Haula, Noesen, and Cotter Cut the Capitals Down in Devils 5-3 Victory

In a big-time effort from the third line, the Devils took down the enemy Capitals.

First Period

The New Jersey Devils drew the first penalty of the game nearly two minutes into the game, which began after Simon Nemec got a shot on goal from the point. Curtis Lazar had been tripped up by Nic Dowd with the fourth line putting pressure on the Capitals. The power play had to reset after losing the zone early, but they struggled to create opportunities once they had possession. Seamus Casey nearly gave up a breakaway the other way on the second unit, but he forced play behind the net, where Stefan Noesen denied a wraparound attempt by Aliaksei Protas.

Back at five-on-five, Jakob Chychrun sent the game right back to a Devils power play with an undisciplined trip on Nico Hischier in the corner. Jack Hughes ripped a shot wide, and then shot another into the glove. The Capitals won the next draw, forcing the Devils to take the puck back up the ice. The first unit went off after a deflection attempt from a Dougie Hamilton one-timer went wide. The second unit saw a comedy of errors trying to move the puck, but did not give up a shorthanded goal.

Timo Meier took a checking from behind penalty around the halfway point in the period on a shift where Seamus Casey looked a bit lost defending the net. Nico Hischier lostthe draw, and Brenden Dillon went out to help him bring pressure to the left side. That left Dawson Mercer defending the right circle, and John Carlson shot through wide open ice to give the Capitals a power play goal. 1-0, Washington.

Seamus Casey made up for his earlier misplays when he tied the game on the back of a strong shift by the Hughes line. He got the puck in the left faceoff circle and beat Charlie Lindgren over his left pad! 1-1, with over six minutes to play in the period. Later, Erik Haula had a chance to take the lead with a chance in front, but he stuffed it right in Lindgren’s pads.

With the Devils rushing, Stefan Noesen had the perfect vision to put the Devils up. He got the puck on a cross-ice pass from Haula, and Noesen picked up Cotter between them, bringing Lindgren out of position for an easy tap-in! 2-1, Devils. Right after the goal, Haula was robbed again by Lindgren. The time remaining in the period wound down to zero without any other serious chances, giving the Devils the lead heading into intermission.

Second Period

The Washington Capitals closed in on Markström very quickly in the second period. Nico Hischier was bumped off the puck, and then sent it right through Tomas Tatar’s stick. The Capitals sent in on goal, and Dylan Strome cleaned up the rebound — tie game, 2-2.

A couple minutes in, Jesper Bratt had Jack Hughes all alone ahead of the pack. Jack went in slowly on Lindgren and shot without much of a move, sending it off the edge of the glove. The Devils kept grinding, though, and Tomas Tatar stayed on for a shift with Stefan Noesen and Haula. After Haula dug the puck out from the corner, Noesen sent it out front, and Tatar took a few whacks at the puck, scoring as he was falling down! 3-2, Devils!

Just past seven minutes in, Nico Hischier cut to the middle of the neutral zone and had Tomas Tatar ahead, hitting him in stride. Tatar had Carlson all over him, and he put a shot on goal that Lindgren went after with his right-handed glove. Lindgren froze play. A couple minutes later, Johnny Kovacevic almost batted a puck over Lindgren, but Charlie made the save. On the other end, Timo Meier broke up a pass and was taken down from behind, drawing an interference penalty. Kovacevic went after Dubois for an extra glove, and two Capitals tackled Kovacevic. Only Kovacevic got a roughing penalty, sending play to four-on-four.

At four-on-four, Jacob Markström made a couple of big-time saves on Tom Wilson. The Devils did not make much good use of the open ice, though. Jack Hughes had a chance to go to the backhand in the final shift of the two minutes, but he was taken down and had basically no chance at getting the rebound as he cut across the goal. At five-on-five, though, the third line came strong again, with Erik Haula sending the puck softly into the offensive zone of a turnover, finding Stefan Noesen, who had Cotter on the other side of a two-on-one. Noesen snuck the pass through, and Cotter’s one-timer beat Lindgren! 4-2, Devils!

Paul Cotter took a one-armed slashing call with just over three minutes to play in the period, and the Devils saw a shot miss early, and they worked four clearances down the ice to kill the penalty. The Devils ran out the clock, taking a two-goal lead to the second intermission.

Third Period

Again, early in the period, the Capitals had the chances to score. And again, they did. Tom Wilson was unbothered in the slot, getting the puck after too many Devils tried to converge on the puck behind the net. Wilson shot and beat Markström’s glove. 4-3.

Just past three minutes into the period, the Devils went to the power play when Nico Hischier took a high stick from Nic Dowd. Nico stayed on for the draw, and won it for the Devils, though they could not make good of the possession early. Bratt took a penalty towards the end of the first minute, and the Capitals killed nearly half of the remaining time in their own end, with the referee not blowing play dead for not attempting to move the puck, and kept possession until there was only 19 seconds of four-on-four.

On the penalty kill, Jacob Markström made a big save on Strome in close. Dawson Mercer put a lot of pressure on Carlson and Ovechkin in their own end after Nico Hischier worked the puck down the ice, and Jacob Markström helped the Devils clear the puck after the Capitals tried to dump it in. With the Caps back in possession, Jonas Siegenthaler put his body on the line to painfully block a scoring chance, keeping the Devils in front as Bratt came out of the box.

Ondrej Palat drew a tripping penalty from Tom Wilson in the defensive zone, and Pierre Luc-Dubois tried to draw a roughing in the corner by going after Jonas Siegenthaler. The Devils did not bite, and went to the power play. The second unit started the power play, and Dawson Mercer just missed the puck when Stefan Noesen left a perfect rebound off a rush shot, with Tatar springing them ahead. The first unit came on and struggled until Jack Hughes took a shot on goal, which was frozen by Lindgren. Play returned to five-on-five.

The Capitals kept at it, but the Devils stayed strong defensively. After a long battle on the wall, with under three and a half minutes to play, Markström kicked out a shot from Jacob Chychrun. The Hischier line pushed the Capitals into their own end, but could not keep them in. Markstrom tried to catch a puck, and had to shoot the puck in the corner with his stick. He froze the second shot that came his way.

The Capitals pulled Lindgren with 1:31 to play, with that stoppage for an offensive zone faceoff. Curtis Lazar went out for the draw, but the fourth line had to fend the Capitals off at six-on-five. Nathan Bastian came up with a big blcok up high on Carlson, and the Devils pushed the puck slowly down the ice for a change with 35 seconds to play. The Hischier line came out, and Ovechkin saw a shot go wide. As Nico Hischier took a big hit from Ovechkin, he got the puck ahead to Tomas Tatar on the wall, who sent Dawson Mercer ahead. Mercer shot it over a diving Carlson to seal the victory at 5-3!

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

Quick Thoughts

I won’t be able to say much at the moment, but I thoroughly enjoyed how the team came back from the slow start tonight. They were a bit sloppy, but thankfully did not find themselves down on the penalty kill too often after the Carlson goal. Jacob Markström also came up with some big saves in tight, despite the early power play goal against. Offensively, who came up big for the Devils? Seamus Casey and the third line drove much of tonight, in addition to the goal from Tatar when he was skating in Cotter’s spot on the aforementioned line. Getting this sort of secondary scoring boost from guys who are either supposed to be grinders and defensive forwards or in the AHL, in a game where we saw a lot of toughness against the usual suspects in Washington, was very sweet to see. The Devils usually don’t pull off efforts like this against the Caps.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? Do you think the top six needs to be shuffled? How do you think Nemec and Casey looked tonight? What was most frustrating about the slow start, and what was best about the effort that came after? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading. I may be back to add more to the end here, later.