Tuesday, the New Jersey Devils lost their first round matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1. They lost Game 5 by a score of 5-4 in double overtime after blowing a 3-0 lead. The team allowed three quick goals to begin period two and it was all downhill from there. The season is over.
Recap
Period One
The first period started out great for the Devils who jumped on Carolina early. First, it was the Devils’ second line who pressed the net and eventually a Brett Pesce shot found the back of the net off Dawson Mercer to make it 1-0 Devils. Just minutes later, Pesce hopped on a loose puck and found Timo Meier to make it 2-0. Shortly after that, a Simon Nemec shot from the point was deflected off Stefan Noesen and the Devils made it 3-0.
They were all over the place in the first frame and defended fairly well to boot. However, in the final minute of the period Pesce flipped a loose puck to the point and it resulted in a questionable interference call against Cody Glass. The Devils killed off the 15 seconds to end the frame and led 3-0 after one.
Period Two
The Hurricanes came out flying to start period number two. The Devils killed off most of the penalty to Glass but at the very end Taylor Hall found Logan Stankoven who put the puck on net. It then took an off bounce off Markstrom, and behind him, where Hall tapped it in. Just minutes later, Jackson Blake came out from behind the net and fooled Markstrom with a short-side shot that sneaked through him. Shortly after that, Svechnikov got a shot through from range to tie the game. In a matter of minutes the game went from 3-0 to 3-3.
Quickly following that, however, Paul Cotter found Nico Hischier for his fourth of the playoffs to make it 4-3. Later on, a Hurricanes penalty Haula was called for a very questionable tripping penalty and Sebastian Aho tied the game once again on the five-on-three.
Period Three
The Devils and Hurricanes played a bit of a back-and-forth third period. Towards the end, however, Carolina pressed hard but Markstrom was able to fight them off. He made some great saves including two at the very end. For the second time this series we headed to overtime.
Overtime
The Devils may not have known that the first overtime even started when it did and it showed. They played like they were in a different league than Carolina who accumulated 0.87 expected goals for (xGF) to the Devils 0.04. The second overtime started a little bit better, but then Dawson Mercer took an unwarranted double minor high-stick penalty.
The Devils killed off the first couple minutes well, but eventually Carolina struck. Sebastian Aho blasted a puck by Markstrom to win the game and the series. Game over. Season over.
Game Notes
Markstrom’s Goods and Bads
Jacob Markstrom was good for 64 minutes of that 84 minute game. In those 64 minutes (still over a full game), he was perfect only allowing the game-winning goal and had 3.27 goals saved above expected (GSAx).
In the other 20 minutes, however, Markstrom had a .636 save percentage and allowed -2.46 GSAx. It’s been a season of ups and downs for the first year Devils netminder, and this game encapsulated that perfectly.
What’s Next
The Devils have some decisions to make for next season. They have eight pending unrestricted free agents (UFA) and three restricted free agents (RFA). The biggest players are Jake Allen (G), Luke Hughes (D), and Cody Glass (C). Both Glass and Hughes are RFAs. The rest are all depth and Brian Dumoulin who was only brought in to fill in for Siegnethaler before he returned from injury.
Depth, however, is something the Devils need to greatly improve on. Will that come internally with the potential additions of long time prospect Arseni Gritsyuk and former second round pick Lenni Haamenaho? Or will it come from external additions. In net, who is going to back up Markstrom? Allen was great last season, but is he really worth the money he may demand? General manager Tom Fitzgerald is going to need to answer all of these questions in the coming months.
What’s Next
The next big events for the Devils are the NHL draft on June 27 and free agency which opens on July 1.