3 Thoughts: Keefe Calls Out Devils; Bratt Garners Emotional Response vs. Blackhawks

This one had all the makings of a disappointing loss, until it didn’t. The New Jersey Devils escaped the opening 40 minutes against the Chicago Blackhawks while seemingly playing on autopilot, only to have a four-goal breakout in the third period.

The Devils’ head coach asked for more from his team, and an emotional response propelled the Devils in the third period.

Let’s get to how it happened.

Devils Recap

The Devils’ start wasn’t quite as good as it was against the Los Angeles Kings, however, they eventually got themselves there about halfway through the first period. The opening 20 minutes went scoreless, but the Devils again owned the shot differential 9-4, which translated to a 10-4 scoring chance differential, four at high-danger for New Jersey.

The second period brought perhaps less than the first. However, the Blackhawks opened the scoring when Jason Dickinson’s shot hit the post, then off Luke Hughes, and fell over the goal line to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

The Devils finally broke through in the third period to tie the game when Luke Hughes fed Dawson Mercer at the top the Chicago’s crease for an easy tap-in goal, tying the game at one. Then the Devils blew the doors off.

At the 10:28 mark of the third period, Jack Hughes broke the tie, receiving a pass from Brett Pesce from the far wall. Nico Hischier and Timo Meier then proceeded to score a goal each 19 seconds apart, for a total of three goals in a two-minute and six second span to take a commanding 4-1 lead, and ultimately, a victory.

Jacob Markstrom made 16 saves on 17 shots, stopping 2/2 chances on the PK and denied one shot on against on the Devils’ power play.

MORE: Why We’re Not Worried About the Devils’ Recent Lack of Scoring

3 Thoughts

Slept In

The first 40 minutes of Saturday’s contest certainly looked a lot different from the Devils’ last two in which they controlled the pace early and often.

The Devils might have held the shot differential 17-11, however, they weren’t working the way they were when they looked excellent in both a loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and a victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Rather than working for pucks and fighting for net front presence, there was a lot of perimeter play and little high-danger chances in the opening 40 minutes. It took the Devils a little while to really get themselves going.

“I thought for a lot of that second period, when we had not a lot going on, we got a little sleepy,” Sheldon Keefe explained. “I don’t think we got frustrated. We just lacked life, we lacked energy.”

Keefe Sends a Message

That’s when Keefe went into the locker room and asked the Devils to dig in a little deeper. The Devils’ head coach knows what his team looks like when they’re firing on all cylinders, and that certainly wasn’t it through the first 40 minutes.

As a result, Keefe sent a message.

“That’s why I was asking for, a little more determination in that third, and the fact is that we just stole a 1-1 game,” Keefe said.

“I just called it out because I felt as though we were sort of playing, not on our heels, but we just weren’t pushing,” Keefe continued. “We weren’t out there trying to make something happen. And I don’t think we were doing enough competitively to win pucks. Some of our best chances today come directly off of a forecheck, winning our puck battles, and sending the puck and the guys wide open in the slot. We just didn’t have enough of that. So sometimes you got to compete hard, and you got to earn your offense. And then other times you got to make a play, like we’ve got to make plays. And there were times we either failed to make the first play, or when we made the first play, we failed to make the second play. We couldn’t connect sequences.”

Bratt Garners Emotional Response

And as a result, the Devils, in fact, dug a little deeper.

Luke Hughes made a nice pass to find Dawson Mercer on the doorstep f the Blackhawks’ crease for an easy tap-in goal. But still, the Devils couldn’t gain control of the game.

Then, on a line change that saw Jesper Bratt enter the offensive zone, the Devils’ Swedish forward threw a hit on Wyatt Kaiser and won the puck battle to force a turnover. As a result, the crowd popped, filled some life into the Devils, and Brett Pesce found Jack Hughes streaking in the slot to give the Devils their first lead.

That emotion caused a trickle effect that led to the Devils scoring an additional two goals, and the Devils took a commanding 4-1 lead in a two-minute and six second span.

“Yeah, it’s huge,” Keefe said to New Jersey Hockey Now about the emotional response. “I mean, it’s a big moment in the game, right? Because, first of all, the crowd was starting to get a little more into it and engaged. We talked about it last game about how important the crowd is in these moments. They stay with us and they push the group. Sometimes the group needs a little bit of push. It might be from the coach, it might be from their fans, it might be from each other. But that was one where, you know, things were building positively for us, and the energy on the bench, our guys could feel it, and sense that we needed a line change.”

On Bratt’s shift, “I think you can sense how the gravity came on the ice, because that started on the bench, the anticipation of that. Bratt went out, and just an incredible determination, persistence to stay on the puck, and then, you know, [the puck] lands on Jack stick, and he makes them pay for it. So that’s just a great team goal that one, to me, it’s not even just the guys that were on the ice that contributed, but the guys that made the line change too.”

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