After an incredible three-game win streak, the Devils' streak was snapped when they played against their former goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and the San Jose Sharks at Prudential Center on Sunday, November 10th. Despite being shutout by Blackwood and the Sharks, the Devils truly put in the effort, did everything but find the back of the net. Nico Sturm scored the lone goal, and Blackwood made a total of 44 saves for San Jose to earn his first shutout of the season. The Devils head out to Florida to take on the Panthers on Tuesday and Thursday, then they'll be in Tampa Bay on Saturday to take on the Lightning.
Devils Lineup:
Meier - Hischier - Mercer
Palat - Hughes - Bratt
Cotter - Haula - Noesen
MacDermid - Dowling - Tatar
Dillon - Hamilton
Siegenthaler - Kovacevic
Hughes - Pesce
Allen
Markstrom
Sharks Lineup:
Dellandrea - Celebrini - Toffoli
Eklund - Grandlund - Zetterlund
Kunin - Wennberg - Goodrow
Smith - Sturm - Grundstrom
Walman - Ceci
Ferraro - Liljegren
Thrun - Rutta
Blackwood
Vanecek
Nico Sturm scored the lone goal late in the first period to give San Jose a 1-0 lead, which remained the same throughout the remainder of the game when he sent a backhand from behind the net into the slot that had deflected in off Timo Meier's left skate. He took a pass from Carl Grundstrom in the neutral zone, Sturm then split two Devils players as he entered the offensive zone and lost the puck before he gave the Sharks the lead.
In the second frame, the Sharks appeared to extend their lead to 2-0 when Fabian Zetterlund knocked the puck over the goal line from the right post. However, after a brief discussion, it was determined that Zetterlund interfered with Jake Allen by pushing his pad into the net.
Mackenzie Blackwood, who had been making his first start in New Jersey since being traded to the San Jose Sharks, made a total of 10 saves in the first. The best save being against Jesper Bratt at 10:42 on a wraparound at the right post. ...In the second, Blackwood made 15 saves. He denied Justin Dowling from the slot when his shot hit the right pad of Blackwood, going off the left post at 10:56. In the final frame, he made a total of 19 saves, including seven during New Jersey's power play after Mario Ferraro took a hooking penalty with little time remaining.
Jake Allen on the loss, Mackenzie Blackwood and the Sharks, and onto the next: "We did in the third, but in the first two periods, I don't think we played our best... He made some good stops in the third, but anyone can beat anyone in this league. They've got a fast, skilled team, and they've been playing well as of late. Obviously, coming off last night, we wanted to try to keep this stretch going here, but it didn't go our way. We're going to take our time to regroup, and we're going to have a tough test this week. It's going to be a tough challenge, but I'm looking forward to that challenge."
Notes:
- Jake Allen made a total of 26 saves for New Jersey.
- This had been Mackenzie Blackwood's 11th shutout of his NHL career, as well as the first against the New Jersey Devils, whom he played five seasons for before being traded to the San Jose Sharks on June 27th, 2023. ... Blackwood has become the fourth former Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts goaltender to record a shutout against the franchise. He joins Scott Wedgewood (December 2nd, 2017), Kirk McLean (October 19th, 1988), and Denis Harron (March 9th, 1977).
- The San Jose Sharks are 2-1-1 in four games with Macklin Celebrini in the lineup, however, without him in 12 games, the Sharks are 3-8-1.
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