The New Jersey Devils entered the weekend needing to keep pace with the surging New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers as they try to ascend into a comfortable playoff position. The week before Christmas is tailor-made for New Jersey to rack up points as they play four straight home games after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets on the road Saturday night (Dec. 16). With the quick turnaround after the 6-3 victory and the Devils’ poor showings this season in the second half of back-to-back games, the game against the Anaheim Ducks set up as a trap game for New Jersey. The Devils could not meet the challenge of the weekend and only gained two points.
The Saturday night contest in Columbus was New Jersey’s annual fathers and mentors trip. Each year, the team takes the players’ fathers or mentors on a road trip and treats them as team members. Last year, the trip went through Pittsburgh, ending in a Devils victory over the Penguins; this year, the impact was felt immediately as the Devils scored in the first minute of the game and would never relinquish the lead. The game featured another breakout performance by Jack Hughes, whose second-ever hat trick notched goals 99, 100, and 101 for his career. With his second goal, Hughes became the fastest player (267 games) in Devils history to reach 100 goals.
The Devils entered the game against Anaheim having won eight of their last ten, one point out of the playoffs, with two games in hand against those ahead of them in the standings. Vitek Vanecek was expected to start the game but was a late scratch due to an undisclosed physical ailment that was characterized as not an illness. Without Vanecek back in the net looking to build upon his victory Wednesday night (Dec. 13) against the Boston Bruins, the Devils were forced to call up rookie Nico Daws from Utica to back up Akira Schmid. Schmid was thrust into the net facing a Ducks offense that ranked 29th in the NHL in road goals scored. Much like the last time he played both ends of a back-to-back, Schmid could not rise to the challenge and surrendered four goals, 1.5 above expected.
Top Six Shines Saturday
The Devils tallied six goals Saturday night against Columbus; the top-six scored five of them. While secondary scoring is certainly important, there is a reason it is called secondary. The Devils need their superstars to carry them. Since Hischier’s return 11 games ago, the top three Devils in scoring have been Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier. In that 11-game span, the trio led the team in points with 15, 13, and 12 respectively. Bratt especially has consistently played well game in, and game out and carried a seven-game point streak into the game against Anaheim. It seems that no matter which center Bratt is paired with, he has found a way to be successful and has been deployed by Ruff to jumpstart either of the star centers.
The Ducks game told a different story, as the entire team appeared slightly off. They did their best to start the game with energy and dominated the first period in every facet except the scoreboard. Deciding to put all their efforts into having a strong start cost the team, as its inability to build a lead made it impossible to climb back into the game once their legs remembered it was the second game in two days. Hughes’ play was a microcosm of the entire team; he began the night skating well and pushing the pace but seemed to be just off on passes and finishing and allowed frustration to seep into his game. The frustration manifested itself in eight penalty minutes from the top six, including a rare two-penalty night for Hughes and a costly penalty for Bratt that resulted in the game’s first goal. Even more egregious was Tyler Toffoli taking an undisciplined offensive zone slashing penalty that negated a Devils power play.
Michael McLeod is the Glue
During the extended absences of Hischier and Hughes, no player stepped their game up more than Michael McLeod. The former first-round draft pick elevated his game, meriting time in all situations, including being used as a 1C and getting the commensurate ice time. Since the return of Hischier and Hughes, despite getting less ice time and playing primarily as the 4C, McLeod continues to impress and show why he was a priority for the Devils this offseason. Since Hischier’s return, McLeod has won faceoffs at a nearly 70% rate, leads the team in hits, and has four points while averaging a little over 13 minutes in ice time.
The game against Anaheim was no different. McLeod jumped off the bench with the Devils down two and just under a minute left in the second period. He collected a puck at center ice and started a give-and-go with Curtis Lazar that opened the scoring for the team. It was McLeod’s sixth goal of the season, already two more than last season and only three goals away from his most in a season. Though he is not primarily deployed to score goals and has no regular slot on the power play, having McLeod hit double digits is certainly a bonus for the team.
McLeod’s game has steadily evolved from a first-round pick to one of the NHL’s top fourth-line centers. His play in the last 11 games demonstrates his emergence in that role. Over that span, he led the team with 26 hits, seven more than the next player, accumulated five points, and drew five penalties while only taking one himself. His biggest impact is felt in the faceoff dot where he has won over 72% of his draws during the 11-game span. McLeod won all 12 of his draws against Anaheim, the second time in over 40 years of Devils history that a player was undefeated in a game with at least 12 faceoffs. The other time it happened, also McLeod. His faceoff play has been nothing short of dominant as he has ascended to the top of the NHL standings in winning percentage, almost a full percentage point above his closest competitor. Though his offensive stats will likely be insufficient, he deserves consideration for the Selke Trophy.
Fast Start Doesn’t Matter
Knowing their energy level was not at its peak, the Devils prioritized coming out fast against the Ducks. They accomplished this task by playing one of the best first periods of the season. The Devils dominated every statistical category by a wide margin, outshooting (14-4), outchancing (17-5), and at high danger (8-1), but they were unable to break through John Gibson. The expected goals (per Natural Stat Trick) were 1.98-.3 in favor of the Devils. Had the team been able to break through, they would likely have created the momentum necessary to build a lead against a team ready to fold.
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Fortune was not on their side, and they failed to score. The energy they expended and failure to score led directly to frustration on the part of the entire team. Mix that with chippy play by the Ducks and the Devils spent much of the second with their best players watching from the penalty box. The game turned in the second period on Adam Henrique’s power play goal. From that moment on, the Devils had to chase the game and didn’t have the gas in the tank to accomplish the feat. As head coach Lindy Ruff pointed out in the postgame, the team was fanning on shots, turning the puck over, and playing with a sloppiness that speaks of fatigue. Ruff spoke before the game to try to mix in players to his lineup to counteract the fatigue but indicated that the players who play the most minutes in these games aren’t the ones he would replace. Often, the issue has been first-period play, but against the Ducks, that was not a problem.
Goaltending Still an Issue
Earlier this month, Schmid was given a chance to play back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks as a reward for his excellent play in the win over Philadelphia. On the second night, he turned in the worst performance of his brief NHL career, allowing five goals on 17 shots to the Sharks in a 6-3 loss. Just over two weeks later, he would again get the opportunity to play both ends and again, he came up short. It is unfair to heap the lion’s share of the blame on Schmid for the loss to Anaheim. He failed to make spectacular saves to preserve the game, but nearly all the goals were due to defensive breakdowns. One was off a tip by an unmarked player directly in front of the net, and the other was a goal at the back side of the crease by a player the Devils completely lost in coverage.
We’re making that one big mistake, and it is costing us.
Lindy Ruff on the defensive breakdowns
With Schmid’s vaunted career .950 save percentage (SV%) coming off the bench, it would have been easy to expect the rookie to stonewall the Ducks in an emergency relief start, but that was not to be the case. One concerning thing about Schmid is he seems to do better in games where he gets more work and tends to drift in games where the shot volume is low. In a game where both the scoring and high-danger chances were lopsided in favor of the Devils, they needed to find a way to win, and getting key saves is a huge part of that. Schmid was not awful by any means and was constantly hung out to dry, but one or two spectacular saves may have provided some extra energy for a team running on empty in the second half of the game. Schmid has been given opportunities to wrestle the crease away from Vanecek and has not, leaving general manager Tom Fitzgerald with difficult decisions ahead.
Trade Talk
Gibson’s performance in the first two periods did nothing to stifle the rumors of him being a potential acquisition for New Jersey. When he was pulled to start the second due to illness, rumors began circulating that it was due to a trade between the teams. These proved to be wholly unsubstantiated and mostly attempts at humor. Gibson showed the Devils first-hand that even when not 100% he can carry a team and steal a game, something they have struggled for years with since the retirement of Cory Schneider. Whether a trade can be worked out, and whether the Devils want to make a long-term commitment to a player on the wrong side of 30 who is owed $6.4 million a year for three more years remains to be seen but Gibson’s play did nothing to quell the rumors.
Former Devils stalwart and the focus of trade speculation, Adam Henrique, scored the first hat trick of his career in his return to Newark. He will forever be remembered for his overtime goal that sent New Jersey to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012. While many in the fanbase desire a reunion with the player affectionately known as “Rico” it does not seem like the player is a fit for New Jersey, at least not now.
The Devils are taking Monday off to rest and will be back on the ice Tuesday to continue their homestand against the Flyers. Flyers games are often fraught with bad blood and chippiness, and the Devils must maintain their composure and limit frustration. The two points at stake are vital, as the Flyers are ahead of New Jersey in the standings.