In what largely felt like a doomed effort, aside from some top-line offense in the second period, the Devils made mistake after mistake as they let an other game slip away from them.
First Period
The New Jersey Devils nearly took the lead in the first minute when Hischier deflected a Dougie Hamilton shot. Frederik Andersen made the save, and the Carolina Hurricanes dug it out of netfront traffic. The Hurricanes, on the other end, took the lead when Andrei Svechnikov shot through a screen and beat Jacob Markstrom by the glove. Just 52 seconds into the game, the Devils were behind.
A poor defensive shift for Dennis Cholowski, with a turnover to the blueline, led to an icing by Cody Glass after a lengthy offensive shift for the Hurricanes’ Jankowski-led fourth line, Markstrom had a point shot trickle through his legs off the faceoff draw, but it went wide — and he made a glove save afterwards to get a line change. Markstrom later made a big save on a Seth Jarvis rush, as Hamilton and Siegenthaler struggled to get back.
The fourth line got hemmed in again by the Jankowksi line, bailed out only by a hard Brent Burns shot that went wide of the net and around the boards out of the offensive zone. The Devils continued to play poor hockey, and, at the end of a long defensive shift, Stefan Noesen turned the puck over to Jaccob Slavin — the only Hurricane in the zone, and Slavin sniped the far corner from close to the goal line, making it a 2-0 game.
The Devils were called for offsides on a play where Cody Glass beat Frederik Andersen, drawing a scrum in the corner. The whistle came really late, when Glass was already by the faceoff circle. The Devils drew a hooking penalty after play resumed, sending the Devils the power play. Timo Meier was tripped on a zone entry, nearly leading to an odd-man rush for the Hurricanes, but Dougie Hamilton moved the loose puck back forward, and Meier’s shot was saved by Andersen. The second unit came out, but they failed to get a shot on goal. After the power play, Jankowski had a shot go off the side of the post. Markstrom then made a blocker save before another shot went off the crossbar from Gostisbehere.
Dougie Hamilton then took an interference penalty against Taylor Hall, hitting him from behind a split-second before the puck reached him. With under a minute left, Carolina went to the power play. Fortunately, Jesper Bratt got to a loose puck to clear the puck once, and then Bratt threw a hit on Seth Jarvis to help his team flip the puck down the ice again, ending the period with a 2-0 Hurricanes lead.
Second Period
Jacob Markstrom had a bit of trouble handlign the puck behind the Devils’ net to start the period, but the Devils kept the puck, and Dawson Mercer cleared it. Off the Hurricanes’ next entry, a Seth Jarvis shot was redirected in by Andrei Svechnikov to make it a 3-0 game.
The Devils had a chance to cut into the lead when Jesper Bratt set up Dawson Mercer for a one-timer, but Mercer faked the slap shot and wristed the puck off Brent Burns. Erik Haula was unable to sweep the rebound into the net. It would not take long, though. After Ondrej Palat went digging in the slot for a loose puck, he tied up a couple of defenders and freed the puck up for Nico Hischier, who beat Andersen to make it a 3-1 game!
Frederik Andersen was hurt in a collision with Timo Meier, as Meier was engaged with Andrei Svechnikov by the net. As the trainers attended to Andersen, who left the game, the Hurricanes pleaded their case for a penalty. Meier was hounded by Svechnikov all the way down the ice. Pyotr Kochetkov came into the game, and the officials called a five-minute penalty on Timo Meier — but the penalty was entirely wiped off the board following the major penalty review.
Seth Jarvis missed a breakaway chance over the net with around 14 minutes to play after a bad defensive lapse. The Devils benefitted greatly from this, pulling closer just a minute and a half later, as Timo Meier ripped a shot off an offensive zone faceoff draw that was turned over to him. Meier turned and shot, beating Kochetkov!
Amidst some beautiful one-timer saves by Jacob Markstrom, Dawson Mercer had some chances to tie the game. The latter of which, coming with six minutes left in the period, was off a high flip that Timo Meier beat Jalen Chatfield to in the corner. Meier centered the puck, and Mercer was hooked, giving the Devils a power play.
On the power play, Jesper Bratt took a nice feed from the point, but he was stuck a bit too close to the goalie, only spinning a backhand into Kochetkov. The Hurricanes cleared the puck off the following draw, and the Devils had trouble regaining the offensive zone. The first unit continued to struggle, but the second unit almost tied the game when Tatar tipped a Bratt pass just wide.
Late in the period, after Nico Hischier took a flying hit from Sebastian Aho on a scoring chance, Jonas Siegenthaler was called for interference with big, tough Jordan Martinook in the neutral zone, as they lightly collided in the neutral zone with the puck in the area. Martinook went flying, and Siegenthaler went to the box. The Devils got a couple of clears early in the kill, and the Hurricanes cycle for a long time after regaining the zone. The Devils kept the shooting lanes clogged until they opened up a one-timer for Seth Jarvis, which was saved. In the dying seconds of the penalty, Jacob Markstrom made a save on Taylor Hall on a shot from up high.
Cody Glass hit someone in the neutral zone on a high flip with under a minute left. After the whistle blew for the puck going out of play, Jordan Staal geared up a hit on Glass. No penalties were called, and the Hurricanes took their one-goal lead into the second intermission.
Third Period
Dougie Hamitlon took a high-sticking penalty on Sebastian Aho in the first minute of the periuod, but the Devils had another good kill. Jacob Markstrom made three saves on the advantage, while Carolina struggled to get open for a really good scoring chance. Back at even strength, the Devils largely had offensive zone puck possession, but they were generally slow to shoot on Kochetkov.
Two such chances came off of the sticks of Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier. Bratt’s shot was denied by Kochetkov, as he whipped around for a one-timer early in the period. Nico later deflected a points hot just wide of the goal. Thankfully, the Devils were not spedning much time in the defensive zone, but tension grew as the Devils stayed behind with the clock winding down.
Jacob Markstrom turned the puck over with under six minutes to play, and a point shot from Brent Burns trickled through as Jordan Martinook dug away at the puck. It was a terrible play by Markstrom, who killed the comeback effort there. Now, the Devils had not been too threatening up to that point, but they largely had possession of the puck throughout the period with over five minutes left on the clock.
Markstrom left the net with 3:45 to play for an extra aattacker. A quick turnover from Hamilton and Mercer gave Andrei Svechnikov a hat trick, sealing the game at 5-2.
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
Rotten Bottom Six
Winning the game at five-on-five today — with our top six unproductive on the power play — was impossible with the play of the third and fourth lines throughout the game. The third line of Paul Cotter, Cody Glass, and Stefan Noesen generated just 0.01 expected goals, suffering through 0.57 expected goals against. Meanwhile, the Tatar-Dowling-Bastian line generated 0.02 expected goals, while Markstrom faced 0.26 expected goals against with them on the ice. With a combined shot total of zero from both of these lines (with nine shots against), I would be irate if all six players suit up for Game Five in Raleigh on Tuesday. Bastian, Noesen, and Dowling all had 0 individual expected goals tonight, while Tomas Tatar tipped a puck just wide on a second power play unit. However, had Sheldon Keefe dressed more offensive talent, perhaps the second power play unit would have converted on a chance.
Not Enough Nemec
After Simon Nemec played one of the best games of his career on Friday night, I hoped he would stay with Jonas Siegenthaler, regardless of the injury to Johnny Kovacevic. However, Sheldon Keefe split them up, and Nemec struggled to be felt in the game. In the 7:12 Nemec played with Cholowski, the Devils out-attempted the Hurricanes, were outshot 6-4, but outscored Carolina 1-0. In the rest of his ice time, Nemec was on the ice for six Devils shot attempts and two Carolina attempts in 7:51 of scattered ice time. Without Cholowski, Nemec’s expected goals percentage jumped from 44.23 to 78.98, indicating that Nemec was still capable of a dominant effort if he played with a guy like Jonas Siegenthaler.
Hurt Defensive Partners Shouldn’t Play Together
I thought it was very questionable to, instead, have Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler pair up together. Both have ranged from looking fine to excellent since their returns, but both are returning from knee injuries. Hamilton rehabbed his and has been back, but less effective, since the end of the regular season, while Siegenthaler has returned from surgery. His excellent game with Nemec in Game Three had me hoping they would go against tougher competition in Game Four, but the Siegenthaler-Hamilton pairing was outscored 3-1. While the pairing played well enough with the top line, with a 71.43 CF% with Hischier alongside a 1-1 score, they dropped from a 65.67 xGF% with Hischier to a 10.98 xGF% without him.
I feel that, had the defensemen been at 100%, this would be a more understandable move. However, I would have rather seen any of the following:
- Colton White, who had 21 points and a +1 rating on the (bad) Utica Comets, dressing to play with Dougie Hamilton
- Pesce continuing on the top pair on his off-hand with Hamilton, dressing Seamus Casey to play with Brian Dumoulin
- Dennis Cholowski playing with Dougie Hamilton, or even Brian Dumoulin, on his off-hand
I think anything would have been better than playing two not-100% defensemen next to each other, and the team arguably paid the price for it. They might be in the exact spots the Hischier line wanted them to be, offensively, but they are not well enough to cover for a disastrous bottom six performance. A perfect example of why they should not have been together also came on the goal by Martinook, as Siegenthaler was banged up by a shot block — and Markstrom played the puck away instead of letting Nico Hischier defend the impending play from Jarvis behind the net. Hamilton, playing too aggressively with a hurt partner, left the netfront open for the goal as Hischier began to skate higher in the zone. It was a losing recipe.
Backs Against the Wall
The New Jersey Devils need energy. Frankly, the bottom six has not provided it.
I could not give you a justifiable reason that any of the bottom sixers are in the lineup for Game Five. The Devils cannot literally replace all of them — and I think Noesen and Glass need to play — but that’s about it. The five-on-five play was so bad from both lines that I think guys like Curtis Lazar, Daniel Sprong, Nolan Foote, and Seamus Casey should be in the Game Five lineup. I know that the Hurricanes are a very tough forechecking team — especially at home — but the Devils continually prove that they do not have enough offensive talent or drive in their present playoff lineup. They got by in Game Four off of excellent defensive play, but the defense is too hurt to be relied on to keep playing that well. It shouldn’t take five periods to score three goals, but the Devils have not scored three goals in regulation yet this series.
Again, the bottom six was outshot 9-0 tonight.
I hope for better from Markstrom, as well, who was well on his way to another excellent game before he made a very foolish decision with the puck. I hope his four goals against on 2.84 expected goals for Carolina tonight is flipped on its head in Game Five. He is capable of shutting the Hurricanes out (he showed that in Game Three), but the team needs to be better up front, and he needs to be more patient around the net.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of today’s game? Can the Devils win a game on the road? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.