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Ovi Gets Number 700, But Devils Prevail

On today, the 40th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, the Devils had a little bit of a miracle of their own up their sleeve.

For Alex Ovechkin, history was on his doorstep. He notched his 700th career NHL goal, but his Washington Capitals could not come out of Newark with the victory. The Devils won 3-2 on a late Damon Severson goal. With the win, goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood won his sixth straight start. It was also the Devils’ fourth straight win at Prudential Center for the first time since December of 2017 (they also won four straight “home games” to start last season, however one of those games was in Sweden at the Global Series).

For the Devils, only one major lineup change as Miles Wood was out with an illness and Nick Merkley (wearing a full-face shield because of the stitches by his eye) slotted back in up front in his place. Will Butcher remains out with an injury.

In goal, Blackwood stopped 33 of 35 for the Devils with a .943 save percentage. The Caps threw out Ilya Samsonov who made 26 saves on 29 Devils shots for an .897 save percentage. For Samsonov, this loss was his first road loss in his 11th road game, the first such loss of his NHL career.

The Devils got on the board first when Jesper Bratt scored his second in two games. The goal was a lot similar to the one on Thursday against the Sharks, as well. Severson intercepted a Capitals pass in the Devils’ defensive zone and spotted Bratt coming off the bench. He hit Bratt with a stretch pass and Bratt was in on a breakaway. He froze Samsonov with a leg pump, then went backhand-forehand and scored to make it 1-0 Devils early (12:55 into the game).

The Devils had some chances to begin the second, as Nico Hischier deflected a shot up and over the crossbar early in the frame.

They finally broke through again on the power play at 12:12 of the second. Brendan Dillon was off for hooking at 10:14 which set this up. Nikita Gusev was camped at the far wall and passed to Bratt near the center of the ice. Bratt then shoveled it to Wayne Simmonds, who was camped out at the side of the net. Simmonds simply tapped the puck in to make it 2-0 Devils.

Just over two minutes later, however, the Caps responded, also on the power play. At 14:03, Colton White was called for a trip on TJ Oshie. This put Washington on the power play and there, Nicklas Backstrom set up at the near half wall and passed to John Carlson. Carlson took a one-timer and it was tipped by Blackwood by Tom Wilson in front. That cut the Devils lead to one at 14:44.

In the third period, the inevitable happened when Alex Ovechkin scored his 700th career NHL goal. He had 29 previous goals against the Devils and number 30 was quite sweet.

It came 4:50 into the third when, off a scramble in front of the Devils’ net, Evgeny Kuznetsov got the puck and, as he was falling down, passed to Ovi. Ovechkin took the puck and absolutely roofed it over Blackwood to become the eighth player in NHL history to record 700 goals. Nick Jensen had the secondary assist.

According to MSG Network’s Steve Cangialosi, Travis Zajac, who was on the ice when Ovi scored his goal, was also present for Jaromir Jagr’s (the last player prior to Ovechkin to score 700 goals) 700th. In fact, as a teammate of Jagr’s, he recorded an assist on the goal.

So now things were knotted at two and things began to get a little bit desperate. Washington had 14 seconds of 5-on-3 but the Devils killed off both penalties.

Then, at 15:44, things began to break for the Devils.

Kuznetsov took a hooking call on Kyle Palmieri to put the Devils on the man advantage. Then, at 16:55, Michal Kempny was called for a slash against Palmieri. This put the Devils up 5-on-3 for 50 seconds or so.

The Caps killed off the first penalty, but with the Devils still up a man, Palmieri passed to Severson, who played catch with Gusev. When Severson got the puck back, he ripped it and, although Samsonov got a piece of the puck, he could not get the whole thing and the Devils had the late 3-2 lead at 18:01 gone by in the third.

Washington pulled Samsonov and the Devils got the better of some non-icing calls to win their fourth straight at home and even the season series with the Caps at two wins apiece.

On special teams, the Devils were 2-for-3 with four shots and three shorthanded shots. The Capitals were 1-for-6 with 15 shots on the power play. The Devils nearly shot themselves in the foot on penalties, but a good PK allowed them to escape with the victory.

The three stars of the game were Ovechkin at three, Blackwood at two and Severson, with the game-winner at one. Severson was one of three Devils with two points. Bratt had a goal and an assist for two, Gusev had two assists and Severson had a goal and an assist.

The Devils were once again outshot, but had the great goaltending of Mackenzie Blackwood to help them out. The teams each split the faceoffs 50-50 with Hischier winning 53-percent personally to lead the centers. The Devils were outhit 29-20, but had more blocked shots at 18-12 and less turnovers at six to Washington’s ten.

Severson led all Devils skaters in ice time with 26:07 (including 3:21 on the power play and 4:37 on the penalty kill) while Pavel Zacha led the forwards with 20:02 (54 seconds on the PP and 6:26 killing penalties included).

Shots were led by Kevin Rooney, Gusev, Severson and PK Subban who each had three. Hits were led by John Hayden, Palmieri, Zacha, Dakota Mermis and Subban with two each. Blocks were led by Hayden and Subban with three apiece. Takeaways saw Rooney with two leading in that category.

Next up, the Devils hit the road for a long Western stretch which begins in Detroit on Tuesday. The Red Wings – in the throes of a disastrous season – have already been eliminated from playoff contention. We will, of course, have coverage for you right here. Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

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Two Simmonds Goals Lead Devils to Victory Over Wings

The bad news? After about 172 or so minutes, Mackenzie Blackwood finally let in a goal. The good news, as he would probably tell you, is that it did not matter. The Devils defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 tonight at Prudential Center.

Since it is late, I thought I would get right to things.

The Devils made a move earlier today, moving Sami Vatanen to Injured Reserve, retroactive to February 1, as he injured his right leg blocking a shot that night against the Dallas Stars. Nico Hischier also remained out from an injury suffered in that same game. With that, forward Nick Merkley was recalled from AHL Binghamton. Merkley was acquired by the Devils in the Taylor Hall trade from Arizona and had been playing well of late for the minor league club. According to a press release put out by the Devils, he has seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points since joining Binghamton. He did not play tonight, but was assigned the number 39. Colton White remained the other healthy scratch for the Devils.

The goaltending matchup saw Blackwood back in net for New Jersey. He turned aside 25 of 26 Red Wing shots in a near bid for three straight shutouts. He finished the night with a .962 save percentage. Facing him for Detroit was Jonathan Bernier, who stopped 22 of the 26 shots the Devils fired at him for an .846 save percentage on the night.

In the first period, Blackwood was tested way more than Bernier, as the Wings fired 12 shots on the Devils netminder while New Jersey only mustered four shots on goal. With both teams getting out of the first unscathed, we were off to the second.

Here, Detroit got on the board to take the 1-0 lead. It came with 16:34 gone by when Andreas Athanasiou connected on the power play. Blake Coleman was sent off for an illegal check to the head to set this one up.

On the man advantage, the Wings broke out of their zone when Filip Hronek sent the puck up ice to Athanasiou. Ahtanasiou then played give and go with Anthony Mantha and when Athanasioiu got the puck back at the far faceoff dot, he fired quickly and beat Blackwood to give the Red Wings the 1-0 lead.

And that is how it would remain but for an exactly four-minute offensive outburst by the Devils in the third period.

The comeback began when Michigan-native Andy Greene got the Devils knotted up at the 5:10 mark. Pavel Zacha drove hard to the net and his rebound came out to Damon Severson at the point. He passed it through to the other point where it was tipped by Zacha to Greene. Greene then rifled a shot through traffic and by Bernier to tie the game at one apiece. It was Greene’s second goal of the season.

The secondary assist on that goal ensured that Severson would move his point-scoring streak to eight games.

At the 6:54 mark, the Devils got the game-winner off the stick of Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds got his sixth of the year when Miles Wood shoveled a pass from near the Devils’ bench to Zacha streaking up the right wing boards. Zacha dished to a trailing Wood who connected in front to Simmonds who put it home to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.

A few moments later at 7:51, Alex Biega took a delay of game penalty for smothering the puck to set up a Devils power play. At 8:37, Simmonds struck again when Severson and Kyle Palmieri played catch along the point and half wall with Severson stationed at the point. Palmieri eventually got it and shot, with three Devils collapsing low, Simmonds buried it to make it 3-1 New Jersey.

Jesper Bratt finished up the scoring at 9:10, exactly four minutes after it began, when he made it 4-1. Will Butcher gave to PK Subban just inside the Detroit line. He passed down low to Bratt and he curled back up to the blue line, and wristed one from the center of the ice. He beat Bernier to add to the Devils’ lead.

For Subban, the primary assist was achieved in his 700th NHL contest. Congratulations to PK on this great milestone and on the point. Initially, only Subban was credited with an assist, but that was changed to Bratt from Subban and Butcher later on by the official scorer.

On the power play, the Devils were 1-for-6 with nine shots. They also had a single shorthanded shot. Detroit was 1-for-4 with two power play shots and a shorthanded shot as well.

Both teams finished, after a lopsided first period in favor of Detroit, with the same 26 shots on net. Detroit dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 67-percent of the faceoffs. Jack Hughes, who once again was centering the top line, had the best personal percentage amongst Devils centers with 44-percent.

The Devils had ten more hits than the Wings with 25 to Detroit’s 15. The Wings had 12 blocked shots to the Devils’ six and the Devils had more giveaways at ten to Detroit’s seven.

Severson, who was named the game’s third star, led all Devils skaters in ice time with 25:03 (7:24 on the power play and 3:22 on the PK included). Blake Coleman led the forwards with 19:21 of time on ice (5:54 on the PP and 3:43 shorthanded included).

Andy Greene was the game’s second star and Simmonds the first with his two-goal performance. Zacha also had two points – both assists – as did Severson (both assists as well).

Shots were led by Bratt with five, one ahead of Simmonds, who had four. Hits were led by a wide margin with seven. Butcher led in blocked shots with three, just narrowing by Subban, who had two. Takeaways were led by Jack Hughes, Coleman, Travis Zajac and Simmonds, who all had two to their name.

Next up, the Devils travel down to North Carolina for a matchup with the Hurricanes tomorrow night. We will see you then and hope you have a great Valentine’s Day as well.