First period
Former Devils Taylor Hall, Pavel Zacha and AJ Greer opened play for the Boston Bruins against Erik Haula, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. It went nowhere on either side, but the Devils got the first two offensive possessions in the next action, with Nico Hischier and Dougie Hamilton leading the team in front. The teams played by billing, however – they look pretty even in the first five minutes. The Devils found themselves with the first big chance when Hamilton dragged himself into the face-off spot and sent it low. Yegor Sharangovich got his stick on the rebound, but not cleanly, as both teams crumbled on the loose puck before it was finally frozen.
Pavel Zacha is behind the New Jersey Devils on a pass from the wide boards, but Mackenzie Blackwood slipped the puck just as Zacha stepped on it to shoot. Blackwood then made a big save on a backhand from Patrice Bergeron, who was crossing the slot. The Devils defense also continued to make plays, such as when Damon Severson made a well-timed takeaway on Taylor Hall, who was crossing the neutral zone. On the other side, Severson fired for a deflection from Holtz, but Linus Ullmark made the save.
Erik Haula took the first penalty of the match for tripping David Pastrnak. It was actually Severson who was guilty, but Haula went to the box. Jesper Boqvist made a great play in the passing lanes, stealing the puck and generating a chance the other way that went wide. Before leaving the rink, he deflected another pass to Nico Hischier, who wasted time below the goal line.
Back at even strength, the New Jersey Devils looked inflated by their shorthanded success, but Michael McLeod was roughly tackled by Matt Grzelcyk. The Devils took advantage of a two-minute power play. Jack Hughes wasted no time, helping Nico earn the draw against Hamilton, who set up Hughes for a shot from the top of the circle. He beat Ullmark low on the glove side! 1-0 Devils.
Second period
Going into the second period with a one-goal lead, the Hughes line again took the first shot this time against the Nosek line. The Bruins took possession of the ball, but Hampus Lindholm lost his balance and returned the puck to the blue line. Jake Debrusk then had a pushed entry by Severson. After a couple of back and forths in the neutral zone, Miles Wood broke through for a breakaway – but Ullmark stunned him with the kick save.
Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins with a deflected goal as he crossed the goal crease. Debrusk pulled the loose puck out of the draw and his low five-hole shot deflected over the right pad. Hard target – and certainly hard to stop. 1-1.
After the goal, Fabian Zetterlund set up two near goals. The first was a nice two-on-one pass, where Ullmark turned around to prevent Nico Hischier from scoring. The second was a pass to Tatar on the side of the net – but Tatar got the shot through the crossbar.
On the other end, Mackenzie Blackwood fired a Blackwood – the wrong way. He sent the puck to the Bruins behind the net and made a save on the first shot towards him, but he lost his stick and a weak rebound went through his five hole as he spread out from a bad position in his attempt to make the backup. 2-1, Bruins, with Pastrnak getting the nod. Blackwood just doesn’t look like an NHL goaltender here.
The Devils almost fought back, but they were once again unable to clean up in the goalie area. Bratt’s wrist shot from the high slot went through Ullmark’s glove and sank almost to the goal line. As Hughes wrapped around the net trying to reach for the loose puck, Ullmark reached out and covered the puck before he could get there.
David Pastrnak made Mackenzie Blackwood and the Devils pay again. On a run led by Pavel Zacha and David Krejci, Pastrnak dragged the puck past Jonas Siegenthaler and hit the top corner above Blackwood’s blocker. 3-1. By this point, Blackwood had made seven saves.
The Devils struggled to come back at this point. Although they limited the Bruins’ offensive opportunities, Boston’s defensive structure prevented them from getting their own chances. Eventually, however, the Devils defense made a stark mistake. Kevin Bahl had the puck under the goal line and passed it directly to Marchand, who took it for a cross pass to Debrusk, who passed it past Blackwood. 4-1, Bruins.
With 1:33 to go, Charlie McAvoy went to the box for snagging Miles Wood, who was going for a redirect. Jesper Bratt fired a shot from the post early on the power play. Nico Hischier deflected on a Hughes shot that Ullmark put his right pad on. Before the Devils could get another shot after a punt after the first wave ended, the period ended with the score at 4-1.
third period
Vitek Vanecek came into the game about half a period too late and made some great saves in his first minute of action. Demons looked rather lifeless in his opening minutes, and Erik Haula got his first big chance when he got a redirect past the three-minute mark. As it has accompanied him this season, the redirection to a lot of the open net has gone wide.
Nico Hischier stripped the puck and spun into the top half of the face-off circle near the halfway mark, but he couldn’t get enough lift on his shot and Ullmark managed to smother him in his gear . About a minute later, the Hischier line worked hard behind the net and brought the puck to the point. Nikita Okhotiuk went the other way with a pass to Brendan Smith, who fired a shot through a Hischier screen. He bounced straight off Tomas Tatar – and he cut the game to 4-2 with 8:58 left.
Tomas Tatar continued to shake things up – this time with Yegor Sharangovich. After an extended pass from the defensive zone was deflected to the Bruins, Sharangovich intercepted a pass and returned it to Tatar. Tatar headed into the offensive zone and reduced two backcheckers, finding Dougie Hamilton for a one-timer. He bounced back and Yegor’s shot beat Ullmark to make it 4-3 with six minutes left!
The Devils retired the goaltender with 1:30 to play, with the McLeod line on the ice against the Bergeron line. After an offside, Vanecek came back for a moment – but New Jersey regained possession. Nico Hischier was tackled — without appeal — by Krejci, but the Devils kept the puck. After the Devils had a few chances on Ullmark, Bratt held the puck too long at the end, wasting the final seconds with pass options. The Bruins won 4-3.
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 Stats Trick Game Stats
The opinion of the opposition: Go to Chowder Stanley Cup.
Give us Schmid (go celebrate and relax)
(Why are you reading this far? Go have some fun folks.) Mackenzie Blackwood let the Devils down in the second period tonight, allowing four goals to come in about 1.33 goals expected by the Bruins. The deflection goal I will give him every night, but he needs to make more saves on the other three. Maybe not all of them, but at least one or two.
Akira Schmid, probably freezing or completely snowed in Utica right now, could have won this game tonight. He can win games like this in the playoffs. The forwards scored three goals — which must be enough to win against top teams like the Bruins — against a goaltender like Linus Ullmark, who went 19-1-1 with the win. Blackwood looked atrocious on both of Pastrnak’s goals, and yes, he’s an amazing marksman. But Blackwood was simply out of position, on both counts.
Bring it back to full power
This game told me something: this will be one hell of a team to watch in the playoffs if they are complete. With one of the best save pairings in the league, with two inexperienced defenders in Bahl and Okhotiuk in their place, they should have won this game. If Vanecek or Schmid had started, I think they would have. They outshot the Bruins, outshot them for most of the game, had more chances, and scored two rebounds. They fought hard, and they deserve a point or more. With Palat or Bastian in these matches, in addition to absent defenders, they will only get better.
Your thoughts
What did you think of this game? Did this game drive you crazy? How did you feel Bahl and Okhotiuk? Do you think Mackenzie Blackwood should be sent to Utica? Are you planning to take back the fun of the holiday season? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
And whether you follow in game feed or on Twitter @AATJerseyBlog, Thanks for reading. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah. See you on the 28th. Hope it’s Chris – good night.
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