Devils Postgame
Devils Postgame: Hischier Stays Hot; Bully Canucks in 6-0 Hughes Bowl Win
Nico Hischier scores, again, collects three points as the Devils route the Canucks to a 6-0, shutout loss during the second-annual Hughes Bowl.
With Jim and Ellen in the stands, the New Jersey Devils visited the Vancouver Canucks for the second annual Hughes Bowl, featuring all three of their sons.
The Devils swarmed the Canucks from the get-go, taking an early lead and never looking back.
Let’s get to how it happened.
Devils Recap
The Canucks made a mistake quite early in the game. They let Nico Hischier touch the puck. The Devils captain snapped the puck past Arturs Silovs on an odd-man rush to give the Devils an early 1-0 lead.
The Devils started the second period as quickly as they did the first, receiving goals from Dawson Mercer (short-handed) and Timo Meier within the first five minutes of the period for a 3-0 lead. Ondrej Palat later scored his first of the season to make it 4-0.
In the final frame, the Devils gave the Canucks no room to play with, and collected two more goals from Jack Hughes and Tomas Tatar to secure a 6-0 victory.
Jacob Markstrom registered his first shutout with the Devils, making 20/20 saves.
Takeaways
PK Stays Hot
There was a blip on the radar, but the Devils’ penalty kill is back to doing business.
With an early 1-0 lead in the first period, the Devils were called for three infractions through the reminder of the opening frame. However, the Devils contained the Canucks to just two shots on man advantage in the first, including a double minor penalty in which Vancouver only tallied one shot.
Fast-forward to the second period and the Devils applied so much pressure to the Canucks power play that Hischier forced a turnover, started an odd-man rush the other way, and fed Mercer to score down a man.
New Jersey’s PK is firing on all cylinders this season, and killed off all four of Vancouver’s chances on Wednesday.
Bloody Knuckles
After they were somewhat physically embarrassed by the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings, the Devils have upped their physicality.
The Devils have seemingly unlocked this new side of themselves where they’re not afraid it mix it up between the whistles, in defense, or in retaliation.
In the second period, Erik Haula didn’t so much appreciate Conor Garland holding his stick and drawing a penalty early on. Therefore, the two lightweights dropped the mitts in a spirited tilt.
Erik Haula WENT AFTER Conor Garland 😨 pic.twitter.com/ao1pMVdDwc
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 31, 2024
New Jersey will want to be strategic about when they choose to up their villainous physicality. However, it’s worked for them thus far, giving them a new layer to their identity.
Jacob Markstrom
That’s consecutive wins for the first time with the Devils and this season for Jacob Markstrom.
Fortunately, he didn’t need to do all that much. The put on a masterpiece of a performance in front of him, limiting the amount of opportunities for the Canucks to score. Still, New Jersey needed Markstrom during key moments, and the Swedish netminder rose to the occasion.
Markstrom stopped all 20 shots he saw, three of them coming on the power play. For the most part, he looked poised. You’d like to see him gobble up one or two rebounds he let loose, however, it was another step forward after a stumble out of the gate.
The Canucks accrued nine high-danger chances, all of which were turned aside by the Devils goaltender.
As a result, Markstrom registered 2.07 goals saved above expected and secured his first shutout of the season.
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