Now that’s some good home cooking.
Saturday afternoon, the New Jersey Devils hosted the Chicago Blackhawks in a matinee at Prudential Center. The game was the closing act of the Devils’ five-game/nine-day homestand. This is the first of two five-game homestands the Devils will play this season, but unlike the one coming up at the end of March/beginning of April, this one was condensed into just nine days. New Jersey came away with a come-from-behind, 4-1 victory over Chicago that upped their record on the homestand to 3-1-1. Their 4-1 win came courtesy of a four-goal, third-period outburst during which New Jersey scored three goals in 2:06. Those three quick goals were scored by Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier.
Let’s quickly run through a couple of important notes.
Dawson Mercer, who took a puck to the face towards the end of the Devils’ win against the Kings, managed to play against the Blackhawks and kept his consecutive games played streak alive. This paid off in a big way for the Devils as Mercer scored the game-tying goal early in the third period off a beautiful cross-ice pass from Luke Hughes.
For Chicago, Frank Nazar, the Blackhawks’ young center, made his season debut to a fair amount of fanfare after playing in three games at The NHL level last season. And Drew Commesso made his first NHL start in net, opposing New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom. Commesso certainly showed no signs of nerves as he turned aside shot after shot in the first two periods before being overwhelmed by New Jersey’s attack in the third.
Lastly, Tomas Tatar remained out of the Devils’ lineup for the second straight day as a healthy scratch.
Alright, now that all that’s out of the way, let’s get into some observations from the homestand and the Devils’ game against Chicago.
1) New Jersey’s defense has gotten very good at suppressing the opposition’s shots on goal totals early in games. Against both Toronto and Los Angeles, the Devils allowed just one shot on goal in the first period of each game. Toronto finished the game with just 17 shots on goal while Los Angeles ended up with a scant 14. Against Chicago, the Devils allowed three shots in the first period and 18 for the entire game.
“We’re being pretty good with being quick in and out,” Jesper Bratt explained. “Our defense is doing a good job just shutting rushes down. We’re limiting their shots. We’ve been good with shot blocking and they haven’t really got to (Markstrom).”
2) While the Devils’ defense has gotten stronger, the offense has not. In the first four games of the homestand, New Jersey’s offense scored just seven total goals and were shutout once; the fifth time this season they were blanked. Against the Blackhawks, the Devils finally managed to fill the opponent’s net as they scored four goals, bringing their homestand total to 11; still not great, but at least they saved their best for last. However, that’s still a goals-per-game average of 2.2. It’s going to be difficult to consistently win games if you don’t score, no matter how well you play defensively.
“We got rewarded,” Devils Captain Nico Hischier said after the game. “We’ve been playing well, a lot of chances. Some tough matchups lately. But I think we just stuck with it and finally got some bounces. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
3) New Jersey’s Special Teams were also been a mixed bag on this homestand. On the one hand, in the first four games, they were seven for eight on the penalty-kill. And after playing the Blackhawks, that became 10-for-11. On the other hand, their “league-best” power-play, which entered Saturday’s game with a success rate of 30.9%, was 0-for-10 in the first four games of the homestand. After playing Chicago, that became 0-for-13.
“The last power-play we had today was our best, probably in the last few games,” said Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe. “So, if nothing else, that’s something to build on. Changed the rhythm just a little bit. (We) started the second group on that one and I thought that was enough to spark something because I thought we were far better after that. The way the power-play looked on our last one, if it looks like that again, it’s gonna go in the net.”
4) There’s no doubt the Devils are getting better goaltending this year. The problem is that what they’re getting is still not great. Heck, calling it “league-average” might be stretching it; at least on this homestand. In his three starts prior to Saturday on this homestand, Jacob Markstrom was 2-0-1 but had only a .900 SV% across all three starts. In terms of individual games, he finished with a save percentage above .900 only once in those three games.
However, against Chicago he managed to put together his strongest start of the homestand, making 17 saves on 18 shots faced and recording a .944 SV%. His partner in crime, Jake Allen started just one game and took a 4-0 loss to the Avalanche while recording a .870 SV%. Allen is now out with an injury that, while not expected to be a long-term thing, has caused him to sit out the last three games (including against Chicago) and does not yet have a timetable to return.
5) During this homestand, the Devils have been exceptionally top-line heavy. The trio of Ondrej Palat-Jack Hughes-Jesper Bratt factored in on six of the seven goals New Jersey scored in the first four games. Against Chicago, the Palat, Hughes, Bratt trio factored in on two of the Devils’ four goals, bringing their homestand total to 8-of-11. At least, against the Blackhawks, Dawson Mercer, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier were able to provide some offense so that the top line didn’t have to shoulder the entire burden.
Now New Jersey heads out on the road for two games – Tuesday in St. Louis and Thursday in Columbus – before coming home to face the Penguins on Saturday the 21st.
photo by Drew King
