Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes scored when the New Jersey Devils absolutely needed them to. Paul Cotter, Lenni Hameenaho, and Cody Glass did not. While Glass was once the team’s leading scorer at 5v5, if the Devils are relying on him with the game on the line, then something seems wrong.

And that’s why the shootout is wrong. It’s just not a good way to find a winner in the NHL. When head coach Sheldon Keefe thinks its best to keep Timo Meier and Nico Hischier on the bench in a huge moment, it’s probably because the NHL has chosen something terrible to choose a winner.

And with the season on the line, it bit the Devils in the behind on Saturday night. The Devils came back from 3-0 down to tie the game after Timo Meier scored with Jake Allen pulled. The Devils suffered very inopportune penalties, including a delay of game penalty that came with less than two minutes left. They also faced a double minor after a Brenden Dillon high stick caused a bleeding member of the Montreal Canadiens. Not only did the Devils kill all four minutes of the PK, but Jack Hughes scored a shorthanded goal.

One point is fine, but with how far down the Devils are in the standings, it’s not good enough. They need to win all of their games, and now that’s not possible. The situation went from unlikely to very unlikely, if not impossible.

And it’s all because Glass and Hameenaho couldn’t score in the shootout.

The NHL has move passed its need for a shootout

Is this really how we want hockey games to be decided? The Canadiens and Devils had one of the best overtime periods of the season, especially considering nobody scored. Both teams went back and forth, with Jake Allen and Jakob Dobes standing tall. 

Even before that, the Devils had 12 high-danger shots on goal. It was as fun a game as we’ve seen. 

The comeback doesn’t really matter anymore. Jack Hughes scoring that big goal on the penalty kill doesn’t matter. Timo Meier’s heroic goal doesn’t matter. The big penalty kill to end regulation doesn’t matter.

None of it matters because of the shootout. It’s also so simple to fix. Just make 3v3 overtime 10 minutes long. If they want to force a shootout after that, then fine. It would be rare and an interesting treat. Right now, it’s happening multiple times per week. That’s just too much when teams are within just a few points of the playoffs.