The New Jersey Devils keep finding ways to make this season more embarrassing. The latest installment came against the Montreal Canadiens.
It was another one of those miserable nights for fans of the 2019-20 New Jersey Devils. They have had one of the most horrific seasons in team history and it keeps getting worse. Yes, a lot has been made about the expectations placed on them and rightfully so. The thing is, we are way beyond that now. At this point, they are just getting to be a bit embarrassing to be a fan of. Whatever the worst-case scenario on the ice is on any given night usually happens.
The latest example was last night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Devils have played Montreal very well this season so it was a chance to build on something. They got out to a 3-0 lead at home vs the Habs, and they blew it. Again, another three or more goal lead that slipped away. Montreal gained some momentum when the Devils allowed them to score a short-handed goal. From that point on, it was pretty much all Montreal.
The Habs ended up going up 4-3 making things even worse for the Devils. Kyle Palmieri was able to tie it with 19 seconds left in regulation. As miserable of a game as it was, seeing the top players never give up is something to be proud of. What happened next was the most infuriating part of the whole thing.
The overtime period was very entertaining but both goalies played well enough to see the shootout. Ilya Kovalchuk scored what would be the game-winning goal in the shootout and then shushed the crowd with his finger. They had been booing him all night and he got the last laugh. It was an extremely embarrassing ending as a fan of this team.
The guy that was here for a while as one of the best players in the league left in the middle of his prime to go back to Russia, only to come in and score the game-winning shootout goal on the ten-year anniversary of the Devils drafting him. It was not fun to watch as a fan and hopefully the Devils can just try to be a little better down the stretch.
Things might get worse before they get better as the trade deadline approaches. They are on to play the Philadelphia Flyers in Philly on Thursday. The Flyers are playing for their lives so they are going to come out very hungry. The Devils would love to try to play spoiler against their rivals down the stretch.