Devils Bury Themselves, Fall Short of Comeback in 7-3 Loss to Penguins

The New Jersey Devils buried themselves against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it proved too deep a hole to climb out of.

Both the Devils and Penguins had a three-game win streak on the line

Jacob Markstrom was tested early after the Penguins pushed the Devils in the first five minutes of the game. In the first two and a half minutes, the Penguins accrued five shots on the Devils netminder, however, Markstrom weathered the storm.

When the Devils took the ice back, it was the new third line Sheldon Keefe put together that got New Jersey going. In his old barn against his former club, Cody Glass scored his second goal in a Devils sweater, assisted by Jesper Bratt and Luke Hughes, to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.

The Penguins fought back, however, exposing a few mistakes by the Devils in the final minutes of the first period.

A failed clearing attempt by Simon Nemec led to Connor Dewar tying the game at one, depositing a rebound at the top of Markstrom’s crease. Moments later, Dawson Mercer fumbled a bouncing puck along the wall in Pittsburgh’s end of the ice. Philip Tomosino led an odd-man rush with Danton Heinen, and Heinen gave the Penguins a late 2-1 lead.

The Devils got an early power play when Ondrej Palat drew a tripping penalty on Vladislav Kolyachonok. Although the Devils’ man advantage sustained some pressure, Tristan Jarry stood tall and kept a quality New Jersey power play off the board.

After the game returned to even strength, the Penguins took a 3-1 lead after Rikard Rakell received a pass from Sidney Crosby in the slot and scored.

Brett Pesce later drew blood on Rakell with a high-stick while defending the Penguins forward in the Devils’ end. The Devils went to a four-minute penalty kill, where they almost scored a short-handed goal. Nathan Bastian did find twine, however, a successful offside coaches challenge took the Bastian goal off the board.

The Devils did, however, kill off the four-minute infraction and left the second period down two goals.

The mistakes persisted in the third period and the Devils dug themselves into a deeper hole. Johnathan Kovacevic fumbled a pass from his defense partner, Brian Dumoulin. Tomasino took advantage, picking up the loose puck in the slot and scoring uncontested to give Pittsburgh a 4-1 lead.

Noel Acciari later caught Dumoulin with a high-stick that drew blood and the Devils were given a four-minute power play.

Timo Meier scored in the latter half of the four minutes, cutting the Penguins’ lead to 4-2.

Just moments later, Pesce took a high-stick from Evgeni Malkin and blood was drawn yet again. New Jersey went right back to a four-minute power play and this time Nico Hischier scored, and suddenly it was a one-goal game.

New Jersey’s momentum was severed after Pesce took an undisciplined cross-checking penalty on Kevin Hayes.

On the Penguins’ power play, Erik Karlsson regained the Penguins’ multi-goal lead on a shot that was screened from the blueline. Dewar later scored his second goal of the game on the empty net, and Hayes beat Markstrom with just seconds remaining, spelling a 7-3 loss for the Devils.

Jacob Markstrom allowed six goals on 22 shots, including one on a Penguins power play.

Bratt’s three assists tied the Devils’ franchise record for most assists in a season (60), held by Scott Stevens since 1993-94.

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