The New Jersey Devils lost 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night at the Honda Center. The Devils looked okay to start, but key mistakes allowed the Ducks two goals to put themselves behind early. New Jersey was completely disconnected in the middle frame, struggling to connect simple passes, let alone push for any offense. They finally came to life near the halfway point of the third period, but it was too little too late as the Devils dropped to 9-4-0. With the win, the Ducks improved to 7-3-1.
Game Recap
Period One
The Devils had the early edge, with most of the zone time and a few shots that got through to Lukas Dostal.
Against the flow of play, the Ducks struck first after New Jersey’s defensemen got caught too far apart and couldn’t quite recover. Beckett Sennecke scored on Anaheim’s first shot of the game at 4:13, with assists from Cutter Gauthier and Ryan Poehling.
The Devils responded with more pressure, but Dostal came up with a few big saves to keep New Jersey off the board.
New Jersey was quick through the neutral zone, and eventually, Sennecke was called for holding against Jack Hughes, sending the Devils to the power play.
They were sloppy in the first half of the man-advantage, and Jake Allen made two big saves on a breakaway. The Devils found their rhythm and created some good opportunities, but Dostal was sharp and kept them off the board.
After more chances for New Jersey, play went the other way, and Jackson LaCombe made a diving play to chip a loose puck to Frank Vatrano, who buried his first goal of the season at 14:24 to give Anaheim a two-goal lead.
Play resumed, and Luke Hughes was immediately tagged for tripping, sending the Devils to the penalty kill, which was successful.
New Jersey went back to work in the offensive zone, but couldn’t get anything past Dostal despite numerous grade-A chances.
The Devils outshot the Ducks 14-9 in the opening 20 minutes but found themselves down two goals at the first intermission.
Period Two
Jesper Bratt had a great opportunity to open the period, but fired the shot just high.
The Ducks had some zone time after a failed clearance and a puck thrown toward the net from a sharp angle by Gauthier snuck under Allen’s pad at 1:54, a goal he likely wanted back. Jacob Trouba and Sennecke had the assists.
Timo Meier was clipped with a high stick that was initially called on Anaheim, but upon review, it was determined to be another Devils’ stick, and the penalty was removed.
Bratt and Jack Hughes connected for another good chance, but they couldn’t solve Dostal, who got across to keep a sure goal off the board.
The Devils were sloppy in transition and turned the puck over at their blue line, but Allen came up with two huge saves to bail his team out and keep the deficit at three. He made another flurry of stops from in close as the puck ricocheted off a Devil and bounced around the blue paint.
The Devils were outshot 9-7 in the frame.
Period Three
Arseny Gritsyuk made a nice play to open the final period, but nothing came of it for the Devils, who continued to fight the puck.
Allen made another good play to keep Ross Johnston off the board.
Nico Hischier was hit from behind by Jansen Harkins, and Dawson Mercer immediately jumped in to defend the captain. Hischier remained on the bench, and Mercer was the lone skater tagged for roughing, giving Anaheim a power play.
The Devils killed it off and found Mercer coming out of the box, who sailed a pass across the slot to Jack Hughes, who finally beat Dostal at 7:43. Meier had the secondary assist.
New Jersey was all over the puck, with new life following the goal. They hemmed the Ducks in and threw countless shots at Dostal from dangerous areas of the ice. Despite the pressure, they couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Devils pulled Allen in favor of an extra attacker with 3:30 left to play. Dostal tried for the empty net and turned the puck over, leading to a wild scramble in front of the blue paint, but New Jersey couldn’t light the lamp.
Eventually, the Ducks hit the empty net to ice the game.
The Devils outshot Anaheim 33-29 in the contest.
Takeaways
Cold Start
The first period hasn’t been a strength for New Jersey all season, but on their four-game road trip, it was nightmarish. Between the Avalanche, Sharks, Kings and Ducks, the Devils were outscored 7-2 in the opening 20 minutes of games. Saturday’s contest in Los Angeles was the only first period that they escaped without trailing.
In the games against the Avalanche and Sharks, the Devils were already losing less than two minutes into the first period.
Particularly on the road, it is not sustainable for New Jersey to essentially begin the game down by one. It immediately gives opponents confidence and allows them to play a safer game, while forcing the Devils to take more chances that they otherwise wouldn’t, as they try to overcome multi-goal deficits.
The Devils have been far too loose defensively in the early going, and their goaltenders, apart from Markstrom’s heroic performance against Los Angeles, have not been able to bail them out of the numerous high-danger chances against.
As the Devils return home and have a few days off, they need to regroup and find a way to drastically cut down on the mental lapses and broken plays that have plagued their early-game performances.
Road Trip Woes
Riding an eight-game win streak, the Devils headed out west hoping to keep the good times rolling. They kicked off the trip with a rough showing in Colorado that resulted in an 8-4 loss. The offense clicked, but the penalty kill and goaltending weren’t sharp and spelled defeat for New Jersey.
Looking for a rebound, they moved on to San Jose, but were thoroughly outworked in the first 20 minutes, allowing three early goals and digging themselves a hole that was too deep to crawl out of. They lost 5-2, handing the Sharks their first home win of the season.
In Los Angeles, they were opportunistic, earning four goals on 22 shots for a 4-1 victory. However, Jacob Markstrom was the first star for the team, stopping 43 of 44 shots that the Kings sent his way.
With the opportunity to salvage a 2-2 road trip, the Devils were largely disconnected in the D-zone against the Ducks, and the same odd-man rush opportunities that had been troubling them on the road trip were prevalent again.
As the Devils return home, they can’t let a 1-3 Western road trip derail their season like last year. One area in particular that needs work is their zone exits. They got themselves pinned in their own zone far too often, thanks to soft clearing attempts that got intercepted at the blue line and led to extended shifts defending their net.
Part of that is because they were chasing three of four games by the end of the first period, but the Devils can’t allow that to change the way they play their game. During the eight-game win streak, they were playing sound defense regardless of whether they were winning, trailing or tied. It prevented games from getting out of hand after a goal against, which was problematic on the road trip.
Taking the extra breath to identify an open exit route for the puck rather than hastily chipping it anywhere near the blue line is key to alleviating pressure and allowing the team to maintain structure, which in turn limits chances against off of broken plays on New Jersey’s part.
Up Next
The Devils get a few days off before they are back in action, taking on the Montreal Canadiens at the Prudential Center.
The Canadiens are off to a hot start, sitting atop the Atlantic Division with a 9-3-0 record. Five of those wins have come in overtime. Most recently, they defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.
Montreal will take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night before traveling up the turnpike to face the Devils on Thursday.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. EST on MSGSN.
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