Despite the largely Devils having the better run of early play, the Detroit Red Wings took the lead when Moritz Seider beat Jacob Markstrom high with a point shot on Detroit’s third shot of the game. Markstrom may have been dealing with a poor block attempt by Nico Hischier, but it looked like he had the position to make the save and did not. To make matters worse, the Devils responded poorly and took a penalty not even two minutes later, with Luke Hughes going to the box for hooking.
The penalty kill seemed to get some life back into the team, with the Devils outshooting the Red Wings 2-0 in the two minutes. Connor Brown in particular made an excellent read, breaking off from his pursuit of Patrick Kane in the corner to nab a pass from the boards in the middle of the ice, leading the Devils off on a rush the other way. After Kovacevic got off the ice for a change, leaving Brown by himself, Brown made a nice drag move to create a shot but could not beat John Gibson.
The Devils got a power play of their own when Andrew Copp was called for slashing Nico Hischier’s stick out of his hands. The Devils attacked low in the zone during their power play, but the Red Wings were able to clear it out a couple times before the second unit came out at the start of the second minute. But the Devils would be called for too many men on the ice with 42 seconds remaining on the power play, with a bad change happening right then.
The Devils won their four-on-four draw in the defensive zone, and Cody Glass hunted for a redirection from the point after gaining the zone. The chance missed, and the Red Wings came back, with Michael Rasmussen forcing Markstrom to save and freeze the puck with just 11 seconds to go until the Devils were back on the penalty kill. The Devils again won the draw, and Nico Hischier chased into the offensive zone after Mercer dumped it in to start their abbreviated penalty kill. The Red Wings were able to take possession and gain the offensive zone before long, but Markstrom froze an easy point shot to set up a draw. Glass won this back, but the Devils could not clear. A rebound from a shot by Seider sat in the crease for a moment before Siegenthaler threw it back to the point, and the Devils finally got the puck out at the end of the kill when Dougie Hamilton fired it hard down the ice off a rebound of a long shot.
Jack Hughes was knocked down by a puck to the shin with under five minutes to play and went to the bench in pain. Hughes was clearly in a ton of pain on the bench, but did not go to the locker room as the Devils began to struggle to control the puck. The Red Wings pinned the Devils’ fourth line back, but thankfully the Red Wings’ fourth line had some trouble hitting the net. Otherwise, it may have been 2-0. Jack Hughes later came back onto the ice for his last shift of the period, which seemed to go without an issue.
Dawson Mercer drew a second penalty of the game from Andrew Copp, who went to the box for high-sticking 29 seconds into the second period when he hit Mercer in the face with his stick on the follow through of a hit. Dougie Hamilton controlled off the draw and passed it around the zone, but Hughes’s shot was saved from the left flank. The Devils stayed in control, playing catch from the croner and back up high before a Dougie Hamilton one-timer was gloved and knocked out of play for another faceoff in the first minute of the advantage.
Hischier won the second draw, and Jack Hughes came out to the point but slipped up a bit with the puck, forcing the Devils to retrieve it in their own end. The re-entered quickly, and the first unit stayed on to pressure the Red Wings. They stayed in the offensive zone for the remainder of the power play, firing a few more shot attempts but not beating Gibson.
Right after Connor Brown missed a golden opportunity in the slot, off a backhand feed from Luke Hughes that Brown chipped around a defender, Johnny Kovacevic was called for interfering with J.T. Compher. Just as the Devils were looking good at five-on-five again, they were sent back to the kill because a very undisciplined play. While the Devils looked good on the kill at first, another point shot from the same spot Moritz Seider scored the first goal of the night was deflected past came down on Markstrom and was deflected by James van Riemsdyk, giving Detroit a 2-0 lead.
Brenden Dillon went to the box for two minutes for interference on Copp with just over six minutes to play in the period, making a poor decision to throw a big hit at the blueline when Copp did not have the puck. The Devils had another good kill, with Detroit only getting a big chance at the very end when Justin Faulk broke in behind the defense after a weak neutral zone pass by Mercer. Faulk came in but was denied by a flashy glove save by Jacob Markstrom.
At the end of the period, Timo Meier bulldozed Lucas Raymond while driving the net, knocking Raymond into John Gibson. This caused a melee about 20 seconds later, resulting in matching roughing penalties for Ben Chariot and Timo Meier to put the game at four-on-four for the first 1:56 of the third period.
Cam Talbot replaced John Gibson to start the third period as a result of the collision between him, Raymond, and Meier at the end of the second period. The Red Wings had the puck right on the goal line less than half a minute into the period, but Dougie Hamilton cleared it out and allowed the Devils to get a line change in the neutral zone.
Nearly halfway through the period, Markstrom finally got a glove on a deflected point shot, keeping the Devils at least somewhat within reach. Their offense had some possession in the third, but Detroit was clogging the middle up really well and New Jersey was not taking advantage on the cycle. At least, the Devils remained in it until the Devils got too unfocused around the net and forgot to check the passing lane from van Riemsdyk on the goal line to Dominik Shine cutting down the side while Kovacevic and Siegenthaler won an ultimately unimportant battle in front of the crease. The Red Wings took a 3-0 lead with over nine minutes to play.
Nemec was called for tripping Michael Brandsegg-Nygard with just over four minutes to play in the game, adding insult to injury. The Devils only had a little bit of attack time in the final two minutes, though Markstrom stayed in the net, and the Red Wings shut them out 3-0.
I don’t think I could describe the response in the third period, especially after the third goal by Detroit, as anything other than giving up. Most of the time, it seemed like only Connor Brown and Jack Hughes were very interested in taking the puck up the ice, as much of the team fell back into bad habits. The worst of all, I thought, was the decision by Sheldon Keefe to swap Arseny Gritsyuk with Jesper Bratt. Bratt was a step off the entire game. His passes to Jack Hughes were almost never on the tape. He was missing pucks, overskating and relying too much on staying to the outside, above the dots, allowing the Red Wings to chase him to the blueline. When Bratt was on the ice, he made it look like a game in January.
The Devils only had one primary line do better than a 50.00 expected goals percentage: the Meier-Hischier-Mercer line, which I thought was also way below part tonight. They only managed three shots on goal, but they had a 72.41 xGF% because of the quality of their chances. Perhaps if Mercer hit the net in close more, he would be a 35-goal scorer instead of a 20-goal scorer.
I do think it was reckless to play Jacob Markstrom tonight, but he was not close to the worst Devil on the ice. He had three goals against on 2.88 expected goals against and 30 shots on goal. Meanwhile, the fourth line went from a respectable group to an unplayable one with the replacement of Tsyplakov with Dadonov, while Johnny Kovacevic looked like he did right after returning from his injury. Back to backs are clearly still a problem for Kovacevic, who was flat-footed all game and could not support the offense at all.
Keefe might not have realized it yet, but the only way he wins games like this is by loading minutes up for Luke Hughes. The Devils dominated the puck in his minutes, and it looked like they were actually threatening to score whenever he was separated from Kovacevic. Here’s how that broke down for Luke:
With Kovacevic: 10:16, 8 CF, 8 CA (50.00 CF%), 3 SF, 3 SA, 0.29 xGF, 0.56 xGA (34.32 xGF%), 3 SCFWithout Kovacevic: 11:42, 18 CF, 6 CA (88.89 CF%), 5 SF, 3 SA, 0.63 xGF, 0.20 xGA (82.47 xGF%), 12 SCF
It may just be that Johnny Kovacevic cannot handle an NHL workload this soon after his knee surgery, and he came back too early. But I really, really do not want to see him paired with Luke Hughes moving forward, regardless of Brett Pesce’s injury. Give me anyone else (except Dennis Cholowski). To make matters worse, Kovacevic took a potentially season-killing interference call to hand Detroit the chance they converted for their second goal of the game. He took that penalty even though Luke Hughes had the play covered. He’s not playing very good hockey.
But that’s that. The Devils’ backs are even more against the wall now, and they missed a huge opportunity to beat a Detroit team missing their top center tonight. The odds are back to being in the basement, but I would still like to see the Devils come out firing like they did in their WINS the next time they play, rather than revert to Keefe’s post-steakhouse system.
What did you think of today’s game? What did you think of Kovacevic’s penalty and Markstrom’s point shot goals against? What did you think of the offense tonight? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.