Posted on

Devils Swept in Four Games with Rangers

The Devils played four against their arch rivals and lost four to their arch rivals. They finished their four straight against the New York Rangers by losing 5-3. The two teams are done with their season series.

Some AHL news to get to first. According to an article on WNBF’s website (a news radio station in Binghamton, New York), the B-Devils may not be long for Binghamton.

The article, written by Bob Joseph, says that WBNG and WICZ in the city are reporting that the parent Devils are putting “demands that were unreasonable” on the B-Devils’ management.

Furthermore, WBNG is reporting that the current Utica Comets’ president has filed a trademark for the name “Utica Devils.” Utica was previously home to the Devils’ AHL affiliate in the late-80s to the early-90s.

The Utica Comets are the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate currently and Vancouver is the only western-based NHL team not to have their AHL affiliate in the west, which adds a little more credibility to this report.

Now to yesterday’s game. The biggest news coming out of the game was the NHL debut of Nolan Foote. With his father Adam in attendance, Foote had a good debut game. He notched an assist for a point and was a minus-1 in 8:07 of total ice time. He played the left side on the fourth line. He wore number 25.

In warmups, goaltenders Mackenzie Blackwood and Aaron Dell wore masks designed by a healthcare worker at Monmouth Medical Center (an RWJBarnabas Health affiliate) in honor of those who work in the healthcare industry. It was a great nod to those who work in a rough industry.

Speaking of goaltenders, Blackwood went for the Devils, making 21 save on 25 shots for an .840 save percentage. He stopped the Rangers’ lone shorthanded try and let in two of the three power play shots he faced. He was 19-for-21 at even strength. The Rangers went 2-for-5 on the power play.

The Rangers started Alexandar Georgiev and he made 25 saves on 28 total Devils shots for an .893 save percentage. He stopped two Devils shorthanded shots, two power play shots (the Devils were 0-for-1 on the power play) and 21-of-24 at even strength. In a strange situation, Georgiev got hurt and left the ice with 2:19 remaining in the first period, with Igor Shesterkin coming on in relief. He stopped the only two shots he saw (one on the power play) as the Devils finished with 30 shots to the Rangers’ 25.

The game started with a bang as, following a big hit on Andreas Johnsson, Nico Hischier stepped in to protect him. PK Subban then stepped up for HIschier and after some pushing and shoving, order was restored.

The Rangers got on the board first when Chris Kreider scored on the power play at the 6:31 mark. Mika Zibanejad skated in and faked a wrist shot from the far faceoff circle. He passed to Kreider at the side of the net and Kreider tapped the puck in for the early 1-0 lead for New York. Artemi Panarin had the secondary assist.

At 14:03 of the first, Vitali Kravtsov scored his first NHL goal (his first first goal had been denied last week by an offside challenge by the Devils) when Brett Howden passed to him, setting him up for a one-timer. He unloaded and beat Blackwood to make it 2-0 Rangers.

It was déjà vu all over again for the Devils and it was about to get worse.

At the 5:17 mark of the second, Alexis Lafreniere scored to put the Rangers up 3-0. Off the rush, Filip Chytil collected a pass from Kaapo Kakko in his skates and made a nice backhand pass to Lafreniere. Lafreniere also collected the puck in his skates and backhanded the puck by Blackwood to up the Rangers’ lead.

The Devils had hit the bottom but would begin to climb out from here.

But first, Jack Hughes took a tripping call at 14:19 of the second and was not happy. He slammed his stick against the glass twice, entered the penalty box and threw it onto the ice. He received a ten-minute misconduct along with the trip. But the Devils would fight back in the meantime.

At 18:55 of the second, Mikhail Maltsev made it 3-1. Subban blasted a shot from the point and the puck rebounded off of Yegor Sharangovich’s skate to Maltsev, who put it into a wide open side of the net.

Just 1:53 into the third period, Marian Studenic notched his first NHL goal when Maltsev got it to him just inside the Rangers’ blue line. He skated in and snapped a shot by Georgiev to get the Devils within one, 3-2. Johnsson had the secondary assist.

A few minutes later, at the 5:30 mark, the captain tied it. Nick Merkley won a puck battle along the near boards and threw it cross-ice to Foote at the inside edge of the far faceoff circle. Foote saw Hischier right near him in the slot. He passed and Hischier buried it to tie the game up at three. For Foote, his first NHL point in his first NHL game.

But the Rangers’ power play would strike again. At 17:00 into the third, Zibanejad scored when Adam Fox and Ryan Strome worked the puck around the perimeter and inside to Zibanejad in the slot. He took the pass and roofed it over Blackwood to give New York back the lead 4-3. The Devils poked the Rangers’ power play bear and got bitten.

Blackwood was pulled with just over a minute to go in regulation and Strome added an empty net goal from Colin Blackwell and Panarin to ice the game at 5-3. It was an automatic goal was Subban was backchecking and took a hooking penalty with Strome in the clear. No penalty served, but a goal that counted despite Strome missing the net.

So the Devils wrap up their season series with the Rangers not with a bang, but with a whimper.

The Devils outshot the Rangers 30-25, had a better faceoff win percentage at 57-percent, were outhit 16-8 and had 12 giveaways to the Rangers’ three. Both teams finished with 13 blocked shots.

Subban led in ice time with 27:51 while Sharangovich led the forwards with 22:04.

Hischier led in shots on goal with seven, Michael McLeod, Maltsev, Matt Tennyson, Ty Smith, Damon Severson, Jonas Siegenthaler and Subban all led in hits with one apiece. Subban led in blocks with two and five takeaways led that category from Hughes.

Next up, the Devils travel to the Steel City for three straight against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Tomorrow’s game is a 7 PM puck drop and we will have more timely coverage for you here then.

We will also talk about Alexander Holtz signing his Entry Level Contract, which happened today.

Until then, stay safe everyone!

Posted on

Devils Fall to Caps in Matinee

It started with a celebration and ended with a thud.

The Devils honored Travis Zajac (belatedly) for 1,000 games played in the National Hockey League and then dropped a decision to the Washington Capitals, 5-2.

First, the celebration. Zajac was actually playing in game number 1,003 today, but since game 1,000 through 1,002 were played on the road, the Devils were paying tribute to it today.

Zajac played in game 1,000 on February 21 at the Caps. The ceremony today featured (pre-recorded) words from Patrik Elias, Martin Brodeur and Ken Daneyko – the other three Devils to play 1,000 games all in a Devils uniform (Marty did play seven games in St. Louis, he just accomplished the feat here).

There were gifts from the NHL (represented by Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald), his teammates and, of course, the sliver stick presented to players on this occasion. In a nice touch, the stick was presented to Zajac by his son. This is something which must have meant a lot to him due to how much family represents to him. Finally, with fans not allowed into the building until Tuesday, some recorded messages from Devils season ticket members were shown on the big board.

With all of that out of the way, there was a game to play.

Mackenzie Blackwood made his first start of the season against the Caps, as Aaron Dell had gone last Sunday in the two teams’ first meeting of the year.

Blackwood made 19 saves on 23 shots for an .826 save percentage. There was a point late in the second period and early into the third when the Capitals were held without a shot on goal for 18:10. The Caps also did not register a power play or shorthanded shot, they went 0-for-2 on the power play.

For Washington, Vitek Vanecek went between the pipes, making 22 saves on 24 Devils shots for a .917 save percentage. He was starting for the 16th time in his last 17 games. He stopped the Devils’ lone shorthanded shot and was 0-for-1 on the power play. He stopped 21 of 22 at even strength. The Devils went 1-for-3 on the power play.

Alex Ovechkin did play for the Capitals. There was some concern that he would not play due to not practicing yesterday, but that was a routine maintenance day, it turned out and did not represent anything bigger. The Caps were, however, without Evgeny Kuznetsov.

The Devils played Will Butcher today, sitting Ryan Murray – who also did not practice yesterday. Scott Wedgewood was the Devils’ other scratch.

The Caps jumped out to a big lead, scoring three within the first 13:40 of the game. It started when Garnet Hathaway scored just 3:36 in. Carl Hagelin recovered a Devils turnover in the Washington zone. He moved it to Justin Schultz, who fed Hathaway backdoor with a slick pass through the blue paint. Hathaway put it in and the Devils found themselves behind the eight ball quickly.

At the 5:06 mark of the first, Daniel Sprong made it 2-0. John Carlson went D-to-D with Brenden Dillon. Dillon shot and the puck bounced in off of PK Subban, Sprong and the post and in. Dillon originally got the credit for the goal, but that was changed to Sprong as he was the last Capital to touch it before it went in.

The Devils’ hole got deeper when, at 13:40 of the first, Washington closed in on a 3-on-1 following a Devils’ pass being picked off just inside the Caps’ blueline. On the 3-on-1, Conor Lars Eller passed to Conor Sheary, who went back to Eller, using Ovechkin as the third man decoy. Eller scored to make it 3-0.

It was the first time this season that the Devils had let in three in the first period.

The scoring in the first, however, was not done. With just over two minutes to go, at the 18:16 mark, the Devils got on the board when Nico Hischier scored on the power play. Jack Hughes won a draw deep in the Washington zone back to Subban at the point. Subban wound up and fired, realizing midway through that he had no shooting lane. He then intentionally shot wide with the puck bouncing off of the end boards, coming right to Hischier. The captain put the puck in to make it 3-1.

The Devils would get even closer at the 6:09 mark of the second when Pavel Zacha extended his point-scoring streak to nine games.

The goal came on a chaotic play when Zacha fell into Vanecek, knocking the goalie’s stick out of his hands in the process. Zacha got up, regrouped and went to the slot, taking a pass from Hischier and snapping it by the Washington goalie. Ty Smith had the secondary assist.

That made it 3-2 and the Devils were back in the hunt.

They seemed to be clicking late in the game, holding the Caps without a shot on net for 18:10 through the late second/early third and getting a few good scoring chances.

But the backbreaker came when Jakub Vrana took a Carlson clearing attempt in stride like a pass. He broke in on a breakaway and scored at 11:49 of the third period to make it 4-2 and put the game nearly out of reach for New Jersey. Tom Wilson had the secondary assist.

A scary moment later on as, while the Devils were on the power play, an errant Subban slapshot deflected off of a Washington stick and hit Hischier in the face, drawing blood. He left and did not return.

Blackwood was pulled with just over two minutes to go in the game and Nic Dowd would “cap” things off with an empty net goal at 19:06 off an assist from Hagelin.

With that empty netter, the teams finished with the same amount of shots at 24. The Devils won 49-percent of the game’s faceoffs with Zajac, appropriately, leading the centers with a 71-percent winning clip.

The Caps outhit the Devils, 15-8 and had more blocked shots at 13 to the Devils’ 11. The Devils also had more giveaways at 13 to the Capitals’ two.

Subban led the Devils in time on ice with 21:33 while Zacha led the forwards with 20:07.

Shots on goal were led by Jack Hughes with four. Hits were led by Nate Bastian and Smith with two apiece. Blocked shots were led by Michael McLeod, Smith and Sami Vatanen with two each. Takeaways were led by Butcher with two.

Next up, the Devils will get up and do it again. The Capitals remain in Newark for a 3 PM game tomorrow afternoon. We will see you then for coverage here.

Until then, stay safe everyone!