The Ref Show Swings Momentum as Allen Looks Lost in Goal in 8-5 Devils Loss to Lightning

Just an unacceptable effort on home ice, or something.

First Period

With the Hughes line starting the game, Ondrej Palat set up a chance for Jesper Bratt in close on Jonas Johansson, but Tampa’s backup goaltender kept the New Jersey Devils off the board with a low pad save on Bratt’s shot from the low slot. The Lightning had their first shot a couple minutes later when Jake Allen had to make a save on Zemgus Girgensons, who shot at the arm on the glove side. The Devils retained a light advantage in offensive generation over the course of the first period, but Tampa was no cakewalk on the ice for them.

A couple minutes after Jake Allen made a stellar save on Nick Perbix on the rush, Jesper Bratt touched a pass through the middle of the neutral zone, redirecting a feed from Palat to Jack Hughes. Hughes came in on Johansson and slowed down, making a move to his forehand and scoring! 1-0, Devils, just past the 11-minute mark on the game! Ondrej Palat got his first point of the year on the play.

A short while later, Conor Geekie had a chance for a tap-in and just missed the net. The Devils would have escaped there, but Timo Meier took a boarding penalty on Geekie. Jake Guentzel made a spinaround move on Jake Allen in tight, seeming to get net to shoot at, but Allen made the stop. Allen went flopping around later to deny Guentzel again, giving the Devils a loose puck to clear to get some of the Lightning first unit off the ice. Anthony Cirelli took a shot from the right circle, which was stopped, but Brayden Point knocked the puck out of the air and scored as it bounced on the ice. Tie game, 1-1.

At the end of the period, Jake Guentzel had a chance to take the lead for Tampa, but Jake Allen made a huge, desperate save to keep the game tied, pushing the shot away with his stick. Jonas Siegenthaler made a play right after to seal off the net area, and the game went to intermission tied at one. This was somewhat fortunate for the Devils, as the Lightning picked up the pace over the period, shooting 17 times on Allen, with eight of those 17 coming off the stick of Guentzel.

Second Period

Jack Hughes was on for early shift with Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer, and he gained the zone towards the end of their shift with Mercer to his right. Mercer drew some attention, and Jack took the puck towards the net, deferring at the dot to Timo Meier, who one-timed the pass past Johansson! It was a 2-1 Devils lead less than a minute into the period.

Simon Nemec made an awesome play to stand up Conor Sheary when Sheary denied Nemec’s defensive zone exit near the three-and-a-half minute mark of the period, knocking Sheary over and reaching his left arm out to collect the loose puck and move it up the ice. A couple minutes later, Dougie Hamilton was denied when he attacked with Hischier and Mercer, forcing Johansson to make a glove save with a wrist shot in traffic.

Erik Cernak made a big hit on Jesper Bratt behind the Tampa net six and a half minutes into the period, and Ondrej Palat and Cernak went at it for awhile before play was blown dead. No penalties were called on the play, and the Devils took a defensive zone draw, which Nico Hischier won. Nico later blocked a rush shot from Anthony Cirelli out of play with his outstretched stick. Erik Haula lost the following draw, and Victor Hedman hit the corner as he pinched down for a scoring chance below the faceoff dot. 2-2.

Dougie Hamilton temporarily kept the game tied when he batted a puck that bounced off the end boards when a point shot went wide, preventing it from hitting Jake Allen as he moved back in his crease to follow the puck. But the Devils could not get the puck out, and Brandon Hagel’s shot bounced off Brenden Dillon and past Allen. 3-2, Tampa.

Nico Hischier was on for a shift with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. This group had great puck control around the net, but Jack and Jesper just could not deflect Hischier’s sharp-angle one-timer past Johansson. They stayed together after a stoppage, and Nico’s shot on a rebound from Hughes’s centering pass to Bratt was blocked in the low slot. Tampa took it the other way, and Daniil Misyul could not defend the pass on a two-on-one. Hagel finished the feed from Geekie. 4-2, Tampa, with about seven minutes to go in the period.

Brandon Hagel made it a natural hat trick with four minutes to play in the second when Allen was crashed into by Lilleberg and Paul Cotter on the rush, and Hagel had an easy rebound chance as a result. Sheldon Keefe denied to challenge because of Cotter’s positioning, and the Lightning went up 5-2. Victor Hedman made it 6-2 when he took a slap shot right through Ondrej Palat’s legs and through Jake Allen’s five hole.

After the third line ha a scoring chance off an offensive zone faceoff, Emil Lilleberg and Paul Cotter went to the box for roughing. After the Devils circled the neutral zone for about a minute, Nico Hischier burst past Hedman and went to the forehand, getting denied by Johansson, who was in good position and didn’t let the puck rise much.

Third Period

Cotter and Lilleberg stayed in the box for the start of the third period, with just 26 seconds left at our-on-four. The Lightning went behind their net and killed most of the remaining time, with neither team getting a clean offensive zone entry in the first minute of the period. A couple minutes went by, and the fourth line was surprisingly brought out, despite their trouble during the game. Curtis Lazar went digging away at a loose puck after a Bastian backhand as Nate drove into the slot, and Bastian got the pass from Lazar and just snuck it by Johansson! The Devils reduced the lead to three with under 17 minutes to play.

Ondrej Palat drew a tripping penalty from Erik Cernak when Palat beat him with a cut to the inside in the offensive zone. The Devils controlled the puck off the draw and put great pressure on Johansson until Bratt lost the zone with a bad pass into traffic. The Devils managed to get the first unit back into the offensive zone, but they had to change after another zone exit by Tampa. Timo Meier took a one-timer that went wide of goal, and the Devils jumped on it to keep possession as Erik Haula went down. Tatar used the space created by Haula, whose fall impeded Tampa down low, to create another one-timer for Meier, who beat Johansson’s glove! The Tampa lead was just two with over 14 minutes to play.

Dawson Mercer took a two-minute minor for goaltender interference when Victor Hedman drove him right into Johansson. Hedman dropped the gloves with Mercer, and only Mercer was called for a minor penalty. Keefe was absolutely incensed behind the bench, climbing over to scream at the referees, but the Devils went to the penalty kill. Jake Guentzel scored right off the draw, and the referees missed Johnny Kovacevic being high sticked on the play. 7-4, Tampa, with 14:12 to play.

Tampa went back to the box with 12:36 left in the game, as Ryan McDonagh went off for tripping Ondrej Palat. The Devils lost the offensive zone early, and Nico Hischier had a slap shot blocked out of play after they came back down the ice. The Devils kept possession off the next draw, and Nick Paul sent the puck over the glass halfway through the penalty — but the officials ruled it hit the glass before hitting the netting. Nico Hischier was taken down by Erik Cernak in the corner, leading to another Tampa exit towards the end of the first unit’s shift in the second minute of the power play. Jake Allen let his eighth goal of the game in off a Tampa dump off the wall, which deflected towards the net instead of around the boards. 8-4, Tampa.

The Devils had an extended six-on-five with a delayed penalty call, as they got a couple shots around the cage before Michael Eyssimont went to the box for tripping Jonas Siegenthaler. Stefan Noesen stepped back from the net and put a one-timer past Johansson to make it 8-5, off a soft pass from Jack Hughes.

Erik Haula was high sticked in front of the net back at even strength, to no call. The officials swallowed their whistles for the rest of the game, which became a cardio session for the most part. Haula batted a high puck into the net with his glove in the final minute, which was waved off. The Devils lost, 8-5.

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 Option to Make the Right Choice

Sometimes, professional sports officials make mistakes. Sometimes, they gather and discuss their decision, so they may factor in multiple viewpoints from their colleagues to avoid making a foolish mistake. The referees in tonight’s game let a bad penalty get called on Dawson Mercer, and they did not call a high stick on the ensuing power play, leading to Jake Guentzel getting Tampa’s seventh goal of the game. Had they not been gifted that power play, they would have had to defend a two-goal lead for the next 14 minutes. Instead, the Devils never worked back to a two-goal deficit, going down three goals on a terrible bounce and bad read by Jake Allen, on a power play that might not have happened without the prior mistake by the officiating crew.

You can try to make it right by giving a makeup call, once the game has already been affected, or you can do it right the first time.

Stinky

Jake Allen gave up eight goals on 4.24 expected goals. At the time he gave up the eighth goal of the game, he was at 3.86 goals given up above expected. With the back-to-back later this week, coming off a long weekend rest, this might not have been the best time to give Allen a start. I certainly would have pulled Allen when it was a 4-2 game, anyway, and I was really scratching my head at why he was still in the game after his atrocious sixth goal against. This is disappointing, as Allen was great in his last start, but he is a backup.

The Dillon-Hamilton pairing also had another poor game together, as they were on the ice for three and four goals against, respectively, at even strength. They do have some blame to shoulder for their play, as some of the goals I would not blame on Allen (Hedman, the Hagel deflection off Dillon) came during their ice time. I do not know how Sheldon Keefe plans on rearranging the defense with Brett Pesce coming back to the lineup, but I do not think I need to see this pairing much more for the time being.

Jack Hughes’s Strong Game

Jack Hughes was one of the Devils’ best players at five-on-five, but he had notably better expected goal numbers when playing without Ondrej Palat. Hughes had a 26.67 CF% in 11:27 with Palat and just a 31.20 xGF% while posting an 88.89 CF% and 68.78 xGF% in other minutes. Still, he was on the ice for one Devils goal and one Lightning goal both with and without Palat on his wing. I do feel like Jack looked a lot more fluid with his decision-making tonight. He made simple plays, saw his openings, and made the most of them. Perhaps we see more of Nico Hischier taking shifts with Jack Hughes, and perhaps we see more of Stefan Noesen finishing one-timers from Jack’s passes. All I know is that Jack is going to be having nights like these more consistently as the season goes on.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? How disappointed are you with the effort? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.