Devils Blow Out Canucks in Hughes Bowl III

The Devils avenged their loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago on Friday, a loss that saw two Hawks players end up completing hat tricks, by putting up a 7-spot on the Vancouver Canucks tonight. They won 7-2 over Vancouver tonight at Prudential Center.

The Devils set a franchise record with their 12th straight win over the Canucks, the most in a row they have ever had against one opponent. More impressive since these teams only meet twice a year now and did not play at all last season.

Their last meetings came in the early part of the 2019-20 season when Jack and Quinn Hughes were also had their first two meetings against each other.

Jack is now a perfect 3-0 against his brother and Quinn will be a little lighter in the wallet as well.

The brothers had just bought a house together and made a bet that the loser tonight will purchase a new paining for the house that they had wanted. The news was reported to the Vancouver media by Quinn and Erika Wachter of MSG+ said that the price of the painting is staying confidential between the two.

(Hopefully Jack is getting a little more out of his brother and their style does not skew towards “Dogs Playing Poker” or a second-hand swap meet edition of velvet Elvis.)

The Devils also snapped a five-game home losing streak – a season worst for them.

The Canucks were riding a three-game winning streak, having defeated the Rangers last night at Madison Square Garden.

The Devils made only two lineup changes from the game at Chicago. Defenseman Colton White inserted in on the blue line, paired with PK Subban and replacing Ty Smith. Smith watched from the press box along with Mason Geertsen and Christian Jaros.

The other change was in goal as Nico Daws the nod tonight over Jon Gillies.

Daws recorded his third NHL victory by making 36 saves on 38 total Canucks shots for a .947 save percentage on the night. He was equal to Vancouver’s lone shorthanded shot and their only power play shot. At five-versus-five, he made 34 saves on 36 shots. The Canucks went 0-for-1 on the power play.

For the Canucks, Jaroslav Halak started and stopped just eight of the 14 total Devils shots he faced for a .571 save percentage for the game. He let in the only Devils power play shot that came his way and at even strength stopped eight of 13 shots.

After the Devils’ sixth goal, Vancouver head coach Bruce Boudreau had to go back to his number one, Thatcher Demko, to alleviate some of the bleeding.

Demko stopped 18 of the 19 shots he saw total (the Devils ended the game with 33 total shots on both Canuck goalies) for a .947 save percentage. He stopped all four power play shots he faced – the Devils ended the game with five power play shots and were 1-for-2 as a team on the man advantage. At even strength, Demko stopped 14 of New Jersey’s 15 shots.

As mentioned in a post from earlier this evening, the Devils wore special warmup jerseys designed by PK Subban to commemorate Black History Month.

The Devils played a near perfect first period as they once again jumped out to a three-goal lead.

Jack Hughes got the upper hand in his sibling rivalry when he scored 9:15 into the game unassisted.

Hughes got the puck in the Devils zone and broke in on a 2-on-1. He took the shot himself, pulling up a bit on the rush and shooting glove side on Halak, beating him just inside the near post. That made it 1-0 Devils.

Yegor Sharangovich doubled the Devils lead at the 15:24 mark of the first period when he scored.

Daws had just made a save at the other end and the Devils took the puck down towards the Vancouver end.

There, Hughes moved it down low to Dawson Mercer, who immediately found Sharangovich camped out on the doorstep. Sharangovich let go with a quick release and scored to make it 2-0.

The Devils went on their first power play of the evening at the 16:22 when Luke Schenn was called for interference against Nate Bastian.

The Devils did give up a shorthanded 2-on-1 relatively early in the man advantage when Quinn Hughes and Tyler Motte cut in with Damon Severson the lone Devil back, but Motte missed the net and the Devils were off the hook for the moment.

They would convert at 17:44 of the period when Nico Hischier connected within the Canucks zone to Jesper Bratt. Bratt found Mercer near the near-side faceoff circle and he was able to take the pass on his forehand (being a right-handed shot) and scored. It was a good passing play and made it 3-0 Devils before the first intermission.

Hischier hit the post in the last minute of the first period to narrowly miss making it 4-0.

Instead, Vancouver would get on the board just 1:36 into the second period.

The Devils were unable to clear their zone and Travis Hamonic kept it alive for the Canucks. He got it to Bo Horvat, who blasted a shot from the point. The shot was then tipped in front by Vasily Podkolzin and by Daws to make it 3-1 and potentially get the Canucks back into the game.

The Devils would respond right away, however, with three unanswered goals.

The first came less than 2:30 later at the 3:08 gone by mark when Andreas Johnsson got the puck up to Jesper Boqvist, who battled with Quinn Hughes to gain position, hustling to get in front of him and one-on-one with Halak. Halak was playing very deep in his net and Boqvist beat him to make it 4-1 Devils. Ryan Graves had the secondary assist on the goal.

Graves would then notch his own at 5:07 gone by in the second when Sharangovich won an offensive zone faceoff back to Graves at the point. Graves shot and the puck deflected in off of Schenn’s leg and past Halak to make it 5-1 Devils.

The final part of the Devils’ roughly three-minute onslaught came at the 6:19 mark of the second when Hischier dug the puck out from behind the Vancouver net and it jarred to Pavel Zacha.

Zacha dished off to Jesper Bratt at the right side of the Canucks net and he skated it just above the goal line. He then roofed a shot above Halak to score and make it 6-1 New Jersey.

It was after this goal that Halak would be pulled in favor of Demko and the Canucks would respond almost immediately.

At the 8:14 mark of the second, the Canucks made it 6-2 when JT Miller came out of the cycle in the Devils zone, passing to Brad Hunt, who was pinching down from the blue line.

Hunt quickly hit a wide-open Tanner Pearson with a pass, as Pearson was in the middle of the ice in the Devils zone. He got a clear shot off and scored putting the Canucks on the board again just before the second break.

The third period would see each team with chances early.

Zacha was stopped on a partial breakaway at the beginning of the period, but shot wide as he ended up getting the shot off in way too close to Demko.

Motte was turned aside minutes later on his own partial breakaway thanks in most part to a fantastic backchecking effort by Sharangovich.

The Devils would finally ice the game at the 11:42 gone by mark of the third when Tomas Tatar won a board battle just inside the Devils blue line. Boqvist recovered from there and skated the puck into the Vancouver zone.

He passed off to Dougie Hamilton, who was rushing up to join the play in the Canucks end. He shot and scored to make it 7-2, our final for the evening.

Hischier (two assists), Sharangovich (one goal and one assist), Mercer (one goal and one assist), Bratt (one goal and one assist), Boqvist (one goal and one assist), Jack Hughes (one goal and one assist) and Graves (one goal and one assist) each registered multi-point games for the Devils.

The Devils were outshot 38-33 and won 48-percent of the game’s faceoffs. Michael McLeod led the New Jersey centers with a 69-percent personal winning percentage.

As a team, the Devils took two penalty minutes while the Canucks took four total penalty minutes. The Devils were outhit 35 to 26 and had eight blocked shots to Vancouver’s nine. Team giveaways saw the Canucks finish with ten while the Devils doubled them up with 20.

Severson led all Devils skaters with 21:39 of total ice time (which included 3:07 on the power play and 27 seconds of shorthanded time). Graves and Jonas Siegenthaler each had 1:33 of penalty kill time to lead the defensemen in that category. Graves out of his 20:08 of total ice time while Siegenthaler totaled 21:28 of ice time and also had one second on the power play.

Ice time was spread pretty evenly. Hischier led the forwards with 17:44 of total time on ice (which included 3:09 on the power play – a high there). McLeod spent the most time on the PK amongst the forwards with 1:33 logged out of his 17:16 of total time on ice.

Hischier led in shots on goal with five. Hits were led by Bastian with seven. Graves led in blocks with two. Personal giveaways were led by Tatar and Hamilton with three apiece while personal takeaways were led by Johnsson, Hischier, Jimmy Vesey, Sharangovich, Mercer, Bratt, Jack Hughes, Tatar and Siegenthaler with one each.

Next up, the Devils will kick off March tomorrow as they travel to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets in a divisional matchup. Puck drop for that game is 7 PM and the game will be on ESPN+.

We will have coverage for you right here following the game tomorrow night. Until then, have a great 24 hours everyone!

Devils Face Ups and Downs in Chi-Town

The Devils continued on to Chicago to faceoff with the Blackhawks following their win in Pittsburgh last night.

This second half of the back-to-back in United Center did not… go as well as the game in Pittsburgh for the Devils.

They fell 8-5 to a Blackhawk team that has roughly been on the same par as the Devils this season.

The Devils were concluding the season series with the Hawks, having defeated them in overtime on opening night back at Prudential Center on October 15. A long time ago, to be sure.

Colton White, Mason Geertsen and Christian Jaros remained the healthy scratches with the only change to the Devils lineup coming between the pipes.

Jon Gillies got the start in something that was already determined prior to the back-to-back and how Daws had played in Pittsburgh the night before.

He stopped 29 of 35 Chicago shots for an ,829 save percentage. The Hawks actually ended the game with 37 total shots as they would add two empty net goals later on – obviously more on that later on.

Gillies was equal to both Blackhawks shorthanded shots and three of their six power play shots. Chicago went an insane 3-for-4 on the power play as a team as the Devils’ special teams just had a complete breakdown. At even strength, Gillies made 24 saves on 27 shots.

The Blackhawks made a surprise change in net as well, going with Kevin Lankinen. Lankinen was just coming back from a hand injury suffered on January 22. With that, the Devils thought they would be getting Marc-Andre Fleury but saw Lankinen instead because he was available.

Lankinen stopped 31 of 36 total New Jersey shots for an .861 save percentage on the night. He stopped the Devils’ lone shorthanded chance and their only power play shot as the Devils were 0-for-2 on the man advantage as a team. At five-on-five play, Lankinen stopped 29 of 34 New Jersey shots.

Tonight was a milestone for Yegor Sharangovich as he was playing in his 100th NHL game. He would play a role in the scoring as well.

The last time the Devils were in Chicago was December 23, 2019. The result was a 7-1 victory for New Jersey.

Chicago got the scoring started 7:34 into the game when Gillies tried to move the puck up to PK Subban and banked it accidentally off of the side of his own net instead. Ty Smith recovered and tried to get it to Jack Hughes on the breakout, but it was intercepted by the Hawks’ Brandon Hagel right in the middle of the zone. He scored unassisted to make it 1-0 Blackhawks.

But as we would see many times in this game, momentum would shift on a dime.

A little over two minutes later, at 9:41 gone by, Hughes skated the puck from the Devils end and gained the Blackhawks zone. He lost an edge at the Chicago blue line but was able to push it to a supporting Ryan Graves.

Graves kept it in and passed back to Hughes. Hughes took the pass and made a move the Hawks defender to score on Lankinen and tie the game at one.

He followed that up by hitting the post just moments later, in one that he told Erika Wachter of MSG+ that he thought was a sure goal and one that he really wanted.

The Devils would take the lead prior to the first intermission when Sharangovich, playing in his 100th NHL game, as mentioned, scored at 18:55 gone by to extend his personal six-game point streak.

Jonas SIegenthaler threw the puck down low to Hughes, who tried to redirect it by Lankinen. The rebound off of the end boards came back to him and he passed to Sharangovich in front. Sharangovich took the pass and snapped off a quick release of a shot by Lankinen to make it 2-1 Devils.

Thirty seconds into the second period, Michael McLeod laid a big hit on Blackhawks’ defenseman Connor Murphy. Chicago’s Ryan Carpenter stepped in to take on McLeod and the two scrapped.

With McLeod getting the extra two minutes for boarding on Murphy, the Hawks were on the power play.

At 1:34 gone by, Patrick Kane would begin a run of three unanswered power play goals by the Blackhawks when Alex DeBrincat and Seth Jones played catch with the puck at the far half wall and the point. When DeBrincat got it back at the half wall, he made a cross-ice passing seam to Kane. Kane got the puck in close to Gillies and roofed the shot short side to tie the game at two.

That was not the end of those three teaming up with the extra attacker.

Ty Smith had gone off for hooking DeBrincat at 10:52 to put Chicago back with an extra man. At 11:24 gone by, Jones fed Kane at the near side where he was all alone along the wall. He picked stick side to shoot and the shot tipped in off of Damon Severson’s stick as Severson was trying to redirect the puck and sweep it to the corner. DeBrincat had the secondary assist on this goal that gave the Blackhawks the 3-2 lead.

But the Hawks had one more trick up their sleeve this period.

Graves was sent off for tripping Henrik Borgstrom at 12:16 to put Chicago on their third power play of the frame.

The Blackhawks took advantage of this one at 14:09 when Kane made a pass to Hagel from the far wall to the high slot where Hagel buried it to make it 4-2 Hawks. DeBrincat had the secondary assist on this one too.

The Devils had been bitten for three power play goals in this period alone (a season high).

They would get one goal back before the second intermission when Jesper Bratt continued his torrid pace and scored his third goal in two nights.

At the 17:43 mark of the second period, the Devils won a faceoff in their own defensive zone. Siegenthaler banked it around the boards to Severson, who made a saucer pass tape-to-tape from the Devils goal line to Bratt, who was in behind the Chicago defense and on his way to scoring a breakaway goal five-hole.

He had seen Dawson Mercer stopped in close on Lankinen early in the second and Nico Hischier try too many moves on a breakaway midway through the second only for both to be stopped. Bratt decided to just shoot and ended up beating Lankinen to make the score 4-3 Blackhawks.

And so it was on to the third period.

Things began with Siegenthaler scoring his first goal as a New Jersey Devil 8:36 into the period.

Tomas Tatar got it back to Siegenthaler at the Chicago blue line. Siegenthaler pinched in to keep the puck in the zone and simply threw it towards net, ending up roofing it over Lankinen. Dougie Hamilton had the secondary assist on the goal that tied the game at four and ended up being Siegenthaler’s third point of the game (he notched that goal and two assists).

But once again, momentum.

At the 14:04 mark, Kirby Dach scored for the Blackhawks when Graves attempted to pinch into the Chicago zone and got caught with Murphy chipping it over his stick and to Dach, who was off to the races. Dach went to his backhand and scored on Gillies to give Chicago back the lead at 5-4. Jones had the secondary assist on the goal.

Just 11 seconds later, the Blackhawks struck again. Carpenter this time took a pass from Mackenzie Entwistle, who had been hauled down on the left side after gaining the Devils zone. Entwistle still managed to move the puck to Carpenter, who made a nice move around Gillies in front and scored to make it 6-4 Chicago. Jones again had the secondary assist.

Things were beginning to fall apart for the Devils.

They had one more left in them, however, at 15:45 of the third when Bratt scored his second of the contest.

The Devils won an offensive zone draw and the puck got back to Hughes at the point. He found Severson down low and hit him with a pass. Severson then made a heads-up pass to Bratt camped out at the near faceoff circle. Bratt scored to cut the Chicago lead to 6-5.

Then all hell broke loose.

Gillies was pulled with just over two-minutes to go in regulation. At the 18:37 mark, Kane completed his hat trick by scoring into the empty net unassisted. That made it 7-5.

After the ensuing faceoff at center ice put the puck back in play, Gillies vacated his net again and this time, Hagel scored the empty netter to complete his hat trick at the 19:32 mark from Sam Lafferty and Jones.

Hagel had been tripped up as he was cutting in on the empty cage by Subban. Hagel scored the goal, falling into the net along with the puck – his first NHL hat trick – but the Blackhawks took offense to Subban pulling him down to try to prevent the goal.

Dach went after Subban and both men received roughing penalties. Hagel then stepped in with Subban and a few punches were exchanged. Both Hagel and Subban took roughing penalties and Subban was also given a ten-minute misconduct.

It was a strange end to a strange game with Chicago claiming the 8-5 victory.

The Devils were outshot as a team 37-36. They did win 58-percent of the game’s faceoffs with Sharangovich leading the way with a personal 67-percent winning percentage.

As a team, the Devils finished with 27 penalty minutes while Chicago had 13 total penalty minutes. The Devils outhit the Blackhawks 26 to 19 while the Hawks had 18 blocked shots to the Devils’ 15. On team giveaways, New Jersey had 12 while the Blackhawks had 15.

Severson again led all Devils skaters with 22:59 of total ice time (including 2:10 of power play time and 3:09 of time on the penalty kill). Siegenthaler logged 3:37 on the PK in his 22:08 of total time to lead in that special teams category while Severson’s 2:10 led the d-men on the power play.

For the forwards, Jack Hughes led everyone with 19:23 of total ice time which included 2:10 of PP time – which tied him with Bratt for power play time (Bratt logged a total of 18:25 of TOI). Shorthanded, Sharangovich led with 2:30 of PK time out of his 18:25 of total TOI (which also included 41 seconds of power play time).

Hughes and Siegenthaler each had three points for the Devils with Hughes notching his goal and two assists while Siegenthaler had a goal and two assists as well. Bratt (two goals) and Severson (two assists) also had multi-point nights.

Hughes also led in shots on goal with five. Nathan Bastian had five hits to lead in that category. Blocks were led by Siegenthaler with three. Personal giveaways were led by Smith with two while Tatar and Severson each had two personal takeaways to lead there.

Next up, Monday is Hughes Battle Bowl II as Quinn Hughes and the resurgent Vancouver Canucks with visit Prudential Center to take on Jack Hughes and the Devils at 7:30 PM.

That game will be shown on MSG+ and we will have coverage for you right here following the game.

Until then, enjoy your weekend everyone!