First Period
The New Jersey Devils controlled the pace of play for the first several minutes of the game, possessing the puck at will. Evan Rodrigues very nearly opened the scoring less than four minutes in when he tipped a Hamilton point shot off the crossbar as the Islanders continued to look too slow for the Devils early on. Amadeus Lombardi, though, took a hooking penalty on Matias Maccelli six and a half minutes in, giving the Islanders a path to get some chances after only having one shot to that point.
An early shot from Matthew Schaefer went wide of goal, allowing Dawson Mercer to motor the puck into the offensive zone for a shot attempt. The Devils killed most of the penalty after this, not allowing the Islanders possession deep in the offensive zone until latter half of the second minute. Calum Ritchie got a one-timer chance from the faceoff dot right at the end of the kill, but it knuckled and almost evaded Daws’s glove hand. It bounced down from there and under him, freezing play as the Devils got Lombardi out of the box. Nico Daws would make another big save on the rush less than a minute after the kill, kicking a tip-in from Ondrej Palat on the rush away. He gloved a longer shot from Pageau at the halfway point of the period to send the game to a break.
Lombardi would take another penalty for tripping on the defensive blueline, gifting the Islanders another power play with under eight minutes to play in the period. Nico Daws made a huge glove save on a shot from Brayden Schenn, freezing play with 44 seconds to kill. After winning the next draw, Dougie Hamilton cleared the puck to Cody Glass, who tipped the puck over the glass from past center ice, giving them a neutral zone faceoff with 35 seconds to kill.
Logan Stanley took a holding penalty on Timo Meier with four minutes to play in the first as Meier was powering through the area below the goal line, giving the Devils their first man advantage of the game. Meier ended up creating the best chance for the Devils in the two minutes, firing a wrist shot high on Sorokin from the faceoff circle that rebounded to the slot. Nico Hischier tried to follow up, but it was stopped and the Islanders cleared the puck. The penalty was killed, and the Devils tried to continue the attack at five-on-five with two minutes to play. Declan Chisholm ended up drawing a tripping call from Victor Eklund, giving the Devils another minute of power play time to close the period out.
The Devils didn’t get a scoring chance in that minute, but Casey Cizikas did at the very end. With a puck going down to the corner of the Devils’ defensive zone, Cizikas was the only one within 50 feet of it. He went hard across the goal line, backhanding a shot that Nico Daws saved as time expired.
Second Period
With a minute of power play time to work with, the Devils again sent out their first power play unit of Hischier, Evangelista, Hughes, Bratt, and Hughes to start the period. Evangelista just missed the net with a close shot early, and Jesper Bratt just missed Nico Hischier at the side of the net shortly after. The Islanders killed the penalty.
Cody Glass just missed a rush chance from the wing after getting an alley-oop pass, and things turned bad for the Devils a minute later when Jack Hughes tripped over Ryan Pulock and went into the boards. The Islanders went up the ice as Jack went to the locker room, and Simon Holmstrom finished a pass driving the net to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Dougie had a bad turn on the blueline and Siegenthaler didn’t do anything going down to the ice on the pass across.
The Islanders would quickly make it 2-0 as the Devils had trouble getting the puck out of the defensive zone, and Nico Daws had trouble with a point shot. Brayden Schenn picked up the loose puck at the side of the net and wrapped it from behind the net and back to the near post for the Islanders’ second goal of the period. The Devils were suddenly being outshot at a near two-to-one pace while down two goals at the 15-minute mark. Jack Hughes, though, returned to the bench with a bit of blood on his face.
Luke Hughes was called for interference with over eight minutes to play in the period when Matias Maccelli skated into him by the wall. Nico Daws came across to make a huge save on Kyle Palmieri after a point shot came off the end boards, and the Devils cleared the puck about 20 seconds later. After the Islanders regained the offensive zone, Bo Horvat scored when the Devils started blowing the zone a bit too early when they thought the puck was out of the zone. Brenden Dillon left Horvat all alone, and Matthew Shaefer found him at the side of the net for an easy goal after Schaefer knocked a clearing attempt down at the blueline.
Kyle Palmieri took a crosschecking penalty with under five minutes to play in the period. An early shot from Arseny Gritsyuk hit the post. After that, the Devils did nothing on the power play. After it expired, the Devils crowded the net after working the puck around, but they failed to get a good shot on goal.
Third Period
As the third period got underway, the Devils started to pull away from the Islanders on the shot count. For a bit of the second, they were falling well behind, but the Islanders were in shutdown mode and not pressing the attack much once up two. It didn’t matter, though, as the Devils continued to miss the net on their best chances. One came early from Jack Hughes in this period.
Dougie Hamilton drew a two-minute penalty from Bo Horvat for slashing with 12:53 to play, giving the Devils their fourth two-minute chance of the game. The Islanders won the draw and cleared immediately, and Jack Hughes regained the zone through pressure for a second before the Islanders forced them back again. The Devils’ top unit did not get possession in the offensive zone for the rest of the power play.
Yet again, Brenden Dillon blew his spot on the ice as he jumped up towards the blueline in the defensive zone to chase a bad pass. Declan Chisholm practically followed him to the wall to chase the puck, and the Islanders went up 4-0 when they predictably did not get the puck. Viktor Eklund got his first.
And since the Devils defenders did not learn, Amadeus Lombardi was left defending Ondrej Palat driving the net as Brett Pesce was in his spot on the right side of goal while Jonas Siegenthaler was on the wall trying to win the puck back. Palat made it 5-0 for the Islanders.
Kyle Palmieri took a slashing penalty with two and a half minutes to play. Casey Cizikas scored shorthanded to make it 6-0 when the Devils gave him a breakaway. Too many players were on the wall for the Devils, and Timo Meier could not catch up to Cizikas. Daws made the initial save on the breakaway, bit Cizikas had enough time to force the rebound through.
Terrible.
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
Penalties Killing Momentum
It’s hard to understate how strong the Devils looked to start the game. They were creating scoring chances and shutting down the Islanders entirely. But once Amadeus Lombardi took a penalty, the Islanders dominated the five-on-five play after its expiration — and then Lombardi took another penalty. I thought Keefe would have been well justified to bench Lombardi for the remainder of the game, but he was rather nice and gave him several more shifts. I think he earned Jesper Boqvist a night in on Tuesday.
But the Devils cannot allow stuff like this to hurt them. They killed the penalties, they got power plays of their own, and they got out of the first period tied. Still, they didn’t look like they had any attack in their bones until the third period.
Keefe and Comebacks
Coming back while trailing has been an issue for the New Jersey Devils since Sheldon Keefe became head coach. I was highly critical of this trend last season, and it seemed to be a bit of an issue again tonight. So much went wrong for the Devils at every turn. Pete DeBoer adjusted the Islanders to cover the Devils far more tightly after the first period, and the Devils had little answer. The Islanders started creating scoring chances left and right in the second period, and then sat back for much of the third period. But after the failed power play in the third from the Horvat slash, the Islanders again started running all over the Devils.
These are games where, down 2-0, the Devils should have started pressing offense like hell hounds. But this never seems to happen these days, even if every other team in the league appears capable of it.
Defensive Inconsistency
Two Devils defensemen had good all-around games tonight: Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce. Everyone else looked like they had a brick on their left skate at times, and you can largely see this in the numbers at five-on-five (per Natural Stat Trick):
- Brett Pesce: 73.78 xGF%, 18-5 shots advantage, 0-1 goals
- Luke Hughes: 72.34 xGF%, 11-5 shots advantage, 0-0 goals
- Jonas Siegenthaler: 68.30 xGF%, 16-11 shots advantage, 0-2 goals
- Dougie Hamilton: 57.61 xGF%, 11-8 shots advantage, 0-2 goals
- Brenden Dillon: 36.96 xGF%, 1-7 shots disadvantage, 0-1 goals
- Declan Chisholm: 22.36 xGF%, 3-8 shots disadvantage, 0-2 goals
I really, really think the lefty-lefty third pairing is failing. I do not have much hope they are going to look better because Chisholm looks extremely uncomfortable on the right side, while Dillon is all over the ice in the wrong ways. Paired with a fourth line that is really struggling to play a consistent game, those two need to be a solid foundation considering neither are especially gifted on offense.
Ice Time Distribution
Here’s a problem for you. Predictably, the fourth line forwards (Noesen, Glass, Lombardi) all played under eight minutes at five-on-five tonight. Down multiple goals for over half the game, you would think the top six ate up a lot of time. You might be disheartened to know that the next-least even strength ice time went to Nico Hischier (11:34), Dawson Mercer (11:10), and Jesper Bratt (10:49). When Nico Hischier was on the ice, the Islanders had FOUR shot ATTEMPTS, as he was one of three Devils (Evangelista, Luke Hughes) to avoid a goal against in all situations tonight.
I know there were a lot of penalties, but Sheldon Keefe needs to make sure that Hischier line is getting more minutes when the fourth line is taking penalties and giving up goals.
Daws
For most of the game, Nico Daws looked fine. He was great in the first. Even after giving up three goals, it looked like he was going to finish with a positive goals saved above expected for most of the third period. But the Devils didn’t play hard after the failed power play from the Horvat slash, and Daws paid the price.
I would like to see better rebound control on point shots, but a plurality (12/32) of the shots Daws faced were of the high-danger variety. But while the Devils were generally fighting through defensemen in their high-danger scoring chances, defensemen were nowhere to be found on some of these goals against tonight. Dougie Hamilton had a bad game despite his positive expected numbers as he lost his man a couple times. Brenden Dillon was wildly out of position. Declan Chisholm made me wish the Devils still had Colton White.
Still, Daws needs to save that 2-0 goal against. Maybe the Devils would have stayed in it for a bit longer had he done that.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s game? How do you feel about the lines, special teams, and pairings? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
