First Period
The New Jersey Devils and Utah Mammoth got off to a largely slow start in Newark. Jacob Markstrom almost had to deal with a breakaway a couple minutes in after Jonas Siegenthaler fell in the neutral zone, but Daniil But lost the puck on the attempt, giving Markstrom an easier save. A bit later, Jesper Bratt got past the defense but shot from very high in the offensive zone, passing up a few strides towards the net for the quick shot, which was stopped by Karel Vejmelka.
The Devils finally broke the ice when Brett Pesce took the puck from Jack Hughes and whipped a shot wide of goal. But Jesper Bratt was quick on it, bouncing the puck off Barrett Hayton and into the net! Hayton then punched Nico Hischier in the face, but no penalty was called. Still, the Devils were happy to go up 1-0.
After the goal, Luke Glendening had Stefan Noesen on a two-on-one, but he took the shot on goal. It was pretty good, but it trickled wide. On the other end, Markstrom made a great stop on a deflected shot. After a later stoppage, Timo Meier took the puck past Sean Durzi at the blueline and snuck a shot past Vejmelka, giving the Devils a 2-0 lead!
Luke Hughes slashed the stick of Nick Schmaltz with under three minutes to play, and he was called for a penalty on it. The Devils won the faceoff and cleared to start the kill, and the Mammoth had a few chances after setting up before one of their shots rang around the boards and out of the zone. Luke Glendening had a wide-open redirection chance on the other end later in the kill, but he shanked it wide. Markstrom finished the kill by making a huge blocker save on Daniil But before diving across to save a shot from Hayton.
Second Period
Dylan Guenther broke Dougie Hamilton’s stick with a slash halfway through the first minute of the period, sending the Devils to the power play. Jack Hughes set Stefan Noesen up by the net, but the puck bounced a little too far on the rebound to pot in the net. The Devils kept shooting, but Vejmelka made a stop on Timo Meier in the slot in the second minute to keep the Devils lead at two.
After play returned to five-on-five, the Devils did a great job of slowing play down. By halfway through the period, the Devils were outshooting the Mammoth at more than a two-to-one rate in the period. Connor Brown drew a tripping penalty from Schmaltz with under seven minutes to play after Jonas Siegenthaler got under Utah’s skin with a big hit in the neutral zone, and the Devils had another chance to let their power play work.
The Devils had a chance right off the draw when Hischier passed to Noesen in front, but Noesen was tied up and the puck bounced off his skate into Vejmelka. Halfway through the penalty, Mikhail Sergachev sailed the puck from the defensive zone all the way over the glass in the other end, taking an odd delay of game penalty.
With the two-man advantage, the Devils called timeout. Keefe and Colliton sent Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, and Dougie Hamilton for the five-on-three. The Devils lost the draw and flubbed an easy re-entry, wasting half of the five-on-three. Hughes set up Meier after Hamitlon circled the zone, but Vejmelka got across. The Devils got another shot attempt with the two-man advantage, but it didn’t go. Then, just as Schmaltz left the box, Jack Hughes bounced the puck off Nico Hischier at the far post to get the 3-0 lead!
With over three minutes left in the period, Luke Glendening won the puck back to Dougie Hamilton. Hamilton went right down the wall to the goal line and shot from a sharp angle, scoring right under the bar, behind Vejmelka’s head! It was a perfect shot to make it 4-0.
Third Period
The New Jersey Devils had one job in the third period: shut it down. In the opening several minutes, they did exactly that, clogging up the neutral zone and making it difficult for the Mammoth to even get past the center ice red line in possession of the puck. Were they generating offense? Not really, but play stayed crisp with just a few whistles before an offsides at the 8:50 mark sent the teams to their first TV timeout of the period, following over five minutes of uninterrupted play. The Devils continually pushed Utah back, content to dump without chases while staying in the neutral zone passing lanes.
Stefan Noesen was called for slashing with under 10 minutes to play after Liam O’Brien gave Brett Pesce some crosschecks on the ice, sending Utah to another power play. The Mammoth were pushed back a few times in the first minute and change, as the Devils continued to look like the dominant performer on special teams. The Devils killed the penalty, but Jacob Markstrom was beat right as Noesen was getting back into the play after a pass went right through Pesce’s legs to Michael Carcone, making it a 4-1 game with over seven minutes to play.
Dawson Mercer just missed on a backhanded try with over two and a half minutes to play after Ian Cole poked the shot, and Ondrej Palat later got a wide open chance to shoot on goal on the rush that he sailed high and wide. Still, the Mammoth were unable to crack Markstrom a second time, and the Devils held on for the 4-1 victory.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
From Droughts to Opening Floodgates
Throughout the entire month of December, the New Jersey Devils had a hard time getting goal scoring from their top players, including Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, and Dougie Hamilton. Hischier, of course, finally scored his first of the month on New Year’s Eve, meaning his goal today gave him a consecutive scoring streak. Hamilton, coming into today, had not scored in 26 games. Jesper Bratt has been underperforming all season, and Timo Meier had a short drought in the midst of his personal leave during December. Getting goals from four of those five (and almost getting one from Mercer) was a blueprint for how this team should be operating on a regular basis.
Moving forward, the Devils must keep putting Hamilton and Meier in situations where they can score. Meier looks like a leader on the second line with Gritsyuk and Mercer as the go-to puck carrier on the line, while Hamilton looked more comfortable after getting some power play time. There is no sugarcoating it: the Devils have needed more from the five players mentioned above, with Hamilton and Bratt needing to pick it up the most. Hopefully today is a sign of things to come.
Evening Up Ice Time
With this being the front end of a back-to-back, Sheldon Keefe did a great job of managing minutes this evening. None of the Devils’ forwards broke 20 minutes of ice time, with Jack Hughes leading the way at 19:17. Aside from him, only Bratt (18:38) and Hischier (19:06) had more than 17:00 played. Down the lineup, Luke Glendening ate up 12:12 of ice time today, which is his seventh-highest mark of the season and the first time he broke 12 minutes since December 17 against Vegas (12:07). Keefe stuck with Glendening despite his extremely poor five-on-five impacts, with the Devils only having three shot attempts (and a goal!) during those minutes. On the other hand, I liked the puck movement between Juho Lammikko and Stefan Noesen at times, and I think it might be better if Lammikko had a chance at centering the line.
Good Win
Sometimes, though, there is not much to complain about. The Devils got out to an early lead today and then played an incredibly responsible game down the stretch. Were there some odd defensive zone turnovers in the middle of the game? Yes, and the Devils might need to be more willing to risk icings at times where they instead turn it over to the blueline. But they played a great game today, and I don’t think Markstrom really had to “steal” all that much for them. He made solid saves, but the defense worked nearly to perfection after taking the lead.
Tomorrow will be a bigger test. Both teams playing will be coming off a game today, but the Devils will have a few hours of extra rest on the Carolina Hurricanes while also having the advantage of being the home team. If Keefe sends the same lineup out tomorrow night, I would be perfectly alright with the decision. The team’s scorers got more shifts off than usual today, so I think they should be fresh enough to repeat this gameplan against Carolina.
Jacob Markstrom’s win today also continues a good run of play for him. Since he was pulled against Tampa in early December, Markstrom is 2-3-0 with a .932 save percentage. Jake Allen will get the start tomorrow, but Devils fans should continue to be cautiously optimistic about Markstrom’s improved play over the past couple weeks. Hopefully, Allen gives us more of the same tomorrow.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of this evening’s game? Were you able to watch? What did you think of the goal scorers? What did you think of Markstrom’s performance? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.