The New Jersey Devils came out flat in a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday. The Hurricanes were the dominant team early, having last played on Friday, and the Devils, 48 hours after an emotional Game 7 victory, struggled to keep up.
Carolina maintained that early lead and defended home ice in the opening game of the series. After taking a big hit from Jacob Trouba on Monday, Timo Meier was a game-time decision, but didn’t play.
Game Summary
First Period
The ‘Canes completely took control of this one early on. The best early chance came to Sebastian Aho who was stopped by Akira Schmid on a breakaway. Jesper Fast had another glorious look, but just missed the net from the slot off a turnover.
Carolina really began to up the pressure when the game returned to five-on-five. That pressure paid off when Brett Pesce opened the scoring. The Hurricanes won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Pesce fired a seeing-eye wrister through traffic that beat Schmid who never saw the shot. It was 1-0 Carolina midway through the period and NJ was yet to get a shot on net.
Soon after, Carolina doubled their advantage. Seth Jarvis knocked a puck away from Ryan Graves on a breakaway, got on the loose puck, and beat Akira Schmid over the glove. It was 2-0 ‘Canes with five minutes left in the first and the Devils still only had one shot.
After one, it was 2-0 Carolina. Shots were a staggering 10-1, Carolina. The Devils had just a 28.00 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 7.34 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) at five-on-five.
Second Period
The second period didn’t start much better for the Devils. Jonas Siegenthaler had his helmet pulled off in a board battle by Jordan Martinook and was forced to leave the ice. As he vacated the front of the net, Carolina got the puck in front and Jesperi Kotkaniemi ended up making it 3-0 Carolina two minutes into the second.
Head coach Lindy Ruff pulled Akira Schmid for Vitek Vanecek at that point, hoping to change the momentum. That decision paid off almost immediately.
Just three minutes later, McLeod sent Nathan Bastian in on the breakaway and the fourth-liner showed some nifty hands as he tucked one under the crossbar. Despite being thoroughly outplayed early, the Devils were right back in it at 3-1.
New Jersey continued to control play in the second. Shift after shift, the Devils got the puck to the crease, but couldn’t quite beat Frederik Andersen again.
The buzzer sounded for the second intermission with Carolina up 3-1. Shots were 9-6 Devils in the second period with the Devils having a 57.14 CF% and a 71.58 xGF% at five-on-five.
Third Period
After a strong second, the Devils started well in the third period, too. Carolina tightened up defensively compared to the second, but NJ continued to try to get to the blue paint. The best chance in the early going came when Dougie Hamilton fired one past Andersen from a sharp angle, but caught the post.
It felt that the Devils were on the brink of a second goal, but then Carolina struck on the counter-attack. Sebastian Aho got the puck behind the net, fanned on his first pass, and still picked out a trailing Brady Skjei who blasted a one-timer past Vanecek to make it 4-1 Carolina with 10 minutes left.
At that point, Game One was pretty much wrapped up. New Jersey couldn’t generate any stellar looks after that and the ‘Canes ended up tacking on an empty netter a few minutes later, making it 5-1.
When the final horn sounded, shots were 8-7 NJ in the third period. The Devils had a 62.07 CF% and a 54.26 xGF% at five-on-five.
Wrap-Up
It was a quiet night for the Devils’ offense with Nathan Bastian scoring the only goal. It was the first of his postseason career. Michael McLeod picked up the only assist.
In net, Akira Schmid was tagged with the loss. He allowed three goals on 11 shots, allowing 1.19 goals above expected. In relief, Vitek Vanecek stopped 10 of 11 shots against, stopping 0.29 goals above expected.
Frederik Andersen played well in net, picking up the win. He stopped 17 of 18 Devils’ shots, saving 0.94 goals above expected.
For the game, shots were 23-18 in favor of Carolina. At five-on-five, the Devils finished with a 50.00 CF% and a 51.47 xGF%.
Game Notes
Strong Night for “BMW” Line
Despite the result, it was an encouraging performance from Lindy Ruff’s fourth line. Nathan Bastian and Michael McLeod linked up for the only goal and the “BMW” Line looked like a consistent threat crashing the crease.
As a trio, the line played over 10 minutes of five-on-five and posted a 69.32 xGF%. It was low-event hockey with the expected goals just 0.14-0.06, but that’s more than fine from a fourth line.
Miles Wood actually led all Devils skaters with a 75.96 xGF% in over 13 minutes of ice time at five-on-five. High-danger chances were 4-0 with Wood on the ice and he was the only Devil to not allow a high-danger chance against. If the “BMW” Line can come close to replicating this play in the rest of the series, it would be a massive boost for NJ.
Third Line Struggles
For as much as the fourth line played well, the third line was the opposite. Yegor Sharangovich, Dawson Mercer, and Jesper Boqvist had a brutal 0.00 xGF% at five-on-five. They played just three minutes together after their poor play early led to fewer opportunities as the lines shuffled later on.
Scoring chances were 3-0 Carolina and high-dangers were 1-0 Carolina with that trio on the ice at five-on-five. The third line also iced the puck which led to Carolina’s opening goal off an offensive zone faceoff.
The Devils hope getting Timo Meier, who is day-to-day, per Lindy Ruff, can help the third line, whether he plays on it or slides a top-six winger down. Regardless, NJ needs a much better effort from the third line in Game Two.
Rough Performance from Ryan Graves
Looking at his underlying metrics, Ryan Graves had an uninspiring, but not horrible performance. He posted a 50.27 xGF%, second among Devils defenseman, and broke even at 2-2 in high-danger chances.
However, Graves’ play seemed worse than the numbers might indicate, and Lindy Ruff agreed. Graves was benched for a stretch of play in the second period. The 27-year-old finished with just over 10 minutes of five-on-five ice time.
Lindy Ruff commented post game that there were several skaters he could’ve pulled, in reference to his decision to change goalies in the second. Graves was the only defenseman to be benched, even if it was for a small stretch of play.
It will be interesting to see if Ruff changes up his defense pairings in Game Two with both Luke Hughes and Brendan Smith scratched. Ruff has kept the same defense in seven of the eight playoff games with Brendan Smith playing for Jonas Siegnethlaer in Game Two against the Rangers before being scratched in Game Three.
What’s Next
Game Two of the series is Friday night at 8:00 p.m. ET in Raleigh. TNT will have exclusive coverage of the Devils and Hurricanes.
Note: All statistics via Natural Stat Trick.