First Period
The first five to six minutes of the game featured a decent amount of offensive zone time for the Devils, but not much in the way of quality chances. that changed when Jesper Bratt took a stretch pass off the left wing and got a step on the Chicago defense. He went in on Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight alone, deked forehand before going backhand, but he couldn’t beat Knight. It was the first premium chance for either side.
With 10:33 left in the period, the third line was in the midst of a terrific
shift in which they forechecked and cycled Chicago to death. They didn’t get any high-quality chances at net, but they did get a couple looks. But the shift ended thanks to Ondrej Palat taking a hooking penalty when trying to force a takeaway for the first penalty of the game.
On the kill, Bratt and Nico Hischier actually rushed down the ice on a 2-on-1 thanks to a bad turnover by the Blackhawks, but Hischier whiffed on what appeared to be an attempted pass and only generated a low-danger shot on net on the chance. It was a bit of a missed opportunity. The Blackhawks did put up four shots on goal on the power play, but New Jersey held them off the board.
Shortly after the power play ended, Zack MacEwen took a hard hit behind Chicago’s net from Connor Murphy. MacEwen appeared to be hurt on the play and he went down the tunnel.
With 3:14 left, Luke Hughes got tangled up with Connor Bedard trying to chase a puck down in the neutral zone, getting tagged for a tripping call in the process. Then a mere 32 seconds into the Chicago power play, Brenden Dillon was called for a two-minute boarding penalty when going for a hit on Tyler Bertuzzi. New Jersey was handling 5-on-5 play pretty well to this point, but Chicago was staying in the game thanks to the Devils committing penalties. If I’m being honest, I didn’t think any of the penalties the Devils committed were particularly egregious. Especially Hughes’ and Dillon’s infractions, which were a little unlucky.
In any case, Chicago had a lengthy 5-on-3. After the Hawks hit a couple posts and Jacob Markstrom made a couple nice saves, Markstrom inexplicably started flopping around in the slot. I’m not kidding, while tracking the puck, he seemed to just loose his feet and desperately tried to flail his body in the general direction of the puck. It didn’t work, leaving the net completely vacant aside from Jonas Siegenthaler trying to shield the net himself. He couldn’t do it on a Bedard one-timer, and the Blackhawks’ wunderkind scored to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Seriously, go watch the replay. I have no idea what possessed Markstrom to do what he did.
After the goal, New Jersey killed the rest of the other penalty, which was the good news. The bad news was that with about 10 seconds left in the period, Cody Glass went hard into the boards and appeared to injury his arm. We’ve talked about it to death, but it really is out of control how many injuries the Devils have endured in the early going. Just in this first period alone, MacEwen and Glass suffered apparent injuries. The situation is becoming untenable for New Jersey.
The period ended shortly thereafter. It was a good period at 5-on-5 for the Devils, but the problem was New Jersey really shot themselves in the foot with penalties in the opening frame.
Second Period
To begin the second period, MacEwen did not return to the bench, but Glass did. So good news/bad news to start the middle frame.
But on Glass’ first shift of the period, he appeared to end his shift early, waving to the bench as he left the ice. And sure enough, the next time the third line was deployed, Paul Cotter was in the middle of Palat and Stefan Noesen. So unless Glass had a miraculous comeback up his sleeve, the Devils would have to play basically 40 minutes with only 10 forwards.
With just under 13 minutes left in the period, Jack Hughes drew a hooking call to send New Jersey to their first power play of the game. The Devils sustained some good zone time and collected three shots, but did not score on the man advantage.
A few minutes after the power play, the ice really opened up. New Jersey was getting a few rush chances while limiting the chances the other way. At one point, Jack Hughes and Hischier were both sprung on breakaways in quick succession, but Knight made the save both times. That felt like a turning point, as New Jersey was getting their chances but simply could not solve Knight at all.
But then, out of nowhere, a breakthrough. In the final minute of the period, the Devils fought off the Blackhawks forecheck and started up the ice. Hischier gained the zone up the middle and dropped a pass to an activating Simon Nemec. Nemec deliberately weaved his way through the slot and eventually to the right of Knight. Nemec whipped a backhand shot on net, and it somehow beat Knight over the pad and under the blocker to tie the game with about 14 seconds remaining in the middle frame. After all the chances, all the breakaways, the fact that this was the chance that beat Knight was pretty crazy. Not that it was a bad shot from Nemec at all, just that New Jersey generated way more dangerous opportunities with nothing to show for it. I guess it all evens out in the end.
The period ended seconds later. This was an excellent period for the Devils. Not only did they stay out of the box, but they thoroughly dominated play. New Jersey outshot Chicago 14-4, and they posted a 5-on-5 Expected Goals For% of around 77%. The fact that they did that on the road while playing with 10 forwards for essentially the entire period was impressive.
Third Period
The period began with New Jersey continuing to keep their foot on the gas, but no goals to show for it. Then with 16:55 left in the frame, Chicago broke through again. Luke Hughes made a nice play to steal a puck away in the defensive zone, but turned the puck over immediately after gaining possession. The puck was worked to the point where Louis Crevier ripped a shot toward the net. The puck hit Landon Slaggert and it redirected perfectly past Markstrom and in for a 2-1 Chicago edge.
After the goal, New Jersey continued to press. The Devils put together a couple good shifts, and at one point Jack set Luke up for a great one-time chance, but Luke couldn’t put the puck on net. The youngest Hughes has been doing a much better job of actually putting his shots on net recently, but that one hurt.
Then with 9:47 left, the Devils tied the game again. The Hughes line put together another great shift, and it culminated with Hughes threading a killer cross-ice pass to Dawson Mercer on the backdoor. Mercer one-timed it home to knot the score at 2-2. Credit to Hughes for making a terrific pass, and credit to Mercer for blasting a shot that was not easy to get off. He had to adjust his body a little bit to get all of it, and he did.
The Devils continued to control play after tying the game, but a few minutes later, Sam Lafferty went in on the forecheck against Luke Hughes. Lafferty won the puck, and toe-dragged around both Hughes and Markstrom for a highlight reel goal to give the Blackhawks the lead once more. Hughes didn’t exactly drape himself in glory on the play, but once again Markstrom just flailed around and was helpless as he watched Lafferty dance around him. The Devils were doing their best to idiot-proof the game for their struggling goalie, but Markstrom was unable to hold up his end of the bargain.
But the Devils thankfully had a quick response. A pretty passing play off the rush from Jack Hughes to Noesen to Nemec on the backdoor yielded yet another goal for Nemec, his first career multi-goal game. It barely crossed the line, as it was a little bit of a misfire from Nemec, but maybe it was just him being extra careful not to miss the net, who knows. Either way, Nemec scored a huge goal with about five minutes left.
The rest of regulation melted away, and for the fourth consecutive game, the Devils would play overtime.
Overtime
For the first few minutes of overtime, the frame unfolded how the rest of the game was going: With New Jersey dominating play. Chicago got a couple of looks at net, but nothing truly dangerous. Meanwhile Jack Hughes drove the net for a good look and should have drawn a penalty, but the officials had to manage the game. Luke Hughes, Mercer, and Meier all took their turns with quality looks, but none could crack Knight.
Then, Luke Hughes played a puck all the way back from the offensive zone to Markstrom to help keep possession. The Devils made a change, and Markstrom stretched a pass to Nemec, who was waiting at the offensive blue line. Nemec broke in, and just before a Chicago defender could get to him, he wired a shot from the near circle. Nemec’s wrister beat Knight far-side top shelf, and incredibly, Nemec finished off both the game and a hat trick, giving his team a 4-3 overtime victory.
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
- Tonight’s game was already scheduled to be a weird start time since it was a nationally-televised contest. It was advertised as a 9:30pm start, which we all know really means about eight minutes after that (and 9:30 Eastern time is already oddly late for a game in Chicago). But because the first game of TNT’s doubleheader (Rangers at Lightning) dragged on a little bit despite not reaching overtime, the Devils didn’t get started until 9:52pm ET…for a game in the Central Time Zone. I can’t speak for everyone, but I feel confident that I speak for the vast majority of Devils fans when I say I don’t appreciate the NHL turning a game in Chicago into a quasi-west coast start time. Brutal.
- Now to the game. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: What an unbelievable game from Nemec. It wasn’t just the hat trick, although obviously that’s the headline. It was the fact that he controlled play (At 5-on-5 he had an 81% xGF mark, and the Devils outscored the Blackhawks 3-0 with Nemec on the ice). It was also the fact that he logged absolutely huge minutes too, playing 26:27 tonight, second on the team behind only Luke Hughes’ 26:48. It has been a rocky beginning to the season, and one game does not fix everything, but Nemec is starting to stack good games lately. And tonight was his crown jewel.
- According to the TNT broadcast, Nemec was only the third Devils defenseman in franchise history to register a hat trick (and only the second since the franchise moved to New Jersey). I wish I could tell you who the others are, but I either missed it on the broadcast or they did not mention it. And as I write this, it is past midnight and I have work in the morning so I won’t be hunting that answer down this evening (technically morning). My apologies.
- Sheldon Keefe juggled his forward lines tonight, putting together a unit of Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, and Arseni Gritsyuk. Simply put, that line absolutely needs to stay together for at least one more game. At 5-on-5, that trio played 15:18 together, and they completely boatraced the Blackhawks in their minutes. The Hughes line out-attempted Chicago 29-5(!), outshot them 10-1(!), and only allowed a microscopic 0.04 xGA while registering a 96.18 xGF%. A complete wipeout. More of that, please.
- I was also encouraged by Hischier’s game tonight. Hischier has been struggling lately, not controlling play or putting up points like we’re accustomed to seeing. I don’t think we can blame the brutal competition he’s been getting matched up with, because he’s been getting that deployment for a few seasons now and he has still managed to produce. Maybe he’s nursing an injury, maybe he’s just slumping, who knows. But the point is, Hischier hasn’t looked like himself over the past few weeks, so it was nice to see him put up a good effort tonight. At 5-on-5 he posted a 56.37 xGF%, and his line with Meier and Bratt registered a collective xGF% around 69%. Hopefully the captain can keep it going next game.
- It was another bad game for Jacob Markstrom. Yes he redeemed himself with the terrific pass to Nemec for the game-winner in overtime, but of the three goals he allowed tonight, two of them were pretty bad. The first one goes without saying, I still cannot comprehend what he was doing flopping around in the slot. The second goal was a bad luck redirection, so I won’t blame him for that. But the third one, in which him and Luke Hughes were posterized by Sam Lafferty, was also one Markstrom could have stopped. He generated no lateral movement, and allowed Lafferty to just glide right by him for an easy score. Markstrom actually looked like he might have hurt himself on the play, but he stayed in the game. That doesn’t mean he’s not hurt though, so his situation bears monitoring. Either way, it was yet another clunker from Markstrom, who really needs to right the ship in a hurry.
- Speaking of injuries, the Devils suffered a few more tonight. We’ll see about Markstrom, but MacEwen and Glass both leaving early on really hurt. Since MacEwen returned to the lineup, he’s really helped stabilize the fourth line, which was in desperate need of stabilization. Meanwhile Glass helped the third line get back on track himself, even adding some scoring touch in his first game back last week. We’ll see how much time they might miss, but hopefully it’s nothing serious for either player.
- Seriously, please make it stop. The injuries are completely out of control at this point. I don’t know which deity I need to pray to, but I would gladly worship at the alter of any being that can make the injuries stop. I can’t take it anymore.
Next Time Out
The Devils travel back east, but not home. New Jersey gets two days off before visiting Washington to take on the Capitals on Saturday. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? Did you actually stay up for it? How impressed were you with Nemec? Who else on the team impressed you? What are you expecting next time out? As always, thanks for reading!
