“I’ve experience this place in playoffs,” Nico Hischier said after Thursday’s practice. “It’s a fun environment to play in. I’m excited for the game. We win one game and it’s a series.”
Friday night, at Prudential Center, the Devils’ fans brought it the way their Captain knew they could and would. That energy and atmosphere helped propel New Jersey to a 3-2 double overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes that cut the Devils’ series deficit to 2-1. While the fans brought it off the ice, on the ice, it was a combination of Brian Dumoulin, Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler, Jacob Markstrom, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, Jesper Bratt and Simon Nemec who fueled New Jersey’s thrilling Game Three win.
After his team’s Game Two loss, Devils’ Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said, “We’re just going to bring that (effort) home. The fans are going to welcome us there. We’re going to need them to give us a boost and try to take care of home ice.”
Well, that boost came and at just the right time, too, as Simon Nemec scored the game-winning goal 2:36 into the second overtime period. With his team now on the board in the series, Keefe and the Devils will look to even things up in Game Four on Sunday afternoon.
“They were incredible,” Keefe said about the Devils’ fans in attendance. “So glad that they stayed with us. Obviously, we wanted to close that thing out in the third period and failed to do so. But them sticking around through overtime and through double overtime, they’re still there. I learned lots about them here today. This is a fun place to play in the playoffs. I hope to bring them lots more playoff opportunities to have fun like they did tonight.”
“I’m proud of our group here tonight,” Keefe continued. “Learned a lot about the character of our team today and about our individuals. You really started to see what our team was about here today.”
Of course, outside of the final score and we’ll get to that in a moment, there was one other story that came out of Game Three and that’s the earlier-than-expected return of defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler. The Swiss defender had been out since early February and initially wasn’t expected back until May at earliest. With him beating that timeframe, New Jersey got one of its most important defensemen back. And while he was initially supposed to play a “reduced role” due to his lack of practice time and conditioning, he ended up playing 26:57.
“I’m just so impressed with our team tonight,” Keefe began. “The defense, in particular, obviously. So fitting that Simon gets the game winner for us. Just our whole team. Just the way that we dug in here tonight and stayed with it. Five defense. Jonas Siegenthaler comes in and we’re trying to keep his minutes down. All of a sudden, you’re down to five D and then you ask him to get into double overtime. He was incredible tonight. I was so impressed with him. Not just to jump into the lineup tonight, but then, to play the way that he did, in this environment and under those circumstances, it’s so impressive.”
Another thing to note was the continued absence of defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon, who were both injured in Game One. At the time, it didn’t seem like either would miss time, seeing as Hughes returned late in the game and Dillon was held back for “precautionary reasons.” However, now it seems like their injuries are much more problematic, as they’ve now missed Games Two and Three, which only further places importance on Siegenthaler’s return.
In addition to that, Jonathan Kovacevic left the game after the first period with an undisclosed injury, which was a big reason why the defense had to step up so much in the ice time department.
Late in the first period, Timo Meier deftly stickhandled the puck inside Carolina’s blue line and then fed a streaking Nico Hischier, who was flying down the slot. Hischier proceeded to beat Frederik Andersen blocker side to give the Devils a 1-0 lead at 16:11 of the first period.
At the end of the first period, Siegenthaler had played 5:36, across nine shifts, including 43 seconds on the penalty-kill. The 5:36 was the second lowest among Devils’ defensemen (ahead of only Simon Nemec’s 5:24), with the nine shifts also being second from the bottom for New Jersey’s D-men. However, he made plenty of smart decisions with the puck and stoutly handled his assignments, which was a win any way you look at it.
With all the injuries up and down the lineup, it was at least helpful that Cody Glass, who missed the end of the first period with an undisclosed injury, was back at the start of the second.
With under six minutes to play in the middle period, New Jersey had Frederik Andersen down and out in his net during a prolonged goalmouth scramble. Then, somehow, he was able to get his glove out in time to rob Timo Meier of a surefire goal.
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Onto the third period and the wackiness of the playoffs took center stage.
Dawson Mercer scored off a broken play 1:18 into the period to give the Devils a 2-0 lead. That cushion proved to be important as Andersen made save highlight reel saves to keep his team in the game. Then, Carolina’s power-play went to work 6:11 into the third period. Seth Jarvis scored to draw the Hurricanes within 2-1 and then, roughly six minutes later, on another power-play, Sebastian Aho scored to knot the game at 2-2.
From there, it appeared to be anyone’s game. And just like how Carolina received stellar goaltending from Andersen, New Jersey received the same from Markstrom. With just under nine minutes to play in regulation, New Jersey’s netminder committed highway robbery on Jaccob Slavin to keep the game tied. Then, with just 23.2 seconds left in regulation, he outdid himself with a game-saving stop against Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
“He was very calm in the net,” Brian Dumoulin said after the game. “I mean, he was talking a lot. It looked like he was having so much fun in the net. So it was fun to play in front of him and he made some really big saves for us.”
Onto overtime and the Devils pushed the pace, much more so than the Hurricanes.
“I thought we played really well in overtime,” Markstrom said. “We had some chances that we didn’t score on. For me, I just tried to stay relaxed and not get too high when we’re having scoring chances and that kind of stuff on the other end. It’s a good feeling. It was a very important game tonight. The fans at the Rock tonight, they carried us for that overtime.”
When one overtime wasn’t enough, the game went to a second overtime and made some history in the process. This game was now the longest NHL game in the history of Prudential Center.
Luckily for the Devils, the second overtime was quick. Simon Nemec carried the puck through the neutral zone and over Carolina’s blue line two-and-a-half minutes in. He then quickly moved in on Andersen after skating between a couple defenders. Nemec fired a low shot that appeared to go off Andersen’s glove and fluttered into the back of the net, giving the Devils an important 3-2 victory. Nemec also made some history as he became the youngest player in franchise history to score a playoff overtime goal.
“We were all very happy for him,” Devils Captain Nico Hischier explained. “Made an unbelievable play there. I think everybody was happy the game was over and we won the game.”
That happiness will last about 12 hours, or just until the team convenes to prepare for Game Four, when they hope the fans bring it again.
