Devils Extend Win Streak to 7 with Victory Over Calgary

First Period

The BMW line had the first offensive zone shift for the Devils, with some heavy hits from each team.

Mercer avoided a hit and Gilbert went flying into the glass

The Hischier line had a good shift. Zetterlund got crushed at the end of it, but he was fine.

Shots were 4-0 Calgary, and they took the first power play as Bastian was called for interference in the defensive zone.

The Devils did a pretty good job on the kill except for one great chance for Mangiapane in front of the net, and Vanecek made a great reaction save to stop it.

Backlund got called for cross-checking Haula off the faceoff following a commercial break

The Flames had the first shot on the power play in a minute in, and the Devils got none on the entire power play.

The Devils have not been flying by any means tonight. They are out of sync and not making plays.

Through the first 11 minutes, the Devils do not have a shot on goal.

With 8:37 left, the Devils took another penalty, this time Haula for hooking.

Kadri got the Flames on the board first from the right circle on the power play. Siegenthaler was a little slow getting over and couldn’t block the shot far side top corner.

Wood was hit in the head and shaken up and wanted a call, but didn’t get one.

Bratt intercepted a pass at center and had a breakaway. He passed it over to Hughes to should’ve had a tap in but somehow Markstrom got in the way and made the save

Weegar batted a Boqvist dump in over the glass for a delay of game penalty.

The first unit had a couple flashy plays but also a couple of miscues. The second unit managed to get set up and Zetterlund blasted a one timer for the first shot of the power play with 17 seconds left.

Siegenthaler blocked a Zadorov clearing attempt and shot it through a screen, with Sharangovich tipping it past Markstrom, but Calgary challenged for offside. Boqvist was offside by 2 inches 29 seconds prior, so the goal did not count.

Shots were 13-4 Calgary with 2:24 left in the first.

Gilbert and Bastian dropped the gloves after Gilbert hit Bastian, each getting 5 minutes.

2nd Period

26 seconds in to the period, Tatar centered to Hischier and Markstrom came up with the big glove save.

Wood had a one timer in the slot but it was blocked

Ruff shuffled the lines to start the second. Tatar-Hischier-Bratt, Sharangovich-Hughes-Mercer were the new top two lines.

The Hughes line was playing keep away. A Smith point shot was saved. The rebound came out to Sharangovich, who side swiped in it with his skate similarly to Hischier’s disallowed goal in another game. The refs did decide that this was a kicking motion, and another Devils goal came off the board.

Wood-Haula-Zetterlund was out and they kept the momentum going. The Devils have clearly been much better in this period, and just as I write this, Graves scores to tie the game. Tatar intercepted a pass in the d zone, gained the Flames blue line and handed it off to Hischier, who passed to a trailing Graves for the equalizer.

The Flames took a too many men on the ice call for the 3rd Devils power play. The Devils did not record a shot on the power play.

On a Flames turnover, McLeod set up Mercer for a great one time chance but he missed the net.

Backlund crossed checked Smith next to the Devils net with no call.

Vanecek made a save on Toffoli and stuck the leg out to stop Lindholm from putting in the rebound

The Devils got another power play as McLeod got taken down with him and Boqvist on a 2 on 2.

Hamilton opted for a shot that missed the net with Zetterlund wide open on the left side. Off the next faceoff he did set up Zetterlund and the one timer was blocked. Hughes was then taken down by Pickles entered the zone and the Devils got a 5 on 3. Lindholm won the faceoff and then the Flames, with 3 men compared for 5 for the Devils, double teamed a Devil in the corner and cleared the puck. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, as Hamilton walked in and fired a wrister short side to give their Devils their first lead of the game.

The Devils took a penalty with the Flames trying to put pressure on the Devils, Graves off for interference against Kadri.

Shorthanded, in the dying seconds of the period, the Devils had an odd man rush, but Markstrom made the save on Siegenthaler’s shot.

3rd Period

The Devils killed off the rest of the Graves penalty. Wood self-passed and beat out the icing, flipping a puck on net from the corner for an offensive zone faceoff.

The 4th line had a good shift and forced Markstrom to make a couple saves.

Wood took a penalty with 15:07 left in he 3rd, holding Mangiapane.

Toffoli tied the game on the power play with a shot top corner from the left circle.

Hamilton set up Sharangovich alone in front but he couldn’t handle the pass.

McLeod had a rush shot, but it was low and easily handled by Markstrom.

Sharangovich was set up for a one timer at the right circle but he fanned on the chance

Calgary had a great shift with a couple of great chances but Vanecek shut the door.

Hamilton fed Hischier for a breakaway and he ripped a shot 5 hole past Markstrom to give the Devils a 3-2 lead.

With 40 seconds left and an empty net, Kadri missed the net aiming far side. A few seconds later, the puck bounced up in the air near the net and Vanecek gloved it out of the air to stop play. The Flames used their timeout.

The Devils iced the puck with 6 seconds left and they kept the puck out for the final seconds, winning 3-2 and extending the win streak to 7 games.

Final Thoughts

This was finally a game where the Devils lost the deserve-to-win-o meter and still won. Us Devils fans are very used to it being the other way around.

The second period was a good bounce back from a crappy first period and it showed that this team won’t fail to show up for an entire game like years past.

My only big complaint about this game is the power play. Once again, the power play was pretty bad. The penalty kill went 2 for 4, but it’s been very good so far and you can’t win that battle every night. The power play should have some good puck movement and high danger chances almost every time, but that wasn’t there again for this team. They got lucky to get a 5 on 3, which they tied the game on, but 5 on 3s don’t come very often. The 5v4 power play doesn’t score many goals and often kills momentum for the Devils, and that needs to change. They don’t need to be top of the league, or even top 10 in power play, but you don’t want to see them at 20% when 10 teams are at or above 25%. But honestly, my issue is less with the conversion and more with the momentum killing. The Devils are great 5v5 and 4v5, they don’t need to excel at everything. But it sucks to see 5v5 momentum disappear following a crappy power play.

Overall, Vanecek probably won this game with 33 saves on 35 shots. The Devils were outshot 35-20 in this game. I think they’ll bounce back with the shots. Calgary is a good team and the Devils had to come back down to Earth after outshooting opponents nearly 2 to 1 in the first few games. The next three games are against the Senators, Coyotes, and Canadiens. The Devils should certainly take 2 games there, and we might see another 40 shot game in one of them.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thank you for reading.