Devils' 4-3 Loss to Rangers: Goon Squad
After settling some scores with a line brawl, the New Jersey Devils fell by familiar means since Travis Green took over as interim coach.
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"I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out" would certainly apply to last night's game between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. We had a pretty entertaining game after the line brawl on the opening faceoff. But ultimately, the Devils fell by familiar means since Travis Green took over as interim coach. Here are three takeaways from the 4-3 loss to the Rangers.
Gloves Out!
You knew Kurtis MacDermid and Matt Rempe would drop the gloves at a minimum. But a full line brawl between every player on the ice out for the opening faceoff? I'm not sure many of us saw that coming, not even the Devils, as Green alluded to in his post-game press conference.
I get wanting to settle the score after Rempe elbowed and concussed Jonas Siegenthaler the last time these two teams played. There was going to be bad blood that spilled over into this game since no one fought the last time out, and I'm fine with the Devils gooning it up to start the game.
But once the punches were thrown, there was a hockey game to play, and only one team was ready to go. The Rangers badly outplayed the Devils to start the game, outscoring them 2-0 and outshooting them 15-4 in the first period. The Rangers had seven high-danger chances to zero for the Devils and controlled over 93 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five in the first.
I get that emotions were running high for the Devils, but it's not like they weren't for the Rangers. Because of the line brawl, multiple players received game misconducts, including three Rangers. Peter Laviolette even went toward the Devils' bench and exchanged some heated words with Green and his staff.
One team responded to that, though. And it was not the Devils, at least not in the first period. Given what everyone knew would occur last night, I thought the Devils would have shown a bit more jump to start the game, especially since none of their best players (other than John Marino) received misconducts for the line brawl.
In the end, it made the fights moot because they lost the game. Sure, they released some aggression and settled some scores after the Rempe hit in the team's previous meeting. But who cares if you can't come out with more goals on the scoreboard at the final horn?
Devils Have a Third-Period Problem
For all his flaws, one problem the Devils did not have under former head coach Lindy Ruff was pushing the pace in the third period. They were skating teams into the ground in third periods and consistently controlling play. Unfortunately, that has taken a turn for the worse under Green.
The Devils entered last night’s third period with a 3-2 lead. Of course, a one-goal lead is nothing in today's NHL. And how they gave up the game-tying goal was some unfortunate luck with Luke Hughes snapping his stick trying to shoot a slapshot from the blue line.
Kaapo Kakko took the puck and went one-on-one with a twigless Hughes and put it past Kaapo Kähkönen (Kähkönen would probably like that one back). Still, it's not like the Devils were pushing play in the third period, something that's becoming too common under Green.
The Devils generated just 0.23 expected goals at five-on-five in the third compared to 0.56 for the Rangers. I don't think last night's message was to sit back and hold a one-goal lead, especially against as lethal an offense as the Rangers. But it sure felt like that was the message against the Pittsburgh Penguins just 24 hours earlier.
The Devils entered the third period of the Penguins game with a 3-1 lead, but there was zero urgency to attack and put the Penguins to bed. Instead, they played not to lose. They got loose with their game because it felt like they were trying not to make mistakes, and the Penguins sensed that and took advantage, scoring five unanswered goals.
They generated just 0.21 expected goals in the third period against the Penguins, and there have been other games where the Devils have "sat back" in the third under Green. As Twitter user Devils Hockey Enjoyer pointed out, the Devils have blown three start-of-the-third-period leads under Green in 15 games. They had just one in 61 games under Ruff.
Aside from personnel decisions, there is now ample evidence that the Devils should not retain Green as the permanent head coach. I didn't think he was the long-term solution anyway, but it's clear and obvious now.
Bratt Dazzled
I've seen some wild takes about Jesper Bratt on Twitter over the last 24-48 hours, none of which were good or made sense. But he answered any doubters yesterday and got the Devils back in the game, giving them a chance to steal two points.
Bratt collected two primary assists, and both were beauties. The first came on a great pass from behind the net to set up Brendan Smith for the game-tying goal. Bratt then made a highlight-reel backhanded pass from below the goal line to Nico Hischier, who gave the Devils a 3-2 lead.
Bratt's expected goals numbers don't look great; he finished the night with a 35.3 xG%. But that's because the passes he made aren't tracked well by public xG models like Natural Stat Trick, Money Puck, etc. Igor Shesterkin had no chance of stopping either Smith or Hischier's goals because the passes from Bratt were world-class.
With the two assists, Bratt has 76 points in 76 games and has totaled 50+ assists for the first time in his career. He has been fantastic this season and one of the few bright spots in what's been a disappointing Devils campaign.
Quick Hits
The Devils' power play had a chance to make life more difficult for the Rangers, but instead, they made life more difficult for themselves. They had three power plays and generated just three shot attempts combined. They had just one high-danger chance, while the Rangers had three shorthanded high-danger chances. The power play is what it is at this point. It will take a new coaching staff to turn it around.
Luke Hughes, Brendan Smith, Šimon Nemec, and Jonas Siegenthaler logged over 25 minutes after Kevin Bahl and Marino received game misconducts from the line brawl. The Devils may have given up quite a few quality shots and chances, but they deserve credit for holding down the fort as best they could under difficult circumstances.
Game Score Chart
Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick
Can you elaborate on the xG models not picking up Bratt’s passes? Is it that they were coming from behind the net and that makes them viewed by the model as not high danger?