Devils' 2-1 Win vs. Kraken: Schmid Steals One

Akira Schmid came up with one of the best goaltending performances of the New Jersey Devils' 2023-24 season to steal a win against the Kraken

A stolen win from a New Jersey Devils goaltender? In this economy? It wasn't pretty, but the Devils managed to eke out a 2-1 win against the Seattle Kraken, thanks to an outstanding performance from Akira Schmid. Here are three takeaways from the victory. 

Schmid Gave the Devils His Best

Getting quality goaltending has been difficult to come by for the Devils this season, but it appears they're finding something from Schmid, who undoubtedly stole a win last night. 

The Devils played a solid enough first two periods, but the Kraken really put the pedal to the metal in the third period, outshooting the Devils 16-3. Schmid did not allow a single Kraken shot to find the back of the net in the final frame, and they had plenty of grade-A chances to do so. 

The Kraken had ten high-danger chances in the third period alone, but Schmid turned the ones that hit the net aside. For the game, he made 11 saves on 12 high-danger shots for a high-danger save percentage of .917. And he finished saving 2.44 goals above expected. 

What was most impressive from Schmid was his rebound control, which was miles better than Vitek Vanecek's in the 6-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. Schmid was swallowing up pucks and not leaving many rebound opportunities for the Kraken. And when he did leave a rebound, he kicked them out of harm's way. 

With the 37-save performance, Schmid moved his SV% back up to .902 for the season, which is about league-average. His high-danger SV% is now at .808, and though that could still improve, it's significantly better than Vanecek's. 

Schmid may have had a clunker against the San Jose Sharks a week ago, but he's had a quality start in three of his last four outings. His SV% across those four starts is .915. He's the Devils' 1A netminder until further notice. 

Nemec Thriving