The New Jersey Devils put together one of the most pathetic performances of the season in the first two periods against the Florida Panthers. After a pretty brutal schedule, it shows this team needs days off to perform.
Watching the New Jersey Devils last night felt like watching one team playing in slow motion. The Florida Panthers dominated the Devils for a full two periods. Luckily for Jersey’s team, goalie Cory Schneider played as well as he’s been all season those two periods, and kept the score to 1-0 in the second intermission.
This Devils team, which has been known for its explosive offense, mustered just three shots in the first period. Nope, that isn’t a typo. They didn’t do much better in the second, hitting Roberto Luongo with just seven shots in that period.
The Devils were bad at all plays that took extra effort. They were losing almost every board battle. Even players like Taylor Hall, who has been skating around and through defenses in recent games, couldn’t hold onto the puck. The giveaways were a major problem this game, as the Devils couldn’t establish anything in the offensive zone before losing it to the Panthers forecheck.
Give credit to the Panthers. The Devils were tired early in the game, and they pounced. The Cats shot the puck 30 times in the first two periods. That’s three times as many as the Devils had in that time.
Something did click for the Devils in the third period. Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt were both able to get the puck past Luongo. Both goals tied the game at one and two respectively.
It wasn’t enough, however. Jared McCann scored a wonky goal late in the third period to make it 3-2. A rebound took a weird bounce off Schneider right onto McCann’s stick. He took a hard angle shot that hit off the goalie and in.
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This isn’t the first time the Devils laid an egg after a rough schedule. On October 20th, the Devils played their seventh game in 12 nights against the San Jose Sharks. A dominating performance ended with a 3-0 loss. Their latest game was also the seventh game in 12 nights. It was a similarly bad performance.
The Devils must play better when they are tired. If they could find a way to play how they did in the third period that entire game, the way Schneider carried them those first two period they would have won.
Not sure if there is anything head coach John Hynes can do about that performance. Sure, he can try to up the team’s conditioning in practice, but a brutal schedule like this doesn’t give a lot of time for practice in general. The Devils have three days off after this game. They just need to regroup and be happy the Devils are still in first place.