Game Recap – 12/20/2019 – Washington Capitals v. New Jersey Devils

Washington Capitals (24-6-5 53pts) v. New Jersey Devils (11-17-5 27pts)

 

Game Recap:

To end their three game road trip the Washington Capitals go up I-95 to take on the New Jersey Devils, and early in the first the Capitals would get themselves into penalty trouble as Jonas Siegenthaler would be called for hooking. On the powerplay Kyle Palmieri would not be challenged in front of the net and would tap in the powerplay goal to take the 1-0 lead. However, late in the period the Capitals brass would double shift their first line as Nicklas Backstrom would find Alex Ovechkin to net the game tying goal, but then 70 seconds later Backstrom would tip a John Carlson point blast to take the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

 

In the second period the Devils would strike back as they would go on a break and Blake Coleman would score his10th of the season to tie the game at two. Both teams would get powerplay opportunities, but neither would be able to take the lead with the extra man advantage. However, the Capitals would strike while playing four on four as Dmitry Orlov and Backstrom would play some tic-tac-toe to allow Backstrom to score his second of the game, and take the 3-2 lead.

 

Then in the third period John Carlson would come streaking down the center as Michal Kempny would feed him for the cross ice pass into the slot to give the Capitals the 4-2 lead, then Jonas Siegenthaler would rip one top shelf to grow the Capitals lead to three. At 11:35 of the period the Devils would pull Mackenzie Blackwood and put in Gilles Senn, however, it would not make a difference as Richard Panik would net his third of the season to grow the lead to four. But Miles Wood would score in the final thirty seconds of the game for the Devils, but the Capitals would walk away with the 6-3 victory.

 

Lineups:

Washington Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson

Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie

Carl Hagelin — Lars Eller — Richard Panik

Brendan Leipsic – Travis Boyd — Garnet Hathaway

Michal Kempny — John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen

Jonas Siegenthaler — Radko Gudas

Ilya Samsonov

Braden Holtby

Scratched: Nic Dowd

Injured : None

 

New Jersey Devils:

Jesper Bratt — Nico Hischier — Kyle Palmieri

Blake Coleman — Travis Zajac — Nikita Gusev

Pavel Zacha — Jack Hughes — Wayne Simmonds

Jesper Boqvist — Michael McLeod — Miles Wood

Andy Greene — P.K. Subban

Will Butcher — Sami Vatanen

Mirco Mueller — Damon Severson

Mackenzie Blackwood

Gilles Senn

Scratched: John Hayden, Kevin Rooney, Connor Carrick

Injured: Matt Tennyson (upper body), Louis Domingue (lower body)

 

First Period:

WAS Penalty – 2:50 – Jonas Siegenthaler 2 minutes for Hooking

NJ PPG – 4:00 – Kyle Palmieri (14) from Nico Hischier (12) and PK Subban (4)

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1208180056247414784?s=20

WAS Penalty Shot – 6:09 – Carl Hagelin – Missed

WAS Penalty – 15:46 – Brendan Leipsic 2 minutes for Delay of Game

WAS Goal – 18:25 – Alex Ovechkin (22) from Nicklas Backstrom (18) and Tom Wilson (11)

WAS Goal – 19:35 – Nicklas Backstrom (7) from John Carlson (34) and Tom Wilson (12)

 

End of 1st

12-20 at NJ.png

 

Second Period:

NJ Goal – 4:15 – Blake Coleman (10) from Nikita Gusev (11)

WAS Penalty – 11:41 – Dmitry Orlov 2 minutes for Slashing

NJ Penalty – 15:53 – Sami Vatanen 2 minutes for Slashing

NJ Penalty – 18:50 – Miles Wood 2 minutes for Roughing

WAS Penalty – 18:50 – Garnet Hathaway 2 minutes for Roughing

WAS Goal – 19:31 – Nicklas Backstrom (8) from Dmitry Orlov (13) and Alex Ovechkin (13)

 

End of 2nd

12-20 at NJ-2.png

 

Third Period:

WAS Goal – :42 – John Carlson (13) from Michal Kempny (10) and Nicklas Backstrom (19)

WAS Goal – 6:53 – Jonas Siegenthaler (2) from Radko Gudas (9) and Nic Dowd (5)

NJ Penalty – 13:07 – Miles Wood 5 minute major for Fighting

WAS Penalty – 13:07 – Nick Jensen 5 minute major for Fighting

WAS Goal – 15:33 – Richard Panik (3) from Lars Eller (11) and Carl Hagelin (7)

NJ Goal – 19:37 – Miles Wood (4) from Damon Severson (5)

 

End of 3rd

12-20 at NJ-3.png

 

Next Up:

Washington (25-6-5 55pts) v. Tampa Bay (17-12-4 16pts)

New Jersey (11-18-5 27pts) v. Columbus (15-14-6 36pts)

Devilish Looks; Washington Capitals vs New Jersey Devils

Washington Capitals (24-6-5) vs New Jersey Devils (11-17-5)

 Predicted GoaltenderRecordGAA / SV% / # SO
Washington CapitalsIlya Samsonov8-2-12.38 / .918 / 0
New Jersey DevilsMacKenzie Blackwood9-9-42.85 / .908 / 1

The Washington Capitals are looking to redeem themselves from their first shutout of the season as they face off against the New Jersey Devils. Washington defeated the Devils in a convincing 4-1 win back on March 19th, and since 2014, the Caps have won 16 of 19 meetings against New Jersey (mcubed).


On Monday, the Washington Capitals handed the Columbus Blue Jackets a second win over the league leaders, in just seven days. Another slow start and a 0/4 power play proved to be too costly for the Capitals. Columbus’ only wins in the month of November have come versus the Capitals, and one can only hope that Washington won’t have to face John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets in the post season. Prior to this meeting, the Capitals had not yet failed to score at least one goal through 35 games. Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo tallied his second shutout of the season, and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 8th and 9th goals of the season. Braden Holtby had to be, and was, exceptional despite the loss, as he kept the game within reach for Washington for nearly the entire 60 minutes. Moments after Washington killed off Columbus’ first power play (Carlson, interference), Eric Robinson would score his 4th of the season, giving Columbus a 1-0 lead. Washington received their first power play (Cam Atkinson, high-sticking), but the Capitals only registered two shots on goal. They received a second opportunity with the man advantage at the 19:14 mark (David Savard, hooking), but again, failed to convert. The entirety of the second period was score-less, although Washington had some of their best looks in the middle frame. Columbus killed off two penalties (Wennberg, hooking)(Stenlund, holding the stick), and the Capitals kept the Blue Jackets off the board during their man-advantage (Vrana, holding). The Capitals actually out-shot the Blue Jackets 8-to-2, which was much improved over the first period stats. Just 32 seconds into the final frame, Oliver Bjorkstrand finally potted the puck past Holtby. In support of Korpisalo’s shutout bid, Bjorkstrand would score his 9th of the season at the 8:46 mark. His second of the night came off of a neutral zone turnover mixed in with a sloppy line change. With just over five minutes remaining, Caps’ head coach Todd Reirden elected to pull Braden Holtby in hopes of avoiding a shutout. While Washington did not end up scoring in this one, Tom Wilson and David Savard became involved with just over three minutes left, and both hit the showers early with matching penalties. Savard received an extra 10-minute misconduct penalty. Braden Holtby dropped just his 2nd loss in seven starts, and ended the night with a .857 save percentage. Ilya Samsonov is expected to start for the Caps on their first of this back-to-back.


The New Jersey Devils were last in action on Wednesday night, where they defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 3-1. With just their second win since November 28th, New Jersey is sitting in 30th (of 31) in the league, and are just 3-6-1 in their last 10. Although there isn’t much good to speak of when referring to the Devils, just the other day, Taylor Hall was traded from New Jersey to the Arizona Coyotes for ‘Nick Merkley, Kevin Bahl, Nate Schnarr, 2020 1st round pick, Conditional 2021 3rd round pick (can become a 1st or 2nd)’. Also, to the surprise of many, the Devils had won a second consecutive game for just the 4th time all season. Although Adam Henrique started the scoring, just three minutes and 33 seconds into the first, the Devils would rally back and then extend their lead to a score of 3-1. New Jersey received four power plays, two in the second period (Lindholm, interference)(Del Zotto, interference) a modified power play with just over a minute remaining in the middle frame (Fowler, hooking), and one in the third (Lindholm, holding) (TheScore, ANA @ NJD). Nico Hischier scored the game-tying goal just 88 seconds into the second period, his 6th of the season. Kyle Palmieri scored his 13th of the season, the eventual game-winning goal, 10 minutes later on the Devils’ power play. New Jerseys’ power play is ranked 30th (of 31), operating at just 12.8% efficiency (TheScore, New Jersey Devils). The Devils had not scored a power play goal since losing 6-4 to the Nashville Predators 13 days ago. That calculates out to just one power play goal in 13 opportunities. Sami Vatanen then improved the Devils’ lead by two, 60 seconds into the final frame, also on the power play. Kyle Palmieri impressively leads his team with five of his 12 goals coming on the power play. The Devils were out-shot 27 to 20, and despite being held to single-digit shots throughout the full 60 minutes, goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood tallied his 10th win of the season, and ended his night with a .963 save percentage. Blackwood is expected to start for the Devils.

The New Jersey Devils will be without the services of Louis Domingue (DL, lower body) and Matt Tennyson (DL, upper body).

Coverage of the game begins at 6:00pm with Caps Faceoff Live, followed by Caps Pregame Live at 6:30pm, all on NBCSN/NBCSWA, with puck drop shortly after 7:00pm.


References

Mcubed. (2019). NHL : Series records : Washington Capitals against New Jersey Devils. Retrieved from http://mcubed.net/nhl/wsh/nj.shtml.

TheScore. (2019). Anaheim Ducks at New Jersey Devils. Retrieved from https://www.thescore.com/nhl/events/22261.

TheScore. (2019). New Jersey Devils News & Stats. Retrieved from https://www.thescore.com/nhl/teams/6

TheScore. (2019). Washington Capitals News & Stats. Retrieved from https://www.thescore.com/nhl/teams/15.

Breaking News: Devils trade Taylor Hall to Arizona

After all the rumors and speculation the last few weeks or so, the New Jersey Devils have finally traded star winger Taylor Hall to the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes beat out competitors such as the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, and Edmonton Oilers amongst others. The move was completed right before the NHL’s roster freeze which is effective on December 19th…full details of the trade are seen below:

My Reaction:

I’ve been saying for the past few weeks that it was time for the Devils to trade Taylor Hall. The team is not ready to compete for the playoffs and things will continue to get worse before it gets better. New Jersey felt they were getting a much more sizable deal from the Coyotes then they would’ve gotten from other suitors for Hall. The Devils did the right thing by getting as many assets as they could get to help build a better team in the future. The draft picks in particular will help add more young talent to the equation and continuing to replenish their minor league system. They did the opposite and learned from the New York Islanders mistake as they should’ve traded John Tavares and got something for him. Instead he walked away to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Islanders got nothing. Also, Hall has become a problem and distraction in the locker room with his inability to take criticism from his own fan base and media. The Devils need the opposite of the character he’s shown this season in particular. Hall also clearly showed he didn’t want to re-sign with the Devils and better trade someone who clearly doesn’t want to be around anymore. Overall, very good trade and haul for the New Jersey Devils!

 

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Game Recap: New Jersey Devils @ Dallas Stars 12/10/19

New Jersey Devils (9-16-5 23pts) @ Dallas Stars (18-11-3 39pts)

Game Recap:

Tonight, the New Jersey Devils continue their four game Western Conference road trip as they take on the Dallas Stars. Tonight’s game bet the two teams didn’t feature much action on the scoreboard and was settled pretty early on.

Dallas scored the only goals of the game in the first period as they received goals from Radek Faksa and Joe Pavelski. New Jersey is still struggling to find ways to be consistent, putting pucks in the back of the net, & keeping them out of their own net. The Devils are still searching for their first win under interim head coach Alain Nasreddine since Coach John Hynes was fired approximately a week ago. Over the weekend the Devils will conclude their road trip with back to back games against the Colorado Avalanche and Arizona Coyotes.

 

Lineups:

New Jersey Devils

 

Dallas Stars

 

Game Highlights

https://twitter.com/dallasstars/status/1204582433489862659?s=21

 

Final Stats     NJ-0         DAL-2

Shots:              26              35

Hits:                26               20

PP:                  0/3              0/5

Faceoffs:      33.3%         66.8%

 

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Game Recap: New Jersey Devils @ Nashville Predators 12/7/19

New Jersey Devils (9-15-5 23pts) @ Nashville Predators (13-10-5 31pts)

 

Game Recap:

After last night’s shootout loss to the Blackhawks, the New Jersey Devils head to the “Music City” to take on the Nashville Predators. The Predators would kick the game off with an early goal forty six seconds in as Daniel Carr would score his first goal on the season. Less than a minute and a half later, Dante Fabbro would add his third goal of the game to give the Predators an early 2-0 lead. However the lead would not hold as the Devils would strike twice to tie the game back up at 2-2. New Jersey would get goals from Jesper Bratt & Travis Zajac respectively. After two periods, the game would be tied 2-2.

Period two would feature three goals combined as Nashville struck twice and New Jersey scored once. The Predators would get goals from Yakov Trenin (1st NHL goal) and Fillip Forsberg, while the Devils would Kyle Palmieri’s eleventh goal on the season. Nashville would take a 4-3 lead going into the final period.

Unfortunately for the Devils, they couldn’t keep up with the Predators as they would get goals from Nick Bonino and Rocco Grimaldi. Taylor Hall did add his sixth goal on the season for the Devils in period three. Nashville would win tonight’s matchup by a final score of 6-4 in a game full of offense. New Jersey back in action on Tuesday night as they take on the Dallas Stars.

 

Lineups:

New Jersey Devils

 

Nashville Predators

 

First Period Highlights

 

Second Period Highlights

https://twitter.com/predsnhl/status/1203502858219524096?s=21

https://twitter.com/njdevils/status/1203503583565627397?s=21

 

Third Period Highlights

 

Final Stats

 

 

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Game Recap: New Jersey Devils vs Chicago Blackhawks 12/6/19

New Jersey Devils (9-14-5 23pts) vs Chicago Blackhawks (12-12-5 29pts)

Game Recap:

Good evening Devils fans! Tonight your New Jersey Devils welcome in the Chicago Blackhawks into the Garden State for the second game of their short home stand. The Devils are in their second game of the post John Hynes era and are looking to get interim head coach Alain Nasreddine his first NHL win. New Jersey would strike first as Taylor Hall would wrist a shot behind Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford to give the Devils a 1-0 lead on the power play. Hall’s goal would be the only goal of the first period.

In the second period, the Blackhawks would tie the game 1-1 as Alex DeBrincat would backhand a shot behind Devils goalie MacKenzie Blackwood off a feed from Patrick Kane. It would be DeBrincat’s seventh goal of the season and on the power play.

Period three saw each team get offensive chances but neither could score in regulation.  Three on three overtime would occur but, yet again neither team could decided it in overtime either. In the shootout is where it would be decided. Chicago would win this game in a shootout as they got goals from Jonathan Toewes, Patrick Kane, & rookie Kirby Dach would score the deciding goal. The final score was 2-1 in favor of the Blackhawks in a shootout. Tomorrow night, the New Jersey Devils are back in action as they take on the Nashville Predators.

 

Lineups:

New Jersey Devils

 

Chicago Blackhawks

 

First Period Highlights

Second Period Highlights

https://twitter.com/njdevils/status/1203130778298785793?s=21

Third Period Highlights

https://twitter.com/nhlblackhawks/status/1203139664036716544?s=21

OT/Shootout Highlights

https://twitter.com/njdevils/status/1203142880178704385?s=21

 

Final Stats      NJ-2       CHI-1

Shots:                30           29

Hits:                   18          13

Power Play:    1/4          1/2

Faceoffs:        52.7%.    47.3%

 

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Game Recap: New Jersey Devils vs Vegas Golden Knights 12/3/19

New Jersey Devils (9-14-4 22pts) vs Vegas Golden Knights 15-11-4 34pts)

 

Game Recap:

Unless you live under a rock, the New Jersey Devils earlier today fired their now former head coach John Hynes. Hynes and the Devils have vastly underachieved which subsequently cost him his job today. Interim head coach Alain Nasreddine would be making his NHL coaching debut. After today’s breaking news, the Devils would welcome the Vegas Golden Knights into town. It would be Kyle Palmieri would score his tenth goal on the season to score the only goal of the first period. After the first period, the Devils would own a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, newly acquired forward Chandler Stephenson would score his first goal in a Golden Knights jersey to tie the game up 1-1. However, Devils winger Jesper Bratt would give the Devils their lead back off a cross ice feed from Damon Severson. After two periods, the New Jersey Devils would tale a 2-1 lead going into the third and final period.

As the theme has been so far this season, the Devils were unfortunately able to hold a lead. Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marcheseault would score a natural hat trick and would win the game for his team by a final score of 4-3. Nico Hischier brought the game back within one goal for the Devils, obviously it wasn’t enough. The Devils are back in action on Friday night as they host the Chicago Blackhawks.

 

Lineups:

New Jersey Devils

 

Vegas Golden Knights

 

First Period Highlights

 

Second Period Highlights

 

Third Period Highlights

 

Final Stats       NJ-3        VGK-4

Shots:               35            30

Hits:                 23            19

PP:                  0/2            1/3

Faceoffs:      46.3%       53.7%

 

 

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Breaking News: NJ Devils Fire Head Coach John Hynes

Good evening Devils fans! Just hours before face off tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights, the New Jersey Devils decided to fire head coach John Hynes and replace him with assistant coach Alain Nasreddine to be their interim head coach. New Jersey has fallen well below expectations and are ranked towards the bottom of the National Hockey League standings. The big offseason moves were supposed to help get the Devils back into the playoffs. Unfortunately, this team has vastly under achieved and aren’t getting the results that they were hoping for going into the season. The National Hockey League is a what have you done for me lately type of league and John Hynes was another causality of that effect.

 

My Reaction: It was about time this happened! I’ve been very clear in previous articles that I have never been a big fan of John Hynes as the head coach of the Devils. Looking at his career in the minor leagues, nothing about him to me ever really screamed head coach material. His in game tactics and his overall hockey systems just don’t work with this team. I also have never been a big fan of how he handles the media either. Not saying he’s a bad guy, in fact he’s a classy stand up type of person/coach. When watching his press conferences, his explanations for his decision making never really made much sense.  I never felt like I ever got a real explanation or understanding of his decision making process. There have been times this season where Hynes kept putting certain players out in tight knit games that shouldn’t have been out on the ice. This team has blown a lot of leads this season when it should have lead to more wins and it’s what cost John Hynes his job. As the saying goes, “You are what your record says you are” and it says he did not coach very well and couldn’t get the best out of his players. Especially after GM Ray Shero went out and acquired players such as PK Subban, Wayne Simmonds, Nikita Gusev, & drafting number one overall pick Jack Hughes to add to skills players like Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier. You would’ve thought this team would play well under him after making the playoffs two years ago. Unfortunately it was not the case. This season was supposed to be about the Devils getting back to the playoffs. Instead, they took another giant step back from last year‘s terrible season and showed no signs of progressing. This was the right move and quite honestly should’ve been made a few weeks ago. This is the first time in 10 years since GM Ray Shero has fired a coach since he fired Michel Therrien when he was the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Time will tell how this team responds and what will happen going forward.

 

*Feature photo courtesy of the NHL.

 

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Game Recap: New Jersey Devils @ Buffalo Sabres 12/2/19

New Jersey Devils (9-14-4 22pts) vs Buffalo Sabres (14-10-5 33pts)

 Game Recap:

Tonight, the New Jersey Devils took a quick trip to upstate New York to take on the Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately for the Devils, this game became a complete and total joke very quickly for them. Buffalo exploded for five goals in the first period alone. Sabres goals would come Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, Connor Sheary twice, and rookie Rasmus Aspland who scored his first goal in the national hockey league. After the first period, the Devils would trail the Sabres 5-0.

New Jersey would score their only goal of the game in the second period. Devils Center Nico Hischier would corral the puck off a rebound and dangles it around goaltender Linus Ulmark before lifting the shot into the back of the net. Buffalo added their two final goals of the game as scoring would come from Victor Olofson and Henry Jokiharju. New Jersey would get crushed and fall to the Buffalo Sabres by the final score of 7-1.  The Devils are back in action tomorrow night as they host the Vegas Golden Knights.

 

Lineups:

New Jersey Devils

 

Buffalo Sabres

 

Game Highlights

 

Final Stats     NJ-1       BUF-7

Shots:                45           32

Hits:                  22            09

PP:                    1/4           1/2

Faceoffs         47.3%      52.7%

 

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TXHT Opinion: NJ Devils SHOULD trade Taylor Hall

To say this season hasn’t turned out the way Devils fans all hoped would be a complete and utter understatement. This season has been a disaster when it was supposed to be a big step forward towards building a legitimate playoff team. Instead we have a team that doesn’t play with consistent structure and discipline which is a coaching problem and a whole other story. Anyway, since the season has and will continue to keep free falling, it would be best if the New Jersey Devils trade Taylor Hall as soon as possible and get assets that can help this team now and in the future. You don’t want another John Tavares situation where you wind up losing your best player for nothing! Trade talks between the New Jersey Devils and other teams have started to pick up rather quickly. Obviously, it would be better not to trade Hall as he is the Devils most dynamic offensive player they have. However, it appears a trade out of New Jersey is inevitable nonetheless. From everything you hear in the rumor mill, it sounds like Taylor Hall won’t re-sign in New Jersey anyway and wants to see what he can get on the open free agent market. It’s not hard to sell Taylor Hall to anyone and he’ll have plenty of teams who’ll throw plenty of cash his way.

Besides the fact the New Jersey Devils are towards the bottom of the league standings, there’s another reason I think the team should and will trade Taylor Hall. It really bothered me at one point this season to hear Hall complain about the Devils fans booing the team for his team’s poor performance this season. The team and him haven’t lived up to the expectations of being a playoff contender and have been a complete and total disappointment. Hall is and should be aware that the Tri-State area is very tough and critical of all of their sports teams. Hall has shown that he clearly can’t handle a market that’s tough and critical. He also couldn’t handle the criticism in Edmonton either when the team couldn’t live up to expectations. Why keep around a guy that doesn’t want to be here and can’t handle fair criticism? Devils teams of the past had guys who can handle criticism and adversity. It brought some of those teams the three Stanley Cups that they have. As gifted of an offensive player as Hall is, its time to move on and help build this team for the future. The Devils are in an excellent position with their salary cap management. They have plenty of cap space to spend and have the ability to add more offensive weapons if they so desire.

What a Taylor Hall trade should look like:

1st round draft pick, top level young NHL roster player or NHL ready prospect, and another prospect or draft pick. Trade will most likely be conditional as well if Hall re-signs with the team that acquires him.

Prediction: Taylor Hall is traded by the end of 2019 or at the trade deadline in February 2020