First Period
The match between the New Jersey Devils and the Anaheim Ducks started a bit slowly, as the top two lines came and went without a shot. The third line did their best to play some back-and-forth hockey, but a long shot in off an offensive zone hold from Evan Rodrigues was stopped. Declan Chisholm crashed for the rebound, which bounced over his stick and forced Dawson Mercer to jump back next to Johnny Kovacevic against the rush as Nico Daws gloved at but didn’t hold a long shot from Nikita Klepov (this shot was taken off the board because it was set to go wide into crashing traffic, as bettors have really gotten ahold of shot counts in the NHL).
With those slow opening shifts, Anaheim made an early mistake in not bringing the energy to the Devils. With Jack Hughes posted up at the center of the blueline in the offensive zone, he was largely unpressured as Anaheim struggled to block passing lanes following good puck movement around the top of the zone. Jack fed Jesper Bratt in the lower edge of the faceoff circle, and Bratt turned it inside to Arseny Gritsyuk for an easy tap-in goal as the Devils took the early lead!
Luke Hughes had a great defensive period, breaking up two odd-man rushes by being aggressive against the puck carrier on both occasions. The Devils were doing well as a whole, blocking shots and not actually allowing an official shot on goal until they were 14 and a half minutes into the game, as Nico Daws padded a point shot away.
Just as the Devils looked like they had given away the puck right to the front of the net with two minutes to play, Alex Killorn was sent to the box for tripping Johnny Kovacevic. The whistle blew as Roger McQueen shot on Daws, negating it, but the trip was so obvious that it wasn’t even contested by the Ducks. Still, as the replay showed, Kovacevic made the giveaway without Killorn’s help, passing from his backhand right to McQueen before being taken down.
The Devils’ power play started off slowly, but it got going in the second minute. The Ducks had the puck in the Devils’ offensive zone, but Luke Hughes took it away and tried to spring them on a rush chance. They were a little disjointed, passing back to Luke Evangelista who was trailing in, and the five Devils each stood on the perimeter of the offensive zone for a few moments to establish possession before getting into their usual set-up. Evangelista took a one-timer from beyond the high slot that went right into Nico Hischier’s chest, and it seemed to sting a bit as the Devils kept possession. Hischier would be rewarded for playing through it when Jack Hughes shot on goal from the lower right faceoff circle, giving Nico a perfect rebound to tap into the goal! The Devils took this 2-0 lead into the intermission.
Second Period
Early in the second period, Brett Pesce took an uncalled high stick from AJ Greer behind the Devils’ net. Pesce got into it with the Ducks in the corner afterwards and then crosschecked Greer in front of the Devils’ net, giving Anaheim their first power play of the game. The Devils’ penalty kill did very well, only allowing one shot on goal while clearing the puck several times.
The Devils would later be called for another penalty when Evan Rodrigues went to the box for a four-minute high sticking double minor at nine and a half minutes into the period. After review, the penalty was wiped off the board as it was called a follow-through of Rodrigues playing the puck along the wall. Throughout the following minutes, Nico Daws got a lot more action in goal, getting across the 10-save mark, including one point shot that was deflected down to the ice and gloved when it bounced back above his pad.
Third Period
After a slow start to the final frame, the Ducks pulled within one eight and a half minutes into the period when a Jackson LaCombe point shot was tipped past Nico Daws by Tim Washe. All the sudden the Devils, who went into coast mode a bit too early, were one bad shot against away from being stunned into a tie game.
As the period progressed, the Devils were slow to create scoring chances, but it would be Anthony Mantha who gave them their crucial goal. Mantha was screening Ville Husso uncovered, swinging at a Brett Pesce point shot and digging away at Husso before he was able to freeze the puck. It went through the five hole, and the Devils extended their lead to 3-1 with over six and a half minutes to play.
The Ducks pulled Husso with over four and a half minutes to play, trying to pull back to within one. But the undisciplined Ducks would take a penalty in the corner. As Alex Killorn was doing his best to take a crosschecking penalty on Nico Hischier, Bennett Sennecke took a high sticking penalty on Luke Evangelista as the teams battled for the puck. This put Ville Husso back in the net as the Devils sent out Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton for a two-defenseman power play. Hamilton just missed a chip shot wide early on, and Jesper Bratt just missed his stick with a pass from behind the net. Sheldon Keefe rewarded other players with some power play shifts after the first unit went off for a stoppage, and Connor Brown came very close on two chances but was stymied by Husso.
With Husso out of the net in the final half minute, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt checked relentlessly to prevent the Ducks from crossing center ice as they hunted for that empty net goal. It was Jack who finally got it done, one-handing the puck away at the blueline and smoothly backhanding it into the net to seal the game at 4-1.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats | The Post Hockey Game Stats | Hockey Game Bot
The Devils Are Back
It might not have been pretty to start the season, but the New Jersey Devils seem to be back from an offensive standpoint. With this game, the Devils have:
- Outshot opponents in 10 of 10 games
- Out-xG’d opponents in 8 of 10 games
- Scored first in their last five games
- Won four of their last five
There is still a lot of season to go, but it seems that when the Devils set the tone with their game, it is really hard for opponents to claw it back from them. Even in the second period, the Devils only allowed eight shots while out-chancing the Ducks. What has been a bit different over these last two wins is that it has just about entirely been the Hischier and Hughes lines leading the way. Those two lines accounted for a 14-6 shots advantage at five-on-five, while the bottom six was outshot 8-5.
But the bottom six isn’t all bad. They need to figure out their even strength configuration, but Connor Brown has been a boost on the penalty kill already and almost made the most of his half-shift of power play ice time. Anthony Mantha, in an intermedial shift with Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer, scored his second goal of the year to give the Devils a cushion at the end of the game. I do think the Devils look better at five-on-five when Amadeus Lombardi is driving offense on the fourth line, but it’s going to have to be a tough call for Sheldon Keefe to see who has to come out of the lineup for him to do that.
Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton
Their on-ice stats might not be the best today because of the Ducks’ second period shootaround, but today was a great defensive showing for Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton. If not for Luke, the Ducks would have had multiple odd-man rushes in the first period, and Luke was great at peeling away from Ducks with the puck today. More and more, it looks like it’s all coming together for him, even though he has been very unlucky in terms of appearing on the scoresheet when he isn’t putting the puck in the net with only one assist through 10 games. At one point today, he also hit the post with a wrist shot. As for Dougie Hamilton, he was playing strong and steady in the defensive zone, making smart plays and not taking risks — and he even threw someone down in the corner in one of his surprising reminders that he is a giant defenseman. Both defenders played in all situations tonight, just about always looking like the leaders of the blueline when on the ice.
Another Good Game for Nico Daws
He only had to face 17 official shots (though he touched and froze more: the NHL is really cutting down on shot counts for betting sites — and Sheldon Keefe commented post-game that the shot clock in the first period was not entirely indicative of how things felt and looked to him), but this game made it consecutive one-goal against games for Nico Daws. Natural Stat Trick has him at 0.71 goals saved above expected tonight, while the Game Bot and Post Hockey at 0.77 and 0.47 goals saved above expected, respectively. In short: Daws did exactly what was needed of him. In four games, he is now 2-2-0 with an .874 save percentage and 2.78 goals against average, stopping 34 of the last 36 shots he’s faced. You don’t necessarily want to see the team give up more shots just to see what he’s capable of, but Daws is now on a decent short string of starts.
Ticking Upwards
With their goals today, both Nico Hischier and Arseny Gritsyuk got up to five goals on the season. Anthony Mantha got his seemingly long-awaited second of the season. All three of them scored their goals by doing similar things: go to the net, look to set screens, and be ready to chip loose pucks at the net. I think it’s great that all three are working on different lines for the time being, as every line needs someone who is going to glue themselves to that blue paint.
And even now, these lines have room to grow. Timo Meier is a shot machine, but he only has one goal on 43 shots. Dawson Mercer has zero goals on 22 shots. They’re playing well, they’re playing hard, and they haven’t been rewarded yet. Jack Hughes, with 11 points in 10 games, has been playing like he could have 22 points by now. I think these three, along with Mantha, are bound to explode sooner rather than later, and the early hard work by guys like Hischier and Gritsyuk is going to be a big part of it.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of today’s game? Did you think the Devils were going to give up the lead in the third? How did you feel about the team defense? What about Gritsyuk on the Hughes line? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and thanks for reading.