The New Jersey Devils iced the puck at the end of the first minute of the game, nearly trapping Nico Hischier and Timo Meier in the defensive zone, but Hischier won the draw so he could hustle for a line change. In the offensive zone, Bratt got a loose puck off a play by Haula and wired it for a nice shot on goal, but Frederik Andersen made the save. A minute or so later, Simon Nemec was caught in the rush against and made a great stick play to stop a pass that would have lead to a dangerous chance. However, Nemec got caught again just seconds later, reaching around as Markstrom handled the shot from .

Right after Dawson Mercer was tripped up at the blueline (to no call), he kept the puck moving up to Erik Haula, who was open below the faceoff dot. Haula’s shot bounced off Andersen’s pad to Jesper Bratt, who gave the Devils a 1-0 lead! This was Jesper Bratt’s first career playoff goal.

The Carolina Hurricanes pushed back against the Devils, amping up the physicality, but the Devils responded well. In a great shift for Brian Dumoulin, he went up for the hit at the offensive blueline to temper the Carolina counter-attack, dropped back to the defensive zone to retrieve the puck, and split two forecheckers with a pass off the far boards. Later, Justin Dowling dodged a huge hit in the defensive zone after taking a pass from Jacob Markstrom, helping the Devils force the Hurricanes to play the puck from their own end. The puck pinballed from end-to-end until the Hurricanes were caught offsides, bringing a back-and-forth, neutral zone-heavy sequence to a temporary end.

After Nico Hischier was questionably taken down by Brent Burns along the boards in the offensive zone, Ondrej Palat was called for hooking Jordan Martinook on the following counter-rush. Johnny Kovacevic broke up the two-on-one pass to send the Devils to the penalty kill with a bit over 11 minutes to play in the first period. The Devils won the draw and sent the puck down the ice, and the Hurricanes lost the offensive zone on their own after the re-entry. Johnny Kovacevic then threw a huge hit on Jackson Blake, and the Hurricanes passed out of the offensive zone again. Dawson Mercer deflected a Taylor Hall pass, leading to a chance for Kovacevic to clear, but he went across the zone and had it deflected back in. However, the Hurricanes’ passing ended the opportunity, and the Devils successfully killed the penalty.

The Devils were called for yet another penalty, allowing Carolina an extended six-on-five. Paul Cotter was called for tripping, and he was later hit in the head on a reverse hit when he played the puck to freeze play. The Hurricanes possessed the puck off the draw, and Jacob Markstrom did not allow Andrei Svechnikov the space to wire a one-timer from a sharp angle. The Devils then had another defensive zone faceoff when a puck deflected into the benches. Gostisbehere was later blocked on a shot, but the Devils had trouble clearing the puck. They got a break when Seth Jarvis shot the puck over the net and out of the zone. Ondrej Palat made a great play to intercept the puck up high late in the kill, and the Markstrom just had to face one more shot from Jack Roslovic after the Hurricanes took the puck back from their own end for a final rush. Nate Bastian also struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone, but the lead remained intact. So too did it remain intact when Martinook had a wide-open two-on-one lane to pass to Jordan Staal, whose one-timer was too low to beat Markstrom.

Brian Dumoulin had to race back to fight Seth Jarvis off on a breakaway, reaching around and over Jarvis with his stick to get the puck, and Jarvis went feet-first into Markstrom, but the referees did not make a goaltender interference call. The Devils continued to keep Carolina at bay, and the Devils took a 1-0 lead into intermission.

Second Period

Jordan Staal was denied at the side of the net as he had the puck with a defender on his back. Markstrom swallowed the point-blank shot, and the teams began to push and shove after the whistle. The Devils did not fare much better after the stoppage, with William Carrier having a shot deflect off of Hamilton’s stick and Jacob Markstrom’s mask. However, the Devils were not turning the puck over in the defensive zone in the first two minutes, giving Markstrom a real chance to get set for each chance.

After two-and-a-half minutes, though, the Deivls began to have issues moving the puck out of the defensive zone following an icing. Shayne Gostisbehere was allowed wide open space to one-time the puck, and Jacob Markstrom went sprawling for the save, but Brian Dumoulin was not able to clear the rebound. Gostisbehere roofed the rebound, tying the game. The Carolina crowd thought the Hurricanes took the lead when Andrei Svechnikov was digging by Jacob Markstrom, but the puck was on the goal line, and Markstrom fell backwards and pulled his left arm in while Pesce shoveled the puck under his leg.

After Jesper Bratt beat Jaccob Slavin to a high flip to the offensive zone, he moved the puck back high to Brian Dumoulin, who slid the puck right to Cody Glass, who drew a slashing call from Sebastian Aho as he and Paul Cotter dug away by the crease for the rebound of Glass’s backhand shot. The Devils went to the power play with 14:19 to play in the second period, and the Hurricanes took the puck the other way right off the draw. Jacob Markstrom was beat by Jordan Martinook clean over the glove. 2-1, Hurricanes.

On the power play, still, Andersen made a huge save on Nico Hischier. The Devils then had to defend another Hurricanes rush, which was followed by a shot from Dougie Hamilton in the offensive zone. The Hurricanes began to slash at Hamilton after the whistle, and Stefan Noesen intervened, drawing all four Hurricanes to the boards. Timo Meier went to support, punching Jalen Chatfield a few times to draw coincidental roughing calls. The Devils remained on the power play for 37 seconds, and the second unit came onto the ice. They were unable to convert.

The Devils had a chance to score with the puck in the crease off a Meier shot, past the halfway mark, but Johnny Kovacevic was unable to come in and wire the loose puck into the net through all of the traffic. Frederik Andersen had trouble finding the puck behind him, leading to the scramble and chance, but the Hurricanes retained their lead. Palat was also unable to reach the loose puck in the crease in time before it came out of Kovacevic.

Jason Blake tried to high-stick a flying puck out of the air, but came down on Jesper Bratt in the process. The Devils went back to the power play with 6:46 in the period. Stefan Noesen won the draw after Hischier was kicked out, and Staal deflected the puck out of play when Hischier tried to find Bratt. Hischeir won the next draw, but Timo Meier was taken down by Slavin, allowing a clear. After Timo Meier was not in the spot Bratt was expecting him to be in at the blueline, the Devils struggled to get back into the offensive zone. Nico Hischier later broke up a shorthanded chance, diving to prevent a pass from reaching Dmitry Orlov.

At even strength, Jacob Markstrom made a huge save on Taylor Hall on a redirection chance, and Hall went digging away. Brett Pesce came in to save the day to backhand it out of the crease, and the puck stayed out on the following shot from the boards. Justin Dowling and Paul Cotter had some chances in the other end, but Frederik Andersen answered with big saves of his own. With just over two minutes, Markstrom denied Jordan Staal on another two-on-one one-timer. Later, after an icing, Justin Dowling spun into a backhand chance in front of Andersen, off a spinning backhand pass from Tatar in the corner, but the save was made yet again. The Devils iced the puck two more times before the final minute of the period, and Tatar iced the puck again with 42 seconds, keeping the fourth line on the ice.

Brent Burns headbutted Timo Meier at the end of the period, but no penalty call was made. By rule, it should have been an automatic major penalty.

Third Period

The Devils pushed into the offensive zone in the first couple minutes of the final frame, looking to establish consistent possession and a presence in front of Andersen. After possession by the fourth line, they stayed on the ice too long and got stuck in the defensive zone. Allowing William Carrier to take the puck from the end boards to the front of the net, he had the time and space to ring a shot right off the iron. I thought it was in, but the fourth line survived.

Nico Hischier drew a tripping call from Jordan Staal with a bit over 14 minutes to play, giving the Devils a chance to tie the game. This power play keptt he puck in the offensive zone early, but they had trouble generating a really dangerous chance. A couple of shots from Hamilton led to a rebound chance for Timo Meier, but Andersen took up enough of the net to stop him. The second unit came out, and the Devils had another chance — this time for Noesen off Meier’s rebound — that was stopped by Andersen. Tomas Tatar went diving down to intercept a stretch pass for a potential breakaway late, but the Devils did not convert.

At even strength, leaving him wide open, Jackson Blake was free to retrieve a puck in the corner and drive to the front of the net. He went across Markstrom, drawing a trip from Simon Nemec to prevent the scoring chance. The Devils went to the penalty kill with 10:47 to play. Nico Hischeir lost the draw, and the Devils fought for the puck so Nico could skate it down to the other goal line. None of the penalty killers got off the ice, though, hemmed in for several shot attempts before Dawson Mercer cleared it with just 17 seconds to go in the kill. Markstrom made one last huge save on Logan Stankoven to keep the score at 2-1.

Nate Bastian was stopped on a wide-open one-timer, off a feed from Simon Nemec. Bastian had half the net to shoot at. Seth Jarvis had a netfront chance that could have sealed the game with under three and a half minutes to play, but Markstrom came up with the stops again. Timo Meier missed a loose puck with an opening in the net after Markstrom went off the ice for the extra attacker, but the Devils kept fighting. Andersen froze the puck with 44 seconds to play, and Sheldon Keefe called timeout.

The Devils used five forwards and Hamilton with the empty net. Nico Hischier won the draw, but Dawson Mercer went too deep for the puck. Martinook got the puck out, Jesper Bratt went the wrong way, and the Canes won on a Seth Jarvis empty-netter, 3-1.

The Game Stats:

The

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Winnable Game With Bad Adjustments

The Devils should have won today. They scored first. They kept the lead through the first period today. But the more the game went on the less they were able to play like they did in the first period. The second and third periods resembled more of those first 40 minutes of Game One, where the Devils let the Hurricanes come to them, hoping to catch them sleeping on rushes the other way. Of course, the Hurricanes have rather good defensemen, and the Devils’ offense fell flat in the third period.

With the power play scoreless, the Devils were doomed without a good adjustment.

But Sheldon Keefe’s adjustments only hurt the team. Jesper Bratt began to play less with Mercer and Haula, and more with Hischier. Ondrej Palat saw time with Cody Glass and Stefan Noesen. The Devils had zero shots at even strength when Bratt played with Hischier, as well as when Palat played with Glass, and when Noesen played with Mercer.

In the first two periods, both the Bratt-Haula-Mercer and Palat-Hischier-Meier lines outattempted the Hurricanes. Both those lines and the third line of Cotter-Glass-Noesen had more expected goals than the Hurricanes. I thought a reasonable move might have been to swap Meier and Noesen, but it was essential that Keefe not allow Carolina to zero in on the top line by keeping Bratt and Hischier apart. He failed to do that. It’s a frustrating end to a game that started with a great first period gameplan from Keefe.

Lineup Choices Matter

Daniel Sprong sat for Tomas Tatar today, while Nate Bastian stayed in the lineup. With Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon out, Keefe dressed Dennis Cholowski and Simon Nemec. Dennis Cholowski only played at even strength, playing 8:34 of some of the worst playoff hockey defense I have seen. Cholowski left the netfront wide open on multiple occasions, and the goal in his minutes became survival.

Simon Nemec, like Cholowski, had poor on-ice numbers, but he seemed to be more involved in the play. Nemec played 13:34, working pretty effectively in his second power play unit appearance. I would still like to see a more detailed game from Nemec, especially in staying ahead of potential rushes and counterattacks, but he looked improved from his regular season play. He didn’t exactly have a reliable partner.

Tomas Tatar and Nathan Bastian had their moments, but they followed each of their moments with some of the most baffling plays imaginable. Tomas Tatar’s puck decisions led to extended defensive zone sequences or Carolina rushes off takeaways in a couple spots, while Nate Bastian struggled with the puck on the penalty kill and fired a wide-open shot right into Andersen, who was out of position, in a crucial juncture of the game. Had Daniel Sprong been in that spot, perhaps it would have been a 2-2 game going into overtime. Or, if Seamus Casey played over Cholowski, who hardly even relieved the other defenseman in terms of ice time, they might have had someone who could find a soft spot through traffic to tie the game when Markstrom was on the bench for the extra attacker.

Loading up on defensive, shutdown-only forwards is a recipe for relying too heavily on the top guys. And when Keefe’s adjustments are to take Bratt off the line that created the goal, putting him back with Hischier so Staal can kill two birds with one stone, that is a problem. If Keefe needs a shutdown winger on the fourth line, he should be looking for one of Tatar or Bastian, but not both.

The Effort Was There

I do not say all of this to mean that the Devils phoned it in. If they bring the same effort to game three, I believe they can win that game. This is especially true if Luke Hughes returns to the team to play with Simon Nemec. But Sheldon Keefe needs to understand three things:

• He can’t let Jordan Staal match up against a Hischier-Bratt line (an easier task at home).
• The team needs to forecheck from opening puck drop to the end of the game.
• He needs to dress more players who can score.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 25 shots out of 27 against, saving over two goals above expected. Now, Markstrom has never lost a first-round playoff series in his career, and he has put two excellent starts together in a row. On the other end, Frederik Andersen showed up to play tonight, and he may be great again in Game Three. But the Devils need to keep chipping away and win their two games at home. That’s the only way to respond.

While fans would be right to note the 2022-23 team was much healthier in their comeback against the Rangers after falling down 2-0, I would note a couple things. The Devils blew their home ice advantage in the first two games that series, and Dougie Hamilton saved them from falling down 3-0 with a wicked game winner 11 and a half minutes into overtime. The Devils were just a bad bounce from being at risk of a sweep back then. Is this a different team? Yes. Is this a hurt team? Also yes. But they still had enough to steal a road game in one of the toughest buildings to take such a game tonight, and I see no reason that they can’t do better at home.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? What went wrong in the comeback effort? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.