2023020387
[NHL.com Boxscore](https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/2023020387)
|Teams|1st|2nd|3rd|Total|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|[NJD](/r/devils)|4|1|1|6|
|[VAN](/r/canucks)|2|0|3|5|
##Team Stats
|Team|Shots|Hits|Blocks|FOW%|Giveaways|Takeaways|Power Play|PIM|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|[NJD](/r/devils)|32|24|6|55.7%|8|3|1/2|8|
|[VAN](/r/canucks)|33|33|14|44.3%|11|5|1/4|4|
##Goals
|Period|Time|Team|Strength|Description|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|1st|03:40|[NJD](/r/devils)|Even|[Jesper Bratt (9) wrist shot, assist(s): Jonas Siegenthaler (5)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342431937112)|
|1st|08:24|[VAN](/r/canucks)|Power Play|[J.T. Miller (14) wrist shot, assist(s): Brock Boeser (12), Elias Pettersson (23)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342432816112)|
|1st|09:51|[NJD](/r/devils)|Even|[Erik Haula (7) wrist shot, assist(s): Jack Hughes (22)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342434285112)|
|1st|17:06|[NJD](/r/devils)|Even|[Jack Hughes (10) backhand shot, assist(s): Kevin Bahl (4)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342434988112)|
|1st|18:42|[NJD](/r/devils)|Even|[Michael McLeod (5) wrist shot, assist(s): Nathan Bastian (2), Curtis Lazar (4)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342434694112)|
|1st|19:40|[VAN](/r/canucks)|Even|[Dakota Joshua (4) wrist shot, assist(s): Conor Garland (6), Teddy Blueger (2)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342434317112)|
|2nd|19:26|[NJD](/r/devils)|Power Play|[Luke Hughes (4) wrist shot, assist(s): Jack Hughes (23)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342439440112)|
|3rd|07:02|[VAN](/r/canucks)|Even|[Brock Boeser (18) backhand shot, assist(s): J.T. Miller (24)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6342443118112)|
|3rd|13:58|[VAN](/r/canucks)|Even|Sam Lafferty (7) tip-in shot, assist(s): Quinn Hughes (26), Elias Pettersson (24)|
|3rd|16:34|[VAN](/r/canucks)|Even|Nils Hoglander (8) wrist shot, assist(s): Quinn Hughes (27), Brock Boeser (13)|
|3rd|19:25|[NJD](/r/devils)|Even|Jesper Bratt (10) wrist shot, assist(s): None|
##Penalties
|Period|Time|Team|Type|Min|Description|
|:–:|:–:|:-:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|1st|07:56|[NJD](/r/devils)|MIN|2|Colin Miller tripping against Dakota Joshua|
|1st|11:55|[NJD](/r/devils)|MIN|2|Erik Haula high-sticking against Nikita Zadorov|
|2nd|12:36|[VAN](/r/canucks)|BEN|2|too-many-men-on-the-ice served by Conor Garland|
|2nd|15:55|[NJD](/r/devils)|MIN|2|John Marino interference against Linus Karlsson|
|2nd|19:15|[VAN](/r/canucks)|MIN|2|Dakota Joshua tripping against Luke Hughes|
|3rd|01:37|[NJD](/r/devils)|MIN|2|Erik Haula tripping against J.T. Miller|
**Officials**
* Referees: Wes McCauley, TJ Luxmore
* Linesmen: Kyle Flemington, Mitch Hunt
The bot can only be as correct as its sources, the sources it uses are linked below each table. If you notice an error that is not due to an incorrect source or you want to suggest a source [click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=TeroTheTerror&subject=HockeyMod Issue&message=Subreddit:%0A%0AIssue:) to message TeroTheTerror.
by HockeyMod
36 Comments
If you’re not going to make a trade, take a flyer on Halak. He’d instantly be the best goaltender on the roster.
Fitz should be sitting in the back seat of Demko’s car when he gets in to drive home tonight. Demand a trade and you get to keep both kneecaps.
Good that they won but they got away with one here. Its like they just go on autopilot at points and lose it. VV not playing great obviously but didn’t think he was too bad today. Also, Timo needs to really step up. Nowhere near good enough
It’s amazing that Vitek was generally bad in the second half and playoffs and we just thought he’d be like Adin Hill and ran it back instead of pursuing a true goalie. I am genuinely very sad at this massive oversight because it may hurt for years to come. We need a goalie.
Everyone schedule ya drs appts for next year and when they ask about your high blood pressure just say devils hockey
This game brought to you by bad goaltending and bad coaching, like every other game this season.
4points out of 2nd in the metro. The house is not on fire just yet
I hate saying this right after signing an 8 year deal but if it’d take timo going the other way for a goalie I’d do it in a heartbeat
Honestly wonder if we could do a goalie swap with Edmonton. They would need us to retain salary on VV so we’d get an asset from them too. But Skinner is young and has a lot of potential, maybe him and VV need a change of scenery and both teams could benefit
I really want Timo to be so damn good for us. But $15 million dollars on him and Palat right now is ROUGH. I’ll never root against one of our players though and we absolutely need Meier to find his form.
Two points are better than none and I love me some hard fought game winners, but holy hell this team is pretty awful. Ass end of the net consistently left open, constant blown assignments no matter who’s on the ice, and players clearly not responding to coaching
With the amount of money we’re banking from Dougie on LTIR, we should be able to afford a goalie and a defenseman. Just need to stay in the race long enough for teams to start dealing off their expiring contracts.
“Errrrm actually tronvin, Hellebuyck maybe bad in 5 years from now and that’s why we can’t pursue him now.”
I don’t care about 5 years from now, and being cute and savvy lead to us having the worst goalie in the NHL. Routine Vezina caliber goalies don’t come around often and we were like “nah.”
I will never not be over this. I’m sorry. You can deal with my rants.
Not-so-fun fact: The Devils have blown a 3 goal lead in the last 2 games against the Canucks.
The good news? They won both games, at least.
Please. PLEASE. Have a game where the other team scores no more than 2.
That’s an incredible win, but the offense can’t be expected to score 4, 5 or 6+ goals every single night. Tom Fitzgerald needs to be making a move for a goalie immediately. Vanecek is a shell of his former self, and his rebound control nearly cost them another game. He’s arguably the worst goalie in the league, backups included. Not going hard after Hellebuyck was a massive mistake in the offseason. Anyone with eyes could see goaltending was the only thing that could prevent this team from being a Cup contender.
Looking at both teams’ post game threads is so fucking funny dude
“Fuck Myers/Meier, but thank god for Hughes”
Glad they got the win, but not glad they shit the bed in the third like they did.
Vitek needs to go away. He is a liability. He did okay until he almost cost them a win. His movement and rebound control are god awful. Sportsnet was ripping him a lot to start the game. Mercer at center is god awful. He was our worst forward tonight according to game score.
I’m hoping Meier is hurt because he looks atrocious as well, and him with Mercer was just rough to watch, though I’m willing to give him some time since he was hurt and is a notoriously slow starter.
Tom needs to figure out the goalie situation and if he can grab another d man.
“We can’t be expected to score 6 goals every game.” I can and I will, thank you.
What a game
You can’t actually overstate how bad the goaltending is. The rebounds tonight…amazing to get a regulation W while Vitek shit down his leg.
Hey jack what do you want to cleanup in the game
Jack: The goals- tending their jack I fixed your answer
Vitek’s performance tonight should quiet down the D vs G arguments. Legit can’t even feel safe with a 3 goal lead going into the 3rd.
FIVE HUGHES POINTS IN A JBITBPITNHL SANDWICH:
* Was it the win we wanted? Nah. Was it the goaltending we wanted? Nah. Was it the defense we wanted to see? Not all of the time. But we fucking did it and we did it in regulation so I’ll fucking take that every day of the week.
* Helluva game. I still can’t believe we won in regulation. That’s insane.
* First PK, I feel like you can kind of almost excuse given that McLeod did not have a stick and then him getting the stick eventually led to the goal against, but very happy with the rest of our PKs throughout the game. Hated that there were so many of them, but glad we got through them pretty well.
* Simon Nemec, another fucking great game, minus a couple of rookie mistakes. Lindy, you make awful decisions all the time, but please keep Nemo in the line up. Please. For the love of Satan.
* They took away Nico’s points on the first Jesp goal and on the Luke goal, but they finally gave him his due on the last Jesp goal.
* You can see real moments of how strong they can be defensively. There were quite a few shifts I saw where they would be standing up the Nucks on the blue line or wouldnt let them get past center ice. Or there would be aggressive forecheck/backcheck and good stick work and body work to get the puck away from the Nucks. So like they clearly know how to do it, but its just about doing it consistently.
* And Vitek. God…you saw like so many good Vitek things and then you saw so many bad Vitek things. Control your rebounds, buddy. The zoom in on his face when he gave up the tying goal in the third says just about everything.
* That was a fun hockey game to watch! Annoying, for sure. I mean the Nuckies are a fucking amazing team this season, so you were expecting them to attack, it was just frustrating that they were able to tie it up. I’m just glad we won! And I’m glad we were ready to go as soon as the puck dropped!
* Goals by three of the four lines, Kevvy with two assists tonight, nice to see us scoring off the rush and having some real good chances off the rush.
* I know this game, especially in the third, did not go how we wanted it to go, but I thought for the first two periods we actually looked real solid.
Anyway, it is absolutely bedtime. Let’s have a better December than we had a November!
Grateful I didn’t stay up til 3am to see them lose by blowing a 3 goal lead in the 3rd
On a work trip in LA…appears I missed quite the game
Just when you want to say something really nice – I thought this team played with structure for stretches of this game and I was impressed – they make it very hard to compliment them. Nico was great tonight. We won the first Hughes Bowl. Quinn was just that powerful, I’m not gonna overthink this one
Ok Ruff, lets be honest here.
Vitek cannot start on thursday. You saw his body language after the win. He knows he was the reason they almost blew it.
Schmid should be playing the majority of the games from here on out. (except not on back to back night!).
Schmid only has 34 starts in the NHL, he can still turn into something. I feel like we saw Vitek’s ceiling last year.
Everybody saying “I don’t feel good at all”…just remember the 4-0 loss to the Wings. We have some damn big issues, but let’s not lose perspective.
Vitek sucks, schmiid sucks a bit less, ruff isnt a good coach and we’re missing dougie.
Lol this game was chaos and I loved it
Defense/goaltending whatever I think Lindy needs to start making sure the defense is sound from everyone. The pressers where he is saying its
Individual choices and mistakes…ok how do we see results?
And timo doesn’t seem to have a defined role and likely needs to develop some chemistry. I appreciate the choice of him/mercer/holtz but it didn’t click. Holtz is still looking great out there though
Nemec had a couple noticeable lapses but has been a pleasant surprise.
Love that is was their goalie that gave up that juicy rebound after the Couv broadcast couldn’t keep rebound and VVs name out their mouth. I mean he did give up a lot of rebounds, but not the rebound that lost the game.
6 Hughes points tonight 3 for JH, 1 for LH and 2 for QH. We needed the extra Hughes Brother Advantage tonight.
proper banger game
2nd to last in goals allowed per game behind only the sharks is crazy. Please devils stop