Game #19 vs FLA - Showdown in Sunrise
The first eighteen games of the season have been a
rollercoaster for this Devils team looking to reassert themselves as one of the
top teams in the league. There has been no better example of this than the team
last three games. Over the weekend they showed us that no lead is safe with a
comeback victory against the Islanders and no team should be taken lightly with
a shutout loss to the Sharks. The Devils headed down to Sunrise, Florida to face-off
against the defending champions who have been red hot, winning 7 straight.
It was announced pretty who would take the crease in last
nights matchup which lead many fans to debate who should be getting the bulk of
the current workload. Going into last night’s game Allen had the slight advantage
with a 2.35 GAA & .914 SV% compared to Markstroms 2.67 GAA & .902 SV% and
has been more consistent. Keefe and Fitz went with the big offseason acquisition
and his ears must have been itching all day, because he went out and quieted
the doubters for now. Markstrom made 34 saves, stopped 2.65 goals above
expected and the only goal conceded was a beautiful high slot tip that would have
beat 99% of goalies in the National.
The Panthers came out flying in the first round of this
heavyweight fight getting nine of the first eleven shots on goal to start the
game. Their forecheck was relentless and we had no answer for their defensemen who
perfectly pinched every time we wrapped a puck around to the weak side. The
Devils broke the dead lock against the run of play when Bratt entered the zone
with a full head of speed, hit a Gretzky curve and sent a 50ft back hand pass
tape to tape backdoor where Jack buried it high glove on Knight. Jack Hughes
300th point in 325 games set a franchise record beating out Kirk
Mullen mark of 332 games and is the 5th active USA player with 300
points before his 24th birthday. While this moment of brilliance
gave the Devils a 1-0 lead, it did not tilt the ice in their favor. The
Panthers continued to assert their dominance on the forecheck and holding the
Devils to truly little possession time in the offensive zone. The Devils
started to get their feet under them in the final five minutes with back-to-back
shifts of strong cycling and good pressure. An unfortunate offensive zone high
stick by Noesen killed this momentum and sent the leagues 7th best
powerplay to work. The Devils were looking to kill their 19th
straight penalty, and the first unit started out strong until Dillon ripped Tkachuk’s
helmet off and was assessed a minor for roughing. With a 5 on 3 looming, there
was a collective feeling in the fanbases gut that this period was going to end
all square at one. In the final minute and a half of the period Markstrom produced
a few huge saves and the PK unit blocking key passing lanes & shots the
Devils headed into the intermission up 1-0.
Round 2: An
Exchange of Blows
The second period was a tale of two halves that sandwiched what may
be one of the most electric fights on the season. For the first ten minutes of
the period the only two players who came out of the locker room ready to go was
Markstrom and his posts. Florida continued to execute their suffocating
forecheck, disrupting our breakouts and causing unforced errors. Through the
first nine minutes of the period, we had more icings (4) than shots on goals (1).
Even with the ice being tilted one way, Markstrom was closing the door and had
strong positioning where the pucks that did beat him had nowhere to go but hit
the post. The Panthers finally broke through on the powerplay after a reckless
stick by Cotter sent him to the box for high sticking. With the lack of energy and
momentum halfway through the period, another new addition to the squad this
season Brendan Dillon took matters into his own hands to try and spark the
boys. Dillon and Gadjovich squared up in the low slot of the defensive zone and
let the knuckles fly. In one corner we had Dillon coming in at 6ft 4in, 225lbs
and Gadjovich in the other corner at 6ft 2in, 209lbs, who gave us a fight of
the season. There was a total of about 73 punches thrown, 36 by Dillon and 37
by Gadjovich (almost all of which were done without a head). Gadjovich may have
struck the final blow in this bout, but Dillon lit a spark within in the rest
of the boys. After the fight, the Devils outshot the Panthers 7-1, having the
better scoring chances. Luke sent Dawson on a breakaway where he nearly beat
Knight over the glove and seven minutes later Dawson set up Timo with a breakaway
after some great neutral zone play by Dawson & Seigs. Timo came in and did
not hesitate to rip a heavy shot past Knight on the blocker side to give the Devils
the lead again with two and half minutes left in the second. This goal was
massive because both the Devils & Panthers were a perfect 8-0-0 when
leading after two periods.
The Devils came out this period and had a much better start
than the first two periods. Having seven minutes of free-flowing hockey where
each team only has one shot on goal was the ideal way to start. The best chance
Florida looked like they were going to get was denied by Luke taking the perfect
angle to cut down the shot attempt. The Devil dodged a bullet when the refs
missed another high sticking call on Cotter that caused Barkov to start
bleeding. The lead was almost extended when Hughes found Palat on the backdoor
unmarked by Spencer Knight made two huge saves to keep the Panthers within one.
Less than a minute later Markstrom made two saves on Verhaeghe in which a scrum
ensued after the second stop. Reinhart shoved Seigs into Marky and the other
four Devils on the ice jumped in to defend Seigs. Once the dust settled, Noesen
& Reinhart were both sent to the box leading to 4 on 4 hockey. A few
moments later they called coincidental minors on Pesce & Tkachuk for a trip
and dive. Having two of Florida’s best players in Reinhart and Tkachuk off the
ice in exchange for Noesen & Pesce, is a trade off I would take every time.
The Devils extended their lead when Nico made a great individual effort to cut through
the neutral zone and found Cotter coming down the wing fresh off the bench.
Nico laid a silky back hand sauce right onto Cotters forehand where he sent a
wicked wrister, back bar short side. Florida pulled the goalie with about 3
minutes left; the Devils weathered another storm, and Palat buried an empty net
goal to secure a W and the 2 points.
Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images
3rd Star – Timo Meier GWG
2nd Star – Jesper Bratt 2
Assists
1st Star – Jacob Markstrom 34 Saves 1 GA
Key
Takeaways
· - Markstrom is 5-1 in his last 6 games with a 1.84
GAA & .930 SV%
· - Hughes gets his 300th point.
· - Paul Cotter ties his goal total for all of last
season in 19 games.
· - Fitzgerald’s acquisitions are stepping up.
· - This team can take a few blows and bounce back.
· - The Devils now sit atop the Eastern Conference
& Metro Division with 24 points and a record of 11-6-2. While they have
played the most games in the league a point % of .632 has them on pace for a top
10 finish in the league standings.
Biggest
Concern
The biggest issue Fitzy needs to address is our fourth line. Last
night they averaged about 4-5 shifts a period and were heavily outplayed when
they were on the ice. The line of MacDermid-Dowling-Tatar had about 5 minutes
of TOI where they were outshot 6-0 and had atrocious underlying analytics. While
we were playing the defending Stanley Cup champions, if we must roll out a 4th
line like this in March or April due to injuries, it will not be pretty.
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