Devils' 4-3 Win vs. Wild: 4 Takeaways

The New Jersey Devils' power play once again helped the team to a win, going 2/3 en route to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

The New Jersey Devils seem to be trending in the right direction after a so-so first few games. They ended October on a high note with a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild and concluded the month with a 5-2-1 record. Here are four takeaways from the win as we flip the calendar to November. 

Devils Special Teams Decided the Game

It's no secret that the Devils' power play is on fire to start this season. It's also not much of a secret that the Wild's penalty kill has struggled so far. And that ended up being a decisive factor in the Devils coming away with the 4-3 win. 

When looking at the Devils' power-play numbers, nothing catches the eye all that much. They had just seven shot attempts and generated 0.58 expected goals while up a man. But how they scored their power-play goals is what matters. 

The precision and quickness of their passing are causing opposing penalty kills fits, and there's no better example than the Devils' second power-play tally. The quick passing from Timo Meier and Luke Hughes gave the Wild's penalty killers zero chance of stopping Jesper Bratt’s shot.

Meanwhile, the Devils' penalty kill got the job done too. It wasn't pretty; the Wild had 24 shot attempts and generated 2.13 expected goals on the power play. But the Devils got timely saves from Vitek Vanecek, who made 11 out of 12 saves on the penalty kill to help the kill finish 5/6 on the night. 

He did get some help from his PKers, who did their best to block shots when they could. But the Wild spent almost all of their power-play time in the Devils' end, and it was Vanecek who bailed them out for the most part.