The play of both of tonight’s goaltenders made the difference in the Devils’ third consecutive loss
The New Jersey Devils registered 40 shots on goal tonight. The Detroit Red Wings registered 20 shots on goal tonight. But the Devils received a .789 Save% from Jacob Markstrom, while the Red Wings received a .925 Save% from Cam Talbot, and that made all the difference in the Devils’ 5-3 loss to the Red Wings.
After an embarrassing and alarming 8-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, the Devils flipped the script and dominated this game from the word go. New Jersey put up double digit shots on goal in each period tonight, with their fewest being 11 shots in the third period. On the other side, the most amount of shots they allowed in a period was eight. According to Natural Stat Trick, at 5-on-5 the Devils completely suffocated the Red Wings this evening, recording a 71.91% Expected Goals For%. That is utter domination.
I was disgusted at New Jersey’s effort (or lack thereof) on Tuesday. I cannot be mad about the way they played tonight. The Red Wings’ top line of Lucas Raymond-Dylan Larkin-Alex DeBrincat was the only thing that went right for Detroit, as that trio finished the game with five combined points (two goals, three assists), six shots on goal, and at 5-on-5 an xGF% of 81.53%. But other than that, the Devils bulldozed every Red Wing that stood before them this evening.
Nico Hischier in particular was once again a force of nature. The captain scored two power play goals tonight, and finished with a 5-on-5 xGF% of 77.01%. Hischier is now up to seven goals and 10 points through 10 games this season. The scoring touch will cool off, but Hischier will start collecting more helpers as the season goes on. A point per game pace is certainly within Hischier’s capabilities, and when you add in his territorial dominance, he’s been one of the best players in the entire league through the first 10 contests.
As you would imagine, there were plenty of other skaters that had themselves superb nights. Jack Hughes looked like Jack Hughes to me. Maybe not 100% back to what we expect out of him, but he skated with confidence, made some magic with the puck, dominated the run of play, and ended up with an assist for his troubles.
Timo Meier also looked good, as he has since being reunited with Hischier on a line. Jesper Bratt was dangerous all night long. The pairing of Jonas Siegenthaler-Johnathan Kovacevic once again handily won the territorial battle. I can go up and down the lineup and talk about how any given skater looked good tonight.
And as if that weren’t enough, the Devils also welcomed back not one, but two key defensemen to the lineup: Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce. We’ll discuss them in-depth later on, but adding an entire defense pairing of that caliber (and in the process pushing Simon Nemec and Daniil Misyul out of the lineup) should’ve been a huge boost to the club.
But of course, the one Devil that had a truly terrible game tonight was the one Devil the team could not afford to have a terrible game tonight: Jacob Markstrom. Tom Fitzgerald’s Big Game Acquisition sunk New Jersey. Four goals allowed on 19 shots (the final Red Wings goal came on an empty-netter) is completely unacceptable. He gave up not one, but two backbreaking power play goals in the third period. The first of those, a redirection off the stick of Larkin, is the only one that I have a hard time saying he needed to have. Every other goal had to either be stopped or never happen in the first place. The first goal allowed came on a horrific rebound that Christian Fischer had little trouble finishing off. The second goal allowed was a good shot by a good shooter in DeBrincat, but was still entirely stoppable. And I’m sorry, but the final goal allowed, a floater from a mile away off the stick of Patrick Kane, is a save that any given NCAA goalie could have made. How that one snuck through Markstrom I have no idea.
And as I alluded to at the very beginning, the goaltending frustrations for New Jersey weren’t limited to just their own crease. Cam Talbot turned into prime Martin Brodeur tonight. He stopped 37 of 40 shots, and per NST he saved 1.1 Goals Above Expected. If this was Igor Shesterkin or Connor Hellebuyck in net tonight, I’d be frustrated but I’d tip my cap to an excellent goaltender and move on. The fact that Cam bleeping Talbot of all people picked tonight to stand on his head is maddening. Between tonight and Detroit’s last game, in which they were outshot 30-11(!) and yet somehow won 1-0 against the New York Islanders, the Red Wings have been outshot 70-31 in their last two games and yet have two regulation wins to show for it. Truly amazing to see what good goaltending can do for a team.
For the one millionth time over the past few seasons, the Devils outplayed their opponent but still lost because their goaltending let them down. This has been a few clunkers in the early going from Markstrom now. To be fair he has had a few very strong games as well, but the Devils need more consistency out of their top goalie. I am very pleased at how the skaters responded to Tuesday’s disgrace. I am very upset with how Markstrom lit the game on fire and cost the Devils two points.
Oh, and the Devils have to play the second half of a back-to-back tomorrow. We all know how well those have gone for them lately. What an immensely frustrating missed opportunity tonight’s game was.
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
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com
The Triumphant Returns
As mentioned Luke Hughes (shoulder) and Brett Pesce (fibula) returned to action tonight. They took the places of Simon Nemec, who has struggled mightily in his sophomore campaign, and Daniil Misyul, who made his NHL debut on Tuesday. Head coach Sheldon Keefe decided to pair them together to both keep their minutes manageable on a third pair, and to not disrupt his other two pairings. As far as time on ice goes, Pesce played 17:33, while Hughes logged 15:11.
So how did they look tonight? Well according to Natural Stat Trick, Pesce finished with a 5-on-5 xGF% of 48.86%, while Hughes finished at a team-low 38.49%. On a night where the vast majority of the team not only won their minutes, but dominated them, those are a couple terrible performances. Obviously I am inclined to cut them some slack given it’s their first games back from significant injuries, but it was still disappointing. The other extenuating circumstance was that the Hughes-Pesce pairing largely drew the Larkin line matchup. That line is one of the best in the entire league, so losing the territorial battle to them is nothing to be ashamed of.
Based on my own eye test, I thought Pesce looked better than Hughes tonight. The most notable play featured the good and bad of both, as Pesce expertly snuffed out a 2-on-1 rush in the second period that was caused by a bad pinch from Hughes. Pesce looked more steady and efficient both with and without the puck to me. He obviously lost his matchup handily tonight, but if we’re to assume Pesce will look much better with more games under his belt, I feel confident that he’ll be a solid contributor this season.
Hughes on the other hand looked rough to me. I did see flashes of what makes him a special prospect, but he did have that bad pinch that required Pesce to bail him out. And he did commit a heinous turnover that directly led to the DeBrincat goal. I’m not worried about Hughes long term, but tonight was not his finest work.
In the end though, it’s nice to have Hughes and Pesce back. New Jersey might not have their blue line at full power yet, but they now have their blue line at full attendance. Assuming Kovacevic isn’t coming out of the lineup anytime soon, this is probably the six defensemen we will see on a nightly basis for a while. And once Hughes and Pesce get back up to speed, this could be a very dangerous defense corps.
Good News, Bad News
The Devils scored first tonight. After giving up the first goal in approximately 3,000 games last season, New Jersey has now scored first in six straight contests. I cannot describe to you how nice it is to see the Devils finally manage to play with a lead to start games with consistency.
But here’s the bad news: the Devils are only 2-3-1 in those six games. So at least over this past stretch, those first goals have not really translated to a lot of positive results.
It honestly feels like a sick joke that the Devils are up to six consecutive contests where they’ve scored first, and yet have only won two of those games. I can’t explain it other than saying the Devils are cursed.
If I’m being serious though, I have to imagine that if New Jersey keeps scoring first, the results will follow. Call it bad luck, call it a string of poor goaltending performances, call it whatever you want. Scoring first feels good, and hopefully wins are just around the corner.
On The Verge
The 2023-24 season was infuriating in so many ways for the Devils. If someone asked me for one word to describe New Jersey from a season ago, I might say “inconsistent”. In my opinion, no stat exemplified that better than the incomprehensible fact that the Devils did not have either a winning streak OR losing streak of longer than three games all season long. New Jersey had four separate three-game winning streaks (and none in the 2024 calendar year), and five separate three-game losing streaks. It was the epitome of consistently inconsistent.
Well guess what? Tonight was the Devils’ third straight loss. If they come up short in their next game, it will be their first losing streak of four or more contests since their six-game losing streak from December 9-20, 2022.
And guess what again? As mentioned, their next game is the second half of a back-to-back, a situation in which New Jersey has struggled beyond all comprehension since last season. I don’t know about you, but I have a bad feeling we’re about to see something that we haven’t seen for almost two full years.
And for the record, the last time New Jersey had a winning streak of four or more games was a five-game winning streak from January 7-16, 2023.
One Quick Word On The Officials
Yes, the Devils got absolutely hosed in their last game against the Tampa Bay Lightning when Dawson Mercer was called for “goaltender interference”. Yes, the Devils got absolutely hosed tonight when Christian Fischer clearly boarded Brenden Dillon and was not called, and then Dillon got called for “roughing” when the two fought each other after Fischer’s boarding. I have no idea how Dillon was the one that got tagged for the additional two minutes for that one.
And of course, that was the power play that tied the game for the Red Wings. That’s how hockey goes sometimes.
Obviously the Devils were going to lose the Tampa Bay game even if Mercer was never called, the game was already lost at that point. But it is quite possible New Jersey gets a different result if the officials didn’t blow it on that sequence. What made it even more painful was that it happened in the third period of a one-goal game. I can’t blame the refs for the Devils losing tonight, but I will say that they made a bad error that the Devils could not overcome. New Jersey could have killed the call, but they should not have been in that position in the first place. Hopefully the officials stops inserting themselves into the game.
Next Time Out
It’s a dreaded back-to-back, as the Devils play tomorrow against the New York Islanders in New Jersey. Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm ET.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? What frustrated you the most? Are you choosing to be optimistic about how good the skaters looked, or pessimistic about how bad Markstrom looked, or a mix of both? What do you expect in the next game against the Islanders? As always, thanks for reading.