Well, that was unexpected. One of, if not the most thorough game this team has played all season, making it an 11 game win streak in Montreal. Sometimes things can’t really be explained and you just have a team’s number.
Out of the gate the Montreal fans let the boos rain down on Olympic golden boy Jack Hughes, which is a massive sign of respect from an always electric crowd. Too bad for them that Jack added another 2 points to continue his torrid pace post-Olympics, leading the good guys to a 3-0
shutout over a very good Montreal team. the big story was the PK in this game, especially in the 3rd period as things got a little frisky.
1st Period
Another fast paced start and a generally strong first period from the Devils. Like last night, both teams started on the front foot, trading chances early with the Devils controlling the bulk of the play. Mercer, Jack, and Nico all made excellent back checking plays on dangerous rushes, and for the most part the Habs were kept to the perimeter, or were stifled in the neutral zone, and not many dangerous chances got through to Markstrom.
The Devils would strike first, right after the first power play of the game. With Guhle coming out of the box, Timo caried int he zone, dropped it for Jack who danced across the top of the zone and drove hard down the left wing, firing one off the near post. Timo was right there to pounce on an easy tap in, and we are off and running.
Right before Timo’s zone entry, Markstrom made an excellent save on a short ice breakaway by Veleno, after he harrassed and stripped Luke at the top of the circle. Veleno is a relentless forechecker, he forced Jack into a turnover last night, Timo into one early and now this.
The next best scoring chance the Devils got was int he waning minutes, as Nico found Nemec in the high slot who had all day and a screen, but ripped it off the post. Markstrom stopped what he needed to, with an assist by the post in the waning minutes, but we got to the room at 1-0. All in all a strong first for the Devils, entering the 2nd with a 75% xGF, 9-4 shot advantage and 13-9 scoring chance advantage.
2nd Period
Montreal basically spent the first 2 minutes of the second period in the Devils zone, but we continued to stay disciplined and kept them away from any high danger areas. The best chance they got was Kapanen in front, but Markstrom swallowed it.
The game was a little bit lower event until Halonen got called for holding at the offensive blueline at 6:18 – didn’t look like much to me, but anytime you use your free hand they’ll call it, no matter how ineffective the grab was. The boys killed this one off in style, as the best opportunity came shorthanded off of Mercer’s stick on a 2-on-1 with Nico.
Shortly after the kill ended, Connor Brown danced 3 guys in the offensive zone, but caught a high stick, and we would get a crack on the power play. Nothing really came of this one, though, and after 4-5 rough zone entry tries we were back to even.
with time winding down in the 2nd Glass picked up the puck in the neutral zone and walked right down broadway, gives Matheson a little how-ya-doin and beat Fowler 5 hole, to go up 2-0. Nice play by Bjugstad on the boards to shovel this one out of harms way in the D-zone.
They would get to the room up 2-0, and putting on an absolute defensive masterclass, giving up a paltry 1.0 x and 8 shots through 40 minutes.
3rd Period
The third period was marred by penalties, and got a little frisky, starting with Luke losing his mind on Bolduc who should’ve gotten a boarding call. That is when the parade started:
I’m not going to get into each and every one of these. If we lost I maybe would have had more to say about the calls in this game, but I found some of them to be suspect at best, and that doesn’t even include the missed interference with 2 minutes left that led to Brown getting ejected.
I did love Dillon stepping in when Jack got sandwiched, and clearly Jack loved it too, bringing all of Dillon’s gear to the box and giving him some love.
Speaking of the end of the game, Brown would ice this one at 16:35, off a perfect clear by Luke, Bratt, and Jack:
And that’s it, put a pitchfork in this one, we ain’t dead yet (mathematically).
Some Scattered Thoughts
One day I may wrote something about this, but I have really noticed (and reinforced by Sal during the 2nd intermission) is the Neutral Zone play on the defensive side of the puck. Since the break, our forwards have been so much better at disrupting flow and rush play coming the other way and our D have had much better gaps.
I still stand by the fact that management needs to change heading into next year, but I have been stuck in limbo on where I think we should go personnel wise. I have something in the works to finish off my Path Forward 3 part series, but am waiting for the season to be over.
I hated the Bjugstad deal at first, mostly just to be a hater since I saw it as too little too late, but he has fit in well here as a good depth piece. Will be a good bottom 6 swing guy and a good pro.
Lenni’s game was off for a few weeks, but he seems to have regained some juice, and has added a little more physicality to the mix. He’s a big boy, and if he figures that out I really like his ceiling.
Nico is closing in on 1000 faceoffs won, and clears the next closest person by about 200. I don’t really think faceoffs matter in the aggregate, but situationally he is always there for the important ones – he ate Suzuki’s lunch in OT yesterday.
I am getting DANGEROUSLY close to Connor Brown jersey territory. We give Fitz a lot of grief (deservedly so) but Brown has been an excellent signing. Top 5 red head of all time.
Mercer has stepped up his game since the break as well, and its good to see him finishing again. He plays well when the team plays well, and isn’t going to steer the ship, but is a great passenger. If he pots 2 more, Brown adds 3 and Glass adds 3, we will have 6 20-goal scorers. Unfortunately we will likely have no 30 goal scorers.
LGD
