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New Jersey Devils Look to Bounce Back Against New York Rangers

By Trey Matthews

Head coach Lindy Ruff speaks with the media prior to the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Prudential Center on October 30, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Head coach Lindy Ruff speaks with the media prior to the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Prudential Center on October 30, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils had one of their worst performances of the season on Friday against the New York Islanders. It was a game in which the Devils allowed the Islanders to score four unanswered goals early, which resulted in Vitek Vanecek being pulled from the game early. The last time Vanecek was pulled from a game prematurely was when the Devils played the Ottawa Senators on November 10th. However, that instance was due to injury. So, this was the first time Vanecek was replaced due to poor performance.

It wasn’t entirely his fault. The defense in front of him didn’t make it easy. The Devils played desperately toward the end of the game. They were down by three goals and decided to pull Akira Schmid when there were about seven minutes remaining in the game. Jack Hughes also broke the NHL record for the longest shift on the ice (6:02) in an attempt to tie the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough, as the Devils dropped their fifth game of the season.

I had the opportunity to cover the game from the press box and went inside the locker room postgame. I spoke to team captain Nico Hischier and head coach Lindy Ruff. Despite the loss, Hischier was still proud of his team and hoped they rebound on Monday night.

“The journey has been good so far,” Hischier said. “[We] definitely have a lot of confidence in here, and we believe that we’re a good team. We try to learn from our mistakes, for example, what we did tonight. Get better the next game, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

When I spoke to Ruff, I asked him what his team was going to work on before their next game against the New York Rangers. Because it’s been evident this season that the Devils know how to rebound after adversity. The main thing that Ruff preached was playing as a “connected unit.”

“I think just try to be connected,” Ruff said. “We have to be connected as a five-man group. That’s what we’ll work on; you got to be connected in all zones. If we get people back in good time, we play well in our own zone. If we get up in a hurry, then maybe we can sustain offensive zone pressure. We’ll just continue to work on the areas of the game that are our strengths.”

I dissected the game and my overall credentialed experience in my latest episode of Locked On Devils.

Despite scoring first against the Islanders thanks to Hischier’s power-play goal, the Devils put themselves behind the eight-ball early by allowing the Islanders to score four unanswered goals. It didn’t help that Alexander Holtz got a penalty when the Devils cut the lead in half (4-2) at one point in the second period. However, the Devils have showcased that they can bounce back after suffering shortcomings. Coming away with the victory against their cross-river rival on the road can definitely whip them back into shape.

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