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A Night of Nicos
| POST GAME REPORT
Post-Game Player Interviews:
Daws
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Hischier
Head Coach Lindy Ruff Post-Game
WHAT'S NEXT
The Devils finish their season-opening homestand against the Calgary Flames next Tuesday. The game can be seen on MSG+ and heard on the Devils Hockey Network, including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com. Puck drop is 7:08 p.m. ET.
Tickets are still available. Click here to purchase.
Here are some observations from the game...
- Nico Hischier had a long talk with head coach Lindy Ruff about needing to play better, particularly in the absence of star center Jack Hughes. "Believe me, nobody is harder on Nico than Nico," Ruff said the morning of the game.
Hischier answered the bell in the third period with his team trailing 1-0. Dougie Hamilton riffled a shot from the point during a Devils' power play that missed the net and ricocheted off the endboards. Hischier, providing the net-front, was at the goal line and swatted the puck out of the air toward the net from a bad angle. A fortunate carom angled the puck into the net and tied the game.
It was a gutsy effort in the game as Hischier was pained late in the second period and left in the final minutes for the locker room. He returned for the third to finish out the game, and luckily so for his teammates as he would provide the game-tying tally.
- What a night for rookie goaltender Nico Daws. Not only did he make his NHL debut at the tender age of 20, but he was absolutely magnificent in the contest.
Daws made his first career save 84 seconds into the game on a Tage Thompson shot. He would follow that with a couple marvelous stops. On one he stopped Kyle Okposo and had to slide laterally across his entire crease to eat up a Drake Caggiula shot from the circle. He denied Caggiula on a breakaway in the second period, and also made clutch stops from slot shots by Dylan Cozens and Arttu Ruotsalainen. On those slot shot, he was square, in perfect position and looked big.
"I never felt uncomfortable at all," Daws said. "Obviously nerves in the first couple minutes of the game, legs were a little bit shaky. That's to be expected, first NHL game, it was a big crowd. After I got a few shots and a couple saves, I really calmed down."
He was poised, calm and in control. It was one heck of a debut for the rook.
- If any singular sequence encapsulates this evening's start for New Jersey, it was one in the second period. With goaltender Dustin Tokarski down and out on the ice, the Devils had nearly an entire cage at which to shoot. First, Marián Studenič hit the post after making a nice play to drive to the net. With Tokarski still down, Yegor Sharangovich collected the puck. Again he had a lot of net at which to shoot, and again it went off the post.
That's the kind of start it was for New Jersey.
- The Devils took a risk in the first period. After it appeared Hischier scored on a loose puck at the goal line during a delayed penalty against Buffalo, the referees waved it off due to goaltender interference. Though a power play was forthcoming for New Jersey, the team's coaches challenged the play hoping the refs would overturn the call for a goal. Unfortunately, the play stood and the Devils' power play was negated on the failed challenge.
