New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom owned up to his brutal performance in Tuesday’s 9-0 loss to the New York Islanders.
“We want to apologize to the Devils fans. I’ve got to be better,” he told reporters after the game. “We put up 40-plus shots, and they put up 20? Scored nine. I’m embarrassed of myself. Not good enough. I’ve got to be better.”
The Islanders only registered 24 shots yet nearly hit double digits in goals. They were up 2-0 with 4:01 off the clock in the first period, scoring on each of their first two shots.
Anthony Duclair was the standout star as the New York forward had three goals and two assists in just under 14 minutes of ice time.
Devils captain Nico Hischier was more direct than Markstrom and called the defeat “flat-out embarrassing.”
“We’ve got to rinse this as quick as possible and I’m in charge of that,” he said. “I’m expecting myself to have a big response game and I’m expecting my team to have the same thing.”
That Markstrom played the entire game was a bit of a surprise. Goaltenders who are ice cold to this degree typically get pulled, both for the good of the team and their own psyche.
Instead, Devils coach Sheldon Keefe left the 35-year-old out there to suffer through every second.
Giving up nine goals is an outlier for the Devils, but the loss is part of a larger trend. New Jersey has two wins in its last eight games and owns the worst goal difference (minus-19) in the Eastern Conference.
While the differential is skewed somewhat by what happened Tuesday, they’d still rank above just the Columbus Blue Jackets if you remove that result entirely.
New Jersey is three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild-card spot and faces off with Pittsburgh on Thursday. But there probably aren’t many fans who consider the Devils to be a playoff contender in their present state.