The New Jersey Devils once again continued a poor habit of getting off to slow starts. For the second consecutive night, they found themselves getting heftily outshot in the early going. While they did eventually battle back, they fell in a shootout to the Arizona Coyotes by a score of 4-3.
Not a New Trend
It’s a theme that carried itself over from last season. In 2022-23, the Devils scored over 30 more goals in the second and third periods, compared to the first. Their goal differential in the opening frame last season was plus-2, compared to plus-19 and plus-39 in the other two periods, respectively.
The Coyotes doubled the shot total of the Devils in the first, 14-7. The Devils continued to make ill-advised plays and really seemed a step slow.
“It’s definitely something we have to work on, the start of the game…our puck management wasn’t good early.”
– Head coach Lindy Ruff
A Sean Durzi powerplay goal early in the second made it a 2-0 advantage for the Coyotes. In typical Devils fashion, however, they stormed back to take a 3-2 lead. It’s a part of why they were the third-best team in the NHL last season: they don’t quit.
But the question remains on why they make it harder for themselves. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it; they certainly began to tilt the ice after their poor start. As they did all of last season as well. But if this trend continues, it’s worrisome. They can’t trust that guys like Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt will bail them out every single time with a clutch goal. Obviously, it’s only game two, but come playoff time, they’ll get burned. Just like they did in the Carolina series.
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The reality is that the Devils’ skill alone earned them a point tonight. Yet, they’re way too talented to continue to have lousy starts. Thankfully, it’s very early, and there’s a good chance it could be corrected. Just look at where the Devils were last season in game two, compared to game 82. Everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Schmid Shines
Chants of “Schmiiiddd” rained down on the Prudential Center often as Akira Schmid bailed out the Devils numerous times, especially during their rough beginning.
The Swiss netminder stopped 30 of 33, including a multitude of high-danger chances. He gave up two goals in the shootout. The numbers don’t do it justice though. With how the team played in front of him, the Coyotes could have scored five or six. The advanced numbers back that up, as he saved 1.54 goals above expected. (via MoneyPuck) Just like he did all playoffs, he made many tough stops that can be attributed to being positionally sound and not moving too much.
A storyline like this could turn out to be far more important than the single point the Devils dropped, as consistent goaltending appears to be the most pressing issue for the team. That’s now back-to-back games to start the season where they got solid efforts in net.
It will be interesting to see down the road if head coach Lindy Ruff leans on Vitek Vanecek to be a clear number one, or has more of a 50-50 split between him and Schmid.
Lack of Discipline
There’s no sugarcoating it: the Devils need to be way more disciplined. They committed eight minor penalties in this one, which led directly to two of Arizona’s goals.
The list of players who took a penalty is almost longer than a grocery list before throwing a party: Erik Haula, John Marino (twice), Jonas Siegenthaler, Luke Hughes, Timo Meier, Brendan Smith, and Dougie Hamilton.
It feels like the lack of discipline goes hand-in-hand with the overall sloppiness of their game in the early going of this season. There’s no denying that their roster is very talented, but that doesn’t guarantee wins.
“It just seemed like (Arizona’s) energy and excitement was better…there’s no easy games.”
– Head coach Lindy Ruff
They’ll need to clean it up and re-group on Monday when they take on the reigning Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers.
Even with a ton of sloppiness in their game, the Devils have secured three out of a possible four points. Good thing for them: it’s not how you do it that matters.
