Last night, the New Jersey Devils (41-15-6) defeated the Arizona Coyotes to sweep the season series and take five of six points on the current road trip. The team won the game in overtime, taking their 10th overtime game of the season which sets a new franchise record.
The win was also the 41st of the season matching Carolina for second in the NHL.
Recap
Period One
The Devils came out looking sluggish, but ended up scoring first. Timo Meier, playing in his first game as a Devil, went after a rebound and put the puck five-hole on Coyotes’ netminder Connor Ingram.
Just minutes later, however, the Coyotes would come back the other way and after a few nice passes rookie Matias Maccelli would score his fifth of the season to even the game.
The Devils would be hemmed in for much of the period, however with under two to go Damon Severson laid a nice pass to Jesper Boqvist who put New Jersey back up by one. That would be the score heading into the intermission, the Devils up 2-1.
Period Two
The second period was in the Devils’ favor for the most part, starting with a power play goal by Damon Severson. The veteran defenseman sent a puck on goal that snuck through for a 3-1 lead.
Towards the end of the period the fourth line would get hemmed in and Zach Kassian blasted a puck over the glove of Vitek Vanecek to cut the Devils lead to 3-2.
The Devils’ third line would respond again however as Boqvist received another nice pass this time from Ondrej Palat. The Devils would lead 4-2 after two.
Period Three
The Devils controlled most of the third period, but the Coyotes made the most of their chances. Early on, Clayton Keller laid a perfect pass to Nick Schmaltz who blasted a one-timer which cut the Devils’ lead to one.
Late in the period the Coyotes would strike again to tie the game. Jack McBain, one of the many rookies on the roster, scored with two to go to even things up. Despite a strong final shift from New Jersey the game would go to overtime.
Overtime and Shootout
It was a quick overtime as after a Keller shot was blocked which resulted in a faceoff, the Devils would win it. Nico Hischier won the faceoff, received a stretch from Dougie Hamilton, and sniped the puck far side on Ingram. The Devils won 5-4.
Game Notes
Western Domination
The New Jersey Devils have dominated the Western Conference this season. They hold a record of 21-4-4 against the West, much better than their 20-11-2 record against the East. They do have a plus-25 goal differential above the conference which is actually lower than their plus-28 against Eastern teams.
Unfortunately for the Devils, they have just three more games against the conference. These on 3/21 vs Minnesota, 4/1 at Chicago, and 4/2 at Winnipeg.
Timo’s Performance
Although he did score his first goal with the team, overall, it was just an okay game for Timo Meier. He had just a 51.61 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and 44.49 expected goals percentage (xG%) at five-on-five.
Devils’ fans shouldn’t be worried however, it’ll take him a few games to get acclimated to the Devils’ system and his new linemates, no matter how good they are. From a viewer’s perspective too, you could see that as the game went on the trio of Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Meier got better. It’ll be a big test to see how that line does against a great Toronto defense Tuesday.
Next Up
The New Jersey Devils travel back home and face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Newark. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 PM ET puck drop on Tuesday.