On January 3, the New Jersey Devils hosted the Utah Mammoth for their Mascot Madness game. The Devils once again conquered the Mammoth, this time in a 4-1 victory.
Pretty early on, the Devils took the upper hand with shots on goal and Utah’s goalie Karel Vejmelka struggling to keep his crease empty. Not long into the game, Jesper Bratt smoothly wrapped around the net and tipped in the puck, giving the Devils an initial 1-0 lead (assisted by Brett Pesce and Jack Hughes). Not long after, Timo Meier delivered a clean wrist shot, extending the Devils’ lead to 2-0 (assisted by Dawson Mercer and Pesce). Before the end of the period, Luke Hughes drew a minor penalty for slashing against Nick Schmaltz.
Heading into the second period, the Mammoth got slightly tangled up with penalties, accumulating a total of three minors across the period. Dylan Guenther earned the first with a slash on Cody Glass, followed by Nick Schmaltz with tripping against Ondrej Palat. Only a minute after, Mikhail Sergachev shot the puck over the glass, earning a delay of game, and gave the Devils a 5-on-3 power play.
Taking advantage of the two extra men, Jack Hughes ripped a slapshot which deflected off teammate Nico Hischier and into the goal, now giving the Devils a 3-0 lead (assisted by Bratt). If that wasn’t enough, Dougie Hamilton came flying into the offensive zone to sneak another past Vejmelka (assisted by Luke Glendening), and ending the period 4-0 and confident going into the third.
The third period started slowly, yet about 10 minutes in, Stefan Noesen was penalized for slashing against Michael Carcone. Shortly after, Carcone answered back with a wrist shot, finally putting Mammoth on the board (assisted by Barrett Hayton and Sean Durzi). Despite this, Utah struggled to follow up and get even during the remainder of the period, with a few shots on goal, yet none made it past Devils’ goalie Jacob Markstrom.
Near the end of the period, it was clear the Devils were going to secure the win. With Markstrom effectively steering pucks clear of the net (30 saves and a .968 save percentage), along with the Devil defensemen keeping play out of their zone, the game fell into the hands of the forwards, who capitalized on the opportunity with four goals. The singular goal scored by Utah was no match for the Devils, and the game ultimately ended in a 4-1 victory.
The Devils are currently sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 10th overall in the Eastern Conference. After losing to them just this past month, the team now looks ahead to conquer the New York Islanders, away on Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
