Chris Drury celebrates a last second, game tying goal (Yardbarker.com)
The frustrations are an endless adventure with the Devils lately. They just can NOT seem to keep it all together for a consecutive stretch of games and that has me highly skeptical of the upcoming post-season. I understand the close game against the Rangers, even though they are not as good of a team as us, they are our perennial rivals, therefore just about every game between the two will be a dog fight.
Tonight’s game was no different, but the Devils had plenty of chances to win this game, the fact that they lost a game they had in their grasps has me feeling that all too familiar feeling. That feeling would be my uncertainty about these guys. Are they the team from the beginning of the year that went on a tear, to be one of the elite teams in the NHL? Or are they pretenders wearing contenders skates? I have not been able to get a grasp on them for what seems like two months now.
The Devils actually played a great game tonight, but one of their flaws all season came back to them again. That being their inability to close out a game. They blew two games in a row back in February to Philadelphia, they had a two goal lead in each game and could not hold on in either. Tonight hurt just as bad as those because of how it happened.
There was less than a minute to play in the game, the Devils were up 3-2 and about to douse the flame that was the Rangers playoff hopes…until they made a crucial mistake and iced the puck. The Rangers were then able to change the guys on the ice and Jersey (by rule of the ice) had to keep their men on. Chris Drury came on for the face-off against Patrik Elias and Drury won it back cleanly to the point. From there a soft shot from the point made its way behind the net, where Erik Christensen took the puck and passed it in front of the net, going through dumb ol’ Colin Whites legs and landed right on Drury’s stick. It all happened so quickly that Marty had no time to react and Drury put it through his five-hole and the game was tied
Terrible defense at the end of a game, absolutely terrible. How you allow Christensen so much room to make that kind of pass, and then to have Drury right in front of Marty? COME ON DEVILS! Mottau was just standing in front of the net with Drury right there and he did nothing. I am not going to take anything away from the great pass Christensen made, but these mental break downs by the D at the end of games just can’t happen. I do not want to be signing the same old song once this year is all over, but by the looks of how this team is playing right now, I have to expect I am going to be doing just that.
The OT would bring what you would expect 4-4 hockey to be, back and forth rushes, shots galore, you know the drill. But, no goals went in so it went to a shootout. The Rags got the one and only goal that was needed in the SO and they got (and earned) a very important second point on the night. As for the Devils, they got a point just like the Pens got a single point last night, putting us back in first place in the Atlantic, but to end the night in a loss after a victory was in our clutches….just sucks, simply put. It especially sucks when you look down the road and see the kind of cake-walk schedule the Pens have compared to ours. Go and compare the two and tell me who you think will win the Atlantic at the rate the Devils are winning games.
I do, however, need to find the silver lining somewhere in this upsetting loss. The Rad Russian got his first goal as a Devil in a Devil/Ranger game, getting the first of the game after a Rolston slap-shot, he just punched it home off a Lundqvist rebound. The Devils also got good showings from Elias and Lags, but they were for not. It seems that the Devils are getting good performances on given nights from their big guns, but it isn’t all clicking, resulting in some losses. Which is a shame for those guys that are stepping up. Once again, I don’t know what to make of these Devils right now, I am in constant fear heading into the playoffs.
The Devils head to Montreal next to try and improve their mediocre road record, this Saturday. The puck drops at 7:00 EST and will be broadcast on MSG+ locally, as well as on the NHL Network nationally.