Another bad home performance by Devils

Well, at least the news on Colin White's injured left hand wasn't definitively bad. It's difficult to tell, though, because all the Devils are saying right now is that White has a "sore hand" and will be out, "day to day:"

"That's all I was told after the game," Devils coach Brent Sutter said.

White was examined by team doctors during the game. When I asked if there if it had been determined if White's hand definitely is not broken, Sutter replied, "They never mentioned that to me. I don't know."

White did not play in tonight's 3-1 loss to the Kings after being struck in the left hand with a shot by Atlanta's Mathieu Schneider on Friday night.

It certainly looked like the Devils missed White. They had a sloppy night in the defensive zone.

"I don't buy it," Sutter said. "We've had injuries before that we had to deal with it. We just have some guys that have to wake up at home."

In fact, Sutter said that Jay Leach, who filled for White tonight and played for the first time since Jan. 6, was actually one of the team's better defensmen tonight.

"He was steady," Sutter said. "Leachie is going to bring what Leachie brings. He certainly wasn't our worst defenseman out there. I thought our back end struggled tonight."

This was the Devils' second poor performance at home in as many games. They also struggled in a 5-2 loss to Washington on Tuesday.  Sutter went back farther than that, though, referencing a 4-0 loss at home to Altanta on Jan. 8 as well.

"It's really been three of our last five (home) games where I wasn't pleased at all with the way we played at home. We don't find that on the road, so there's a reason why it happens. We'll have to correct it."

The Devils have won seven in a row on the road, but have four more games on this homestand, including a big one on Monday night against the slumping Rangers.

"I don't why, but it's something we have to address and change," said center Dainius Zubrus, who snapped a nine-game goal drought in the third period. "At the same time, I'm sure we're going to do it. For some reason (at home), we seem to get away from our strengths. I know what makes us strong and we've got to get back to that."

"Sometimes when we're at home, we just want to push so hard instead of just kind of sit back and wait for their mistakes," left wing Patrik Elias said. That's what we do on the road."

***

Although Scott Clemmensen allowed at least three goals for the fourth consecutive start, he really could not be blamed on any of the goals. One was a screened power-play shot from Jarret Stoll. The second was a tip by Anze Kopitar, who got behind the check of Zach Parise. The third was Patrick O'Sullivan's penalty shot.

"I thought Clemmer was solid tonight," Sutter said. "He never got a whole lot of help. We were very passive in our own zone and made some mistakes. It just wasn't a very good game."
 

Comments

[Henrik L]

TG can u please tell me the team's training schedule?
I would like to watch them practice. Will they be skating tomorrow?
Thanks

[Merms]

i blame brad meier and chris rooney

[lightrail rider]

Unfortunately I was at the game tonight Hope we are much better Monday. Re possible avery return to rags Crap tends to clump together.

[TG]

No practice tomorrow after games on back-to-back nights, but it does not matter anyway. Practices are not open to the public.

[Henrik L]

Oh I see, I thought they were.
Thanks anyway Tom