New Jersey Devils goaltenders Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen are continuing to build trust and confidence with their defensemen.
On Thursday night, New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom was 1:05 away from his first shutout of the 2024-25 campaign.
While an NHL shutout is always impressive, the Devils earning two shutouts over their first seven games of the season would have been extraordinary.
Markstrom was a minute away from joining his goaltending partner Jake Allen, who already earned a shutout on Oct. 14 against the Utah Hockey Club.
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To start the season, New Jersey's goaltending tandem has been everything the team could have hoped for.
Markstrom has three wins in five games with a .918 save percentage and 2.43 goals against average. Allen won both his starts, earning a .974 save percentage and a league-leading 0.50 goals against average.
In addition to their personal play, Allen and Markstrom have had the luxury of having a team play solid defensively in front of them.
Even with Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes' injuries, the Devils' blue line is much improved. They have given up 14 goals through seven games and only two on the penalty kill.
The presence of Brenden Dillon is pushing the rest of the defense to use their size and help them step up their game. This is most apparent in Dougie Hamilton's game, as he already has 14 blocked shots and nine hits to start the season. Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnathan Kovacevic have been a steady and reliable pair. Seamus Casey has been a pleasant surprise with how well he positions himself in the defensive zone, and after a slow start, Simon Nemec's defensive game has recently started to emerge.
"I think the more games we play together, the better chemistry I feel that we're having, especially me with the defense and all that stuff," Markstom said after Thursday's game.
Over the past seven games, fans have seen confidence and trust emerge between the goaltenders and their defensemen, something that hasn't quite been there in the past.
Many times last season, New Jersey's goaltenders didn't cohesively work with the two defensemen in front of them.
There were instances where individual players were simply looking to survive that shift and make it back to the bench without being scored on. Defensemen were doing too much and overcompensating, leaving their goaltender in a vulnerable position.
Goaltending and defense are heavily intertwined. If a team's defense is good, but the goaltender is not playing well, they are going to get scored on. If a team's goaltender is good, but the defense is not playing well, they will eventually get scored on.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald knew that improving his goaltending tandem alone would not be enough. That is why he brought Pesce and Dillon in during free agency.
In an extremely small sample size, it is encouraging to see New Jersey's goaltenders and defensemen cohesively working together, and it should only get better with Pesce's return.
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