The New Jersey Devils lost 3-1 to the New York Islanders on Thursday night at the Prudential Center. The Devils outplayed New York but, as has been the story of the season, the goal scoring did not come through. With the loss, the Devils fell to 28-27-2 and are on a three-game losing streak heading into the Olympic break. The Islanders improved to 32-21-5 with the win.
Game Recap
Period One
The Devils nearly went down a man early after the officials called a delay of game penalty, but upon review, the puck was deflected out by an Islander.
New Jersey responded with a strong rush chance by Paul Cotter, but it was turned aside by Ilya Sorokin.
The Islanders found their footing, and Ondrej Palat, in his first game against the Devils since being traded, rang a shot off the post.
New Jersey went the other way, and Dougie Hamilton’s shot hit the iron as both teams exchanged chances.
Timo Meier was tagged for high-sticking, sending the Islanders to the power play, but the Devils killed it without allowing a shot.
After a turnover in the neutral zone by New York, Dawson Mercer had a breakaway attempt but fired it off the crossbar.
The Devils outshot the Islanders 5-2 in the opening frame.
Period Two
Neither team could get much through to the netminders to begin the middle frame.
After a miscommunication between Jake Allen and his team caused a turnover, the Islanders broke through first with a goal off a rebound by Casey Cizikas at 6:30. Kyle MacLean and Marc Gatcomb had the assists.
The Devils got a power play shortly after surrendering the opening goal and had some good looks, but got nothing to show for it.
Again, the Devils surged with a flurry of chances, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.
Arseny Gritsyuk drove the net off a faceoff but Sorokin kept it out. New Jersey got another chance with the puck sitting in the blue paint but served it wide.
Finally, off the rush, the Devils were rewarded for their efforts with a blast by Nico Hischier that lit the lamp at 18:26. Jesper Bratt and Allen tallied the assists.
New Jersey outshot the Islanders 13-5 in the middle frame.
Period Three
The Devils opened the period with a few good shots by Connor Brown, including an unimpeded slot shot, but they couldn’t grab the lead.
The Devils were outshooting the Islanders 5-3 at the midway point of the period, but nothing particularly dangerous made it to either netminder.
Allen came up big to defend an odd-man rush with just over five minutes left to play.
Right off a defensive zone faceoff, the Devils misplayed the puck and Bo Horvat capitalized, giving the Islanders the late lead at 16:33. The goal was unassisted.
The Devils pulled Allen in favor of the extra attacker and with 23 seconds left to play, the Islanders hit the empty net to ice the contest.
The Devils outshot the Islanders 24-14 in the loss.
Takeaways
A Needed Break
The Olympic break could not come at a better time for the New Jersey Devils. The team has underperformed for most of the season, and a few weeks away is a great opportunity to regroup.
Additionally, it is time for the Devils’ ownership and front office to take a hard look at the state of the team and make decisions not only for the rest of the season, but for the more distant future. There needs to be some reevaluation of the current roster and the brand of hockey that the organization is trying to achieve.
As it stands, the Devils are second to last in the Eastern Conference, ahead of only the New York Rangers, though it is by a wide margin. They are 11 points out of both the second wild card spot and third place in the Metropolitan Division. They also have six teams between them and a playoff position.
Ownership and the front office must decide if it is worth it to add at the trade deadline, which is fast approaching, and try to make a push for the postseason, or if it is smarter to sell assets and look to retool for next season and the long term future.
Going for Gold
While the NHL is on pause, the Devils have seven players taking their talent to Milano Cortina to play for their respective countries in the Winter Olympics.
Jack Hughes, who has been day-to-day with a lower body injury, is expected to be ready to play for Team USA by the time they kick off the round robin tournament on February 12th against Latvia.
New Jersey’s Swiss trio of Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler are also set to begin their tournament on February 12th, taking on France.
Jacob Markstrom, Jesper Bratt and Team Sweden will take on the host country of Italy on February 11th.
Simon Nemec and the Slovakian Team also kick off their bid for a medal on February 11th, facing off against Finland.
In the United States, catch all of the action on NBCUniversal channels and streaming on Peacock.
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