Game Summary
At one point, while watching the second half of the game I thought I was going to be writing about a 3-0 blown New Jersey Devils’ lead. However, the Devils were able to hold on and win 3-2 at home in their first game of the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their second straight win improves their record to 10-13-4 which is good for 24 points. One thing to note before diving into the recap is that Mackenzie Blackwood was injured in warmups, giving the starting job to Scott Wedgewood last night.
First Period:
The Devils started out pretty good in the first period, outshooting their steel city rivals 11-9. The Devils controlled much of the play early on, culminating in their first goal of the game at the 10:02 mark of the period. Jack Hughes’ 7th of the season was a beauty. The 19-year-old was able to poke the puck by a couple of guys along the board before walking John Marino and sniping it short side, over the shoulder of Tristan Jarry. The Penguins were able to get some pressure at the end, but eventually left the opening frame down by one.
Second Period:
Both teams opened the period with back and forth pressure. However, at the 8:42 mark P.K. Subban let a rocket fly from the point and the Devils led 2-0. Following this goal, the Devils had substantial pressure. Shortly after, Travis Zajac got his third of the season off a deflection on a Damon Severson point-shot. After the Devils third goal though, it was all Penguins for the rest of the second.
The Devils were letting them get prime scoring chance after prime scoring chance, with Scott Wedgewood bailing them out multiple times. The Penguins eventually cracked him though with just 12 seconds left in the period. Jake Guentzel had a nice redirection in front of the net off of a Kris Letang wrister and all of a sudden it’s a two goal game. The Devils ended up giving up an astounding 22 shots that period. Things had to change in the third, but did they?
Third Period:
The answer to that question is, kind of. They played better, but their Pittsburgh still had them on their feet for a large part of the period. The Penguins had a majority of their pressure in the first half of the frame. However, the Devils did a much better job than in the second at blocking and keeping shots to the outside.
The Penguins pulled the goalie and got their sixth attacker on with about two minutes to go. They were able to get one goal with the extra forward, as Rust scored with just 4.5 seconds left in the game. The Penguins couldn’t finish the comeback in the final seconds though, and the New Jersey Devils held on for their tenth win of the season.
Game Notes
Jack Hughes
Jack Hughes came out to play last night. If you look at traditional statistics he scored a goal and added an assist in 19:51 of ice time. Hughes had a fantastic night analytically though as well. A 57.58 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and 51.23 expected goals percentage (xG%) proves that.
On top of this he just seemed to be skating better and making simpler plays. This is compared to recent games where you could tell his play had not been at his best. Oh yeah, and his goal was an insane highlight reel worthy-one.
Scott Wedgewood
In our pregame, Scott Wedgewood was referenced as being a decent option for teams looking for a backup goalie. But it’s crazy to think how good he’s been compared to expectations on him coming into the season. Wedgewood was brought back to Jersey to sit on the taxi squad and slated to be the third string to Blackwood and Corey Crawford. But after Crawford retired, Wedgwood was thrust into the backup role full time. A role he hasn’t fully experienced so far in his NHL career, but he’s thrived. A 3-3-3 record with a .940 five-on-five save percentage is proof of that.
Miles Wood and Michael McLeod
Something worth watching occurred in the third period. That being Miles Wood and Michael McLeod didn’t play in the third period. Now, it is not the most uncommon thing in the world for a coach to bench a player if he’s playing poorly or has made one or two really bad mistakes. But McLeod or Wood didn’t do anything like that, at least to my memory. My best guess is had coach Lindy Ruff wanted to even out ice time to end the game. Nathan Bastian did leave the game early though, maybe Ruff did not want to double shift anyone.
All statistics courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com