Devils Defeat Ducks at The Rock

The Devils earned their second straight win and their first at Prudential Center since November 23 when they turned aside the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on home ice tonight.

First, some more information on the Taylor Hall trade that I did not get to in the dedicated post. According to Chris Johnson on Twitter, the Devils will retain 50-percent of Hall’s 2019-20 salary (about $3 million) which helped the Coyotes, who are up against the salary cap, take on Hall’s contract. Secondly, the first-round pick the Devils received for the 2020 Draft is a top-three protected pick, meaning should Arizona fall apart, miss the playoffs and win the Draft Lottery, the Devils would take on their first-round pick in 2021 instead.

Tonight was the Devils’ first game without Taylor Hall and they came to prove a point, showing the games in Colorado and Arizona (only one of which they won, both of which they played well in) were no fluke.

First up, a roster move to get to. Goaltender Gilles Senn was called up from AHL Binghamton to back up starter Mackenzie Blackwood tonight. Evan Cormier was recalled from ECHL Adirondack for the Arizona game due to logistics, largely. Adirondack was playing against the Allen Americans in Texas over the weekend and it was easier to get him to Arizona than a goalie playing in Binghamton in the Northeast.

Blackwood made 26 saves on 27 Anaheim shots for a .963 save percentage. For the Ducks, Ryan Miller stopped 17-of-20 for an .850 save percentage.

Other than that goaltending move, though, the roster remained the same for New Jersey. Connor Carrick, John Hayden and Kevin Rooney were the healthy scratches.

The Devils wore special Jersey City Police hats during the warmup to honor fallen Jersey City Police force detective Joseph Seals. Seals was slain during the Jersey City shootings last week. The Devils wore special stickers on the backs of their helmets during the game to honor all of the shooting victims.

It was a game of old friends scoring against each other, as we shall see.

Adam Henrique got the Ducks on the board first when he scored just 3:33 into the game. The goal came on Anaheim’s first shot of the game. The Devils turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Cam Fowler and that sprung Ondrej Kase and Henrique on a 2-on-0. Henrique scored to make it 1-0 Ducks and the game seemed to be following the script the Devils had laid out all season so far.

Then, in the second period, the Devils came alive. It began just 1:28 into the frame when Nico Hischier tied things up. Andy Greene dumped the puck into the zone hard around the boards. Michael Del Zotto could not handle the puck off the hard around and turned it over to Jesper Bratt, who dropped to a trailing Hischier. He potted it behind Miller to tie the game at one. Bratt had the lone assist on Nico’s sixth of the season.

About ten minutes later, at the 11:29 mark, former Duck Kyle Palmieri would give the Devils the lead on the power play. At 9:42, Del Zotto was called for interference against Bratt and the Devils were on the man advantage. The goal came when Nikita Gusev got the puck to Palmieri and he shot coming up the right wing, from the faceoff dot on the far side. The shot went upstairs, over Miller’s stick side and gave the Devils the 2-1 lead. The goal was Palmieri’s team-leading 13th of the year and Will Butcher had the secondary assist.

On the power play, the Devils finished the night 1-for-4 with three shots. The Ducks were held 0-for-2 with a pair of shots. They also had a shorthanded shot as well.

The Devils grabbed the first multi-goal lead of the game when, one minute into the third period, former Duck Sami Vatanen (the man traded to the Devils for Henrique) scored. It came when Jack Hughes worked hard along the boards deep in the Anaheim zone to win the puck and get it to Vatanen at the point. He fired and it seemed to be tipped in front, but was ultimately credited to Vatanen to give the Devils the 3-1 lead. Hughes had the lone assist on Vatanen’s fifth of the year.

From here, the Devils went into protection mode. Greene swatted away a sure Anaheim goal that had gotten in behind Blackwood, clearing the crease in the early part of the third.

Immediately following that play, going back up ice, Damon Severson got into it with Max Comtois and they fought, each drawing fighting majors at 2:24 of the third.

The Ducks pulled Miller with 4:03 to go in regulation for a 6-on-4 man advantage after Hischier took a tripping penalty at the 15:57 mark. A risky situation for Anaheim since the Devils could shoot on the empty net with impunity – icing was negated because the Devils were on the penalty kill. The Devils killed the penalty but did not score.

Anaheim kept Miller on the bench once the penalty expired for a 6-on-5 advantage. Hischier was closing in on an empty net goal at 18:42 but could not get free of Hampus Lindholm, who eventually was called for a hold on Nico. That put the Devils on the power play to end the game and iced the 3-1 win for New Jersey.

Blackwood was named the game’s third star while Palmieri, with the game-winner was the second and Hischier with a goal and a monster game all around, was the first star of the night.

Statistically, The Devils won a paltry 37-percent of the game’s faceoffs as a team. The Ducks edged the Devils in hits 19-18, the Devils led in blocked shots at 16 to 11 and had more giveaways at nine to Anaheim’s five.

Severson led all Devils’ skaters with 23:25 time on ice (1:39 on the power play/2:28 on the penalty kill) while Blake Coleman ate up the most minutes as a forward with 18:51 (five seconds on the power play and two minutes shorthanded). Coleman and Hughes led in shots on goal with three apiece. Coleman also led in hits with three. Greene led in blocks with four and takeaways were led by Will Butcher with two.

Next up, the resurgent Devils meet another stiff task. The Washington Capitals come into the Prudential Center. The Caps have only lost six games in regulation as of tonight. We will see what the Devils can do without any distractions and if they can test Washington. That game is at 7 PM on Friday, the first half of the eighth set of back-to-backs in eight weeks for the Devils. We will have coverage and see you then.

McLeod, Wood Record Two Assists as Devils Beat Coyotes

It took Alain Nasreddine eight tries, but he finally has his first win as a National Hockey League head coach. The Devils defeated the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 on a late Kyle Palmieri goal at Gila River Arena in Glendale last night.

In the final game of a four-game road trip, the Devils picked up their first win of December. They snapped a season-high seven game winless streak.

Taylor Hall, a scratch last night in Colorado, was the same tonight, held out for “precautionary reasons” as per the team. No deal has been made yet, but Hall has more than likely played his final game for the New Jersey Devils. Hall joined John Hayden and Kevin Rooney in the press box as the lineup remained the same as last night save for one addition.

With Louis Domingue getting injured last night against the Avalanche, he was placed on injured reserve and Evan Cormier was called up from the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL. Cormier, getting his first NHL callup, was Mackenzie Blackwood’s backup. Blackwood made 31 saves on 32 Yotes shots for a .969 save percentage. Facing him was Darcy Kuemper who also made 31 saves on 33 shots by the Devils. He finished with a .939 save percentage on the night.

The Coyotes are one of the better teams this year in the league, but have struggled a bit at home, having just an 8-7-1 record in the desert coming into tonight. They were in their throwback Kachina 1990’s jerseys tonight. A personal aside as I feel these have aged very well and look much sharper than what Arizona usually wears.

The Devils first goal was centered around Michael McLeod, the forward called up to essentially take Hall’s roster spot. It came just 2:17 into the game when PK Subban got the puck quickly to Miles Wood on the breakout. Wood streaked up the left wing side and shot. The rebound came to McLeod, who threw it back on net. As the puck was heading towards goal, Jesper Boqvist, collapsing down on net, just got his stick on it to make sure it was headed over the goal line.

Initially, it seemed to be McLeod’s first NHL goal as he celebrated like he had scored, but Boqvist, who just got a piece of it, was awarded the Devils’ go-ahead tally. McLeod would have to settle for his first NHL assist, as he netted the primary and Wood had the secondary. It was 1-0 Devils in a quick start. That goal for Boqvist snapped a seven game goal drought for him and was his third of the year.

The Coyotes would answer at the 15:35 mark of the first when Alex Goligoski notched his third of the year. It came on the power play as Subban was nabbed for holding Derek Stepan’s stick at 13:38.

It came when Vinnie Hinostroza came bursting up the right wing and centered to Goligoski. Goligoski took the pass and wristed the puck by Blackwood to knot the game at one.

And it would remain that way through the second period. On the power play, Arizona was 1-for-3 with four shots while the Devils were 0-for-3 with five shots. The Devils also mustered a shorthanded shot.

The third began with a bang as Damon Severson hit the crossbar in all alone on Kuemper and Goligoski just flubbed a nice pass from Nick Schmaltz with a wide-open net to keep it tied. It would remain that way until the 11:34 mark of the period when Kyle Palmieri notched his 12th of the year.

The goal came when Blackwood handled the puck and made a nice pass to Wood up the left wing to spring him. Wood dropped the puck to McLeod just inside the Arizona blue line and McLeod’s shot was blocked in front by a Coyotes’ player, but came right to the stick of Palmieri. He roofed it over Kuemper to give the Devils the 2-1 advantage.

Arizona would pull Kuemper with a little over two minutes to go in regulation. But New Jersey held them off, putting pressure on the Yotes and putting Kuemper back in his crease a few times. Nico Hischier was hauled down on an empty net chance as he broke into the Arizona zone with a Coyotes player on his back. No penalty was called, however.

And with that, the Devils notched their first victory since Thanksgiving night – their first win in the month of December.

Palmieri was the first star of the night while Blackwood netted second and Goligoski was the third (curious choices as McLeod and Wood each had a two point night). Blackwood, who played very well tonight, grabbed his ninth win of the year and the Devils their tenth.

The Devils held the slight edge in shots at 33-32 while Arizona won 59-percent of the game’s faceoffs. The Devils outhit the Yotes 20 to 16 and had more blocked shots at 25-10.

Severson logged the most ice time with 22:33 (1:06 on the power play and 3:53 on the penalty kill included) while Hischier just edged Blake Coleman in leading the forwards with 18:58 (3:28 on the PP/2:07 on the PK included). Shots were led by Jesper Bratt with five, blocks by Andy Greene with five, hits by Wayne Simmonds, Travis Zajac, Coleman, Pavel Zacha, Boqvist, Severson, Sami Vatanen and PK Subban with two each. Takeaways were led by Hischier, Zajac, Zacha, Wood and Mirco Mueller with one each as almost every player played a part in this win.

Next up, the Devils will return home to faceoff with the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday at Prudential Center. Puck drop is at 7 PM and we will have coverage for you right here then. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.