Game Summary
The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in overtime yesterday afternoon. Mackenzie Blackwood was back with a vengeance after missing the past couple of games against Pittsburgh with an injury. He would be facing off against another young goaltender in Tristan Jarry. The Devils are 3-1-1 in their last five games and have now improved to a total record of 11-14-4 on the season.
First Period:
The Devils started out pretty good, outshooting their longtime division rival 12-10. Sharangovich hit the post on the first shift of the game, his first of two on the night. Although the Devils had all the early pressure, it was the Penguins who struck first. Sydney Crosby scored his 12th of the season about four minutes in to put the Pens up 1-0. This killed NJ’s momentum for a while, but they eventually started to take over again after killing a penalty, with Johnsson getting a point blank opportunity that he wasn’t able to capitalize. Jarry fought off everything that came his way though to keep it 1-0 Pittsburgh after one.
Second Period:
The Devils started off the second well, controlling most of the play and even drawing a penalty. On the power play, Jesper Bratt had the best opportunity on a terrific pass from Zacha that was denied by Jarry. The Devils would dominate the shift following the power play and eventually score. It was Sami Vatanen with a rocket from the point to even the game. It was back and forth action for a while with the Penguins and Devils each exchanging pressure and great chances. The Devils hit two more posts in this period, another from Sharangovich and one on the penalty kill from Pavel Zacha. However, both goaltenders (and their respective posts) stuffed out everything that came their way to keep it a tie game at the end of two.
Third Period:
The third period operated at a much slower pace than the first two, with the only major amount of pressure coming late in the period from Pittsburgh. During this stretch, Blackwood made an amazing glove save robbing Kris Letang. So after 60 minutes of solid hockey from both sides, we were going to overtime.
Overtime:
Overtime started with some pressure from the Penguins and great goaltending by Blackwood. Mackenzie denied Mike Matheson, who drove hard to the net and went to the forehand. After this, Jesper Bratt went on a breakaway, but Letang did a great job back checking and preventing him from getting a shot. However, on that line’s next shift, they did a great job keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Zacha, Bratt, and Smith were basically playing catch with the puck in the offensive zone. This was until Pavel fed Bratt, who faked a shot that fooled Jarry, wrapped the puck around, and put it in before the Penguins goaltender could get his skate out. Just like that, the game was over and the Devils successfully had their first week about .500 for the first time in two months.
Game Notes
- The Devils’ top line had a fantastic game. They combined for a corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 60% and an expected goals percentage (xG%) of 53.67%. Besides for the base advanced stats, they also had 21 shot contributions (shot attempts + shot assists, tied only with the Zajac line. Overall, even though they didn’t score, the line still dominated and wreaked havoc whenever they were on the ice.
- Speaking of lines who had fantastic games, let’s talk about one that’s somewhat surprising. The Devils fourth line of Miles Wood, Michael McLeod and Andreas Johnsson had a CF% of 70% a xG% of 87%. Although they played roughly 7:43, they definitely made the most of their ice time.
- After struggling for a lengthy stretch, it seems Mackenzie Blackwood is getting back into his groove. Over his past three games, he’s allowed six goals and has a save percentage (SV%) of .922. Today he probably looked his best since being sidelined with Covid-19 in January. With how him and Wedgewood are both playing, don’t be surprised if the Devils make a push for .500 hockey.