Friday night, the New Jersey Devils defeated the Seattle Kraken at home, 3-2, to improve to 18-9-2 on the season. A third period goal was the deciding factor for the Devils who carried their momentum from Monday.
Recap
Period One
The first period was a dominant one for the Devils, but they weren’t first to get on the board. Andrei Burakovsky, who had been a healthy scratch in recent games, darted through defenders and fired a shot top shelf past Jacob Markstrom to put his squad up 1-0.
The Devils were quick to respond, however, as Jack Hughes made a nice play to set up his brother Luke, who sniped a wrist shot short side off the shoulder of Phillip Grubauer. After a failed power play by the Devils the score would remain 1-1 after one period.
Period Two
It would be the Kraken who would jump out to a quick start in period two which put them on a power play. With Jonathan Kovacevic in the box for a high stick, it was Shane Wright who buried the puck all alone in front. The Devils would be quick to respond again, though, as a friendly bounce off a Kraken defender led to a tying goal for Jesper Bratt in his 500th career game. After both teams traded a few more chances they would be tied once again, this time after 40 minutes, 2-2.
Period Three
The Devils came out flying in the third and another friendly bounce resulted in a goal. After the puck was sitting in the crease, Vince Dunn tried to corral it but ended up putting it behind Grubauer. Timo Meier was right there to pounce on the mistake and put the Devils on top. A few minutes later, the Devils would get a flurry of chances after a couple brilliant plays by Luke Hughes, but wouldn’t be able to capitalize.
Following that sequence, however, the Kraken would control a majority of the play. They would have most of the chances down to the final buzzer where Markstrom made one final save on Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Devils held on to win 3-2.
Game Notes
An Exciting Series
Throughout the short existence of the Seattle Kraken, the Devils and Seattle have played a ton of close games. The Devils have been fortunate to come out on top of most of them, holding a record of 5-0-2 against Seattle.
Oddly, though, each game has been within two goals with either team ever having more than a two goal lead in one of their matchups once. That came in the Devils 3-1 win over the Kraken last season. With these close games and even a name for the bi-yearly series, it’s a shame the two teams don’t meet more.
“PB&J”
What goes together better than peanut butter and jelly? Ondrej Palat, Jesper Bratt, and Jack of course! In over 208 five-on-five minutes together, the trio has a 54.76 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and 56.37 expected goals percentage (xG%). That’s on top of outsourcing their opponents 11-7 and out-chancing them 121-90.
Of course, Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes are the main play-drivers on the line. The duo are now both top 10 in scoring in the NHL.
What’s Next
The Devils are back in action on Sunday, as they welcome in the Colorado Avalanche for a 7:00 pm ET puck drop at the Prudential Center.