Devils Fight Hard but Fall Short to Hurricanes in Game 2
The New Jersey Devils put up a fight in their Game 2 loss to the Hurricanes but lacked the scoring pop to come away with the win
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The New Jersey Devils played well last night in their 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, but there are no moral victories at this time of the season. The Devils need to find a way to get over the hump, and there are plenty of positives to build off from yesterday's performance.
Jesper Bratt showed that playoff hockey won't be a problem for him. Jacob Markström gave the Devils another quality start, and the overall effort was there from everybody. They'll have to make it count in what is essentially a do-or-die game on Friday night.
Devils' Top Players Showed Up
The start of last night's game couldn't have been more of a 180 compared to Game 1 on Sunday afternoon. The Devils were on the front foot and led in shots 6-1, with Bratt eventually scoring to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.
Bratt was arguably the Devils' best forward and set up some of the team's best scoring chances. He used his shiftiness to create space in the offensive zone and was hard in one-on-one battles along the boards. He and Pesce were the Devils' top two skaters in game score, and it's easy to see why.
Speaking of Pesce, what a game he had. He was eating pucks and sacrificing his body whenever he had the chance. In the second period alone, he saved three pucks from getting past Markström for goals against.
Sheldon Keefe asked a lot of Pesce (and his other three top-four defensemen) with Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes out of the lineup, and they delivered.
Aside from Bratt and Pesce, just about everyone played well. The Erik Haula, Dawson Mercer and Bratt line gave the Devils good minutes, finishing with an expected goals share (xG%) of 51.32 percent. They had a poor shift on the Hurricanes' first goal, but they gave the Hurricanes problems.
The Ondřej Palát, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier line also tilted the ice in their favor, finishing with an xG% of 63.63 percent. Keefe wondered if the strong play of these two lines at the end of Game 1 was due to score effects, but I think we got our answer that it wasn't. It's something to build on for Game 3 on Friday night.
Meier Needs to Convert the Chances He's Creating
Was I harsh on Meier for saying that performance was unacceptable? My wording was poor (such is life on Twitter, sometimes), but I don't think it's unfair to criticize him.
Yes, Meier had plenty of chances, but he was not even close to hitting the net on most of them. He also made a poor decision to pinch on Jordan Martinook's shorthanded goal, which led to Martinook getting a 2-on-1 the other way.
The Devils need more from Meier. There's no other way around it. This lineup, especially without Jack Hughes, cannot afford for Meier to miss on some of the grade-A chances he's getting. He has to capitalize because he could make a difference.
The Hurricanes may be up 2-0 in the series and winning the five-on-five battle, but they haven't scored much at five-on-five. They had one five-on-five goal yesterday and just two in Game 1.
Five-on-five scoring has been a problem for the Devils all season, but Meier getting hot, as he did over the final five to six weeks of the regular season, could help the Devils make this an interesting series with a couple of wins on home ice this weekend.
Markström Is Doing His Part
You can't ask much more of Markström, who's looked like pre-injury Markström in the first two games of this series. The Devils played much better in front of him last night, but he still had to make some crucial saves.
Markström made a big stop on Eric Robinson early in the first period after he got past Šimon Nemec and in on a partial breakaway. He also robbed Jordan Staal of a couple of goals, with a particularly impressive post-to-post save on a Staal 2-on-1 after Johnathan Kovacevic made a poor pinch.
But perhaps Markström's best came late in the third when Seth Jarvis got a grade-A chance on the doorstep. It didn't matter in the end because the Devils couldn't find the tying goal, but it still gave them a chance to get an extra attacker out to try and tie the game.
Markström made 25 saves on 27 shots while saving 2.20 goals above expected for the game. He's doing his part, but the Devils haven't been able to give him the goal support.
Quick Hits
Keefe praised Nemec after the game, stating he gave the team some good minutes. Aside from some minor hiccups, he played pretty well, considering the circumstances and that it was his first playoff game. Getting Luke Hughes back for Friday's game would be a lift, but Nemec has earned another look after a solid performance.
There aren't many solutions for the fourth line, but it was a rough night for Tomáš Tatar, Justin Dowling and Nathan Bastian. They did have a couple of quality chances, but they did more harm than good. Bastian and Dowling had the worst xG percentages on the team and were on the ice for 1.6 and 1.7 expected goals against. They consistently got pinned back in the defensive zone and were fortunate not to be on the ice for a goal against. Don't be surprised if we see Daniel Sprong and perhaps Curtis Lazar get a look for Game 3.
One way for the Devils to score more goals is by breaking through on the power play, but that's been a challenge. The Hurricanes had the No. 1 penalty kill during the regular season, so I'm not surprised the Devils have struggled. But they need to find a solution on the man advantage to get back in the series. Their final power play yesterday was their best of the series, but Freddie Andersen came up with a couple of massive saves. There's something to build on from that, and perhaps it finally hits twine on Friday.
Game Score Chart
Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick
Didn't Keefe praise the Dowling line in the post game interview? Wonder what he was watching.