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Devils Begin 2017 with Shutout of Bruins

Happy 2017 everyone! The Devils certainly did not finish the 2016 calendar year the way they wanted, with a 6-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. They knew they would need to put in a better effort to defeat their first opponent of 2017, the Boston Bruins, who came into the game in a playoff position. A tough opponent, but the Devils showed they could get the job done with a 3-0 win over the B’s at Prudential Center tonight. It was the Devils’ first shutout of the Bruins since February of 2009.

It was a busy two days of hockey with the Centennial Classic on Sunday at BMO Field in Toronto and the Winter Classic at Busch Stadium in St. Louis earlier today. The NHL also kicked off their 100th anniversary with each team wearing a special patch below the number on the right sleeve, a curious place to put the patch for sure.

The Devils made a ton of roster moves, mostly due to necessity. Defenseman Steve Santini was called up from Albany to replace John Moore (who was placed on injured reserve due to the concussion he suffered against the Caps). Santini actually had made the Devils out of training camp, but did not play for the team in October. He was injured in Albany in November, so he is just hitting his stride now.

Speaking of the Moore play, the Capitals’ Tom Wilson did not receive supplementary discipline for his hit on the Devils defenseman. It was borderline, but it was not dirty as deemed by the league. No penalty was called on the play on the ice.

Yohann Auvitu was also sent back to the A-Devils while Travis Zajac and Jacob Josefson were out of the lineup due to illness. The Devils also (re)claimed Reid Boucher off of waivers from the Nashville Predators. Boucher had been placed on waivers by the Devils last month and was claimed by the Preds. Now he is back in the Devils fold, although he played the majority of his time with the Predators’ system in Milwaukee of the AHL, so he had not traveled to New Jersey yet. Vernon Fiddler was also still out for New Jersey, as was David Backes for Boston – who is also suffering from a concussion.

Missing Zajac and Fiddler in particular would seem to hurt the Devils in the faceoff department. But the Devils were okay against the Bruins, winning 53 percent of their draws on the night. Devante Smith-Pelly was moved to the center position for this game and he was a big part of that.

The goaltending matchup saw Cory Schneider making his 200th appearance in goal for the Devils tonight. He was equal to all 22 Bruins shots in authoring his second shutout of the season. Cory worked with goaltending coach Chris Terreri during his two game stint off and it paid dividends for his confidence. Boston countered with Tuukka Rask in their only trip to New Jersey this season. He made 23 saves on 25 Devils shots.

This game was only one of three being played in the NHL today (one of which was the Blues’ 4-1 win over the Blackhawks in the Winter Classic). Boston has played the most games in the NHL to this point with 40. The Devils are 2-1-1 in their last four at home against the Bruins coming into tonight, so they will try to keep the momentum going there.

The Devils got the scoring kicked off just 4:12 into the first period. Santini fired the puck from the blue line and the rebound came out to Taylor Hall (who was back in the lineup as well). Hall’s shot hit the post and the puck bounced out to PA Parenteau who buried it behind Rask. For Santini, the assist was his first NHL point in just his second NHL game. It was also Parenteau’s 11th goal of the game, seven of those have been the first goal of the game, including this one.

Miles Wood had a spirited scrap with the Bruins’ Colin Miller when Miller took exception to a big hit by Wood on one of his teammates. Wood got up off of the ice after the fight and raised his arms, pumping up the enthusiastic crowd. Boston would wind up with the extra penalty (a roughing call on Miller) to give the Devils a power play. New Jersey went 0-for-6 with the man advantage – including a 5-on-3 in the first period, but they also killed off two Bruins power plays.

Pavel Zacha had hit the post with a shot right before that fight and, in fact; the Devils would not score again until the third period. Boston nearly tied it with about four seconds remaining in the first. Cory made a great save on a puck that seemed to be squeaking by him. The call on the ice was no goal, as the officials said that it never crossed the goal line fully. The replay from the situation room in Toronto showed that a very fraction of the puck was still on the red line, which meant that the call could not be overturned. The call on the ice stood and it was still 1-0 Devils.

Ben Lovejoy nearly doubled the Devils’ lead in the just seconds into the second frame. His shot was tipped in front by Michael Cammalleri and got by Rask, but was cleared from the Boston crease. That was the Devils’ best chance in the second period.

In the third, the Devils finally broke through with their second goal when Miles Wood grabbed the puck in his own zone and flew down the wing. He cut towards the Boston net and fed a trailing Sergey Kalinin, who put it behind Rask to make it 2-0 Devils.

The Bruins would pull Rask with 2:15 left in the game, and Taylor Hall would notch his second point of the night, an empty net goal with an assist to Kalinin. Kalinin had two points on the night as well. It was Hall’s first goal in ten games.

The Devils seemed to do everything right in this game. They spent the night getting sticks in the passing and shooting lanes, making life difficult for the Bruins. John MacLean of MSG also pointed out that this was the first time this season that the Devils have been able to get all of their defensive pairings righty/lefty, with guys on their natural shooting side. This does a lot, allowing the defensemen to be on their forehand and get the breakout going through the neutral zone faster, allowing for more speed in their game.

New Jersey played well and were rewarded for their efforts. The inclusion of youth and speed has done a lot for the team, as Santini and Wood have been bright spots in particular.

Next up, the Devils head south to Raleigh tomorrow to play the Hurricanes. The Canes are a good team at home, so we will see if the Devils can continue the momentum they have gained tonight.

Here’s hoping everyone reading has a happy and healthy New Year!

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Capitals Rout Devils in New Year’s Eve Matinee

Following their shootout victory on Thursday in DC, the Devils would look to get some momentum going with a sweep of a home-and-home series against the Caps. They met for a 1 PM tilt on New Year’s Eve at Prudential Center and the results were not exactly what New Jersey wanted.

Really, the game could be summed up in the power play efficiency, or lack of it, for the Devils. The Capitals beat a steady path to the penalty box all afternoon and the Devils could not convert on one power play they were given. They went 0-for-9 on the power play for the first time since October 7, 2006 (a season opening loss against the Dallas Stars) and it showed. They could not really get anything going, they did have good looks early, but were just unable to finish.

The dad’s trip continued as the player’s fathers were in attendance for the game, as they were in Washington on Thursday. They saw a team without Taylor Hall, who is still day-to-day (he did not make the trip down to Washington) and Vernon Fiddler – who is out three to four weeks with a lower body injury.

In net, the Devils decided to go back to Keith Kinkaid, who played a great game against the Caps on Thursday. He was not as sharp today, making just 20 saves on 26 Capitals shots. John MacLean, on the MSG pregame show, did stress that Cory Schneider is still the team’s number one, coach John Hynes just had to go with the hot hand going in. Washington countered with their backup Philipp Grubauer. He made 21 saves on just 23 Devils shots. Grubauer had great numbers coming into the game and they stayed that way or got better following his performance this afternoon.

The Devils would look to gain some ground in the standings on a Capitals team that currently stands in the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Something to build on was that the Caps swept last year’s season series. That will not be possible this year, as New Jersey already has a victory under their belts against the perennial conference powerhouses. The Devils were also trying to put together back-to-back wins for the first time since early December.

Washington’s Brett Connolly got the scoring off to a start when he notched his fourth from Andre Burakovsky and Brooks Orpik. Just 2:36 into the game, it was 1-0 Capitals.

Then a scary moment as Washington’s Tom Wilson finished his check while the Devils’ John Moore had his back turned. Moore’s head banged off of the glass and he went down in a heap at the 16:50 mark of the first. He was stretchered out but was responsive to the attending doctors, according to MSG’s Deb Placey.

The Devils did respond to what could be defined as a dirty hit when Devante Smith-Pelly and Connolly had a brief scrap. DSP ended up drawing a roughing minor while Connolly took a double minor for roughing, putting the Devils on their first power play of the afternoon.

But Washington would strike with 19:01 gone by in the first period, doubling their lead. The Devils again gave up a goal with two minutes or less in a period. Jay Beagle got this one, tipping a quick wrister from Orpik from the point by Kinkaid. Daniel Winnik had the secondary assist on that goal. The Devils coaching staff briefly thought about challenging for a high stick, but the replay showed it was a good goal, as confirmed by Toronto.

Moments later, the Caps’ Lars Eller was called for goalie interference, meaning the Devils would begin the second period with a power play on a fresh sheet of ice.

The Caps killed that off, but would go down a man again at the 5:01 mark when Justin Williams was called for tripping. That would kick off a strange sequence of events that would actually lead to the Devils’ first goal of the day. Six seconds after that penalty was called, Travis Zajac was nabbed for interference in a questionable, at best, call. It was now 4-on-4. Then, at 5:54 gone by, Dmitry Orlov was also whistled for interference, giving the Devils a 4-on-3 advantage. Four seconds after that, PA Parenteau slashed John Carlson’s stick, breaking it and going off for two minutes. It was now 3-on-3. During the 3-on-3, Kyle Palmieri walked right in on a partial breakaway and beat Grubauer, making the score 2-1. The goal was technically at even strength, and with expiring penalties, Washington would have two brief power plays on that whole sequence. Although they would not score on either and, in fact, went 0-for-3 on the day with the extra man.

The Devils thought maybe they had taken the momentum back with Palmieri’s goal, but Washington answered right back. First, TJ Oshie scored at the 11:05 mark, from Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. That made it 3-1, a good omen for the Caps, since they are 18-0 this season when scoring at least three goals.

But 33 seconds after the Oshie goal, Ovechkin found the back of the net to make it 3-1. He got assists from Matt Niskanen and Oshie. That goal was Ovechkin’s 17th of the season which he scored as the puck bounced off of the end boards and came right to him, allowing him to bury it. From there the Caps began to roll. Justin Williams added one at the 16:34 mark from Niskanen and Dmitry Orlov to make it 4-1. Niskanen took a shot that was tipped in by Williams in front of Kinkaid.

From there, the Devils tried to get things under control starting when Luke Gazdic and Wilson went at it in a spirited fight. Wilson knew he would have to answer for the hit on Moore and he did. That bout came at 19:23 of the second period.

For the Devils, this was the 13th time in the first 37 games of the season that their opponent had scored three or more unanswered against them. They would break that up when Beau Bennett scored at the 14:52 mark of the third period. The goal came when Ben Lovejoy fired a one-timer from the point and it was tipped in by Bennett. Jon Merrill had his first assist of the year on that goal, as he picked up the secondary. That made it 5-2.

But as was the story of the afternoon, the Capitals answered right back. At 15:27, Marcus Johansson made it 6-2 when he scored from Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov. It was the first time all season that New Jersey has let in six in one game.

The Caps would finish the game on the power play when Parenteau took another slashing call. That was added to the five for fighting that he and Winnik took as they had a little scrap with about 2:30 left in the game.

When the final horn sounded, Washington had come away with the 6-2 win. The Devils will want to shake this one off as soon as possible because next up, the Boston Bruins come to town on Monday. The Devils had played relatively well at the Rock, this stinker aside, and they will want to get back on track with a better outing against Boston on January 2.