Losing is what makes being a sports fan significant. Still, a heartbreaking loss or a disappointing loss can leave you feeling sadder, and the New Jersey Devils have left their fans feeling this way throughout their history.
This New Jersey Devils season understandably has been upsetting, with so many losses, blown leads and no effort. It got us thinking about the other times this team has lost. There were times this team made us feel much worse?
Throughout the 38 years of the New Jersey Devils, we’ve not only dealt with big wins, but also losses that endured through our minds forever. These are the five most heartbreaking and disappointing losses in the teams’ history in my opinion. And remember, you can always tweet me to see if you have your bitter memory that’s not on here.
5. October 4th 2019 Four-goal Lead Lost vs the Winnipeg Jets
To start, let’s look at the most recent loss on this list. Fans couldn’t wait to see what this brand new Devils team with rookie Jack Hughes, new winger Nikita Gusev, big defenseman P.K. Subban, also newly acquired Wayne Simmonds, and the rest of the team looked like on the ice vs. the Winnipeg Jets. When the game began, we saw how different the team played. They were a lot faster and playing more efficiently.
It would take 18 minutes for Nikita Gusev to make his first big impact as an NHL player by scoring his first goal to put the Devils on top. When the 2nd period came, the Devils domination continued. Two goals were scored by Blake Coleman, while Sami Vatanen scored the other one. When the score was 3-0, Blake Coleman did the unthinkable. While falling, he used one arm to shoot the puck past Laurent Brossoit. Jets fans were happy to get on the board at the end of the second period thanks to Dmitry Kulikov.
When the third period started, Devils fans and the organization saw the Devils chance at an incredible season come to an end. When Jack Roslovic made it a two-goal game, Cory Schenider looked like he suffered an injury and had to leave the game. After all the hype going into the first game of the season, he goes down almost an hour later. MacKenzie Blackwood had to come in to finish the job. Then, John Hynes made a decision that impacted everything.
After he saw the Devils playing poorly, he decided to change the lines despite them playing well throughout the game. The style of play after those lines changes did not work. The Jets eventually tied the game at four with goals by Mathieu Perreault and Neal Pionk. The teams were tied at four by the end of the 3rd, so overtime was next, and no one had scored, but Jack Hughes almost had a breakaway towards the end that would’ve made things interesting.
The shootout was next, and while Nikita Gusev scored for the Devils, goals by Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor secured the win for the Jets. This loss closed our season early and made the fans angry and upset. Jack Hughes did not have the performance we all wanted, but that’s ok, not every rookie will achieve in their first game. Nikita Gusev did look good, though. At least if you were a Yankee fan like I am, we had the win against the Twins in Game 1 of the ALDS to help us sleep at night. While blowing a big lead in a loss at the beginning of the season is horrible, it’s nowhere near the worst loss ever.