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The Devils continue their four-game road trip with a third stop in St. Louis Thursday night. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on the Devils Hockey Network, including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com. Puck drop is 9:08 p.m. ET.
Here are some observations from the game...
- The Devils won this game in spectacular fashion. With time running out, they had the puck in the offensive zone. Ondrej Pala pulled up at the right circle to find Michael McLeod trailing with speed. He made a nice juke move to get around a defender and then threw the puck toward the crease, where it was re-directed in by Graves.
McLeod created the scoring sequence with that nice move and then smartly threw the puck at the crease with a couple teammates driving to the net.
"That was a good pass by Pally pulling up there. I just made a quick move and wanted to get it to get it to the net," McLeod said. "A couple guys were there. Gravy made a great finish."
Graves pinched hard on the play knowing that time was winding down and couldn't even see the play develop until the puck came through the crowd and at his feet.
"You have an idea of how much time is left when you step on the ice," Graves said. "You have an idea that it's getting low so you can take the risk of getting down there. Normally, I would not be there but with that amount of time I was just driving on a hope play. I couldn't even see Mikey down low. I just saw it pop through a hole. It was a nice play by him."
- The Devils got on the board first with a goal from forward Yegor Sharangovich. It was his first goal in the past five games. He received a nice pass from Fabian Zetterlund across the high slot, settled the puck and then went 5-hole on goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. It wasn't the prettiest of shots, but it found a way.
- The Devils surrendered a goal with 1.3 seconds remaining in the first period (Johnny Gaudreau, power play), but got it right back seven seconds into the second period with a goal from Jesper Bratt. Nico Hischier won the opening faceoff. The Devils went D-to-D while Bratt saw a wide gap for the Jackets blueliners. John Marino, seeing Bratt exploding to the gap, made a great pass onto his tape to allow him to split the D and go in for a breakaway. Bratt few dekes before pulling the puck around the prone Merzlikins.
"It's a play that we've been working on," Bratt said. "Me and Johnny pulled it off in Edmonton too when there was just a couple seconds left in the game. Sometimes you want to surprise the other team a little bit and put them on their heels. It worked out this time."
- Bratt's goal at seven seconds of the second period tied a franchise record for fastest goal to start a period (Veli-Pekka Ketola, Feb. 16, 1982, Colorado at Montreal).
- The game featured a matchup of the Brothers Boqvist. New Jersey's Jesper and Columbus' Adam haven't faced each other since Jan. 6, 2021. Adam picked up first goal of the season in the contest to tie the game at 2-2. Jesper went scoreless, but did have a breakaway opportunity, though he was under pressure and could only muster a one-arm push shot on goal. But most importantly was the final, which went to older brother Jesper.
- It didn't take long for John Marino to be reunited with his former defensive partner Ryan Graves. In fact, even though he took morking skate and warmup rushes with Damon Severson, he started the game and played it entirely with Graves (a little Devils pre-game deception?). Marino's absence was felt during his 17-game upper-body injury.
During a PK, Marino carried the puck down the right side. He sensed Erik Haula trailing the play and instead of attempting a bad angle shot, he fed a perfect pass through several bodies onto the tape of Haula. It's often the simple plays throughout the game, but Marino time and time again makes the right decision and read.
"I think his game is coming. He played a strong game tonight," Ruff said. "Moved the puck well. Joined (the rush)."
