The New Jersey Devils defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Thursday night at the Prudential Center, kicking off their home schedule with a victory. The Devils were a bit disconnected and fell behind early, but by the second half of the first period, they found their game and controlled play the rest of the night. With the win, New Jersey improved to 3-1, while the Panthers fell to 3-3.
Game Recap
Period One
It was a choppy first few shifts, but the Devils had a slight edge and put the first two shots of the game on Daniil Tarasov.
The Panthers went the other way, and after some loose play in front of their own net, the Devils allowed the first goal at 1:59. Evan Rodrigues got the goal with assists from Brad Marchand and Seth Jones.
The Devils responded with a few strong shifts, but Luke Hughes was tagged for tripping, sending New Jersey to the penalty kill. The Panthers had a few looks at Jake Allen, but the Devils killed it off, holding their deficit at one.
New Jersey responded with a rush chance, and the Panthers took a tripping penalty of their own, giving the Devils’ power play its first opportunity on home ice. The power play was short-lived as Luke Hughes was tripped down, but he was incorrectly called for the penalty himself, much to the confusion of the Devils’ bench and capacity crowd.
Nobody converted on the four-on-four, and the Devils killed an abbreviated Panthers power play. Luke Hughes had a breakaway attempt out of the box, but his slapshot was steered aside by Tarasov.
The parade to the penalty box continued as the Panthers had too many men on the ice, and the Devils got another shot at a power play. The Devils peppered the net with the man advantage, but they couldn’t find the tying goal.
Cody Glass and Mackie Samoskevich got tangled up behind the Devils’ bench and were each sent to the box with coincidental roughing minors. New Jersey had a two-on-one break, and Jack Hughes was hooked, sending the Devils to a four-on-three power play.
Everything was killed off, and the period expired with the Devils down by one.
The Devils outshot the Panthers 12-6 through the first twenty minutes.
Period Two
New Jersey came out hot in the second frame, and the fourth line generated a few grade-A opportunities that Tarasov fought off.
The Devils swarmed in the offensive zone, and eventually, Jack Hughes was hauled down, sending New Jersey to another man-advantage. The power play was dominant and finally cashed in with Jack Hughes’ first goal of the season, a short-side snipe over the shoulder of Tarasov at 5:48. Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier had the assists.
Florida had a surge and eventually drew an interference penalty at 10:43, but the Devils killed it off.
Jack Hughes and Glass had a two-on-one rush as the penalty expired, but sent the shot just wide.
The Devils connected with a nice tic-tac-toe passing play but were robbed by Tarasov, sliding across his crease. Nico Hischier was hauled down without a call, to the ire of the raucous fans. Jack Hughes had another point-blank look at the net, but Tarasov flashed the leather to keep the game tied.
The Devils kept the pressure on as Brett Pesce hit the crossbar before forcing Tarasov to make another flurry of saves.
Brenden Dilllon was called for hooking, to the displeasure of head coach Sheldon Keefe, but nonetheless, New Jersey was tagged with the late penalty. The period expired before the penalty, sending the game into the intermission knotted at one apiece.
The Devils outshot the Panthers 13-9 in the middle frame.
Period Three
New Jersey killed the final few seconds of the Panthers’ power play to begin the period, but the Devils were immediately sent back to the power play with another questionable call. Again, they successfully killed it.
New Jersey responded with some extended offensive zone time but couldn’t get anything past Tarasov.
The Devils stuck with it, and eventually Meier got his stick on a puck going wide and redirected it to light the lamp at 6:23 to give New Jersey its first lead of the night. Simon Nemec and Dillon had the assists.
The Devils kept pressuring, and after the Panthers couldn’t control a bouncing puck in their zone, they cashed in with a snipe from the slot by Hischier at 11:47. Dawson Mercer had the lone assist, a beautiful diving play to poke the puck to Hischier.
The Panthers surged as the clock dipped below five minutes left in regulation, but the Devils remained poised in their zone and made the smart plays to relieve pressure. Mercer was noticeable in the final minutes, making strong plays to break up Florida’s passes and deny them clean entry into the Devils’ zone.
The Panthers pulled their goalie and appeared to score, but it was immediately waived off for goaltender interference. Florida challenged the call, but it remained no-goal, sending the Devils to the power play with 1:17 left to play.
Luke Hughes put a sharp-angled shot on Tarasov that nearly snuck through, but the score held at 3-1 as the Devils welcomed back the home crowd with a victory.
The Devils outshot the Panthers 33-22 in the win.
Takeaways
Perfect PK
The Devils put together a flawless performance on the penalty kill, negating five opportunities that the Panthers had with a man-advantage. Beyond this game, the penalty kill has been phenomenal to begin the season, clicking at 94.1% through the first four games.
While it is great that the penalty kill has been so successful, the Devils have been taking a lot of penalties in the early going, and that is an area that needs work. Through four games, opposing teams have had a combined 17 power play opportunities, which is a hefty amount of work for the penalty killing units.
While there were some questionable calls on Thursday night that shouldn’t have landed them in the box, there needs to be more focus on eliminating avoidable infractions.
Trust the Process
The Devils put together a mature performance against the Panthers. They fell behind early, on a broken play that allowed Florida way too much space in front of their net, but they rebounded and stuck to their game without getting sloppy in a push for offense.
Tarasov was on his game, especially in the first two periods, something that gave the Devils fits last season. Too many times, New Jersey was simply unable to solve opposing goaltenders, and they suffered in the loss column.
It’s only four games, but the Devils seem to have learned from last season, and if they can consistently find ways to score in these kinds of games, they will be in good shape come spring.
Injuries
The Devils have been hit with the injury bug in the early going, and some notable names haven’t played yet this season or have been injured in one of the first few games and will miss time.
Jonathan Kovacevic underwent knee surgery in the offseason and has resumed skating, but remains on LTIR and is not close to returning.
Stefan Noesen is skating with the team and is nearing a return to the lineup. He is still on injured reserve.
Evgenii Dadonov sustained a broken hand in the season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes. He was placed on injured reserve and is out indefinitely.
Zack MacEwan suffered an upper-body injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning and has been moved to injured reserve. Keefe stated that he will miss a “considerable amount of time”.
Jacob Markstrom was injured in his relief appearance against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It is listed as a lower-body injury, and he is expected to miss a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Nico Daws has been called up from Utica to serve in a backup role to Jake Allen.
Up Next
The Devils look to win a fourth consecutive game on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Edmonton Oilers at the Rock.
The Oilers sit third in the Pacific Division with a 2-1-1 record. Most recently, they lost 4-2 to the New York Islanders, giving New York its first win of the season.
Puck drop is set for 3:30 p.m. on MSGSN.
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