First Period
The New Jersey Devils had a nice start to the game, putting together two offensive zone shifts, leading to an early deflection goal for Nico Hischier, off the stick of Luke Hughes. Hischier was in front
with Hughes shooting from distance near the wall, and the puck deflected at once or twice while going through traffic, beating Darcy Kuemper in the first minute and a half of the period.
The Kings had a chance to tie the game about five and a half minutes in, pressuring the Devils and forcing Jacob Markstrom to sprawl around to make some hectic stops. I’m not even sure what was keeping the puck out of the net at some points. Dennis Cholowski did some good work by the side of the net to keep Corey Perry from potting the loose puck. Phillip Danault had a point-blank chance off a play from behind the net a couple minutes later, and Markstrom made the save with his right arm.
While Markstrom bailed them out a few times in the middle of the period, the Devils still really struggled to generate offense with the new-look lines. The Hughes line almost had a chance in the last five minutes of the period with Jesper Bratt leading a rush, but his pass back to a cutting Stefan Noesen was on the wrong side, hitting him in the skate rather than on the stick. Bratt could have taken the shot, having gotten all the way to the crease, but the Devils did not get a shot off because of Noesen being handcuffed. Still, the Devils got out of the first period with a lead, as the Kings’ offensive chances started to dry up towards the end of the period.
Second Period
The Devils looked better in the first few minutes of the second period than they had for most of the first, with the Mercer line (featuring Bratt on the wing with Meier) having an extended offensive zone shift that put a lot of pressure on Kuemper. That line changed off for the fourth, and Brian Halonen came flying in with his first career NHL goal! Luke Glendening picked up the primary assist for setting it up. Dennis Cholowski got his first point in a Devils uniform with the secondary.
A few minute slater, Jacob Markstrom made a huge save on Quinton Byfield, who had a great chance to score after Drew Doughty made a good play to set him up. Then, the Devils were called for a two-minute holding penalty in the neutral zone, with Arseny Gritsyuk going to the box. Luke Hughes was able to clear the puck off the faceoff win by Hischier, and the Kings regained the zone with about 90 seconds to work with on the power play. Markstrom made a glove save with a minute left to kill, giving the Devils a chance to change. Jack Hughes almost had Timo Meier late in the kill on a two-on-one, but his pass just jumped over Meier’s stick. Still, the Devils killed their first penalty of the game.
The officials overlooked a too many men penalty on the Kings while Brenden Dillon was out on the ice playing with Luke Glendening’s stick, forcing Dillon to stay on the ice for longer as the Kings ended up hemming the Devils in. Markstrom was able to bail them out again, and the Devils got back to playing for offense after play resumed. Of course, Nico Hischier would later be called for a hooking penalty in the defensive zone, sending the Devils back to the kill with over six minutes to play. This one was an actual penalty, with Alex Laferriere looking for a rebound goal.
The Kings won the draw to start the two minutes, but Markstrom gloved a shot from Anze Kopitar. He made another glove save off the next draw. Juho Lammikko finally poked the puck out to center with a nice play at the blueline, but the Kings came right back, and Markstrom had to cover a blocked pass with 1:18 left to kill. Hamilton helped prevent a goal, but Markstrom still had to react quickly there. The Devils then won a draw, and Mercer able to skate it out for an offsides on the other end, with Palat on his wing. He then took the neutral zone draw with 1:05 to kill, and the Kings won it back to their own end. They regained the zone with a dump-in with 50 seconds to work with, and Palat was unable to get the puck out by the blueline before the Kings settled it down. Luke Hughes jumped on a rebound and had a clearing attempt from the side of the net deflect off a King, and Markstrom had to make a couple more saves to kill the remainder of the penalty. Nico Hischier rejoined his teammates on the ice, who all had over a minute running on their shifts, but Markstrom finally stopped play with 3:32 left to play in the period despite the Kings’ pressure.
Third Period
The Devils were called for a third penalty in just the first minute of the third period, with Timo Meier going to the box for a tripping call. At most, Meier clipped Mikey Anderson’s skate. The Devils cleared quickly off the draw, later getting a chance to change at the end of the first minute when Brenden Dillon found Dawson Mercer in the middle of the ice with a blind pass from the wall. Jonas Siegenthaler made a big block and then dove at the puck to chip it ahead to Mercer late in the penalty kill. Mercer used Hischier as a decoy on a two-on-one, ripping a shorthanded goal to make it 3-0!
After taking the three-goal lead, the Devils looked a lot better at keeping possession. Stefan Noesen had a couple wraparound attempts on a line with Lammikko and Gritsyuk, helping the Devils keep the puck in the offensive zone for a full shift. The Kings were still able to break Markstrom’s shutout with a chip shot by Andrei Kuzmeko off a feed from Anze Kopitar, making it 3-1 with a bit over 10 minutes to play. Hamilton got caught on the wall after he missed the puck, and Siegenthaler could not block the pass to the front of the net.
While the Kings crowd was going berserk over the game-tying home run in the top of the ninth inning of the World Series, Jacob Markstrom made a flashy glove save to keep the Devils up two goals, sending the game to a well-timed TV timeout as the Los Angeles crowd watched baseball on their jumbotron.
The Devils called timeout with 8:18 to play, with Sheldon Keefe trying to calm his team down after the Kings had another stretch of offensive zone play. Despite the timeout, the Devils continued to look like they were killing penalties. The Hischier line was out with Dillon and Hughes, who fought to block some shots against the Kopitar line until the puck went out of play. The Devils then got a big break with 6:16 when the Kings iced the puck. The Hughes line got an offensive zone possession out of this turn of fortune, killing about a minute before the Kings could get the puck back towards the Devils’ end.
The Kings got a fourth power play with 4:21 to play when Dougie Hamilton was sent to the box for tripping Andrei Kuzmenko. This was a tough position for the Devils to end up in, as Hamilton has been on the penalty kill even more than he had been with Brett Pesce out of the lineup. The Devils went to the kill ina six-on-four situation, with the Kings net empty. Glendening lost the draw, and the Kings started setting up shots. Markstrom made two saves before being able to freeze the puck.
Nico Hischier won the next draw back, and Dawson Mercer hit the empty net from full ice off a poke to him from Jacob Markstrom! The Devils made it a 4-1 game while still on the penalty kill!
Kuemper went to the bench again with three and a half minutes to play. The Kings played the situation slowly, looking for a perfect chance, but they were unable to get one. Dawson Mercer almost had the hat trick on another empty net chance, but it was blocked. Jack Hughes later shot it over the net after taking a feed from Stefan Noesen. After a stoppage, Kuemper returned to the net for the final minute and 21 seconds, and the Devils sealed their win at 4-1!
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
Big Game for Markstrom
If you were looking for a reason to feel good about the extension that Jacob Markstrom signed last night, he certainly gave one tonight. As Don La Greca noted at the end of the game, this game featured the most shots faced by Jacob Markstrom in a regular season game for the New Jersey Devils, as he stopped 42 of 43. Prior to this game, he had only faced 40 or more shots once, on January 17 last season against the Maple Leafs. The Kings had 3.66 expected goals in all situations, but he kept the damage limited to one against.
He was all over the puck tonight, and I think he made a point to be a little more reactive towards long shots. Knowing that the Kings would be looking for tips, redirections, and rebounds, Markstrom did not pass up a single chance to jump on the puck and freeze it tonight. It was glove save galore.
Return of the Dawg
With the Kings only mustering one goal tonight, Dawson Mercer made sure that the game stayed out of reach. With his shorthanded tally and his empty netter, Mercer got up to eight goals and 13 points through 12 games this season. This was the version of Dawson Mercer that Devils fans were hoping would finally arrive since his 56-point sophomore season in 2022-23. With 70 games to go, he is now over a third of the way to beating his point production in either of the last two seasons. And I mean, really, how often do you see a game with two shorthanded goals from one player?
Halonen’s Game Winner
Having scored the second goal of the game tonight, Brian Halonen takes home the GWG on his card with his first career NHL goal. While Halonen did not play a ton tonight, with just 6:06 in ice time, he quickly showed why he could be an intriguing option in the lineup with so many injuries to manage at the moment. He was one of only four Devils to have a positive xGF% (with Noesen, Jack Hughes, and Bratt). He looked like he was shot out of a cannon on his goal. Maybe if he wasn’t regularly stuck on a ridiculously hemmed-in fourth line, he might have a chance to show off that shot more often.
Adjustments?
The Devils got out of this one with the win, but I imagine they are rather hoping for Connor Brown to be available tomorrow night. Having Brown back in the lineup should, I think, mean a return to center for Dawson Mercer, as that Hischier line did not have a lot of success at five-on-five tonight. Lammikko found himself a bit glued to the bench down the stretch, only playing a bit over seven minutes and losing five of his six draws, so it might work out that Halonen got himself on the board tonight.
Defensively, I am not sure what Keefe should do. Seamus Casey would not be easy to shelter, but the Cholowski-Nemec pairing was not good outside of a couple desperate defensive plays. They had a 17.24 CF% and 21.69 xGF%, which was the worst of the defense. The Dillon-Hughes pairing had a 34.88 and 29.46 xGF%. The Siegenthaler-Hamilton pairing came close to breaking even in possession, but was on the ice for the goal against and still had a weak 35.40 xGF%. It might be time to go back to the drawing board, but options are limited. All I know is the team cannot spend as much time in the defensive zone tomorrow night and expect Jake Allen to make the same exact saves they asked Markstrom to make tonight.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s game? Did you think the Devils would keep the Kings to one goal after the first period? What did you think of Markstrom’s game? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
