The preseason is coming to a close, and the New Jersey Devils are trying to round themselves into regular season form. To that end, they iced the vast majority of what should be their opening day lineup tonight, and that lineup skated away with a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Jacob Markstrom played the full game and turned in a brilliant performance. Granted, the Rangers were not exactly peppering him with tons of grade-A chances, but he still did his job. 19 saves on 20 shots is impressive no matter what shot quality a goalie is dealing with. To my admittedly amateur eye, he looked poised and calm when he needed to be, and quick and decisive when he needed to be.
And about that one goal he gave up…
So yeah, aside from one wild fluke of an own goal, Markstrom looked strong in net tonight.
As for the skaters, you wouldn’t have guessed it based on that “highlight”, but Simon Nemec actually played a really good game. According to Natural Stat Trick, in 20:34 of 5-on-5 time (he actually led the team in total ice time with 23:13), he posted an Expected Goals For% of 73.37%. That mark was second on the team behind only Dawson Mercer’s 74.65%. He also added an assist on the power play, so overall it was a terrific game for Nemec…if you can forgive the Severson-esque gaffe.
Meanwhile, I thought the fourth line looked pretty good too, especially Paul Cotter. He scored the opening goal of the game off a killer pass from Arseny Gritsyuk (side note: The NHL’s official website lists Gritsyuk’s first name as being spelled with a “y” at the end, so I’m going with that from now on). But the real hero of that goal was Rangers Oddity Matt Rempe:
I have no clue what Rempe thought he was doing there. Apparently if there’s not a skull in the immediate vicinity for him to bury his elbow into, his brain short circuits and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. Either way, It was a pretty goal, and Gritsyuk continues to impress.
At the other side of the lineup, the big guns didn’t have a particularly great game. The Jesper Bratt-Jack Hughes-Evgenii Dadonov line decisively lost the puck possession battle this evening, with only one shot on goal (Hughes) between the three of them. The Hischier line fared better, with Mercer and Timo Meier posting 5-on-5 xGF%‘s in the 70’s (Hischier was a little under breakeven though), and Mercer icing the game with an empty-net goal in the dying breaths of the game. Hischier had an assist on that play, so he got on the scoresheet as well.
The third line didn’t do a whole lot at 5-on-5 today, though Cody Glass and Connor Brown were both above 50% in xGF%. Palat wasn’t, but he did have a big power play goal in the third period off a nice redirection in front:
So all in all, it wasn’t the cleanest or most dominant game from the Devils, but they did get a win. A lot of the depth players played fairly well, and while the top of the lineup didn’t light the Rangers up, their performance in a preseason game is the last thing I’m worried about. The most important thing for them is getting out of the game healthy, which sadly wasn’t the case for everyone. We’ll get to that momentarily.
One more preseason game to go.
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com
Pesce Exits Early
Brett Pesce did not make it through the full game, which is concerning. According to the shift chart at Natural Stat Trick, Pesce’s final shift came on the Rangers power play late in the second period. After the game, we only got this vague non-update:
Once again, the New Jersey Devils are a shining beacon of clarity and transparency when it comes to injuries.
The fact that Keefe even brought up Pesce missing time as a possibility has me concerned. Pesce is a warrior, it takes a LOT to keep him out of game action. During the postseason series against Carolina in April, it was reported that Pesce was playing at far, far less than 100%, but because the Devils’ blueline was a MASH unit at that point, Pesce gutted out the five games against the Hurricanes.
If he does have to miss time, I have to assume either Seamus Casey or Dennis Cholowski would be the next man up. Pesce being right-handed works in Casey’s favor, but the coaching staff might like Cholowski’s defensive chops more and go with an unbalanced defense. I sure hope it doesn’t come to that though. Get well soon, Brett.
Glendening’s Job To Lose?
Luke Glendening has been skating with the Devils this preseason on a PTO. He’s had plenty of good moments, and the fact that he was the 4th line center in this game tells me there’s a decent shot he is signed to a contract and the Devils start the season with him centering the bottom line.
So how did he do tonight? Well Natural Stat Trick had him at a 5-on-5 xGF% of a little over 60%, which is quite good. He did lose the shot attempts battle, but only slightly at 10-12. He put one shot on goal himself as well.
Perhaps most importantly, he got some ice time on the Devils’ lone penalty kill in this game. I assume Glendening’s path to making the team will be as a physical 4th liner who can be relied on to contribute on the penalty kill. Having that extra special teams utility makes a lot of difference.
Aside from that, it’s not like his competition has turned a lot of heads thus far either. Kevin Rooney was also brought on thanks to a PTO, and Juho Lammikko has yet to find his full footing as well. At this point, I do think the job is Glendening’s to lose, but we have one more preseason game to get some clarity on the competition.
Speaking Of The 4th Line
I have to admit, I was not a fan of Gritsyuk being on the 4th line when it started to become a thing recently. He’s been skating on that line in practices lately, and tonight it was him, Glendening, and Cotter as a unit. It felt to me like banishing Gritsyuk to the 4th line was a waste of his abilities, not to mention trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
But the more I think about it, the more I’m coming around on it. I’m still not 100% sold, but if the logic behind it is having way more speed and skill than a typical NHL 4th line, I’d say you’re certainly getting that with Gritsyuk and Cotter. They made sweet music with that goal tonight, and if they can find chemistry together, all of a sudden the Devils could have the best 4th line they’ve had since the glory days of Ryan Carter, Stephen Gionta, and Steve Bernier. We were all desperate for forward depth once Christmas rolled around last season, and this could be the solution. Gritsyuk and Cotter have the potential to absolutely overwhelm other team’s depth players.
That being said, that would mean Cody Glass, Connor Brown, and Ondrej Palat would slot in as the third line. I think that line has some intriguing potential, especially as a shutdown unit. Glass has a proven track record of marvelous defensive results against depth competition after all. But while that’s all well and good, my concern would be getting enough offense out of that unit. I know it’s preseason and it’s hard to draw many definitive conclusions from such hockey, but they haven’t looked like a line capable of producing enough offense to me. I suppose if their role is going to be just making sure another team’s second or third line does nothing for an entire night, I could live with that. But at a certain point they’ll need to chip in some points themselves. I hope I’m making too much out of my concerns for this unit’s potential offensive upside.
Don’t Question Grimace
In his game preview from this morning, Matt relayed to us the sage-like words of Grimace, who predicted a 3-1 Devils victory.
All hail Grimace.
Next Time Out
It’s the preseason finale, as the Devils play once more before the games count for real. On Saturday, the Devils play against the Flyers, with puck drop slated for 3:00pm.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? Who impressed you the most? Who disappointed you the most? If Pesce has to miss time, who do you want replacing him? And how would you then configure the defense pairs? As always, thanks for reading!