Devils Claim 6-0 Victory Over Canucks With Big Games From Hischier, Hughes, and Markstrom

What an offensive showing, and a great defensive effort without too many errors.

First Period

The New Jersey Devils got on the board very quickly tonight, with the Hischier line getting an odd-man rush in the first minute of the game. Dawson Mercer, on the right, deferred left to Nico Hischier, who sniped past Arturs Silovs! Nico had his 10th goal of the year just 53 seconds into the game, for a 1-0 Devils score.

Jesper Bratt got his stick up on Quinn Hughes four minutes into the game, sending Vancouver to the power play. Bratt was given a double minor for his errant play, as he drew a bit of blood from Quinn. Filip Hronek took an early slap shot from the point that went wide of goal, and Jacob Markström looked to have a good beat on the puck from that early shot. He followed well as the Devils kept the Canucks on the perimeter, not giving much net to shoot at. Conor Garland had a shot about a minute and 15 seconds into the power play, which Markström blockered away, with a tough angle for Garland. Jack Hughes came on in the second half of the penalty kill, reading a play well at the top of the defensive zone and picking the puck off to get it a bit down the ice for a change. The Devils fought off the Canucks a couple more times, successfully killing the double minor.

Ondrej Palat had a forecheck takeaway and a shot right off the turnover, which just missed. The effort drew a penalty from Danton Heinen, though, and the Devils took the puck from their own end with the net empty to get a rush for Jack Hughes, who shimmied and shot low — but Silovs made the stop. Palat went down the tunnel after play stopped, and the team came back from the TV timeout on the powr play. Noesen pressured off the draw to keep the lost draw in, but the Devils lost possession, anyway. 30 seconds passed by as the Devils worked to get possession in the offensive zone, successfully getting their first unit a couple cracks at goal before having to change in the second minute — but they did not have much luck.

With just over four minutes left to play in the period, Erik Haula and Conor Garland went to the box for coincidental minor penalties, with Haula going off for holding and Garland off for holding the stick. Teams skated at four-on-four, and Jacob Markström had to make a few really good saves to keep the lead at the end of the coincidental penalties, dealing with a flurry of shots.

At the very end of the period, Jonas Siegenthaler took a penalty on Conor Garland for tripping. I did not really think the call was worth making.

Second Period

The Canucks started the second period on the power play. Markström made a couple of tough saves at the end of the first minute of the period, and the Devils had a chance late in the kill. Nico Hischier smoothly took the puck away from Quinn Hughes on the blueline, taking it down the ice and shooting low on Silovs. The rebound came out to Dawson Mercer, who extended the lead to two! 2-0, Devils.

The Devils kept on coming. With the Hischier line out on the rush, Timo Meier took the puck from Nico Hishcier, off Nico’s backhand, and roofed a wrist shot! The Devils were up 3-0, looking great just 3:15 into the second period.

Nearly eight minutes into the period, Tomas Tatar had a golden opportunity on his backhand, but the puck slipped on him and the shot did not go anywhere. Then, near the halfway point of the game, Erik Haula dropped the gloves with Conor Garland in a rather spirited fight.

With six minutes to play in the second, Ondrej Palat made a strong move to his forehand, cutting to the net and knocking the puck into the net! Play was not blown dead, and the teams played on for about 15 seconds before an icing call sent the officials to the review area. Of course, the puck had crossed the goal line, and the Devils went up 4-0.

A couple minutes later, Markström made a huge stop on Teddy Bleuger to keep the Canucks at 0, which he followed with two more saves in tight space, but Vancouver went to the power play for a postwhistle roughing call on Paul Cotter, despite Markström getting sticked at with the puck covered as Brenden Dillon was hit after the whistle. The Devils were all over Vancouver on this penalty kill, determined to keep the Canucks off the board.

Third Period

The game was slow in the first few minutes of the third period, but Jack Hughes came flying in to take a pass in the low slot for a scoring chance — but Silovs stopped it. The Devils, mostly being content to just keep the puck moving, and they did a great job of keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Through the first seven and a half minutes, the Canucks had zero shots on goal and only two attempts in the period.

Eight and a half minutes in, Tomas Tatar drew an interference call in front of Silovs. Teddy Bleuger went to the box. Jesper Bratt pushed the puck down to the goal line to the sure-handed Stefan Noesen. Noesen stickhandled, waited, and passed right through Juulsen’s stick in the low slot to get Jack Hughes the puck — and Hughes scored through the five hole! The Devils went up 5-0, with a power play goal for Jack Hughes.

That was not it for the team, though. The fourth line was out for another shift, and Nate Bastian circled down and back from below the goal line, giving himself time and space to feed Tomas Tatar for a tap-in! With less than six minutes to play, the Devils were up 6-0. Justin Dowling also got an assist on this play, as well.

The Devils continued to grind out the rest of the game, with both goalies facing shots a couple more times in the period. Jacob Markström finished with a 20-save shutout, and the Devils finished with a 6-0 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

Goodnight

With this being a late-night game, I just want to keep my thoughts brief. It was great to see Nico and Jack get multi-point nights, with three and two points to get up to 15 and 12 points on the season, respectively. Markstrom also got a nice shutout against his former team, with strong efforts on the back end. Other notables included Palat’s first goal of the season, as well as Dowling’s point in his first game up with the team this year. Vancouver was really not threatening much, so it was good that the Devils did not give them any life during the game, as they took care of business.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? Were you able to watch? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading. This is Chris — goodnight.