Another Game, Another Devils Player (and Coach) Who Should Have Been Better
Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe should have went in another direction instead of throwing his defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic under the bus following Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Ottawa in a clip that went viral (relative to NHL standards). For Keefe’s chirp that “Kovacevic needs to play better” could have applied to a good number of his players.
Now Keefe can add Devils defenseman Brett Pesce, a ten-year veteran who is regarded as one of the more heady players in the league, to the list of underperformers.
Pesce’s failed clear off a defensive zone faceoff led to Vancouver’s game-tying goal with 36 seconds remaining. The Canucks went on to win the contest, 4-3, in a shootout.
At this stage of the season, every botched point has the potential to prove fatal in New Jersey’s attempt to hold on to a playoff seed. The Devils (37-28-7) have a seven-point lead over the Islanders and Rangers for third place in the Metropolitan Division, but those chasing clubs have two and one game in hand, respectively.
On the ESPN broadcast, P.K. Subban, himself a former Devils right-handed defenseman, went to great lengths to clear Pesce’s good name, saying he was correct to hold onto the puck in the corner until his wing Dawson Mercer got over to the right wing boards to battle the expected Vancouver pinches.
That’s nonsensical. Pesce had to know that any fraction of a second delay would increase the risk of turning the puck over and putting his club in a precarious position.
Which is exactly what happened, as both Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser immediately descended on Pesce, whose wrap up the boards went nowhere. As the puck then circled to Vancouver’s All-Star defenseman Quinn Hughes on the opposite point, you just knew the Devils were in trouble. After cutting to the middle, Hughes’ shot trickled past Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom and off the post, but Conor Garland got inside position on Pesce in the blue paint to push it home.
Don’t believe an out-of-shape pontificator over a real player? Well, since this isn’t the Devils’ first proverbial rodeo where they fell off the bull just before victory was secured, I once asked former Devils Head Coach John Hynes if he would have minded an icing in that situation. His answer was succinct: “It has to be a hard out,” Hynes said.
In other words, if you have the puck on your stick defending a five-on-six in the last minute, you find a way to get it out and worry about another faceoff later, because winding down the clock matters more. In this case, Pesce had time to try a high flip that might not have reached the 200 feet for the icing. Taking another stride with it was the worst option.
To make matters worse, the sequence occurred immediately after a Vancouver timeout. You’d think Keefe and his staff would have prepared the guys on the ice for such a scenario.
Instead, Keefe minimized the damage from the lost point, saying that the Devils’ recent third period collapses (they surrendered four goals over the final 13:10 to blow a 3-1 lead over Calgary last Thursday) is more of an anomaly.
If only. Without All-Star center Jack Hughes and defenseman Dougie Hamilton, the Devils are missing substantial offensive firepower, which means that they need to finish off those times when they can get ahead.
The margin for error is shrinking by the game. Everyone needs to be better.