The Vancouver Canucks had just one shot in the third period, and the New Jersey Devils still found a way to lose on Sunday.
The Canucks sucked all the oxygen out of the Prudential Center, scoring early and then doubling that lead in the matter of just minutes.
No Quinn Hughes, but with a bevy of new talent, the Canucks go off to a fast start, which completely unraveled the Devils in the opening period.
Yet, they got back to their structure in the following 40, and still couldn’t find another level to get on the board.
Let’s dive into the Devils’ 2-1 loss to the Canucks.
First Period
Jacob Markstrom did not need the awful start to the first period he received.
The Devils went to an early penalty kill after Dougie Hamilton was whistled for slashing Conor Garland 43 seconds into the first period.
Vancouver quickly made the Devils pay, when Jake DebRusk buried his own rebound on Markstrom’s doorstep one minute into the first period, and 17 seconds into the power play, giving the Canucks a 1-0 lead.
Stefan Noesen later took a boarding penalty against Liam Ohgren, sending the Canucks back to the man advantage.
A cross-ice pass by Zeev Buium was redirected Brenden Dillon past Markstrom, and the Devils quickly trailed 2-0.
The Devils had the chance to crawl back into the game after Tyler Meyers and Kieffer Sherwood took consecutive minor penalties that sent the Devils to a 5-on-3.
Yet, Thatcher Demko made several big stops to keep New Jersey off the board to maintain Vancouver’s 2-0 lead.
Second Period
Certainly, it was a better start to the second for New Jersey than the first.
The Devils quickly got on the board when Dawson Mercer led an odd-man rush up ice with Jesper Bratt. Mercer left the puck for the Swedish forward, then connected with Luke Hughes, who rifled a shot from the left circle past Demko to cut Vancouver’s lead to 2-1.
In fact, as the period progressed, the Devils did well with maintaining offensive zone puck possession, cycling the puck and creating offense.
So much so, that the Devils created 11 scoring chances in the middle frame, as opposed to Vancouver’s seven.
Yet, the second period ended before the Devils could tie things, heading into the second intermission with the Devils chasing a goal.
Third Period
An early Canucks penalty awarded the Devils another opportunity to tie the game when Tyler Myers was whistled for interference. However, the Devils’ offense couldn’t beat Demko, and even strength ensured.
Still, even at 5-on-5, the Devils were skating well, and held the Canucks to no shots through 17 minutes of the final frame, and allowed just one shot on goal in the third period.
The Devils pulled Markstrom in the final moments, yet they couldn’t come up with that tying goal in the final moments, spelling loss to the 32nd ranked team in the NHL.
Markstrom made
