The Devils, all speed and skill and transition, do that to teams. They look capable of becoming a National Hockey League powerhouse once again. But really, it was the Canucks who did it to themselves.<\/p>\n
In a first period in which they outplayed the Devils, holding the league\u2019s most prolific-shooting team to seven shots, they trailed 2-0. One goal came on an eight-second power play that followed Tanner Pearson\u2019s foolish hooking penalty, and one on a huge rebound by goalie Thatcher Demko.<\/p>\n
But instead of keeping what they did well in the first to earn better results in the second period, the Canucks reverted to lateral passes and forcing plays with the puck. Vasily Podkolzin turned it over on a power play, which led to Dawson Mercer\u2019s 3-0 goal at 9:25 on a shorthanded two-on-one.<\/p>\n
And just over two minutes later, either a bad read by Oliver Ekman-Larsson or bad coverage by a Canuck forward on a New Jersey stretch pass, led to another two-on-one and another easy goal for Yegor Sharangovich at 11:37.<\/p>\n
On both outnumbered rushes, a veteran Canuck defenceman \u2014 first Ekman-Larsson, then Tyler Myers \u2014 failed to prevent the pass, giving Demko little chance of getting across his goalmouth to make a save.<\/p>\n
This is Hockey 101: take away the pass so the goalie can treat the puck-carrier as the shooter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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