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Devils Pick Up Two Points in Carolina

The Devils needed this. It had been two weeks since their last win and they needed to get things going as they were seeking their first road win of the year. They went into a hostile environment – one of the louder buildings in the NHL – and defeated a good team in the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-3.

The Canes came into the game with an overall record of 9-3-1 and were 6-1-0 at home at the PNC Arena. But tonight, the Devils played a good road game and dealt Carolina their second home loss of the year.

Both teams were coming off of back-to-backs as the Devils, of course, lost to the Flyers last night in a shootout. The Canes played in Detroit last night against the Red Wings.

The only major lineup change made was John Hayden slotting out in favor of Jesper Boqvist up front. Mirco Mueller and Nikita Gusev remained the other two scratches. Boqvist played on the third line primarily with Travis Zajac centering him and Blake Coleman – with Coleman playing on his off-wing on the right side. All of the defensive pairings remained the same from last night.

Things began as almost business as usual. Warren Foegele got the Canes on the board first he finished off a 3-on-2 odd man rush with Sebastian Aho feeding him. He went backhand and beat Mackenzie Blackwood – who was making his second straight start – five hole. Jake Gardiner had the secondary assist as Carolina took the quick 1-0 lead just 7:55 into the game.

But tonight, the Devils would not let things get out of control. They hung in the game all night and Miles Wood tied things up at one at the 11:28 mark. Will Butcher took a shot from the point that rebounded off of the end boards right to Wood’s stick. He then chipped it over goaltender James Reimer’s shoulder. Wayne Simmonds had the secondary assist on the goal.

Then the power plays went into effect. Carolina’s struck first when Matt Tennyson was called for a delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass at 15:50. At 16:36, Blackwood made the initial save on an Andrei Svechnikov shot and the rebound came right to Teuvo Teravainen he then beat Blackwood to make it 2-1 Hurricanes. Erik Haula had the secondary assist. The Canes then immediately went back on the man advantage when Blake Coleman was called for a hook on the scoring play at 16:36.

But the Devils would kill that off and get a chance of their own at 18:28 when Dougie Hamilton was called for a trip on Nico Hischier. With less than 30 seconds to go in the period, Jack Hughes would score his third NHL goal – and his third NHL power play goal – when the puck was loose in Reimer’s crease as Taylor Hall fanned on his shot. The whistle never blew as the loose puck got to Hughes. He potted the goal to tie the game at two going into the first intermission.

It was quite a reversal from last night when quick whistles doomed not only the Devils, but also the Flyers.

Both teams were 1-for-4 on the power play for the night with the Devils firing three shots at Reimer and the Hurricanes mustering four shots on Blackwood. The Canes also had two shorthanded shots.

The Devils had not yet enjoyed a lead on the road this season, but that was about to change.

Just 34 seconds into the second period, Hischier scored his first goal since February 15, 2019 (when he scored at the Minnesota Wild). The goal came when Andy Greene poked the puck at the Devils blue line up to Nico and Hischier made a nice inside-out move on Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin. He then walked in alone on Reimer and made it 3-2 Devils.

But Carolina would tie things again when Erik Haula scored at 10:59 of the second. Martin Necas shot the puck along the boards to Ryan Dzingel behind the net. Dzingel then centered to Haula in front and he scored to knot the game at three.

Unfortunately for the Devils, late in the second period, Jesper Bratt would take a big hit along the boards by Svechnikov and would leave the game with what would later be termed an upper body injury. He would not return.

The third period began with a little bit of 4-on-4 hockey when Kevin Rooney and Svechnikov each took matching roughing minors at the end of the second. The 4-on-4 would be upgraded to 3-on-3 when Carolina’s Hamilton took a tripping call four seconds into the third and then, at 17 seconds, Kyle Palmieri was collared for interference. It was a rare occasion of 3-on-3 hockey during regulation, but neither team would score. Hall did hit the crossbar on a breakaway, however.

The game-winner for the Devils came from the stick of PK Subban just four minutes into the third. Wood was aggressive on the forecheck and grabbed the puck, swooping towards the Carolina blue line. He then almost blindly threw the puck on net and Subban, cutting across the slot, was able to redirect it by Reimer to give New Jersey the 4-3 lead.

It was Subban’s second goal as a Devil and his 100th NHL career goal. Congratulations to him on that milestone.

Carolina would pull Reimer with a little over two minutes to go in regulation and Damon Severson would add an empty netter to make it 5-3, which was our final. Rooney had the lone assist on the goal that iced it for the Devils.

In goal, Blackwood was equal to 24 of the Hurricanes’ 27 shots for an .889 save percentage. Reimer turned aside 21 of the Devils’ 25 shots for an .840 save percentage on the night.

Miles Wood with the goal and the primary assist on the game-winner was named the game’s first star while Haula was the second star and Subban the third.

Team-wise, the Devils won 56-percent of the game’s faceoffs had 20 hits to the Canes’ nine, blocked three more shots at 13-10 and had less giveaways at eight to Carolina’s 13.

Individual stats saw Sami Vatanen lead all Devils skaters with 23:33 of ice time (3:14 on the power play and 2:58 on the penalty kill) while Hall led all forwards with 19:43 (3:14 on the man advantage and six seconds on the PK). Shots were led by Hughes with four, hits were led by Simmonds, Coleman, Pavel Zacha, Wood and Severson who all had two. Blocked shots saw Greene in the lead with three while takeaways were led by Hall with three. Jesper Boqvist also had two takeaways and a hit in 9:25 of total ice time (which included 44 seconds on the PP).

Next up, the Devils finish their season series with the Winnipeg Jets as they head to Manitoba on Tuesday. That game is an 8 PM ET start. We will have coverage right here for you.

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Devils Fall to Oilers in Shootout

The Devils’ woes continue as their first win eludes them once again. They fell to the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in a shootout after failing to pull away from the Oilers.

To begin with, the Devils would be without defenseman and captain Andy Greene. He suffered an upper body injury last night in Philadelphia and was unavailable. Mirco Mueller slotted in for the injured Greene, playing on the third pairing with Connor Carrick. In another lineup change, Pavel Zacha was in for John Hayden up front.

Former Devil Adam Larsson was out for Edmonton as he suffered a broken leg on opening night and has been on long-term injured reserve.

This game would feature five first overall picks (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid for the Oilers and Taylor Hall – an Oiler pick – Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes for the Devils). Steve Cangialosi on MSG Network referred to it as the “Taylor Hall Invitational” with Hall being the most senior of the picks and the Draft Lottery “good luck charm” for both teams.

The Oilers would be a stiff challenge for the Devils, coming into the game with a 3-0-0 record and currently standing fifth in the NHL in both the power play and penalty kill and second in goals per game.

The first period began with PK Subban leaving the game with an apparent injury. He had only taken one or two shifts before leaving the game. Thankfully, he would return in the second period and finish the game.

The Devils opened the scoring just 6:14 in the game when Kyle Palmieri (playing in his 500th NHL game) blocked a shot at the Devils’ blue line and was off to the races with Taylor Hall on a 2-on-1. He faked a pass, keeping Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen from getting set and roofed the shot to give the Devils the early 1-0 lead.

But in a trend that would rear its ugly head all night, the Oilers struck back just about 3:03 later. Zack Kassian played tic-tac-toe to Darnell Nurse, who tapped the puck over to Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl then put it behind Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to tie it.

The Oilers had tied things heading into the first intermission.

The Devils would retake the lead 14:12 into the second when Jesper Bratt hung on to the puck in the Oiler zone, spinning and controlling it before finding Nikita Gusev coming off the bench. Gusev took a pass from Bratt and fired it by Koskinen to make it 2-1 Devils.

That, however, did not last long as James Neal continued his hot streak by tipping a Nugent-Hopkins one-time shot by Blackwood on the power play at 19:32 of the second. McDavid had the secondary assist. Once again, the Devils had given up a goal in the waning moments of a period and this one tied the game at two apiece.

The Devils would again retake the lead when Damon Severson scored at 15:35 of the third. The Devils kept extended pressure in the Oiler zone, something other teams have been doing to the Devils a lot this year. Hall was able to make a nifty pass to Severson, who was at the far faceoff circle. The defenseman then corralled it in his skates and shot over a fallen Koskinen to give the Devils the 3-2 lead. Hischier had the secondary assist on the goal.

The Oilers would pull Koskinen with about 1:30 to go in the game for the 6-on-5 man advantage. Then tragedy for the Devils as Blake Coleman tripped up McDavid setting up an Edmonton power play.

On the ensuing power play, an Oscar Klefbom shot got behind Blackwood and McDavid was there to hammer it home. However, the whistle had seemed to blow and the play was seemingly dead when the puck crossed the line. The call on the ice was a good goal and replays on TV showed that the whistle had blown after the puck was in the net. The goal was reviewed and the call on the ice stood: it was a good goal and now the score was 3-3.

Coincidentally, this was the first time Connor McDavid had scored against the Devils. New Jersey was the final team in the NHL that he had scored against and this was a crucial one for them.

When time ran out on regulation, the Devils were headed to overtime for the second game this season. It was an eventful, if not fruitful one, too. Hall hit the crossbar on a breakaway, then missed the net on another one where he just ran out of room. Subban missed a chance as well, using too many moves and simply running out of room.

With those chances for the Devils not going in and Edmonton not scoring, we were off to a shootout.

In the first round, Gusev lost control of the puck and Nugent-Hopkins whiffed on his attempt. In the second round, Hughes’ shot was turned aside by Koskinen and McDavid had his saved by Blackwood. In the third round, Hall was also turned aside while trying to go five-hole on Koskinen and Draisaitl scored to give the Oilers the 4-3 victory.

Draisaitl was named the game’s first star with a goal and the shootout winner. McDavid was the second star with the game-tying goal and Gusev the third with his goal for the Devils.

In goal, Koskinen made 28 saves on 31 Devils shots for a .903 save percentage. Blackwood stopped 19 of 22 for an .864 save percentage.

On the power play, the Oilers were 2-for-3 with five shots. They also registered a shot shorthanded. The Devils have still yet to score on the man advantage, going 0-for-2 tonight with a pair of shots.

As a team, the Devils won 53-percent of the game’s faceoffs and outhit the Oilers 31-26. Edmonton had more blocked shots at 14 to the Devils’ 12. Each team had six giveaways apiece.

Individually, the Devils’ skaters were led in ice time by Severson with 25:02 (including 29 seconds on the power play and 56 seconds on the penalty kill). Hall led the forwards with 20:55 (2:14 of PP time). Miles Wood led in shots on goal with five, Coleman led in hits with a whopping 10 and Sami Vatanen led in blocks with three. Coleman led in takeaways with three.

Next up for the Devils, they ship up to Boston for a Saturday night tilt against the Bruins. Boston is another team that has yet to suffer a loss and will be a good test for the Devils. Hopefully, things break right and we can all breath a sigh of relief then with a “W” on Saturday.