Nolan Patrick Owns The New Jersey Devils, Proves Once And For All That He's Better Than Nico Hischier
Final Score: Flyers 5, Devils 2
First of all, I’d just like to thank all of the angry Devils fans right now for clicking on this blog. I really appreciate the Saturday afternoon clicks.
Second of all, do I really think that Nolan Patrick is far and away a better player than Nico Hischier? No. Neither of these guys have even played 100 games in the NHL yet. It is still way, way, wayyyyy too early to make any sort of definitive call on Nico vs Nolan. And yes, I am very much aware that Nico Hischier had more points than Nolan Patrick last year so before all you Devils fans waste your time in the comments to tell me that, I know how numbers work. With that being said–Nico Hischier played in more games and also plays on New Jersey’s top line while Nolan was injured for a lot of last season and played on either the 2nd or 3rd line. So it’s not exactly a perfect comparison. Either way, what I’m trying to say is that Devils fans are fucking idiots for constantly trying to say that Nico is better than Nolan when both of them are just a couple weeks into their 2nd season in the league.
HOWEVA…
It was still really satisfying to see Nolan Patrick put this puck in the back of the net with Hischier half-assing the backcheck here. Is it a metaphor for their two careers right now? No it is not. But hopefully in a few years we can look back at this moment as the time that Nolan Patrick became the better of the two. As of right now, let’s just continue to bask in the greatness that is that dish from Jake Voracek. What a fucking pass. Through some traffic. Perfectly placed on Patrick’s tape for the easy tap in. That pass from Jake was a goddamn beauty. And late in the 3rd period with the game tied 2-2?
It’s Jake again, this time filling the back of the net himself.
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Jake Voracek has successfully tricked the entire league into thinking that he’s going to pass on every single 2v1. This time he realizes how much room Severson is giving him to cut off that pass, takes that space and dunks it on Kinkaid with a nice little forehand-backhand-forehand. Greasy take from a greasy man. So it was a great game out of Jake Voracek. I thought Travis Konecny really stood out today as a guy who had the motor going all afternoon. It was great to see Nolan Patrick get involved in the scoring after missing a few games with a concussion. Jordan Weal–aside from taking 3 penalties–looked really good today. It was a shit afternoon for the top powerplay unit but other than that, this was another solid Saturday afternoon effort from the Flyers. I think they always play their best at 1pm on Saturdays so if we can just keep working more of these into the schedule, the boys should be alright.
P.S. – If you had the under today, I am truly sorry. 2 empty net goals at the end of the game there to get the total to 7. That was brutal.