The New Jersey Devils defeated the Florida Panthers 6-2 on Thursday night in Sunrise. The Devils came out strong and controlled every aspect of play from start to finish to take down the defending Stanley Cup Champions on the road for the second game in a row. With the win, the Devils improved to 12-6-2, while the Panthers dropped to 11-5-1.
Game Recap
Period One
It was an evenly played first half of the period. The Devils created a few opportunities, including a partial breakaway by Jesper Bratt that was saved by Sergei Bobrovsky.
New Jersey cashed in at 10:01 when Stefan Noesen buried a rebound on his backhand for his eighth goal of the season. Luke Hughes and Nico Hischier tallied the assists.
The Panthers answered back at 12:13 with a fantastic individual effort by former Devil, Jesper Boqvist, to maneuver through the Devils’ defense and beat Jake Allen in net. Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett had the assists.
The Devils took a late penalty but successfully killed it.
With just over 30 seconds left in the period, New Jersey got its own power play opportunity after Jonas Siegenthaler was slashed.
The Devils cashed in with a buzzer beater goal from Bratt at 19:58 to regain the two goal lead. Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes added assists.
New Jersey outshot Florida 12-9 in the period.
Period Two
Early in the period, Florida tied the game right off a face-off at 4:45. Sam Reinhart scored through a bit of a moving screen with an assist from Aleksander Barkov.
The Devils drew a penalty and quickly cashed in with a shot from Jack Hughes at 5:56 that ricocheted in off Dawson Mercer. Hischier added a secondary assist.
New Jersey got right back to work with an extended offensive zone shift that pinned the Panthers in for over a minute.
Florida answered with pressure of its own and the Devils eventually took a penalty. Dawson Mercer put in excellent work to force the puck into the Devils’ o-zone and bleed time off the clock while battling two Panthers. New Jersey did not allow a shot on the penalty kill.
Just like in the first period, the Devils got another late power play opportunity and cashed in. Noesen tallied his second goal of the night at 19:49 with assists from Hischier and Jack Hughes.
New Jersey was tagged with a slashing penalty as the buzzer sounded to end the period.
The shots were even at nine apiece in the middle frame.
Period Three
The Devils killed just a few seconds of the Florida power play before the Panthers took a penalty of their own, leading to nearly two minutes of four-on-four play.
After an outstanding defensive play by Luke Hughes at one end, the Devils went the other way, and Bratt cashed in with his second goal of the night at 3:50. Tomas Tatar and Luke Hughes had the assists.
New Jersey forced a two-on-one break, and Bobrovsky made a sparkling save on Timo Meier to keep Florida’s deficit to three.
Jack Hughes went after Anton Lundell after a cross check that led to four-on-four play. With over ten minutes left in the game, the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky in favor of an extra attacker, but it was unsuccessful.
Kurtis MacDermid engaged Jonah Gadjovich in another heavyweight bout and laid some heavy blows. Gadjovich went to the locker room following the fight.
The Devils took another penalty and again, the Panthers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.
During the penalty kill, Bratt hit the empty net at 14:48 and completed his second career hat trick. The goal was unassisted.
The Devils outshot the Panthers 29-27 in the victory.
Takeaways
Special Teams Takeover
New Jersey’s special teams got the job done in a big way against Florida. With the man advantage, the Devils cashed in on three of their five opportunities. The two power plays on which they didn’t score were both abbreviated.
In the offseason, General Manager Tom Fitzgerald brought in Jeremy Colliton as an assistant coach, with his primary role to run the power play units. The Devils’ power play currently ranks third in the NHL, operating at 30.5% on the season. With their performance, the Devils became the only team to score two or more power play goals in a game against Florida this season.
New Jersey’s penalty kill unit also put together a flawless effort against the Panthers on Thursday. They held Florida’s top-five-ranked power play off the board despite surrendering five opportunities. They also cashed in while shorthanded, with Bratt’s third goal of the night.
In the two back-to-back games played at Amerant Bank Arena, the Devils only allowed one power-play goal and successfully killed seven man-advantages.
New Jersey’s penalty kill now ranks fourth in the league, operating at 85.5%.
New Identity
Though the core pieces have remained the same, the Devils have embraced a completely new identity this season compared with previous years. Their offense is much more rounded, and it was on display in the two-game set against the Panthers.
In game one on Tuesday, the Devils were on their heels for the majority of the first 30 minutes. Nonetheless, they played a responsible defensive game and forced Florida to work hard for every inch of ice. Brenden Dillon dropped the gloves in the second frame, and New Jersey responded with a newfound spark that earned them a 4-1 victory.
Game two was an even more impressive performance. The Devils were on the front foot all night and beat the Panthers at their own game. They forechecked with intensity, winning board battles and finishing their hits at every opportunity. They also took away time and space and prevented the Panthers from extended shifts in their zone.
Devils fans were treated to a second spirited fight, this time between MacDermid and Gadjovich. Hischier took a heavy hit to make a play earlier in the game, and MacDermid was looking to defend the captain, which he did well with a decisive victory in the tilt.
The fight symbolized the team’s willingness to go to bat for each other, something that didn’t always happen in previous years. Adding players like MacDermid, Dillon, Noesen, and Paul Cotter makes everyone in the lineup more comfortable standing up for themselves and their teammates.
The stats reflect this idea. New Jersey leads the league in hits, with 505, and has recorded the most fighting majors so far.
For reference, the Devils had the seventh fewest hits in the NHL last season.
Up Next
The Devils wrap up their Florida road trip on Saturday night when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning.
This is the second meeting of the year between the Devils and the Lightning. New Jersey lost 8-5 to Tampa Bay on October 22, in arguably their worst performance of the season.
The Lightning currently sit fourth in the Atlantic division with an 8-6-1 record. Most recently, they took down the red-hot Winnipeg Jets and handed them just their second loss of the season.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. on MSG and FDSNSUN.
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