'Don't Be Denied' | COLUMN

NEWARK, NJ – The Devils knew the situation. They knew the circumstances. They knew what was on the line.

It was Game 3 of their First Round series against the Carolina Hurricanes. After dropping the opening two games in Carolina, New Jersey was in a proverbial do-or-die in Game 3. If the Devils had lost and trailed 3-0 in the series, it would be all over.

But if the Devils won in Game 3, it would be a whole new series.

Prior to the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe walked around the locker room before the puck dropped. He looked at his team an delivered a message.

“All right fellas, we know what’s required here,” Keefe said. “Let’s be ready to meet that right away. There’s no easing into it. Right after it, right away, establish our game. We know the competitiveness that’s required. We know the pace and the speed that we have to have on the puck. Let’s make sure our first shift we’re establishing that. Everybody’s got a contact early. Everybody’s got a shot early. Get involved. And then no looking back from there. We are on the hunt from start to finish. As long as it takes, we stay with it. Shift to shift, every single time we regroup, go right back out and do it again and again and again. As long as it takes. Our building here. Our game here, fellas. Don’t be denied. Don’t be denied.”

It took a long time, but the Devils would not be denied.

It took 82:36 minutes – the longest game ever played at Prudential Center – before Simon Nemec sealed the win for New Jersey, 3-2, in the second overtime 15 minutes before the clock struck midnight to make this a 2-1 series and give New Jersey a shot of adrenaline.

And looking back at Keefe’s pre-game speech, the Devils heeded their head coach’s words.

“All right fellas, we know what’s required here. Let’s be ready to meet that right away. There’s no easing into it. Right after it, right away, establish our game. We know the competitiveness that’s required. We know the pace and the speed that we have to have on the puck. Let’s make sure our first shift we’re establishing that. Everybody’s got a contact early. Everybody’s got a shot early. Get involved. And then no looking back from there.”

Thirty seconds after the puck dropped, defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic pinched down the right side and threw a puck toward the net. It was bobbled by Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen. As the netminder covered the puck, Devils captain Nico Hischier dropped to his knees and jammed at the puck hoping for some luck.

That set the tone. The Devils came to play. And they showed it early. Four-plus minutes into the opening period and the Devils had a 5-0 lead in shots. It took nine minutes for Carolina to record a shot.

Hischier showed the same tenacity and some speed late in the first period to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.

A perfect breakout from Kovacevic to Ondrej Palat at the halfway in his own zone to Timo Meier on the opposite wall in the neutral zone – a pass that opened up the Hurricanes’ defensive gap and allowed Hischier to blow through the middle – and a pass from Meier to Hischier for a breakaway and finish.

The Devils got the start they wanted. Then it was about sustaining it.

“We are on the hunt from start to finish. As long as it takes, we stay with it. Shift to shift, every single time we regroup, go right back out and do it again and again and again. As long as it takes.”

The Devils took the fight to Carolina. Again and again and again.

The Devils titled the ice in their favor from the opening shift and out-possessed the Hurricanes in the game. The Devils finished the contest with a 37-27 advantage in shots, and 12-3 advantage in the 22:36 minutes of overtime. The Devils started the game on the attack, and they finished the game on the attack.

By the time the first period ended, New Jersey registered 15 hits to the Hurricanes’ 10. Everyone was in on the action. In that first period, Jesper Bratt finished a check on Shayne Gostisbehere in the corner, Dawson Mercer blew up Dmitry Orlov on the wall and Ondrej Palat and Brett Pesce teamed up to sandwich Taylor Hall. The Devils would finish the game with 43 hits. The only player not to register a hit for the Devils was Kovacevic – who was lost after the first period with an injury. The Devils started physical, and they finished physical.

The Devils ended the game with 33 blocked shots, led by six from Pesce and five from Brian Dumoulin. They started the game by getting in the shot lanes and they ended the game by getting in the shot lanes. A total sacrifice of the body.

Unfortunately, the Devils were delivered yet another blow on the blue line by losing Kovacevic after the first period. For the third straight game the Devils had to play with the surviving defensemen logging insane minute totals. In Game 3 it was Dumoulin (36:29), Pesce (32:25), Dougie Hamilton (31:16), Jonas Siegenthaler (27:09), Nemec (22:39). The team hoped to ease Siegenthaler into the game as he hadn’t played since Feb. 4 due to a lower-body injury. Instead, they were forced to lean on him and responded with gutsy performance, as did the other defensemen.

“Our building here. Our game here, fellas.”

Devils fans began the game with a cacophonous applause and they finished the game with a cacophonous applause. In between the three-hour, 37-minute marathon, the Devils fans filled the arena with chants of “Let’s Go Devils!” and “Marky! Marky! Marky!” The latter for goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who made 25 saves which included stopping Sebastian Aho on a shorthanded breakaway and denying Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a glove save with 23.2 seconds left in regulation to the adulation of the spectators.

The fans saved their biggest screams for Nemec’s game-winner. The youngster has had an up-and-down season and spent most of the year in the American Hockey League. Due to key injuries to the defense, he was thrust into the lineup for his playoff debut in Game 2 and the 22-year-old played the hero in Game 3.

Nemec picked up the puck in the neutral zone and gained the offensive zone. He made a quick move to split two Hurricanes players and had a free lane to right dot. There he ripped a puck blocker side that eked through Andersen’s arm and just over the goal line.

The Devils players mobbed Nemec while the building shook and the horn blasted. The team then skated to center ice and raised their sticks to the crowd, which had raised its voice.

“Don’t be denied,” Keefe told his team before the game. “Don’t be denied.”

They were not.