Now’s Not The Time For The Devils Goaltending To Have Consistency Issues
The seconds were counting down as the Devils were on the verge of finishing off probably their most impressive first period (or any period) of their young season on Thursday in Florida, which had won all eight of its home games coming into the contest. Up 1-0 and outshooting the talented Panthers, 22-12, the Devils watched Florida wing Carter Verhaeghe pick up the puck in his own zone and motor down the left wing. When he reached the top of the left circle, Verhaeghe unleashed a strong wrist shot, but one that just has to be stopped by an NHL goalie.
Maybe Devils netminder Mackenzie Blackwood was partially screened by his defenseman Dougie Hamilton, but more likely he simply did not square up at the proper angle, leaving way too much room on his glove side, and the puck found the back of the net with 6.4 seconds remaining in the period.
Blackwood would go on to allow three more goals in the first 8:15 of the second period before he was yanked for backup Jonathan Bernier, who finished up the Devils 4-1 loss.
On one hand, the Devils (7-5-3) had ample time to recover from such a backbreaking event, but the reality is that this a young, fragile team whose anemic firepower without its best player, Jack Hughes, leaves them little room for goaltending or defensive error. New Jersey has scored 2.62 goals per game, 21st in the league, this season since Hughes went down in Game 2 versus Seattle. Take away the anomaly of a 7-3 victory over a tired Panthers club playing on back-to-back nights and third time in four days and the Devils would drop down to 30th with 2.25 goals per game.
New Jersey simply needs better from its goalies in order to weather the next month or more until Hughes, who has a dislocated shoulder, returns and makes them a far more dangerous team with the puck. The four goals allowed on 41 Panthers shots knocked the Devils’ team save percentage down below .910, placing them 21st in the league.
Both Blackwood and Bernier have dealt with injuries in the season’s first month, most recently when Blackwood was pulled off the ice by the league’s concussion spotter at Madison Square Garden in the third period of the Devils’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Rangers on Sunday. Bernier, who is ranked 90th with a career .623 shootout save percentage among 112 goalies with at least 40 shots against, was beaten four times in seven Rangers shootout attempts and the Devils missed out on securing a second point.
To be fair, Blackwood has played well in prior outings, including a 42-save shutout over the Islanders, while Bernier is 4-2-1, with a couple of those wins outright thievery. Much of the Devils’ low save percentage ranking can be attributed to the departed Scott Wedgewood and demoted Nico Daws, both of whom were thrust into action due to the Devils’ cruel injury bug. At least Daws won a game among the four that those two started.
While goaltending always plays an outsized role in any NHL matchup, Devils netminders can’t afford to have even an average game to compete with the better teams in the league. The three Panthers second-period goals may not have been Blackwood’s “fault”, but I wouldn’t count any of them as unstoppable. On the other end, Florida goalie Spencer Knight was peppered with 46 shots and made plenty of saves on chances that, had they gone in, wouldn’t have been deemed his fault either. However, he had Nico Hischier, Tomas Tatar, Jesper Bratt, and others looking up at the arena roof after stoning them on high-danger scoring chances.
Among the 52 goalies with at least 200 minutes played, Blackwood is 39th and Bernier 42nd in high danger chance save percentage, per NaturalStatTrick.com. Again, those goals against aren’t necessarily on them, but it sure would have been nice if they could have kept those pucks out of the net.
Blackwood has always been a bit streaky, with his poor play often coinciding with the times he hasn’t been 100% healthy. In his four seasons in New Jersey, he’s won more than his fair of games that this team had no business winning. But while the hot streaks are what has made Team Canada take notice as it looks to compose its upcoming Olympics roster, Blackwood’s inconsistency might end up being more of the deciding factor. It will also spell doom for New Jersey any time he’s not on his ‘A” game.
I’d expect Bernier to get the start when the Devils wrap up their two-game Florida trip with a Saturday afternoon tilt at explosive Tampa Bay. Hope his head is on straight, because he’ll probably need to stand on it to save his club from departing the state emptyhanded in points.