The New Jersey Devils lost another game where they scored just one goal. The excuses are gone. Jack Hughes is back, and he looks pretty close to “Jack Hughes.” Arseny Gristyuk is back, and he’s also playing well, causing chaos in all zones and making moves on the puck. Timo Meier is ALSO back, tipping pucks in front and driving plays in the offensive zone. The Devils are as healthy as they’ve been in months, and yet, they still stink.
What else is there to say? This team stinks right now. They scored one goal on Tuesday night. After giving up the tying goal in the second period, they got one shot for the final eight minutes of the second period. They looked like they turtled because Jacob Markstrom made a bad play along the wall, and Simon Holmstrom scored the easiest goal he’ll get all season.
Jesper Bratt looks like a disaster on the ice. He will make the prettiest move you’ll ever see with his skates, but then he’ll stare at an open net like a deer in the headlights. He had two wide open chances, and somehow, he didn’t get credited with a shot on goal for either of them. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a player so clearly playing with lost confidence.
There are no answers here. The Devils are playing like they want to take an early vacation. This is now seven of their past 11 games where they have scored one or fewer goals (not counting shootout goals). This team, even when injured, is way too talented to be this bad offensively.
How on Earth are they only scoring one goal so often? It seems impossible if we didn’t see it for our very eyes.
Sheldon Keefe is trying everything, including going back to old reliable Ondrej Palat in the top six. They just lost to the Islanders, who they could have and should have jumped them in the standings with a regulation win. Instead, they gave up a goal with less than 90 seconds left to get a regulation loss.
So, I guess there aren’t no words to talk about these Devils. There just aren’t any positive words to say about the Devils.