Brief Overview
The New Jersey Devils snapped their losing streak Saturday afternoon in Dallas. After being dominated for the first two periods, a third period surge powered them to victory. Captain Nico Hischier took charge and turned the Devils’ fortunes around. The Devils would emerge victoriously 3-1.
Game Summary
First Period
The first period saw neither team score a goal. Both teams traded chances at both ends of the ice, and both goalies stood tall. Dallas would outshoot New Jersey 9-7 and have a Corsi-For Percentage (CF%) of 69.23. The Devils’ best line of the period was the line of Dawson Mercer, Pavel Zacha, and Tomas Tatar. Per Natural Stat Trick, The line generated six shots on goal and had a CF% at 60.00.
Second Period
After dominating the period, the Dallas Stars opened up the scoring. At the 13:31 mark of the period and on the power play, Ryan Suter fired a wrist shot through traffic past Nico Daws. The goal would be the 100th of his career. This would be the only goal scored in the period. Despite generating good chances in the frame, the Stars outshot the Devils 13-7 and controlled the period.
Third Period
The third period was all New Jersey. The Devils would come out flying to begin the frame. Four and a half minutes into the period, Ty Smith got the Devils on the board. Nico Hischier would enter the zone, and with great patience dropped a pass to Smith, who roofed a shot past Oettinger to tie the game.
With both teams trading chances all period long, it was the Devils who prevailed. With a little over a minute to play, Nico Hischier scored the game-winner off a beautiful individual effort. Ten seconds later, Pavel Zacha would snipe a shot off a cross-ice pass by Jesper Boqvist to make it a 3-1 game. The horn would sound, and the Devils walk away with the two points.
Key Notes
- With the assist on the goal by Ty Smith, and a goal of his own, Nico Hischier eclipsed his career-high in points. The captain now has a career-high point total with 54 points. He also has tied a career-high in goals with 20.
- Rookie Fabian Zetterlund recorded his first career NHL point. In fact, he would have a multi-point game and finished with two assists. The young fun finished the game with a CF% at 52.63.
- Goaltending for the Devils prevailed. Nico Daws played a good game for the Devils. Per Money Puck, Daws would finish the game with a goals saved above expected (GSAx) of 1.58. It’s the best goalie appearance in the last five games.
What’s Next?
The New Jersey Devils continue their road trip Tuesday night in Arizona. Puck drop for that game is 10:00 PM EST.