First Period
The New Jersey Devils, fresh off of some good news, some bad news, and some unnecessary drama, started their road game against the Winnipeg Jets pretty well. The Jets had a lot of trouble breaking through them in the neutral zone, leading to the Devils outshooting the Jets four to one in the first 10 minutes of the period. Play was pretty slow, though. Luke Hughes made some good plays, but missed two opportunities to create scoring chances. One one occasion, Luke made a great defensive play and took the puck into the offensive zone with one passing option covered. Instead of walking in and shooting, Luke waited for reinforcements and turned the puck over with a pass back to the blueline. Later, Simon Nemec had a chance to spring the Devils in transition after some poor puck handling by the Devils nearly led to a scoring chance for Winnipeg. But, after getting the puck from Luke Hughes, Nemec lackadaisically backhanded a pass way too far in front of his teammate while skating backwards through the neutral zone.
After the Devils’ defense had a scary moment with the puck going just over the crossbar in their own end a few minutes later, they got back into the offensive zone with first liners changing on after the fourth line tried to shoot from far out. Nemec had a chance to feed Jack Hughes or Paul Cotter with a defender lying down, but he fanned on the pass and Jack collected the puck, trying to feed Nemec. The puck was deflected, but Nemec chose to shoot through traffic rather than keep the cycle going, leading to the Jets blocking his shot in the slot. With five minutes remaining, Bratt found Hughes in the neutral zone, but Connor Hellebuyck shuttered the five hole when Jack dipped around the defense for a short break.
With four minutes to play, Brenden Dillon and Simon Nemec were caught sleeping as Cole Perfetti got behind them on a three-on-two for a redirection that Jake Allen stopped. Less than a minute later, Collin Miller went awkwardly into the boards after a collision with Arseny Gritsyuk, with Miller having to be immediately helped off the ice for what looked like a knee injury. Gritsyuk was only called for a two-minute interference minor penalty, and the Devils went to the kill.
Against Winnipeg’s power play, Jake Allen came up big right away with a save on a deflection chance. Late in the kill, Allen kicked out a shot to Nico Hischier for a big final clear. But after Winnipeg regained the zone for a final shot, Simon Nemec failed to clear the puck with Gritsyuk out of the box, passing right into traffic. The Jets came crashing back down, and some wild bounces led to Alex Iafallo putting the Jets up 1-0.
Thankfully, the Devils would not go into the intermission down a goal. Nico Hischier won a draw, got to the net, and slipped the puck right through Hellebuyck’s five-hole off a hard pass by Luke Hughes! The Devils took that 1-1 score into intermission.
Second Period
The Devils took the lead just after the first minute of the period when Jack Hughes took the neutral zone, passing off to his brother, who found Cody Glass for a redirection!
But Simon Nemec gave it right back. With a blueline turnover, Brenden Dillon could not fight off Jonathan Toews, biting too hard while Nemec lazily backchecked behind the goal by Cole Perfetti, walking back after just a few strides as Pefetti roofed a backhand (it was initially credited to Toews on the putback, which Nemec barely defended, but I think the initial shot was in).
But the Devils would not be held down! Luke Glendening banged the puck off Hellebuyck, and Palat screened the slot as Jonas Siegenthaler ripped a go-ahead goal! Just three and a half minutes in, the Devils went up 3-2…but the Jets challenged for goaltender interference. Paul Cotter was ruled for interfering with Connor Hellebuyck outside of the blue paint. And back to 2-2 it went.
Then, Jonas Siegenthaler was called for holding the big Mark Scheifele, who went down like a 5’5” wet rag. The Devils went to the penalty kill for the second time. But this time, the Devils not only killed the penalty, but they didn’t allow a goal afterwards.
Then they took the lead again! Coming onto the ice for Nemec, Johnny Kovacevic hard dumped to the far corner from center ice when the Devils were pushed to center. Jack Hughes then caught the Jets sleeping, firing a slap shot off of Hellebuyck. Cody Glass jumped on the rebound and whipped a shot at goal, beating Hellebuyck before he could recover from the first shot! The Devils actually went up 3-2 here.
With around six minutes to play, Nico Hischier drew a holding penalty from Josh Morrissey. The power play was not that great in the first minute, but they kept possession of the puck. In the second minute, after Arseny Gritsyuk missed on a chance, the Devils had a lot of trouble stringing passes together. So, they didn’t score.
After the first line had an outstanding shift following the power play, the Jets tied the game. Gabriel Vilardi poked the puck in after Cole Perfetti split the defense to backhand the puck off the post, with Allen not sealing it off. 3-3. On the shift prior, Nico Hischier had a great forechecking takeaway, but Bratt got too fancy with his move off the pass and lost the puck. Had he scored, the Devils would have been at the point of having a near-insurmountable lead for Winnipeg. But, alas, the game remained tied into the third.
Third Period
The Devils looked much slower to start the third period, but they did not allow the Jets to get good scoring chances in the opening minutes. While the second period was a rush-fest, the third started as a dump-off. The Jets did eventually get the first real chance — again with Dillon and Nemec on the ice — as Dillon failed to seal off Nino Neidereitter by the net when Namestikov spun off Dillon. From Morrissey’s point shot, Neidereitter went diving at the loose puck with Dillon driving him into a diving Jake Allen, who somehow kept the puck out of the net.
On the very next shift, the Jets scored. Tanner Pearson got behind Luke Hughes, and Luke Glendening could not deter the driving Josh Morrissey to set the goal up, putting the Jets up 4-3. Allen failed to get his stick out far enough to deflect the pass right through the middle of his crease.
The Devils ended up outshot 8-0 for 13 minutes before getting a shot on goal — a jam try from the first line. With chaos in front, the puck came out to Johnny Kovacevic with all the time in the world to shoot, but he shot it well wide.
Jack Hughes stopped a potential game-ending empty net goal on a two-on-one with just over a minute left, and the Devils got an icing call in their favor with 47 seconds to play. After a timeout, the Devils won their faceoff, but Hellebuyck made the save on Luke Hughes, and the Jets iced it again with 33.7 to play. After another faceoff win, Timo Meier sent the puck through the paint, but nobody was in front of the net. Timo Meier then set Arseny Gritsyuk up for a perfect redirection chance, but Gritsyuk sent it wide with the net open.
Devils lose, 4-3.
The Game Stats:
Nemec or Dillon Need to Sit
Today, we had a defenseman, with a man coming out of the box, weakly turn the puck over to the opposition before running amuck in the crease, knocking the puck into the net. Later in the game, the same defenseman turned the puck over at the blueline, letting his partner deal with a two-on-one while he made no effort to backcheck, walking back like it was the end of the blowout and he had cinder blocks on his skates.
Wait, I am hearing that Douglas J. Hamilton was not playing.
It was actually Simon Nemec, who skated throughout today’s game at the pace of a light walk. He is one of the right-handed defensemen who is now supposedly healthy after getting hurt this season. I would call the goal against on Thursday where he dove aimlessly to “try” blocking a pass for a guy who had been cherry-picking out of the penalty box a mistake. Today? It looked like Simon Nemec did not care.
Brenden Dillon was no saint, either. For a guy who is supposed to be the toughest guy on the Devils blueline, he got worked over multiple times around the net today, leading to one goal against and nearly another in the third, as he continually allowed players to spin off of him after weakly playing their stick. Dillon is supposed to be our grit and snarl guy — the guy who will check and slash and push and bully guys out of the crease. He looked like he was playing at half his size today.
If this is about getting the best product on the ice, Dougie Hamilton needs to play over one of these two tomorrow. Before the game, Keefe noted that Kovacevic might not be ready for a back-to-back, anyway, but I would rather see White and Hamilton come in for Dillon and Nemec.
Rogalski Needs to Be Fired
How many times this season are we going to see one of these things happening in a game from our goaltenders?
- The goalie doesn’t hug the post on a wide-angled shot, leading to a goal against
- The goalie doesn’t block a pass right through the crease, leading to a goal against
- The goalie is sliding in and out of the crease when the other team really isn’t generating pressure
- The goalie begins to poorly play the puck with the team down, in part due to their poor play
We saw all four from Jake Allen today, who had some early good saves but fell off a cliff afterwards. After what I wrote about Rogalski yesterday, I don’t need to rehash it all. His goalies aren’t positioned well and they make high school-level mistakes. He needs to go three years ago, let alone yesterday or tomorrow.
Who Came to Play Today?
I would like to submit the following list of players of guys who looked like they were genuinely trying to win throughout the game.
- Luke Hughes
- Jack Hughes
- Nico Hischier
- Cody Glass
- Johnny Kovacevic
- Brett Pesce
So much of the rest of the team looks checked out. Maybe Gritsyuk is still hurt, and he wanted that last goal. Timo Meier is certainly frustrated and is playing like it. Nemec is probably still hurt, but he could stand to actually play with a purpose. And maybe the wiped off goal hurt Siegenthaler and the team, but that’s no excuse.
They let themselves get bullied around the net time and time again. The first line is the only line creating chances. Even when Glass scored, he was coming on with first liners.
When Nico scored the first Devils goal, only Luke Hughes celebrated.
And repeatedly, even with a lead, the Devils had defenders in Nemec and Dillon both give soft efforts leading to game-tying goals.
But when the game was tied in the third? No effort whatsoever. And it’s not like Keefe had them come out of their shell of an ultra-conservative “offensive” system. The second, third, and fourth lines generated fewer shots combined than the first. You need multiple scoring lines to win.
Failing that, you need highly skilled offensive defensemen who can create chances. Without that, it’s game over.
For these Devils, it’s looking more like the season is over. Prove me wrong.