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Devils Battle Back From Three Goals Down to Defeat Predators in OT

The Devils had a tough hill to climb coming into Nashville for a 2 PM game against the Predators. First, they were facing the Predators, a good defensive team who were 8-1-1 this season at Bridgestone Arena. Second, they were facing Pekka Rinne, the NHL’s first star of the month for November. He finished November with a 1.49 goals against average and has not given up more than three goals at home all season. So, all New Jersey did was go in to Nashville, go down three goals and win the game in overtime 5-4.

The Predators never give up power play goals at home. They were 27-for-27 on the penalty kill this season in their building. So, the Devils went in and scored a power play goal against them. But more importantly than all of that, what this Devils team showed was heart and determination.

Sorting out some roster stuff to begin with, Reid Boucher was placed on waivers on Thursday and did not clear. He was picked up by none other than the Nashville Predators. Boucher, the newest Predator, did not play today against his old team, although he was in Nashville, since he did not return to New Jersey when he was put on waivers as per Andrew Gross via Twitter.

Nashville is missing some of their key players due to injury, including leading scorer James Neal. Scratches for the Predators were Pontus Aberg, Adam Pardy and Boucher. New Jersey scratched Jacob Josefson, Sergey Kalinin and Jon Merrill.

The Devils were coming off of their overtime loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago while the Preds were coming off of a three day layoff after winning in Colorado on Tuesday.

Cory Schneider had a rough outing in Chicago and was visibly upset after he let in the game winner on Thursday. To give him time to clear his head and get some rest, Keith Kinkaid filled in admirably today, making 38 saves on 42 Predators shots. As mentioned, Rinne was the NHL’s first star of the month for November, the first such Nashville Predator to grab that honor. He made 17 saves on 22 Devils shots.

The Devils would go on the power play early, when Viktor Arvidsson was called for high-sticking against Damon Severson at 7:47 of the first period. The Devils did not score on this man advantage but did give up a shorthanded breakaway to Nashville’s Austin Watson. Michael Cammalleri hustled nicely on the back check and was able to get his stick on Watson’s and his shot trickled in on Kinkaid for an easy save. This was a nice play by Cammalleri.

The Predators got on the board first when Kevin Fiala scored his fourth of the season from Matt Irwin and Mike Ribeiro. The Devils were down, but about a minute and sixteen seconds later, at 17:31, Kyle Quincey held the Predators’ zone and fired the puck toward net. The puck became airborne and Taylor Hall was right there in front of the net to bat it out of the air and behind Rinne. The goal was checked for a high stick, but it was clean so the game was tied up at one.

But they would not get out of the first period that way. At 19:20, PK Subban found the back of the net from Colin Wilson to give Nashville the 2-1 lead. Then, to make matters worse for the Devils, Pavel Zacha would take a puck or a stick to the face late in the first and would not return to the game.

And it would seem that the wheels would come off in the second. First, at 6:02, Fiala scored his second of the game from Craig Smith and Ribeiro. It was now 3-1 Nashville. The Predators then went up by three when Roman Josi scored his third of the year from Mattias Ekholm and Calle Jarnkrok.

To put it simply, the Devils did not play a very good second period. But whatever the coaching staff said in between periods, New Jersey responded.

One of the key moments of the game was late in the second, with 41 seconds left in the period, when Kinkaid robbed the Predators in a big save that kept New Jersey in the game.

From there on out, it was pretty all Devils on the scoresheet. Just 25 seconds into the third period, the puck dribbled out to Andy Greene at point. He fired and the rebound came out to Michael Cammalleri at the far circle. He fired it in and the Devils cut the lead in half to 4-2. Travis Zajac had the secondary assist on that goal. Cammalleri also tied Zajac for the team lead in goals with that one.

Exactly 30 seconds later, Nick Lappin banked a pass off of the boards on the breakout to Vern Fiddler. He carried into the Nashville zone, and fired on net. Greene followed up on the rebound, hammering it home to make it 4-3.

Predators’ coach Peter Laviolette would elect to use his timeout after Greene’s goal and it would settle the team down briefly.

Then, at 12:37, the man who scored the game tying goal and the OT winner last season in Nashville struck again; Adam Henrique fired one in after Hall had given to Palmieri just inside the Nashville blue line, who fed Henrique at the circle for a nice shot on net that connected. The goal came on the power play, as mentioned, the first one the Predators have given up all season at home.

On the night, the Devils were 1-for-3 on the power play while the Predators were 0-for-2. The Devils came into this game 18-for-18 on the penalty kill in their last four games.

The Henrique goal was set up by a nice hit by Kyle Palmieri in the neutral zone on Mike Fisher. Had he not laid the body on him, Fisher would have been off to the races with the puck shorthanded.

The game was tied at four and that is how things would remain for the rest of regulation. The Devils were headed to overtime for the third time in their last four games.

But this time, unlike the shootout loss in Pittsburgh and the OT loss in Chicago, things would bounce in the Devils’ favor.

The Predators spent the better part of the three-on-three extra session in the Devils defensive zone until Filip Forsberg missed a shot on net and Cammalleri picked it up in the Devils zone and he was off. He found Hall through the neutral zone and the two skated in on a two-on-one odd man rush. Hall waited, then saucered a great pass to Cammalleri, who buried it to end the game.

The Devils had broken their winless streak in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion. The final score: New Jersey 5, Nashville 4.

It was exactly what the Devils needed as they return home one quick game against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. The Devils completed a great comeback against a very good Nashville team. Hopefully, they can continue the momentum and get some victories along the way.

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Zajac Nets Hat Trick; Devils Fall in OT in Chicago

The Devils did all that they could in Chicago against a tough Blackhawks team but it was not enough, as a Marian Hossa seeing eye shot defeated New Jersey in overtime.

Things kicked off with great roster news for the Devils. Taylor Hall, just about two weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus, had worked his way back in the New Jersey lineup. He ended up playing 19:49. This would be a great boon to the Devils as they were playing in Chicago’s United Center. The “Madhouse on Madison” is a difficult place to play as a visiting team (the Hawks were 9-0-2 coming into tonight’s game in their last 11 at home) and the Devils needed the reinforcements.

The Devils got another new body in the form of highly touted rookie John Quenneville. He was making his NHL debut, fittingly, in Chicago against the Joel Quenneville-coached Blackhawks. “Coach Q,” in addition to being an original Devil (he played for the Colorado Rockies and moved with the franchise east, playing for the Devils in 1982-83) is also first cousin to John’s father, Andre. Quenneville was leading the Albany Devils in scoring at the time of his call up and we would get to see how he could translate that to the NHL level. Quenneville would be playing on a line primarily with Pavel Zacha (back at center) and Devante Smith-Pelly.

In order to make room for Quenneville, someone had to be taken off the roster. That ended up being Reid Boucher, who was waived at noon today. Because he was waived before 5 PM, he cannot clear waivers until Saturday, at which point (should he clear) he will be sent down to Albany.

Scratches for the Devils tonight included Jacob Josefson and Jon Merrill, while Sergey Kalinin was out with an illness. Beau Bennett was still out with a right leg laceration.

The Blackhawks were missing Jonathan Toews, their captain, which is a big piece for them. However, it would not deter them. Also sitting for Chicago was Gustav Forsling and former-Devil Jordin Tootoo.

In goal for the Devils was Cory Schneider. He made 29 saves on the night while facing 33 Chicago shots. Corey Crawford started between the pipes for the Hawks, making 30 saves on 33 New Jersey shots. The even number of shots summed up what was a very evenly-matched type of game.

But it did not start off that way. The Devils came out roaring, playing their best period of hockey this season. With the ice tilted heavily towards the Blackhawks’ net (as Ken Daneyko said, it almost seemed like a Devils’ power play), the Devils would strike to gain the early lead. At 3:13, Kyle Palmieri kept the puck in the Chicago zone. He gave it to Zajac who threw it on net. Off of a scramble in front, Zajac finally buried the backhander by Crawford. Damon Severson had the secondary assist (his 11th of the year).

Chicago did not have a shot on goal for the first six minutes of the first period, but had seemingly tied things up a few minutes later. On a drive to the net, the Blackhawks were able to get one by Schneider, however the call on the ice was whistled dead when the net came off its moorings. The play was not reviewable because the play was whistled dead first and therefore, the call on the ice stood: no goal.

It would take until the 1:02 mark of the second period when Marcus Kruger scored from Dennis Rasmussen and Brent Seabrook for Chicago to be able to tie things at one. This came off of a 2-on-1 odd man rush when Kruger was able to wrist one past Cory.

There it stood until Artem Anisimov was called for hooking Taylor Hall at 10:09 of the second. The Devils were on the power play and there, Zajac struck again. At 10:43, Palmieri deflected a clearing attempt by Chicago directly to Zajac, who roofed the puck by Crawford for his second of the game to make it 2-1, Devils. New Jersey would finish the night 1-for-2 with the extra attacker while Chicago went 0-for-4.

With the Blackhawks playing catch up, they would tie things up again a little bit less than two minutes after Zajac’s second when Anisimov scored his tenth from Duncan Keith and Seabrook. The game was now tied at two.

AT 18:25 of the second, Niklas Hjalmarsson would score unassisted to give the Hawks the 3-2 lead going into the third period. This came when there was confusion behind the Devils’ goal cage and they were unable to clear the puck from their zone.

Chicago had seemingly doubled their lead at the 19:33 mark of the third when the goal on the ice was immediately waved off by the officials citing goaltender interference on Cory. Joel Quenneville challenged, saying there was no goalie interference. There was no sufficient evidence to overturn the call and the call on the ice stood. It was no goal.

Zajac would strike again in the third period to complete the hat trick (his second career hat trick and his first since March 2014 against the Florida Panthers) and tie the game up at three. At 8:49, Palmieri applied pressure, keeping the puck deep in the Chicago zone. Michael Cammalleri took the puck and fed it to Zajac at the far faceoff circle. He unleashed the one-timer and put it by Crawford, making it 3-3.

In the third period, these teams played for almost nine minutes with no whistle. It was great back-and-forth, end-to-end action. But the teams were not able to settle things within regulation.

The Chicago Blackhawks and the New Jersey Devils have played the most overtime games in the NHL this season, so it was fitting that both of their games this year would go the distance.

Unfortunately for the Devils, things did not work out for them, extending their winless streak to four games. Marian Hossa scored from Patrick Kane and Keith to give the Hawks the 4-3 victory. Replays showed the puck seemingly tipped in off of Adam Henrique.

Although the Devils have not won a game in four, they did manage to get out of the Windy City with a point and that is an accomplishment. As mentioned, the United Center is one of the most difficult places to play in the league for a visiting team and the Devils played very well there. The Blackhawks are a team that gets wins even when they are not playing at their highest gear with all of their best players. The Devils played good, but were just beaten by a better team in the Hawks.

Next up, the Devils need to regroup as they head to Tennessee to continue their tour of the Central Division to take on the Nashville Predators in a 2 PM matinee on Saturday.