It was the Seattle Kraken’s first visit to New Jersey. Any night that ends with a New Jersey Devils’ victory is usually a good night. Devils’ fans were happy with their 4-2 victory, but held their breath waiting for word in injured star Jack Hughes.
A near capacity crowd packed the Prudential Center on Tuesday night. New Jersey grabbed the bill by the horns (or the Kraken by the tentacles) for the early lead they never gave up. Still, at the times the game was a little too close for comfort when going against a subpar expansion team.
First Period
Dawson Mercer was so close to getting his first NHL goal in the season opener and ended up with an assist. Just about five minutes into Tuesday’s game, Mercer got that first carter NHL goal after a breakaway saw him and Tomas Tatar heard to the races. Ryan Graves picked up the secondary assist. Just before the same, Seattle put their backup goalie Chris Dreidger on the injured reserve, so third string goalie Joey Daccord got the start.
After the first Mercer goal New Jersey had a lead they wouldn’t give up for the rest of the night. The first period highly favored the Devils, with them holding a 14 to 7 shots advantage. In his first game of the season, Damon Severson added a goal, assisted by Jack Hughes and once again Ryan Graves. The Kraken’s best scoring chances came off of a Brandon Tanev shot that was blocked by Dougie Hamilton and a Jordan Eberle breakaway, saved by Jonathan Bernier.
The big news from the period was a potential injury to Jack Hughes. A hit by Jeremy Lauzon sent the Devils’ young superstar back to the dressing room for the rest of the game. Captain Nico Hischier almost added a third goal on the power play in the period’s closing seconds, but it crossed the goal line mere milliseconds after time had expired.
Second Period
The first period was all Devils. Meanwhile the second period was when the Kraken began to even things up a bit. Shots were a slightly more even 15-13, but still more in favor of New Jersey.
Riley Sheahan cut the deficit to one on a goal assisted by former Devil Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn. Jimmy Vesey got his first of the season to give New Jersey an insurance goal back, assisted by Andreas Johnsson and Colton White. The assist was White’s first career point. Alex Wennberg almost scored to once against cut the deficit to one goal, but New Jersey successfully challenged on the ground of the play being offside.
Third Period
Just like the last period, New Jersey entered once again with a two goal lead. Just like the first period New Jersey had plenty of time in Seattle’s zone. Unlike the first period, New Jersey couldn’t get their scoring chances. The third was the only period where the Kraken outshot the Devils by a nine to four margin.
A questionable pair of penalties sent Seattle on a five-on-three power play after Pavel Zacha and Damon Severson were sent off a mere eight seconds apart. That’s when the games’ only power play goal was scored after Jared McCann once again cut the lead to one. Assists went to Seattle captain Mark Giordano and Yanni Gourde.
As expected, Seattle pulled their goalie as the third period came to close. After some close calls, the Devils were able to score the empty netter to restore the two goal lead. Pavel Zacha got the goal with assists to Michael McLeod and Nico Hischier. After having the goal taken away from him at the end of the first, the captain gets his first point of the season.
Update on Jack Hughes
After last night’s game, the only update the team would give is that Hughes’ is considered “day to day.” Head coach Lindy Ruff added that he would undergo further evaluation in the morning. Keep checking our Devils Army Network social media channels for any further update on Hughes’ condition as soon as that information is released!