Impenetrable Defense, Palat, and Hughes Lead Devils to 3-1 Victory Over Kings

The Devils hardly made mistakes tonight, and they were a joy to watch.

First Period

Both David Rittich and Jacob Markstrom were challenged early for the Los Angles Kings and New Jersey Devils, respectively, during the first five or so minutes. Rittich had the tougher early workload, with one particular chance coming off the stick of a quick Nico Hischier at the lower-inner edge of the faceoff circle. Markstrom was bailed to some extent by the post on a tip-in from Trevor Moore, but Markstrom did enough to take the net away. But by the time the first TV timeout rolled around, the game was still tied, with the Devils getting the better of chances.

The Devils’ control over play continued throughout most of the period. Just as they had during the game against the Leafs, the Devils successfully held their opponent down to very few shots. After the tip by Moore, the Kings did not have a shot for the rest of the period. They did miss the net at times, but the Devils really did not have to block a lot of shots in the first period — even when Los Angeles was being held off the shot counter.

Second Period

Markstrom finally stopped the Kings’ third shot of the game four minutes into the second period. He later made a stick save on Jordan Spence, who came in on a rush. The Devils mostly continued with business as usual from the first period. Brett Pesce had a great chance to take the lead when the puck came right to him by the slot, but he missed the net.

Paul Cotter got into a big collision with Kevin Fiala, sending Cotter to the ice and forcing the Devils to defend at five-on-four for a short spell. Fiala had completely taken out Cotter’s legs when Cotter had the puck, but no penalty was called. Markstrom kept the door closed, and while it looked concerning at first, Cotter was there on the bench during the next stoppage. After a chance for Luke Hughes was blocked by Jordan Spence, Brenden Dillon hooked Alex Turcotte when Dillon and Hamilton were split at the blueline by a good pass. On the penalty shot, Turcotte came in a bit slow and shot high over Markstrom and the crossbar. Markstrom came up big a few more times over the next five minutes of game time.

But the Kings would still eventually strike first, as Jordan Spence beat Markstrom with a long-range one-timer through the five-hole. A failed Jack-to-Luke two-on-one left Jesper Bratt playing defense, and the Kings got a bit too much gap to work with with a subpar backcheck, and Markstrom did not track the shot. With just over three minutes to play in the second period, Spence made it a 1-0 game on the Kings’ 9th shot of the game.

The Devils did not let the Kings take that lead to intermission. After Dillon made a stand-up play at the blueline, Jesper Bratt went off to the races with Ondrej Palat. They had to circle back on the rush, and Jack Hughes and Bratt cycled with speed. Jack Hughes took it around, turned to his forehand, and ripped — and it was tipped by Palat past Rittich to tie the game!

Third Period

After a wide Meier shot from the high slot area and a Dawson Mercer miss on a tip chance early in the period, the teams slowed down and looked like they were going to start playing things too cautiously for a bit, before Luke Hughes came onto the ice and tried to press the issue. I thought this set the tone for the Devils getting back into their attack mentality, while the Kings struggled to possess the puck past center ice. Even when the fourth line came on nearly six minutes into the period, MacDermid pressured the puck in the neutral zone, allowing Bastian to create a turnover leading to another lengthy sequence in the Devils’ offensive zone, though a large chunk of the initial time there was spent battling in the corner for the puck. When another battle for the puck ensued with the Hischier line on the ice, play was blown dead and the Devils were given an offensive zone faceoff after a TV timeout.

The Devils could not come away with the draw there, but the Kings again failed to possess the puck more than a foot or two past center ice, as the Devils were first to all the dumps and quick to move it out. The Kings finally got in nine minutes into the period, when Warren Foegele was denied on a low shot by Markstrom. After the Devils lost the next draw, Nico Hischier was high-sticked by Samuel Helenius, giving the Devils their first power play.

The Devils did not set up for the first 30 seconds or so of the power play. When they finally got in the zone, Stefan Noesen was stuffed at the top of the crease by David Rittich when Bratt juked around a King to create space for the pass. For the second minute, Luke Hughes replaced Dougie Hamilton, but the first unit did not change off until the Kings cleared the puck. The second unit got a late chance when Luke Hughes sent the puck through traffic — but Rittich tracked it. After the penalty ended, Johnny Kovacevic ripped a shot that deflected off of Anze Kopitar, hitting Dawson Mercer in the mouth behind the net. Play was immediately blown dead, and Mercer skated to the locker room holding his mouth.

After a lengthy shift for the Hischier line, with Noesen, culminating with a point shot through traffic from Kovacevic was frozen by Rittich, the Hughes line came on. After the Kings got the puck down the ice, the Devils got back into the offensive zone on a high flip from Brendan Dillon. Ondrej Palat took the flip and backhanded the puck from below the goal line to Jack Hughes, who beat Rittich as Bratt provided traffic at the top of the crease! The Devils took a 2-1 lead with 7:02 to play.

With Mercer in the locker room, Nate Bastian took the empty spot on the third line at right wing. With that group on the ice, Kevin Fiala just whiffed on a potentially dangerous one-timer, and the Kings kept possession until Erik Haula took a tripping penalty. Nico Hischier could not win the draw, and Jacob Markstrom made three dire saves, making his first on a redirection and sprawling on his stomach to make the third. The Devils got the puck out after 30 seconds, and got a change. Jack Hughes came onto the ice, getting a loose puck below the goal line and firing it down the ice. With Brett Pesce by his side, the Devils worked a neutral zone turnover. Hughes took it into the offensive zone, but his shot was blocked by Brandt Clarke right to Brett Pesce. Pesce fired it through traffic and scored! Brett Pesce’s first goal as a Devils gave the Devils a 3-1 lead, leading to an extended six-on-four sequence as the Kings desperately tried to pull back to within one.

The Devils played well against the extra attacker, killing the rest of the penalty with the help of timely saves from Jacob Markstrom. He might get flak for the goal he gave up tonight, but he was genuinely very good on the penalty kill. They had a few shots at the empty net, but they were all either coming off-balance or from long range. The Devils clogged up the middle rather than try to force the extra insurance goal, sealing up their 3-1 win over the Kings, as they had outshot Los Angeles 26 to 12.

Dawson Mercer

The New Jersey Devils have been lucky this year to have an almost rock-solid top three lines, with very few missed games so far. Factoring in all situations has been Dawson Mercer, whose defensive game has taken a step under Sheldon Keefe this year. Mercer has also been incredibly durable and reliable for the Devils since his debut, playing 278 consecutive games. Sometimes hockey players have very rotten luck, though, and I immediately flashed back in my mind to when Nico Hischier took a P.K. Subban slap shot that jolted his visor into his face. Nico ended up out for about a month and a half with a broken nose and a concussion.

I don’t know if there’s a spot on your face you’d rather be hit by a shot, but Mercer took his off the mouth. The team has yet to comment on the specifics of the injury as of now, but I would certainly not be surprised to see him out for at least Saturday afternoon’s game. I just hope he hasn’t broken anything. On the MSG postgame, Rachel Herzog mentioned that he was walking into the locker room, smiling and to some degree with some stitches on his face.

Palat Putting Up Points

Ondrej Palat, the sometimes-maligned veteran winger, has had an up-and-down season, in my opinion. Palat has five points in his last six games after having six points in his previous 25. After thinking the Hughes line was working pretty well with him early on, I did become frustrated with his lack of production. I do not know if he will continue to play like this, but recent times have mostly indicated he might be getting some of his scoring touch back.

Dominant Defensive Effort

Games like tonight are a coach’s dream. After giving up just 17 shots in an overtime loss to Toronto, the Devils allowed five fewer tonight. The top nine had close to absolute control over the game, with the Hischier line outshooting Los Angeles 10 to 2 with a 1.06-0.08 xG disparity — that’s a 92.98 expected goals percentage. The Hughes line and the Hughes-Pesce pairing were the unfortunate parties out there for the goal against, but that line also created the goals that won the game. You hope for a save there, but goals happen.

But the defensive pairings set the tone for the team with their quick retrievals and breakouts, which nullified much of the dump-and-chase and cherry-picking game that Los Angeles tried to play. The Devils also had 16 blocked shots, which is not really a ton for this group. It was just that hard for the Kings to sustain possession and create chances: they had only one five-on-five shot in both the first and third periods.

I was very glad to see Brett Pesce get his first goal as a Devil tonight, especially after his chance at the end of the Toronto game. And while Pesce was one of the only Devils to get a goal against on his card tonight, mostly due to Markstrom not seeing a stoppable shot, Pesce might not have even gotten the chance to extend the lead with a goal had Markstrom not shut the door early and often on that late-game penalty kill. So, everything evens out — and Markstrom was brought on in part for his ability to make those high-danger, sometimes nearly-impossible saves, and the Devils have a defensive group that has largely limited those low-danger shots with systematic shot blocking.

Never Wear Black Against LA

This is an incredibly important issue. One of the reasons I do not love the Devils’ alternate Jersey jersey is that I enjoy seeing teams have color in their jersey. So, seeing games in the old Staples Center is bad enough, when the Devils are wearing white, with the Kings wearing black. Choosing to recreate that, Jersey-style, was just unnecessary.

Look Who’s There

Ryan Novozinsky covered tonight’s game for NJ.com, and he shared this rather unfortunate tidbit on Twitter. I’ll be keeping an eye out for what he publishes later tonight…

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? How pleased are you with the defense? When are Hischier and Meier going to explode for a goal-scoring spree? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.