On Friday, Oct. 24, the New Jersey Devils hosted the San Jose Sharks for their first meeting of the season. The Devils were on a six-game win streak, while the Sharks won their first game of the season the night prior in Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. It was the Devils who kept their win streak alive with a 3-1 victory over the Sharks.
Game Recap
Just 1:11 into the game, Nico Hischier headed to the box for tripping Jeff Skinner. While the Devils tried to steal the puck away from San Jose in the Sharks’ zone, Macklin Celebrini stole the puck back from the Devils. He passed it up to William Eklund, whose shot netted the first goal of the game.
Five minutes later, Philipp Kurashev put the puck past Jake Allen. However, the call was immediately waved off due to a high-stick.
With less than a minute in the first period, Dmitry Orlov took a seat for tripping Timo Meier. Although the Devils couldn’t capitalize on their power play opportunity in the first period, they did in the first few seconds of the second period. Hischier took a shot towards the net, but he couldn’t make it through the traffic in front. Dawson Mercer picked up the loose puck and passed it back to Dougie Hamilton behind him. He took a shot and scored the first goal of the night for the Devils.
A minute later, Jeff Skinner took a shot off of Alex Wennberg’s rebound to give the Sharks the lead. The Devils challenged for offsides. It was deemed that the play was in fact offsides and the score remained tied at one.
Seven minutes into the second, Jeff Skinner took a seat for tripping Paul Cotter and the Devils went back on the power play. With just seconds remaining, they sprung into action. Jack Hughes skated the puck around the net and passed it to Hamilton. He immediately took a shot to score his second of the night.
Although the Devils committed two penalties, the Sharks couldn’t score on either. The Sharks pulled Yaroslav Askarov from the net to try to bring the game back. Instead, Connor Brown scored on the empty net to ensure the Devils’ victory.
Next Up
Both teams will play again on Sunday, Oct. 26. The Devils will have one more game at home, where they will host the Colorado Avalanche. The Sharks will start making their way back west, but they will make a quick stop in Minnesota to take on the Wild.
