Devils Fall To Kraken 4-2

 

Photo: Andrew MacLean

The Devils hit the last stop of their four-game road trip on Sunday, visiting the Seattle Kraken in hopes of keeping their road winning streak going before heading home on Tuesday. Unfortunately, New Jersey saw their three-game win streak come to an end, falling 4-2 to the Kraken. Despite the loss, two of the Devils' stars continued to shine, as Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes both found the back of the net. After a successful stretch through Canada, the Devils are back at the Prudential Center on Tuesday to host the Winnipeg Jets.

New Jersey Devils Lineup:

Meier - Hughes - Bratt

Palat - Hischier - Mercer

Dadonov - Cotter - Brown

Gritsyuk - Glass - Hameenaho

Siegenthaler - Pesce

Dillon - Hamilton

Nemec - Kovacevic

Markstrom

Allen

Seattle Kraken Lineup:

McCann - Beniers - Eberle

Catton - Stephenson - Tolvanen

Schwartz - Wright - Kakko

Winterton - Gaudreau - Melanson

Dunn - Larsson

Oleksiak - Montour

Evans - Lindgren

Daccord

Grubauer

Dougie Hamilton broke the ice, giving New Jersey a 1-0 lead, scoring his sixth goal of the season with 11:49 left on the clock on the power play. He finished a pass from Jack Hughes from below the goal line, who got the puck from Connor Brown from the left circle, and Hamilton fired a snap shot from the right face-off circle past Joey Daccord's blocker. This is the 10th straight game where the Kraken has allowed a goal against in the first 10 minutes.

At 12:23 of the second period, Ryker Evans tied it up 1-1 on his fourth of the season, scoring a long-distance wrist shot after some passing back and forth. His shot deflected off Jonathan Kovacevic's stick in the slot, trickling through Jacob Markstrom's pads. 

Matty Beniers put in his 12th goal of the season when he roofed a backhander over Markstrom's glove at 12:56 after he took a pass from Jordan Eberle and cut across the slot into the bottom of the right circle to put Seattle ahead 2-1. Just 18 seconds later, Berkly Catton pushed the Kraken lead to 3-1, picking up his fifth of the season when Chandler Stephenson fed Catton at the left side of the net cross-slot. Catton shot the puck off the outside of the net, but it popped into the air before hitting his body, and dropped into an open net. Jack Hughes ended his 15-game drought when he responded 52 seconds later, finding the back of the net to cut it 3-2 on the power play when he snapped a shot that deflected off Adam Larsson's right leg after gliding toward the left dot, and it went right under Daccord's blocker. This was Hughes' 12th goal of the season. With 1:12 to go in the final frame, Eberle struck New Jersey's empty net for the 4-2 win.

Notes:

- Jacob Markstrom made a total of 15 saves for New Jersey.

- Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes both recorded a goal and an assist. Connor Brown picked up a pair of assists.

- Hamilton extended his assist streak to seven games, matching the third-longest run by a defenseman in franchise history. ...With his game-opening goal, Hamilton passed Joe Cirella (50) for the fifth-most goals by a defenseman in Devils/Rockies/Scouts history.

- The Devils are 27-23-2, and had won their previous three, then finished their road trip 3-1-0

- Joey Daccord made a total of 27 saves for Seattle.

- Seattle is 23-19-9, and lost seven of their previous nine (2-5-2).

- Jordan Eberle picked up a goal and an assist.

- The Kraken scored two goals in a span of 18 seconds to take a 3-1 lead, marking the eighth-fastest two goals in franchise history. Two other times this month: Jan. 1 (0:10) and Jan. 5 (0:14), they've tallied twice in quicker succession.

- In under 20 seconds for the third time this season, the Kraken's two goals in that time tied with Edmonton for the second most instances, behind Colorado (4x).