith.
And that numbers back that up. Smith picked up his team-leading 17th assist against Boston, which also was his 19th point of the season. Those 19 points are tied with Pavel Zacha for the top spot on the New Jersey roster.
And Smith's accolades are league-wide. His 17 assists are the most by a rookie in the NHL (Kirill Kaprizov, 16, Minnesota), while his 19 points are tied for third (Tim Stutzle, Ottawa) most among novice NHLers.
Smith still makes his mistakes, see the turnover to Bjork on the power play in the third period, but those are to be expected from a young player still learning the game. The important thing is that he is making less and less mistakes as the season goes on.
* Kyle Palmieri scored his seventh goal of the season in the first period. Or, another way to put it, a goal was scored off of Palmieri for his seventh of the season. Palmieri was skating toward the slot when Smith's shot went off Palmieri's stick and into the net for the first-period goal.
Palmieri has had a lot of tough breaks this season, so he deserves some good luck. And full credit goes to him for driving to the net. He now has three goals in his past six games.