First Period
Finally, the New Jersey Devils have returned to regular season play. Luke Hughes had the first chance of the game for them, and it looked pretty good. Leading the team in transition into a three-on-two, Luke backhanded a shot over the pad of Frederik Andersen — but Andersen had the glove low enough to stop a good shot by Hughes coming down the wing. On the other end, following the stoppage, Jacob Markstrom made three big saves in a row to keep the game scoreless.
Markstrom would only hold them at
bay for so long, though. The Devils were unable to get the puck out of the defensive zone off of what should have been a win in the dot for Glendening, and Shayne Gostisbehere blasted a shot that was deflected by Taylor Hall through Markstrom’s five hole. The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. As the Devils learned early in this one, leaving Markstrom out to dry could not last forever: and it would not be the only time they got burned by being too slow on a faceoff.
Timo Meier had a chance at the side of the net off a feed from Nico Hischier behind the net, but Meier did not get all of the puck and wasn’t able to beat Andersen high. Hischier did a great job of still creating the chance despite Jacob Slavin initially fighting him off on the rush, but the Devils were still held scoreless on just their third shot of the game (with about seven minutes left in the period).
After some dueling chances for the fourth lines, Dougie Hamilton threw a big hit at the blueline on a rush attempt by Eric Robinson. The scoring lines came out afterwards, and Evgenii Dadonov was denied at the side of the net on a play off the rush, with Jack Hughes setting him up. Then, Jaccob Slavin nailed the post, but the puck stayed out. The Devils eventually escaped the period only down one goal, and they looked better, but not yet good in the final six minutes or so.
Second Period
Jonas Siegenthaler took a hard shot to the ribs, blocking a chance against the rush. On one knee, he was still able to make a play on the puck again with his stick, eventually getting relief in the form of an offsides whistle. Then, the Devils were on the attack, and the puck rimmed around the boards on a hard slap shot that missed the net…but some Devils were changing, and they were called for too many men on the ice. Nico Hischier won the shorthanded draw, and Dougie Hamilton was able to get the puck out of the zone. Nico Hischier then showed his skates off to create an opportunity for Dawson Mercer after K’Andre Miller high-sticked Dougie Hamilton. Hischier snuck a pass through the neutral zone, and Mercer blasted a slap shot at Andersen, but the shot was stopped.
Play turned to four-on-four, and both teams just missed on grade-A chances. Sebastian Aho just missed on a wide-open chance by the net after Markstrom missed the puck on a reach, and Jack Hughes then took the shot on a two-on-one that rang right off the far post. The Devils were not able to create a chance on their short power play, and play returned to full strength without a change in score.
After Paul Cotter just missed on a chance where he almost blew by Jalen Chatfield, he took a slashing penalty by breaking K’Andre Miller’s stick. Back on the penalty kill, Markstrom barely made a shoulder save on Sebastian Aho. After a stoppage and another save, the Devils cleared the puck and forced Carolina to their own end. They did not resist Carolina’s transition very well, though, and they were quickly back on the attack. Cody Glass just missed the puck after Dillon created a potential turnover, and Markstrom was forced to make another big save. Carolina then started making too many passes, allowing Brenden Dillon to eventually clear the puck without Carolina being able to really pull the trigger on one of their opportunities.
Then Dougie Hamilton struck. Cutting down to the slot on a little rush, Hamilton took a pass from Bratt and used Cotter to create space to take a backhand that beat Andersen under the glove! The Devils tied the game less than halfway through the period.
Unfortunately for the Devils, K’Andre Miller took the lead on a weak knuckling shot from the point. There was traffic around the net, but Hamilton had Jordan Martinook all tied up. Still, the Hurricanes took a 2-1 lead, and the Devils were put on their heels again, in large part due to their poor execution off of faceoff wins in the defensive zone.
The Devils weren’t down for long this time, though. Cody Glass came down the left side on a two-on-one off a pass through the middle of the ice from Luke Hughes. Glass did not make the pass across, but he ripped a quick wrist shot right past Andersen, beating him on the far-side! The Devils made it tied once more at 2-2, with Glass giving them life.
After a ninth straight faceoff win, the Devils went back to the power play with Jordan Staal crosschecking Nico Hischier to the ice. With five minutes and 15 seconds to play, the Devils had a chance to take the lead. They took an offsides on a bad pass from Bratt after they were forced to take the puck from their own end, and the Hurricanes had a two-on-one as a result of the Devils’ sloppiness off that neutral zone draw. Aho went speeding off on a two-on-one, and he rang a shot off the inside of the iron. The Devils eventually sent out their second unit, and Timo Meier was upended on an uncalled trip, allowing Jordan Martinook a breakaway from center ice. Jacob Markstrom gloved that one.
Third Period
Dougie Hamilton threw a big hit again: this time it was on Jordan Martinook in the neutral zone about 30 seconds into the period. While the Devils were struggling to keep a consistent effort, Hamilton was continually doing the right things. Both teams played a different game in the early stages of the third period, playing rather wide open. Past the five-minute mark, the Devils started slipping. The Hurricanes caught the Devils too deep in the offensive end, going on a four-on-two rush, but Seth Jarvis rang the iron on the shot. Then, after a bad turnover, Paul Cotter took a slashing penalty on a near-breakaway for Logan Stankoven. This one was a real slash, and it may have saved a goal.
On the penalty kill, Markstrom denied Nikolaj Ehlers with the pad. The Hurricanes kept possession throughout the first minute, whipping the puck around and keeping the Devils at bay. Brett Pesce took a slap shot from Gostisbehere right to the back, and he went down in writhing pain as Luke Glendening cleared the puck all the way down the ice and over the glass. The Hurricanes were incensed at the lack of a penalty, but the referees kept the game at five-on-four while Pesce skated off for some attention from the trainer.
After the Devils survived the first penalty kill, Luke Hughes took a slashing call on Taylor Hall. The Devils got the puck to the neutral zone quickly in this kill, with Glendening hitting the puck to the neutral zone. After one shot attempt by Carolina, Glendening got the puck all the way down the ice. The Hurricanes came back, and Svechnikov sailed the puck past the net on an open chance. The second power play unit came out, and K’Andre Miller beat Jacob Markstrom with a slap shot that trickled past. The Hurricanes made it 3-2, and Taylor Hall thought he made it 4-2 on a rush shot off the post right after play resumed, but the officials waved that one off and had play continue.
With Brett Pesce still playing despite his earlier blocked shot, he led the Devils on a rush. Pesce took the puck to the wall in the offensive zone, flipping a pass to the front past Jack Hughes to Jesper Bratt. Bratt tied the game at 3-3 on the finish! The Devils yet again did not let the Hurricanes stay ahead for long. Cody Glass then kept the game tied with a huge blocked shot while Markstrom was dead to rights with the Hurricanes buzzing with their cycling around the zone. The Hurricanes almost caught the Devils on a change a minute later, with Jarvis ringing a shot off the post from long range.
The Hurricanes took an icing with 5:01 to play, but the Devils were unable to pin them back after Luke Hughes lost the zone on an offsides while he was trying to straddle the blueline to make a pass down low. Martinook had a chance to take the lead on the rush off a feed from Sean Walker, but Markstrom made the big save. Meier got a chance of his own on the other end, taking his own blocked shot to fire a second attempt — but Andersen made the save.
The Devils were put on their heels again with under three minutes to play. Luke Hughes was caught roving in the defensive zone, and Brett Pesce wasn’t able to tie up Seth Jarvis by the net on a deflection past Markstrom. Aho shot it on, and Jarvis knocked it through. 4-3, Canes. Ondrej Palat also did not look great here, especially when he could have pressured the puck in the corner.
Nico Hischier was called for a hand pass with 1:43 left, forcing Jacob Markstrom to return to the net after he had left for the extra attacker. The Devils won the draw, and Markstrom got off the ice again as the Devils forechecked. The Hurricanes took an icing with 1:23 left, giving the Devils an offensive zone draw. Hischier tied Staal up, and the Hurricanes chipped it out. Jack Hughes made a bad pass on the next entry, and the Hurricanes sealed the game on an empty-netter by Seth Jarvis. 5-3.
To add insult to injury, the Hurricanes scored a sixth goal when Eric Robinson took advantage of Simon Nemec’s broken stick to finish a feed from Taylor Hall, scoring with just seconds left. Cody Glass let the pass through him. What a finish.
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
Hoping for Better
From very early on in tonight’s game, the Devils were obviously not at their best. In the first period, it was like they were trying to get everything done with their sticks, moving their feet around but not throwing their weight. Late in the period, they were moving their legs better, but they didn’t really start engaging the Hurricanes physically until the second period. Despite looking better as the game went on, though, the Devils never deserved to win this game. They put themselves into a position to win, with the game tied under three minutes remaining. But they did not really deserve the win.
Jacob Markstrom had five shots hit the post. Five shots beat him and hit the net, with the empty netter tacked on between the fourth and sixth goals against. None of the advanced stats — not the possession or expected goal numbers — would reflect favorably on the Devils.
But they did have enough offense to keep them in it until the end. Hamilton, Glass, and Bratt came up big with the goals, but they pretty much needed to be perfect. The Hurricanes had 10 or 15 chances that could have been goals but were not. The Devils only missed on a few such chances, such as the shot off iron by Jack Hughes and the two attempts by Timo Meier in the third period. As always, Rod Brind’Amour did an outstanding job playing his matchups.
Taylor Hall made life very difficult for the Devils’ fourth line, and the Dillon-Nemec pairing had absolutely no answer for him. Jordan Staal didn’t do very well against Nico Hischier, but a fluky goal by Miller made that matchup turn out a win for the Hurricanes. Logan Stankoven’s line ate the Glass line’s lunch and dinner. But Sheldon Keefe only changed the lines to insert Ondrej Palat for an injured Evgenii Dadonov, and that was not enough to change the flow of the game in the third period. It was not a great fit in the last few minutes, when Ondrej Palat went drifting around the defensive zone, not attacking the puck carrier by the wall, allowing the Hurricanes to easily cycle the puck and create the game-winning scoring chance.
Power Play?
The Devils had one true power play today, and it was awful. I do not think it was the best idea to use Luke Hughes right away on the power play, seeing as he never got into a preseason game, but Sheldon Keefe tried to get away with it. In their one full power play, the Devils were outshot by the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes had two dangerous shot attempts, with one ringing off iron, while the Devils needed to wait for their second unit (which used two defensemen in Nemec and Hamilton) to have any semblance of settled possession.
That was a big chance to swing the momentum in this game, and they just did not have it. Sure, maybe the officials could have sent the Devils to the power play when Alexander Nikishin crunched Jesper Bratt into the boards, but there is no guarantee the Devils would have done anything with that hypothetical opportunity. They need to work harder at five-on-five and match the intensity of teams like Carolina.
If they don’t, they won’t improve from last season.
Holding Breath
Brett Pesce took some nasty shots today, and I was worried he was hurt by the shot to his back. But he finished the game, and played well. I just hope that this is not a case of him waking up tomorrow in heaps more pain than he finished the game in tonight. Evgenii Dadonov, however, only played two shifts in the third period because of a hand injury. He did not return to the game.
Injuries are obviously a part of the game, but it would be incredibly tough for the Devils to lose one of the new players they brought on to bolster their depth. If Dadonov cannot play on Saturday, though, it might be a chance for Arseny Gritsyuk to play up the lineup, as he was not a good fit on the fourth line tonight. Cotter and Glendening were rather disjointed, offensively, and Gritsyuk was lost in the mix. Aside from Gritsyuk’s disconnect from the fourth line, the Palat-Glass-Brown line was not very good either. I won’t advocate full-scale changes until they say more about Dadonov, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of the season opener? Do you think the next game will go better? What did you think of Jacob Markstrom tonight? What about the defense? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
