The New Jersey Devils returned to action in the second half of a back-to-back Wednesday, taking on a Washington Capitals team that was struggling mightily. The Capitals came in with six goals in five games and left the Prudential Center with their total doubled. The Devils fell in a roller coaster of a contest, 6-4.
(Another) Slow Start
Both teams headed in having conceded the first goal in every single game, so the luck was bound to change for one. Unfortunately it was the Devils who continued their dreadful trend of starting slow. Anthony Mantha broke the ice by going five-hole on Akira Schmid, and the Capitals didn’t look back the rest of the first period. They scored three straight in the frame and made Schmid hit the showers early.
In head coach Lindy Ruff’s pre-game press conference, he alluded that “puck management and discipline (would) be a big factor…” in this contest. While they didn’t commit a penalty in the first, their puck management was about as good as an unplugged microwave. Their passes weren’t connecting at all and they looked very sloppy. Final shots were 8-2 in favor of Washington, and Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton finished the period with a Corsi of 7.69% and 14.29%, respectively. There aren’t many other ways to put it…it’s very hard to succeed when a team’s top pairing is getting caved in to that extent.
The Devils had more goals in a 2:11 span in the second than they had shots in the entirety of the first. The message has been stressed night in and night out dating back to last season, and yet the opening frame remains a dilemma. At this point, it appears to be more of a mental thing than anything else.
Defense is A Concern (In Every Period)
With the departures of defensemen Ryan Graves and Damon Severson, some wondered if the Devils’ elite defense from last season would take a slight hit. Nobody could have foreseen this much of a hit, however. They’re currently tied with the Winnipeg Jets for fourth-worst in the league in goals allowed per game.
Odd-man rushes have been way too frequent from defensemen who are simply too good to be this bad. It may be easy to blame the goaltending too, as Schmid had a .750 save percentage and looked really shaky for a second straight game. But the two goaltenders’ combined goals saved above expected to this point is only slightly below league average, at negative one-half. This shows that the quality of chances given up are too high for a goaltender to consistently bail the team out. They’re playing with fire, and Ruff did not hold back in his postgame presser:
“Our puck play was atrocious…I thought we were a soft team…We made an unbelievable effort to play good defensive hockey last year. If we’re gonna play like this, we’re gonna make it extremely tough on ourselves.”
– Lindy Ruff
Siegenthaler, who hasn’t been playing to his full potential, referred to the sloppiness of the game as “a little stupid…we kind of gave it away”.
Related: Devils’ Offseason Departures Begin Anew Around the NHL
Latest THW Headlines
For reference, the Devils were top-five in shots allowed per game last season with 28.23. So far, they stand at 20th with 30.67. It will be intriguing to see whether they begin to switch up defensive pairings on Oct. 28 versus the Buffalo Sabres, or keep them the same.
Reason for Hope
While the early season sloppiness may be frustrating, there are some signs that the Devils will settle down and get back to their dominant play style from last season.
Despite their defensive woes, the offense has been finding its footing more and more each night. They’ve only scored two first period goals all season, but 12 in the second and eight in the third. Even if their defensive struggles continue in the first, the roster is simply too talented to struggle that mightily. Expect some positive regression in terms of first period offense soon.
Additionally, some key players are starting to get hot. Tyler Toffoli has six goals in the last three games. Timo Meier and Nico Hischier have both played really well for those last three after painfully slow starts. There seems to be some real offensive chemistry with this current set of lines, so once the defense picks it up the Devils will go back to putting up crooked numbers consistently.
And the defense will pick it up. Siegenthaler and John Marino were the team’s best defensive defensemen last season, and both have not played like it up to this point. They’ve been caught flat-footed on multiple occasions and the puck has ended up in the back of the net as a result. Eventually, they’re going to settle in and return to being the rock-solid, steady forces on the backend that they were all of 2022-23.
Dawson Mercer has yet to find the scoresheet, but his last couple of efforts have been better. Ruff has been vocal about the fact that the depth on offense is so great that Mercer becomes a casualty of that, having to play on the third line. But that’s not a bad thing at all. He’s still only 21-years-old, and once he settles in he’ll be able to start having heavier impacts on the game. Like Meier and Nico Hischier earlier this season, Mercer is too talented to be pointless much longer.
Their penalty kill has most of the same personnel from last season when they were second in the league. So far, they’ve only been succeeding at a 70.8% clip – 22nd in the NHL. They’ve fallen victim to an inability to clear the puck at crucial times. Often, they appear as if they’re trying to do too much. They’re obviously capable of doing so, so I’d expect them to pick it up shortly.
The fourth line of Curtis Lazar, Michael McLeod, and Nathan Bastian has actually been producing a ton of offense. They’ve been controlling the pace virtually the entire season and getting some great scoring chances. In their four games together, they’ve created 31 chances and only given up 15. The Devils have not gotten much, if any, secondary scoring. That should also change soon.
Better Days Ahead
Based on sheer talent alone, the Devils still have an okay record at 3-2-1. They’re only a point behind first place in the Metro. This shows that even when they struggle, they’re able to stay afloat. Guys like Jack Hughes (who has a whopping 17 points in six games) and Jesper Bratt will continue to chip in as long as they’re healthy. Once the rest of the team starts clicking, watch out. As long as they’re healthy, it’s a matter of when, not if.