James Nichols
One team on Tuesday night looked like they were already thinking about Cancun, while the other looks ready for their postseason run. And we know the New Jersey Devils aren’t making the playoffs.
Visiting TD Garden to take on the Boston Bruins, the Devils sleepwalked through the first period which resulted in a brutal 4-0 loss in New Jersey’s season finale.
It took just 53 seconds for the Bruins to score after puck drop, a goal by Connor Geekie who deposited his 39th goal of the season. After New Jersey failed to clear the puck from their defensive zone, David Pastrnak found Geekie streaking to the New Jersey net with three defenders looking south.
With a perfect feed from Pastrnak, Geekie received the puck in stride and beat Nico Daws blocker side early to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Just under five minutes later, Mark Kastelic snuck behind a sleeping Devils defense, received a pass from Tanner Jeannot in the slot, and snuck a shot between Daws’ pads to double the Bruins lead to 2-0.
Kastelic wasn’t done in the first period, however. Inside the 17-minute mark of the first, Mason Lohrei kept the puck onside for the Bruins with the Devils in transition to offense. That left Sean Kuraly open by the Devils’ goal line, who then fed Kastelic in a high-danger area in the New Jersey slot, and he scored his second of the night to triple the Boston lead to 3-0.
The Devils couldn’t escape the first period before Viktor Arvidsson gave the Bruins a 4-0 lead.
Marc McLoughlin lost a faceoff to Hampus Lindholm who quickly put a shot on goal. Daws made the initial save, but Zacha found the rebound, and fed Arvidsson backdoor for an easy tap-in to quadruple the Boston lead.
The second period brought little action.
There was not one single penalty through 20 minutes. In fact, neither side was whistled for an infraction through the first 40.
A low-event middle frame saw the Bruins take a 9-5 shot advantage and 8-7 scoring chance differential, yet the game remained 4-0 going into he third period.
Michael Eyssimont seemingly deposited the Bruins’ fifth goal of the game inside the eight minute mark of the third period. Yet, Sheldon Keefe issued a coaches challenge, and the play was determined offside, keeping the score at 4-0 in favor of Boston.
The final buzzer blared, and the Devils’ season is over. New Jersey finishes the season with a 42-37-3 record which ranks them seventh in the Metropolitan Division.
Amid the Devils’ loss, Nico Hischier registered his 1,000th face-off win of the season. The Devils captain is the only player to reach the mark this season, with the next leading face-off winner (Jordan Staal) registering 839.
Daws made 22 saves on 26 shots, suffering his first and only loss of the season in three starts.
