EDMONTON — On the night they put the steady, consistent Lee Fogolin and the persistent, tenacious Ryan Smyth into the Edmonton Oilers Hall of Fame, it was the New Jersey Devils who used all of the above to take home the two points.
The speedy, entertaining and opportunistic Devils scored twice in seven seconds and three times in the third period, erasing a 3-1 Oilers lead Thursday and snapping Edmonton’s five-game winning streak like an old wooden Koho on a cold Alberta day.
“I definitely feel we should have won. I definitely feel like we created enough chances,” said Connor McDavid, who scored his 12th goal in Game 11 and added a helper for his 24th point. “We probably gave up too many chances, but I thought (goalie Stuart Skinner) gave us a great chance to win.
“You have a team on the ropes ... and you’ve got to put them down. You have to find a way to close that one out.”
In the grand scheme, this 4-3 loss will provide a touchpoint for third-period leads down the road. In the short term, it was simply a case of a Devils team that has found itself, reeling off its fifth straight win in impressive fashion.
They fell behind Edmonton 3-1 after two periods, and the Oilers had laid claim to this game. But the Devils are into the details, and they took this game back with a smart, structured and sneaky game plan — including the game-winner off a nice set play that caught Edmonton sleeping.
“We talked about it after the second period, that good teams have to be able to come back when they’re down,” said Devils head coach Lindy Ruff. “We were going to have to put a little bit more gamble in our game. That was just two fast teams playing incredibly fast hockey.”
Amen to that.
We can’t remember the last time we enjoyed watching a New Jersey Devils team play this much, and that includes their Stanley Cup years, when head coach Jacques Lemaire iced a winner but slowed the game down to a defensive slog.
These new-age Devils are quick and tenacious, and they prey on your mistakes. They hold you accountable to making clean, crisp passes, lest the puck is going to be heading the other direction at warp speed.
They are still a tad small, and in need of experience and perhaps goaltending. But these Devils are a high-powered threat, and every bit as much of a treat to watch play.
“They are coming and they are playing fast,” agreed Oilers defenceman Tyson Barrie. “They have a lot of good players and skill, and they play hard. They go to the net hard. It seems like they were down there the whole game.”
The shots on goal were 43-37 for the Devils. Add in blocked shots and missed nets and the teams were at 129 volleys toward each other’s goals.
Mackenzie Blackwood left the game with an injury (no update), and Vitek Vanecek allowed a power-play goal on the first shot he faced. He would not surrender another.
Meanwhile, Skinner was fantastic in Edmonton’s goal, and had his team looking good with 3:30 to play and a 3-2 lead.
Then one dribbled through his pads in traffic, and the teams lined up at centre ice to contest the final 3:15 of a freshly tied hockey game. A faceoff win by Nico Hischier, a sharp pass on the tape by John Marino, and a breakaway snipe by Jesper Bratt, and the Devils had a lead they’d never give up.
“They got that one that just snuck through, but it’s still a tight game. (Bratt’s winner) was just off the face-off, a nice chance that went post and in. It was a good shot,” said Skinner. “As a goalie, you’ve got to be able to shake off goals right away. Just being mentally prepared for the next play — it's all always about the next play.”
Still, you give up a goal and face a breakaway seven seconds later? That’s on the team more than it is on the goaltender, in these books.
“It's my job,” Skinner stressed. “I mean, I’ve got to be able to make as many saves as I can, and it's my job to make that save — especially in a 3-3 game. It was a nice shot, post and in. But I’ve got work to do, and I can make that save.”
The coach wasn’t pleased, of course. His team had two points with 3:15 to play, and went home with none.
“There are some things we have to clean up,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We have to clean up some of our puck decisions and we gave up two face-off goals. That can’t happen.”
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