The Devils played their last game of the season on Monday, April 15th against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center. Unfortunately, they ended their season with a 4-1 loss to the Islanders, who clinched a playoff berth with this victory. Timo Meier had scored the lone goal for New Jersey with his 28th goal of the season, and Jake Allen made a total of 15 saves for the Devils. New Jersey had a tough time this season with injured players and losses that they weren’t always able to make a comeback from. It definitely wasn’t the way to end the season, but hopefully, the Devils can make a strong comeback next season.
Islanders lineup against the Devils:
Cizikas – Horvat – Barzal
Fasching – Nelson – Palmieri
Lee – Pageau – Engvall
Martin – MacLean – Clutterbuck
Romanov – Aho
Pelech – Pulock
Reilly – Bortuzzo
Varlamov
Sorokin
Devils lineup against the Islanders:
Meier – Hischier – Bratt
Holtz – Haula – Mercer
Palat – Nosek – Bowers
MacDermid – Tierney – Foote
Hughes – Marino
Bahl – Smith
Siegenthaler – Nemec
Allen
Kahkonen
Late into the opening frame at 7:38, Jean-Gabriel Pageau put the Islanders in front 1-0 with his 11th goal of the season. He struck from the left face-off circle with a one-timer past Jake Allen after receiving a pass from Pierre Engvall on a 2-on-1. Kyle Palmieri made it a 2-0 lead for New York with 3:08 remaining in the first period on a power play when he redirected Mike Reilly’s point shot.
Timo Meier cut it 2-1 with his 28th goal of the season early into the second at 16:35 to finally get the Devils on the board. Meier scored on a rebound after Semyon Varlamov caught Jesper Bratt’s initial shot. At 8:12, Brock Nelson pushed it to 3-1 with a wrist shot after collecting a loose puck in the slot.
Kyle MacLean increased the Islanders’ lead to record his fourth goal of the season at 13:43 of the final frame when he stuffed in Anders Lee’s backdoor pass for the 4-1 final.
Timo Meier on the loss and ending the season this way: “It’s definitely tough… Now it’s time to take some time off. Everybody’s got to look in the mirror and evaluate their performance. Obviously, we’re disappointed and you got to take that into the summer, you got to get better… We don’t want to be in this position again, no sugar coating, it sucks,” – “We wanted to come out with a lot of energy. I thought in the first period that we played well – They were stronger in the puck battles, and we couldn’t find that extra inch in front of the net… It obviously hurts when you lose your last game at home in front of your fans like that.”
Jesper Bratt on the season overall and what could’ve gotten them where they are: “We all got to take a serious look at ourselves in the mirror and realize that we all have to be a lot better, and we have to use that in the summer – It’s hard to point out just one thing. I think it starts out with some injuries and some immaturity in our game that didn’t really make us win games. Our starts were a big factor that we’re almost trailing it hot from behind two-thirds of the game this season. I think a lot of that goes into it. Just didn’t really find any rhythm throughout the season to get a lot of wins in a row and create momentum,” – “Talent doesn’t always bring you to the playoffs, we’ve seen that a lot before. I think we’re missing out sometimes… playing a little immature, playing a little too fancy. We can’t really count on it in the hard games area and we need to come out ready every game to play instead of having to trail from behind two-thirds of the games.”
Nico Hischier on the loss and ending the season: “It definitely sucks, but I think our effort was there – I hope that everybody remembers how it feels right now. It sucks, I’m not going to lie. So, it’s just a little emptiness in there, but you can take things out of this year. Everything’s easier if you’re winning, but if not, that’s where you can build character. I think for our group, we still have a lot to learn. We got hit a couple of times in the face this year, went through some adversity, but I think if we take things the right way, we can bounce back with a strong effort next year.”
Notes:
– The Devils allowed the first goal in 57 of their 82 games this season.
– Timo Meier ended this season as the leading goal scorer for the Devils, and Jesper Bratt finished with 83 points in 82 games this season.
– Nico Hischier hit 40 assists, this being the second time in his career that he’s achieved the 40-plus assist mark. He ended this season with the second-most productive season with a total of 67 points in 71 games.
– Dawson Mercer skated in his 246th NHL career game. He’s been constant in the lineup since making his NHL debut… he hasn’t missed a game in the first three years of his NHL career.
– Luke Hughes had been on a roll in his rookie season. Besides not missing a single game, he finished off with 47 points in 82 games (9 goals, 38 assists).
– Only five players total ended the season playing in all 82 games: Jesper Bratt, Kevin Bahl, Dawson Mercer, Alexander Holtz, and Luke Hughes.
– Jack Hughes finished the year in second in points with 74 in 62 games even though he had missed 20 games this season.
– Semyon Varlamov made a total of 23 saves for New York… Both Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri recorded a goal and an assist, and Pierre Engvall and Anders Lee each recorded two assists.
– Kyle Palmieri has nine points during a six-game point streak (five goals, four assists).
– Mat Barzal skated in his 500th NHL career game.
