Overview
Fresh off a 6-1 victory in Pittsburgh, the New Jersey Devils (18-29-5) had a chance to sweep their first back-to-back in nearly two years. However, the Devils could not keep the puck out of their own net in a 8-5 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks (19-26-8). The loss snapped a three-game road winning streak for the Devils. The eight goals against were a season-worst.
Game Summary
First Period
The Blackhawks got on the board first with Brandon Hagel thanks to a Devil miscue. The 23-year-old forward fired a wrist shot past Jon Gillies after a misplaced Ty Smith pass in the slot.
After falling behind seven minutes into the contest, the Devils responded quickly. Jack Hughes knotted the score at one just two minutes later. Hughes walked in on goal after a strong keep at the blue line by Ryan Graves. After a nifty toe-drag, Hughes’ shot snuck through Kevin Lankinen’s arm and body from close range.
New Jersey controlled play for the remainder of the opening frame. They made it count on the scoreboard as well. With just over a minute before intermission, Yegor Sharangovich blasted a rebound past Lankinen from the slot. Sharangovich’s 12th of the season gave the second-year winger a six-game point streak. Hughes and Siegenthaler picked up assists on the goal, and the Devils took a one-goal advantage into the break.
Second Period
On the first shift of the middle period, tempers flared. After boarding Connor Murphy, Michael McLeod dropped the gloves with Ryan Carpenter. On the ensuing power play, Patrick Kane picked out the top corner to tie things up at two.
The Blackhawks continued to control play for several minutes until Jack Hughes created a chance for Dawson Mercer that went wide. Hughes was then tripped by Erik Gustafsson and the Devils had a power play of their own. However, a turnover led to a short-handed two-on-one for Chicago, and Nathan Bastian was forced to take a penalty. On the abbreviated power play, Gillies made a save on a DeBrincat one-timer, and NJ killed the Bastian minor. Chicago continued to control the game, though.
A few minutes later, Nico Hischier was sprung on a breakaway, but couldn’t get his shot on target. On the other end, Ty Smith took a penalty, and Chicago went back to the power play. Patrick Kane made the Devils pay once again. His shot deflected off Damon Severson’s stick to give Chicago a 3-2 lead with 8:36 to go in the frame. It was Kane’s second of the period, with DeBrincat and Seth Jones assisting on both goals.
Once again, New Jersey could not stay out of the box. This time, Graves tripped Henrik Borgstrom just 45 seconds after the goal. Sharangovich had a breakaway short-handed, but could not get a shot away. Then, in a moment of deja vu, Chicago capitalized immediately. Sharangovich fanned on a clearance and Hagel buried a one-timer from Kane on the power play with 5:51 left. It was Hagel’s second of the night and Kane’s third power play point of the period.
However, the Devils weren’t done just yet. Severson sprung Bratt on a beautiful stretch pass from behind the NJ goal line. Bratt made sure to get a shot away, beating Lankinen five-hole. Bratt’s 17th of the year cut the deficit to one with 2:17 left in the second. Jonas Siegenthaler also picked up an assist.
New Jersey then went to the power play after Hughes drew a slash, but the Devils could not capitalize. 23 seconds of penalty time carried over to the third period.
Third Period
Both teams settled down to begin the third. The carry-over penalty was killed off and the Blackhawks maintained a 4-3 lead. However, with just over 11 minutes to go, New Jersey got even through Jonas Siegenthaler. A sharp-angle shot from the boards snuck by Lankinen. It was Siegenthaler’s first goal as a Devil and his third point of the evening.
Chicago had the answer though. After a poor decision to pinch by Ryan Graves, Kirby Dach led a two-on-one the other way. Damon Severson took away the pass, but Gillies was too deep in his net. Dach took the puck to his backhand and easily slid it by the Devils’ netminder, giving Chicago a 5-4 lead with six minutes left.
Less than a minute later, Chicago scored again. This time MacKenzie Entwistle sauced a pass to Ryan Carpenter in the slot on a two-on-one. Carpenter, too, went backhand, and got it through Gillies to make it 6-4. The fireworks did not slow down. A minute after Carpenter’s goal, Jesper Bratt dragged one back. Severson and Hughes picked up helpers on Bratt’s second of the night.
The Devils got the goalie out with just over two minutes left. However, they could not find the equalizer. Instead, a puck bobbled on Jack Hughes, springing Patrick Kane for his tenth career hat trick. Moments later, Brandon Hagel was in on the empty net and buried his hat trick goal as P.K. Subban hauled him down. Hagel’s first career hat trick made it 8-5 Chicago. Frustrations boiled over with Subban, Dach, and Hagel starting a large scrum after the goal.
Game Notes
- Jon Gillies struggled immensely in his first game in ten days. Per Evolving Hockey, the netminder gave up 3.39 goals above expected in the loss. This continues a trend of poor goaltending for New Jersey. The team save percentage this season is just .886, nearly two full points below the league average of .904%, per Hockey Reference.
- It was another strong showing for Jesper Bratt. In 12 minutes of five-on-five ice time, the Swede skated with Hughes and Sharangovich as well as Hischier and Zacha. In total, Bratt’s lines had a Corsi-For percentage of 67.74% per Natural Stat Trick, meaning they had roughly two-thirds of the shot attempts while they were on the ice at five-on-five. On top of that, Bratt made it back-to-back two goal games in Chicago. It gives him a new career-high 18 goals on the year. He is also producing at a career-best rate of 1.02 points per game.
- The Devils penalty kill struggled mightily tonight. New Jersey came into the game killing off 83.2% of penalties, the eighth-best mark in the NHL. However, Chicago went 3/4 on the man advantage. All four power plays came in a disastrous second period for New Jersey.
What’s Next
The Devils have the weekend off before hosting Vancouver on Monday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM ET and the game will be broadcast on MSG+.