Missed Chances Doom Devils By Matt Blittner, The New York Extra/TheNYExtra.com
No Power-Play, No Problem. Right? Um…wrong. The Devils haven’t scored a power-play goal during their last 30 power-play opportunities. It’d be nice if they made the opposition pay for taking a penalty. After all, it’s not like New Jersey isn’t trying. All NHL teams go through protracted droughts during the course of a season. But the Devils haven’t gone through something like this since their 0-for-36 stretch that encompassed the 13-games they played between November 29, 2002 and December 23, 2002. During this current power-less stretch, New Jersey is just 3-5-2. On the bright side, they’re 3-1-1 in their last five, so their power-play troubles haven’t been as crippling as one might think they’d be.
On Thursday night, in Newark, the Devils hosted the Sabres for the second time this season (the third overall meeting between the teams). But, when the final horn sounded, the Devils found themselves on the losing end of the 5-2 game. As for the power-play, the drought entered the night at 0-for-25 and after an 0-for-5 performance, is now at 0-for-30.
Now, here’s how the game went down.
1) Andrew Hammond – The Goalie Formerly Known As The Hamburgler – started in net for the Devils and he had some momentum on his side. In his previous start – against Vegas – he secured his first win as a member of the Devils. Opposing him, in Buffalo’s net, was his one-time teammate in Ottawa, Craig Anderson. On this night, it was a 29-save performance by Anderson that won the night.
2) The big story for the Sabres was the presence of defenseman Owen Power, who was playing in his fifth career NHL game after being drafted first overall last summer. The former University of Michigan standout entered the night with a single assist in his four contests and a minus-two rating. Against the Devils, he scored his first career NHL goal and was a plus-three on the night during his 22:21 of ice time.
3) While not nearly as hyped as Power, New Jersey countered Buffalo’s youth with an NHL debut of their own. Defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk was called up from Utica prior to the game and was given the solo “Rookie Lap” at the start of warmups. After a 12-point (3-G, 9-A) season in the AHL, Okhotiuk had a couple of nice shot blocks and also recorded his first career NHL goal in 15:54 of ice time.
4) A Kyle Okposo holding penalty against P.K. Subban with 16:20 gone in the first period gave the Devils an opportunity to not only score the first goal of the game, but to also break their power-play jinx. Unfortunately, none of their four shots on the power-play beat Anderson so the game remained tied 0-0.
5) Early in the second period Dawson Mercer had arguably the Devils’ best scoring chance at the side of the net. Why is it not the best scoring chance? Well, Craig Anderson robbed him with his glove to preserve the 0-0 tie.
6) Skipping along to the 9:08 mark of the middle period, Rasmus Dahlin was sent to the box for tripping Andreas Johnsson in Buffalo’s zone. Before New Jersey could settle into its power-play, Dougie Hamilton was called for slashing Dylan Cozens to negate the rest of the Devils’ man-advantage. The teams were supposed to skate four-aside for 1:31 but with 12-seconds to go in the four-on-four, Casey Mittelstadt received two-minutes for hooking Ryan Graves to overcrowd the penalty box.
7) 57-seconds after Mittelstadt went to the box Kyle Okposo whipped a shot from the blue line that surprised Hammond. The puck found the back of the net for the short-handed goal to give the Sabres the 1-0 lead at 11:53 of the second period. And 47-seconds after Okposo scored, Alex Tuch scored short-handed as the trailer by backhanding the puck towards Hammond’s skates and into the net for the 2-0 Sabres lead.
“We did it to ourselves,” said Damon Severson. “Short-handed goals are killers…Those are ones that hurt for sure and that just kind of started the whole ball rolling in the wrong way for us.”
8) The penalty-festival continued 2:30 after Tuch’s goal as Henri Jokiharju slashed Damon Severson to give the Devils their fifth power-play of the game. And two-minutes later, when the penalty expired, the Devils were 0-for-5 in the game on the power-play and 0-for-30 in their last 11-games.
9) Rasmus Dahlin poured salt on New Jersey’s wounds by scoring Buffalo’s third-goal of the period at the 17:58 mark of the frame. 3-0 Sabres.
10) Then, with the final seconds of the middle period draining off the clock, Michael McLeod sped down the near wall and sent the puck towards the front of Buffalo’s net. A brief battle for the puck ensued and Jesper Boqvist poked it home with 7.2 seconds left on the clock to bring the Devils within 3-1.
11) 4:59 into the third period a broken play in Buffalo’s zone led to a couple of nice passes by the Devils. Then, in a flash, Nikita Okhotiuk scored on a sharp angle shot to bring the Devils within 3-2. It was his first NHL goal.
“I was dreaming about it (his first NHL goal) since I was a kid,” said Okhotiuk. “Since I started playing hockey. It’s awesome.”
“I was super excited,” Okhotiuk said about being called up for the game. “I just told myself, ‘don’t be nervous. Just be ready to play.’… I called my fiancé first and then I called my dad.”
12) Not one to be outdone, Owen Power told Okhotiuk to figuratively “hold his beer” as he too scored his first NHL goal – 3:34 after Okhotiuk’s. This allowed Buffalo to regain its two-goal lead.
13) Jeff Skinner salted away the game with a goal 7:30 after Power’s to give the Sabres their 5-2 margin of victory.
GAME NOTES
New Jersey’s power-play went 0-for-5 on the night. Meanwhile the Devils went 1-for-1 on the penalty-kill…Nico Hischier led all Devils forwards in ice time at 21:22…Dougie Hamilton led all New Jersey defensemen in ice time at 20:27…Nikita Okhotiuk made his NHL debut for the Devils and played 15:54 while scoring his first career NHL goal…Jesper Boqvist’s second period goal was his third straight game finding the back of the net.
