It’s been a long season for Simon Nemec. The second-year pro struggled throughout much of the 2024-25 campaign and opened the playoffs as a healthy scratch. But on Friday night, with his New Jersey Devils down two games and a few defencemen, Nemec stepped up.
Nemec, who at 21 is the youngest player in New Jersey’s lineup and one of just a handful of healthy defenders on the squad at this point, put an end to the longest game of the season (so far) with a dazzling solo effort early in double overtime, capped by a snapshot tucked under the arm of Frederik Andersen.
A 3-2 double overtime win over the surging Carolina Hurricanes to make this series 2-1 and breathe a little life into these Devils.
And, exhale. (Or, was that a yawn?) Either way, Devils fans can sleep a little easier tonight knowing they’re not on the brink of elimination. This series just got a whole lot more interesting.
Devils’ defence down to five as Kovacevic exits early
It’s been a rough series already for New Jersey’s defence, which limped into the post-season after enduring the stretch run without Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler. While Hamilton returned just prior to the playoffs, and Siegenthaler was cleared to play Friday, the Devils’ blue line is far from complete — and the banged-up unit suffered another blow Friday night, with Johnathan Kovacevic sustaining an undisclosed injury early on. It’s unclear what happened — he played the first period, but did not hit the ice for the second and remained out the rest of the game.
Add Kovacevic to a growing list of injuries on defence, which already includes Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon — both of whom went down in Game 1. Add also that Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe disclosed earlier that Brett Pesce isn’t operating at 100 per cent — though, you wouldn’t know it based on how well he played in Game 3’s winning effort and the minutes he logged.
After Kovacevic was able to log just six minutes, Keefe was forced to work with a five-man rotation on the blue line for most of the game, including a full period of extra time after the Hurricanes climbed back from a two-goal deficit to force OT. Brian Dumoulin led the group with a whopping 36:29 minutes of ice time (and registered a plus-three rating, to boot), followed by Pesce’s 32:25 and Hamilton’s 31:16. While Nemec logged a more reasonable 22:39 — the highest total of his career — he certainly made his time count.
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Markstrom, Andersen take turns stealing the show
All it takes is one great goaltender to change the course of a series. But between the Devils and Hurricanes, we’ve got two — and both Jacob Markstrom and Frederik Andersen were at their best Friday night.
Markstrom’s evening started off uneventful, with Carolina testing him just four times in the first period, but the Hurricanes made up for lost time in the second with a barrage of 14 shots. No matter, though — Markstrom stopped them all, posting a shutout through 46:11 of regulation, when Seth Jarvis got Carolina on the board and cut the Devils’ lead in half five minutes after Dawson Mercer made it 2-0 New Jersey. Markstrom’s heroics were nothing new, of course. He’s been locked in so far this series but getting little help from the team in front of him, which managed just a single goal in each of the first two games.
Andersen, too, has been outstanding so far this series and on Friday night was the biggest reason Carolina even had a chance to make a comeback. His night included a handful of chaotic scrambles in the blue paint, including one glove-snag from his stomach to rob Timo Meier in the second period. That might just be the save of his post-season career.
Hurricanes’ power play wakes up, but Devils’ still sleepy
The Devils boasted the third-best power play through the regular season, the unit operating at a 29.2 per cent success rate. Through three playoff games, though, that rate is a flat zero. And it’s not for lack of opportunity — New Jersey has had 10 power plays in this series so far, including five Friday night alone, and has yet to light the lamp while playing with the man advantage.
In fact, the Devils look like they’re at a disadvantage every time their power-play unit hits the ice, out of sync and unable to muster much momentum or sense of urgency. Even two prime opportunities in overtime on Friday didn’t kickstart any success for New Jersey. Credit to the Hurricanes, of course, whose league-best penalty kill is thriving in the post-season so far, looking at ease when on the wrong side of five-on-four play.
Up until Friday night, Carolina, too, had been struggling mightily on the power play, scoring just a single PP goal through six opportunities in the first two games. But that changed in Game 3, when Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho both scored power-play markers in the third period to tie things up and ultimately send the game to overtime.
While the Devils won the even-strength battle this night, their special teams struggles will only get heavier as the stakes get higher.
