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John Hynes Gets First NHL Win in OT Defeat of Rangers

The Devils finally got in the win column for the 2015-16 season by defeating their archrivals at Madison Square Garden. It was John Hynes’ first NHL coaching victory and the Devils’ first overtime victory in three-on-three play.

Things looked bleak for New Jersey early on when the team came out flat. The Rangers capitalized on their lackluster play when Derek Stepan put New York ahead at 3:12 of the first. Sensing that the team was not totally up for this rivalry game, Kyle Palmieri, after having some words with the Rangers’ Kevin Klein, dropped the mitts with him in an attempt to get the Devils fired up.

It worked. In an interview with MSG’s Deb Placey during the first intermission, John Moore said that the team was proud of Palmieri’s efforts against the much-larger Klein. When the two teams came out for the second, it only took Adam Henrique 1:52 to wrist one past Henrik Lundqvist (assists to Mike Cammalleri and Damon Severson). Henrique was playing center for the game after being moved from left wing (his natural position) last game. MSG analyst Ken Daneyko mentioned that he likes him better on the wing, but conceded that Henrique has been showing that he can be an effective center for the team.

The Devils looked like they might be able to break through when New York’s Jarret Stoll was called for tripping at 19:54 of the second. This would give the Devils 1:55 or so of power play time on a fresh sheet of ice in the third. Things looked even better when Klein drew a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass 19 seconds into the third. The Devils, however, were not able to convert on the 5-on-3 and would, in fact, get into penalty trouble themselves late in the period. Jordin Tootoo took a high-sticking penalty at 10:58 of the period and the Devils’ penalty killers had little time to catch their breath after taking care of that when Lee Stempniak was whistled for interference at 13:38. Both the Devils and Rangers PK units were perfect on the afternoon.

The game was a tight defensive battle all the way and neither team was giving an inch of ice. It was also an illustration of what coach Hynes was talking about when he said that the game was now one of puck possession.

When the final buzzer sounded on the third period, the Devils had earned their second point in two games and were headed for three-on-three again and they would have a little help along the way. The Rangers’ Ryan McDonagh looked to have finished things early in the extra session when he beat Cory Schneider (who was again solid in this game) only to see defenseman Andy Greene clear the puck from the crease, sweeping it clear of the goal line just in the nick of time.

The Devils victory came when the Rangers dinged a shot off the post and Greene recovered, sending the puck up to a breaking Henrique, who quickly settled it and passed to Stempniak, who fired a one timer behind Lundqvist and into the net for the Devils’ first victory.

Overtime was again exciting three-on-three and more satisfying this time with a Devils victory. Andy Greene was the Devils’ star in the extra session. The captain was able to not only to keep the puck out of the Devils’ cage, but also helped spring Henrique to set up the game winner.

Although Stempniak was named the game’s first star and the goaltenders were the other two (Schneider earned second star while Lundqvist was the third), Greene and Henrique could have easily been on there. Both played well and were instrumental in the Devils’ win.

All-in-all, though, it was a good win for a team that needed one. For John Hynes to get his first NHL win in his first taste of the “Hudson River Rivalry” has to be gratifying for him and the team. Now that the first win is out of the way and all of the early season jitters are gone, it is time for the Devils to build on this. The Devils now get off the winless list, as only Columbus and Anaheim have yet to taste victory in 2015-16. Hopefully, they can continue the upward trend as the Arizona Coyotes come to Prudential Center on Tuesday.

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Devils Pick Up Point, Drop Shootout to Sharks

There were a lot of storylines coming into the Devils-Sharks game at The Rock last night. From Pete DeBoer’s return to New Jersey as the new head coach of the Sharks to San Jose’s Logan Couture breaking his leg on Prudential Center ice in practice on Thursday after getting his skate caught in a rut to the Sharks’ Martin Jones’ shutout streak (which would reach 234:33 by game’s end, a Sharks franchise record). But more than any other story was the Devils’ need for a win. The team was 0-3-0 and had not registered a point under the new regime. This would change slightly as the Devils stayed in a game with a good San Jose team and earned a point before dropping a shootout.

Despite Couture’s gruesome injury, the Devils were also without a major part of their offense. Travis Zajac was scratched due to a lower body injury that had been hampering him for some time. Also sitting for the Devils were Eric Gelinas and Stefan Matteau. Yann Danis was back down in Albany, as Keith Kinkaid was back on the bench backing up Cory Schneider.

San Jose got on the board extremely early as Patrick Marleau beat a returning Cory Schneider at 2:01 of the first. After that, Cory shut down the Sharks, even stopping Marleau on a penalty shot in the second period when Andy Greene was beat on a breakaway and called for a questionable hook.

The Devils had seemingly tied the game with about a minute left in the second when Jacob Josefson finally slipped one past Jones. However, Stephen Gionta bumped Jones in the crease as the puck was coming off of the stick of Josefson and referee Evgeny Romasko waved the goal off due to goaltender interference. With Jones’ streak still intact, the teams skated off for the second intermission.

Late in the third, the Devils would finally break through when the Sharks were whistled for a too many men on the ice penalty at 15:28. With Tomas Hertl serving the bench minor, Adam Henrique became the first player in over two games this year to score on Jones with assists to Damon Severson and Jordin Tootoo.

With the score tied at one and the first point of the season secured for the Devils, the teams went into a five-minute three-on-three overtime for the first time in Devils regular season history. The Devils had performed well in the three-on-three exhibitions in the preseason, but this would be their first real test.

The action in the three-on-three was just as exciting as advertised and the Devils were applying pressure but unable to get through Jones. Then, at 4:48 of the overtime, San Jose’s Brent Burns took a tripping penalty and the Devils were set to go on the 4-on-3 man advantage. After a quick timeout by the Devils, they prepared for a 12 second power play. The Sharks were able to survive those dozen ticks of the clock and the game moved to a shootout.

Coach DeBoer had a record of 16-30 in shootouts with the Devils, including their famous streak of futility in early 2012-13 to the following season.

Things looked alright for the Devils when Henrique scored on the first attempt of the first round, however the Sharks’ Joe Pavelski would also convert in that round. When Josefson missed on the Devils’ attempt in the second round and Burns scored for San Jose, it came down to Mike Cammalleri to keep the Devils alive. He missed the net and the Sharks would move to 4-0-0 while the Devils dropped to 0-3-1.

Next stop for New Jersey is a date on Sunday at 1 PM with the Rangers at the Garden. Although it would be nice for the Devils to have gone in on a high note, as Deb Placey put it on the MSG+ postgame show, at least they are going into the Garden with a point. While it will be a tough game for the Devils to win on Sunday, they have shown that they can stay in games with good teams. This is really the most San Jose had been tested in this short season so far.

If the Devils can catch New York with a bad game, and continue to play how they have been, steadily improving, they could very well come out with two points on Sunday.