The New Jersey Devils finally showed strong signs of life with a convincing 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins at home on Wednesday night.

The Devils (27-17-6) ended a four-game losing streak while picking up just their third win in the past 12 games. Dawson Mercer had two goals, and Stefan Noesen as well as Dougie Hamilton each scored on the power play to help the Devils to a much-needed victory.

Unfortunately, New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom was injured in the second period and did not return. After the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe said, “he’d miss some time.” Fortunately, having good goalie depth is always a plus. Jake Allen would replace Markstrom and make 16 saves on 16 shots.

Devils forward Ondrej Palat did not play in the game due to an illness.

First Period

The Devils came out strong in the first period but weren’t able to break through. It was the first look at head coach Sheldon Keefe’s new lines; he had shuffled them up on Tuesday. With Palat out due to illness, Paul Cotter was promoted to the first line with Jack Hughes and Nathan Bastian while Justin Dowling drew into the lineup.

The Bruins opened the scoring with 5:50 left in the first period with a goal from Morgan Geekie. Former Devil Pavel Zacha was able to force Jesper Bratt into a turnover in the New Jersey zone. Zacha made a nice play to avoid giving the puck right back to Bratt. He was then able to feed David Pastrnak, who made a great cross-ice pass to Geekie.

The Devils were able to outshoot the Bruins 12-5 in the period, which was encouraging given how poorly the offense has played for most of January. The Corsi-for ratio numbers were slightly in favor of New Jersey at 53.57 in the first period.

Second Period

This is when the fun started.

The Devils had won just two games in the past 11 since the end of December. This was arguably the best period of hockey the Devils have played in almost a month. New Jersey would lay four goals — including two on the power play — on the Bruins in the second period.

Perhaps the best line all night was the makeshift unit of Dawson Mercer, Justin Dowling, and Timo Meier. Just over a minute into the period, the Bruins turned the puck over in their zone. Mercer gathered the turnover and fired a shot on Jeremy Swayman that was deflected. With Dowling and Mercer around the net, Meier got the puck and backhanded a shot toward some traffic. Mercer was able to grab the rebound and beat Swayman to tie things 1-1. It was Mercer’s 11th goal of the season. It was his first goal since January 6.

The big negative from the second came in the injury to Markstrom. Justin Brazeau interfered with Markstrom, which led to a power play. Unfortunately, Markstrom had to exit the game and was replaced by Jake Allen.

Finally, the Devils got things going on the man-advantage short thereafter. And it was on a simple play that everyone has likely seen before whenever the Devils play the Washington Capitals.

With around a minute left in the power play and not even 5:00 into the period, the Devils took the lead 2-1 on a goal from Dougie Hamilton. After maintaining zone possession, Nico Hischier dished the puck to Bratt, who made a slick pass across the slot to Hamilton, who buried the one-timer past Swayman from Ovechkin’s office in the left circle. It was Hamilton’s seventh goal of the season.

That’s when the flood gates opened a bit.

Later in the period, Charlie Coyle was called for hooking, giving the Devils another power play. Jack Hughes was trying to work the puck down low but was denied. Instead, Hughes passed the puck from the left wall to Hischier in close. The Devils captain sent a quick shot on Swayman and Stefan Noesen was there to bury the rebound to make it 3-1 with 3:59 left in the second, and just 12 seconds into the man-advantage.

The Devils would waste little time extending the lead to 4-1. Having another solid shift, the third line was able to get another goal. Meier was able to win a puck battle behind the net. He passed the puck to Dowling, who was able to quickly get it over to Mercer in front. The Devils caught the Bruins sleeping and Mercer scored his second of the game with 3:47 left in the period.

Again, this was one of the better periods for the Devils in a while. New Jersey outshot Boston 17-10 in the period and carried a 29-15 advantage in shots through two frames. Despite the 4-1 lead, the Devils only had a 2.17-1.2 advantage in expected goals for. This further emphasizes how important the power play is for New Jersey.

Third Period

The Devils would get a few more chances on the power play in the third period and were able to creep that percentage back up to where it was before this ugly stretch.

The Bruins were able to kill two penalties before giving the Devils their sixth power play of the game.

New Jersey was able to get that fifth goal, the first time the Devils were able to score five in a game since before Christmas against the New York Rangers on December 23.

After Vinni Lettieri was called for a high stick on Luke Hughes, Hischier was able to get on the board to make it 5-1 with his 23rd goal of the season.

The Devils would get a power play for the road at the end of the period.

There wasn’t much push from the Bruins but they did maintain possession in the third with a 63.64 CF% advantage. But Boston didn’t threaten New Jersey at all in the period and took a ton of penalties to make sure a comeback wasn’t in the cards.

Game Notes

Justin Dowling

Head coach Sheldon Keefe shuffled the lines before this game and it paid off for the most part. Dowling was able to pick up an assist on Mercer’s second goal and was involved on the first, stepping up big for the Devils. Dowling skated 12:45 and had three shots on goal, just the second time all season he’s hit that mark. It’ll be interesting to see if this Mercer, Dowling, and Meier unit stays together for another game depending on Palat’s status. But the third line was the Devils’ best all night.

With Jack Hughes and Bratt split up for the time being, it seemed the Devils had good balance to the lines on Wednesday. If this third line can keep it up, that would go a long way in getting New Jersey back on track.

Not Need to Panic

It was getting to the point where Devils fans were starting to panic a bit. This win definitely helps. The Bruins aren’t a very good hockey team right now and this result should have been expected. Still, it was nice to see the ship righted for now.

The Devils need to build on this performance and gain some momentum. The power play took a step in the right direction, which is great. Markstrom going down, not so great. Fans should take a deep breath and go one game at a time until things stabilize.

What’s Next?

The Devils are back in action over the weekend up in Canada when they take on the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday at 7:00 pm ET on NHL Network and MSG.