The Devils finished their West Coast trip with a Sunday matinee in Seattle, dropping a tough one to the Kraken. Joey Daccord headlined this win, stopping 27 of 29 shots, including 12 of 13 in the final frame to send the Devils home with a 3-1 record on their northwest road trip. This one would feel better if they didn’t punt so many points early in the season, and it would’ve put us within 1 pt of the Isles in 3rd place. We need these games, and have very little margin for error.
1st period
The first was mostly
disjointed, save for a few shifts from Jack/Bratt/Timo, as penalties really defined the period. At 6:51 of the first, Shane Wright went off for high sticking on Glass (although was that friendly fire by Kovacevic?), and the power play got to work. After a few attempts to hit the bumper one-timer, they finally got a good look with Jack circling behind and finding Dougie who buried it far side through a screen. Seattle was clearly trying to shut down that bumper shot, which left Dougie wide open. That is now 3 PP goals in the last 4 chances.
Don’t let Dougie get hot! That is 10 points in their last 8 games since the benching a few weeks ago. Also, I really think we should investigate getting on the board first, it seems to work for us as we were 18-4-1 coming into today’s game.
As mentioned, penalties were abound, and the biggest one was from Palat getting popped by Lindgren, which Mercer objected to. With the auto-instigator in place, he got a two and ten for some wrestling. After killing that one off, the Devils would go on the power play again at 15:28, but it would be short lived as Dougie picked Winterton on a zone entry and got 2 for being big. After killing the short PK off, and with time winding down, Cotter went off for a careless high stick at 18:56. Nearing the end of the period the Kraken got a glorious cross slot opportunity but Nico had a strong stick on the back door, shutting it down.
On to the 2nd.
2nd Period
They started the period with 56 seconds to kill off in Cotter’s high sticking penalty, which they did with relative ease. Cotter got a good chance coming out of the box, but he got closed out and got a contested shot off that didn’t go. The rest of the 2nd was tilted to the Devils, in particular the Jack/Bratt/Timo line was buzzing, but couldn’t find the net. The Devils went back to the PP again, and got close but couldn’t squeeze it through Daccord on a split that his grandkids grandkids will feel. Timo also had a glorious chance blocked.
The Kraken tied it up 1-1 on an innocuous wrister from Ryker Evans at the point that pinballed through Markstrom. Your mileage may vary ascribing blame on this one, but it really started with a high flip from Timo that didn’t go anywhere and him subsequently getting pinned on a long shift. Add in a Kovacevic tip, Marky letting it leak through him and its 1-1.
3rd Period
The wheels feel off for 17 seconds in the 3rd and that was basically all it took. at 7:04 Bratt and Nemo had a bad miscommunication, and Beniers roofs a backhand over a sprawling Markstrom after cutting across the crease. Shortly after they got another off a weird sequence. Nico lost the draw, and a shot from the top of the left circle found its way to Stephenson who fed it cross crease and to Catton who whiffed on it but it had enough momentum to have Kovacevic’s skate guide it in.
We did put another on the board as Jack gets a nice bounce off Larrson’s knee on the PP to make it 3-2. This new look powerplay has been cashing in as of late (25% since the new year / 11th in the league), with Brown moved onto the unit, and Dougie back where he belongs.
But that was all we have as the hockey gods were not on our side – a bad bounce up at the point over Dougie’s stick sprung Eberle with 1:12 left, and he buried the empty netter, and that was that.
Some Scattered Thoughts
I hate to continue harping on someone, but we really need more from Bratt. Since he scored twice against Minnesota, he has 1 assist in 6 games to go along with a -6.
I would really would love some analytics site to develop a strike zone or spray chart for where guys shoot the puck to. Timo, again, with multiple clean grade-A looks only to launch them high and wide, or right into the goalie’s logo. in his last 15 games he has 2 goals and 2 assists. We cannot wait until March every year for this guy.
The PK has been great, in their last 16 games (basically since Pesce’s return) they have gone 26/30 in the kill or 86.7% and are 4th in the league in 2026. It would be a lot of fun if we could have more than 1-2 things working at once.
Seattle blocked 20 shots, and while not a crazy number, they do a very good job of collapsing to the slot/netfront. Every pass we tried to get in there, it seemed like there were 3-4 Kraken around it at all times.
Pesce had a scary moment toward the end of the 2nd period, after being upended by Tolvanen and landing face first. His forehead was leaking blood, and it took about half way through the 3rd for his return. He had a gorgeous “hockey guy” gash in his eyeborw.
I wouldn’t necessarily say any of the goals were 100% on Markstrom, but his general sloppiness probably contributed to all three. The first one he needs to close off, the second he was way out and couldn’t recover, and over committed on the 3rd. Not his fault though when all we can muster is 2 PP goals, one of which went off the other team.
Again, it sucks that we need almost every game here on out, and psychologically getting within one point of the Isles would’ve done wonders. But 3-1 on this trip vaulted them back into the mix, and they have a stretch of winnable games coming up.
These D Pairs need some mixing, no idea why they are forcing Nemec to his off hand when Pesce is great on his off hand. Am I crazy thinking it should look like this:
Dillon-Dougie
Pesce – Nemec
Siegs – Kovacevic
Let me know your thoughts! Hope everyone stays safe and warm, and damage from the storm was minimal.
LGD
