Will Devils Find “On” Switch In Time For Playoffs?
You know the old adage about teams wanting to play their best hockey in the run-up to the playoffs? The Devils, having clinched a berth in the Tournament last week, call such talk archaic. And if you listened to Head Coach Sheldon Keefe following his club’s dreary 1-0 loss to the Islanders on Sunday afternoon, he is not alone in holding such a viewpoint among league stakeholders.
The defeat was New Jersey’s third in a row, all in regulation, all at home, and all versus opponents who have already been eliminated from postseason play. With two games remaining—a back-to-back at Boston on Tuesday and then a home tilt against Detroit—the Devils seem willing to take the risk that they’ll be able to turn it on like a sprinkler system come Game 1 at Carolina this weekend. Just get to that game relatively healthy, Keefe said, and we’ll be fine.
This slog of meaningless games arose from the unexpected demise of New Jersey’s competitors in the Metropolitan Division. In my preseason prediction post, I had the Devils going 42-32-8. They’re a win and an OT loss from hitting on that exact mark. The one oversight is that I never thought such a mediocre record would get them into the playoffs.
Well, here we are. In the meantime, the Devils are taking a page from the NBA guide and are load managing certain players, with 21-goal scorer Stefan Noesen getting the day off on Sunday. There is no rush to provide defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who has been out since sustaining a lower body injury on March 4, game reps to shake off any rust. With All-Star center Jack Hughes already declared out for the season following shoulder surgery, I think if the Devils were allowed to forfeit, they might have opted to do so out of fear of getting another core player hurt.
“I look around the league and any teams in the same situations as us, I listen to their coaches speak, and they’re saying the same things,” Keefe said about the end-of-season malaise during Sunday’s postgame press conference. “They want to get on with this. It’s kind of the way it is. You’ve got to finish the schedule.”
Here’s the problem: Bad habits are notoriously hard to shake. If the Devils are having issues taking inside positions in the offensive zone to create the best scoring chances against more permissive teams like the Bruins, Penguins, and Islanders, what’s going to happen when they’re up against sturdy Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin and Company? Keefe mentioned after Friday’s loss where the Penguins scored three power play goals to erase a 2-0 deficit that Devils winger Jesper Bratt probably steps in front of the point shot that set up one of the goals if it were a playoff contest. Are you sure about that, Sheldon? And Timo Meier’s glaring gaffe that gifted Islanders forward Bo Horvat the sole score on Sunday was the sort of reckless puck management that has been a season-long concern, not something that will be automatically eliminated when the bright lights are turned on.
As is often the case when this team struggles, it’s the top guns that have been underachieving the most. You can’t blame the scary sixth defenseman issue in this stretch—Seamus Casey or Simon Nemec were on the ice for one five-on-five goal against out of the 12 the Devils allowed over the last three games. Luke Hughes, meanwhile, had great advanced metrics, but suffered way too many breakdowns that led to six goals against. The goaltending was unable to save the day, the power play went 0-for-5, and the Nico Hischier/Bratt combo went scoreless. The Devils will be a quick out if this continues into the postseason.
I’m not suggesting that the Devils should have been approaching these games with the urgency of a team needing to win out to earn a berth. But let’s not sugarcoat where they’re at. Except for the 7-2 Bruins debacle, Keefe keeps talking about “liking their game” after watching his club make losing plays at the wrong moments. That’s not the right message. It’s ok to be process oriented so long as you know how to transition it to a mission where results are all that matter.
At this time of year, it might be a lot harder than Keefe thinks.