After their shootout win on Feb. 4 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New Jersey Devils should have been in high spirits on Feb. 6. They hosted the Vegas Golden Knights for their first matchup of the season. The Devils played a lazy game and the Golden Knights took the win, 3-1.
Defense Did Not Show Up
After Jonas Siegenthaler was injured in Pittsburgh on Feb. 4, the defense stepped up to play extra shifts while they were down a man. That stellar performance did not reign true last night.
Related: Devils Place Nico Hischier on IR, Call Up Simon Nemec
Simon Nemec was called up from the American Hockey League (AHL) for his first NHL game since October. He had been sent down to the Utica Comets to get a little more practice before heading back to the big leagues. It appears as if he might need a little more seasoning. In the second period, he received a penalty for holding. Once his two minutes were up and he came out of the box, he immediately iced the puck.
While Nemec did not have a good performance last night, it’s not fair to put the blame all on him. There are five other players on the defensive side of things who did not perform at the caliber they usually do. On Nicolas Roy’s goal, Luke Hughes tried to out-skate him to defend, but Roy was quicker. Luke did not stand a chance.
Palat Woke Up
Before Ondrej Palat scored, the Golden Knights had three goals off of 29 shots. The second period came to a close and the Devils had a total of nine shots on the net. As the third period was coming to an end and the Devils received their first power play of the night, Palat made sure that this game would not end in a shutout.
The power play began and right off the faceoff, the Devils won control of the puck. Jack Hughes took a shot on the net, but it went too wide. Behind the net, Jesper Bratt regained control. He passed to Stefan Noesen, who immediately passed to Palat. From the right side of the net, he took a shot that found its way past Adin Hill.
With a little less than a minute left, Palat was able to score once more. The goal was waived off due to him tipping it in with a high stick, so he was only able to record one official goal. Palat’s performance showed he was the only one really trying for the Devils in this game. Unfortunately, his efforts came about too late and the Golden Knights were able to take the victory.
Vegas Outplayed the Devils
Looking at the statistics, it is clear that Vegas outplayed New Jersey hard in this game. The Devils barely had control of the puck, taking only 15 shots on net compared to the Golden Knights’ 40. This is way below their average of 29.4 shots per game.
The Devils took ten penalty minutes compared to the Golden Knights’ two. One of these penalties was on Jack Hughes for a high-sticking double minor. The one good takeaway from this is that Vegas was unable to score on any of their power play opportunities. On the other hand, the Devils were able to squeeze out a goal on their only extra man advantage of the night.
The holiday break did more harm than good. Out of the 19 games they have played since then, they have won seven. This is a drastic shift from how they were performing earlier in the season. The Devils have not looked like the team they were before it commenced. Perhaps a longer, two-week break will be able to get the team refreshed and rejuvenated. If they are serious about making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they better act like it when they return.
One More Before the Break
Before the Devils head into the break, they have one more game to play. They will travel to Montreal to play the Canadiens on Saturday, Feb. 8.
