Devils Continue To Blow Opportunities To Get Back In Playoff Hunt

John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

When I first began coaching youth sports many moons ago, I received a valuable tip from my friend Andrew. “80% of these games are lost, not won,” he said.

In pro sports, where egregious mistakes are less frequent, that number is probably significantly lower. NHL games, as I mentioned in my last post, are often close affairs decided by other factors like a hot goaltender, special teams brilliance, and, on many occasions, pure puck luck.  

And then there are the New Jersey Devils, who have made a habit of giving valuable points away all season. In their last two contests, they have been outscored, 8-0 in the third period, mainly because they put pucks onto the sticks of opponents who then turned them into backbreaking scores.

Tuesday night’s 6-3 home loss to Pittsburgh, where New Jersey surrendered five unanswered goals after taking a 3-1 lead into the final frame, probably put the final nail on their 2023-24 coffin. Combined with Friday’s 5-2 loss at Buffalo, the Devils (36-35-4) dropped into 13^th place in the Eastern Conference, whereas they would have been just two points behind Washington in the race for the final Wild Card slot had they not blown those opportunities.

The Sabres game actually swung during the second period, with New Jersey holding a 2-1 lead with about 2:30 remaining. Defenseman Kevin Bahl, under no pressure, lazily made a poor backhand pass behind the Devils’ net that skittered past John Marino. Instead, Buffalo’s Alex Touch was the gracious recipient along the left wing boards. All it took was one quick feed into the slot to unchecked sniper Tage Thompsom and the puck was by Devils goalie Jake Allen in a blink of an eye, tying the game at 2-2.

The Devils took such charity to a new level on Tuesday. For Pittsburgh’s stunned skaters, it was an Oprah-esque “You get a goal! Youi get a goal! You get a goal!” courtesy of New Jersey’s largesse. I actually counted four of them that were initiated by Devils’ misplays.

The thing about these kind of defensive zone turnovers is that it makes it awfully difficult for Devils’ skaters to get back into the play. The defensemen are by definition out of position because they need to provide puck support away from the middle of the ice and the forwards are looking to break fee as well. Pro hockey players know what to do when they pounce on a free puck.

For example, a pair of giveaways were simple wraparounds to no one in particular wearing a red Devils uniform, including one in the first period by defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in his first game back since he was given a concussion on an illegal hit by Rangers goon Matt Rempe on March 11. That one went right to Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Karlsson at the right point. His shot then ricocheted off some bodies in front and past Allen to open the scoring.

The Devils, though, tightened up and dominated most of the action during the first two periods, building what should have been a safe two-goal cushion. Only Jesper Bratt, whose second period goal gave him a career-high 74 points on the season, took an unnecessary offensive zone penalty and, instead of making the simple play by icing the puck from the defensive zone corner on the penalty kill, Dawson Mercer attempted to spring Erik Haula for a shorthanded breakaway up the middle. Ugh. It was intercepted at the blue line and, a few passes later, Sidney Crosby banged one home to get the Pens back in it.

About a minute later, Haula’s headman pass from the neutral zone didn’t connect, leading to an icing. Off the ensuing draw, Pittsburgh’s other aging star, Evgeni Malkin, got free of Brendan Smith in front and was able to redirect an otherwise harmless Jack St. Ivany shot from distance past Allen.

The Devils weren’t done giving the game away. With about four minutes remaining, it was rookie defenseman Simon Nemec’s turn to wrap a puck around the boards directly to a Penguin at the left point. Again, the turnover meant that no one was in front to mark Rickard Rakell for yet another redirection for the game-winner.

The Devils were toast after that, surrendering another goal off a defensive zone faceoff and an empty-netter to Crosby that rookie defenseman Luke Hughes should have cleared away but whiffed. By then, the remaining fans let out their frustrations on the home team.

Because folks, this is not news. Awful puck management has been a season-long issue. It was unacceptable when Lindy Ruff was the Head Coach and it’s still unacceptable under interim HC Travis Green.

It would be one thing if the culprits were solely the club’s inexperienced players. Au contraire—as noted above, it seems like everyone has been in on bad acts at some point this season. Veterans and youngsters, Yet the only player that seems to be held accountable is 22-year old wing Alexander Holtz, who was pretty much benched for 5-on-5 play after the first period. How he has produced 16 goals this season is a miracle.

Meanwhile, with Siegenthaler back, Green returned Santeri Hatakka to AHL Utica and benched Nick DeSimone, two defensemen who played relatively safe games when thrust into action and, as a result, were rarely responsible for goals against. Like Ruff before him, Green has been illogically seduced by Smith, who is ranked 158^th among the 175 NHL defensemen who have played at least 800 minutes this season in expected goals for percentage, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

Like his brother Jack, Luke Hughes is a giveaway machine. That’s to be expected for a 20-year old whose marvelous skating makes him a threat when lugging pucks. But he needs to be coached out of bad habits. And pairing him with Smith, like Green did on Tuesday, has never helped his development despite Smith’s 13 seasons of wisdom.

The bottom line is that New Jersey’s fade down the stretch puts an end to any notion that Green could take the job on aa permanent basis next season. These losses are on his record, literally and in the context of the above quote.