Sheldon Keefe’s Devils stayed composed through multiple waved-off goals and a late game-tying goal to snatch the full victory in a shootout.
First Period
The Minnesota Wild came out of the gate on the attack, with Marcus Foligno making a nice backhand pass through the legs to gain the offensive zone for Minnesota, leading to a shot on goal. The Wild crashed the net, drawing a scrum and whistles as Markstrom covered the puck. Minnesota had the better of the next few shifts, but their chances were not so dangerous. The New Jersey Devils sat back, playing solid defense in their own end to prevent the Wild from getting close to the net again.
The Devils’ top line had a rough shift in the defensive zone thanks to turnovers by Johnny Kovacevic and Stefan Noesen, but Nico Hischier and Jacob Markstrom bailed the two out. The Devils got their line change when a point shot was inadvertently blocked by Kovacevic, allowing Nico to collect the puck and stay on while the other four players changed. Nico kept the puck in the neutral zone long enough to spring Timo Meier, who took the puck down to the other end.
After Meier’s run to the offensive end, the Devils began to come alive on offense. By the midway point of the period, the Devils were outshooting the Wild. The third line, led by Dowling, had another solid shift in the offensive zone about 12 and a half minutes in, and Brett Pesce slid the puck over to Luke Hughes with the Wild scrambling. Hughes shot right under Ondrej Palat’s stick and past the glove of Filip Gustavsson to give the Devils the lead!
Jonas Brodin was called for holding Paul Cotter behind the Minnesota net with under two minutes to play in the period. The Devils were unable to set up off the firtst draw of the poewr play, but they only took one rush to regain the zone. A shot from Hughes went wide, and Timo Meier was just too far to score on the rebound before Middleton cleared the puck. Hughes came back with a backhanded rush shot, but he was unable to convert, bringing the second power play unit on for the final 50 seconds of the period. They were unable to get set up, and the Devils took their 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Second Period
Johnny Kovacevic stuck his stick out to trip Marcus Foligno early in the period, sending Minnesota to their first power play of the game. Haula, Mercer, Dillon, and Pesce started the kill for the Devils, and the Wild controlled the puck off the draw. Brock Faber blasted a one-timer that was blocked by Haula, allowing the Devils to clear the zone enough for a forward change. Bratt came on with Nico Hischier, and a later clear allowed Luke Hughes and Brian Dumoulin on. Jacob Markstrom made a huge save in the second minute of the kill on a redirection from the slot, and Luke Hughes ended the kill when he reached out to stop a terrible pass across the net before the puck was turned over. Hughes cleared the puck down the ice, and Kovacevic returned to the ice.
Jacob Markstrom denied a point blank chance on a partial two-on-one when a spinning pass from Luke Hughes at the blueline was intercepted and taken the other way. Ryan Hartman got the shot on goal off the feed from Hinestroza, but the Devils went right back the other way. Timo Meier drove the net on Middleton, and Middleton took Meier into the net as Gustavsson made the stop.
Marcus Foligno was knocked down by a hit by Brian Dumoulin on a rush, and Dumoulin was called for “holding.” The Devils went to the penalty kill. The Devils did well on this penalty kill, and Dawson Mercer took a flubbed point shot the other way to get a shot on goal through a moving screen by Erik Haula after the two strung some puck movement together to gain the offensive zone. The Wild had trouble moving the puck for the remainder of the penalty kill, and Jesper Bratt lost his stick trying to kick the puck to himself at the end of the two minutes for a potential breakaway. No penalty was called.
The Devils went on the offensive after the penalty kill. They took shot after shot at the goal. Some went wide, and some were blocked, but they were very aggressive in trying to force Gustavsson to make saves. This dominance led to two straight icings with under four minutes to play, as the Devils had the Wild hemmed in. They were not able to convert here, but the Wild were still forced to play defense for much of the latter half of the second period.
Third Period
After a slow first couple minutes, Dawson Mercer had a chance for the second line when Timo Meier had the puck behind the net and set him up in front of Gustavsson. The third line then had a bad shift, with Ondrej Palat turning the puck over on the breakout. The Devils were able to recollect the puck and move it out, but the Wild pushed back quickly. Hinestroza, untouched by Simon Nemec, tipped the puck past Markstrom to tie the game at 1-1.
After the Wild goal, Brett Pesce took a shot on net that ended up on top of Gustavsson’s back. Gustavsson was not aware of where it was, and he turned his back into the net — and the goal horn went off. After a conference, the officials called no goal, but went to a review to see if the puck crossed the line. Toronto confirmed it as no goal, saying the puck did not cross.
Marcus Johansson was robbed by Brett Pesce a bit more than eight minutes into the period, as Johansson had a shot at the rebound of a tipped Bogosian point shot. Markstrom went sprawling back after the tipped shot went through his legs, but Pesce swept it away just in time. A short while later, the Devils’ fourth line forced the Wild to take an icing. After the icing, Luke Hughes poked the puck to create a turnover in the offensive zone, leading to an extra chance. Noesen fed it across to Hischier, who buried his 34th goal of the season to make it 2-1! Luke made a massively risky play to step up for the poke, but it paid dividends.
The Devils ended up on the power play thanks to a hooking by Ryan Hartman with nine minutes to play. The Devils looked alright on their first sustained possession, with Nico Hischier taking a one-timer that was saved. But, the Devils were unable to keep the zone on their next entry, and the second unit began to switch on. Tatar sent the puck to Daniel Sprong, who circled the zone and fed Luke Hughes. They had puck movement going until Sprong fed Palat for a one-timer that was fanned on. Sprong then took the puck and just zipped it over the net.
The Devils played very well as the game reached its final minutes. The Wild were having a lot of trouble getting the puck to Markstrom, and shots became harder to come by in general. Tomas Tatar swallowed up a slap shot by Spurgeon with four minutes left, forcing a neutral zone faceoff when the puck was deflected out of play on the Devils’ dump-in attempt.
Johnny Kovacevic had a trio of good plays around the three-minute mark, helping to get a few Devils defensive zone exits as the team looked to continue shutting down Minnesota’s offense. But not everyone would be as sure-handed as Kovacevic. Brenden Dillon chipped the puck off of Marcus Foligno, right to Matt Boldy to tie the game at 2-2 with two minutes to play in the third period. The Wild controlled play for much of the final two minutes, and the Devils stood behind the net for the entire final 20 seconds to take the one point. Both teams, looking to seal their playoff spots, were happy to accept that point.
Overtime
The Devils sent out Hischier, Bratt, and Hughes, while the Wild sent out Boldy, Faber, and Rossi. Hischier won the draw, but Boldy poked the puck away from behind. The Devils sat back to deter the Minnesota rush, and the Wild took the puck all the way behind their own net to try to create space. Both their first two rushes were one-and-done, and the Devils began to change personnel.
Jesper Bratt threw a hit on Jonas Brodin to take the puck back after a turnover, giving the Devils’ faithful a reason to cheer. The Devils took possession, and Cotter was denied on a shot. But the Devils kept the puck, and Nico Hischier came down the middle to take a feed from Luke Hughes, who was posted up on the wall. Hischier took it low and wide and fed Cotter for the apparent game-winner…but it was called back for offsides.
Hischier won the neutral zone draw, and Bratt gained the zone. Hischier circled to get low, but turned back to feed Hughes. Hughes passed to Bratt, but Bratt turned it over. On the other end, Luke took it right back, and Timo Meier rushed the goal — but he turned it over, too. Markstrom made a big stop against the rush, and Mercer was unable to get a shot off on a chance in front of Gustavsson. The game went to a shootout.
Shootout
Cotter shot first for the Devils and beat Gustavsson with a simple move! Cotter needed to make sure he was felt on the scoresheet for his waved-off winner.
Mats Zuccarello went in slow and was denied by a great reaction by Markstrom!
Jesper Bratt went to his patented backhand dandy and roofed the puck to make it 2-0!
Matt Boldy looked to keep Minnesota alive, going in wide, ringing the post and out! The Devils won!
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
Highlights, Including Waved-Off Goals and the Shootout:
Stringing Wins Together
Even though the Devils have been playing .500 hockey, roughly, over the past month or so, fans have been understandably angsty about the state of the team for one big reason: they have usually lost the games after they’ve won. And in a rare home-and-home against a Western Conference playoff team in the Minnesota Wild, it was not going to be a cakewalk. But hear this:
The Devils are now closer to second in the conference than they are to ninth. They are seven points behind Toronto and Carolina, while being 10 points ahead of the Rangers and Montreal.
Yes, the Devils will not finish second in the Conference. With only six games left, it would take some miraculous standings movement to pull that off. Carolina has nine games left, for instance. But, with two wins in a row and a weaker schedule ahead, the Devils might be looking more at finishing in the 93-96 point range than the 88-91 range fans may have been fearing when they blew the Calgary, Ottawa, and Vancouver games before the shutout to Winnipeg. Things came close to spiraling, but they have not, in the team’s last playoff-level test of strength before the real playoffs begin.
Markstrom and Hischier Do It Again
While I strongly feel that Markstrom played well enough to deserve getting out of this with a 2-1 regulation win, he was still well above average with the late-tying goal. In all, Markstrom stopped 25 of 27 shots and faced 2.86 expected goals against, making five high-danger saves on seven chances. He stopped seven rebound shots, which is a good indication that his knee injury is not bothering him at all anymore and that he has gotten into his regular rhythm. While the team was saying that his knee was 100% of late, his technique and puck-tracking had left something to be desired prior to this past week.
Nico Hischier, who almost had the game-winning goal and then, again, would have had the assist on the offsides non-game-winning-goal. So, a shootout win does not quite give Hischier all the credit he might deserve, but this was another great game for him tonight. He was the best Devils forward by expected goals percentage at even strength, and he contributed in all zones, as usual. If not for some unnecessary turnovers by his teammates, he might have had enough time in the offensive zone to score two goals.
Paul Cotter Will NOT Be Silenced
While Nico Hischier and Luke Hughes were wiped from the scoresheet for the overtime winner, Paul Cotter got to shoot first for the Devils in the shootout. I don’t normally get excited for shootouts, since they are very annoying, but I really wanted to see a win after two Devils goals were waved off on replay. With Cotter’s goal being waved off, I think he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder to sway the game right there. So, that’s a rare shootout highlight.
Luke Hughes in Rare Company
Tonight, Luke Hughes scored his 40th and 41st points of the season. In doing so, he has joined a very small list of active defensemen who scored 40 points in each of their first two full seasons before turning 22 years old. He joins his brother, Quinn Hughes, alongside Rasmus Dahlin…and honestly, I cannot find anyone beyond those two. Makar, Fox, and Bouchard were too old to count. Werenski and Sergachev fell short in their second seasons. Doughty fell short in his first. Karlsson didn’t do it. Hamilton didn’t do it. Hedman didn’t do it. Owen Power hasn’t scored 40 points in a season yet. Even Lane Hutson will be too old next season to fall into this camp. This is a very rare accomplishment! (And if you can think of anyone who fits the bill, please name them in the comments.) Luke Hughes should be commended for it, and he has been playing very good defense to go with this production.
If not for Luke’s legs today, this is probably a 2-0 Wild shutout or worse. He cut down chances off of bad turnovers by his teammates. He was alert around the net, making good plays on the puck. He scored the first goal and created the second with his confidence in his ability to make plays with his stick — and to cover for himself with his legs if he fails. Players like this do not grow on trees. There are some areas that Luke can work on, like breakout efficiency and backhand shots, but he was on full display tonight. He deserved to be Second or Third Star of the Game.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s victory? Were you annoyed by the review calls? What did you think of Markstrom’s play?