The New Jersey Devils squared off with the Anaheim Ducks after a tough 2-1 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. The Devils would need to quickly come out of the gates to take advantage of a Ducks team that lost their last two games and was 4-6 in their previous ten games. A 10-2 shots on goal advantage in the first eleven minutes showed they were working hard on both sides of the ice.
Lady luck would deal the Devils a bad hand at 11:02 when Troy Terry beat Nico Daws with a wrist shot stick high from the right circle for his 29th goal and the 1-0 advantage. Anaheim would end up with a 6-5 shot advantage the rest of the way to end the first period, so the momentum had shifted.
The Devils would come up big first in the second period as Tomas Tatar scored his 11th goal of the season to tie the game one all at 2:39 of the period. Jesper Boqvist got the play started forcing a turnover after giving the puck away in the neutral zone. The puck was picked up by Tatar and passed back to Boqvist, who carried into the offensive zone. Boqvist would find Tatar cutting to the net with a quick pass to the low slot during a 2-on-1 that Tomas would place five-hole on Anthony Stolarz.
However, they wouldn't capitalize on their momentum as the Devils had two power plays during the period in which they only had one shot on goal. An 11-9 shot advantage and a goal were good things to build on, but New Jersey needed to do more with the powerplay in creating chances with the man advantage.
The third period would be a bit hectic for the Devils as they found themselves in the penalty box twice in the first ten minutes of the third against the seventh-best power play in the NHL. New Jersey was impressive on the penalty kill as they would shut down the Ducks, who only had one shot on goal during that time, and get away from the mistakes unscathed.
The defensive unit would take a hit a few moments after the halfway mark. A pile-up occurred in front of the Devils net and Ryan Graves appeared to go down with an ankle injury after blocking a shot. He would go back to the dressing room but would get back on the ice just before the end of the third. Adam Henrique gave his old team a scare multiple times tonight, including two shots that had Nico Daws beat but rocketed off the post both times. Regulation would come to an end with New Jersey leading Anaheim in the shot department 37-32 though the Ducks had the shot advantage in the third 15-11 as we headed into overtime.
Both goalies would continue standing on their heads, especially Ducks netminder Anthony Stolarz, who was making a homecoming as he is from Edison, New Jersey and played great in his home state. The Devils caught a break when Cam Fowler was penalized for slashing, but the Devils didn't capitalize on the delayed penalty nor the final forty-five seconds on the man advantage.
Tomas Tatar would be called on first in the shootout and would deliver with a big goal to get the crowd right into it and quickly put pressure on Anaheim. Nico Daws needed to step up next and produced a big stop against Trevor Zegras as he was locked in the zone himself. Jesper Bratt was next to shoot for the Devils, and he also would score after a beautiful move that had Stolarz completely fooled and now the Ducks were in a do or die situation. Troy Terry would try to spark his team. However, Daws would come up big again and slam the door on the Ducks for the 2-1 shootout win.
Nico Daws was fantastic in net tonight as he faced 34 shots and stopped all but one for a 97 save percentage to cap off the night. His performance as of late has been a real lift for the Devils, giving them solid stability in between the pipes while Mackenize Blackwood has been hurt. Also playing well for the Devils of late in front of Nico has been Jonas Siegenthaler, who wasn't on the scoresheet tonight but impacted other ways. Jonas would use his long reach to constantly poke away Anaheim's opportunities and do the little things a seasoned vet would do.
Devils will head to the road for a three-game trip before heading home to play the hated New York Rangers on the 22nd. That is one game that New Jersey will indeed look the play spoiler and prevent the Rangers from picking up two points against them down the stretch as we get closer to the playoffs. For now, they have a two-day break before the second battle of the Hughes brothers on Tuesday at 10 o'clock in Vancouver against the Canucks.
