The New Jersey Devils defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 on Friday night in Vancouver. New Jersey came to play early, jumping out to a quick lead and seemingly taking over the contest by the midway point. However, New Jersey fell apart in the second half, barely hanging on to a lead as the final buzzer sounded. Though it was ugly, the Devils picked up two huge points in the standings, improving to 27-22-2. With the loss, the Canucks fell to 17-29-5.
Game Recap
Period One
The Devils opened the scoring just 1:41 in, with a heavy shot off the end boards by Simon Nemec that found Lenni Hameenaho at the side of the net, where he notched his first career NHL goal. Cody Glass tallied the secondary assist.
New Jersey nearly grabbed a second goal off a similar play, but sent the puck just wide.
The Canucks got their first dangerous chance near the halfway point of the period, but Jacob Markstrom came up big to preserve the lead.
The Devils got sloppy in the defensive zone, giving Vancouver ample puck possession. New Jersey responded with a strong forecheck, but was tagged for a penalty. They successfully killed it off.
The teams exchanged chances in the dying minutes, but the Devils took the one-goal lead into the first intermission.
New Jersey outshot Vancouver 8-7 in the period.
Period Two
Jack Hughes had a good look to begin the frame, but it was chested down by Kevin Lankinen.
Timo Meier had another chance that wouldn’t go.
Arseny Gritsyuk was tripped up in the corner, giving the Devils their first power play of the night.
New Jersey cashed in with the man advantage thanks to a blast from the slot by Nico Hischier off a setup by Jack Hughes at 2:34. Dougie Hamilton added an assist.
The Devils struck again seconds later with a shot from the blue line by Hameenaho that Glass redirected in at 3:14. Jonas Siegenthaler tacked on the secondary assist.
Vancouver rang a shot off the post, and the Devils went the other way, creating a chance of their own that forced a sliding save from Lankinen.
Jack Hughes fired a shot off the post as New Jersey pushed for a fourth goal. Instead, the Canucks got on the board after Markstrom left a rebound in front of the blue paint for Linus Karlsson, who tallied his 11th goal of the season at 9:47. Nils Hoglander and Marcus Pettersson had the assists.
Connor Garland caught Hischier with a high stick that drew blood, giving New Jersey a four-minute power play just past the midway point of the period.
The Devils promptly mishandled the puck, giving the Canucks a shorthanded odd-man rush on which they scored to pull within one at 11:59. Teddy Blueger got the goal with an assist from Drew O’Connor.
New Jersey couldn’t get much going with the extended man-advantage against the league’s worst penalty kill. With seconds left on the power play, the Devils were able to set up in the zone, and Connor Brown regained the two-goal lead from the slot at 15:12, snapping a 15-game scoreless drought. Gritsyuk and Hischier tallied the assists.
New Jersey gave it right back at 18:12 off a lost faceoff. Markstrom left a rebound up for grabs, and the Devils’ defense failed to cover Zeev Buium, who notched his fifth of the season, from Elias Pettersson (F).
Vancouver nearly scored again, but upon review, the puck rang off the post and stayed out.
The Devils outshot the Canucks 13-10 in the frame.
Period Three
The Devils were on their heels out of the gate, giving up a few grade-A looks on the opening shifts.
Vancouver got an early power play, and the Devils bent, but didn’t break, surviving the penalty kill.
The Devils made a series of chaotic-looking plays work, and, against the flow of the game, Glass gave the Devils some needed insurance, with a chip shot on a bouncing puck that beat Lankinen at 11:03. Meier and Johnathan Kovacevic had the assists.
Hameenaho found himself on a clean-cut breakaway, but Lankinen turned his attempt away.
With just under four minutes to play, Vancouver pulled Lankinen for the extra attacker. The Devils had at least three to four opportunities to ice the game with the empty net, but between a broken stick and overpassing, they couldn’t convert.
The Canucks went the other way and again pulled within one as the Devils scrambled in their zone. Brock Boeser got the goal at 18:48 with assists from Karlsson and Tom Willander.
Again with the empty net, the Devils had numerous chances to deal the final dagger, but instead forced Markstrom to make a flurry of last-second saves to earn the team an important two points.
The Devils were outshot 25-24 in the 5-4 victory.
Takeaways
Peaks and Valleys
It was a tale of two games for the New Jersey Devils in Vancouver. The first half of the contest belonged to the Devils. They dominated in terms of the shot differential, and it was reflected on the scoreboard as they jumped out to a three-nothing lead.
Beyond the numbers, the forecheck was strong, and the Devils spent most of their time with the puck, limiting any opportunities the Canucks tried to generate. The line chemistry, especially between Gritsyuk, Glass and Hameenaho, was encouraging, as the trio continued a stretch of three dominant efforts together.
Despite all the good, the Devils fell apart in the second half of the game. The sure-handedness that was on display early vanished as the game got quite chaotic, with wild bounces, failed clears, blown coverages, loose rebounds and general bad decisions creeping into their game.
The extended power play, which should have been a source of momentum for New Jersey, proved more of an advantage for the Canucks, who scored shorthanded, the first shorthanded goal given up by New Jersey this season.
While the Devils did score on the same power play, it was sloppy, and most of the time was spent trying to enter the zone cleanly against the 32nd-ranked penalty killing unit in the league.
At even strength, the Devils were a bad combination of sloppy and too fancy, handing out plenty of turnovers and pinning themselves in their own defensive zone for long shifts, causing blown coverages and ultimately goals against.
At the end of the day, New Jersey got the two points, which is the most important takeaway. However, the Devils have a lot to clean up if they want to be true contenders in the playoff race.
Up Next
The Devils will look to sweep their road trip with a fourth consecutive win when they take on the Seattle Kraken on Sunday afternoon.
The Kraken sit 6th in the Pacific Division, with a 22-19-9 record. They are 4-4-2 in their past ten contests. Most recently, they lost 4-2 to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
This is the second and final meeting of the regular season between New Jersey and Seattle. The Devils took the first contest 3-2 in overtime on January 14th.
Puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m. EST on MSGSN, KHN/Prime, and KONG.
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