The New Jersey Devils lost again. It continues the trend of the dreadful month of December. It’s the first regulation loss the Devils have suffered between Christmas and New Year’s since 2017. Nothing is working for them. They get great goalie performances; still lose. They get a ton of offensive chances; still lose. Jack Hughes dominates games; still loses. Nothing matters. Nico Hischier’s scoring doesn’t lead to winning anymore. Jack Hughes’s points don’t help. Nothing helps. It’s like someone has been poking a voodoo doll since December 1st.
It’s hard to blame a 3-7-2 record in the month on luck. Eventually, it’s more than that. Injuries obviously play a part. One can’t blame the lack of scoring and the goaltending woes on luck. However, we’re going to try.
Since the start of the month, only the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets have fewer points than the Devils. By points percentage, the Devils have been one of the worst teams in the league. In that same time frame, the Devils have a 55.24 CorsiFor percentage. That is the number that quantifies how many more chances the Devils get than the other team. Only three teams, the Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken have a better percentage. (Numbers thanks to Natural Stat Trick.) So, the Devils are getting so many more chances than their opponent.
However, all chances aren’t created equal. If the Devils are dominating in chances, it doesn’t mean they dominate in high-danger chances. Welp, the Devils are dominating in quality chances too. They have 137 HDCF and 107 against. Only five teams have a better percentage. (All stats at 5v5.)
When changing the stats to all strengths, it gets worse. The Devils have just over an 11% high-danger shooting percentage at all strengths in December. Only the Blue Jackets are worse this month. When it comes to high-danger shots on net, it somehow gets even worse. The Devils only hit the net on 71.7 percent of their high-danger chances. Meanwhile, their opponents hit the net on 66 percent of their chances. Despite that, the Devils have an 11% shooting percentage on high-danger chances. The opponents are scoring 18.5% of their high-danger shots.
The Devils haven’t scored because their scorers aren’t putting the puck in the back of the net. Hughes has six goals. Bratt and Hischier have four. Six players on the team have more than one goal. No defenseman has more than one goal in December. The Devils need someone to finish these chances. They are asking Hischier and Hughes to finish chances when they should be creating the chances.
Hughes does a good job making his own chances, but that is eventually easy to stop when it’s the only bullet in the chamber. Erik Haula needs to start scoring or needs to get off Hughes’ line. Faceoffs or not, that needs to happen. Alex Holtz needs to score or go to the AHL. Straight up, the excuses are over. This team needs to score. But they also need luck. That will even out. Hopefully, the scoring follows it.