Jacob Markstrom Leads New Jersey Devils To Gutsy 4-1 Win Over Florida Panthers

The Devils went down to Florida and snapped the defending champs’ seven-game winning streak in a gutty victory

Former New York Yankees broadcaster John Sterling had a catchphrase of sorts: “You just can’t predict baseball, Suzyn”, referring to longtime broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman. He would say it whenever something strange, ironic, or well, unpredictable would happen. That saying is one of the first things that popped into my head after the New Jersey Devils’ gutsy 4-1 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Two nights ago, the Devils played a home game against the San Jose Sharks, arguably the worst team in the league. What’s more, former Devil “great” Mackenzie Blackwood started in net. Blackwood showed up in New Jersey years ago with lots of promise, and he flashed brilliance every once in a while. But for the most part his time in the Garden State was marked by pretty lousy goaltending. But of course, the Devils lost to the Sharks 1-0 as Blackwood put up a 44-save shutout. It was an immensely frustrating night.

And so the vibes were low as the Devils headed off on a punishing stretch of games that would see them play the Panthers twice, then the Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, and Washington Capitals. To make matters worse, the Panthers, already an elite team, came into the evening riding a seven-game winning streak. Everything was going the Panthers’ way, much like everything went against the Devils on Sunday.

And then the Devils won by three goals on the road against the defending champs.

You just can’t predict baseball, Suzyn.

What makes tonight’s result even funnier to me is how, frankly, undeserved it was. Through roughly the first half of this game, New Jersey was getting thoroughly outplayed. The Panthers owned huge chunks of the possession all throughout the first period, and the only reason they didn’t find the back of the net was Jacob Markstrom. Though I will say, for as lopsided as some of the numbers look (the Devils were outshot 14-6 and out shot-attempted at 5-on-5 20-14) I thought New Jersey did a decent job of keeping most of Florida’s chances to the outside through the first 20 minutes. But make no mistake, Markstrom was locked in from the word go. He held down the fort long enough for the Devils to break through on one of the sickest plays I have seen in quite some time:

That is just nonsensical work from Jesper Bratt between the edge work to elude pressure, vision to locate Jack Hughes on the other side of the ice and through a wave of bodies, and skill to feather a perfect pass right to the tape for the goal. That opening marker came out of nowhere.

Then in the second period, New Jersey spent about 99% of the first 10 minutes in their own zone. Florida absolutely hammered away at Markstrom and the Devils, this time finding ways to get to the middle of the ice with more ease. The Panthers hit a couple posts in this stretch (they hit quite a number of posts this evening actually), and eventually their hard work was rewarded with a Sam Reinhart power play goal off a redirection. A well-deserved 1-1.

But then Brenden Dillon dropped the gloves with Jonah Gadjovich in one of the most brutal fights I have ever seen. The two players just threw haymaker after haymaker at one another, and when they were finally done beating each other’s skulls in, the Devils seemed to settle in. I really don’t know how much stock to put into the Devils playing much better right after Dillon threw bombs at Gadjovich, but whether it was related or not, New Jersey did wake up after the tussle. Luke Hughes sprung Dawson Mercer on a breakaway, but Spencer Knight came up with the save. The Devils started to actually spend some time in the offensive zone, actually put shots on net, actually make the Panthers’ defense sweat a little bit.

And then, another breakthrough. Mercer found Timo Meier streaking behind the defense, and he beat Knight on a partial breakaway to give the Devils a 2-1 edge.

From there, the third period was much more even. The Panthers still got their looks, but the Devils got theirs as well. Markstrom remained unflappable in net, the defense remained structured in front of him, and Florida remained trailing the game. Paul Cotter would score on a bullet of a shot late in the third, Ondrej Palat added an empty-net goal, and New Jersey would secure a 4-1 victory in a game in which they looked lost for just about the entirety of the first half of it. This coming immediately on the heels of a game in which the Devils laid siege to Mackenzie Blackwood and the terrible San Jose Sharks but lost 1-0.

You just can’t predict baseball, Suzyn.

This was a gutsy effort from the Devils tonight. They weathered the storm, their goalie stood tall, and yes, they had plenty of luck on their side between the posts Florida hit, some bounces going their way on a 5-on-3 kill to end the first period, and a seeming missed call on a high stick committed by Paul Cotter that should have sent New Jersey to a four-minute penalty kill. But all the luck seemed to be against them against the Sharks, so the Devils were due for a little karma.

In the end, it wasn’t a perfect outing, but I was impressed with the Devils tonight. After a few seasons in which a lot of Devils fans, myself included, bemoaned the team’s lack of physicality and toughness, they played a hard-nosed, tough, grind-it-out game against arguably the most hard-nosed, tough, grind-it-out team in the league.

The Devils weathered the storm and skated away with two points against the defending champs. That’s all you could have asked for.

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

Congratulations

With his goal in the first period, Jack Hughes has now reached 300 career points. According to NHL Public Relations on Twitter, he was also the fastest player in franchise history to reach that plateau:

After a slow start, Hughes has been coming on strong. His goal tonight was a thing of beauty, and just from my own personal eye test he looked dangerous and aggressive tonight. He was a constant threat with the puck on his stick, and if he continues to play like this he will end up on several Hart Trophy ballots at the end of the year.

The Other Hughes

As for Jack’s younger brother, I thought Luke Hughes played a terrific game defensively tonight. He was constantly in the right position, he broke up numerous plays with tremendous stick work, and his speed and edge work allowed him to snuff out more than one Florida chance before it even materialized. The ESPN broadcast crew of Bob Wischusen and Ray Ferraro highlighted one particular play in which the Panthers looked for a moment like they were going to go in on a two-on-one, only for Hughes to come screaming down the ice and erase the Panther puck carrier along the boards. The closing speed on display on that sequence was something else.

Beyond just my eye test, the advanced stats back up the claim that Hughes had himself a strong night. According to Natural Stat Trick, at 5-on-5 Hughes registered the highest Expected Goals For% at 72.52%. Going by just total Expected Goals Against, Hughes allowed the second fewest on the team with 0.4 xGA, behind only Stefan Noesen’s 0.38.

A year ago, Luke Hughes put up strong offensive numbers while showing plenty of growing pains defensively (though he had plenty of good moments). This season, the script has been flipped. Hughes is struggling to find the scoresheet, with only a single assist through 10 games thus far. But he has taken his defensive game to a whole different level. Some credit should go to his partner, Brett Pesce, but Hughes has put the work in himself as well. If he keeps playing like this, the points will come. And when they do, forget looking like a promising prospect, he might look like a fully formed Norris contender.

The Big Game Hunt Paid Off Tonight

General Manager Tom Fitzgerald, in his words, wanted to go “big game hunting” in the offseason to bring a stud goaltender to New Jersey. He landed Jacob Markstrom in a move most Devils fans were quite pleased with. For the most part, Markstrom has not been great in his time in New Jersey, although he has had his moments. Well add one more moment to the list, as he was terrific this evening. I mentioned how a lot of the Panthers’ chances came from the outside and how he benefitted from plenty of puck luck with a few posts hit, and that much is true. But even taking those elements into account, Markstrom stood tall.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Markstrom saved 2.3 Goals Above Expected tonight. To my eye, he didn’t make any highlight reel saves, he just looked generally solid and confident in the crease. When your positioning is sound, highlight reel plays aren’t necessary, and that is what I think we saw out of Markstrom tonight.

I’m not expecting him to look as great as he did tonight in every game he plays. But if this is a sign of him righting the ship, the Devils will have one heck of a tandem going between him and the surprisingly strong Jake Allen.

A Minor Adjustment

Head coach Sheldon Keefe has been remarkably patient with his line combinations through 19 games. He has made some changes of course, but for the most part they have been minor tweaks as opposed to full on reconstructive surgery. A few weeks ago when he altered his units he basically just rearranged the left wingers on the top three lines. And since then it was status quo until tonight, when he flipped Dawson Mercer and Stefan Noesen.

So how did those adjusted lines fare this evening? Here are the 5-on-5 numbers per Natural Stat Trick:

Timo Meier-Nico Hischier-Stefan Noesen line: 10:19 Time On Ice, 80.88 xGF%

Paul Cotter-Erik Haula-Dawson Mercer line: 9:28 TOI, 45.16 xGF%

The Haula line wasn’t great, but wasn’t a trainwreck either. However the Hischier line was fantastic. They obliterated their competition this evening, which was so good to see after the Meier-Hischier-Mercer unit had gone cold over the last five games. Who knows if these new units are here to stay or if this is just a one-game deal. I would guess these will be the lines for the foreseeable future, but we just have to wait and see.

Next Time Out

The Devils will play the Panthers in Florida. No, it is not Groundhog’s Day. New Jersey plays their second consecutive game against Florida on Thursday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm ET.

Your Take

What did you make of tonight’s game? Who on the Devils impressed you the most? What are you expecting in the second of the two straight games against the Panthers? As always, thanks for reading!