No Pretending: Devils Demolish Defending Stanley Cup Champions, 6-2, for Second Consecutive Win Over Panthers

In an incredible performance from the top six, the devils never trailed Florida tonight and expanded their lead as the game drew towards its end.

After the New Jersey Devils defeated the Florida Panthers in Sunrise on Tuesday, the teams were set to play a rare two regular season games in a row in the same building. After playing Jacob Markstrom and Spencer Knight in the first match, the Devils and Panthers chose to go with Jake Allen and Sergei Bobrovsky, respectively. Bobrovsky came into the game with an 8-2-1 record with a 2.95 goals against average and .895 save percentage, while Allen sported a 3-2-1 record with a 2.35 goals against average and .914 save percentage. The Devils also chose to keep Stefan Noesen on the second line, as he swapped spots with Dawson Mercer in the lineup mid-game on Tuesday.

First Period

The Devils found themselves on defense for most of the first three minutes, but Jake Allen made an excellent save to keep the Panthers off the board. A couple shifts later, Luke Hughes stripped the puck away on the wall to turn the Panthers away from the offensive zone, which was followed by a good read by Johnny Kovacevic on Jesper Boqvist on a rush play. The Devils then started pushing towards the Florida net, as the flow of the game began to even out.

The first golden chance for them came when the Panthers were too loose in the neutral zone, allowing Ondrej Palat to thread a pass through for Jesper Bratt, who was denied on a hard, low shot by Bobrovsky. Right at the halfway point of the period, the Devils capitalized on a chance when Timo Meier took a borderline hit in the corner to wrap the puck around the boards, preserving possession for the Devils as Nico Hischier moved it to the point. Luke Hughes walked the blueline, shot low — and Stefan Noesen slipped away from Dmitry Kulikov to bury the rebound! The Devils took a 1-0 lead with 9:59 to play in the opening period. The same line almost made it two when Stefan Noesen fed Meier in front with a play from below the goal line, but Meier was denied by Bobrovsky.

In a sequence that might haunt the giant defenseman at night, former Devil Jesper Boqvist took a feed from Matthew Tkachuk and went through the legs of Dougie Hamilton to break Jake Allen down with a deke, tying the game at 1-1 just a bit over two minutes past the opening goal by Noesen.

After the fourth line took two icings, the Devils had to kill a penalty with Tomas Tatar going off for hooking. It looked like a bizarre call on the replay. Shorthanded, Nico Hischier killed some time, sending the puck down the ice for a change less than 30 seconds into the penalty. With Haula and Bratt out, the Panthers turned the puck over in the neutral zone, leading to a foot race to a loose puck. Bratt won the race, but his wraparound attempt was denied at the side of the net before he could take advantage of how far out Bobrovsky was. Jake Allen later dealt with a puck that popped almost straight in the air, leading to a scramble in his crease — but he kept the puck out and helped the Devils kill their first penalty of the game.

Jonas Siegenthaler was slashed by Carter Verhaeghe as he waited for Dougie Hamilton the change before moving the puck from the defensive zone, taking a careless stick off the hands. This sent the Devils to a late power play, with only 34 seconds to work with. An early shot from Dougie, off the draw, was blocked — but the Devils kept possession. Nico Hischier was denied at the front of the crease before Bobrovsky made a save on one of his shots from the slot, as the puck went glancing off him and to the end boards. Stefan Noesen could not bury return the feed when Jack Hughes flung the puck out front, as it came out hard to the point — but Dougie kept it in. Dougie saw his best option in Bratt at the right faceoff dot. Bratt faked a shot, turned, and sniped past Bobrovsky with 1.4 seconds to play in the first! Bratt put the Devils up 2-1, retaking the lead in the final moment of the period.

Second Period

At the end of the period-opening shift, Nico Hischier snuck behind the Florida defense and was first to a dangerous loose puck, shooting high but getting the glove of Bobrovsky. The Panthers, however, did not look like they had any particular jump on the Devils out of the intermission. Unfortunately, the Devils were caught sleeping on a defensive zone draw, giving Sam Reinhart plenty of space to pick the corner over Allen’s glove, as Kovacevic was in the sight lane. Florida made it 2-2 just 4:45 into the period.

The Devils were set to go back to the power play when Gustav Forsling took Nico Hischier down behind the net with a hold and elbow to the head. In the ensuing scrum after the whistle, Stefan Noesen and Aaron Ekblad were sent to the box for roughing. This meant that the Devils went to the power play with Dawson Mercer in place of Noesen. As Dawson Mercer went trying to bang the puck into the net off a Jack Hughes feed through the crease, the puck deflected off Kulikov’s skate as the former Devil drove Mercer into the net, dragging the net off the moorings as the puck hit the back of the net. However, the referee signaled goal — and the call was affirmed by Toronto! The Devils went up 3-2 on yet another quick power play goal.

After some horrid shifts in the first period, the third line finally came alive after the power play goal. Paul Cotter skated the puck around, making a hard turn on the boards to make a play. Mercer had a shot blocked by Boqvist, but Erik Haula had a whack at the puck that almost made it four goals for the Devils with Brenden Dillon just too far for the rebound. Alas, they did not.

The Devils found themselves back on the penalty kill when Brenden Dillon was sent off for cross-checking Jesper Boqvist. The Devils held their breath when Tkachuk rang a redirection off the post not long after the opening defensive zone draw, but the Devils largely held Florida off after that miss. Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer even killed quite a bit of time battling for the puck behind the Florida net, and Ondrej Palat almost scored a shorthanded goal when Bobrovsky came out to challenge as Palat was trying to slip to a loose puck trickling towards his Florida’s net — but Schmidt went crashing into Bobrovsky and took Palat down in one wild, flying motion.

With just 20.8 to play in the period, Nikko Mikkola was called for an interference penalty as he reached out to shield off Jack Hughes from turning up ice as he was chasing a Florida puck carrier. The penalty might have been on the weaker side, but Mikkola certainly tried to impede Hughes as he was trying to pursue, as Mikkola kept his arm and stick high and reached across Hughes.

On the power play, Nico Hischier was kicked out of the dot, and Jack Hughes slid up to take the draw. He won it back with the help of Noesen, and the Devils were patient with the puck as Hughes waited for things to set up from the right faceoff circle. He whipped a pass to Nico Hischier, who one-touched a feed to Stefan Noesen for a one-timer goal, lifting the Devils to a 4-2 lead!

Right at the end of the period, Paul Cotter was called for slashing, giving the Panthers a third period power play.

Third Period

Hischier, Mercer, Kovacevic, and Dillon began the penalty kill for the Devils, losing the opening draw and being forced to defend before Nico Hischier was tripped in the defensive zone as he was about to clear the puck. This cancelled out the power play, with Carter Verhaeghe going to the box for a second time on the night. Jake Allen was fortunate when Sam Reinhart missed the net at four-on-four off a giveaway from Jack Hughes, but four-on-four was largely tame after that. The Devils were unable to score on their 22 seconds of power play time, bringing them to an imperfect two-of-three on the power play to go with their three-of-three on the penalty kill.

With play back at even strength, Jake Allen sprawled out to save a shot by Uvis Balinskis as Allen raised his blocked to deny the defenseman’s shot at what he thought was a wide open net. Allen followed this up with another big save on Anton Lundell from the faceoff circle. As opportunities fell to the wayside for Florida, New Jersey took advantage of theirs. The Devils jumped on a bad play by Florida as Luke Hughes came away with the puck, allowing the Devils to set up in the offensive zone. After momentarily regaining the puck, Verhaeghe turned it over to Bratt. From up high, Jesper Bratt ripped a low shot that trickled past Bobrovsky to make it a 5-2 game!

The Devils kept Florida pinned after their fifth goal. Nico Hischier took a, late, high, big hit from Jonah Gadjovich as he set up Timo Meier for a one-timer at the side of the net. The Devils kept at it after Bobrovsky made the save, with Luke Hughes skating circles around the Panthers to create a couple opportunities — but they were unable to capitalize. After Bobrovsky froze the puck, Kurtis MacDermid tried to go after Gadjovich off the following draw, but Gadjovich did not want anything to do with him. Jesper Boqvist, however, took a slashing call.

On the power play, Anton Lundell broke away and almost scored — but Dougie Hamilton lifted his stick from behind. This led to a scrum between Jack Hughes and Lundell, as Lundell had hit him in the neutral zone, and Jack Hughes went to the box for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. At four-on-four, Brett Pesce was very obviously tripped and did not get the call — but the Devils did not give up chances to Florida.

Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky late in the four-on-four situation, giving the Panthers a six-on-our with 12 minutes left in the game. Allen made a save on Balinskis, giving the Devils a defensive zone draw — and Palat cleared the puck. Maurice had put Bobrovsky back in the cage as a result of the draw, and the big goaltender played the puck away when Palat just missed Hughes coming out of the box.

Gadjovich and MacDermid dropped the gloves with 10:01 to play, and Kurtis tagged him early, throwing most of the blows before he went off-balance at the end, letting Gadjovich give him a few parting blows before the two hit the penalty boxes for five minutes. MacDermid threw quite a few heavy blows down at Gadjovich, who took his second fighting major in two games.

Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images

As Luke Hughes boxed Tomas Nosek out of the crease on a scramble for a rebound by the net, flinging the puck all the way down the ice, Dougie Hamilton was called for interference on former Devil A.J. Greer. The Panthers pulled the goaltender with the man advantage, but Jake Allen made saves on Reinhart and Barkov to keep the Florida first power play unit off the board. The Devils had the Panthers caught when a puck trickled out of their offensive zone after wrapping around the boards — and Jesper Bratt got a hat trick with a shot down the ice! The Devils took a 6-2 lead with a shorthanded empty net goal with 5:12 to play in the game. The Panthers were deflated after the empty netter, and the Devils cruised to a second consecutive victory against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

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

Last-Second Killers

If an NHL coach had to make a list of things that drive them up the wall during a game, last-minute and last-second goals against would probably rank up towards or at the very top. Tonight, the Devils scored twice in the final minute — with 1.4 left in the first period and 10.2 left in the second. Without the first period, last-second goal, they would have been tied going into the first intermission, while the second period-ending goal was what gave them a cushion going into the third period. So, the difference going into the third was the number of last-minute goals Florida gave up. For a team that won the Stanley Cup last year, I cannot imagine Paul Maurice is very happy with that.

Stefan Noesen, Top Six Extraordinaire — And Three Three-Point Nights

After the Meier-Hischier-Mercer line had a rough stretch of games, Sheldon Keefe mostly broke them up on Tuesday and kept them apart for just about all of tonight, keeping Stefan Noesen in the top six. Noesen came into the night with seven goals and seven assists, and his two goals bring him up to 16 points in the first 20 games of the season, as he is already threatening to match his career-high in goals of 14 (set last year, above his 13 in 2017-18 and 2022-23). For a guy who has mostly played fourth or third line minutes in his career, he is also trending up on the ice time tracker. He played 15:48 tonight, above his season average of 14:35.

The trio of Meier, Hischier, and Noesen was unstoppable tonight, outshooting Florida 7-0 in 8:51 as they earned an even strength goal. None of the Devils’ other primary lines created a ton of offense at even strength tonight, though they did not allow many chances against, either. This is how the Devils can win off of their special teams: by smothering opposition at five-on-five, taking advantage of chances, and being quick on the power play. Nico Hischier is key to all three of those things, as his two drawn penalties, three assists, 73.91% win rate at the dot, and three total shots against in 11:36 of five-on-five ice time is a good sign that Stefan Noesen fits like a glove on his right side. Those three assists for Nico also brought him back to a point-per-game with 20 points in 20 games.

Also coming through with a hat-trick performance was Jesper Bratt, who is now up to eight goals and 24 points on the year. His shot percentage has rebounded to 13.6% — and he has six goals and 11 points in his last six games. That’s not too bad! Jack Hughes, too, had three points with a goal and two assists for his fourth three-point night of the season. He has five goals and five assists in the last five games. If the top six is going to function like this — and Timo Meier didn’t even get to join in on the scoring tonight — the Devils might be headed towards a serious heater.

Big Mac

Kurtis MacDermid had his third fighting major of the season tonight and his first since October 27 against Anaheim in Newark. While his role is debated very often here — and I had said before the season that I would try to start him in Utica to save cap space — the Devils are 7-1-1 with him in the lineup, with the two losses coming against the Islanders in overtime and in the game against San Jose where the sole score was an own goal by Meier. The fourth line might not be super useful on many of these nights, as the parts don’t quite fit together well at the moment. They only played 2:42 together tonight with one shot against, but the big moment came in the third period after Nico Hischier took a late, high hit in front of the Panthers net. I was pretty angry about the hit, and I was happy that Gadjovich had to face the music for the play. It’s not like the officials protect the players with those plays, anyway.

Big Defense and Keeping the Foot Down on the Pedal

Tonight’s game also featured a masterclass in controlling the game from the blueline by Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce. Both were strong in the defensive zone, leading the team in expected goals percentage at 80.71 as a pairing (though the two as individuals led the team at a tick lower than that). Nico Hischier was third with a 75.39 xGF%, while several Devils — including Kovacevic, Cotter, Mercer, and other top sixers — hovered well above 60%. I am just amazed by Hughes and Pesce, though. They look like they have been dog-walking opponents and frustrating playmakers for years on the same ice as each other, but this was just their 11th game together.

You can just see the level of confidence that Pesce gives to Hughes. Luke was sinking around, dipping past, and deking through opponents whenever he got the chance in the offensive zone, and he showed off his puck skills against a very stifling and intense team while not taking any physical punishment to note. All Pesce has to do is make himself available, and he is sure-handed enough to make certain that Luke doesn’t have to work himself into a turnover — and then what can opponents do? The Panthers were at the mercy of these two tonight, and I think they were lucky that the Devils did not score a couple more with them on the ice.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? Are you convinced yet? How do you feel about the next game against Tampa? Will the Devils continue this level of play? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.