Posted on

Devils With An Offensive Explosion, Beat Panthers 7-3

The Devils returned home after salvaging the final game of their California road trip with a shootout win in San Jose. Waiting for them in Newark was a week of challenges: the Florida Panthers tonight and the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins on the rest of the slate.

All they did in the first game was defeat the league-leading Panthers while scoring a team season-high seven goals, winning 7-3 and handing the Cats just their second regulation loss on the year. Florida has now lost two in a row as they were defeated by the New York Rangers 4-0 at Madison Square Garden last night.

To begin with, we have some news on Miles Wood. Wood, who has been out with a right hip injury since the October 4 preseason game against the Washington Capitals, had surgery on it on Monday. The surgery was performed by Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Amanda Stein reported that the Wood and the Devils had consulted with “team medical providers and external specialists” prior to the surgery. The Devils have also said tha they will make updates on his timeline and progress as the news becomes available.

In other roster news, Marian Studenic and Frederik Gauthier were both sent down to AHL Utica after both cleared waivers on Monday. Each had been playing on the fourth line with the Devils while also killing penalties.

With those two forwards sent down to the AHL, forwards Jesper Boqvist and Tyce Thompson were both recalled from the Comets today. Each were in New Jersey for the morning skate today and played in the game tonight.

The Devils were once again without Dougie Hamilton as he had skated this morning but was held out for the game tonight. Yegor Sharangovich and Mason Geertsen were the other Devils scratches.

In goal, the Devils started Mackenzie Blackwood as they seem to be going back-and-forth between Blackwood and Bernier for the moment. Blackwood stopped 35 of the 38 shots he saw for a .921 save percentage. He stopped Florida’s lone shorthanded shot and their one power play shot. The Panthers were held 0-fo-2 on the man advantage with the Devils’ penalty kill much improved. Blackwood stopped 33-of-36 at even strength.

For the Panthers, Spencer Knight got a rare back-to-back start, as he also started in their loss against the Rangers last night. Knight stopped 24 of the Devils’ 30 shots for an .800 save percentage. He also was equal to five of their seven power play shots – the Devils ended up 2-for-4 on the power play again, much improved from the California trip – and 19-of-23 shots at even strength.

Florida took the early lead as they seemed to get things right on track after their misstep last night.

At the 3:53 mark of the first period, Owen Tippett quickly got the puck back into the Devils zone and the Panthers began a hard forecheck. Ty Smith was unable to get to his check, Sam Bennett in time and Bennett retrieved the puck behind the Devils net. He came back in front on the wraparound, jamming it on Blackwood. Blackwood made the initial save, but Bennett put his own rebound in to make it 1-0 Florida. Bennett was a game-time decision for Panthers coach Andrew Brunette as he had missed the last four games. Carter Verhaeghe had the secondary assist on the Florida goal.

The Devils were behind early, but there was a little more in their step tonight. They seemed determined to stay in the game and not let things get out of hand.

Sure enough, at the 15:46 mark of the first, Andreas Johnsson tied the game on the power play.

Lucas Carlsson was called for tripping Thompson at 14:08 and the Devils went to work. Jesper Bratt got a shot off of Knight’s pads, looking to deflect a rebound to Johnsson in front. The rebound did got to Johnsson and he did not miss, burying it to tie the game at one apiece. Damon Severson had the secondary assist.

Before time was up in the first, the Devils would take their first lead of the night.

At the 17:45 mark, Smith threw a puck on net. Nico HIschier was in front and got a piece of his shot, making a really nice redirect by Knight to make it 2-1 Devils. PK Subban had the secondary assist on the goal.

Florida would come right back following that goal, peppering Blackwood with a few chances that the Devils goaltender was able to stand up to. It showed just how dangerous the Panthers were as a team. They could almost turn their offense on like a switch – a dangerous proposition for any opponent.

And they would continue that momentum at the beginning of the second period.

Just 24 seconds into the new period, Aleksander Barkov tied things at two. Off of a 2-on-1 with Verhaeghe, Verhaeghe shot and Barkov went towards the net. The rebound came to Barkov and he put it in to make it 2-2. Anthony Duclair had the secondary assist.

Barkov’s goal (the 189th of his Panthers career) made him the all-time goal scoring leader in Florida Panther history, so a bit of history on that tally.

The Panthers, of course, were not done. Tippett would score 1:05 later to give Florida the 3-2 lead. It came when the puck was banked up the boards to Jonathan Huberdeau. He got it to Gustav Forsling, who then sent it cross-ice to Tippett. Tippett was going towards the Devils net on the backside and tipped the pass by Blackwood to make it 3-2.

The Devils were again behind the eight-ball, having let a 2-1 lead slip away on them.

But from that point, New Jersey would take over the game.

At the 1:58 mark of the second, just about 28 seconds after the Tippett goal, Johnsson scored his second of the night to tie the game up.

It came off the rush as Dawson Mercer made the zone entry and played give-and-go just inside the Panthers’ blue line just after breaking in with Johnsson. Johnsson eventually got the puck again in close on the Florida goal. He beat Knight to make it a 3-3 game. Smith had the secondary helper.

The Devils would get one more before the second period was out. At the 18:15 mark, Mercer fed Subban at the point. The Devils blueliner wound up on a one-timer and his shot hit a Florida player in front, redirecting by Knight to make it 4-3 Devils. Jonas Siegenthaler had the secondary.

The Devils would pour it on in the third.

Pavel Zacha opened the party at the 4:44 mark of the third frame while on the power play. Bennett had gone off for a trip with Zacha drawing the penalty himself to set up the Devils power play.

This one actually came off of an odd man rush, a 3-on-2. Hischier got the puck from Alexander Holtz and carried the puck just inside the Panthers blue line. He passed to Zacha, the other player in the 3-on-2 for New Jersey, Zacha made a nifty move around Knight, stickhandling around him and banking the puck off of the Florida goalie’s right skate and in to make it 5-3 Devils.

The Devils doubled up the Panthers at 6-3 at the 5:13 mark – just 26 seconds after the Zacha goal. The Devils won a faceoff deep in the Florida zone. Boqvist won the draw and Tomas Tatar got it back to Smith at the point. Smith simply threw it on net and it hit the Panthers’ Eetu Luostarinen’s glove, redirecting by Knight to make it 6-3 Devils.

By now, the Devils had scored a season-high six goals against an opponent, the Florida Panthers, no less! Florida, meanwhile, had given up their season high goals against for the year with those six goals.

And the Devils were not done.

The Panthers pulled goalie Knight with about 5:15 to go in regulation. It was a gamble, to say the least, but down by three, they figured they could fluster the young Devils, score a goal or two and get back into things.

But, at the 16:11 mark, Jimmy Vesey would ice things with an empty net goal. He fired a shot from just inside the Devils’ own blue line and hit the net, making it 7-3 and giving us our final. Siegenthaler had the assist on the empty netter.

Johnsson (two goals), Hischier (one goal and one assist), Mercer (two assists), Smith (one goal and two assists), Siegenthaler (two assists) and Subban (a goal and an assist) each had a multi-point night with Smith and his three points leading the way.

For reference, the Devils had not scored seven goals in a game all last season over the shortened schedule.

Stats-wise, the Devils were outshot 38-31. They won 53-percent of the game’s faceoffs as a team with Hischier leading the way with a personal 69-percent winning clip. Team penalty minutes saw the Devils with four and the Panthers with eight. The Panthers outhit the Devils 28-21 while the Devils had more blocked shots at 14 to Florida’s ten. The Devils had two more team giveaways with nine to the Panthers’ seven.

Ice time saw Ryan Graves log 21:35 (including 22 seconds on the power play and 2:21 on the PK) to lead the team. He edged out Severson, who played 21:23 (but played in all situations – 2:36 on the power play and 2:11 on the PK). Michael McLeod led the forwards with 18:05 logged (including 38 seconds on the PP and 2:23 killing penalties).

Individual stats saw Graves lead in shots on net with five. Johnsson led in hits in addition to goals scored with three hits. Blocks were led by Siegenthaler with four. McLeod led the team with two turnovers. Takeaways were led by Mercer with two.

Next up, the gauntlet continues for the Devils as they welcome the Islanders to The Rock. The Isles never-ending road trip to start the season has not been overly kind to them, but they are still a dangerous matchup for the Devils. That game will be on MSG on Thursday and we will have that recap for you following the outcome of the game.

Until then, have a great week everyone!

Posted on

Devils Fall in Halloween Shootout to Blue Jackets

So, my older nephew woke up sick this morning, so Halloween was canceled. Instead, I get to write up my game report on Devils-Blue Jackets earlier than expected.

The Devils went to their first shootout of the season against the Columbus Blue Jackets and fell 4-3. They do pick up the point in-division, though.

Happy Halloween everyone! This afternoon tilt was the first time the Devils had played on the holiday since 2015 – a 3-2 shootout win over the New York Islanders at Prudential Center, for those wondering. In the present day, this is the quickest turnaround the Devils will face this year, having played at 7 PM in Pittsburgh last night, and at 5 PM in Newark today. That’s 22 hours between games. This was the first of 13 back-to-backs the Devils will have this season as well.

For the record, the Devils were 6-4-1 on Halloween coming into today.

And speaking of last night’s victory over the Penguins, Andreas Johnsson’s two goals in that game was his first multi-goal game as a Devil. Also, the 40 shots the Devils peppered Tristan Jarry with was their season high for the year. They ended up with 39 tonight (including overtime) so that remains.

The only change to the lineup was in goal for the Devils. Mason Geertsen and Christian Jaros remained the Devils’ healthy scratches. Steve Cangialosi mentioned on the broadcast of the game that he asked head coach Lindy Ruff if he considered dressing seven defensemen in order to take the load off of the defense on the penalty kill. He said no and reasoned that the Devils were rolling four lines in Pittsburgh on Saturday and he did not want to take from that.

With the quick turnaround, New Jersey went back to Scott Wedgewood in nets. He made 23 saves on 26 total Columbus shots for an .885 save percentage. He stopped two of the Jackets’ three power play shots (the Blue Jackets were 1-for-2 on the power play) and 21-for-24 at even strength.

Columbus went with Joonas Korpisalo in goal and he was equal to 36 of the Devils’ 39 shots for a .923 save percentage. He got 35 of their 38 shots at even strength and all four of the Devils’ power play shots. The Devils ended up 0-for-3 on the power play.

In a fun note mentioned by play-by-play man Steve Cangialosi on MSG+, today was the Devils’ 3,000th game since arriving in New Jersey in 1982. October 5, 1982 was the first – a 3-3 tie against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Meadowlands.

This was the first meeting between these teams, however, since February of 2020-20 days before the 2019-20 season was ended due to the COVID pandemic. The Blue Jackets were in the Central Division last season, so the Devils did not face them last year.

Also, the Blue Jackets were dressing Eric Robinson, a forward and a native of Belmar, New Jersey.

The Devils kept the momentum from last night going by scoring the first goal of the game just 1:07 in. It came off of the stick of, who else? Andreas Johnsson – his third goal of the weekend.

PK Subban put the puck down low and Jesper Bratt got it behind the Columbus net. Bratt made a forehand pass Johnsson at the far faceoff circle. Johnsson was able to set and shot upstairs shortside to make it 1-0 Devils. This goal came off of the second shot of the game for New Jersey.

Columbus would tie things at the 11:55 mark of the first when Devils-killer Oliver Bjorkstrand tied it. The Danish exorcist scored on the power play as Dawson Mercer was off serving a tripping penalty against Zach Werenski.

Patrik Laine got the puck down low to Jakub Voracek, who skated back up high towards the blue line and passed cross-ice to Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstand stepped up and shot through Boone Jenner in front of the net as a screen. The puck went in and the game was tied up at one.

Before the end of the frame, the Jackets would grab their first lead of the afternoon, however. It came at 14:54 of the first when Columbus had numbers going the other way on the Devils. Voracek fed Laine, who was streaking up the left side. He took the pass and fired a bomb that went in and out under the crossbar. It seemed like the shot had hit the crossbar, but the call on the ice was the correct one, it was a goal and the Jackets had a 2-1 lead going into the second period.

The second would see the Devils retake the lead.

The climb began when Mercer scored 8:37 into the new period. Just after the Devils had killed off a Jonas Siegenthaler holding penalty, Siegenthaler came out of the box and negated a Devils’ icing in the Columbus zone. The Jackets tried to clear, but PK Subban kept it in at the blue line and threw it back in. Mercer got it behind Korpisalo’s net and cut back in front, stuffing it in behind the Columbus netminder to it the game at two.

A little over a minute later at the 9:54 mark, Dougie Hamilton gave the Devils back the lead.

Pavel Zacha took the puck at the end boards in the Jackets’ zone, passing from the corner to Nico Hischier, who was also at the end boards, on the other side of the Columbus net. He fed a pass to Hamilton, who was at the far faceoff dot. Hamilton blasted a shot that beat Korpisalo to make it 3-2 Devils.

But that was it as far as Devils scoring would go on the afternoon.

The Devils played a great third period largely, but Columbus would tie the game at three at the 14:35 mark anyway.

It was then that Ty Smith tried to flip the puck out of the Devils’ zone when he had time. He could have run it up the boards or even gone D-to_D with Damon Severson. Instead, he rushed and tried to flip the puck over the blue line. Jenner intercepted it, knocking it down and skating in with a Devils defender all over him. He made a nice individual effort to fight through the check and get a shot off as he was falling to the ice. The shot beat Wedgewood to tie the game at three apiece.

The Devils would have chances. At the 16:27, Vladislav Gavrikov was called for cross checking Johnsson to put the Devils on the power play. That was improved to a 5-on-3 when Scott Harrington was nabbed for high-sticking Mercer at 17:53.

The Devils would have 33 seconds of 5-on-3 to retake the lead, but Columbus did a good job of killing it, including generating a shorthanded 2-on-1 that Wedgewood stopped.

When the Jackets ended the Devils power play bid, we were off to OT. This was the third overtime game for both teams, with both going in 2-0 in the extra frame.

Despite a tremendous showing by the Devils and Bjorkstrand hitting the post for Columbus late, neither team could break through. The Devils would then play their first shootout of the season.

Jesper Bratt was first up, but Korpisalo stopped him as he tried to shoot five-hole. Bjorkstrand rounded out the first round and shot wide of the net.

In the second round, Dougie Hamilton shot for New Jersey and was stopped. Laine went for the Jackets and his shot missed the net as well.

In the third round, Dawson Mercer was up for the Devils – his first NHL shootout try – and Korpisalo made a pad save on him. Voracek went for Columbus and scored, getting the Blue Jackets the full two points on the afternoon and spoiling the Devils’ homecoming.

The Devils are now 4-2-1 with a 1-1-1 record within the Metropolitan Division.

New Jersey outshot Columbus 39-26 and won 45-percent of the game’s faceoffs as a team, with Nico HIschier winning 60-percent of his personal draws to lead the Devils forwards.

Columbus had more team penalty minutes at six to the Devils’ four. They also outhit the Devils 14-12. Both teams logged 19 blocked shots and the Devils ended up with more giveaways at 11 to Columbus’ eight. Yegor Sharangovich led the Devils in that dubious category with four.

Hamilton played the most minutes with 26:35 logged, including 3:21 on the power play and 38 seconds on the penalty kill. Hischier led the forwards with 19:41 logged (includes 3:21 on the power play and 1:29 of PK time).

Subban led in points with two (both assists) while Hamilton led in shots on goal with a whopping ten. Ryan Graves led in hits with three while Hamilton also led in blocked shots with four. Takeaways were led by Zacha with three.

Next up, the Devils begin their first real road trip of the season when they travel out west to California. They will play on Tuesday, November 2 at the Anaheim Ducks. That game is at 10 PM and will air exclusively on ESPN+. I will be watching and will try to get a post up in a timely fashion.

And before we go, I would be remiss if I did not mention that former NHLer Tie Domi was in attendance at Prudential Center to watch his son Max play for the Blue Jackets today. MSG+ showed him and his Montreal Expos cap on the broadcast, which I just though was cool enough to warrant a mention here. The Expos cap, not necessarily Tie’s presence.

Until then, Happy Halloween everyone!