The Devils got what they wanted early, but it was all downhill from there.
First Period
With Justin Dowling and Kurtis MacDermid out of the lineup, Stefan Noesen returned to the New Jersey Devils while Brian Halonen filled in on the third line to begin the game. The Devils were reported to be dealing with a bug going around the team, as Noesen had just missed two games for norovirus. Colton White had been called up as a potential defenseman, but Keefe left him in the press box.
Matvei Michkov blocked an early shot from Paul Cotter, who would have beat Samuel Ersson on a wide-open chance had Michkov’s stick not been there. But the Devils would keep pressing. The fourth line came on, and Dougie Hamilton took the puck from Nathan Bastian off the wall, snapping a high shot past Ersson! The Devils took a 1-0 lead against the Philadelphia Flyers off a great shot from Dougie.
After making a couple early saves, Jake Allen had to go to the bench to have his mask repaired, causing a short delay in the game. When play resumed, the Devils continued to control the pace of play, eventually going to a power play when Jesper Bratt was tripped in the offensive zone by Travis Konecny. On said power play, Nico Hischier had an early slot shot attempt blocked, and the Devils got the puck back to Dougie, who had a wrister deflected wide of goal. Late in the power play, Dougie was taken down and held to the ice by Garnet Hathaway in the neutral zone, but nothing came out of it.
Luke Hughes was later called for tripping Garnet Hathaway, sending the Devils to their first penalty kill of the game. It first seemed like Hathaway just slipped or caught an edge, but Luke did get him a bit with his stick. The Devils got an early clearance off the defensive zone draw, getting a second with three Devils working together to cut a play behind the net short. Allen made a kick save on a hard shot by Bobby Brink in the second minute of the kill, and the Devils killed the remainder of the penalty to keep the lead. To the Flyers’ credit, though, they took control of the shot flow as the period went on, completely shutting the Devils out of offensive chances.
Second Period
After the Devils had a fine couple of shifts to start the period, Luke Hughes tried to make a blueline pass to Brett Pesce, which was picked off by Sean Couturier, who sent Matvei Michkov ahead on a breakaway. Hughes was unable to close the gap in time, and Michkov sniped a game-tying goal past Jake Allen, ringing the bar and in. After the goal, Owen Tippett took the puck away from Johnny Kovacevic off a neutral zone draw, but his shot sailed over the bar.
Luke Hughes later made a perfect feed in the neutral zone to spring Nate Bastian on a breakaway. Bastian went down as he was hounded from behind, but no call for a penalty shot was made as Bastian fell forward trying to get to top speed. The Devils kept possession, and Hughes fired a slap shot that was blocked, sitting just short of goal, and Nate Bastian’s whack at the motionless puck was saved by Ersson. The Devils worked it back up high to Hughes, whose second slap shot was blocked. Not long after a Dougie wrister was tipped into Ersson’s blocker by Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier was tripped going into the offensive zone, but no call was made. At the end of that shift, Matvei Michkov was flatted in a collision with Stefan Noesen by the benches.
By the time there was just eight minutes left in the period, the Devils had five shots on goal, with the Flyers at nine. Both teams had blocked tons of attempts by this point, though. Jonas Siegenthaler made a great play when Owen Tippett tried to race off for a breakaway, keeping up and swiping the puck for Jack Hughes to take away. Paul Cotter later poked a blueline pass into the neutral zone, splitting the Philadelphia defensemen in a footrace to the puck, drawing a penalty from Jamie Dysdale for hooking. Cotter sent his chance wide of goal, and the Devils did not take a shot in their extended delayed penalty advantage.
Nico Hichier won the draw, and he deflected Dougie’s point shot wide of goal. Jesper Bratt later broke up a pass on a counterattack by the Flyers, and it took awhile to work the puck halfway back up the ice. The second unit took the ice for the second half of the power play with Nico staying on. Nico set up Dawson Mercer from the end boards, but Ersson saved the point-blank one-timer with his blocker. The second unit had a one more shots stopped by Ersson, with Mercer denied on low shot, while Meier just missed on a shot right by the crease.
Third Period
The Flyers had the better shifts to start the third period, forcing Jake Allen to make a few saves, as Noah Cates was denied right in front a couple times. Curtis Lazar had a look at a loose puck off a blocked shot from Tatar, but he didn’t get there in time and the puck was cleared to center. The Devils took it back in with the first line, and Jesper Bratt wired a one-timer past Ersson! But John Tortorella would challenge that Bratt was offsides — and he was right. No goal.
After the midway point, Nico Hischier beat Owen Tippett to an icing. The Hischier line proceeded to hem the Flyers in for a minute and a half. But when the Hughes line started coming on, Owen Tippett mustered enough energy to race off for a breakaway off a bad pass from Jack, drawing a penalty as his shot went wide of goal, with Siegenthaler going to the box for slashing. Nico Hischier won the draw, but a bad clear from the corner led to a chance in front for Bobby Brink, who took the lead for the Flyers.
Once up, the Flyers were content to muck the game up even more, content to not really think about offense. Brett Pesce did have a shot after an icing that was deflected by Noesen just wide of goal, and the Hischier line again had a good shift, which ended after a shot from Meier was padded away by Ersson. Amazingly, Dougie Hamilton stick lifted Travis Konecny on a breakaway, not taking a penalty in the process to keep the game alive.
Jake Allen went to the bench with just over two minutes to play, and the Devils had an offensive zone faceoff, which was won by Hughes after Hischier was kicked out. Hamilton’s slap sot was saved by Ersson on the helmet, A second shot was fought for in front, but ultimately did not get all the way through. The Deivls were pushed to center and re-entered with 1:30 to play. The Flyers iced it with 1:13, and the Devils called timeout.
Hischier won the draw, and Meier missed the net after Dougie fanned on a shot. A shot from wide went off iron. The Devils couldn’t get another shot on goal until Philadelphia iced it with 20.1 to play, with Bratt firing a one-timer wide beforehand. Hischier won the draw, but the Devils deflected a shot wide. The Flyers sent the puck into the benches with 8.3 to play. The Flyers scored an empty netter with 1.1. Devils lost this one 3-1.
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
Sick Team? Why Not More Halonen?
In his first appearance for the team this season, Brian Halonen was started on the third line with Dawson Mercer and Paul Cotter. That line did out-attempt their opponents, but they ate the goal against off the bad pass from Luke Hughes. I thought Halonen looked pretty good out there. He did fan on a shot attempt, but he was skating well, and he was only out there for 11:34. I note that he was skating well because most of the Devils looked like they were skating at 85% speed today. Considering the team was evaluating a few players as game-time decisions, I would have liked to see Halonen out there a lot more. Since Halonen also struggled when playing with Tatar and Hischier, it would have served Keefe much better just to keep giving Cotter and Halonen chances to hunt for offense.
The Hughes Brothers’ Turnovers and Relying on the Goalie
I know a lot will be made of the turnovers the Hughes brothers made this game, so let’s dig into that. I did not feel like Luke had the worst game aside from the turnover, which I think was just a mental mistake and not being aware enough of how high he was being played by the forwards. Him and Pesce were two of only six Devils to be on the ice for the team out-attempting Philadelphia, alongside the Hischier line and Kovacevic. However, the Devils needed to be more careful in the third period, especially since Jake Allen had already made some good saves to keep the game tied early on.
That said, Jack’s turnover in the third period really hurt the team. The Hischier line had just burned the Frost line for nearly two minutes, and Jack, as one of the first guys to come on for the offensive zone line change, turns the puck over for a breakaway against. That led to Nico going right back out for the penalty kill, which, even with the TV timeout, was also probably a mistake by Keefe given the lengthy shift he had just played. A bad clear and bad positioning killed the game right there. I don’t really want to think of “what if Markstrom” was in net, but those are the kinds of plays the team has been letting up left and right with the expectation that Markstrom will come up big. It literally can’t be every night, and Allen made some fine saves, anyway.
Nico’s 500th Game
I was hoping that the Captain would have had a more fortunate night. As the only center on the team to win the possession battle, he probably could have drawn a couple penalties with the number of sticks on him this game, but calls were generally hard to come by. But that first line group accounted for 1.65 xG between their five-on-five and power play ixGs, and the rest of the team mustered 0.8. In the whole game. Virus or not, I would hope that the team could muster some more attempts against the worst-goaltending team in the league. That also leads me to mention how frustrating Keefe’s limited line jumbling was, with Nico having a 73.68 CF% with his linemates, while getting hemmed for 0.4 xGA and five shot attempts against in the less-than-two minutes Keefe tried to get him going with Cotter, Hughes, Halonen, and Tatar. And perhaps, well, maybe Nico should not have fewer even strength minutes than Jack Hughes and Dawson Mercer, playing less than two minutes more than Curtis Lazar at evens. This is one area I would really like to see Keefe make strides to avoid repeating usage patterns of Lindy Ruff, given how offensively gifted Nico Hischier is when given the minutes to score. It’s not like anyone else held the zone today.
The Case to Call Simon Nemec Up Now
The Devils are struggling to create offense, and they need creativity to break up the trapping defenses that are currently stymying them. Simon Nemec showed huge flashes of such creativity last season, when he would beat defenses with masterful plays from the neutral to offensive zones. Coming off his recent five-point game, and the recent speculation that he may request a trade in the offseason if it does not look like he can get NHL chances, I think it is time to call him up. He’s played 24 games in the AHL this year, bringing his total there to 102. I genuinely believe there is little, if anything Nemec has left to gain from such competition.
How he gets worked into the lineup, and whether it involves running 11 forwards, is a separate question. But this team needs a jolt, and it can use one from its most talented available prospect — especially with the team skating in mud with January viruses.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of today’s game? Were you disappointed, or expecting that result? What’s the move forward? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.