Devils Claw Back, Win Overtime Thriller Over Islanders, 4-3

The Devils looked like they were doomed to lose 3-1 tonight, after giving up two quick goals in the third. But they kept chipping at the weak points in New York’s defense, tying the game in the last minute before Jack Hughes won it in overtime.

First Period

Jack Hughes had an early chance to take the lead for the New Jersey Devils when he had the puck down low, causing Ilya Sorokin to scramble around in his net. Hughes tried to bank the puck into the net off of Sorokin’s back, but it went back to the point. The New York Islanders were noted to be missing defensemen Mike Rielly, Alex Romanov, and Adam Pelech alongside their top forward in Mathew Barzal. This meant that Hughes started the game against the Horvat line, which featured J.G. Pageau and Anders Lee on the wings, while Hischier faced the Nelson line, which featured Kyle Palmieri and Maxim Tsyplakov on the wings.

Jacob Markström made a couple of saves on the Islanders after the Devils had controlled play for the first few minutes. By the time five minutes had passed since puck drop, the Islanders were actually taking a few attempts at the goal. Unfortunately for the Devils, their far greater number of attempts and chances were continually going wide of the net, so Sorokin really did not make a lot of saves in the early portion of the first period. The Devils caught a break when Pierre Engvall took an offensive zone holding penalty on Brett Pesce, sending New Jersey to the power play.

Stefan Noesen had a bread and butter chance early in the power play, getting the puck on the goal line and turning in front to sneak it past Sorokin — but it did not. Jesper Bratt sent a bad pass to the point after, forcing the Devils to reset. Dougie Hamilton took a one-timer after the reset, but it was saved, and the second unit came on after the Islanders cleared the puck. Luke Hughes made a backhand pass behind his back to set up a one-timer for Timo Meier, but Tomas Tatar and Erik Haula whiffed on their deflection attempts. After a stoppage, as Engvall came out of the box, Meier stuffed a wraparound attempt off the side of the net.

The fourth line had the Islanders pinned back for a moment, with Tatar taking a one-timer from the wall, from Hamilton, which was followed by Kurtis MacDermid setting up a one-timer for Dowling from the left faceoff circle — but Dowling whiffed on the shot. The Islanders went the other way, and Simon Holmstrom beat Markström as he went down trying to cover Holmstrom’s move in front, while Kyle MacLean picked up an assist on the play for his centering pass from the wall, as the fourth liners seemed to all lose their spots. The Islanders took a 1-0 lead on their first shot in several minutes.

The Devils almost tied the game, with Timo Meier kicking the puck to himself, then sliding it from his backhand to Nico Hischier, who was just stopped by Sorokin as the Islanders goaltender spun out of the net, clinging the puck to his side. Jack Hughes was later involved in a big collision at the blueline with Isaiah George, as George got a blade stuck and went diving forwards into Hughes when Jack went to strip him of the puck. Markström bailed the Devils out when Luke Hughes ran out of space retrieving a puck in the corner, leading to a shot in the crease from Kyle Palmieri and a rebound attempt from Brock Nelson. On the other end, Stefan Noesen deflected a Siegenthaler point shot just wide of the net — and he had Sorokin beat. But the Devils went to the intermission down one.

Second Period

Ilya Sorokin continued to make big saves early, including a slap shot from Dougie Hamilton and a shovel shot from Brett Pesce in close. Pesce’s chance came off a feed from Paul Cotter, and it would have been his first point of as a Devil had Sorokin not shut the door low. After chances didn’t go their way, the Devils became sloppy and started letting the Islanders control play for awhile. After Brett Pesce made a poor decision to step up and deliver a hit, Luke Hughes was left to defend a quick two-on-one in front of the net — but Hughes played the pass perfectly. Then, Pesce took a high stick from Dennis Cholowski, sending the Devils back to the power play.

The Devils took about 24 seconds of time to get set up in the offensive zone. Dougie Hamilton put it on goal, but Stefan Noesen was unable to dig out the rebound before Sorokin could cover the rebound. Nico Hischier won the next faceoff draw, and the Devils played it back and forth up high as Noesen circled the net. As Noesen came back to the front, he made a double-screen with Hischier to eclipse Sorokin for a Jack Hughes goal! The Devils tied the game quickly on their second power play.

Late in the period, Luke Hughes had the puck in the defensive zone during a line change, as the Islanders sat back following a delayed offsides, and Hughes sent it ahead to his brother Jack, who stole the puck from an Islander defender and broke Sorokin down on the breakaway. But not one to admit defeat, Sorokin kept his right foot all the way out-stretched to deny Jack Hughes. Given the numerous chances Sorokin denied during the second period, the game remained tied going into the second intermission. On the other hand, Jacob Markström did not face a lot of rubber, but he made his saves count while Luke Hughes made several key defensive plays to keep the game tied.

Third Period

Dougie Hamilton sent Dawson Mercer ahead with a great outlet pass from the defensive zone, springing Mercer past the Islanders defense. Mercer only had the opportunity to shoot high off the backhand, but his shot hit the post! Bo Horvat almost snuck in a chance of his own a couple minutes later, shoveling at a pass from Nelson off the end boards into Markström’s arm. Markström held his body against the post, freezing the puck.

Several minutes into the final frame of regulation, Brenden Dillon made a huge block on a wrister from Isaiah George, who came sinking down from the point as he tried to take Markström off guard by pinching for a shot. A minute later, after a TV timeout, Markström came out of the net to play the puck, ringing it around the boards to Casey Cizikas, who worked it back out to Holmstrom for a slot chance — but Markström made the stop. The Devils’ good fortune in the defensive zone would run out not too much later, as Markström just missed on a shot from the young journeyman defenseman Dennis Cholowski. The Islanders took a 2-1 lead.

After Ondrej Palat turned the puck over along the wall following a scoring chance for Luke Hughes, Palat had to race back to defend a three-on-two with Brett Pesce. Palat abandonded his side of the ice as he tried to cut across to make a play, leaving his man wide open. It was 3-1, just like that, with not much time left to come back. Brock Nelson.

Of course, the Devils would get their second goal of the game when Paul Cotter took a pass into the offensive zone, skating down low and spinning at the goal line to feed Dawson Mercer for a one-timer in front of Sorokin, which he chipped high! The Devils had 4:27 to tie the game, as Mercer made it 3-2.

Late in the game, Sheldon Keefe deployed Jack Hughes as a winger for Nico Hischier, while also playing Dougie Hamilton with Jonas Siegenthaler. The Devils struggled to get the puck into the offensive zone, and they pulled Markström with 80 seconds to play. The top line got the puck deep, and Noesen turned for a shot that was saved in tight. Hughes played it back down low to Noesen, who banked the puck off Hutton into the net! The Devils tied the game with 48.3 to play!

Overtime

Looking for their first overtime win of the season in their third such game, the Devils sent out Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and Brett Pesce against J.G. Pageau and Bo Horvat. Jack took the puck away from Horvat early, and the Devils were unable t make anything of a chance the other way. Changing off after a couple Islanders chances, the Devils had to defend Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri after Luke Hughes caught a skate and fell in the offensive zone.

Isaiah George almost ended the game with a burst of speed, but Markström made a big poke check to keep the game tied. Getting Hughes back on with Hamilton and Bratt, Jack shimmied and skated through the Islanders to create a one-timer for Hamilton — but Sorokin made the stop. Hughes raced back with Hamilton to avert the counterattack, with a shot going just high and wide off the backhand past Markström. The Devils recovered the puck, finding Jack fading to the far blueline for a stretch pass. Hamilton found him, and he had all the time in the world to snap the puck past Sorokin to win the game, 4-3!

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

Thin Ice

Whoa.

I did not think the Devils were going to pull this one out. Giving up the first goal of the third period was bad enough — and on a shot I didn’t like seeing beat Markström, to boot. But, to give up a second goal in short order? Things felt bleak for quite awhile, especially as the Devils looked to be struggling to penetrate the scoring areas they swarmed so effectively in the second period. After generating 1.4 xG at even strength in the second period alone, the Devils only had 0.48 xG in the third period before pulling the goaltender for the extra attacker. It takes a lot to beat a goaltender like Ilya Sorokin, and I was even worried that they wouldn’t get Markström pulled. The Islanders tried to keep play clamped down for as long as possible, and they almost succeeded.

The Devils also tested fate far too much with Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce on the ice. Between Pesce’s diving block in front and the numerous recoveries, blocks, checks, and interceptions Hughes made, it was really baffling to see how poorly the Devils were getting the puck out in those situations. In many cases, the defensemen made a play, but too many backtracking passes from the forwards and too much cheating down the ice at times forced these two to do a bit more than they should have — especially in the second period.

Matching Three-Point Nights

Despite the flak he has taken around these parts for his defensive efforts, Dougie Hamilton showed up with a three-point effort tonight, earning assists on the power play goal by Hughes (primary), the game-tying goal by Noesen (secondary), and the overtime winner from Hughes (primary). He almost had an assist on a Dawson Mercer backhander off the post, as well, alongside the rebound chance for Noesen that Sorokin just covered in time. Some may think he was at fault for the first goal against because he was not in front of the net, but he had just played the puck away from the corner as the first man back in the defensive zone, and Dowling and Tatar totally lost the middle of the ice on the play.

Without Jack Hughes, this would not have been a winning effort yet again. After he carried the team against Montreal, Hughes again drove the offense forward with the top line mostly bogged down in their matchup with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri. Now up to 18 points in 17 games — one behind Jesper Bratt for the team lead — Jack looks certain to continue racking up these multi-point nights, and I think he could go hat-trick hunting soon.

A Surprising Ice Time Leader and the Grit-ensity Forwards

Leading the team with 22:34 of ice time tonight was Dawson Mercer, as his late goal was essential to the Devils comeback. He might not be a guy that gets very involved physically, but his style of play has kept him a very healthy and reliable option, and he also has six points in his last six games. Bouncing off attempted hits, getting his stick in passing lanes, and keeping the puck moving in the right direction, Dawson Mercer did his part tonight.

On the defensive side, Jonas Siegenthaler led his group with just four fewer seconds played than Mercer, and that is not a surprise. He and Kovacevic dominated play when on the ice, and they have been doing that all year. Their leading the pairings in ice time tonight also keeps the offensive pairings nice and fresh for tomorrow night’s home matchup against the Sharks.

I would also like to acknowledge the effort brought forth by Paul Cotter and Stefan Noesen tonight. Both of them had several opportunities, with Cotter using his legs on multiple occasions to get the puck to the net, while Noesen was a hound for passes around the crease. Aside from when Jack Hughes was on the ice, the Devils fared best when the third liners were out making things happen. Beyond this, Noesen’s effect on the power play has been incredible, with the Devils dominating control of the puck around the net and below the goal line, which is in stark contrast to recent years.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? How did you feel about the performance by the goaltenders? What about Jack Hughes? How do you feel going into tomorrow night’s game? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.