Siegenthaler is flying under the radar no more.
Week 14 was a rollercoaster for the New Jersey Devils. They kicked things off against the dreadful Arizona Coyotes who are, at best, the second-worst team in the NHL.
The Devils dominated them in the first period, as was expected, outshooting them 19-2 and taking a 1-0 lead. They ended up losing the game 4-1, allowing the Coyotes to score four on just 17 shots.
That was as awful as a loss as possible, but the Devils rebounded against the unlikeliest opponent. In their next game they not only beat the dominant Carolina Hurricanes, but they put a whopping seven goals past them.
And then, to end the week, the Devils blew a lead to the Los Angeles Kings for another loss. The Devils did lose twice this week, but many players did well. Jonas Siegenthaler was the best, however.
(Check out last week’s player of the week and honorable mentions here.)
Player of the Week: LHD Jonas Siegenthaler
Average Game Score: 1.19
Average defensive impact: 0.19
We’ve discussed how underrated Siegenthaler is and the fact that he’s quietly become the Devils’ best defensive-defenseman. All of his hard work paid off this week as the Devils’ top player.
Siegenthaler didn’t record any points and, while he did what he had to do defensively, he wasn’t as fantastic as usual in his own zone. However, his all-around play was great.
He was better than usual in the offensive zone, taking shots and opening up play, and did hold his own in his own zone. Siegenthaler was a top-four player for the team in each of the Devils’ three games.
The game against Carolina was his second-best of the season, in which he recorded a Game Score of 2.62 and is the primary reason why he’s earned this honor.
Siegenthaler has been a bright spot on the Devils and surely no one expected him to end up becoming a top-defenseman for this team.
Honorable Mention #1: W Andreas Johnsson
vs. CAR: 1 G, 2 A
Average Game Score: 1.11
Average defensive impact: -0.09
An incredible game against the Hurricanes has brought Johnsson back onto our list as an honorable mention.
That was his second-best game of the season. Johnsson earned a Game Score of 3.97 and notched his first points in five games as well as his first goal since Nov. 28th.
Mango pickin’ pic.twitter.com/lo1KZvKkF7
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 23, 2022
Just as Johnsson seemed to be heating up, his play completely collapsed. He wasn’t doing much of anything well and proceeded to suffer a dreadful scoring drought.
The hope is that the Carolina game will reignite him and get him going again because the team plays notably worse when Johnsson is struggling.
Honorable Mention #2: RHD Damon Severson
vs. CAR: 1 A
vs. LAK: 2 A
Average Game Score: 1.08
Average defensive impact: -0.40
This is what a quintessential week from Severson looks like. He was a stud offensively, but didn’t look great in his own zone. It would’ve been nice to see better defense from Severson this week, but his offensive play was great.
He had a very strong game against the Hurricanes (in which he also played solid defensively) and was the team’s best player against the Kings.
Even though Severson isn’t the most defensively responsible guy in the world, this was a good week from him that he will hopefully build off of. His offense is always dearly missed when he gets cold.
