Dawson Mercer saw Brady Skjei barreling towards him and elected to make the type of play his New Jersey Devils appeared unwilling to make through two blowout losses to the Hurricanes in Carolina.
With the puck on his stick, and with his time and space in his own zone about to be stolen away by Skjei, Mercer flipped the puck out up the ice and briefly surrendered possession.
From there, Jack Hughes won a race and regained it, played pitch and catch with Brendan Smith and gave the Devils a 2-0 lead in the first period of Game 3 at Prudential Centre.
They led 4-0 less than a minute into the second period, doubling their output through the first two games in just 21 minutes of the third game, and they did because of plays like Mercer’s. Simple, smart, efficient plays. Playoff plays. Plays they didn’t have to make all too often to earn 112 points in the regular-season standings, or even to beat the New York Rangers in a flashy first-round matchup.
But they’re plays the Devils absolutely have to continue making to survive the Hurricanes in this second round.
This Carolina team proved through the regular season, through an impressive first-round win over the New York Islanders, and through the opening two games of this series, that they will demolish any team that tries to finesse its way through their hyper-aggressive forecheck.
The Devils avoiding that trap was the first key to their success in Game 3.
Timo Meier finally scoring his first goal on his 33rd shot of the playoffs certainly helped. As did getting goals from New Jersey’s best players in Hughes and Nico Hischier.
But it’s how those goals were scored that enabled the Devils to not only beat the Hurricanes in this game but to also assert themselves in a series they appeared destined to be blown out of.
On Meier’s game-opening goal, the Devils pushed the puck behind Carolina’s stalwart defence and went to work behind the goal line, with Hughes beating both Skjei and Game 2 hero Jesperi Kotkaniemi in a battle to feed Meier the puck.
He wrapped it around and scored on Frederik Andersen just 5:58 into the game.
Less than two minutes after Hughes capitalized on Mercer’s simple play to make it 2-0, Michael McLoed chipped the puck past Brent Burns, raced up the ice and beat Seth Jarvis to the net before sliding the puck through Andersen to make it 3-0 Devils.
This Carolina team proved through the regular season, through an impressive first-round win over the New York Islanders, and through the opening two games of this series, that they will demolish any team that tries to finesse its way through their hyper-aggressive forecheck.
The Devils avoiding that trap was the first key to their success in Game 3.
Timo Meier finally scoring his first goal on his 33rd shot of the playoffs certainly helped. As did getting goals from New Jersey’s best players in Hughes and Nico Hischier.
But it’s how those goals were scored that enabled the Devils to not only beat the Hurricanes in this game but to also assert themselves in a series they appeared destined to be blown out of.
On Meier’s game-opening goal, the Devils pushed the puck behind Carolina’s stalwart defence and went to work behind the goal line, with Hughes beating both Skjei and Game 2 hero Jesperi Kotkaniemi in a battle to feed Meier the puck.
He wrapped it around and scored on Frederik Andersen just 5:58 into the game.
Less than two minutes after Hughes capitalized on Mercer’s simple play to make it 2-0, Michael McLoed chipped the puck past Brent Burns, raced up the ice and beat Seth Jarvis to the net before sliding the puck through Andersen to make it 3-0 Devils.
That opened up the floodgates for them, and then they got to play the game the way they typically like to play it in order to widen their lead to 8-4 in the third period, with goals from Miles Wood, Hughes and Ondrej Palat scored on pretty passing—and power and rush—plays.
At the other end, Vitek Vanecek stood taller than he had in New Jersey’s net through his first five appearances of the playoffs.
He’ll have to be even better in Tuesday’s Game 4.
So will the Devils.
They started this game with the right approach, with their most effective and direct line of McLoed, Wood and Nathan Bastian setting the tone on a grinding shift.
Coach Lindy Ruff pressed the right buttons—inserting Luke Hughes and Smith as two of seven defencemen and opening up more ice-time for Jack Hughes, Hischier and New Jersey’s best offensive weapons by dressing just 11 forwards—and he got his team to play the type of game it had to play to get a foothold in this series.
But the Devils won’t take a step forward if they don’t continue to play that simple, hard-nosed style.
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