Devils End 2024 with Loss to Ducks | GAME STORY

ANAHEIM, CA - Lukas Dostal made 30 saves on Tuesday night for the Anaheim Ducks to hand the Devils a 3-2 loss to close out the year 2024.

Despite coming out strong and with energy in the first period, the Devils second period performance changed the momentum of the game.

"We didn’t play hard enough, we didn’t move our legs," Jonas Siegenthaler, who scored the Devils' opening goal said. "We didn’t play physical, at all. I think that was a big part of tonight, we just skated by a little bit and tried to make the play if it wasn’t there. Or the pass got broken up, we just skated by. We know how to play the right way and I think today wasn’t the right way.”

It took 10:05 in the first period for Anaheim to register their first shot of the game and it would also be the game's first goal. The Devils were down 1-0 after Troy Terry benefited from a puck squeaking loose off a hard Ducks forecheck below the goal line. The puck landed on Ducks leading-scorer's stick, whose wrist shot beat Jacob Markstrom.

Robby Fabbri doubled the Anaheim lead early in the third period before Siegenthaler finally broke through Dostal on the Devils 26th shot of the night to cut Anaheim's lead to 2-1. Siegenthaler's unassisted goal came less than two minutes after Fabbri's. Timo Meier tied the game at two at 13:20 of the third, but the tie game would last only until 16:26 when Ryan Strome's slap shot beat Markstrom for the 3-2 lead and game-winning goal.

“I just thought we didn’t work," head coach Sheldon Keefe said of his teams second period. "We didn’t play with any real purpose or structure. You could say the penalties kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit quite a bit and gave them life and momentum, but we should be able to find that back. I thought we had a little bit of a pushback in the third in terms of our work ethic and winning some pucks and staying on offense a little more.

"But the chances we gave up were completely egregious," he continued. "You have no chance to win in the NHL playing like that. It was disgraceful."

“The second period we just took it for granted, I would say," Siegenthaler said. "We didn’t compete enough, we were just floating around and I think third, we came back a little stronger, scored a couple and then we got scored on again and gave the 2-2 away. It shouldn’t happen. It’s game management.”

Sheldon Keefe was complimentary only of his goaltender, Markstrom, who came up with some incredible saves to keep the game from getting out of hand.

"Marky was great," Keefe said. "He deserved two points here today and he should be very upset with his teammates tonight.”

Just as 2024 comes to a close, the Devils quickly open 2025 with a game on New Year's Day, tomorrow, against the L.A. Kings.

Here are some observations from the game:

• The Devils held the Ducks to just five shots on goal in the first period. In the second period, the Ducks were the beneficiaries of multiple powerplays and were able to narrow the shot discrepancy from 15-5 to 21-16, with 11 shots in the second period.

• While the Ducks held the 1-0 lead midway through the first period, the Devils were not short on their opportunities, though they were certainly short on luck. Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton wired clean shots off the crossbar behind Dostal, while Meier also had two separate moments where a rebounded puck skipped over his stick.

• The Devils penalty killers were an important cog in keeping the game close heading into the third period. With the Ducks leading 1-0, just before the halfway mark of the second period, New Jersey got into some penalty trouble. At 8:20, Nico Hischier was called for a hook and a hold on the same play, while Ducks Alex Killorn was called for an elbow on Hischier on the same play. The Hischier penalties began a stretch where the Devils not only had Hischier in the box for four minutes but also, as the Devils captain's first minor expired, Jesper Bratt was called for a tripping penalty.

The Ducks pushed the Devils and managed five shots on Jacob Markstrom, who was superb and integral in bringing the Devils into the third period trailing only by one.

• Hischier entered the game with just two penalty minutes all season and doubled his time in the box on a single play and added two more at the end of the third for six minutes in penalties against the Ducks.

• The Devils have lost consecutive regulation games for the first time since mid-October.

• Dostal has been a thorn in the Devils' side in the three games he’s played against New Jersey. Back in March, Dostal posted a victory against New Jersey, making 52 saves on 55 shots. In his only other appearance against the Devils, in relief, Dostal was a perfect 10-for-10 on shots faced in 20 minutes of play.

• Kurtis MacDermid returned to the Devils lineup, his first game since Dec. 14, at home, against Chicago. Tuesday was MacDermid's 280th career game.