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.