The lack of offense from this team is completely unacceptable.
The New Jersey Devils lost 2-1 to the New York Islanders on Long Island tonight. The game was tied 1-1 until about a minute left in the third period, until Adam Pelech scored a backbreaking goal off a broken play to snatch at least a point away from the Devils. It was a devastating goal to allow, one that could come back to haunt New Jersey by the end of the season.
Tonight marked the fifth straight game in which the Devils scored two goals or fewer. Prior to this stretch, the offense was performing well, with exactly four goals scored in three consecutive games. Though honestly, calling that “performing well” feels generous. I don’t think anyone would say that four goals is a notable offensive output, but for this team, a team that has scored more than four goals just three whole times this season, it feels like a bonanza. Offensive funks are the norm for the Devils this season, and they’re right in the thick of one of their malaises right now.
But back to this game. If you can believe it, tonight’s contest actually started off pretty well. Brett Pesce scored his first goal of the season late in the first period to give the Devils a 1-0 lead. The forecheck, led by Timo Meier and Nico Hischier, really made that goal happen, and Pesce made sure their efforts were rewarded. That goal was part of a great opening 20 minutes, where the Devils outshot the Islanders 15-7 and registered a 5-on-5 Expected Goals For% of about 64%.
The second period was a different story. We’ll delve into some numbers later on, but second period have not been kind to the Devils lately. It sunk them in their last game against the Sabres, and while it wasn’t the entire difference tonight, it certainly played a big part. The Islanders outshot the Devils 14-6 in the middle frame, and New Jersey was caved in to the tune of a 5-on-5 xGF% of around 18%. For as poor as they were playing though, Jacob Markstrom was keeping them in this game. He looked dialed in from the word “Go” tonight, with big saves on rush chances, cycle chances, and broken plays. New York deserved to find the equalizer with how thoroughly they were dominating New Jersey in the second period, but Markstrom was having none of it.
Which is what made it so shocking when Markstrom served up the tying goal on a silver platter:
I don’t think there’s any other explanation here other than Markstrom having a gigantic brain cramp. That, coupled with a hilariously lucky bounce for Simon Holmstrom, added up to a 1-1 game. It was an egregiously bad play, which reminded me of this gem from Mackenzie Blackwood. Markstrom was playing such a good game up to that point, but his gaffe cost the Devils the lead.
The third period was much better for New Jersey, though I would argue they didn’t truly get going until about halfway through the frame. That’s when the Hischier line put together a great shift, highlighted by a Dawson Mercer backhand chance right in front. It was followed up by the Luke Glendening (yes, really) generating two quality looks, one off the rush, and one off a nice pass from Luke Hughes to the front of the net. The Devils carried play until the Islanders broke the puck out of their zone with about 90 seconds left in regulation. That’s when Holmstrom missed on a one-time chance and the puck took a perfect carom to an activating Pelech, who picked the corner on a slapper to give the Isles their first lead of the night. New Jersey got a few halfway decent looks with the net pulled in the final minute, but no true big time chances, and they left UBS Arena emptyhanded.
Exactly one year ago today, the vibes were about as high as they could possibly be around this team. On a Monday afternoon at The Rock, the Devils absolutely demolished the New York Rangers, 5-0. That win was part of a larger run in which New Jersey’s defense was absolutely smothering teams, not even allowing 20 shots on goal for a long string of games. They were 23-11-3 after that win and riding high into the Christmas break. Fast forward one year later, and the vibes are quite low. To be fair to the Devils, they will enter the holiday pause with a record of 20-16-1, which is far from an awful record. Just one good week can theoretically get them right back near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, and with the talent this team has at its disposal, one good week seems well within their capabilities.
The problem is, despite all the talent this now mostly-healthy team has, they still can’t get out of their own way. The offense has been a huge problem all season long, and I really don’t think you can just pin the struggles on getting goalie’d every night. Yes, David Rittich was quite good this evening, but New Jersey also didn’t test him anywhere close to as much as they should have. And when they did test him, they once again could not finish chances to save their lives. Jack Hughes and Connor Brown each had breakaways tonight, and neither scored. Jesper Bratt – he of the one goal in his last 23 games – had a golden opportunity when he absolutely toasted Matthew Schaefer and hooked around Rittich in the second period. But Bratt couldn’t pull the trigger on a shot, letting another prime opportunity go to waste. Everyone else was just as inept as them when it came to actually burying a shot as well. And that doesn’t even count the myriad times New Jersey couldn’t even hit the net on their shot (looking at you, Luke Hughes).
I’ll try to be optimistic for a second: I do believe there is more finishing talent on this team than the results would indicate. My guess is that the Devils are genuinely experiencing some really nasty negative variance when it comes to their shooting luck, and it should even out soon. That being said, we are now up to roughly a full calendar year since this team looked anything approaching dangerous offensively. Last season, it really did seem like the offense died after Christmas, and through the first half of this season, a lot of the personnel has changed, but the results haven’t.
I don’t know what needs to be done, but I do know that something, anything needs to be done. The New Jersey Devils lost again tonight, and for the millionth time this season, it was their pathetic offense that was mostly to blame.
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com
For a while this season, it feels like the offense (and defense) were actually doing fine, but the goaltending was costing New Jersey games. This mostly stemmed from Jacob Markstrom taking a huge step back, whether that be from injury or age-related decline.
But credit where it’s due: Markstrom has been much better lately. He obviously had that inexcusable mistake on the tying goal, but the netminder was actually minding his net, he was rock solid. Markstrom made 23 saves on 25 shots (which was really 23 saves on 24 shots if you exclude the Holmstrom debacle), and according to Natural Stat Trick, he saved 1.93 Goals Above Expected.
We need to see it over a larger sample size of course, but it does appear as if Markstrom is returning to being a top-end goalie once more. If he can keep this up, the offense should find more finishing luck soon, and the Devils could maybe, just maybe, go on another run.
I mentioned Luke Glendening registering a pair of quality chances earlier on, and he deserves credit for that. The problem is, that’s about all Glendening deserves credit for tonight, as his line was buried in the run of play once again.
The fourth line of Glendening, Paul Cotter, and Stefan Noesen played 6:10 together at 5-on-5. In that time, they were out-attempted 12-3, outshot 3-5, and registered a terrible xGF% of 43%. It’s just another in a long line of horrific performances from New Jersey’s fourth line this season.
It all starts with Glendening on that fourth line. I’m sorry, perhaps he’s a great guy, but Glendening cannot be a regular skater anymore. It was a nice story with him winning a job on a PTO in camp, but since the regular season has started he has been one of the absolute worst skaters in the entire league. According to Hockey Stat Cards, among players with 20 games played, Glendening has the 15th-worst average Game Score (-0.30) in the NHL, and the third-worst among forwards. If you’re not a believer in advanced analytics, how does three points (all assists) in 36 games sound to you? Because that is Glendening’s stat line this season.
Considering Glendening brings absolutely nothing to the table except for maybe a little penalty killing utility, and considering he also seems to be dragging everyone else around him down like an anchor tied to a paper crane, I think it’s past time to cut him loose. Who do you replace him with? It doesn’t matter, because it could not possibly get any worse than him.
We also touched on how second periods have not been the Devils’ friend recently, and tonight was no exception. I already gave you the final numbers during the second period for this evening’s contest, and during the MSG broadcast, they showed a graphic that displayed how bad it’s been lately. In their win over Utah last Friday night, the Devils were outshot a startling 18-6 (though miraculously they outscored the Mammoth 1-0). In their most recent contest against the Sabres on Sunday, they were outshot 12-6 and outscored 2-0. And tonight they were outshot 14-6 and outscored 1-0, to go along with the abysmal underlying numbers.
New Jersey was actually a very strong second period team last season, but they’ve taken a complete nosedive in middle frames lately. I don’t know what needs to change, but something needs to happen to make this team play better after the first 20 minutes.
Metropolitan Struggles Continue
With their regulation loss tonight, the Devils fell to 3-5-1 against the Metropolitan Division this season. New Jersey has played nine games against division opponents thus far. They have lost their last four games against Metro opponents, with their last win coming all the way back on November 15 against the Capitals.
To make matters worse, two of the Devils’ three wins against Metro rivals have come post-regulation (one against the Penguins, one against the Capitals). Meaning in their nine division games so far, they have allowed their opponents to collect at least a point in eight of them. The only exception was their 3-2 win over Columbus on October 13, which is fitting considering the Blue Jackets are the only Metropolitan Division team with a worse intra-division record than New Jersey. The Devils have allowed opponents to collect 14 of a possible 18 points against them. That .778 points percentage translates to an 82-game pace of approximately 128 points. Basically, New Jersey is making every Metro opponent look like the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens.
If the Devils are going to make the postseason, this needs to change. Now. Being mediocre against your own division is bad enough, but the Devils aren’t even mediocre against the Metro thus far. They’re much, much worse. Their next crack at actually winning a game against a division opponent comes immediately out of the break, and I strongly suggest New Jersey takes advantage of that opportunity.
On the other side of the Christmas break, the Devils are back in action on Saturday when they host the Washington Capitals. Puck drop from the Prudential Center is scheduled for 7:00pm.
What did you make of tonight’s game? How concerned are you with the offense? Are you encouraged with what you’ve seen out of the goaltending lately? What do you think needs to change for this team to start winning games consistently again? As always, thanks for reading.