You know the drill by now: The New Jersey Devils lack depth scoring. It was a huge issue last season, and it has been a huge issue this season. Especially during the Devils’ five-game losing streak that they took into Ottawa this evening. Well wouldn’t you know it, depth scoring played a massive role tonight, as the third line of Cody Glass, Connor Brown, and Arseny Gritsyuk put together a huge night in New Jersey’s 4-3 win over the Senators.
Tonight was another contest in which the Devils got mostly outplayed. They did have their stretches where they controlled play pretty well, but by and large it was a Senators night. That is, unless New Jersey’s third line was on the ice. Glass, Brown, and Gritsyuk were absolutely incredible this evening. According to Natural Stat Trick, in 8:30 of 5-on-5 play, the Glass line posted a remarkable Expected Goals For% of 95.93. They allowed a grand total of 0.03 xGA in those minutes. They out-attempted Ottawa 10-4, outshot them 7-1, and beat them 5-0 in Scoring Chances and 3-0 in High Danger Corsi. And most importantly, they outscored the Sens 3-0 at 5-on-5 tonight. On the traditional stat sheet, Brown and Gritsyuk each registered three points (a trio of assists for Brown and a goal and two helpers for Gritsyuk). Glass collected two points, including the game-winning goal with 7:36 left in the third period.
Even beyond the stats, this line just looked dangerous all night long. On a team starved for chemistry, this line was connecting on passes and stringing together cycle chances like they’d been playing together for years. Brown showed incredible hockey IQ on multiple takeaways, Gritsyuk showed off an impressive combination of motor and skill, and Glass was the glue that held the line together, contributing a little bit of everything this evening. New Jersey failed in some key areas tonight, but the third line made sure their failings didn’t matter. They were, in my opinion, one of the two biggest factors in the Devils snapping their skid.
The other biggest factor? That would have to be Jacob Markstrom. I can’t believe I’m saying that considering how Markstrom’s night began and considering what Markstrom had to battle through (more on that below), but by the end of the game, Markstrom really stepped up. The first goal he allowed was a power-play marker where he failed to control a shot, let up a juicy rebound, and Drake Batherson knocked it home to open the scoring. After Simon Nemec tied it on a one-time blast off a neat little pass from Brown, Ottawa scored on the power play once again. Late in the first, Tim Stutzle collected a pass in the slot and wired a shot past Markstrom to give the Senators a 2-1 edge.
That was the moment when my heart sank. It was a really bad goal to let up, and I thought there was no way Markstrom would rally. But to his credit, Markstrom really locked it down from there. He held it down long enough for New Jersey to take the lead. Gritsyuk scored thanks to a killer setup off the rush from Brown, then shortly thereafter during 4-on-4 play, Paul Cotter did what Paul Cotter does: score on a gorgeous move on a breakaway chance.
Unfortunately, Markstrom allowed a third goal on the power play (noticing a trend? we’ll discuss that below), though I really cannot blame Markstrom one bit for the final tally he allowed on the night. Brown made his one big mistake of the game by not moving the puck well enough when he had the chance, Brenden Dillon followed that up with a terrible turnover behind the goal line, and Dylan Cozens found Batherson all alone on the backdoor for an easy tap-in goal to tie the game at three.
But that was the only blemish after the bad Stutzle goal for Markstrom. He kept his team in the game as they faded down the stretch. In the second half of the second period and through most of the third, New Jersey was by far the second-best team on the ice. Markstrom was there every time, including making a huge save on Jake Sanderson with about four minutes left. Not to mention holding it down when the Senators pulled Linus Ullmark for the extra attacker. Credit to New Jersey for defending reasonably well during the 6-on-5, but Markstrom was the best Devil on the ice during those stretches. Per NST, Markstrom saved almost a full goal above expected (0.99 to be exact). It didn’t start well, but credit where it’s due: Markstrom saved his best for last and played a huge role in lifting New Jersey to victory.
Aside from the third line and Markstrom, I didn’t think many other Devils had particularly good games. Nico Hischier had his moments, including ringing one off the crossbar on a 2-on-1 with Jesper Bratt. The second line of Bratt, Dawson Mercer, and Ondrej Palat wasn’t bad. Nemec scored his goal, as did Cotter. But that’s about it. There were plenty of other Devils that I thought had pretty poor games this evening, starting with Jonas Siegenthaler, Luke Hughes, and Dillon. The fourth line in general was once again a black hole aside from Cotter’s 4-on-4 marker. It wasn’t a disastrous night for the skaters, but it wasn’t their best effort. Thankfully the third line and Markstrom picked up the slack.
This was a game the Devils really needed to have. It’s early December, which means there’s plenty of time left, but with how bunched up the entire Eastern Conference is, New Jersey really can’t afford to fall behind by that much at this stage of the campaign. They went from top of the conference to out of a playoff spot in about a week and a half, which just shows you how crazy things are this year. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t perfect, but a win is a win. After five regulation losses in a row, New Jersey is back in the win column. And in the end, it was two maligned parts of the team that got them there: depth scoring and goaltending. For one night at least, they silenced the critics.
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
Not-So-Special Teams
The special teams units are starting to become a serious problem.
Last year, the Devils’ special teams carried them to the playoffs when the 5-on-5 performance went in the tank after Christmas. This season, the power play and penalty kill got off to hot starts, but have really cooled off recently. Tonight was perhaps the worst game the special teams have put together, going a brutal 0-for-6 combined. Yes, the Devils allowed goals on all three of their penalty kills, while going 0-for-3 on their own power plays. If the officials saw fit to give the Senators another man-advantage or two, we might be talking about a sixth consecutive loss right now, the penalty kill was that bad. And the Devils’ power play looked decent in spots, but nowhere close to good enough against a team that entered tonight’s game ranked 31st on the penalty kill.
According to the MSG broadcast, through the first nine games of the season, the Devils’ power play was humming along at 30.8%. In that same time, the penalty kill was a stellar 93.5%. But over their last 20 contests entering tonight, New Jersey was at 19.1% and 72.9% on the power play and penalty kill respectively. And those terrible figures somehow each got worse tonight. It didn’t burn them this evening, but New Jersey really needs to figure out their special teams again.
Clearance Sale
In my opinion, one of biggest under-the-radar issues in tonight’s game was New Jersey’s breathtaking ineptitude in clearing pucks out of their zone. This was most notable on Batherson’s second goal when both Brown and Dillon made huge errors. But it was an issue all night.
Whether it was at even strength, on the penalty kill, or when defending the 6-on-5 at the end of the game, the Devils just could not clear the zone on their first or second try. Everything was a struggle, whether it was from a lack of awareness or effort. I tend to lean more towards diagnosing the problem as a lack of awareness and crispness, because for all the Devils’ issues right now, I don’t believe a lack of effort is one of them. But whatever the problem is, New Jersey needs to figure this one out too. Ottawa got so many second, third, and fourth chances this evening as a direct result of the Devils failing to clear the zone.
Under Siege
Jacob Markstrom’s performance was even more impressive when you take into account that he apparently had a target on his back tonight. Senators attackers never missed an opportunity to barrel into Markstrom all night long, at one point even throwing Cotter into Markstrom in one of the cheapest sequences of the night (admittedly I forget which Senator threw Cotter into Markstrom, please remind me in the comments).
It got so bad that Ken Daneyko and Bryce Salvador even started to lose their cool in the broadcast booth. Yes they are Devils homers, but their emotion was noteworthy, especially Salvador who is a little more level-headed than Daneyko. Markstrom had many words for the officials on what he was dealing with, especially in the second period when it seemed like Ottawa was crashing into him every 30 seconds.
The lobbying finally worked when Brady Tkachuk almost killed Markstrom as he crashed the net. I’m sorry, but the only reason we’re not talking about that play more is because Markstrom thankfully got out of the way in time. If he didn’t, that could have been seriously bad, as Tkachuk just showed absolutely no regard for the Devils goaltender, careening into the net at full speed. It was a shockingly dirty play that, again, didn’t seem that dirty because he missed Markstrom. And some people wonder why I call Tkachuk one of the dirtiest players in the league.
Major credit to Markstrom for battling through that adversity. Let’s hope he takes an extra long ice bath tonight.
Metro Madness
In case you need a reminder on why the Devils need to start racking up wins again in a hurry:
Nobody in the Metropolitan Division ever seems to go a game without nabbing at least one point. It’s incredibly frustrating to say the least. Theoretically, we should start to see some teams fade away as the season goes on. But we’re already two months into the campaign and it hasn’t happened yet, so I’m done banking on it happening. If teams fall off, then great. If not, then the Devils need to take care of their own business and start winning consistently again.
The W In White Stands For “Wins”
As the Devils get by without their full compliment of defensemen for the time being, Colton White and Dennis Cholowski have been rotating in the sixth spot on the blueline. White got the call tonight, and I thought he played about as well as you could reasonably expect from him.
I for one would love to see a lot more White and a lot less Cholowski, and I’m not the only one:
I did not post those tweets, but I wholeheartedly agree with them. My two cents? Please throw Cholowski in the scratch suite and barricade the door.
Next Time Out
New Jersey returns home on Thursday to battle the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop from the Prudential Center is slated for 7:00pm.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? How happy are you that the losing streak is over? How impressed were you with the third line? What about Markstrom? What do you expect on Thursday? As always, thanks for reading!