Devils Down Senators in Shootout, 4-3

We are back from the NHL All-Star break and the Devils’ bye week and what a busy night of hockey we have for you! In the first game, the Devils faced off with the Ottawa Senators up in Canada’s national capital. The Devils won this one 4-3 in a shootout.

It was the first Devils game in nine days, since they faced off with Columbus on January 18. The bye week/All-Star break was good for injured Devils. Kyle Palmieri was activated off of injured reserve and played tonight, scoring a goal while playing on the top line with Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier. Louis Domingue was also off of IR and backed up starter Mackenzie Blackwood. Cory Schneider was reassigned to Binghamton.

Also spending some time in Binghamton is Jesper Boqvist, who was sent down during the break and will remain there for the time being, getting a little more seasoning with a good amount of playing time.

Connor Carrick was the lone Devils scratch as Mirco Mueller slotted back in on defense.

The starting goalie matchup saw the aforementioned Blackwood made 35 saves on 38 Ottawa shots for a .921 save percentage. For the Sens, Marcus Hogberg stopped 50 of an astounding, and season high, 53 Devils shots for a .943 save percentage. In the shootout, Blackwood stopped two shots and Hogberg stopped neither of the two shooters he faced.

In a nice gesture, the Senators payed tribute to Kobe Bryant with a moment of silence pregame. The Sens were wearing their heritage jerseys, which is always a nice look. The Senators also had a nine-game winless streak that they snapped just prior to the break with a win over Calgary.

And this one looked bleak for them early one when Damon Severson scored 8:23 into the game on the power play. Connor Brown of Ottawa had gone off for a high sticking double minor, clipping Sami Vatanen. The Devils were held off of the scoresheet during the first two minutes, but during the second half of the power play, Severson took a shot from the point that hit the post and was kicked in by Hogberg when he spun around to locate the puck. Miles Wood served as a screen in front and, though he did not get an assist, did play a major part in the goal. Bratt and Nikita Gusev had the assists.

But the Sens would knot things prior to the end of the first frame. With less than two minutes to go in the first, at 18:42, Tyler Ennis scored on the power play (Mueller was off for a slash at 17:13) when Brady Tkachuk shot and the rebound came right to Ennis cutting back door. Drake Batherson had the secondary assist and the game was tied at one going into the second period.

On the power play, the Devils went 1-for-5 with 11 shots (plus one shorthanded – which came just prior to the Ennis goal). Ottawa was 1-for-2 with three power play shots and two shorthanded shots – both of which they scored on, which we will obviously get to later.

The second period began with PK Subban and Tkachuk, who had been going at it all game in front of the Devils’ net, scrap.

The Devils retook the lead when Andy Greene made a nice takeaway in the Devils’ zone, this led to the Devils getting it up ice and putting some pressure in the Ottawa zone. Kevin Rooney capitalized at 4:28 when he scored on a wraparound. Greene and Mueller had the assists on the goal that made it 2-1.

But if the second period was great for New Jersey, it was about thirty seconds in the third that was nearly their undoing.

At the 8:28 mark, Tkachuk took a high-sticking penalty against Pavel Zacha, putting the Devils on the power play. However, at the 9:06 mark, the Devils gave up a 2-on-1 with Vladislav Namestnikov and JG Pageau skating in. Namestnikov used Pageau as a decoy and elected to shoot, beating Blackwood to make it 2-2 and notching the Sens’ first shorthanded goal of the game. Ron Hainsey had the lone assist.

Less than forty seconds later, at 9:41, Ottawa took the lead when, off a partial 2-on-1, Connor Brown made a nice, thread-the-needle pass to Chris Tierney, who went backhand on Blackwood and scored. Dylan DeMelo had the secondary assist.

So the Devils had given up two shorthanded goals on the very same penalty and seemed on the brink of collapse. They would nail two posts and a crossbar in the period and could not seem to get one by Hogberg.

A scary moment for the Senators when Mark Borowiecki tried to stand Blake Coleman up at the Ottawa blue line and, as he turned his back and both men braced for the hit, Coleman’s stick caught him in the face, knocking his helmet clean off. Borowiecki immediately went to the Sens’ locker room, but returned to the bench a few moments later.

The Devils would finally tie things at the 16:39 mark when Hischier took a shot on Hogberg that rebounded to the stick of Bratt in front of the net. He poked it over to a cutting in Palmieri who put the puck in the empty side of the goal mouth. That made it 3-3 and we would soon be headed for overtime.

The Devils won their last trip to Ottawa in OT with Jack Hughes scoring the winner. This time, the winner would not be decided in the extra session, but there would be plenty of action. Severson was stopped on a breakaway early on and later, Will Butcher was stopped in close on a nice chance set up by Hischier.

But due to excellent goaltending by both Blackwood and Hogberg, we were off to a shootout.

This one would only need two rounds to decide. Anthony Duclair went first for the Sens and was stopped by Blackwood. Gusev was up first for the Devils and he scored off of a nice move. Batherson went for Ottawa to kick off the second round and was stopped by Blackwood. Hughes then buried his chance to give the Devils the shootout victory.

The Devils won 52-percent of the game’s faceoffs with Travis Zajac winning 60-percent of his. The Devils outhit the Sens, 27-23 and had more blocked shots at 29 to the Senators’ 11. The Devils had slightly less giveaways at 13 to Ottawa’s 18.

Individually, Severson led in time on ice with 26:50 (including 3:18 on the power play and 2:19 on the penalty kill). Hischier led the forwards with 22:13 with 5:06 on the power play.

Shots on goal were led by Hughes by a wide margin with eight. John Hayden and Wayne Simmonds led in hits with four each while Severson led in blocked shots with five. Gusev led in takeaways with two.

Next up, the Devils will face old coach John Hynes when the Nashville Predators come to Newark on Thursday. That game is on NBCSN at 7:30 PM and we will have coverage for you right here when it is over. Later tonight/this morning, we should have coverage of the AHL All-Star game for you as well.

Coleman Scores Two, DeAngelo Scores Three; Devils Fall to Rangers

The Devils finished off their New York tour facing the Rangers at Madison Square Garden tonight, losing 6-3 after falling to the Islanders in overtime on Tuesday.

We’ll get right to the nitty gritty of this one since it was not pretty from the perspective of the Devils.

Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes remain out with injuries, although according to Erika Wachter of MSG Network, interim head coach Alain Nasreddine said that they are progressing “well” and could return soon. Connor Carrick was again the healthy scratch as the Devils iced the same lineup for the third game in a row.

The goaltending matchup saw Mackenzie Blackwood (minus the four teeth he lost in the Islander game on Tuesday) start for the Devils, making 20 saves on 25 shots for an .800 save percentage. He was pulled after the fifth Ranger goal in favor of Louis Domingue. Domingue, making his return from injury, made 11 stops on a dozen New York shots for a .917 save percentage. The Rangers ended the game with 37 shots.

For the Rangers, they went with rookie Russian goalie Igor Shesterkin. He was actually a teammate of Nikita Gusev’s at SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL where they won a Gagarin Cup championship together in 2017. He made his first NHL start and got his first NHL win versus the Avalanche earlier in the week for them. Tonight, he made a whopping 46 saves on 49 Devil shots against for a .939 save percentage.

This game was a wild one to begin with. It began 5:42 into the first when Artemi Panarin put New York ahead 1-0. It was a tic-tac-toe passing play where Tony DeAngelo fed Panarin from behind the net and Panarin took a one-timer from the far faceoff dot. He beat Blackwood to give the Rangers the early lead. Adam Fox had the other assist. A lot was to come for DeAngelo tonight as the New Jersey-native had one to remember.

At the 8:06 mark of the first, Kevin Rooney tied things up for the Devils. It came shorthanded while PK Subban was off for interference. Following a offensive zone start, Pavel Zacha pounced on the puck and threw it on net. Rooney crashed in and put the rebound through Shesterkin’s five-hole to end his 33-game scoreless streak and notch his first of the year. It was also the Devils’ fourth shorty of the season.

DeAngelo got that one right back 1:41 later when he snuck in to the top of the slot and took a pass from Mika Zibanejad. He kind of shot it off of the toe of his stick, as Ken Daneyko of MSG Network observed. That led it to kind of flutter in like a knuckleball on Blackwood. It beat him to give the Rangers back the lead at 2-1.

At the 12:16 mark, Chris Kreider scored on the power play to advance the Ranger lead to 3-1. John Hayden was off for interfering with Kaapo Kakko at 11:32 and New York was on the man advantage. This was a weird one as DeAngelo fired a slapper all the way down the rink. It bounced off of the end boards, and Kreider was there to negate the icing. He had snuck behind the Devils’ defense and was now all alone with the puck. He then put it behind Blackwood for his 300th career NHL point. Zibanejad had the secondary assist.

But the Devils got back on the board before the first intermission at 18:10 when Damon Severson took a pass at the Ranger blue line. He then walked the line and got into a position to shoot, firing it in on Shesterkin. Blake Coleman tipped it by him and in to make it 3-2 Rangers. The Devils had come back to cut the lead to one.

It would seem that the Rangers got that one back when Pavel Buchnevich scored on a breakaway with 1:13 left in the first. There was no signal from the referee right away and the red light did not immediately come on. The officials got together and had a look and the replay showed that the puck hit the crossbar, bounced down and out, but never did cross the goal line. The goal was waved off in the first of two big breaks the Devils would receive on the evening.

The second period began with the other big break for New Jersey. 8:56 into the second frame, Severson ripped a shot that Coleman drove to the net on. It was an innocent looking play as Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba pushed Coleman and the net was dislodged. However, the officials once again got together and looked at a replay from the situation room in Toronto. The call on the ice was no goal, but replay showed that Trouba pushed Coleman and, in a continuous motion, the puck crossed the line as the net was coming off the moorings. The goal counted and Coleman had his second of the night while the Devils had miraculously tied things up.

Tony DeAngelo, however, had other ideas.

At the 12:08 mark of the second, he scored his second goal of the game by taking a pass from Marc Staal at the Devils’ blue line and wristing a shot through traffic to make it 4-3. It was his second goal and fourth point, making him the first Ranger defenseman to have a four-point night against the Devils since James Patrick in 1986 according to MSG Network.

He struck again at 15:02 of the second to complete the hat trick and score his fifth point of the night – factoring into all five Ranger goals. It came on the power play (Nico Hischier was off for high-sticking Fox) when the Rangers just used good puck movement to work it around the perimeter to DeAngelo in the slot. He shot through a screen again to make it 5-3 Rangers.

He became the fist Rangers defenseman to record a hatty since Reijo Ruotsalainen on March 17, 1982 against the Flyers. That was during the 1981-82 season so the Devils were still in Colorado, that is how long ago this happened!

It was after this goal that Blackwood was pulled in favor of Domingue.

But Domingue did not fare much better. In the third period, at the 12:56 mark, Jesper Fast scored on a 2-on-1, taking a pass from Ryan Strome and burying it behind Domingue to make it 6-3 Rangers. Panarin had the other assist. New York had doubled the Devils up and that was how it ended.

On special teams, the Devils were 0-for-2 with six shots (in addition, they also had five shorthanded shots) while the Rangers went 2-for-5 with seven total shots (five on Blackwood and two on Domingue).

The Devils doubled up the Rangers in the third period on shots (18 to nine), but had nothing to show for it.

The Devils won 46-percent of the game’s faceoffs with Nico peronally winning 68-percent of his. They edged the Rangers in hits 20-19, had more blocked shots at 19-17 and had less turnovers at nine to the Rangers’ 13.

Individually, Sami Vatanen led in ice time with 24:24 (2:10 on the power play and 2:42 shorthanded included) and Kyle Palmieri led the forwards with 18:30 (including 3:31 killing penalties).

Miles Wood and Subban led in shots on goal with six each, Coleman led in hits with five, Severson led in blocks with three and Palmieri led in takeaways with two.

Next up, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire as the Devils head down to Washington to take on the juggernaut Capitals. That game is a 7 PM faceoff and we will have coverage for you right here on Saturday.