The New Jersey Devils lost 3-2 to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night at the Prudential Center. The Devils had good first and third periods, but again, they had a sloppy 20 minutes that put them in a hole too deep to climb out of. With the loss, the Devils fell to 37-28-6, while the Senators improved to 37-27-5.
Game Recap
Period One
Jake Allen had to be sharp out of the gate, making two huge saves just seconds into the game off an Ottawa rush.
The Devils created a turnover in their zone, and Erik Haula got a good look at the net, but Linus Ullmark made the save.
New Jersey got a power play after Timo Meier was tripped down and generated some good chances, but the remaining ten seconds of the power play were negated after Nico Hischier was called for a trip.
Curtis Lazar made a play to spring himself on a shorthanded breakaway, but Ullmark fought it off. Ottawa had what looked like a sure goal with Allen out of position, but Lazar made another phenomenal play to block the empty net, bringing the Prudential Center crowd to its feet. New Jersey killed the man advantage.
The Devils were immediately tagged for another penalty after Johnathan Kovacevic shot the puck out of play, but they successfully killed it off, allowing just one shot.
New Jersey responded with a strong shift in the offensive zone, and Cody Glass had a near miss from the netfront.
The Devils were outshot 8-6 in the period.
Period Two
Allen made a huge save early in the period, stacking his pads to bail out his team after a sloppy shift in the zone.
The Devils were disconnected and couldn’t maintain any control of the puck, and it eventually bit them at 4:05, with a shot tipped in by Brady Tkachuk for his 28th goal of the season. Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle had the assists.
New Jersey responded with another poor shift and the Senators cashed in again at 4:38, courtesy of Drake Batherson. Dylan Cozens and Travis Hamonic tallied assists.
Sheldon Keefe took his time out to try and settle the team and change momentum.
Meier was caught with a high stick to give the Devils a crucial power-play opportunity, and they converted on it. Hischier rocketed home a shot from the circle at 7:13 for his 30th goal of the season. With his primary assist, Jesper Bratt broke the Devils’ record for the most assists in a season, with 61. Luke Hughes tallied the secondary assist.
Stefan Noesen was called for a trip, and the Devils immediately extinguished any momentum by allowing a goal to David Perron at 8:44. Claude Giroux and Ridley Greig had the assists.
The Senators took a delay-of-game penalty, but the Devils couldn’t pull back within a goal.
The Devils were outshot 8-6 in the middle frame.
Period Three
New Jersey had a better start to the period but couldn’t get shots through to Ullmark. They put together a very strong shift and found some loose rebounds, but Ullmark made the saves.
Luke Hughes blocked a shot off his leg and momentarily went down the tunnel but returned to the game.
Brett Pesce got caught up high with a dump-in attempt, and he quickly left the ice, bleeding from his face. He returned a few shifts later.
New Jersey upped the intensity and got a bit of sustained pressure from line to line as they tried to pull off a late comeback.
They had a few good looks but couldn’t get anything past Ullmark.
The Senators had an extended O-zone shift that ran time off the clock as the period wound down.
The Devils pulled their goaltender, needing two goals to tie, and converted at 19:36 thanks to Erik Haula. Luke Hughes and Glass had the assists.
New Jersey mounted a great effort in the dying seconds as they managed numerous grade-A opportunities and had Ullmark completely out of the blue paint, but the puck didn’t go in for them and time expired.
The Devils outshot the Senators 28-19 in the loss.
Takeaways
60 Minutes
Putting together a complete effort has been an issue for New Jersey in recent games. In the last two contests, the third period caused them problems. Against the Senators, it was the second period that ultimately cost them two points.
While the shot count isn’t particularly incriminating on the surface, New Jersey’s quality of play was significantly worse in the second than in the other periods. They were completely disconnected, especially early in the frame, and gave the Senators way too many opportunities to intercept passes. They were soft on pucks and lost board battles, giving the Senators lots of time to move the puck in front of Allen.
Namely, the zone exits proved problematic. Like in the previous two games, there was a level of “panic” in the team’s decisions that sent loose pucks softly toward the blue line or into traffic with seemingly no definitive target. The Devils must be more deliberate in those scenarios and simplify the game, focusing on finding empty lanes to clear the zone and eliminating the sloppy turnovers.
New Jersey’s success in the final stretch of games depends entirely on their ability to play a full 60 minutes. In two and nearly three consecutive games, they’ve learned the hard way that it doesn’t matter how well they play for 40 minutes if they get decisively outworked for the remaining 20.
Up Next
The Devils will try to right the ship on Monday night when they take on Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks at the Prudential Center.
The Canucks sit fifth in the Pacific Division and three points out of a wildcard spot with a 32-26-12 record and a 5-4-1 record in their past ten contests. Most recently, they lost 5-3 to the New York Rangers, despite outshooting them 39-12.
This is the second and final meeting between the two teams and the Hughes brothers this season, although the Devils are without Jack Hughes. New Jersey dominated the first contest, winning 6-0 on October 30th.
Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+.
ITR 39: Conference Finals – Inside The Rink
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