Devils Postgame
Nemec Benched; Devils Lifeless; Allen Effort Wasted in Loss to Golden Knights
The New Jersey Devils turn in a lifeless performance, shutout for the seventh time, Simon Nemec benched vs. the Vegas Golden Knights.
NEWARK—Without arguably their top defensive defenseman in Jonas Siegenthaler, the New Jersey Devils turned to top defense prospect, Simon Nemec as his replacement against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Early on, Simon Nemec seemingly had the jitters, letting Golden Knights attackers get behind him twice for high-danger scoring chances. Fortunately, Jake Allen made some aggressive saves to keep the game scoreless to that point.
At the 7:01 mark of the opening frame, Jack Hughes was called for a high sticking infraction that drew blood on Victor Oloffson. Hughes was assessed a double minor, however, the Devils successfully killed it off.
The Devils had a bit of life injected in them after the penalty kill. However, the first period ended scoreless with Vegas holding the shot advantage 9-5.
The Golden Knights struck quick to open the second period on an unorthodox sequence. In Vegas’ end, a shot by Nemec was blocked and went straight up in the air. Nearly every player on the ice lost sight of it. However, Nicolas Roy found it when it finally landed for a breakaway. Allen made the initial save on the sequence, yet, scored on his own rebound and Vegas took a 1-0 lead.
A rough start got tougher for Nemec as he was assessed a minor for holding. The Devils were able to negate the infraction, yet, the Devils defenseman immediately iced the puck upon exiting the penalty box.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe benched Nemec by the 10:09 mark of the second period, and he didn’t see the ice for the remainder of the middle frame.
New Jersey exited the defensive zone and made a line change, and Vegas re-established control of the puck. After becoming trapped in their end of the ice, a shot by Shea Theodore through traffic found the back of the net for a 2-0 Vegas lead.
The Golden Knights went on to largely dominate the middle frame, an uncharacteristic development as the Devils typically perform well in second periods.
New Jersey was only able to accrue four shots, for a total of nine through 40 minutes, as opposed to Vegas’ 25.
The Golden Knights continued their domination in the third period, scoring another early period goal. Noah Hanifin created a rebound on a shot from the blue line that Jack Eichel tapped in through the legs of Allen for a 3-0 Vegas lead.
Keefe opted to put Nemec back on the ice in the third period. However, he seemingly played every other shift in his rotation. Whereas he began the game paired with Luke Hughes, he played with Brenden Dillon in the final frame.
The Devils received their first power play with 4:27 remaining in the third period. It took 10 seconds for the Devils to score, a goal by Ondrej Palat that cut Vegas’ lead 3-1.
It seemed like the Devils might have made it a one-goal game with just over 50 seconds remaining in the third. However, Palat redirected the puck with a high-stick, and the goal was reversed.
The buzzer sounded to end regulation, and the game. The Devils were defeated 3-1.
Allen made 36 saves on 39 shots, stopping all seven of Vegas’ shot on their power play.
The Devils registered 17 shots in 60 minutes.
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