The New Jersey Devils are finally past the trade deadline. It has been a good season so far for them so they were buyers. Adding Timo Meier and Curtis Lazar should help them in different ways over the rest of the season and beyond.
They are still without them in the lineup, but they should be back soon. Until they get ready, they have to keep playing with the group they’ve had all season. They took on the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Friday night.
The Devils absolutely dominated early, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. Oftentimes when that happens, you end up allowing a goal although you’ve been controlling play. That is exactly what happened when Jonathan Marchessault scored as he took advantage of a favorable bounce.
The Devils were given a power play shortly after though and Jesper Bratt tied it thanks to a brilliant play made by Jack Hughes. Later in the period with under a minute left in the frame, Dawson Mercer made a spectacular play to make it 2-1 Devils.
The New Jersey Devils have an absolute gem player in Dawson Mercer.
His 21st goal of the season made a little bit of franchise history. He now has goals in 8 straight games which is a New Jersey Devils record. He has been absolutely on fire.
From there, Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill started to take over. He robbed chance after chance and the Devils were unable to expand on their lead. Then, Jack Eichel scored to make it 3-2 in the third period.
Later, William Karlsson had a chance to expand Vegas’s lead with a penalty shot that he was awarded. He got a breakaway while shorthanded, and Ondrej Palat took the penalty. Luckily, Karlsson missed, and the Devils gained some momentum.
They didn’t score on the rest of that power play but Miles Wood did right after it expired thanks to a nifty play made by Jesper Boqvist. No more goals were scored, and the game went to overtime.
In the extra frame, the Devils controlled play almost the entire time, but Adin Hill continued his domination. Multiple high-danger chances were absolutely robbed by Hill. He ended up with 46 saves on 49 shots. Again, lots of them were of the high-danger variety.
In the shootout, Hill continued his dominance and made four saves before She’s Theodore ended it. Akira Schmid played well in net for the Devils, too. Unfortunately, the Knights got that extra shootout goal.
It is nice to see Dawson Mercer continue his hot streak, as well as the rest of the team, play well, but Hill was just too good. That happens sometimes, and you move on.
One important note is that the Devils went 14-0-2 against the Pacific Division this season. It was pure dominance that was so much fun to watch.
The only two points left on the table from them were this shootout loss to Vegas and an overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken in Seattle. Both Pacific OTLs came on the road.
The next game for New Jersey will come on Sunday night against the Arizona Coyotes, who used to reside in this Pacific Division. This could end up being the Devils debut of Timo Meier, but we’ll have to wait and see. If the Devils play like this again against them, they will win by a lot.