A six goal outburst from the New York Islanders show exactly what is wrong with the New Jersey Devils this season. A team with more talent is doing worse than last season.
The New Jersey Devils scored four goals on Sunday night. It’s a milestone that the team doesn’t hit very often. It is a milestone that is even rarer in a loss.
The last time the Devils lost a game in regulation with four goals? March 7, 2014. Almost three full years ago.
Nobody on defense was on their game Sunday.
Keith Kinkaid was especially bad in his first game since January 26th. He made one save that could live on highlight reels all season when he dove across the crease to stop an open-net shot by Josh Bailey. That was about all he gave to the Devils.
Kinkaid allowed six goals on just 32 shots. One night earlier, Cory Schneider stopped 40 out of 42 shots against the same team.
Andy Greene was the only player who was even serviceable against the Islanders.
No matter what Islanders line was on the ice, they looked amazing. Their passing display in the offensive zone looks like a varsity team playing the freshman. The Devils looks like they were in the wrong league most of the game.
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Luckily the Devils found an offensive touch against a backup goal so it wasn’t a complete blowout, but a loss is a loss.
At the end of the game, Keith Kinkaid told Andrew Gross of the Record that this loss was on him. He’s right, but the defense should have known that he wouldn’t be on his game with such a long layoff.
Despite being a back-to-back game, there was an argument to play Schneider again Sunday. Those arguments only grow louder with Kinkaid’s performance.
This loss knocks the team back to four points out of the final Wild Card spot. It sounds very doable, except for the fact there are five teams ahead of them. It will be a dog fight to the end in the Eastern Conference, but it is hard to argue the Devils have a dog in that fight.