Overview
The New Jersey Devils won their 12th-straight game in Ottawa, completing the sweep of East Canada. This thanks to a 5-1 victory on Saturday. This year’s Devils team is now in sole possession of the second-longest winning streak in franchise history. They are now only behind the 2000-01 squad who won 13 in a row.
The team has a chance to tie the franchise record Monday against Edmonton and if they win that, a chance to break the record Wednesday against Toronto.
Recap
Period One
The Devils started out hot with good pressure, which eventually drew a penalty. On that power play, it was Erik Haula getting the monkey off his back with his first of the season to put the Devils up 1-0. The game slowed down a little bit following that until a faceoff win led to a Nathan Bastian goal off a rebound. So, the Devils lead by two after one.
Period Two
The second started with a press from the Devils and another goal called off from a distinct kicking motion. It would have been Dougie Hamilton to make it 3-0, but it ended up being Jesper Boqvist. A puck in front was jammed home for Boqvist’s second of the year.
New Jersey had a chance to make it 4-0 in front on a great chance from Nate Bastian who was robbed by Cam Talbot. Talbot had come into the game in relief of Anton Forsberg who was pulled after the Devils third goal. That save seemed to flip the momentum a little bit as shortly after Ottawa had scored off a nice passing play finished off by Derek Brassard.
A couple minutes after that, Ottawa went to the power play where it was the Devils who snatched the momentum right back. Nico Hischier played the puck off the pad of Talbot for a perfect shot assist to Yegor Sharangovich. Sharangovich’s second in as many games and fifth of the year made it 4-1 late in the second.
Period Three
The third was very quiet as the Devils just focused on shutting things down and winning the game. Ottawa pulled the goalie with just under five minutes to go and eventually it was Michael McLeod who scored in the yawning cage to make it 5-1. One more nice save by Akira Schmid was required to keep it that way, but the Devils were able to hold on and take the game.
Wrap Up
Akira Schmid was strong, saving 25 of 26 in the winning effort. Two Devils had multi-point games, those being Michael McLeod and Yegor Sharangovich.
The Devils, as a whole, dominated the game. They had the expected goals advantage of 4.58 to 2.27. They also held the scoring chances and high-danger chances advantage 39-24 and 19-7, respectively.
Game Notes
Depth Up Front
A huge part of the Devils’ success this year has been their depth at the forward position. All four of their lines play an important role and have done an excellent job at generating high danger chances. The tweet above is telling of why guys like Alexander Holtz haven’t gotten a chance to get back into the lineup.
Sharangovich Heating Up
There weren’t many positives after November last season, but one of them was the re-emergence of Yegor Sharangovich. Sharangovich has a tendency to really get going when he’s hot. With two goals and an assist in his last two games, it seems like the third-year forward might be getting back into the form we saw from him much of the past two years.
Up Next: The Devils welcome in Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Monday at the Prudential Center.