Welp. Not much to highlight here, as the Devils drop their fourth straight and second consecutive 3-0 shutout at the hands of our old pal Akira Schmid and the Vegas Golden Knights.
The first period started with the Devils on their heels and disjointed as they featured some new look lines. They didn’t register a shot until just after the four minute mark, and didn’t get their second until six minutes in. It was a real struggle for them to even get anything past the redline for the first ten minutes. Markstrom was dialed in for once, making several key stops or this one could’ve gone south in a hurry.
We seemed to get on the board first as Timo barreled into the zone cutting across at the blue line and threw it on net where Mercer and Nico were creating havoc, and looked like they both got a stick on it. Scoring while getting dummied in run-of-play was a new one, but the joy would be short lived as Vegas challenged the play for offsides, and those almost never fail. Sure enough it got called back. I will say that it looked pretty clear to me that Timo still had control of the puck on the entry, except for a brief moment where it slid under a Knight’s stick – but that’s not what was called. One day I’ll finish my ref conspiracy blog that might be more of a book at this point.
Vegas also had a goal called back – this one was much more clear cut as Dorofeyev’s stick was well above the crossbar on a deflection. It looked like we were going to get to the room at 0-0 while being badly outplayed, but with 12 seconds left Shea Theodore let a bad angle wrister go that found it’s way through Markstrom – and it’s 1-0 them. This was a pretty pathetic period, as they only managed 5 whole shots, 3 scoring chances (none of which were high danger) for a whopping .17 xG and 13.44 xGF%.
It got better in the second and the Devils controlled play, generated some great chances, and largely kept Vegas at bay. They just couldn’t beat Schmid. This is what that feels like huh, New York? Nico had a great point blank chance on a 2 on 1, Bratt had a great chance streaking down the left wing, even the new look 4th line was controlling Ozone time – but just like the Dallas game they couldn’t finish. And quite frankly, while the chances were there, we weren’t exactly making it difficult for Schmid as most of our shots were buried in his crest or simple pad/glove saves, and he was freezing it with ease. Same thing for Oettinger on Wednesday night. With the score still 1-0, the Devils did show some life outshooting Vegas 11-7 on 12 scoring chances to their 5, and a 68.4 xGF% in the period.
The third was much lower event for both teams, and the Devils got an early power play at 2:06 to try and even things up. Well, nevermind that thought as the power play looked awful, was totally disconnected and they couldn’t string together 2 passes or come close to generating a chance. Good thing we got a second chance at redemption ten minutes later and… oh wait nevermind it looked even worse. The only shot we got through two power plays was a bad angle Noesen attempt from the short side. Not a great time for the power play to be a discombobulated mess.
At 14:11 Nico took a hooking penalty on Marner, and good teams make you pay and unfortunately Vegas is a good team. Marner got a clean shot from the point that an uncovered, untouched Tomas Hertl tipped in the high slot under Markstrom’s glove, and it’s 2-0. In the current state of the Devils this is basically an insurmountable lead, but just for funsies Nico took another penalty on Hertl, good teams make you pay and unfortunately Vegas is a good team, and its 3-0 them. Pack it up, good night.
Some Scattered Thoughts
We only managed to created 1 rebound (according to money puck) the ENTIRE GAME. 1!!! Vegas and Dallas have big, good defense groups, but you gotta get inside somehow. We are far too perimeter. 1 rebound and 23 blocked shots is unacceptable.
Crookshanks had a good game and I noticed him more in his 10:36 of ice time than I have in all 15 of Lammikko’s games.
This drops the Devils below a .600 winning percentage since the early season – this is a bellwether number for me, as a .600 winning percentage is 98 points and likely a comfortable playoff berth.
Markstrom was actually good the past two games. He still has a ways to go to get back in the good graces of this fanbase and every shot makes me nervous, but it’s a start.
The bad news is we are now in 6th in the division, 2 points up on last place Columbus. However, we are also only 4 points out of first – the Metro is packed this year with only 5 points separating first and last.
Back at it tomorrow in Boston.
That’s all I got tonight gang, like I said at the start not much to write about here, I’m sure you all have a lot to say, so have at it!
LGD