How do the Devils pick up the pieces?

There was nothing positive to take out of tonight's 4-0 loss to the lowly Atlanta Thrashers -- unless you want to count the Devils doing well in a couple of fights.

That's minor stuff, however, compared to the major problem this team appears to be facing as it heads off on a six-game road trip that begins Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Being shut out by a Thrashers team that was tied with the Islanders for the most goals allowed in the NHL is part of something bigger. In the last 10 days, this team has lost its focus and is playing uninspired, sloppy hockey. They were fortunate to win three of their last five prior tonight's game, but luck would not have helped them at all tonight.

"It has nothing to do with the game," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "Nothing can happen correctly on the ice unless you are focused off the ice. Mentally you need to be where you need to be, as far as preparing the right way. Looking at the things a hockey team needs to do to be successful, we've gotten away from that the 12 days outside of a one day (a 4-1 win over Montreal on Jan. 2). Some things have crept in. The players know what it is and it will get resolved. They're going to have to really dig in to resolve it.

"It's just what happens when you have success. You forget what we did as a hockey team. You start looking for other ways. You start getting away from the things you need to do as an individual and as a team. Indvidually if you're not doing the right things then the team isn't going to be doing the right things. That's just the way it is. It goes hand in hand."

Several players mentioned the team's "battle level", which sounds like a term that came straight out of Sutter's mouth.

"Our battle level is not at the place where it is when we're playing well," captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "And when that's not there, plus we're not playing smart, that combination of things shows up in a game."

Or as Sutter said, "It's pretty evident what it is. You don't have to be blind to see it."

If this was just one game, maybe you could shrug it off as looking past a last-place team to the start of a long road trip. But this is something that started in St. Louis on Dec, 30 and -- other than that win over a beat up Canadiens team that got terrible goaltending -- has steadily grown worse.

"Sometimes you go through spurts like that, but it seems like it hit the whole team," left wing Patrik Elias said. "We have to find a way. That's the bottom line. Even if you don't play well, you still have to work."

The Devils will fly to Los Angeles Friday morning and won't practice when they get there. So, they'll have a long day of travel to contemplete what they need to do to turn this around before it gets really ugly during the 11 days they are away from New Jersey.

This is the team's longest road trip of the season. Tonight's loss certainly wasn't the way they wanted to head into it.

"It's not the perfect way," Langenbrunner said. "But a good way to remedy that is come back and play our game on Saturday when we start this trip and then go from there. The only way to get out of things like this is to start playing better and we have to find a way to do that."

Comments

[Mor]

It can not happen at a better time.
NJD always play good outside.
Why? because they focus on there game and don't take the big physical West team easily.

Go Devils

[Mike O.]

"Some things have crept in. The players know what it is and it will get resolved."

what does THAT mean? Could it be the that they thought they were better than they actually are and stopped working?

[David]

What kind of question is that ? Come on ! How do they pick up the pieces ?. This team's defensemen are among the worst in the NHL. Colon White, Bryce Salvador, Johnny Oduya and Mike Mottau are beyond slow. Snails move faster than these guys. And the offensive part of this team, like Langenbrunner, Elias, Gionta and Zubrus. These guys haven't done dirt for this team this year. They had a couple of good streaks with their scoring and assists, but every other game they've played in they have not been a factor at all. Completely embarrassing would say it all for this team right now.

[Pete]

Well you've got one thing right...getting beaten by this sorry excuse for a team is bad enough, but getting shutout is downright embarrassing.

[David]

AND, also, Lou Lamirello must go !! This guy is the sorriest excuse for a General Manager. He has done nothing but get us medioker players at the trade deadline the last 4 seasons, bringing in guys such as Brad Lukuwich, Jan Hrdina, Victor Kozlov, and so on, and that one year where he didn't do anything at all, no trades, no moves...nothing ! This is not how you win a Stanley Cup in today's NHL. This kind of thinking is outdated and completely passe. We need a GM that wants to get superstar scorers and defensemen, and who wants to get real and keep up with the times in the NHL. No trades for guys that you know aren't going to get it done for you come playoff time.

[Steve]

Frequent reader, First time poster:

First off, Elias not having a good season? WTF!?!? He's tied for most points on the team, and on pace for over 90 points.

Secondly, how to pick up the pieces? Combination of shaking up the lines and a trade:

Elias-Zubrus-Parise
Rolston-Zajac-Gionta
Clarkson-Madden-Langs
Pandolfo-Holik-Rupp

Martin-Oduya
Greene-Salvador
Mottau-Leach/White

Our best trading chip that won't screw up the team is John Madden. The times have changed and so has his role on the team. He no longer shuts down top lines, and has diminished into a 3rd liner at best. I am also sick of hearing the chemistry Madden and Pandolfo have. All devils players are trained to play solid 2 way hockey, so pandolfo shouldn't automatically be a 3rd liner just because Madden is.

With our defensemen in the minors pretty solid and promising for the near future (love the potential of Salmela quarterbacking the powerplay, as well as corrente, Eckford, and Fraser), we can also package at least one of our Dmen, if not two (With only Martin, Oduya, and salvador being safe from this) with Madden to either get a puck moving Dman, or a center to play on one of our top 3 lines who can impact the team more offensively.

[Phil]

I think David may be the person with the dumbest post I have ever read on here. Lou is one of the best GMs in the league, and everyone around the NHL knows it. And as far as our defenseman being terrible, last time I checked we were near the bottom in goals against, without our number 1 goaltender and our supposedly number 2 in weekes playing terrible. Just because they dont put up 90 points doesnt make them awful.

[Phil]

And by bottom i mean we let up the least amount.

[Salvatore from Garfield]

I stopped reading after I saw, "medioker"

[Yeah]

why no one guards Ilya Kovalchuk on the powerplay is beyond me..definitely need to get a solid D-man and perhaps try and push a trade for Gaborik or sign him in the offseason and since he's injured im guessing they wont be moving him this year..wouldnt mind seeing Langenbrunner go or Gio

[Yeah]

oh yeah and whoever posted that entry about Elias doing nothing..hahahahaha him parise and clemmer (hopefully this game and recent ones aren't a sign of him coming back to earth) are the only players the devils can be proud of right now

[Matt]

Completely embarrassing. I think all the Devils should donate their salary for the night to some charity. They certainly didn't earn the right to get paid tonight. And I think it's time Clarkson and or Rupp sat a game or two. Yes, they play very physical roles on this team, but they take the worst penalties. Goals 1 and 2 against us tonight came on power plays due to Clarkson and Rupp. You can't take penalties. An example should be made. And I'm tired of the players talking (extremely VAGUELY) about what's wrong. If you see a problem, FIX THE PROBLEM!

[D3]

There were a lot of penalties, and all of them were dumb. Don't single out Rupp and Clarkie. Holik gets his share every game. When your top players get them, that's when you have a problem. Rupp drew a 4 minute penalty and these scats couldn't do a thing to score. Twit!

[Sarah]

Keep Gaborik away....The guy is way too injury prone to be useful. I don't care how much he scores, if he only plays 20 games a season it doesn't help. Not worth the money or the players lost if you trade for him.

[Falcone]

David-
Don't post anything when you don't know what you're talking about. Elias is having a tremendous year and Lou is still the best GM in Hockey.

Next, there's something going on in the locker room that has screwed with the guys. Not sure entirely what it is, but something is missing, something is going on that we don't know about and its screwing with our chemistry.

If Lou really wants to send a message to his team, you trade Langs and a Dman.

[Jeff]

I was at the game last and it was the worst 60 minute effort I saw all year ok actually I only saw about 45 minutes of it as I left disgusted after Weekes gave up the 4th goal. I think the team has simply grown over confident. I also think our forwards are way to complacent since there is nobody behind them fighting for a chance to play. The only extra player we are carrying is Brookbank and really who's job is he a threat to take? We need to put some pressure on some of these guys by calling up a few players from Lowell and sitting them a game or 2 if the don't perform.

[bobo]

The team has changed since Rollie has returned to the lineup. His shoot first -- pass last style has hurt the team. Langs has also adopted the Rollie style of shooting first.
Unfortunately I was there last night as well. The highlight of the night was when this "dumpy" looking girl made her shot during score-o, that's more than our Devils did. -- and they didn't do the wave last night. That would have been the icing on the cake.

[mikeP]

bobo, I don't know how Rollie's approach has hurt the team, at least he's not afraid to shoot the puck. What our team is really missing is a PP QB. I don't understand how anyone can say Rolston is the QB because all he does is shoot, we actually need someone who can set him up. Langenbrunner seems to do the same thing as Rollie on the PP, shoot the puck. Either acquire a d-man who can run the PP or stick Elias at the left point to setup Rolston.

Mottau needs to be scratched and replaced by Leach against LA, he was at fault for leaving Andy Greene behind on the final Atlanta goals.

Now's the time for the leaders like Langenbrunner Elias Holik, etc to step up in the dressing room and get on the case of the loafers. Maybe we need a veteran d-man to come in who can get on the case of the other d-men who seem to be loafing. I think our entire defense was aweful last night

[Morgan]

I try not to comment on other people's posts, but David, dude, it is not that bad. Things are going very badly right now, but that is a pretty nice baby that you're chucking with the bathwater.

Talent-wise these Devils can win when they focus. What I want to know is why do the Devils do this every year? I mean this goes back to the days of Lemaire. The team will play well and then just get lazy or cocky or I don't even know what and then a little slip in the team's effort and boom the team is terrible. This isn't just a this year thing. How many coaches have the Devils players gotten fired? How many have quit because the team had made them physically ill, like Robinson? Seriously, it is in the Devils culture. I remember when Lemaire lamented the fact that the team stopped playing for each other and just for themselves. I remember his words being, "They all want their cookie."

I don't really know what to do about this as coaches have come and gone, players have come and gone, and yet the New Jersey Devils do this every freaking year.

[justin b]

the defense was in slow motion last night. paul martin was skating with lead boots on. the entire defense was awful. and what happened to parise? he gets in the all-star game and all of sudden he is invisible.

[Jeff]

Parise has been invisible for a few games now not just last night.

[Jeremy]

TG,

Any idea what happened when only a few Devils were on the bench for the start of the third?

[Pearl Jammed]

Every team goes through a lapse during the year. Its 82 games, which span from October to April so its a long season. These slumps happen and to be honest i would rather see them happen on this side of the all-habs break then in March.

This team knows how to win, and especially how to win BIG games, they just have to get their focus back, and Brent will hold them accountable for sure and get them back on the right track. I think that this last 6 games have showed just how good this team is, because even when they played poorly the still found ways to win a few of them, and to me that says ALOT about what this team is about

[Devils]

I wouldn't mind Kaberle but the thing is who can this team trade...I don't know if a lot of people want Langs or Gio and our only worthy d-man is martin and we can't trade him, but you never know we traded Cam for Bryce last year

[SonicDude]

most of david's points cannot be supported. but i agree with some of his points

> lou has been dreadful managing the cap, and his deadline pick ups have added nothing
> our no-name defense benefits from a system, which includes heavy backchecking from our forwards. we really only have 3 reliable d-men, and martin, who is one of them, needs to pick up his scoring (12 pts in 25 minutes a night doesnt work)
> whitey and bryce are slow, but bryce's angle play makes up for that

i dont think we need 10 trades, but we still need a passing center and a top-4 d-man. but i have beaten this drum before.