The New Jersey Devils lost 3-2 to the Anaheim Ducks on New Year’s Eve, dropping their second consecutive road game. The Devils controlled the game early but got into penalty trouble in the second period, crushing their momentum. The offense came alive for New Jersey in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to earn a point in the standings. With the loss, the Devils fell to 24-13-3, while the Ducks improved to 15-17-4.
Game Recap
Period One
The Devils came out hot, and Timo Meier rang a shot off the post in the first minute of play. Meier had another near miss on a puck in the blue paint behind Lukas Dostal in net for the Ducks. Jack Hughes had another grade-A opportunity in close that was saved.
Against the flow of play, the Ducks broke through at 10:05 with a puck that found Troy Terry open in the slot. Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano had the assists.
The Devils got a power play opportunity after Meier was high-sticked. Dougie Hamilton hit the crossbar, and the Ducks survived a strong power play for New Jersey.
After coincidental minors and then a subsequent penalty on Anaheim, the Devils had an abbreviated four-on-three power play before roughly a minute and a half of a five-on-four. The Devils had seven shots with the man advantage, but Dostal kept everything out.
New Jersey outshot Anaheim 15-5 but trailed by one going into the intermission.
Period Two
Again, the Devils carried play early in the period. New Jersey was tagged with back-to-back penalties but successfully killed both. Anaheim got a partial breakaway, but Jacob Markstrom made a big save to keep the deficit to one.
The Devils took another penalty after Curtis Lazar shot the puck out of play in the defensive zone. New Jersey killed all but seven seconds of the power play that carried over into the third period.
The Devils were outshot 11-6 in a penalty-filled middle frame.
Period Three
New Jersey killed the rest of the penalty to begin the period.
Dostal left his net to play the puck but turned it over to Jack Hughes, who had a great look but couldn’t convert.
As New Jersey pressed for offense, the Ducks found themselves on a breakaway and doubled their lead with a goal from Robby Fabbri at 3:57. Cutter Gauthier and Brian Dumoulin had the assists.
The Devils finally broke through at 5:31 with a shot from distance by Jonas Siegenthaler that deflected in off a Ducks player. The goal was unassisted.
Jesper Bratt had a partial breakaway opportunity that was defended well as the Devils continued to press.
Markstrom made a brilliant save at one end and then, on a rush, Meier got a well-deserved goal from the slot to tie the game at 13:20. Hamilton and Stefan Noesen had the assists.
The Devils got sloppy following the tying goal and gave the lead right back at 16:36 after Strome hit the net from distance through traffic. Jackson LaCombe and Vatrano had the assists.
New Jersey pulled the goalie but couldn’t come back a second time to force overtime.
The Devils outshot the Ducks 34-26 in the loss.
Takeaways
After a very strong first period, the Devils abandoned the style of play that has worked so well for them this season. They had a very undisciplined second period, giving Anaheim three power play opportunities in quick succession. While the penalty killers came through for New Jersey, eight minutes were spent defending instead of driving play. Additionally, the Ducks gained momentum from so much power play time.
The story of the game lies in the difference between puck possession time for the two teams versus the high-danger scoring chances generated. The Devils dominated Anaheim in terms of the time spent in the offensive zone. They also nearly doubled the amount of O-zone possession time, with 6:02.
Despite not having the puck very often, the Ducks generated better chances. At even strength, they had six high-danger scoring chances compared to just three for the Devils. Additionally, they had 11 scoring chances off the rush, while New Jersey only had six. Sheldon Keefe did not mince his words when speaking about the performance after the game.
“The chances we gave up were completely egregious. You have no chance to win in the NHL playing like that. It was disgraceful,” he said.
Up Next
The Devils have a quick turnaround as they look to bounce back against the Los Angeles Kings on New Year’s Day.
The Kings sit second in the Pacific Division with a 21-10-5 record and a 6-2-2 record in their past ten games. Most recently, they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 on December 29.
This is the second meeting of the season between the Devils and Kings. New Jersey took the first contest 3-1 on December 12.
Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. EST on NHLN, MSGSN, and FDSNW.
For Optimum Customers
As of January 1, Altice USA dropped MSG Networks from its Optimum channel lineup in the local tri-state area market. Fans who are Optimum subscribers will have to look elsewhere to catch Devils games until a new agreement is reached.
Fans can access MSG Networks with Verizon Fios, FuboTV, DIRECTV, DIRECTV Stream, or a subscription to the Gotham Sports App.
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