First Period
Much like the game in Colorado, this contest got off to about as bad a start as you could get. On the opening shift, New Jersey gained San Jose’s zone and tried to get the cycle going. The puck came back to Jonas Siegenthaler at the point who had all day to make a play. But he inexplicably rifled the puck into a vacant corner to nobody. Moments later, Dawson Mercer tried to rim the puck back up top to Siegenthaler, who whiffed on the pass, allowing William Eklund to dart in all alone on a breakaway.
Eklund beat Jake Allen five-hole, and the Devils found themselves trailing less than a minute into the game.
The Devils stabilized things pretty well after that, sustaining some decent possession and getting a few looks at the net. But then about seven minutes into the period, New Jersey took a really bad Too Many Men penalty to eradicate all the momentum they built back up. The Devils got a break though: After killing the first 1:26 of the penalty, Jesper Bratt drew a tripping call to even things up. Not much happened during the 4-on-4 and ensuing Devils power play though, so no harm no foul in either direction.
Shortly thereafter, the Sharks would make it 2-0. The Devils just could not get the puck cleared out of their own zone, with Simon Nemec making a lazy reverse to a vacant part of the ice. The Sharks leapt on the turnover, and Philipp Kurashev blasted a one-timer past Allen to double the lead. And to make matters worse, on the next shift, Dmitry Orlov threw a big hit on Bratt in the neutral zone that the Devils took exception to. Dougie Hamilton and Siegenthaler went after Orlov, and Siegenthaler was tagged with a penalty for his retaliation. The Devils were starting to unravel.
Fortunately the Devils killed the penalty despite San Jose putting up shot after shot. But the good feelings wouldn’t last long. With about 4:30 left in the period, San Jose gained possession in the Devils’ zone after Siegenthaler lost a battle in the corner for the puck. Mario Ferraro eventually collected the puck on the far boards and wristed a lazy shot toward the net. The puck took an incredibly fortuitous deflection off a leaping Alex Wennberg and past Allen from an impossible angle. It was 3-0 and the Devils were completely buried.
With 2:13 left, the Jack Hughes line actually managed to sustain some offensive zone time, and it culminated with Ondrek Palat taking an elbow to the face from Orlov, setting New Jersey up for a late power play. After 19 minutes of terrible hockey, the Devils finally did something good. Hamilton took the puck at the point and fed Hughes on the flank. Hughes crept toward the net and slipped a pass to an open Dawson Mercer in the slot. Mercer made a strong redirection past Alex Nedeljkovic to get the Devils to within 3-1 with exactly one minute remaining in the frame.
That is how the period would end. It was a terrible, terrible first 20 minutes to the contest. Lazy defensive zone coverage, stupid turnovers, sloppy passing and stickhandling, and bad puck luck defined the period, and New Jersey was punished for all their sins. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Devils posted a 5-on-5 Expected Goals For% of approximately 31%. Which matches the eye test. As a matter of fact MSG showed a graphic at the beginning of the second period saying New Jersey did not register a 5-on-5 goal over the last 13:53 of the opening frame. Dismal stuff.
Second Period
The Devils came out with better and crisper effort in the second period, though they were still having a lot of trouble actually getting their shots through to the net. This changed about four minutes into the frame though, as the action heated up with a few good looks from New Jersey (as well as a roughly minute-long stretch where the teams went continuously end to end on each other).
As the second period wore on, the Devils started to tilt the ice more and more. Around the halfway mark of the period, the Devils finally caught up to and surpassed the Sharks in shots on goal. In fact, about 13 minutes into the period, the Devils were outshooting the Sharks 11-3 in the second. But despite the shots and the puck possession tilting in New Jersey’s favor, San Jose continued to weather the storm.
With 6:05 left, Hughes and Bratt did some great work to set up Palat right in front for a one-time chance. Palat did what he does: Fire the puck directly into the goalie’s chest to turn a Grade-A opportunity into an easy save. That play was emblematic of the Devils overall in the middle frame: Applying pressure, controlling play, and setting themselves up for a breakthrough…but not being rewarded for their efforts with an actual goal.
And then of course, the Sharks scored on their first real chance of the period with 3:10 left. Macklin Celebrini won a faceoff in the Devils’ zone and made a nice backhand pass across the slot to Will Smith. Smith took a shot that was blocked by Brenden Dillon, the puck went right back to Smith, and he ripped it top shelf to restore San Jose’s lead to three. It was a backbreaker.
The very next shift, Hamilton and Siegenthaler somehow allowed Ryan Reaves (yes, that Ryan Reaves) to skate in alone on a breakaway. He didn’t score, but the fact that Reaves was allowed a breakaway at all was embarrassing enough.
But fear not! As San Jose would score again soon after. Orlov collected a loose puck off the half wall and just blindly tossed a shot in the general direction of the net. Somehow, it made it’s way past Allen (it deflected off Tyler Toffoli) for the second impossible-angle goal of the night. 5-1 San Jose.
That’s how the period would end. After Smith scored, it was as if the Devils’ collective spirit was broken. They allowed the Sharks to tilt the ice right back after completely controlling the first 75% of the middle frame. New Jersey could not break through against the Sharks, while the Sharks made scoring goals look hilariously easy. The Devils posted a 54% xGF% in the middle frame. It should have been a lot better than that, but as mentioned, the Sharks dominated the last five or so minutes of the period (scoring two goals in the process) to balance things out a little bit more.
Third Period
As you can imagine in a 5-1 game, the third period played out as a 20 minute garbage time session. The Sharks were content to let the Devils dominate puck possession, so long as San Jose made sure to park the bus in the defensive zone and get some chip-outs every once in a while.
New Jersey did get an early power play goal to make things at least mildly interesting though. A little over four minutes into the final frame, Hamilton blasted a one-timer from the point that ricocheted off of Mercer’s shinpad and in to cut the deficit to 5-2. After all the rotten puck luck the Devils experienced up to that point, it was nice that they finally got a bounce.
But that was about it as far as excitement goes. The rest of the period trickled away with a handful of chances for the Devils. But nothing that truly made me think they were on the verge of getting back into this game.
The game ended on that 5-2 score. It was a terrible, awful, embarrassing game from the Devils, their second straight clunker. At least this time they didn’t get swept by the lowly San Jose Sharks.
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
Quick Hits
As I write this, I have to be up for work approximately 15 seconds from now. So for postgame observations and analysis, we’re going to do this quick hits style. Apologies for the brevity, but I’m only human.
- I do find it amusing that in a league where Eastern Conference teams only play Western Conference teams twice per year, making each matchup pretty rare, we got this breakdown of New Jersey’s last four games: Sharks, Avalanche, Avalanche, Sharks. There are always funny scheduling quirks every year, and the first of those for 2025-26 was this.
- When coming back from the first TV timeout in the first period, the MSG broadcast showed a Keys to the Game graphic that went over how bad New Jersey’s California road trip went last year (swept by all three teams). Don LaGreca, while commenting on the graphic, then said “LL Cool J once said he’s ‘Going back to Cali’”…except Going Back To Cali a Notorious B.I.G. song. He has evolved from getting names wrong to getting musical artists wrong.
- I am so beyond done with Ondrej Palat as the third part of the Hughes-Bratt line. I can appreciate how he does a lot of the “little things” that open up space and help Hughes and Bratt thrive. But on the other hand, I’m quite certain the Devils could find someone who does all those little things while also being able to actually score points. Hughes set Palat up with golden opportunities multiple times this evening, and every time, Palat either whiffed on the chance or shot the puck directly into the goalie’s chest. Evgenii Dadonov can’t return soon enough.
- Their overall point totals are fine, and they’re both doing plenty of other things to contribute, but Nico Hischier and Timo Meier really need to find the back of the net again soon. Hischier only has two goals on the season and has now gone seven games without scoring. Meier has three goals, and he has also now gone seven consecutive games without a tally. Their lack of goalscoring hasn’t hurt the Devils all that much lately, but they need to find their scoring touch again soon.
- Simon Nemec was on the ice for three of the Sharks’ goals tonight at 5-on-5. He was one of three Devils to get outscored 3-0 in his minutes, along with his defense partner Brenden Dillon (which makes sense), and Meier. He did have an xGF% of around 63% though according to Natural Stat Trick, but I have a feeling these numbers are heavily inflated by score effects. Nemec was directly responsible for San Jose’s second goal tonight, and I’m starting to get a little concerned with his play.
- I really haven’t mentioned Jake Allen yet, but he had his first truly bad game of the season. He only made 23 saves on 28 shots (.821 sv%), and he allowed a whopping 2.48 goals above expected per Natural Stat Trick. It was a tough one, and hopefully Allen shakes it off and moves on.
Next Time Out
The Devils travel down the California coast for a date with the Kings in Los Angeles on Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 9:00pm.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? Did you make the correct decision to go to bed instead of watching this mess? Are you optimistic the Devils can right the ship in Los Angeles? As always, thanks for reading.
