Devils Displayed New Makeup in 4-1 Win vs. Panthers
The New Jersey Devils made the offseason moves they did to compete against teams like the Florida Panthers, and it showed in the gritty 4-1 win.
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Based on my Twitter mentions after the New Jersey Devils' 1-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks, you would have guessed they were doomed to get massacred by the Florida Panthers last night.
For a while, it looked like that would be the case. The Panthers thoroughly dominated the Devils for about 25-30 minutes. But they weathered the storm and showed character en route to a gritty 4-1 win over the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Markström Carried the Devils Until the Momentum Swung
The Devils got out to a 1-0 lead thanks to an incredible 50-60-foot pass from Jesper Bratt to Jack Hughes, but let's not kid ourselves. That completely went against the run of play. The Panthers controlled the first period and carried it over into the second.
But to the Devils' credit, they absorbed the hits and hung in. Early on, Jacob Markström kept the Devils in the game. As I wrote in the preview of this crucial five-game stretch that the Devils began last night, they need Markström to make saves. And he very much did yesterday.
Sure, Markström got help from the iron; the Panthers hit the post or crossbar at least three times by my count. But the Devils' netminder still played well despite getting lucky a few times. His positioning was sound, and he wasn't giving up bad rebounds for the most part.
Markström was particularly good in the first period, making 14/14 saves while saving one goal above expected. Last season, the Devils probably found themselves trailing by multiple goals after one period when getting outplayed like that.
Markström's strong play carried over into the first half of the second when the Panthers made another push coming out of intermission. He allowed just one goal before the momentum swung in the Devils' favor.
There were two moments where the Devils seemed to find their legs. One was Brenden Dillon's heavyweight tilt with Jonas Gadjovich. The second was Dawson Mercer's breakaway less than a minute after Dillon's fight. Spencer Knight did deny Mercer on that breakaway, but it was the start of the Devils tilting the ice in their favor.
From there, the Devils looked like they could hang with the Panthers, and they'd soon get rewarded on the scoreboard. Timo Meier scored on a breakaway to give the Devils a 2-1 lead, and Paul Cotter essentially iced the game with a rocket of a shot in the third period to make it 3-1.
Perhaps I've just blocked it out of memory, but I can't say I remember the Devils winning many games last season when they got outplayed as they did for 25-30 minutes. Last night was another reason this team could be different, and it shows how different their makeup is compared to 2023-24.
Luke Hughes & Siegenthaler Impressed
The Panthers may have dominated for good stretches of that game, especially early on. But that was still a pretty good defensive performance from the Devils.
A couple of defenders stood out, most notably Luke Hughes and Jonas Siegenthaler. We'll start with Hughes, who had a rough game against the Sharks.
Hughes had his skating legs last night as he used his speed to break up defensive plays. There was one instance in the third where I thought he pulled himself out of position to try and break up a play in the neutral zone. But he used his blazing speed to get back in the play and cancel out a Panthers' scoring chance.
Hughes led Devils skaters in expected goals share (xG%) at 72.57 percent. He was on the ice for just 0.4 expected goals against, and the Devils out-chanced the Panthers 11-4 with him on the ice; high-danger chances were also 5-2 in favor of the Devils.
As for Siegenthaler, I don't even know where to start with him. He was insane last night and has been insane all of this season. Last year, he was getting beaten one-on-one consistently, but it's been a total 180 through 19 games this season.
Take Meier's goal, for instance. Mercer got the primary assist on Meier's goal, but that sequence started with Siegenthaler making a great defensive play in the neutral zone. He intercepted a Matthew Tkachuk pass and got the puck to Mercer, who sprung Meier loose on the breakaway.
Siegenthaler has consistently been making plays like that this season, and that's why he's been one of the best defensive defensemen in the NHL. He finished with an xG% of 54.1 percent, another game where the Devils controlled play in his five-on-five minutes.
Quick Hits
I didn't mention it at the top of this article, but the Devils' penalty kill also had a big say in yesterday's outcome. The Devils were down two men toward the end of the first period, but their penalty killers killed off the 3-on-5 and the ensuing 4-on-5. The Panthers' lone goal did come on the power play, but the game may have looked much different if the Devils hadn't killed off that 3-on-5 at the end of the first period.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe made a couple of changes to his line combos yesterday, moving Stefan Noesen onto the top line with Meier and Nico Hischier in place of Mercer. The results were excellent, as the Devils had an 80.88 xG% and did not give up a high-danger chance with them on the ice. The Hischier line had been struggling coming into yesterday's game, so it's good to see Keefe noticed the struggles and made the proper changes. That's the sign of a good coach.
The Devils' fourth line of Kurtis MacDermid, Justin Dowling and Tomáš Tatar had been holding their own for a few games, but that was not the case last night. They only logged 4:49 of ice time as a unit, but had an xG% of zero percent. Yep, that's correct. It'll be interesting to see if they hold up against better competition during this stretch against playoff contenders. Last night would suggest the Devils may need to make some changes there if that continues.
Game Score Chart
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