NEWARK, N.J. — Two years ago, when the New Jersey Devils were in the midst of a seven-game series win against the New York Rangers, Igor Shesterkin joked that Timo Meier must watch a lot of MMA. The Devils forward had no qualms going hard at the Rangers goalie, at one point falling into his lap after a rush and drawing a roughing minor when Shesterkin whacked him with his blocker.
Meier does not shy away from driving to the net, even if it means some contact with the most protected player on the ice. It’s a style NHL teams and their fans often applaud come the postseason, when goals are at a premium. New Jersey captain Nico Hischier hinted at as much when he called Meier “made for the playoffs.”
But the style also has ramifications. And on Sunday in Game 4 of the Devils’ series against the Carolina Hurricanes, it led to an injury no one wanted to see.
Early in the second period, Meier charged toward the net, trying to redirect a pass from Ondrej Palat. He was being defended by Andrei Svechnikov and absorbed light contact, then went hard into goaltender Frederik Andersen. Svechnikov threw his arms up and gestured toward Meier, looking for a penalty call. None came.
Andersen stayed down after the play. After a visit from the team’s athletic trainer, he left the game, skating off on his own. His injury will be evaluated Monday in Raleigh.
“Svechnikov pushed me in,” Meier said after the game. “Obviously, no intent there. Hope he’s not injured too bad. Nothing on my side I could have done different.”
“It looked pretty incidental,” coach Sheldon Keefe added.
The officials seemed to concur — eventually. They conferred immediately after blowing the play dead and called a five-minute major penalty, allowing them to conduct a video review. After watching the play back, though, they ruled there was no penalty at all. One former NHL referee told The Athletic he thought it could have been a minor but that there wasn’t much more.
Of course, with a play like this, there are always two sides.
Svechnikov said he’d have to check the video. He had no recollection of pushing Meier.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour screamed at the officials from the bench after their review, and he was still frustrated after the game. Meier could have stopped before hitting Andersen, he said.
“If that (puck) goes in, it’s 100 percent goalie interference,” Brind’Amour said. “There’s clearly contact, and you’re not really supposed to go in (the crease).”
Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal, who played his 151st NHL playoff game Sunday, was understanding of the situation “hard to the net” hockey puts players in, acknowledging that it goes both ways.
“I’m sure the refs are trying hard and they thought Svechy had enough of a hook on him to throw him off, enough to run over our goalie,” he said.
Meier plays on the edge. The collision was a result of that, and it could have ramifications beyond this round if Andersen is unable to get back in the Hurricanes lineup. He was excellent through the first three games, with a .943 save percentage.
For the Devils, while no one is cheering an injury, it’s a sign of playoff-brand hockey that they can take away from this postseason as a positive, even if an injury-wrecked roster has made wins unlikely.
Beyond that play, Meier has been a presence against Carolina. The Hurricanes might be ahead in the series 3-1, but they have not been able to slow him down. New Jersey leads Carolina in goals (3-1), shot attempts (81-68) and expected goals rate (67.33 percent) with Meier on the ice at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. Keefe put him on a line with Palat and Hischier starting in Game 1, and New Jersey has 69.93 percent of the expected goal rate with that line on the ice this series, often against difficult competition.
“You’re trying to win your matchups and create momentum, try to get the puck down in their zone, some changes also,” Meier said. “I think we’ve just got to keep going. The important thing is that we keep getting better in the series.”
Meier, who had 26 goals and 53 points in the regular season, had chances throughout the first two games, including a look at a partially vacated net late in Game 2, but failed to capitalize. Andersen stopped all seven of his shots through the first two games. Meier’s production started to tick up when the series shifted to New Jersey for Game 3. He collected his first point of the series Friday, an assist, then assisted on Hischier’s second-period goal Sunday.
After Andersen left the game, he flung a puck on backup Pyotr Kochetkov. It got past the goalie, giving Meier his first goal of the series.
“He deserves to have more goals,” Keefe said after the Hurricanes’ 5-2 win. “His overall game, for me, has been good. He’s generating the looks that he would want to have. They just haven’t gone in for him. Hopefully, today relieves a little bit of pressure.”
Though Meier and his line have been key contributors in the team’s first-round series, New Jersey’s lack of depth production has proved costly. The team’s bottom-six forwards have zero points this series and got caved in Sunday by Carolina.
“To expect them to all of a sudden come out and have a dominant effort offensively is probably not realistic,” Keefe said. “We could use a goal, and we could use them chipping in, for sure. … We need guys to play better. That’s really what it comes down to. (The Hurricanes) have some quality depth, and it’s been a factor in the series.”
Depth up front is something the Devils can address in the offseason, and adding injured superstar Jack Hughes back to the lineup and pushing teammates correspondingly down the lineup is of course a big part of that.
The top of the lineup, though, has to be seen as encouraging, despite the series deficit. Meier, Hischier and Jesper Bratt have combined for nine points this series, all at even strength. Compared to Carolina’s top forwards, they have held their own at five-on-five. The Devils have top-end talent, even without Hughes.
And Meier is part of that.
“He’s just a guy you want to have on your team,” Hischier said. “He’s not a guy who’s easy to check. He’s been great for us. I know how much he wants to win, and it’s good to have him on my line.”
(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)
