James Nichols
See what happens when the New Jersey Devils score first?
Hosting the defending back-to-back champs, the Florida Panthers, New Jersey looked a bit like themselves again in their 5-1 victory to kick off their seven-game homestand.
It was a slow start as the Panthers pressured Jacob Markstrom with five shots in the first three-plus minutes of the first five minutes of the period and maintained puck possession.
However, the Devils tilted the ice back in their direction, and opened the scoring on the stick of Arseny Gritsyuk.
Connor Brown forced a turnover in the neutral zone as the Panthers attempted a transition to the Devils’ end of the ice.
Gritsyuk picked up the loose puck, led an odd-man rush the other way with Jack Hughes, but opted to shoot and beat Sergei Bobrovsky for a 1-0 lead at the 12:10 mark of the first period.
20 seconds after the Devils scored, Carter Verhaeghe boarded Jack in the corner behind the Devils’ net. The Panthers forward received two minutes for boarding, while Brenden Dillon and Eetu Luostarinen each received two minutes for roughing.
Jack popped up after the boarding incident and remained in the game unharmed.
As soon as Dillon and Luostarinen exited their respective penalty boxes, Anton Lundell evened the score at one.
A physical, chippy game continued in the second period, however, the Devils quickly separated themselves from the Panthers on the scoreboard.
Jack received a pass from Jesper Bratt in the Florida slot but sent the puck wide of the Panther net. Yet, Dougie Hamilton was in the right place at the right time, as the rubber bounced off the end board and landed right in front of him for an easy tap-in to give the Devils a 2-1 lead 1:35 into the middle frame.
About halfway through the second period, Cody Glass widened the gap, redirecting Lenni Hämeenaho’s shot from the right point, scoring his 14th of the season to give New Jersey a 3-1 lead.
The third period proved the ice remained tilted in New Jersey’s favor. Bobrovsky made 10 saves in the final 20 minutes to maintain Florida’s two-goal deficit.
However, that didn’t stop the Devils from maintaining the majority of puck possession.
Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky with about three and a half minutes remaining in the game. Dawson Mercer forced a turnover in the neutral zone and scored on the empty net to widen the Devils’ lead to 4-1.
Simon Nemec added a second empty-net goal to solidify a 5-1 win.
Markstrom turned in another strong performance of late, making 20 saves on 21 shots, capturing his 17th win of the season.
