New Jersey Devils Can’t Trust Cory Schneider Down The Stretch

The New Jersey Devils tried to see if Cory Schneider could gain some of his old magic playing against the San Jose Sharks. Instead, he was pulled in the second period. This shows it’s Keith Kinkaid’s job to carry the Devils to the playoffs.

The last time Cory Schneider was the winning goalie for the New Jersey Devils, it was 2017. The team was riding high during a five-game home winning streak, and the playoffs looked like a certainty. Things were going great. That was December. Three months later, and Schneider can’t figure out what’s going wrong.

In the middle of that stretch of games was a major groin injury that had him sitting for over a month. Groin injuries are terrible for goalies because it hurts their lateral movement and slows down their closing of the five hole.

Schneider is currently on an 11 game losing streak after his stinker against the San Jose Sharks. He allowed four goals on 14 shots in just over 30 minutes. Sure, his defense left him out to dry, but he did them no favors himself.

During his 11-game losing streak, not once did Schneider post more than a .900 save percentage. Not one single time. There weren’t any games where the Devils offense disappeared and they lost 1-0 or 2-1. Every single game he’s allowed three or more goals.

This isn’t looking at Schneider’s future with the Devils organization. I remember how good he was to start the season. The Devils are probably closer to the New York Islanders than the Columbus Blue Jackets without him.

The fact is, right now the Devils have a better chance of winning with Keith Kinkaid in net. Just look at this chart, which shows Kinkaid’s goals prevented above average against Schneider’s. Kinkaid is in red and Schneider is in blue.

One player is trending downward at a major clip while one is trending upward at almost the same angle.

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Right now, the Devils need someone in net that can steal games. That’s Kinkaid. Schneider has lost his confidence in his game completely. Whether he’s still dealing with the lingering effects of his injury, or he just doesn’t believe in his own game, the Devils can’t trust him between the pipes.

Kinkaid, on the other hand, made us all forget his January and February stretch where we were pining for Eddie Lack to get starts. Since February 15th, Kinkaid has allowed three or more goals three times. Twice it came in Devils blowouts where the game was at hand early (against Vegas and Montreal) and the other time it was the second of a back-to-back game.

It’s time for head coach John Hynes to ride the hot goalie. Kinkaid is the Devils best chance at stopping the Florida Panthers’ run to the playoffs. I know a lot of you are completely quitting on the Devils after the last game, but we need to calm down and trust in Blockaid.