NEWARK, N.J. – The New Jersey Devils were just too fast, too skilled, too deep. Hungry is another word that comes to mind. Relentless is a good one, too.
In their biggest game yet, with a chance to tighten their grasp on a playoff spot, the Penguins were simply outclassed Tuesday against young superstar Jack Hughes and the rising Devils, one of the Metropolitan Division’s top teams.
The Devils raced to a 2-0 lead at Prudential Center and refused to take their foot off the gas. Dawson Mercer recorded a hat trick. And 11 different Devils picked up a point. The final score was 5-1 and could have easily been worse.
The Penguins entered the night in the second wild card spot in the East. But this loss, coupled with a Florida Panthers win, would bump them back out.
The lopsided loss to the Devils, who swept the four-game season series with the Penguins, showed that Pittsburgh can’t match New Jersey’s top gear.
It was all Devils early, as their speedy forwards buzzed around Tristan Jarry. They broke through midway through the first period then tacked on another.
Dougie Hamilton scored their first goal on a point shot that ramped up off of a stick and over the shoulder of Jarry, who was parked back on his goal line.
Then the Penguins fell victim to the NHL’s most dangerous team off the rush. Jeff Petry got caught pinching at the blue line, leading to a 2-on-1. Nico Hischier sent a pass across to Mercer. Jarry, who was one the league’s better goalies against those plays prior to his injury, couldn’t get there in time.
That was one of three odd-man rushes for the Devils in the first period alone. That included the 3-on-1 the Penguins permitted while on their power play.
The Devils scored on a two-man advantage in the second period to push their lead to three. The Penguins put themselves in that position with a hook in the offensive zone by Jason Zucker then Petry’s puck-over-the-glass penalty.
The Devils during that brief 5-on-3 displayed an urgency and attacking mindset rarely seen from the Penguins in those situations. Hughes, the top tempo-setter, sent a brilliant pass through the Penguins to set up Timo Meier’s tally. Pittsburgh’s problematic penalty kill has given up 10 goals in the last 10 games.
The Penguins, heads down and not saying much, already looked dejected in the late stages of the second. Then Mercer scored his second goal with 34 seconds left in the period, whacking in a rebound that Jarry had let leak out.
Jarry should have corralled that long shot by John Marino. And Kris Letang lost a battle against Mercer near the blue paint. But that shift summed up the night for the Penguins, who were continuously a step behind as the Devils worked the puck around the perimeter. The two teams played at different speeds.
Mercer finished off his hat trick in the third period, at the end of a 4-on-1 rush for the Devils. Jarry made the initial save but Mercer followed up in front.
Bryan Rust snapped Vitek Vanecek’s shutout bid 6:14 into the third, redirecting a point shot past Vanecek. The five players on the ice hardly celebrated.
ICE CHIPS
-- Rust has scored in three straight games, netting four goals over that span.
-- Brian Dumoulin briefly went to the dressing room after Michael McLeod of the Devils drilled him behind the Penguins net. Sidney Crosby rushed to Dumoulin’s defense after the ugly hit. McLeod was not penalized, much to the chagrin of coach Mike Sullivan, who voiced his displeasure to the officiating crew.
-- The Penguins started with the same forward lines and defense pairs they used in their previous three games, including Sunday’s win over Philadelphia.
-- Injured forward Nick Bonino and defensemen Marcus Pettersson, Jan Rutta and Dmitry Kulikov skated Tuesday in Newark. Pettersson and Rutta wore non-contact jerseys as they joined the team for the morning skate for the first time since getting injured. Bonino and Kulikov hopped on as the skated ended.
-- Top Penguins goalie prospect Joel Blomqvist has joined Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on an amateur tryout contract for the rest of the season. The 2020 second-round pick recently completed his season in Finland’s top pro league. He went 6-5-8 with a .907 save percentage.
COMING UP
The Penguins have a scheduled day off Wednesday. They will be back on the ice Thursday, when they host another playoff team in the Minnesota Wild.
