Jake Allen made 31 saves and Jesper Bratt had a power play goal and an assist to help the New Jersey Devils to a 3-0 shutout win over the Edmonton Oilers on the road on Monday night. Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils.
The Devils have now won three of the past four games after dropping four straight. New Jersey also improved to 8-5-2 on the season and 5-3-0 on the road.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves on 16 shots for the Oilers (6-6-1), who were without superstar center and captain Connor McDavid. He is expected to miss a few more weeks due to an ankle injury.
Game Summary
First Period
The Devils were fortunate enough to escape the first period unscathed.
The Oilers came out and started the contest with a few great chances out in front but Allen was stout, stopping Darnell Nurse and Adam Henrique early on. One of Allen’s best saves of the night came on a shot from defenseman Troy Stecher that created a golden rebound chance for Zach Hyman. Allen made a sprawling save to keep the score 0-0.
The Devils were able to weather the early storm and strike first, on their first shot on goal of the game. Jack Hughes gained the zone before dropping the puck to Bratt. Paul Cotter skated around the net before making a beautiful feed to Noesen in the slot. His quick snap shot beat Pickard to make it 1-0 with Dougie Hamilton creating some chaos in front of the net.
Hyman had another great chance to score on a partial breakaway after a big save from Pickard with under 8:00 left in the period. Allen was able to make another huge save to preserve the lead.
Despite the lead after the first, New Jersey struggled with possession. The Oilers had a Corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 58.3 in the period. The Devils were able to close to shots on goal gap, only being outshot 13-10 in the first.
Second Period
The second period was more of the same from the Devils (being pinned in their own zone) and the Oilers (driving play). Allen was just great all night long. He continued to make big saves to keep Edmonton off the scoresheet.
But it isn’t just a testament to Allen’s play. The Devils did a good job bringing the physical game, disrupting shots and taking up space in front of the net. The Oilers had chances but it’s difficult to find too many high-quality scoring chances in the second.
The best came at 8:36 of the second when Connor Brown gathered the puck on a two-on-one and made a cross-ice feed to Derek Ryan. Fortunately, there wasn’t much room left for Ryan after the long pass and Allen had plenty of time to get across the net and make the save look easy.
The Devils would break through again after the Oilers were called for too many men on the ice.
Hughes did a good job gaining the zone and goes back-and-forth with Hamilton to pull the defenders. Hamilton passed to Nico Hischier, who was able to find a floating Bratt wide open in the slot. Bratt would bury his third goal of the season to make it 2-0.
After the second, the Devils were being outshot 23-13 overall. Edmonton had an expected goals for (xGF) of 2.38 through two periods while the Devils had 0.90 xGF. The Oilers once again dominated possession with a 71.43 CF% in the second.
Third Period
A big theme in the night was giveaways and turnovers. The Devils forced the Oilers to give the puck away 19 times.
After Dawson Mercer forced a turnover at the blue line, he was able to flip the puck up ice to Timo Meier coming down the right side. Meier gloved the puck, carefully placed it on the ice and made a move across the crease on Pickard. Meier’s backhand would beat the goaltender to give New Jersey a 3-0 lead about mid-way through the third period.
The Oilers wouldn’t really threaten the Devils and Allen much the rest of the way en route to his second shutout of the season.
New Jersey was much more physical in the contest, outhitting Edmonton 19-5 while also outblocking shots 14-9.
Shots would finish 31 for the Oilers and 19 for the Devils. Edmonton had fewer chances in the third but it was the same result in terms of CF%. The Oilers finished the game with a 65.38 CF% to New Jersey’s 34.62%.
Game Notes
Luke Hughes
The addition of the Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes pairing has been a blessing. Despite getting off to a slow start, showcasing some rust, the duo has played extremely well as of late. Hughes, in particular, appears to already be making strides defensively.
It certainly wasn’t a catastrophic season on defense for the rookie last year, but you can tell, some work needed to be done. Monday night, Hughes played a shade over 17 minutes of five-on-five ice time and during that time the Oilers only posted nine shot attempts and 0.3 expected goals. Both were by far the lowest experienced by any Devil.
Finishing, Goaltending
As you can gather from above, the Devils didn’t have the best night in terms of possession numbers. Usually outshooting opponents, New Jersey had a tough time on the end leg of a Western Canada road trip and it showed on Monday.
It hasn’t been often over the last year-plus that the Devils relied on goaltending a finishing to get themselves a win. Usually, they’re on the opposite side of a game like that. Allen was sensational, stopping 3.45 goals above expected and the Devils shot 18.75%.
What’s Next?
The Devils resume play back home at Prudential Center against the Montreal Canadiens at 7:00 pm ET on MSG.