NEWARK, NJ – On Tuesday evening at Prudential Center, the New Jersey Devils fell to another playoff contender, the Nashville Predators, by a score of 3-1. Kyle Palmieri scored the lone tally for New Jersey on the power play with 1:40 remaining in the 3rd period to spoil Pekka Rinne’s shutout throughout the majority of the game. Nashville defenseman Roman Josi netted two goals for the Predators, one on the power play in the 1st period and an empty-net goal in the 3rd. Predators forward Eric Nystrom scored another empty-net goal to insure the victory for Nashville. It is no secret that winning in regulation has been a difficult task for the New Jersey Devils, as they have not won in regulation since March 20th, 2015 against the Buffalo Sabres, going 1-10-3 with one shootout victory against the Montreal Canadiens on April 4th, 2015 (per Mike Morreale on Twitter).
As the Devils are currently 0-3-0 to begin the season, Devils head coach John Hynes believes that where the team stands right now is “more of a challenge than it is frustration”.
“We’re just in a challenge right now where we’ve got to continue to find a way to win a game,” Hynes said, “That’s the process we’re in so it’s more of a challenge than it is frustration.”
During the game, there were several notable positives and negatives visible on the ice for each team. As we are still in the early phase of the regular season, there is without a doubt room for improvement as the year moves on.
Positive: Keith Kinkaid and Pekka Rinne were outstanding in net this evening, as they earned third and first star honors respectively. Kinkaid stopped 18/19 shots on goal and maintained a .944 save percentage while Rinne stopped 23/24 shots on goal and maintained a .957 save percentage.
Positive: Devils forward Jordin Tootoo was active on the ice this evening, playing 20:03 and 1:43 on the power play. He played more than Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique, and Lee Stempniak.
Positive: Tonight’s game was great to watch from a physical standpoint. Due to the play of Stefan Matteau, he was promoted to play on Lee Stempniak’s line during the game. Devils defenseman Adam Larsson also had 4 hits, which led the team on Tuesday evening.
Negative: It was a rough night for Devils defenseman Damon Severson, as he was the cause of two giveaways and was a -2.
Negative: Despite decent performances from Stephen Gionta (67%) and Travis Zajac (56%) in the faceoff circle, the Predators dominated in the puck possession department.
The Devils will be back at Prudential Center on Friday at 7:00 as they drop the puck against the San Jose Sharks. Be sure to check back here as well as on our Twitter page (@DevilsArmyBlog) throughout the week for all news and updates leading up to the game.
Nick Papadimas is a New Jersey native, New Jersey Devils season ticket holder, and avid hockey fan. He is an aspiring sports journalist who has covered high school sports and local events for TAPinto.net since 2012. Nick can be reached on Twitter (@ngpaps) or by e-mail at papadimasn@icloud.com.