Jacob Markstrom Puts On Goaltending Clinic In 3-1 Win Against Ottawa Senators

It was Markstrom’s night, and with help from Haula, Bastian, and Cotter, the Devils were able to secure a win north of the border

In my humble opinion, Jacob Markstrom played very well in the Devils’ last game against the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a dispiriting 4-2 loss, but Markstrom’s performance was still a standout one to me. It came with caveats though, as while he did make some outstanding saves, he also let in a couple goals that, while not horrible by any stretch, were certainly stoppable. There were no caveats to Markstrom’s game tonight though, as he put on a show in the New Jersey Devils’ 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Whereas Markstrom’s skaters failed to hold up their end of the bargain on Tuesday in Carolina, they provided him enough support tonight. It didn’t start out that way though, as Ottawa controlled most of the play in a scoreless first period. Markstrom stood tall with some quality saves off rush chances, cycle chances, and broken play chances. He kept the Devils even, buying them time to finally break through and take control of the game in the second period. Erik Haula broke the ice with a redirection goal, then Nate Bastian sniped home a shorthanded marker. New Jersey controlled play much better in the middle frame, but when they did crack, Markstrom was there to back them up and keep the Senators off the board.

The third period mostly featured the Devils playing more conservative hockey, though they did generate their fair share of chances in the final frame. They registered their last goal of the night courtesy of the unstoppable force that is Paul Cotter. He maneuvered his way into the slot and fought home a rebound that came from a Dougie Hamilton shot to give New Jersey some breathing room at 3-0.

The only blemish on Markstrom’s record came 59 minutes into the game: a power play goal from Brady Tkachuk, who redirected a Claude Giroux shot home. While that goal obviously didn’t impact the outcome of the game, it was such a shame to see Markstrom lose his shutout with a minute left (65 seconds to be precise) on the clock. Perhaps with revenge on his mind, Markstrom did try for a goalie goal shortly after allowing Tkachuk’s tally when the Senators dumped the puck in deep. Unfortunately for Markstrom, Tim Stutzle knocked the puck away in the neutral zone. I don’t know if Markstrom’s shot was actually on target, but thanks to Stutzle, we’ll never know.

Either way, it was a terrific effort from Markstrom this evening. According to Natural Stat Trick, he saved 1.46 Goals Above Expected. I would also be remiss if I did not mention that Ottawa hit the post four times tonight, so luck was on Markstrom’s side as well. That being said, a couple of those post shots rang off the outside of the iron, so it’s not like those shots were a centimeter away from finding twine or something. It is of course still very early in the season, but Markstrom has provided the desperately needed stability in net the Devils have been chasing for so many years now. He doesn’t have to be terrific every night, he just needs to be solid.

But tonight he was terrific, and this time his skaters backed him up. It was a very satisfying bounce back win for the Devils.

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

Welcome Back Cotter Hamilton

Paul Cotter scoring his fifth (fifth!) goal of the season was amazing, and we’ll get to that momentarily. But perhaps the more important thing to focus on with that third period goal was the fact that Dougie Hamilton collected the primary assist on the play. Hamilton raced to a loose puck on the far boards and rifled a shot on net. Senators goalie Anton Forsberg made the stop, but in doing so he left a juicy rebound in the slot that Cotter cleaned up.

That helper was Dougie’s first point of the season. His pairing with Brendon Dillon has been pretty darn good thus far, as according to Natural Stat Trick, they have combined for a 5-on-5 Expected Goals For% of 57.39%. That’s good for 10th-best among all pairings in the NHL with at least 50 minutes of ice time together.

(By the way, the Jonas Siegenthaler-Johnathan Kovacevic pairing is at 58.44%, good for 8th among all pairings with at least 50 minutes together. Very promising stuff.)

My point in bringing those numbers up is to show that Hamilton hasn’t been playing poorly to start the season despite being held off the scoresheet. Quite the opposite in fact. But at the end of the day, one of his primary jobs is to produce points. The power play unit he quarterbacks has been snakebitten to start the campaign, so that probably plays a role. Once they start finding the back of the net, expect Hamilton’s point totals to skyrocket. But for now, it’s nice to see Hamilton return to the scoresheet where he belongs.

Welcome Back Cotter

Ok, now let’s talk about Paul Cotter. We all know Cotter won’t shoot 33% for the entire season, eventually he will cool off. But for now, what a lift he’s given the Devils.

Jack Hughes is still the engine of the offense, and while he’s collected a decent amount of points so far, he has yet to fully get going. The same could be said about most of the Devils’ top forwards this season. Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier have all put up respectable point totals, but not quite to the level of what you want to see out of them.

That’s why it’s important for the depth players to step up. The third line was almost entirely responsible for New Jersey’s 5-3 win over the Capitals last week, in which Mr. Cotter scored two goals. Meanwhile Seamus Casey had a turn in the spotlight in the win over Utah on Monday, Stefan Noesen had a three-point night in that game against the Capitals, so did Erik Haula who also scored this evening, and Johnathan Kovacevic has already been referred to as “Kovechkin” by head coach Sheldon Keefe.

So even if this heater from Cotter isn’t sustainable, it’s something that helps carry the team until the stars find their scoring touch. And it’s not like these are just miracle goals that happen against the run of play that Cotter is producing either. Again per NST, Cotter is rocking a 5-on-5 xGF% of 53.13%. The shooting percentage will go down, but if Cotter continues to win the territorial battle, he will provide value no matter how often he finds the back of the net.

Welcome Back Cotter Line Blender

One of former head coach Lindy Ruff’s most notable features was his propensity to throw his lines in a blender. No one was safe, and while sometimes it worked like a charm, sometimes Ruff’s science experiments failed miserably.

Over his first handful of games as Devils coach, Sheldon Keefe had been very consistent with his line combinations, but that changed tonight:

For those trying to keep up with the changes, Meier replaced Tatar on Hischier’s line, Cotter replaced Meier on Hughes’ line, and Tatar dropped down to the third line where Cotter used to be. It wasn’t a complete incineration of the previous lines, but it was a different wrinkle from Keefe.

Did the new lines work? Here are the 5-on-5 xGF% numbers from Natural Stat Trick:

Meier-Hischier-Mercer: 10:31 TOI – 76.53%

Cotter-Hughes-Bratt: 10:21 TOI – 44.66%

Tatar-Haula-Noesen: 5:30 TOI – 65.81%

Palat-Lazar-Bastian: 7:09 TOI – 8.69%

So that’s a top line that was stellar, a second line that was mediocre, a third line that was stellar, and a fourth line that was pummeled deep into the Earth’s crust. The fourth line was actually the one unit that didn’t experience any changes. I would suggest some for that line soon.

Overall the new lines fared reasonably well. For those wanting to see Meier with Hischier and Cotter riding shotgun with Hughes and Bratt, you got your wish tonight.

Next Time Out

The Devils return home to battle the Capitals on Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm

Your Take

What did you make of tonight’s game? Did Markstrom impress you as much as he impressed me? What did you think of the new look lines? What are you expecting next game? As always, thanks for reading!