The first look at the Devils’ rivalry with the New York Rangers this season was not the most exciting one. It is preseason, after all, but the teams came into tonight with opposite approaches. For the Devils, tonight was a night for the majority of their NHL club to get their legs under them. For the Rangers, tonight was largely headlined by their youth and AHLers. At times, this game might have looked primed for the Rangers’ B-team to pull off the seemingly unavoidable “upset” (if there is such a thing in preseason), given the low scoring. But with some Devils still putting in what seemed like a regular effort, the skill imbalance won out in the end.
In the first period, the Devils shut down the Rangers entirely, but did not create a whole lot for themselves either. Jake Allen only had to stop three shots in his allotted 20 minutes, and the big story of that period was the injury to Adam Sykora of the Rangers. Utica Comets defenseman Mikael Diotte caught him reaching for the puck by the boards, leading to him leaving the game with a lower-body injury. Sykora did not return, and I was worried that this hit was going to lead to some retaliation from the likes of Matt Rempe or one of the other physical players on the Rangers’ bench. This never really came to pass, though.
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In the second period, after Nico Daws came into the game, things started opening up a bit on both ends. Nico Hischier took the puck from Timo Meier and whacked it towards the net, giving the Devils the lead halfway through the game off a deflection at the side of the crease. It was not the best goal ever, but it was fitting to see this particular group finally get going with a Nico Hischier shot.
The lead did not last too long, though, with Nico Daws giving up a rough goal to Anton Blidh. Blidh had not even crossed the faceoff circle on his entry of the offensive zone, beating Daws cleanly on the glove side. At this point, it was the ninth shot that Daws had seen, though he had not had to stop any extremely dangerous chances.
Before the period was over, Timo Meier made a play to take advantage of a really poor lapse in focus and tracking by Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand. Luke Evangelista was working behind the net, and the puck came loose to Timo Meier. When Meier wrapped quickly around the net, Garand was caught somehow unaware that he might need to make a save, giving up an easy five-hole score to Meier. I would not expect it to come this easy often in the regular season.
Things were largely more of the same in the third. The Devils outchanced the Rangers consistently and seemed to have the puck for most of the time. But time and time again, the shots were just a little off, sometimes hitting the iron, but sometimes hitting Garand right in his equipment. And eventually, the Devils were finally caught giving up a bad shot to the Rangers, and Drew Fortescue tied it back up with a shot through a screen. Siegenthaler was out a little far to block the shot, and nobody had Carey Terrance in front of Daws.
Despite drawing a hooking call on Arseny Gritsyuk not long after the goal (which itself should have been holding the stick), the Rangers did not get much in the way of scoring chances after this. The Devils shut them down on their power play, nearly scoring one shorthanded as Jesper Boqvist put a breakaway chance off the post. The top line of Evangelista, Hischier, and Meier wore the Rangers down for an offensive shift that spanned 1:18 of game time a few minutes after the penalty expired, leading to Rangers icing the puck, which brought the Hughes line on. Taking advantage of the tired defenders, Jack Hughes took the puck from Bratt at the blueline and beat Glen Gawdin wide before pivoting at the goal line and sneaking the puck into the net off of Gawdin’s stick. It was a classic opportunistic Jack Hughes goal, and it largely put the game away for the Devils.
Would I have liked to see more goals? Sure. But the Devils controlled just under two thirds of the shots on goal and expected goals tonight, and they largely held the Rangers to low-danger shots. Daws only faced two high-danger shots on goal, and Allen faced zero. For that, Daws may have dinged his stock allowing two goals as the team compares him and David Rittich as potential number two goalies with Jack Allen, but it is just a preseason game and he will have another chance to prove himself (and hopefully against a higher volume of shots). As for the Devils offense, they were content to take any shot, working from the blueline often but scoring on three of their ten high-danger shots on goal. In a regular season game, I would expect them to push a little harder for the net given the sheer amount of possession time they had.
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The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
Stock Up?
Jesper Boqvist looked pretty great tonight, and he only missed scoring a goal on his breakaway because of that peksy iron. He moved throughout the game with great speed, and he generally looked like the Devil playing at the fastest individual pace tonight. That fourth line might not have moved the puck between each other as well, but I mostly chalk that up to Marc McLaughlin being a bit more limited in that area. Noesen, meanwhile, played pretty well but needs to be put in a position where he can make more plays around the net. In another preseason game, I think I would like to see this possible fourth line setup of Boqvist and Noesen centered by Evan Rodrigues or Cody Glass. Overall, I was also much not too convinced by the cohesiveness of the Mercer-Rodrigues-Gritsyuk line, and that also makes me want to see Gritsyuk back with Glass for a look before the preseason is over.
Mantha and Evangelista
With the big storyline coming into this game being how the new forwards looked on their lines, I would say that I honestly hope for better in their second games. Mantha in particular took zero shots attempts in 15:33 of ice time, while Evangelista at least got on the scoresheet and worked along the boards. However, I did like Mantha getting involved defensively, and I thought he drew a lot of attention away from Jack just by fighting for position by the net, while I thought Evangelista could have put pressure on the Rangers during his line’s great shift in the third had he not fanned on a scoring chance. So, both players brought something to the table while still having something to do better.
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Onto The Third
On Thursday, the Devils will play their third preseason game of the year. I would expect a more balanced lineup between NHLers and AHLers as the Devils go to Madison Square Garden, and it might be a good opportunity to get Daws a bigger challenge against a presumably NHL-heavy Rangers lineup. But for now, the Devils are undefeated in the preseason after this rather uneven affair.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s game? Did you watch? Who stood out to you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
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