NHL Insights: New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken, Vegas Golden Knights, and Boston Bruins

Welcome to another edition of NHL Insights as we look at some teams that are true road warriors of the sport. Those teams include New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins, and Vegas Golden Knights.

Though we are inching closer to the NHL All-Star game with teams hitting their bye week and the unofficial second half of the season, we have to acknowledge what these teams have done on the road this season. They can truly be called road warriors. No no not those Road Warriors of professional wrestling, they were good too, but NHL Road Warriors. These teams have some of the best records on the road this year with one team standing above the rest. In this edition of NHL Insights, we look at the New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins, and Vegas Golden Knights

Time to dive into some NHL Insights for the past week.

NHL Insights: Devils, Kraken, Bruins, and Golden Knights

New Jersey Devils

How about those New Jersey Devils? The Devils host the best record on the road at 18-2-2 through the first 22 road games to start the season. In addition, the Devils have recorded 19 points in their first 22 road games. The Devils are finding different ways to win hockey games on the road. Truly they are the Kings of the Road. Even though they went through a bit of a slump, since the start of January, the Devils are rolling again and just sit two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the top spot in the Metro.

The Devils are doing it with their young core of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Dawson Mercer. Hughes has hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career. Hischier continues to lead by example as the captain of the Devils. Though Bratt has returned to Earth, he is still a threat to score when he is out there. A big reason why the Devils are so good on the road is their commitment to defence this season as well as goaltending. Those two areas needed to improve in order for the Devils to be successful. Vitek Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood are providing the timely saves necessary for the Devils to win hockey games.

Let’s see if they can improve that home record too.

Seattle Kraken

Another team that has been great on the road this season has been the Seattle Kraken. Sitting second in the Pacific Division, the Kraken had a tough seven-game road trip where they went 7-0 beating teams like the Boston Bruins, and Edmonton Oilers and sweeping their Eastern Canada road trip. This has been very impressive this season considering it is their second year in the league. A nice turnaround for a team that was very disappointing last season.

The Kraken are getting it done with balanced scoring. Andre Burakovsky leads the way with 38 points with Matty Beniers, the odds-on favourite to win Rookie of the Year, right behind him at 36 points. Beniers has 17 goals on the season which puts him second to Jared McCann, who has 22 goals on the season. Outside of that the Kraken are very balanced up and down their lineup. Like the Devils, the Kraken are getting good goaltending. Philipp Grubauer and Martin Jones are doing what they have to for Seattle to win games. It is the best duo in the league? No, but they are getting average goaltending, and that is all that matters these days.

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Boston Bruins

Let’s be honest the Boston Bruins are the best team in the NHL. We know what their home record is. Remarkable. The Bruins are having a historic season. But their road record is not too bad either. Considering the Bruins needed to just survive the first part of the season with injuries to Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, this team is rolling no matter where they play. The Czech Connection of David Pastrnak, David Krejci, and Pavel Zacha have been great all season. Zacha was rewarded with a new contract. Pastrnak is inching closer to his.

But it is the play of Hampus Lindholm that has really made a difference. It was a sneaky good acquisition and extension last year. He was the team’s defensive MVP when McAvoy was out of the lineup. And how could we forget Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman? Ullmark will most likely win the Vezina Trophy, while the duo of Swayman and Ullmark will take home the Jennings. It does not matter where the Bruins play, they will win hockey games.

Vegas Golden Knights

Another team that plays well on the road is the Vegas Golden Knights. However, recently they are falling back into bad habits. Losing to teams they should not lose to in the standings, similar to last year and a big reason why they missed the playoffs. Injuries to this team do not help either. Head coach Bruce Cassidy has not seen a healthy roster in months. When this team is healthy and rolling they are one of the best. Jack Eichel and Mark Stone have both missed time recently.

Vegas has to get their goaltending figured out to turn the ship around. Logan Thompson, you can see isn’t used to the workload. Adin Hill was good, but with Laurent Brossoit back, the Golden Knights have decisions to make. It is not easy for them either being up against the salary cap. Still what they have done on the road has been good.

In addition to the Road Warriors, check out the Mess that is the Vancouver Canucks and their drama from the weekend.

That does it for this edition of NHL Insights, stay tuned for another edition next week.