For 59 of 60 minutes on Wednesday night, the New Jersey Devils ran Wild on Minnesota.
The Devils had a bit of a different look to them against the Wild. Stefan Noesen returned from injury and made his season debut on the fourth line. However, Cody Glass was a last minute scratch with an upper-body injury. As a result, Dawson Mercer centered the third line surrounded by Paul Cotter and Connor Brown, while Arseny Gritsyuk was promoted to the second line on the right of Nico Hischier and Timo Meier.
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There was a lot to like about yet another strong performance by the Devils, this time in a 3-1 victory over Minnesota.
The forecheck was excellent, the depth came through once again, and Nico Daws had a strong season debut.
Let’s dive into Wednesday night’s win.
First Period
The Devils started the game strong, applying early pressure to the Wild, and Dawson Mercer forced an early power play.
Sheldon Keefe deployed two power play units, however, neither could break through despite accruing a few scoring chances.
Through the first five minutes of play, the Devils held a 4-0 shot advantage, and had the Wild on their skating on their heels.
As even strength ensured, the Devils continued to apply offensive pressure. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt toyed with the Wild defense, and compiled a plethora of chances. However, it was Paul Cotter who broke through to open the scoring, and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 16:21 of the opening frame.
Keefe explained after the 5-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers, he wanted to see the Devils start their games stronger, and they certainly did on Wednesday night.
After the first 20 minutes, the Devils held a 1-0 lead on a 14-7 shot advantage.
Second Period
The Devils picked up in the second where they left off from the first, and continued to hold puck possession in Minnesota’s end of the ice.
Jack created a breakaway opportunity for himself at the Devils’ blueline five minutes into the middle frame. However, Filip Gustavsson turned Jack’s chance aside to maintain the Wild’s 1-0 deficit.
Yet, it was short-lived when at the 06:08 mark of the second period, Brenden Dillon’s shot from the point was redirected on net, and he netted his second goal in as many nights, and on the season for a 2-0 lead.
Dillon then took an interference penalty a short while after he scored, as did Luke Hughes five minutes later. Yet, the Devils killed off both penalties, making it 20 straight successful penalty kills, and they did it against the NHLs No.1 ranked power play.
On the second power play with Luke in the box, Nico Daws made several high-danger saves to keep the Wild off the board.
The second period buzzer sounded, and the Devils went into the second intermission holding a 2-0 lead, and 25-19 shot advantage.
Third Period
Just under five minutes into the third period, Ondrej Palat drew a slashing penalty on David Jiricek, and the Devils went to their second power play.
Off the opening draw in the Wild zone, Timo Meier fed Arseny Gritsyuk in the slot, and the Devils rookie scored his first NHL goal to widen the gap at 3-0.
The Wild finally got on the board at 10:37 after the Devils’ defense chased Matt Boldy at the far wall. Boldy stepped around New Jersey’s defense, found ice in the slot, and beat Daws to cut the Devils’ lead to 3-1.
With just over four minutes left in the third period, the Devils’ penalty kill was called upon once more as a result of another Luke interference infraction.
Yet, the Devils’ power play stayed strong and went a perfect 4/4 against the No.1 man advantage in the NHL.
Jesper Bratt hit the empty net, securing New Jersey’s sixth win in a row, a 4-1 result over the Wild.
In his season debut, Daws stopped 28/29 pucks, and earned his first win of the season.
