“It’s (the) playoffs,” Brett Pesce said after the conclusion of Game Two. “You do whatever you can to win. There’s a reason why The Stanley Cup’s the hardest trophy to win. (It) takes literally everything and everyone.”
Tuesday night at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes played Game Two of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series and while both teams very clearly gave it their all, only one skated away victorious. And for the second straight game, it was the Devils who were on the wrong side of the ledger, this time falling 3-1. What’s more, the loss put New Jersey in an 0-2 hole in the series.
“From Game One to today, there’s obviously a big step in our game,” Jesper Bratt explained. “Obviously, we wanted to win, but I feel like we kind of found a recipe that we need to play and to be successful. If we continue doing this night in and night out, it’s gonna go our way.”
The key to this game’s outcome was once more the special-teams battle. The Devils went 0-for-3 on the power-play and while they did hold the Hurricanes without a goal on three power-play opportunities of their own, the difference was that New Jersey surrendered a short-handed goal to Jordan Martinook early in the second period. That shorty proved to be the game-winner.
“The special teams were the difference, with them getting the short-handed goal,” Bratt explained. “The power-play looked a little better in the third, but couldn’t finish.”
Frederik Andersen was another reason why this game ended with a Carolina victory. The veteran netminder stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced and on more than one occasion, he committed highway robbery against the Devils’ skaters. On top of that, Andersen did something he hasn’t done since last year’s playoffs and that’s start consecutive games. That led some to question if he’d be as sharp in Game Two. The answer, as we now know, was a resounding YES.
Not to be outdone, but Jacob Markstrom was also brilliant in this one, stopping 25 of the 27 shots he faced. Of course, he did have help from Brett Pesce on three separate occasions. The stout defender laid it all on the line in this game, thrice swooping in at the last second to swipe the puck out of harm’s way before it could cross the goal line.
That performance by Pesce was especially important given New Jersey’s absences on the blue line. Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon both missed the game with injuries suffered during Game One. In their place, Simon Nemec and Dennis Cholowski admirably stepped in, delivering solid performances.
As Jonathan Kovacevic said before the game, “Those are two huge pieces. They’ve been great for us all year, so let’s try and do it for them.” Two huge pieces indeed. And while the Devils couldn’t win the game for their injured comrades, they can take solace in knowing that Nemec and Cholowski (who were both making their playoff debuts) were able to deliver in a pinch.
“So much respect for Cholo and Nemo for stepping up there,” Pesce said. “They played with a lot of confidence, a lot of patience. They held their own for sure, which was awesome to see. Everyone’s committed defensively. Obviously, you have to be at this time. You gotta do what it takes. It’s the playoffs and you need that extra gear.”
New Jersey certainly started this game better than the last one, as Jesper Bratt scored an early goal, 3:51 into the game, off a rebound in front of Andersen that was generated by Erik Haula’s scoring chance. The 1-0 lead was significant since New Jersey did not have the lead at any point during Game One.
A point of emphasis for Head Coach Sheldon Keefe has been that he does not expect his team to outshoot the Hurricanes in any game due to Carolina’s penchant for shooting from all over the ice. However, through the first 7:59 of the game, the shots on goal ledger was 7-2 in favor of the Devils.
Twice during the opening period, the Devils ended up on the penalty-kill. The first time was at 8:53 when Ondrej Palat was called for hooking Jordan Martinook. The second was at 13:09 when Paul Cotter was penalized for tripping Shayne Gostisbehere. Unlike in Game One, New Jersey did not allow Carolina to build any momentum while the latter was short-handed. In fact, the Devils’ penalty-killers held Carolina’s power-play units to a single shot on goal during the first penalty and just two shots on goal during the second.
The beginning of the second period saw the Devils briefly revert back to the Game One version of themselves. Carolina was tenacious from the start of the middle period and Shayne Gostisbehere evened the score 1-1 at the 2:57 mark of the period when he retrieved his own rebound and roofed it over a sprawled-out Markstrom.
The Hurricanes almost had another goal 20 seconds later, but a replay showed the puck never fully crossed the goal line thanks to one of Pesce’s three key swipes. Then, at 5:41 of the second period, Sebastian Aho was sent to the box for slashing Cody Glass. 13 seconds into New Jersey’s first power-play of the game, Jordan Martinook and Dmitry Orlov went up ice on a short-handed odd-man rush. The latter sniped the puck top-shelf from the left face-off circle, past Markstrom to give Carolina a 2-1 lead.
Special teams were New Jersey’s undoing in the middle period, as they have been in this series. But that wasn’t the only issue. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Devils were caved in at five-on-five during the second period. Carolina’s five-on-five SF% (shots for percentage, which measures puck possession) was 66.67% compared to New Jersey’s 33.33%. The Devils’ CF% (Corsi for percentage) was 43.9% compared to the Hurricanes’ 56.1%.
One thing to note, while nobody expected Nemec and Cholowski to play big minutes, through two periods, they were at just 8:24 and 5:33, respectively. Meanwhile, Brian Dumoulin was at 16:49. Dougie Hamilton was at 15:40. Jonathan Kovacevic was at 13:19 and Brett Pesce was at 16:50. The Devils were clearly leaning heavily on their top four defensemen in an effort to shelter the two playoff newbies. In fact, by playing so much, that’s how Pesce was able to make a play like this.
https://x.com/NJDevils/status/1914826141686223175
“He’s a beast,” Bratt opined about Pesce’s play. “He is such an amazing player to play with, does so much right out there. Obviously, the last couple years, I’ve been playing against him and know how hard it is to play against him. So that’s good to have him on my side.”
Jordan Staal was sent to the box for tripping Nico Hischier 5:55 into the third period, giving New Jersey a golden opportunity to tie the game. And had Andersen not been on the top of his game, the Devils would most certainly have scored. But they didn’t because he stole the show with a flurry of saves in quick succession.
“We gave it everything we had and came up short,” Brett Pesce said.
New Jersey’s push ultimately ended when Seth Jarvis scored the empty-net goal with 37 seconds left in the game. The 3-1 defeat for the Devils put them in an 0-2 hole in the series, which is not how the team envisioned things going. But to a man, they still believe they can win.
“I think we’re pretty much doing everything right,” Jesper Bratt opined after the game. “I think there were a lot of times when we created a scramble in front and it could have bounced our way and we would’ve been standing here with a different result. Overall, there’s still a lot of belief in this room that if we continue playing this kind of hockey, it’s gonna come our way. So we’re just gonna keep working and realizing that this is the level we need to play at to win as a team.”
Better luck next time. And next time is Friday night back at Prudential Center.
