“Santa Claus is comin’ to town” – Mariah Carey

On the eve of Christmas Eve, Tuesday at UBS Arena, the New Jersey Devils visited the New York Islanders in their last game before the holiday break. The score, a 2-1 Devils’ loss, has the Garden Staters sitting at 41 points and in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division, one point out of a playoff spot.

With as much as has been written about New Jersey’s season so far, there’s no denying the Devils have several wishes they would like Jolly St. Nick to grant. For starters, while Jacob Markstrom drew the start in net against the Islanders, stopping 23 of the 25 shots he faced, the Garden Staters would certainly like to get more consistent performances from their netminders the rest of the season. Case in point, Markstrom came into Tuesday’s game sporting an .881SV% and a 3.40 GAA in 18 games. Meanwhile, Jake Allen’s numbers are a .912SV% and 2.47 GAA in 19 games. If Tuesday was any indication, Markstrom appears to be finding his game again, which is key to any success New Jersey may have.

The Isles countered with David Rittich, who, in 12 games coming into the night, was 7-3-2 with a .908SV% and 2.54 GAA as Ilya Sorokin’s backup. Against the Devils, Rittich was superb, stopping 31 of 32 shots, including a couple of breakaway chances. 

“That’s a good team,” Pesce said about the Islanders. “We’re a good team. We both had a fair amount of chances. That’s an unfortunate outcome for us.”

Kris Kringle delivered a couple of early Christmas gifts to the Devils over the past week, as Brett Pesce, Arseny Gritsyuk and Jack Hughes all returned from injuries. Plus, Timo Meier returned from dealing with a private family matter. 

That being said, the Devils would be especially grateful if their stockings were filled with one or two new middle-six wingers who could provide a boost to the team’s offense. Another center would be welcome too. After all, they’ve now been held to two goals or less in five straight games and eight of 12 games this month. Some more power-play opportunities would be welcome, too, as they have been hard to come by of late for New Jersey. 

On defense, New Jersey’s biggest wish is for health, production and consistency. But they reportedly wouldn’t say no to finding a taker for Dougie Hamilton’s contract either. Jonathan Kovacevic is getting closer to returning from his May knee surgery and the Devils need to clear cap space before they can activate him. 

Quinn Hughes isn’t walking through that door. It’s unlikely that Steven Stamkos is either. Ryan O’Reilly and Nazem Kadri are rumored to be on New Jersey’s wish list, but it’s questionable if the team has the assets and cap space to make one or both of those moves happen. 

Against the Islanders, Brett Pesce opened the scoring with a snipe past Rittich at 15:35 of the first period. It was Pesce’s first goal of the year and was set up by Nico Hischier’s pass from the side of the net as New Jersey’s Captain sent the puck out to their veteran D-man at the top of the circle. 

The second period built on the brisk pace of the first period, but with the Islanders getting the better of the chances after New Jersey was the superior team during the opening 20 minutes. In fact, if not for the stout goaltending of Markstrom, the Devils would likely have exited the second period down multiple goals. To accentuate the point, the Islanders had a CF% of 72.09% in all situations in the middle period and were credited with 11 high-danger chances to the Devils’ two. 

As it was, it took a fluky play by Markstrom to yield an Islanders goal. 12:10 into the middle period, New Jersey’s netminder skated into the corner in an attempt to clear the puck, only to have his pass bounce off the wall and kick out to Simon Holmstrom, who fired the puck into the empty net to tie the game 1-1. 

“I mean, I think we started out the season so good with the second period,” explained Jesper Bratt. “That’s the thing that we were building on…It’s been a few games now that we haven’t really been establishing the O-zone and getting line changes, getting long O-zone shifts. The other team has been doing a better job than us, winning battles and getting pucks in and getting us on our heels and making us have the long line changes. So I guess it’s just kind of flipped a little bit; what we did well is what the other teams are doing well right now.”

The third period swung back in the Devils’ favor as they compiled an all-situations CF% of 57.78% in the final period to go along with eight high-danger chances for, compared to just one for the Isles. The “best” scoring chance New Jersey had was when Connor Brown was sprung for a breakaway, but he was ultimately stopped by Rittich, who waited out New Jersey’s winger and made a pad save at the last second. 

That all went out the window, though, with 1:15 left in the third period as Adam Pelech scored from the left face-off dot – after the puck bounced out to him from behind the net – to give the Islanders their 2-1 margin of victory.

“(It’s) unacceptable to not at least take that (to) overtime,” Pesce said after the game. “Can’t give up a three-on-two in the (last minute). It’s really that simple.”

“I think we played a good game,” said Markstrom. “I mean, we got a big goal from Pesce. Obviously, the first goal is on me and then, the second one, you gotta come up with a big save.”

The Devils know that Santa is gearing up to take his magic sleigh on its annual world tour and they’re hoping he has room in his gift bag for at least a couple of items with their name on it. 

Merry Christmas, happy holidays and have a happy and healthy new year!