The Devils came back home after a 2-0 mini-road trip, got surprise news about the return of an entire top 6 line – but Buffalo and our old pal Lindy Ruff had other plans, picking up their 6th win in a row, 3-1 in Newark.
This game largely came down to timely saves by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (heretofore knows as UPL – not writing that again), and another game where they Devils showed an inability to finish, and for longs stretches an inability to generate much in the way of offense. Multiple people noted that the ice looked chopped up tonight, the Sirens played a game there earlier, and you could see it in the sloppy play on both ends of the ice and Buffalo wasn’t exactly pouring it on either. It was also the tale of three distinct periods, our boys dominated the first, got bodied in the second and finished with a tilted but low event 3rd.
One of the only positives from this game was Jack is back – and he showed up almost immediately scoring a beauty at 8:51 of the first from White and Mercer. This was vintage Jack (can we say vintage about a 24 year old?), walking downhill on the strong side and ripping a shot low glove on UPL. What really makes this play is Mercer’s flash screen:
It really looked like we were about to take this game over, but as I mentioned above (foreshadowing folks), UPL had other plans as he made an outrageous save on Gritsyuk and shortly after robbed Noesen on another slot chance. A very encouraging period where we controlled shots 11-8, scoring chances 10-4 with an xGF share of 62%.
And naturally they would take the good vibes, 1st period lead, Jack/Grits/Timo returns and do absolutely nothing with it, as the second they were on their heels almost immediately after ANOTHER wasted powerplay. Quickly afterwards Buffalo snatched momentum, and during a net front scramble Norris was able to pull it out of Allen and slide it home, and we are tied 1-1 at 2:26 if the second. Keefe and co. took some time to check this one out, even burning a timeout, but all for naught as play resumed.
After a largely uninspired 2nd, Buffalo would pick up the eventual game winner as Dillon over committed on a step up leaving White alone to face a 2 on 1. Peyton Krebs did a nice job selling pass as he snuck one under Allen for a 2-1 lead at 16:05, which is where we would leave it entering the 3rd.
The 3rd was a similar uninspired slog, with some chances (I’ll tap;k about one in my notes below), and the only real sustained push the Devils got was right before Buffalo added the dagger to make it 3-1. Game over, pack it up, Isles next.
Some Scattered Thoughts
Are the Devils the only ethical team in the Metro that loses games in regulation like real men? Philly has 7 loser points. The Caps have 5, Isles 4. Pittsburgh has 9!! We have 1. Weird, but certainly why this division is so tight.
Jesper Bratt. My god man, score a goal. How can you pull out that absolute filth in the shootout, then just have absolutely no juice in game? Just weak sauce as you try to go underneath the pad 5-hole again! Find a new shot lane buddy. He is currently on pace for 14 goals, just unacceptable. We might have to start having serious conversations about him.
Timo was an absolute beast tonight, 7 shots through 2 periods, looked like he didn’t miss a beat (the NHL site is down, and apparently every other stat related site connects to their API… so that’s all I have for him).
We seem to have found our groove again defensively at least. That is now 5 straight giving up 2 goals or less. Would be super cool if we could do two things at once and score more Han 1 or 2.
Part of that was because of Allen handling the puck, when he is active back there it just adds another layer of zone exit. He and Marky have also been good of late.
Another low event game, so a shorter recap today + the entire NHL stat universe is broken at the moment. I may layer in more info if they come back on line.
Let me know your thoughts. Bad loss, but not the end of the world – need to close out 2025 strong with two Metro games agains the Isles and Caps.
LGD