They can’t all be hanging in The Louvre. Sometimes you have to find a way to to grind them out and the Devils did just that, taking down the Sharks 3-1 tonight on the strength of 2 PP goals from Dougie
and a heavy dose of shot suppression.
The word this season has been maturity, and if you haven’t read Jared’s excellent piece on it, well you should. The general narrative coming from the locker room was “respect the opponent” which was exactly what the Rangers players said they didn’t do last night. That’s a shame, anyone know what happened?
1st: Did They Respect Their Opponent?
Well, not at first. It seems that mantra didn’t really hit home as the Devils start flat, lacked crispness and compete. The early tone was set as Nico took an early penalty on a failed clear by getting his stick tied up in Skinner’s legs. The sloppiness led to a broken zone entry and the Sharks ended the Devils impressive PK kill streak at 21 – a bad bounce made its way to Eklund who beat Allen low blocker. 1-0 them with 17:35 left in the period.
Still not entirely awake, we continued to struggle with crispness, repeatedly got tied up getting through the neutral zone – the only real 5 on 5 opportunity was from Cotter who made a nice power move to the paint where he was robbed by a nice pad save by Askarov.
The Devils started to tilt the ice mid-period, highlighted by a hook by Gaudette on yet another nice power move by Cotter through the slot. Largely sloppy, the power play contained one grade A chance for Nico who was robbed by a sprawling blocker save by Askarov. While they were unsuccessful with the man advantage, they did start stringing together some decent connected shifts, but the last 10 were largely uneventful and frankly pretty sloppy with a “get to the room” feel.
2nd: There’s The Team We All Know
Well, good thing they did get to the room because the second was a much better, more thorough period and as has been the case, the Devils got to their game quickly. Starting on the power play certainly helps, and we cashed in care of Douglas Entertainment Hamilton who crept in from the point and sniped one past a sprawling Askarov after a scramble in front.
Shortly after a sloppy breakdown led to a partial breakaway for Skinner, the Sharks got a rebound to bounce in and it appeared to be 2-0. But wait! Sheldon and the gang called a challenge for offsides – these tend to never be wrong and sure enough the goal was called back. In a bit of confusion, Nemec was called for a penalty on the play as he took down Skinner during the play. It seems the suits at the league thought about his exact scenario and rule 37.2 of the goal review procedures states:
“If One or more penalties (minor or major) are assessed between the time of the ‘off-side’ play and the video review that disallows the apparent goal, the offending team(s) (and responsible players(s)) will still be required to serve the penalt(ies) identified and assessed, and the time the penalt(ies) will be recorded as the time as which the play should have been stopped for the ‘off-side’ infraction.
If you aren’t in a reading mood (odd place to be if you aren’t) basically Nemec had to serve the penalty, so we dodged a bullet, but caught some shrapnel. After yet another excellent kill, Mercer drew a hook on Skinner with a nice wily veteran move, trapping his stick and not really giving Skinner a choice but to hook him. Off to the power play we go! After some outstanding puck movement and chance after chance, Jack danced around the back of the net, and found Dougie once again creeping into the slot where he blew one through Askarov.
At 12:34 Iorio flipped a puck over the glass putting the boys back on the power play once again, and shortly after at 13:30 Desharnais decided to try kidney surgery on Noesen which sent us to a 5 on 3. After a relentless shooting gallery where nothing fell (but generated almost 2 full expected goals) the Sharks were back to evens. It did seem like the boys were feeding Dougie for the hatty on this one. This powerplay put the Devils on the front foot and for the first time all night they strung together consecutive strong shifts with significant O-Zone pressure. Between the power plays and Ozone time we were able to hold the Sharks to zero shots in the 2nd. I’m not a coach, but that seems like a good strategy.
Stop Playing With Your Food!
Off to the 3rd with what felt like both precarious lead, but also somewhat safe. That make sense? No? Anyway, We were holding up well with a 2-1 lead, but with their talent that could’ve broken at any moment with the smallest of mistakes. More penalties didn’t help as Brown got a little too high on Wennberg’ stick and caught his hands at 1:35 of the 3rd. Once again the PK stood up and killed this one off with relative ease but 6 minutes later, we would find ourselves short AGAIN after Timo tried to remove Liljegren’s clavicle at 7:41. This time we got some puck luck for yet ANOTHER successful kill, the highlight being Jake the snake’s point blank mask save. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that might have been a good break for us.
After being set free, Timo was a menace and had several great close chances, bullying his way to shots. He also decided to pigeon toss 6’7” Desharnais in front of Askarov – I’m assuming they were exchanging ideas about Halloween decorations and disagreed. Mad Timo is fun, he is an animal when he wants to be. The crowd seemed to enjoy it as well breaking out into a “Timo!” *clap* *clap* “Timo!” chant. Love it, nice work everyone.
The rest of the 3rd was relatively uneventful except for one minor booboo (see above about giving these guys an inch) and Jake bailed the boys out again with a great glove save on a short ice breakaway. The sexiest red head in all the land added the dagger, and we are done and dusted, 3-1. 7 in a row. Wagon season is here kiddos, next stop is a major home and away test against the Avs Sunday and Tuesday – a bit of an odd schedule quirk.
Some additional scattered thoughts
Luke had a hilarious spaz for some reason – I assuming because he missed some chances. It gave off youngest sibling vibes. Otherwise he has been OUTSTANDING this season. His play at the offensive blue line has been exceptional, his decisions in all three zones have been sound, and he has added a physical element to his recoveries where he legit just tosses guys away.
Speaking of evolving games, Dougie is like a whole new guy. He’s using his size, has been laying some booming hits, is playing sound defense and is in a regular rotation on the PK where he has been stellar. And some of you wanted to sell him for a bag of pucks. Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Nemec had a second consecutive strong all around game after some rough moments in Toronto. More of this please Simon, he still is showing flashes of strong 2 way play, mixed with some brain farts. Reminds of someone-who-I-shall-not-name.
Dillon has also been outstanding as well so far this season – his new bionic neck seems to be working out.
Might as well mention Siegs and Pesce too – what absolute warriors. They would jump in front of a ‘75 Buick Wagon if it was on close to being on goal.
Well, now I’m going to write a longer blog about the D group so far. Look what you made me do.
We continue to get solid, if not spectacular goaltending from Jake and Daws with Marky out. Love it. I’ll go ahead and say it, I feel more comfortable with Allen in goal than Markstrom right now.
Not a lot to hate here friends, even when it’s not great, we still found a way. What did you make of tonight?
LGD
