Saturday, the New Jersey Devils beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at home. Nico Hischier scored his first two goals of the season in the victory, as the Devils improved to 2-2-0.

Recap

Period One

The Devils started off slow, taking an early penalty that bit them. Brock Boeser found Linus Karlsson in the slot, who fired the puck home past Jake Allen for his first goal of the season. The goal marked the fourth time in four games the Devils had allowed the opening goal. However, New Jersey was able to strike back quickly on a power play of their own. Nico Hischier went far side and in from the slot to beat Leevi Merilainen and even the score.

With just a few minutes remaining in the first period, Amadeus Lombardi took a shot that squeaked by Kevin Lainkinen and was tapped in by Jesper Boqvist. Lainkinen replaced Merilainen for a few minutes while the latter was dealing with equipment issues. The assist on the goal by Lombardi was the first point of his career. After all was said and done, the Devils led 2-1 after the first period.

Period Two

The Devils had a strong second period, and it started early on. Just under five minutes in, New Jersey capitalized on the power play yet again, this time off the stick of Jesper Bratt. After a dominant first 10 minutes, the Devils started faltering which led to a few great chances by Vancouver which were all stopped by Allen. The best save of the bunch was on Jake DeBrusk off a breakaway. In the final minute of the second period, the Devils were able to snatch momentum back with another power play goal. Nico Hischier’s second of the game made it 4-1. That was the score after two periods of play.

Period Three

The third period was the best yet for the Devils, as they skated laps around Vancouver. Unfortunately, they couldn’t capitalize to increase their lead, but at that point the game was practically over. The Devils dominated for their second win of the season, and took this game from the Canucks 4-1.

Game Notes

Allen’s 500th Game

After a fairly pedestrian first two starts of the season, where Jake Allen held an .875 save percentage (SV%) and -1.38 goals saved above expected (GSAx), the veteran netminder shined in his 500th career game. Against the Canucks, Allen didn’t have a ton of work, but stopped what he needed to, recording 1.14 GSAx.

Allen became the 86th goaltender in NHL history to play in 500 NHL games, a great accomplishment for one of the more underrated netminders of his generation.

Strong Fourth Line

One of the biggest complaints among Devils fans last year was just how nonexistent the fourth line was for a majority of the year. That hasn’t been the case this season, at least over the last two games. A bottom-line of Amadeus Lombardi, Jesper Boqvist, and Cody Glass has more speed and skill than some third lines, and that’s shown since the trio has been put together. Over the past couple of games, those three have played 18:43 together where they’ve put up a 58.62 corsi-for percentage (CF%) and 50.62 expected goals percentage (xG%) on top of putting the puck in the back of the net twice, both times courtesy of Jesper Boqvist.

If the Devils can roll four lines, that’s a good sign for long term stability among the forward group.

What’s Next

The Devils finish their brief homestand against the Ottawa Senators on Monday. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm ET.