The New Jersey Devils faced off against another injury-riddled team and dominated them on the road resulting in a convincing 5-2 victory. With their Saturday win over the Minnesota Wild, the Devils improve to 39-29-7 on the season, which is 10 points to the good for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Game Recap
First Period
The beginning of Saturday’s game was a complete 180 from the Devils’ 4-0 blowout loss to the Winnipeg Jets the night before. The Devils struck twice against the Wild in the game’s first 5:46.
First, it was the captain Nico Hischier who directed home Jesper Bratt’s perfectly-placed rebound off a two-on-one rush. The opportunity was set up by a strong defensive stand by Luke Hughes, who returned to the lineup after missing the game against the Jets, and was furthered by a terrific breakout pass by Stefan Noesen. New Jersey’s early strike came just 29 seconds into the game.
The Devils’ second goal, which followed Hischier’s by about five minutes, was another rebound score, this time much further out and off the stick of Paul Cotter. Nolan Foote, who tallied the secondary assist, hit a wide open and trailing Brian Dumoulin. Dumoulin’s shot deflected off Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson to the far-out positioned Cotter.
The Devils got four minutes within a 2-0 lead at intermission, however, Marcus Foligno got a great deflection off a Jared Spurgeron point shot. Despite this, New Jersey held a well-deserved 2-1 lead at the end of the first frame. They outshot the Wild 10-7 and held the expected goal share at 67.04%.
Second Period
Each team went scoreless in the second frame. The period itself certainly wasn’t without action, though.
About seven minutes in, Foligno threw a from-behind hit on Brian Dumoulin. Johnathan Kovacevic came to his teammates defense, and after dodging a few punches, fell on top of Foligno as both tumbled to the ice. Each player sat for five minutes for fighting, but Kovacevic was hit with an extra two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Devils successfully killed of the resulting power play.
It was the Wild who had the shot advantage in period two, albeit slightly at 12-11. Despite this, it was another terrific frame from the Devils, who had 30 shot attempts in the period and held the expected goal share at 57.04%.
Third Period
The goal scoring accelerated in the game’s final frame. Nico Hischier got his second of the game, and set a career-high in goals potting his 32nd of the season via a wrist shot off the rush. Minnesota answered back though, just two minutes later, as Ryan Hartman put home a puck that was sitting just out of the reach of Jacob Markstrom during a goal-mouth scramble.
Luckily, the Devils iced the game with two more goals in quick succession over the game’s last five minutes. Hischier got his third of the game, good for his second career hat trick. The goal came on the power play, as Hischier made a nice play to settle the puck next to the goal, then bank it home off the goaltender.
Tomas Tatar iced the game via a wrist shot with just about three minutes left Justin Dowling created the turnover that led to the Devils’ fifth and final goal of the game.
Wrap Up
Nico Hischier’s hat trick resulted in his 31st, 32nd, and 33rd goals of the season. His previous career-high was set in 2022-23 when he scored 31.
In net, Jacob Markstrom stopped 22-of-24. That was good for a 0.917 save percentage and a -0.16 goals saved above expected.
Overall, the Devils outshot the Wild 33-24. They held the expected goal advantage 2.84-1.84 as well, showing how strong the team was defensively. New Jersey had both the quantity (67-48 shot attempts) and quality (27-25 scoring chances) in the victory.
What’s Next
The Devils finally return home after their three-game road trip to face off against the Minnesota Wild, once again, Monday night. Puck drop at the Prudential Center is set for 7:00 pm ET. New Jersey only has seven games remaining; six of the contests are on home ice.