If the New Jersey Devils are going to salvage their season and actually make the playoffs, it would have needed to start with a win tonight. It wasn’t looking likely, and in fact they did not hold one lead all night long. But thanks to Nico Hischier’s heroics, the Devils did indeed get back in the win column with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Nashville Predators in Newark on Thursday night. Dougie Hamilton and Jesper Bratt were the other goal scorers tonight, while Jacob Markstrom stopped 27 of 29 shots for the win.
Of course, it would not be a Devils game without some bad news, even in a win. And my goodness did we get some potentially devastating news this evening. Jack Hughes left tonight’s game in the first period. He played a few shifts, left for the locker room, came back and played one shift, then left immediately again and did not return. He only played 2:27 spread over three total shifts tonight. There is some good news though: head coach Sheldon Keefe “doesn’t believe it’s a serious injury”. That was his update to reporters after the game, also adding that he “tweaked” something and that it’s a lower-body injury. I don’t know whether to feel better or worse that it’s not a reinjury to his shoulder or bum hand, but either way, it appears the worst has been avoided for now. Hughes’ status for next game is unclear at this time, so check back in a couple days to see if he’ll play next time out.
As far as the game itself, it didn’t begin very well, with Jacob Markstrom once again putting his team behind the 8-ball early on. Just over five minutes into the game, he allowed a Michael McCarron goal that he really, really should not have allowed. A Jonathan Marchessault wraparound attempt led to McCarron sweeping the loose puck home, and for the 30th time in 54 games this season, the Devils trailed first. But credit to Markstrom, who played reasonably well the rest of the way. He did allow a Filip Forsberg one-timer goal in the third period which was stoppable, but it certainly wasn’t the easiest shot to handle. As mentioned, he allowed those two goals on 29 shots, good for a .931 save percentage on the game. The advanced numbers were kind to him too, as according to Natural Stat Trick, he saved 1.1 Goals Above Expected. Tonight was a much better effort than we’re used to seeing out of Markstrom, and while I still absolutely do not trust him, he deserves some praise for his performance this evening.
After that first goal, the Devils did not find the equalizer until about halfway through the second period. That was when Lenni Hameenaho (more on him later) showed off some impressive vision to find an activating Hamilton on the weakside. Hamilton wired a shot past Nashville goaltender Justus Annunen to knot the game at one. It was Hamilton’s 10th consecutive game with a point, though the NHL only credits him with a nine-game point streak since he was healthy scratched after the first game in this streak. Nevertheless, Hamilton has finally been producing offense lately, which is such a breath of fresh air for this team.
Unfortunately it wasn’t all rosy for Hamilton tonight. He took a penalty later in the game that his teammates thankfully killed off, and then in the third period, his turnover behind his own net directly led to Forsberg’s goal that put the Predators up 2-1. It was a classic Hamilton night, where he did a lot of highly noticeable good things and highly noticeable bad things.
As for Jesper Bratt’s goal, it was a thing of beauty. As Nashville was trying to exit the zone, Dawson Mercer forced a turnover just inside the blueline. The puck went right to Bratt who was all alone in front. About 3,000 stickhandles later, Bratt scored one of the prettier goals of the season to tie the game 2-2. Bratt has struggled so mightily this season when it comes to scoring goals, but with two games in a row now with a tally, he might just be heating up.
And speaking of Mercer, he played a huge role in the overtime winner as well. He intercepted a cross-crease pass that could very well have ended the game, skated the puck out of harm’s way, then made a nice outlet pass to Hischier to set up the winning marker. It wasn’t a particularly great night for Mercer overall, who finished with a 5-on-5 Expected Goals For% around 40% according to NST. But he certainly made up for some lackluster underlying numbers by playing an indispensable role in two of the three goals this evening.
It wasn’t the prettiest game, but a win is a win. New Jersey needs to start banking points in bunches if they’re going to make the playoffs, and it’s not like letting a Western Conference team secure a loser point hurts them either. It’s very possible this season is finished already, but for at least one more night, the Devils have allowed us to hope.
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
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com
Center Depth Stretched To The Limit
Even before Hughes’ injury, the Devils’ center depth was already being tested thanks to Cody Glass missing tonight’s contest after blocking a shot on Tuesday. We still don’t have word on how long he’ll be out, but he did try to give it a go after he got injured on Tuesday, so it doesn’t appear that it’s something too serious.
But with Glass out tonight, that forced Mercer to once again play center. It also meant Luke Glendening drew back into the lineup, which is not ideal. If Glass remains out for next game, and if Hughes joins him, that would probably mean a center depth chart of Hischier, then Mercer, then some combination of Glendening, Cotter, and maybe Juho Lammikko. In other words…very, very bad. If you thought New Jersey was an offensively-challenged team before, wait until you see a lineup like that.
Please get well soon, Jack and Cody.
The Debut
Yet another notable aspect of tonight’s contest was that this was the first game in the post-Ondrej Palat era. The ill-fated free agent signing was traded to the Islanders before the last game on Tuesday, in exchange for Maxim Tsyplakov. By now you know the details of who Tsyplakov is, what he brings, and what his contract details are, so I won’t go into that again here.
Instead, we’ll talk about his first game as a Devil. Frankly, I can see why he fell out of favor on Long Island. By my own personal eye test, he sort of just floated out there for much of the game, not really doing much of anything to help the Devils push the puck forward. The advanced numbers back this up, as per NST, he posted a horrific 5-on-5 xGF% of 15.00.
His play was also apparently so bad that Keefe decided to staple him to the bench early in the second period. Looking at the shift report, Tsyplakov played three shifts in the middle frame, with the last of those ending with about seven minutes gone in the period. He did not play again in the second, and in fact got exactly one shift the rest of the game, in the middle of the third. That would be notable enough, but it’s even more alarming that Keefe decided to do that considering he was already down a forward in Jack Hughes. So the Devils essentially played half this game with 10 forwards.
This still doesn’t make me regret the Palat trade. Not even close. If Tsyplakov isn’t a fit, then he seems very tradeable in the offseason. But for now, it was a lackluster debut for Tsyplakov.
Another Impressive Outing
Lenni Hameenaho just continues to pump out stellar performances. He finished with a 5-on-5 xGF% of 61.65, good for fifth on the team (fourth if you don’t count Hughes and his three shifts). As mentioned above, he had a sweet primary assist on Hamilton’s goal. He also keeps showing a knack for intelligent positioning, constantly putting himself in positions to get high-danger looks at the net. This was most apparent on a shift in the second period when he found some open ice to the side of the slot and blasted a one-timer that Annunen had to make a strong save on. And as if that impressive look wasn’t enough, he also drew a penalty on that play.
Hameenaho is now up to four points (two goals, two assists) in six games thus far. His underlying metrics are sparkling, including leading the team in Game Score tonight. Six games is a microscopic sample size, but the kid is absolutely showing he belongs in The Show. He’s given the depth of this roster some desperately-needed scoring punch.
And by the way, his family was in attendance tonight to watch him play live for the first time at The Rock, so congratulations to them. Here’s to many, many more good nights for your boy.
Next Time Out
The Devils are back at it on Saturday when they travel up to Ottawa to battle the Senators. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? How concerned are you with Jack Hughes’ injury status? What did you think of Maxim Tsyplakov’s debut? How impressed with Lenni Hameenaho are you? What do you expect next time out? As always, thanks for reading!