First Period
The third line had the first good chances of the game, with Ondrej Palat firing a one-timer that was fought off by Arturs Silovs before Cody Glass came cutting down the left side for another good shot that Silovs froze. The Devils had the better run of play early on, but the third pairing of Dennis Cholowski and Colton White was quickly shown to be subpar—not because of the freshly-called up White.
Cholowski turned the puck over on his very first shift, causing the Jack Hughes line to get stuck in the defensive zone yet again. A hit by Noesen in the neutral zone led to a Penguins icing. Stefan Noesen had Jack Hughes on a two-on-one almost eight minutes into the period. Noesen passed it back to Hughes after drawing Silovs low, but Hughes tried making a move to the backhand and lost the puck.
Near the halfway point, Cholowski completely missed an easy puck by the boards, forcing Jake Allen to make a big save on Ville Koivunen with White rushing over to defend the unexpected one-on-one. Play was stopped a minute later when Brenden Dillon threw a giant hit in the offensive zone on Tommy Novak as Novak was reaching for a puck by the blue line. This led to a fight between Novak and Anthony Mantha while Blake Lizotte went off on the rush.
Allen stood strong, fighting off the shot before Dillon punched Mantha’s face a few times. No minor penalties were called on the play, and the Devils had to manage themselves without their top-pair defenseman for five minutes. Meanwhile, no instigator penalty was called on Mantha.
Timo Meier took a crosscheck while firing a slap shot with over six and a half minutes to play, leading to him slowly getting off the ice, but no penalty was called. The Penguins proceeded to put a lot of pressure on the Devils, with a deflection chance for Crosby going just wide after Rust took two shots on goal. However, the Devils kept the game tied.
Meier returned for his next shift a minute and a half later, after a TV timeout. Jake Allen made a huge save on Koivunen with under two and a half minutes to play. Siegenthaler had his back turned, and the puck came off Malkin’s skate right to Koivunen, who shot it into Allen’s glove.
This freed Dillon from the box, with the Penguins putting up eight shots on goal while he was unavailable. Then, Arseny Gritsyuk went rushing and chasing Kris Letang back into his own zone in the last minute of the game, sneaking behind and stealing a pass. He went to the forehand and roofed the puck! The Devils took the lead on their first shot in five minutes.
Second Period
Nico Hischier was hooked at the offensive blue line by Erik Karlsson, leading to a penalty call in the first minute of the period. Timo Meier joined the first wave of the power play to begin the period, and the Devils set up after winning the puck from a faceoff loss. A bad pass from Luke Hughes to Bratt forced them back.
Bratt regained the zone but was hit into the boards by Letang, and the Devils managed to keep possession for a Meier one-timer that was saved. Jack Hughes later looked for a redirection for Meier, but the deflection went wide. The rest of the power play was not noteworthy. Paul Cotter went figure skating with open ice to shoot but did not, circling the zone instead and wasting their possession.
Arseny Gritsyuk slipped up at the blue line off a faceoff draw almost eight minutes into the period, and Anthony Mantha went on a partial breakaway with Colton White backchecking as fast as he could from the far side. Allen came out to challenge with White cutting down the angle, and Mantha’s shot went wide.
After Dennis Cholowski was unable to clear the defensive zone while paired with Luke Hughes, the Penguins tied the game with a high shot from Ryan Graves that deflected off Ondrej Palat’s shoulder. The Penguins almost took the lead when the fourth line got hemmed in on the following shift, but Jake Allen came up big with a glove save just a minute after he was run over with no call by Benjamin Kindel.
The Devils had a chance to retake the lead in the final minute of the game. Luke Hughes found his brother for a chance below the faceoff dot with Silovs out of position to make the stop. Silovs dove over for the glove save, and the game remained tied through the end of the period.
Third Period
The third period started off slowly, with some wide-angled attempts by Timo Meier and an icing by Pittsburgh. After Siegenthaler fought off Anthony Mantha on a rush, Stefan Noesen set up Jack Hughes after Jesper Bratt fell down, but Silovs made the save.
Then, Stefan Noesen was sent off for slashing for two minutes, and Connor Clifton got away with a hit on Noesen after the whistle. The Devils won the defensive zone draw and cleared the puck. An offsides delayed the Penguins from setting back up, but Pittsburgh won the neutral zone draw and gained the offensive zone.
Evgeni Malkin had a shot saved by Allen, but Luke Hughes shot the puck off Brenden Dillon, allowing Sidney Crosby a chance from the point that was frozen by Allen. Simon Nemec blocked an Erik Karlsson shot attempt after the following draw, but the Devils could not clear the zone until Luke Glendening averted a scoring chance, with Allen diving around by backhanding the puck from the crease to center ice. The Devils survived the penalty.
Stefan Noesen had a great shift, forcing Silovs to make a couple big saves while fighting off two Penguins by the crease to get some whacks in. The Hughes line returned and had a good shift, but Dennis Cholowski could not bury his backhand try.
Nico Hischier left the game after diving to block a shot with his head. It was an unfortunate moment with no commentary necessary beyond the fact itself.
Cody Glass was cross-checked in the head with a bit over seven minutes to play, and Evgeni Malkin was very angry about being called for it. Dawson Mercer had a chance early on and shot the puck for a rebound, but nobody was around to clean it up.
The Devils cycled without many shot attempts until a one-timer by Luke Hughes was deflected out of play at the end of the first minute. As Hischier returned to the bench, Timo Meier ripped a one-timer off Silovs and the iron, but it stayed out.
After the power play, the teams went back and forth but were unable to score a winning goal.
Overtime
The Devils took possession to start three-on-three, and Hischier had a shot blocked early. The Devils kept possession through the first change, with Jack Hughes entering the zone and shooting from a sharp angle. Silovs stopped it, and Luke Hughes blocked a shot by Novak on the other end.
The Penguins continued to pressure, preventing the Devils from changing, and Jake Allen had to make three outstanding stops on Ben Kindel, including a diving poke check. A generous change by Evgeni Malkin cut down a chance for Timo Meier while four Penguins were on the ice.
The Devils kept possession but eventually had to go back to center ice. Luke Hughes later spun a backhand pass to Paul Cotter on a rush, but Cotter was unable to finish. A desperate last-second slap shot by Jack Hughes (after a great dive by Simon Nemec) was saved by Silovs, sending the game to a shootout.
Shootout
Paul Cotter went first for the New Jersey Devils. He made a great dipsy-doodle fake to his forehand and scored! Bryan Rust followed, but Allen stuck out the pad to stop him.
Jesper Bratt went second and slickly put the Devils up two! Sidney Crosby tried to save the game for Pittsburgh but went wide, and the Devils won on Allen’s pad stop!
Woof.
Game Stats
The Devils did their best today, considering the circumstances. They are now missing Dougie Hamilton while Brett Pesce, Connor Brown, and Evgenii Dadonov are still out of the lineup, forcing a rough defensive lineup.
They pulled this off thanks to the outstanding, steady performance of Jake Allen. He was never out of position and could have had a shutout if not for an extremely unfortunate bounce off Ondrej Palat. According to advanced stats, Allen faced only 2.32 expected goals against, but it felt like much more considering the Penguins’ offensive zone possession. Sheldon Keefe and the Devils likely felt Pittsburgh could have scored three or four goals on the 34 shots they had on goal.
Allen remained locked in for most of the game as the Devils played to limit Pittsburgh’s danger. It worked—they kept the game close and won in the shootout, despite a fluke game-tying goal in the second period.
Paul Cotter’s Redemption
I criticized Paul Cotter’s performance throughout the game for holding the puck too long, hurting possessions and causing turnovers while the fourth line was hemmed in repeatedly. I have written before about Cotter’s incredible skill, which remains evident, but today he seemed to be overthinking.
Shoot it! Dump it! Do something! His decision-making needs to be quicker.
Cotter nearly finished the game in overtime but was denied by great backchecking. However, his shootout move was outstanding. While I don’t usually emphasize shootouts much (I would prefer longer overtime at four-on-four), this shootout win was significant for the Metropolitan Division lead.
Had Cotter and Bratt not scored in the shootout, Pittsburgh might currently top the standings. Cotter also had the best post-game quote: “I’m not sure Nico is necessarily the guy who should be blocking pucks with his head, but that’s the type of stuff that’s happening.”
With faster decisions during the game, Cotter could become a regular 20-goal scorer. He has the hands, speed, and net-driving power to be a major offensive threat.
The Elephant in the Room: Dennis Cholowski
Dennis Cholowski had another rough game today. A look at his with-or-without-you (WOWY) advanced stats shows:
– Jack Hughes: 20.55% xGF% with Cholowski, 73.23% without
– Luke Hughes: 73.49% xGF% with Dillon, 0.00% and a goal against with Cholowski
– Cody Glass: 15.56% xGF% and a goal against with Cholowski, 83.08% without Cholowski
– Juho Lammikko: 31.29% xGF% with Cholowski, 53.97% without Cholowski
No matter who you look at, Cholowski’s presence on the ice drags down the team’s performance. The Devils’ options are limited, but today’s game showed how essential it is to find a better stopgap on the third pairing. Cholowski missed pucks, committed turnovers, and looked too slow.
Nico Hischier
Nico Hischier means everything to the Devils but needs to be more careful about putting himself in danger like he did in the third period. He has looked a bit slower than usual, possibly fighting through injury, and the team cannot afford for him to miss time.
Hischier’s line was somewhat disappointing again, seeming to defer largely to Timo Meier, who nearly scored in the third period on a wraparound. The Devils will struggle to win if their top six remains scoreless.
Give Gritsyuk More Ice Time!
Arseny Gritsyuk is consistently near the top in expected goals percentage, shots on goal, and other offensive indicators. His fantastic goal today reiterated why playing under 14 minutes a night is not enough.
I liked how Noesen worked with the Hughes line, but the Meier-Hischier-Mercer line has struggled since Mercer switched positions. With the fourth line in need of a makeover, it might be worth considering Mercer centering the third line and Glass moving to fourth-line center (he’d probably be the best 4C in the league). This would allow Gritsyuk top-six minutes.
It’s not a linemate issue; Gritsyuk looks good with Palat and Glass. Possibly fourth-line overuse limits their chances. Whatever it takes, Gritsyuk should play more. He logged just over 16 minutes today, raising his season average closer to 14 minutes, but consistent increased ice time would benefit the team.
Stick Taps for Nemo and Luke
While their play might not have dazzled today, Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes made many defensive plays and logged heavy minutes. Luke Hughes led the team with 29:39 on ice; Nemec played 26:39.
In the future, Brenden Dillon should avoid five-minute fighting majors, especially with a depleted defense. However, these two played solid, breakeven games in overinflated minutes, which contributed significantly to the Devils’ victory.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of today’s game? Did you expect the Devils to pull off the win? Who were your top players of the night?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading!
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