NEWARK — The Devils took the ice on Tuesday night at Prudential Center with a chance to officially clinch a spot in the postseason. Facing a team tied for the fewest points in the Eastern Conference, fans were preparing to celebrate. That celebration will have to wait for another day as the Devils dropped a 7-2 game to the Bruins in a missed opportunity.
“We have four games left here,” right wing Stefan Noesen said. “We’re going to move on from this. It’s an exciting time of the year coming up here and we just need to find out what our identity is and we need to stick with it.”
David Pastrnak excelled for the Bruins with a three-point game, including scoring the game’s opening goal, to eclipse 100 total points for the third straight season. Pastrnak was among the 13 different Bruins to score a point on Tuesday, including Michaell Callahan, who scored his first career NHL goal in the first period.
No shot
Trailing 3-0 felt like an insurmountable lead for the Devils to overcome, especially when the team took nearly an entire period of gameplay without a shot on goal. Seamus Casey’s shot on goal with 5:35 left in the first period. The Devils would be stuck with 10 total shots on goal until Paul Cotter’s shot on goal more than halfway through the second period.
In total, the Devils went 16:20 in the game without an attempt that needed to be turned away by Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman.
“There was not much urgency, top to bottom,” defenseman Brett Pesce said. “I don’t think one guy could say they had it tonight.”
One after another
Seemingly without warning, the Devils climbed back into the game with a wild sequence that pulled them within one goal at the time. Stefan Noesen put the Devils on the board with a tip-in following shots by Nico Hischier and Daniel Sprong. Noesen’s 21st goal of the season prevented a shutout, but it would soon be followed with another.
An Erik Haula shot was deflected by Timo Meier for his 25th goal of the season, just 19 seconds after Noesen put the Devils on the board. Despite this stretch, the Devils allowed four more goals and never got closer. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game that he takes no positives from this game.
“You can’t take anything from tonight except for, however, just a reminder when we don’t lead with our competitiveness and our pace of play and our structure, we’re just not very good,” said Keefe.
Still need one
The magic number for the Devils to clinch a playoff spot remains at one. New Jersey could have clinched a playoff spot as the third team from the Metropolitan division with at least an overtime loss. Now the team will have to wait until at least Wednesday to possibly clinch a playoff spot.
Without a victory, The Devils needed losses by both the Rangers and Islanders in order to clinch the third spot in the division and qualify for the playoffs. The Islanders lost in overtime to Nashville on Tuesday, meaning a Rangers loss is all the Devils need to clinch a playoff spot. The Rangers play Wednesday at home against Philadelphia with the Islanders hosting the Rangers the night after.
If the Rangers do not lose either game in the coming days, the Devils could clinch a playoff spot on their own with a point earned against Pittsburgh on Friday night at Prudential Center.