Devils Ran Out of Gas in 1-0 Loss to Sharks
The New Jersey Devils didn't play poorly in a 1-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks, but they weren't firing on all cylinders, either.
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Well, that was a damper on what was a pretty good week for the New Jersey Devils. They couldn't complete their first four-game winning streak since the 2022-23 season with a 1-0 shutout loss to the San Jose Sharks, who have now won five of their last seven games.
Former Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent in net, making 44/44 saves, but the Devils didn't have the juice until the third period. Here are three takeaways ahead of a schedule that will toughen up before Thanksgiving.
Devils Had Their Chances Despite So-So Performance
The Devils did end up with 44 shots and 4.12 expected goals at all strengths, but that wasn't their best offensive performance, specifically at five-on-five.
Perhaps it should've been clear in the first period when Dawson Mercer had a wide-open chance in the slot but decided to make an ill-advised pass to Dougie Hamilton, who was not in a good shooting position. There were too many instances where the Devils passed up shooting opportunities like that.
At one point, fans even began chanting "shoot-the-puck!" Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe also mentioned in his post-game press conference that he thought the Devils passed up too many good shooting opportunities.
Still, the Devils finished with 24 scoring chances at five-on-five, including 15 in the third period alone. They had their looks, though only nine were of the high-danger variety, and that’s where the problem lies. They didn’t generate enough high-danger opportunities.
And yet, the Devils still fired 44 shots on goal. Was that their best performance? Far from it, but at the end of the day, they got goalie'd by Blackwood, who saved 4.12 goals above expected.
The real issue I take away from a game like this is that the Devils don't have enough scoring pop, specifically on the wing. Arseni Gritsyuk would probably look pretty good in the middle six, but it also points to a failure on the Devils' part to add more scoring this past offseason.
Assuming the Devils are in the playoff hunt once the calendar flips to 2025, which I think they will be if you look at the two divisions so far, adding a top-six or middle-six scorer will be a priority.
Allen Did His Part
The best Jake/Jacob-named goalie for the Devils hasn't been Jacob Markström to this point of the season. It's been Jake Allen, who proved that with another strong outing against the Sharks.
Allen made numerous timely saves, and the one goal he gave up was bad luck, as the puck came off Timo Meier's skate. Allen finished with 26 saves on 27 shots while saving 1.31 goals above expected. He was also 8/8 on high-danger shots, improving his high-danger save percentage to .875.
For context's sake, Allen's high-danger SV% ranks ninth in the NHL for goalies who have logged at least 100 minutes this season. Markström, on the other hand, ranks 55th in high-danger SV%.
The Devils brought Markström in to be their No. 1 this season, and I don't think that will change. But there's no doubt Allen is outplaying him right now.
The Devils' schedule gets much more difficult, at least for the next five games. They'll play the Florida Panthers twice, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals. If Markström doesn't start playing better during this stretch, Allen could get more playing time.
Another Quiet Night for the Hischier Line
The Timo Meier, Nico Hischier and Mercer line was cooking with gas through the Devils' 6-0 win vs. the Vancouver Canucks to begin the Western Canada trip a week and a half ago. But since then, they've been pretty quiet.
Mercer started the comeback against the New York Islanders on Saturday evening, but he was on the ice with Paul Cotter and Erik Haula. Meier and Mercer did link up for that beautiful goal against the Edmonton Oilers, but still, this line hasn't generated much over the last five games.
That was the case against the Sharks, as the Meier, Hischier and Mercer line finished with an expected goals share (xG%) of 32.38 percent. They were on the ice for just one high-danger chance while allowing six. That's just not good enough against a team like the Sharks.
In fact, they've been one of the Devils' worst lines over the last five games. They've totaled an xG% of 33.7 percent and are only generating 1.64 expected goals per 60 minutes while allowing 3.23 per 60 minutes. The Devils will not get the results they need in the next five games if the Hischier line continues to post these results.
Quick Hits
The Devils' fourth line of Kurtis MacDermid, Justin Dowling and Tomáš Tatar continues to surprise me. They finished with an xG% of 100 percent, granted in limited ice time. But they also had some of the Devils' best chances last night. Dowling nearly tied the game in the second when a shot went off Blackwood's pad then the post. Meanwhile, MacDermid had one of the team's best chances with a shot from the slot that Blackwood stopped. We'll see if this continues, but they haven't been a liability yet.
Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce looked better than the numbers suggested against the Islanders, but that wasn't the case against the Sharks. They were in the bottom three in xG%, along with Mercer, and it felt like the Sharks were consistently controlling play when Hughes and Pesce were on the ice. Like the Hischier line, they'll need to be better with the difficult schedule over the next five games.
Game Score Chart
Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick