Devils’ Casey Sparks Impressive 3-0 Win vs. Utah HC

Seamus Casey's 2-point game helped lead the New Jersey Devils to an impressive shutout win vs. Utah HC.

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Seamus Casey was one of the New Jersey Devils' most exciting prospects heading into the 2024-25 season. But I'm not sure anyone expected him to have the impact he's having through the first five games of the new NHL season.

Casey helped spark the Devils' 3-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres in Prague, and he got the party started against Utah HC yesterday in what was arguably his best game as an NHLer.

Here are some thoughts on Casey's game and other takeaways from the 3-0 shutout win ahead of tonight's tilt against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Casey's Best Game Yet

Afternoon matineés can have sleepy starts, and yesterday was no different. That's not to say the Devils played poorly to begin yesterday's game, but it took a while to break the ice.

That changed in the second period when Casey broke through with a power-play goal, his third goal in five games. First, Casey did a great job stripping the puck away from Logan Cooley, causing a turnover and leading to the puck going straight to Nico Hischier.

Casey then jumped back into the play, where he had an open lane since he took Cooley out of the play. He then showed patience and picked his corner blocker high on Karel Vejmelka for an absolute snipe to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.

Casey's night was far from over, though. He was instrumental in setting up Stefan Noesen's goal to make it a 2-0 game. Utah failed to clear to the zone, with the puck landing right on Casey's stick. He then stickhandled around at the point, waited until he had a shooting lane, and got a shot through traffic that led to Vejmelka giving up a rebound, which Noesen cleaned up.

What's most impressive about Casey is his game in the offensive zone. His patience helps, but he always seems to know when to make the right play in the offensive zone, and it's leading to goals.  

Of course, the offensive contributions help, but Casey had his best defensive outing yesterday. He finished with an expected goals share (xG%) of 67.93 percent and was only on the ice for 0.38 expected goals against. Both those numbers were second on the team to Johnathan Kovacevic.