Disturbing trend developing for Devils

Tonight's 3-2 loss to Carolina was the Devils' fourth sloppy effort in their last five games.

They got away with a bad one in their 4-3 win in St. Louis on Dec. 30, but weren't as fortunate in a 4-2 loss in Dallas on New Year's Eve. With the help of some poor goaltending by Montreal's Jaroslav Halak, the Devils bounced back with a 4-1 win over the Canadiens on Friday. They didn't play particularly well in coming back to beat Ottawa, 4-3, in overtime on Sunday, though. 

“That’s four out of five games, so that’s not a good thing," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We’ve gotten away with a couple of them, but it’s something we definitely have to stop. We have to get back to playing game sharp from the drop of the puck all the way through, especially going on the road trip we’re going to be on. We’re going to have to be sharp every night.”

 

The Devils embark on a six-game road trip after Thursday night's home game against Atlanta and Devils coach Brent Sutter admitted he's concerned.

 

 

"There’s no question that to the coaching staff that’s something that’s alarming,” Sutter said. “Yet, you can [yell] until you’re blue in the face and go through things, but it’s up to the individuals to put it into that gear again. I’ve said this before. You’re not going to win every game. But we haven’t played all that well. We’ve had one decent game in the last five and we’ve been fortunate enough to win two out of those ones that we didn’t play.

 

“But when you play a team like this tonight, you’re not going to get away with it.”

 

Devils left wing Zach Parise said it is difficult to "pinpoint" what's been missing.

 

"It does seem sluggish," Parise said of the team's play. "It seems like we're not sharp, we're not initiating things, I guess. I don't know whether we're too passive right now or what, but before we were creating stuff. We were holding on to the puck. We were controlling. It just doesn't seem like we've been doing that the past few games."

 

***

Center Dainius Zubrus admitted to me after the game that whatever it is that's been keeping him out of practice is affecting him "a little bit" on faceoffs. He ended up going 6-6 on draws tonight, but was only 1-3 after the first period and 2-4 after two periods. Brian Gionta started taking some draws for that line in the second period.

 

"Gio is better on his backhand, anyway," Zubrus said.

 

Zubrus said his undisclosed injury felt "not bad" overall in tonight's game.

 

***

Brent Sutter on coaching tonight against his son, Brandon, for the first time in the NHL:

 

“Once the game got started, my focus was behind the bench and making sure that I was doing the right things behind the bench and his focus was to play the game. I thought he played pretty well, too.”

 

Comments

[DanT]

Terrific write up TG....wish i had your job. on to Atlanta

[bobo]

With Atlanta being one of the worst in the league, the Devils should light them up again and allow the team to work out some issues. The last time the Devils played Atl they beat them 6-1 without Holik and Rollie. I remember Johnny O having a great game that night. Hopefully this will help cure their ills.

[brian s]

i totally agree with you on this tg. i have noticed that they have gone back to their little trend of taking alot of shots form between the blue line and the top of the circles. they also have started to shoot from against the boards from the outside of the circles, but with no one in front. they stopped clogging up the front of the net like they were in nov/dec. they still seem physical on most nights. with the exception of the canes last goal, and maybe just a few others clemmenson has still looked sharp. thinking though that weekes should get a couple games here since they devs are playing sluggish as they have said. will give weekes a little confidence boost, and maybe give clemmenson some peace of mind for his brain.

[JCdevs]

TG- Nice to see you on TV, you were looking a little nevous which is understandable.
Why no shout out to the loyal F&I bloggers??

[MoonDragn]

From what I saw, the difference in the past few games is that the Devils have 3 forwards fighting for the puck instead of two. As a result, nobody is in front of the net and also when the puck goes past them, nobody is there to come back to backcheck. As a result, they get caught with rushes the other way and get tired out fast.

They need to go back to two men fighting for puck and one held back a little in case the puck comes loose.

[Reg]

Yeah TG, you did seem nervous lol.

[kstatik]

I think this disturbing trend goes hand-in-hand with Whitey's little vacation...

As much as people talk s*#t about him and his play, he's been one of our most solid
defensemen this season and his absence shows in the team's play as of late.

Come back Whitey!

[JJ]

Tomorrow's game should be a good test to see if the guys come out of the gate jumping and continue that for a full 60. Seems like in the early parts of the first they are waiting to see what kind of game the other team is going to play rather than dictating the style & pace of the game. Carolina played well defensively (esp. in keeping shots to the outside by clogging the middle and front of the net) but you have to do things to open that up including getting the puck behind the net and getting a cycle going to get guys to miss their assignments. The offense has become a bit predictable and that is death in hockey because all of these teams rely heavily on video so there are no secrets as to what teams try to do. This Atlanta game needs to be a 100% effort, a complete game REGARDLESS of the fact that they are facing an very inferior opponent so they can go out West on a good note.

[Rick]

Tom,what foward and defenceman do you think the devs will try to pick up before the trade deadline.

[Sarah]

Completely agree, kstatik. Remember how much they struggled without Whitey in the lineup last year? I think the team finds his presence on the blueline very settling, and he's been VERY good this year. Hope to have him back tomorrow to get things back on track before the trip out west.

TG, any indication of who might sit if Colin does play tomorrow?

[Falcone]

We need a rough and hard fought game. Tons of hitting, goals, sold D, great goaltending. Something that a Philly or a Rangers game would bring. That should bring us out of our funk. However that shouldn't be something we look to, to get out of a funk.

Madden, Pando, Ruppy need to be better. More hitting, more quality chances.

Zub, Gio, Elias and Zack, Travis and Jamie need to be better as well. They're letting the other team dictate the action. We need to dictate the action. When we're in control of the puck, shooting regularly, making crisp passes, we're tough to beat. But we're playing like guys that haven't played together all season. Needs to change.

D needs to step up as well. Maybe its a fight from Leach or Bryce, but they're just going thru some motions back there. Need a spark, a fire.

[Cory]

@ kstatik: I think you're dead on. It's easy to point out mistakes that a player makes, (100x easier with a D-man) but he's their rock out there at times, and that becomes more apparent with every game missed by "the big man from Nova Scotia" :)