Without Dougie Hamilton, Jack Hughes, and Jonas Siegenthaler, the Devils faced one of their biggest tests in the Edmonton Oilers tonight. Their defense held strong, and they came through in the third period to take the two points in a nationally-broadcast game.
First Period
The New Jersey Devils had the first big chance of the game against the Edmonton Oilers. Stefan Noesen stole the puck from Leon Draisaitl and skated off on a rush. He passed across to Timo Meier, but the pass ended up in Meier’s skates, and Meier’s pass to Hischier led to a big save by Stuart Skinner, with Nico crashing into the goal as Edmonton swept the rebound away. The Devils had much better pressure in the first five minutes, but Draisaitl finally got Edmonton a chance when he snuck in on the defense and had a shot right in on Jake Allen — he was stopped, and the Devils went back on the attack on the following shift.
The Oilers took a few more minutes to finally pin a line in the defensive zone, with the fourth liners facing down a few shot attempts. But this possession came to an end when Curtis Lazar intercepted a puck going from below the goal line to the slot, and he sent the puck down the ice for a line change. But after he did so, Adam Henrique caught the Devils sleeping, springing Vasily Podkolzin for a chance on Allen, which was stopped. The Oilers’ third line then had a bit of possession themselves, but no chance came as good as the one Henrique initially set up.
The Devils went to the power play with 10:15 to go in the period when Darnell Nurse sent Dawson Mercer flying as Mercer cut across for a shot on goal. The Devils did not have an outstanding attack on the first wave, as the Oilers did not allow them to string too much puck movement together. The Devils went down to 0-for-1 on the power play, and Jake Allen made a huge save on Evan Bouchard on the rush after play returned to five-on-five. But play did not stay at even strength for long. After Nate Bastian threw a reverse hit along the boards, the Devils were about to counterattack, and Max Jones wrapped his arm around and took him to the ice, sending the Devils back to the power play with 6:38 to play in the first. Stuart Skinner had to stop shots from Hischier and Tatar on this power play, but the Oilers came up with timely enough blocked shots to keep the Devils at bay for the two minutes.
After Johnny Kovacevic fell in the corner of the defensive zone, Jake Allen had to a big stop on Connor McDavid and Zack Hyman in front. McDavid looked for a penalty as Bastian stuck out his free arm to shield the puck for the counterattack, but he got no such call. The Devils kept pushing back on the Edmonton rushes, and Hischier was denied by Skinner when he had a partial two-on-one with Erik Haula. On the other end, though, Evan Bouchard panged the puck off the outside of the post with a minute and a half left in the period. Thankfully, Darnell Nurse fumbled the puck at the Edmonton blueline in the final minute when the McDavid line had the Devils more or less pinned, and the last chance of the period came on a Corey Perry one-timer that went well wide, before Johnny Kovacevic intercepted a pass to the high slot, lifting the puck away to send the teams to the locker room scoreless.
Second Period
Tomas Tatar took a two minute interference penalty a bit over a minute into the period when Tatar picked Draisaitl, sending the Oilers to the power play. Draisaitil tried to score with a sharp-angle flip early, but missed his target. Jesper Bratt cleared the puck 35 seconds into the kill, allowing the Devils to change. The Oilers kept their firepower on the ice, and Dawson Mercer chopped the puck out of play after Jake Allen poked a low pass to the boards. Mercer cleared off the faceoff win by Hischier, forcing Edmonto behind their own net to reset. The Oilers’ top forwards stayed on with some of their second unit, but the Devils did not allow any chances for them. With Tatar coming out of the box, Nico Hischier led the Devils on a rush. Luke Hughes came up from behind and shot low on Skinner, but he was denied. Darnell Nurse blocked the rebound shot that came off Hischier’s stick, as well.
The Devils were rewarded for their hard work. Off a faceoff win by Cody Glass, Erik Haula established the front of the net on two Oilers, and Brett Pesce came in to bury the rebound of a shot by Bratt! The Devils took a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the period. Stefan Noesen tried to make it two less than a minute later, but his poke of the centering feed from Hischier was denied by Skinner.
After he stopped a tough point shot through a Cody Glass screen, Stuart Skinner made the save of the game on Erik Haula. Jesper Bratt had the puck poked ahead to him by a diving Brenden Dillon after Allen was taken down by Bouchard. Bratt went up on a two-on-one with Haula, executing the pass perfectly — but, unfortunately for the Devils and Haula, Skinner sprawled right to keep the score at Devils at one. The Oilers came back down the ice and put pressure on the Devils. Just a minute later, on a short rush, Leon Draisaitl found the opening under Jake Allen’s arm to tie the game.
Luke Hughes, looking at Cody Glass amidst a line change, fired a puck right to the Oilers. The Oilers started up the ice, but the officials blew play dead. They had seven men on the ice, and the Devils went back to the power play. The Devils had to go back to their own end to get the puck early, and Luke Hughes lost the re-entry, sending them back again a few more times as the first unit began to skate without speed — and Hughes lost it again in the offensive zone. The second unit began changing on, and Hischier and Noesen set up Ondrej Palat as Luke caught Edmonton sleeping with a stretch pass. Palat almost had it off the one-touch feed from Noesen, but Skinner barely knocked it away.
Brian Dumoulin almost had a rebound goal with under five minutes to play in the second, but he sailed the puck over Skinner’s shoulder. Hischier stayed for the following fraceoff after creating the rebound, but he lost the draw, and the Devils iced the puck. That line almost got pinned by the McDavid line, but they averted danger and kept the game tied.
Third Period
The Edmonton Oilers had the better of the first few minutes of the final frame. Brett Pesce knocked a pass from behind the net to McDavid that went through Allen’s legs as the Devils’ goalie was out of the crease, preventing a dangerous chance. Later, Jeff Skinner looked to have a wide-open chance right in front that he just could not settle down in time to shoot. Kasperi Kapanen was later stopped by Allen’s glove on the rush, and Kapanen went crashing into the boards. Of course, the one Allen finally let through was a point shot by Evan Bouchard, after the first line had blocked a few shots. The Oilers took a 2-1 lead a bit over four minutes into the period.
Jesper Bratt joined forced with Nico Hischier and Timo Meier for a shift, and they finally got the space they were looking for. Bratt took the puck high as Hischier and Meier clogged the low slot, and the puck redirected past Skinner to tie the game! The Devils were only down for a few minutes.
The Devils got the memo: work the puck high and put bodies by the net. Hischier set another, much tighter, screen on Stuart Skinner, and Jesper Bratt went up the wall to set up a Simon Nemec blast. He put it right past Skinner, who was blinded the whole way! The Devils went back up, 3-2, with still over half the period to play. The Devils did not get many more chances over the next several minutes, but they did play solid enough defense to prevent Edmonton from threatening to tie the game again.
Jesper Bratt came up big for the Devils on one such defensive shift, as Evan Bouchard had the Devils scrambling with a few shots and attempts with the McDavid line on the ice. Bratt fought for the puck and cleared the zone, avoiding the icing and allowing a line change. With four minutes and change to play, Nico Hischier knocked Leon Draisaitl to the ice, leading to some Oilers fans booing for an uncalled penalty, but the referees deemed Draisaitl to be going down too easily. The Devils were thus able to get the McDavid line back off the ice until the three-minute mark.
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After muscling the puck away in the defensive zone, Cody Glass had a three-on-two with two and a half minutes to play. Glass took a shot on goal with Noesen crashing, and he followed the rebound. Glass had the puck at the side of the net with Skinner down, but he could not lift it over Skinner’s pad, and the Devils were unable to extend the lead. After a line change and a delayed whistle for the Devils playing the puck with a high stick, the Oilers got the net empty with under two minutes to play off an end-to-end McDavid rush that was met at the end by Brian Dumoulin, forcing Edmonton to set up. After some cycling by Edmonton, Dawson Mercer blocked a shot to create a chance for Ondrej Palat to ice the game. Palat fanned on the shot with over a minute to play.
The Devils, however, did a great job of limiting Edmonton’s ability to transition, killing a lot of the remaining time on the clock. With one final hope, Leon Draisaitl tried to ram the puck into their offensive zone with 20 seconds to play, but Nico Hischier took the brunt of his speed to separate him from the puck. Nico got back up and blocked a point shot, and the Devils worked the puck into the corner to seal the 3-2 victory!
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It’s a Trap
Without very much hope of replacing the production of Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, Sheldon Keefe has decided to push his team in a much more defensive direction. In the first two periods, the New Jersey Devils did an amazing job of limiting the Oilers’ zone entries, as their game was built off of protecting the neutral zone. As the Oilers tried to go off on the rush, they left themselves vulnerable to a lot of Devils counterattacks. Unfortunately, they still do not have the scoring talent in the lineup to utilize many of these chances, but they had the better of the first 40 minutes.
After that, it got nervewracking. The Oilers found their weak spots and exploited them thoroughly to begin the third period, and they were lucky to keep the Oilers at two goals. Jake Allen played a huge role there, facing 19 shots on goal in the third after only seeing 14 in the first two periods. Allen finished with 1.82 goals saved above expected, and that is no small feat against the Edmonton Oilers.
In any case, the Devils have now won three straight games. They’re much closer to exiting that upper edge-of-the-bubble purgatorial state and setting themselves up for a top-three finish in the Metropolitan. At 36-25-6, they have 78 points. That’s eight up on Columbus and the Rangers, while they’re only four points beind Carolina. They just need to remember that, while this defensive structure is great, they need to be ready for when teams have tons of firepower or simply figure them out in a third period. Defense can only help you stay alive in a game, but finishers win them.
Bratt and Nico
I liked the top line featuring Meier and Noesen on the wings again tonight, but the Devils only took the game because of how well the offense worked in the short time Bratt was in Noesen’s spot. Like most of the team, that third period first line gave up a ton of chances, but they scored on their only two shots. Prior to having Noesen swapped out, though, the top line seemed to have bad luck on defense despite generally putting a lot of good work in against Connor McDavid. However, the reason I was glad Keefe made that change was how tight the game was being played by those lines. Edmonton was all over the puck because of the down-low style Hischier, Noesen, and Meier like to play. When Bratt came in at wing there, it opened up lanes, and both Bratt and Nemec took advantage to give the team the chance to win the game. Nico, of course, was in the trenches in those final minutes, taking some physical punishment to help seal it up.
I am glad Sheldon Keefe made this specific adjustment in the middle of the third period, because this is an area where he has struggled in comparison to his predecessor in Lindy Ruff. The Devils did a good enough job of playing tight hockey in the first 40 minutes, but once they went down, they needed a jolt to score. Given their limited track record in pulling off comebacks, this stood out tonight.
Nemo Found
Sometimes, all you need to get back on your game is to play against the most offensively threatening team in the league after a couple nights in the press box. Simon Nemec was definitely sheltered tonight, but he got on the board with a game-winning goal and a team-leading 77.07 xGF%. He was one of only four Devils to have an xGF% over 50, alongside Dillon, Haula, and Glass. Again, Keefe did a great job of putting Nemec into a place where he can succeed by playing minutes with Brenden Dillon against opposing bottom sixers.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s game? How much did you believe they would win when Bouchard scored? What did you think of Allen’s game tonight? How much more comfortable are you with the state of the team than a week ago? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.