Devils Postgame
Devils Sluggish, Defense Leaky in Loss to Ducks
The New Jersey Devils looked sluggish, and the defense was certainly leaky, in their third loss on the road to close out the trip.
Halloween lasted through the weekend for the New Jersey Devils, who wore their Jekyll and Hyde costumes.
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After an encouraging win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, their tilt in the second half of a back-to-back on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks was much less inspiring.
The Devils didn’t play awful. In fact, it was more an unlucky game than anything else.
Yet, they couldn’t overcome the fresh legs the Ducks had, as opposed to the Devils who played the night before, and were headed home after the game.
Let’s dive into how the Devils dropped Sunday’s tilt 4-1, ending a four-game road trip with a 1-3-0 record.
First Period
Despite holding a 3-0 shot advantage through the first four-plus minutes of the first period, the Ducks opened the scoring to put the Devils behind 1-0. A loose puck at New Jersey’s blueline sprung Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Senneke on an odd-man rush, and Senneke beat Jake Allen on Anaheim’s first shot of the game.
The Devils controlled the shot and scoring chance differential through most of the opening frame. However, the Ducks had better structure. Thus, at the 14:24 mark of the first period, a poor pass from Dawson Mercer to the middle of the ice in his own end turned into Frank Vatrano scoring on a turnover, and the Ducks took a 2-0 lead.
Second Period
Similarly to the first period, the Devils started the second well, however, the first shot of the period for Anaheim beat Allen.
From about the Devils’ goal line, Cutter Gauthier threw a puck on net, and it squeaked by Allen at an awkward angle and tripled Anaheim’s lead to 3-0.
It was otherwise a low-event period.
There were no penalties, and few stoppages, while the Devils and Ducks exchanged chances in the middle frame.
The Devils held the shot advantage 21-18, despite trailing 3-0 heading into the second intermission.
Third Period
The low-event second spilled into the beginning of the third period. It wasn’t until the 05:34 mark when the Honda Center showed signs of life after Jansen Harkins hit Nico Hischier into the boards that sparked controversy. The hit by Harkins left Hischier a bit shaken, and Mercer quickly jumped to the defense of the Devils captain.
Mercer was assessed a roughing minor, but New Jersey was able to kill the penalty. In fact, as Mercer exited the box, he and Jack Hughes were sprung for an odd-man rush. Mercer fed Jack and the Devils star ripped a one-timer past Lukas Dostal, cutting the Anaheim lead to 3-1.
The Devils found some life and proceeded to pressure Anaheim through the remaining 10-plus minutes following Jack’s goal.
However, Dostal locked it down in goal, and Chris Kreider provided the dagger when he hit the empty-net to secure a 4-1 Devils loss.
Allen suffered the loss, making 26 saves on 29 shots, and made -0.01 saves above expected.
