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Prospects Challenge: Devils Defeat Bruins 6-2

The Devils wrapped up the 2018 Prospects Challenge this morning in Buffalo. With a 9:30 AM puck drop it was certainly rise and shine time for the players.

And shine they did, defeating the Boston Bruins prospects 6-2. It was the second consecutive game the Devils prospects won by that score, after defeating Pittsburgh 6 to 2 on Saturday.

Boston actually took the early lead, when Valach Marek scored just 5:57 into the game from Senyshyn Zach. That made it 1-0 B’s. However, the Devils would tie things up before the end of the first period. At 14:57, Jeremey Groleau scored from Dylan Seitz and Blake Speers to tie the game moving into the second period.

The Devils would add two more in the second frame. At 7:00 minutes in, Brandon Baddock scored a power play goal from Yegor Shanrangovich and Speers – who finished the game with two assists. The Devils now had a 2-1 lead. Joey Anderson put them up by two when he scored unassisted at 9:29. Boston’s Clifton Connor would score the Bruins’ final goal of the morning at 15:03 of the second from Lauko Jakub to make it 3-2 going into the third.

The third period was all Devils. First, Ryan Schmelzer made it 4-2 when he scored on the power play at 7:01 from Colton White and Fabian Zetterlund.

Following that, Michael McLeod turned it on, scoring two goals within about three minutes of each other. He made it 5-2 when he scored at 10:03 from Schmelzer (his second point of the morning) and Colby Sissons. Then, at 12:55, McLeod struck again to give us our 6-2 final. He scored from Seitz (his second assist of the game) and Marian Studenic.

And that was it. The Devils closed out the Prospects Challenge with a record of two wins and one loss and both of those wins were by 6-2 score lines.

In nets, Akira Schmid went for the Devils and stopped 16 of 18 Boston shots for a .889 save percentage. For the Bruins, Weatherill Dawson saw 28 shots and stopped 22 of them.

On the power play, the Devils were 2-for-4 while going a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

New Jersey will now gear up for training camp beginning on Friday with the first preseason game proper coming on Monday, September 17 when the Rangers come to Prudential Center.

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Devils Blitz Pens at Prospects Challenge

The Devils’ rookies took the ice for their second game of the 2018 Prospects Challenge in Buffalo at HarborCenter and with the NFL season fully kicking off tomorrow, put up a football score on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Devils won 6-2, after a five-goal outburst in the second period.

Brandon Gignac broke the seal on the game, scoring 12:32 into the first peirod from Yegor Sharangovich and Ryan Schmelzer. That goal came on the power play, on which the Devils went 2-for-10 on the afternoon.

The offensive cloudburst that came in the second began just 49 seconds into the new frame, with Blake Speers scoring from Brandon Baddock. That made it 2-0 Devils. Colby Sissons scored at 5:15 from Joey Anderson to make it 3-0 and the blitz was on.

At 6:42, Marian Studenic scored from John Quenneville to make it 4-0. Anderson notched his second point of the afternoon at 10:23 when he scored off an assist from Sissons to make it 5-0. Gignac wrapped up the Devils scoring at 13:45 of the second period when he connected from Jocktan Chainey on the power play to make it 6-0.

The Pens would break up the shutout, scoring two on the power play in the third (Troy Josephs at 7:19 and Adam Johnson at 10:35). Pittsburgh was 2-for-7 on the man advantage in the game.

After getting pushed around by the somewhat bigger and more physical Sabres yesterday, the Devils showed some fight today, literally, as Baddock fought Joseph Masonius at 19:05 of the third period. Baddock took the extra boarding minor on the play plus the fighting major.

Cam Johnson went between the pipes, making 32 saves on 34 Penguins shots for a .941 save percentage. For Pittsburgh, Tistan Cote-Cazenave started, stopping just 18 of 24 shots against. Christian Propp took over in net for the third period, turning aside all nine shots he faced.

The Devils finish up the 2018 Prospects Challenge on Monday when they take on the Boston Bruins at 9:30 AM.