New Jersey Devils: Penalty Kill Sinks Them In Tough Game

The New Jersey Devils began the day with a celebration. It was a road game against the Washington Capitals, but it marks the 1,000th game of Travis Zajac‘s career and they all came with the Devils. He is now the fourth player in the history of the team that played with them for 1,000 games or more. It has been quite the career for number 19. All Devils fans are all very proud of him. Not many players have stayed that loyal to a franchise for that long in NHL history.

Getting into the game, things started very well for the Devils. They began the game by pinning the Washington Capitals in their own end for a majority of the first period. They even came out of it with a 1-0 lead. They had the first seven shots on goal in the hockey game. Then, a spectacular play made by Andreas Johnsson and Jack Hughes made it 2-0 early in the second period. That was about where the good times ended for New Jersey.

The Capitals rallied to score four straight goals before Nikita Gusev scored a garbage-time goal late in the third period. It was a tough way to lose a hockey game as Washington really turned things on in the third period. You were able to tell that something was different about them once the third period started. The Devils, a much less experienced team, had no chance.

The penalty kill is really the thing that sunk the New Jersey Devils in Washington.

Something is very wrong with the New Jersey Devils’ penalty kill. Guys like Ben Lovejoy, Andy Greene, and Blake Coleman are gone but that doesn’t mean that their PK should be dead last in the entire National Hockey League. They really aren’t even close to the team in 30th place in terms of percentages so that needs to get corrected and fast.

In this game, you can point directly to it as the reason they lost. They gave up three power-play goals to the Capitals on four attempts. You can just say “stay out of the box” but that doesn’t work as penalties are a natural part of hockey. This is a good young team that is being sunk by its penalty kill unit. If they ever figured that out, they might actually be a team that can make some noise. When you are this bad, there is almost no chance to be one of the really good teams.

Now, it isn’t the end of the world for the Devils. They are 2-2-0 since coming back from the COVID-19 pause earlier in the week. This is a very young team with a very bright future. They aren’t reaching their ceiling at any point this season. They are so young so it is about figuring all of these things out. Losing a game because of the penalty kill is a lot better than losing because you aren’t good enough.

When you have studs like Jack Hughes making plays the way he does, with some other really good young players around him, there is no reason to panic. They are going to continue this season with a  lot of ups and downs. They are going to win a lot more games by dominating with speed and skill but they are going to lose a few games for coachable reasons as well.

This is a process but the penalty kill let them down on this Sunday afternoon. They are back in action on Tuesday night at home when the Buffalo Sabres come back to town. This is a big chance for the Devils to right the ship and win a big game.