Devils Knock and Thrash Winnipeg Jets in 4-1 Domination

The Devils worked way harder than Winnipeg tonight.

First Period

The Winnipeg Jets iced the puck early on, giving the New Jersey Devils a couple straight offensive zone faceoffs. The Devils did not get their top lines out, though, keeping the McDermid-Lazar-Tierney line on the ice against the Winnipeg third line— they did not get a chance out of those draws. A few minutes later, a soft spot in the Prudential Center ice led to a lengthy delay, with a single ice crew member trying to patch and pack the ice.

With play resumed, the two teams clawed at each other for awhile longer, until Nico Hischier batted down a flip from Timo Meier for a short breakaway, which Laurent Brossoit saved with the glove. That was the first shot of the game, just past five minutes into the first period. Nearly a minute later, Nikolaj Ehlers took a nice pass from Tyler Toffoli, forcing Jake Allen to make a pad save, alone with Ehlers. Shortly after, Kurtis MacDermid took a needless tripping penalty on a dump-in.

Erik Haula, Dawson Mercer, Brendan Smith, and Kevin Bahl started the kill. Haula won the draw, and the Devils got the clear. Winnipeg came back down, but Brendan Smith pressured the entry by the wall, forcing Winnipeg to wind it around the boards. Haula won the puck there and cleared it, getting everyone but Smith to the bench. Hischier, Nemec, and Bratt came out. Jake Allen made a couple of saves here before Brendan Smith cleared a rebound down the ice. With Nosek and Tierney on with Hattaka and Bahl, the Jets cycled to the point for a Neal Pionk slap shot, which totally dislodged Chris Tierney’s skate and the puck went out of play. On the next faceoff, Pionk got a one-timer and forced Curtis Lazar to block the blast.

Back at even strength, Timo Meier made the crowd collectively ooh when he made a spin-o-rama move into a shot on the rush, which seemed to only barely get saved. The Devils kept it moving, and Hischier was denied at the post when Bratt fed the puck past Brossoit to him. The Devils continued to pressure Brossoit, forcing a couple icings and generally clamping their defensive zone down pretty well.

Simon Nemec was called for interference with 2:49 to play in the first when he tried to reverse hit someone pressuring him in the neutral zone. I guess he didn’t have full possession of the puck, but as far as I’m concerned it was a really bad call, as his stick was outstretched for the puck.

On the kill, Tyler Toffoli came down on a rush and forced Jake Allen to make a huge save. The Devils did a much better job after that chance, pressuring the Jets all around the offensive zone and clearing the puck a couple times before the penalty expired.

Second Period

Early in the second, Dawson Mercer picked off a pass at the blueline after Laurent Brossoit tried to turn the Devils’ initial dump away. His shot was saved, which was followed up by a longer shot from Palat — also saved. The Devils cycled, and Luke Hughes stepped up to put a third shot on goal, which was turned aside before the Jets pushed play the other way.

Winnipeg got called for too many men with 11:09 to go in the second. On the power play, Jack played it back up high to Luke off the draw. There came the shot and a backhand at it from Nico Hischier in the slot. It rebounded to Jack Hughes, who scored! 1-0, Devils.

The Jets tried to come right back, and Josh Morrissey had a chance to tie the game on a three-on-two. Morrissey’s shot was underneath Allen’s pad, but he didn’t see it there — Brendan Smith had to rush in and skate the loose puck away. A few minutes later, Adam Lowry threw a big hit on Luke Hughes after Hughes got a loose puck and sent it away from the slot area. Simon Nemec went after Lowry and slashed him, trying to start something, but play continued and the Devils had to defend a rush. Then, Timo Meier drew a holding penalty in the offensive zone after throwing a nasty reverse hit.

On the power play, Jack Hughes almost snuck a shot through a couple players, but it rang off the post. On the second unit, after the first unit slowly trickled off with the puck in the offensive zone, Alex Holtz took a wild swing of a one-timer from the high slot, but Brossoit came up with the save. The Devils had a nice approach here, but it didn’t work out. After the power play expired, the Jets caught the fourth line out for quite awhile, and Nikolaj Ehlers beat Brendan Smith on a rush into the zone, and Kevin Bahl couldn’t get over in time, allowing Ehlers to tie the game at 1-1. Smith had been on for 1:25. Smith gave Lazar a chance to clear the zone earlier, too, but Lazar tipped his saucer pass right to a Jet on the blueline.

Jack Hughes tried to retake the lead with a backhand move on goal, but Brossoit reached behind with the glove to keep the puck from banking off him. Dawson Mercer sent Jack ahead on his next shift, and his slap shot just glanced off Brossoit and out of play. On the other end, Allen denied Mark Scheifele on the rush, giving the Devils a chance to counterattack with a Luke Hughes rush shot, which was followed up by a couple sharp angle tries by Jesper Bratt.

Third Period

A few minutes into the third, Timo Meier created a turnover on the forecheck, but Brendan Smith could not get a clean handle on the puck and his shot attempt was a whiff. Meier collected the puck and tried to shoot, but it was blocked. Both teams were taking it slow to start the period, and the Jets made the first mistake when Luke Hughes drew a trip on Dylan DeMelo.

The Devils won the draw, and Jack Hughes tried to get Meier the puck down low. The Devils worked it back out, and Jack fed Bratt for a shot after his attempt was blocked. The puck went up and out of play, off Brossoit. The Devils cycled off the next draw, and Bratt’s shot was deflected down but wide. Jack Hughes was crosschecked off the puck behind the net, allowing a clearance. After they retook the zone, Timo Meier shot the puck off the post. Bratt had a one-timer saved by Brossoit. After turning off the pressure from Sean Monahan, the Devils got the puck back out to Timo Meier, who shot it in the dying seconds of the power play for a redirection from Nico Hischier, which hit the back of the net! 2-1, Devils, with 14 minutes to play.

After the penalty expired, Ondrej Palat made a tight move to break the neutral zone open for a pass ahead to Dawson Mercer, who tried to drag it on Brossoit. The Jets swept the rebound away. Then, Erik Haula took a hooking penalty, sending the Devils to the kill with 12 and a half minutes to play. The Devils won the draw and cleared the puck. After Winnipeg took possession, Tyler Toffoli sailed a slap shot off target. Tomas Nosek intercepted a pass high in the zone late in the first minute, but he could not beat the backcheck of Scheifele. Nosek had to pull the spin-o-rama backhand — and it was kicked out by Brossoit. Then, Dawson Mercer came on the ice and took the offensive zone against Pionk and Miller with a light dump, which he followed up by sneaking the puck through for Simon Nemec, who forced Brossoit to glove the puck and freeze it. Late in the kill, Lazar made a tough block, keeping the Jets to zero shots on their power play.

After the kill, Jesper Bratt was sprung for a breakaway and was slashed in the foot by a diving Jet. His weak shot missed the net, with no move made, and no call was made. The crowd slowly grew in noise until Winnipeg was called for another trip of Luke Hughes. This power play did not look too great, but Brossoit made a saved on a Luke Hughes one-timer, which was followed by a quicker cycle in the second minute. Jack got the puck from Meier here and ripped it through a double screen for his second goal of the game! 3-1!

A scrum ensued after Nikolaj Ehlers and Brendan Smith got into it, which led to Smith being called for roughing. He got away with a double-minor for crosschecking Ehlers in the face when they were going to crosscheck each other. On this penalty kill, the Jets kept the puck in their offensive zone, but could not get rubber on Allen thanks to more shot blocking and clogged lanes, along with some attempts that missed the net. The Jets lost the zone with a bad pass late, allowing the Devils to change their forwards before another bad pass killed the penalty. Winnipeg then iced the puck.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Kyle Connor backhanded a puck out of mid-air from the low slot, and Jake Allen got it with the glove. Winnipeg took their timeout here, with 3:36 to go. Erik Haula shot the puck down off the draw, as Brossoit was on the bench. They called an icing with 3:28 to play. The Devils stayed tight around the net, and Winnipeg was pushed to their own end with 2:30 to play, and an offsides was called with 2:20 on the clock. The Devils kept the Jets away as the clock ticked more and more down until Timo Meier tipped a pass in the defensive zone, which trickled under Ehlers’ stick. Nico Hischier boxed Ehlers off the puck and smacked it over to Erik Haula, who sent it through for Timo Meier. Meier made a move to the outside and scored on the backhand! 4-1, Devils, with Meier putting the cherry on top of the win.

The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Short Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats

Three Point Nights and Jack’s Big Game

Three Devils came up with three-point nights tonight: Nico Hischier, Luke Hughes, and Timo Meier. But the first star of the game was Jack Hughes, who had the first goal of the game and the first insurance goal. Tonight’s performance has Luke Hughes now tied for the rookie defenseman lead in points with 38. Timo Meier, who brought the sharpest edge to the game tonight, is up to 19 points in his last 14 games. Nico Hischier is up to 55 points in 59 games played this year, with 29 points in his last 24 games. With Jack fighting through his share of bruises this season, it was nice to see him get his shot going tonight. If the Devils want to keep this thing alive, these four are going to need to dominate games like this consistently down the stretch.

Deserved Dominance

The Devils had Winnipeg’s number tonight — a rare statement, indeed. The Devils held Winnipeg to five shots on goal in the first and third, despite Winnipeg playing from behind for 14 minutes of the final frame. During the second period, which was Winnipeg’s best offensive period, as they got their game-tying goal from Ehlers, the Devils had 23 shots on goal. They were really clicking tonight, and were even robbed of a penalty shot for Bratt. Even their penalty kills looked dominant, as they outshot the Jets 3-2 in eight shorthanded minutes.

The structure all around the ice was excellent tonight. The Devils were sharp around the net, actually engaged in the neutral zone, and did not sit back behind the blueline against zone entries. Lazar led the team in shot blocks with five, while Luke Hughes and DeSimone had three each. Nico Hischier had two, and six other guys got in front of a shot. The Devils also largely dominated the faceoff dot, which helped a lot on special teams. And on the physical side, this was a rare instance of the Devils looking like a more physical team than Winnipeg. Perhaps times have changed a bit.

Offensively, it was everything you would want to see. The Devils had a few odd rush chances, but it was not their primary offense. Instead, their cycle game was on point tonight, with a lot of extended possessions and good puck movement after the game finally got going. The Devils worked hard to create rebounds that were within reach for guys around the net: they had nine rebounds created and nine attempts that came from those rebounds. The Jets only had two such rebound attempts. And with only five team giveaways to nine takeaways, the Devils were putting the work in to take pucks away and keep play towards Winnipeg’s end. It was really one of the best 60-minute stretches I’ve seen them play this season.

Jake Allen’s Run

With tonight’s victory, Jake Allen is 3-1-0 as a New Jersey Devil, while his 18 saves on Winnipeg’s 19 shots brought him up to an even .900 save percentage on the season. Allen has been very consistent, with his save percentage at .946 as a Devil, as his lowest game-level percentage came when he gave up two goals on 36 shots (.944) in his loss to Vegas. Allen, 33, is likely to start on Sunday against the Islanders, as I expect Kaapo Kahkonen to get the lesser matchup with the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. If Allen keeps stringing performances like these together, it’s going to be hard to keep the Devils from winning on the nights he starts.

One Day at a Time

Of course, the Devils cannot think too big picture here. They are still six points out of the wild card and seven points out of the division with no games in hand against either Detroit or Philadelphia (though they still have the penultimate matchup with the Flyers on April 13). As long as the team wants to play hard and stay in it, they just have to take each game as it comes. The only thing they can do is play to win games.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? How did you feel about the effort and structure? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.