*Photo from The Hockey News*
This was a win they needed badly. Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist, Nico Daws was stellar in net, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Seattle Kraken with a 3-1 victory on Monday night in Newark.
With the win, the Devils snapped a two game losing streak and kept up their run of defensive prowess. In their last two games, they've only allowed one regulation goal. The Devils sit in 4th place in the Metropolitan Division with a 26-21-4 record.
It was the Devils who got the scoring started at home. The only goal of the first period came from Tyler Toffoli, who made it 1-0 with a power play goal, his 22nd of the season, assisted by Hughes and Nico Hischier. Hughes doubled the lead just 48 seconds into the second period with Erik Haula assisting on his 16th goal of the season.
Later in the second period, the Devils found paydirt again. Dawson Mercer scored his 15th goal of the season 4:54 into the frame, making it 3-0 with Timo Meier and Santeri Hatakka assisting. The only goal of the 3rd period came from Seattle's Will Borgen, ending the shutout bid with assists going to Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle.
Between the pipes for the Devils, Daws took advantage of his first start since January 25 and improved to 4-5-0 with the win. Daws stopped all but one of the 28 shots he saw from the Kraken, good for a stellar .964 save percentage.
Daws said after the game that "We played hard and I thought it was a really good defensive game from us. They didn't give up a whole lot, so that was awesome. I wouldn't say my confidence dipped over my last few starts, but I think that's the first quality start that I've had in a little bit in my eyes, so it's good."
Getting the start on the other end of the ice for the Kraken was Joey Daccord, who took the loss to drop to 15-11-9 in 33 starts. Daccord turned aside 34 out of the 37 shots on goal the Devils had, recording a .919 save percentage.
Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said of the loss that "Really, our execution just took us out of this hockey game for the first 35 minutes. That's really what led to most of our issues. I mean, right from the penalties that we ended up taking through the first and in the second."
The Kraken finish up a back to back by taking on the New York Islanders Tuesday night, with Philipp Grubauer set to draw the start. Vitek Vanecek is set to start for the Devils against the Nashville Predators as they finish a back to back against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
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