Match Summary
It’s never fun losing to a rival. It’s even worse when their goaltender gets his first career shutout. Overall, the New Jersey Devils played a fairly solid game. The team had some nice possession metrics and generated plenty of chances. However, one again the inability to finish reared its ugly head. Do not be surprised if that storyline is one that continues on for the rest of the season as younger players get more ice time.
1st Period
The very first shift of the game had each team generating high quality chances. This included a Rangers’ breakaway and an open look in the slot by Jesper Bratt. Additionally, the bad blood was evident early on as Damon Severson and Chris Kreider dropped the gloves just over a minute in. Severson did a nice job landing some blows and eventually taking Kreider down to the ice.
The questionable coverage continued for most of the period as the Rangers generated multiple odd-man rushes and breakaways, eventually leading to the first goal of the night. Mika Zibanejad took a quick feed in the neutral zone, skated in on the breakaway and buried the wrister over Mackenzie Blackwood’s glove and under the crossbar.
2nd Period
The Devils continued with generating pressure throughout the second period, but once again just couldn’t seem to find a way to capitalize on their opportunities. The feisty play did continue, however, as Michael McLeod and Brendan Smith dropped the gloves. The Devils may not be able to win games right now, but at least they won both their fights. And in the process, got colour commentator Ken Daneyko fired up.
3rd period
It’s never a good thing to leave Artemi Panarin alone in the offensive zone. This ie exactly what happened about eight-minutes into the period. Panarin was positioned backdoor in the faceoff circle and received the cross-ice pass from Filip Chytil, giving Blackwood no chance to get over in time. Will Butcher, Janne Kuokkanen, and Jonas Siegenthaler all were positioned down in the low-slot, but there were no sticks in the passing lane. This created the seam-pass and ultimately the goal. The Rangers would add a short-handed, empty-netter in the closing minute to finish this one off 3-0. That empty net goal also was the 20,000th goal in Rangers’ history.
Conclusion
Overall, this game once again highlights the Devils’ lack of scoring up front, despite being able to generate some strong opportunities. The offseason is going to be a very big one for this team. Hopefully, one that includes bringing in some NHL-ready talent through trades and free agency to help in the offense department.
Next up is game two of four against the Rangers on Thursday. If you want to watch a quick game recap, follow the link below over to nhl.com.
Highlights:
https://www.nhl.com/video/recap-nyr-3-njd-0/t-277350912/c-8068881