The New Jersey Devils (25-21-4) lost 1-0 in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes (30-16-5) on Saturday night. New Jersey is now 0-1-1 against Carolina this season. Meanwhile, the Devils are now six points out of the final playoff spot, but have varying amounts of games in hand on the teams ahead of them.
Game Summary
First Period
The Devils got off to a good start when Timo Meier drew a tripping penalty just a minute into the contest. The top New Jersey power play unit had about a minute of zone time, but couldn’t beat Pyotr Kochetkov, and Carolina ultimately completed the kill.
Carolina gained momentum from the kill and ended up getting a power play of its own after Timo Meier was called for interference. The Hurricanes’ best chance came off a scramble for a rebound that Vitek Vanecek had trouble locating, but the New Jersey penalty killers blocked the shot attempts.
When the game returned to five-on-five, the Devils controlled the play and forced Kochetkov into a handful of saves. Carolina had a chance against the run of play, but Luke Hughes broke up a two-on-one against.
Then, with just under eight minutes to go, the Devils went back to the power play after Jalen Chatfield took a delay of game penalty. Again, New Jersey created some excellent chances, but could not finish during several net-front scrambles.
Chances were relatively even the rest of the period, with neither team able to light the lamp.
It was scoreless after one with shots 10-9 New Jersey. The Devils registered a 56.52 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 59.77 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) at five-on-five.
Second Period
The second period began similarly to the first with Jesper Bratt drawing a penalty less than a minute in. However, the Devils once again could not beat Kochetkov, with Tyler Toffoli coming the closest from a sharp angle.
Both teams traded chances following the power play and Jesper Bratt in particular drew a sprawling stop from Kochetkov.
Midway through the frame, the game went to four-on-four after Nathan Bastian and Michael Bunting took coincidental roughing minors. During the stretch of four-on-four, Vitek Vanecek made a handful of nice stops to keep it scoreless, and Kochetkov did the same at the other end.
Carolina forced Vanecek into a few more strong saves late to deny Bunting on a partial break and to shut down a net-mouth scramble. At the end of two, it was still 0-0.
In the second, New Jersey outshot Carolina 14-11. At five-on-five, the Devils had a 42.50 CF% and a 33.79 xGF% in the middle frame.
Third Period
The third period began with the same trend of both teams trading blows, but again the Devils had an edge in controlling the neutral zone and the better of the chances. The best stretch came about seven minutes in when Jaccob Slavin broke up a cross-crease feed from Palat and Kochetkov just got enough of a Tyler Toffoli clean wrister from the slot moments later.
Vitek Vanecek came up with a big time save to deny Jordan Martinook on a breakaway. On the next shift, Ondrej Palat took a high-sticking minor, sending the Hurricanes to their second power play of the night.
There were some tense moments on the kill, including when John Marino had to clear a puck that snuck through Vanecek, similar to the Calgary game. However, the Devils killed the minor without too many tests for Vanecek.
Moments after the penalty kill, New Jersey went back to the power play after John Marino was high sticked with 8:30 to go. Unfortunately, it was the least impressive power play of the night for the Devils who fell to 0-for-4 on the man advantage.
Carolina began to pile on some pressure in the final five minutes, firing pucks toward net at every opportunity, but Vitek Vanecek was up to the task. Kochetkov did the same at the other end, and the game headed to overtime still tied at zero.
In the third, shots were 10-9 Carolina. The Devils managed just a 33.33 CF% and a 39.48 xGF% at five-on-five in the final period.
Overtime
New Jersey started overtime with Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and Luke Hughes. Both teams played conservatively for the first two and a half minutes of overtime before the chances started to come.
Tyler Toffoli had a pair of high-danger looks that Kochetkov fought off. Then, on the other end, Sebastian Aho batted a Martin Necas rebound out of mid-air for the game-winning goal.
Wrap-Up
It was a strong performance from New Jersey in the loss. The Devils outshot Carolina 34-33, but only managed a 42.71 CF% and a 39.58 xGF% at five-on-five. However, in all situations, the Devils had a 45.41 xGF%. New Jersey absolutely deserved a point, and easily could’ve had two.
Both goaltenders played phenomenally as well. Vitek Vanecek was the hard-luck loser, stopping 32 of 33 shots against. He turned aside 2.40 goals above expected. It was a great bounce back from his disappointing outing against Calgary on Thursday.
Pyotr Kochetkov earned the win for Carolina. He stopped all 34 shots against and saved 2.83 goals above expected. It was his sixth career shutout and second of the season.
Game Notes
Strong Night For Hughes-Marino Pairing (Plus Nemec)
At five-on-five, the duo of Luke Hughes and John Marino led the Devils in terms of xGF%. Hughes registered a 68.13 xGF% while Marino had a tremendous 75.31 xGF%.
Although Carolina had an edge in CF%, New Jersey certainly dominated in terms of shot quality with that pairing on the ice. The 3-1 and 2-0 edge in terms of high-danger chances for Hughes and Marino, respectively, backs that up as well.
Also, while not being on that pairing, Simon Nemec had a strong night as well. He posted a 50.37 xGF% at five-on-five, but that was good for the fourth-best mark on the team. He also managed a positive CF% at 51.28 while leading the Devils with 17:46 of even strength ice time.
In our pregame preview article, we touched on Hughes and Nemec having ridiculously strong games the last time these two teams met, and both of the Devils’ young defensemen played well once again, even if their numbers were not as gaudy.
Third Line Struggles
While the young New Jersey blueliners had some solid underlying metrics, that was not the case for the third line of Dawson Mercer, Timo Meier, and Curtis Lazar. In just under nine minutes of ice time together at five-on-five, the trio combined to post just a 6.99 xGF%. Meanwhile, the other three New Jersey forward lines hovered around the 40% mark.
Scoring chances were also 4-0 in favor of Carolina with that group on the ice in what was a disappointing night.
Special Teams Good, But Not Quite Enough
In the pregame article, we also touched on special teams being pivotal with Carolina ranking among the top four teams in the league for both the power play and the penalty kill.
The Devils’ power play looked very dangerous early, but could not finish any chances. New Jersey was credited with five high-danger scoring chances in four power play minutes in the first period.
However, Carolina’s penalty kill grew stronger as the night went on, not allowing any high-danger looks on the Devils’ final two man advantages. For the game, New Jersey generated 0.95 expected goals, but 0.59 of that, roughly 62%, came in the first period.
In a scoreless game through regulation, a timely power play goal would have made all the difference. New Jersey has now gone 0-for-22 on the power play dating back to January 17 against Montreal.
While the power play failed to breakthrough, the penalty kill was excellent yet again. New Jersey stayed out of the box, taking just two penalties, and killed those off efficiently. Carolina created just one high-danger chance on the power play all game.
What’s Next
The Devils return home to take on the Seattle Kraken on Monday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET on MSGSN.
Note: All statistics via Natural Stat Trick.