The New Jersey Devils now only have four more games to go of this dreadful season, but they may have helped themselves in Detroit on Friday.
The New Jersey Devils are obviously going nowhere this season. With about a week to play, many people are looking more at the draft lottery than they are the schedule. The big game remaining was the one Friday night when the Devils paid a visit to Motown to take on the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings had one more point in the standings than the Devils did and this game promised to be huge in deciding the final lottery odds.
It was definitely hard to watch a game like this because knowing that it will be beneficial for your team that you love so much to lose hurts. Ken Daneyko may have said it best on the broadcast, basically saying that the players will always try hard no matter what and however the chips fall is where they will fall. On Friday those chips fell Detroit’s way on the scoreboard as they defeated the Devils by a final score of 4-0.
There is a positive with the way the game was played on the ice, and that is that if the Devils were 100% healthy they are a much better team than the Detroit Red Wings. They can beat anyone if they were fully healthy and get good goaltending from Cory Schneider and MacKenzie Blackwood. That goaltending was not there in the first half of the season and the health was not there in the second half. Next year should be much better if they click on all cylinders.
So now the Red Wings have a three-point lead on the Devils in the league standings and the Devils lead the Los Angeles Kings by two points and the Ottawa Senators by seven points. If the season ends with the standings the way they are right now, the Devils would have an 11.5% chance which is the third-best odds. Ottawa’s pick will go to the Colorado Avalanche from a trade last season, and they pretty much have the top odds spot locked up. The battle for the second, third, and fourth best odds will go down to the wire.
The Devils are back in action tonight when the playoff-bound St. Louis Blues visit the Rock. With players like Jack Hughes and Kappo Kakko at steak, it is hard not to think about the long term. Next year the goalies should play well and Taylor Hall will be back. Better days are ahead, Devils fans.