Simon Nemec's 1st NHL goal leads to a New Jersey Devils win

The New Jersey Devils took down the Seattle Kraken 2-1 on Thursday night. This was their fifth win in six games after slumping for a while. Injuries had a lot to do with it but they are back on track. 

This one wasn't easy for New Jersey on the road though as they pulled out a win at Climate Pledge Arena by a slim margin. The Kraken outshot the Devils 38-17.

Thankfully, Akira Schmid won the game for his team. This is the first instance in 2023-24 that the goaltender deserves the most credit for a Devils win. Schmid made 37 saves on 38 shots.

The New Jersey Devils took care of business against the Seattle Kraken

The offense wasn't dominating the way that we are used to seeing. Ondrej Palat opened the scoring thanks to a great play made by John Marino and Nico Hischier.

Tye Kartye evened up the score in the second period but it didn't last long. About two minutes later, Simon Nemec scored his first career NHL goal to give the Devils the lead for good.

Nemec was the number two pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. There has been a lot of anticipation leading up to his debut and it only took him three games to score from the back end.

He has been playing some solid minutes defensively and is a point-per-game player through three. With Luke Hughes in the same lineup, this team has two teenage defensemen who could end up being Norris-level guys.

Seeing the kid score the game-winner in a game that was won by the goaltender's dominance is great news for the Devils.

Jack Hughes, who has almost as many three-point games as 0-1 point games, didn't earn a point and they still won. Good teams find a way to win in situations like that.

Although the team has been much better since getting players back from injury, there is still a long way to go. It would be nice to see them get goaltending in a game where the team also plays great in front of him.

That is two wins in two games on this Pacific Northwest trip. They are going to finish it up in Alberta this weekend against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.