The New Jersey Devils have an important season coming up as they try to make a statement after losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round last season. It looked like they could hang with the Canes until it was crunch time, but that was when things fell apart for them in all five games of that series. The good thing about sports is that there is always next year; that's the route New Jersey has to take once again to try and make a Cup run. The Devils encountered problems in that type of series against the Hurricanes, making mistakes that could have been easily avoided. The team should be better prepared this year.
Losing Composure
The Devils found themselves losing composure when they fell behind early and lost momentum once they took the lead. In Game 1, New Jersey fell behind in the first period, and it was pretty much over. They trailed 3-0 in the second period, and you could tell the team was lacking the fight to come back.
In Game 2, Jesper Bratt opened the scoring in the first period, giving New Jersey a 1-0 lead, but they ended up losing 3-1. Going down two games to none usually hurts a team's mentality, especially when both losses were pure domination from Carolina.
Then, after an exciting Game 3 win, the Devils came out flat in Game 4, giving up a goal just 52 seconds in and finding themselves down 3-0 in the second period. The effort was there, but the entire team looked depleted, knowing that the season was near an end.
As mentioned, New Jersey seemed to lose momentum once they took a lead, and that is precisely what happened in their elimination game. After taking a 3-0 lead, the Hurricanes clawed back and won 5-4 in overtime. Blowing a lead like that in a playoff game isn't common; the team clearly just didn't have it.
Hopefully, the team looks back on those games and focuses on the mental part of the game, doesn't get too comfortable with a lead, and doesn't slouch once they're trailing. More playoff experience will help this team going forward, add veteran presence, and things just might change.
Poor Power Play and Penalty Kill
The power play is crucial in the playoffs due to the tight and gritty defense played during 5-on-5 play; having that man advantage is essential for finding the deciding goal. New Jersey didn't take advantage of that whatsoever as they went 0 for 15 on the power play that entire series against the Carolina Hurricanes. Two of the five games in that series were decided by one goal; we may be looking at a different outcome if New Jersey had power-play offense during the regular season, scoring 61 power-play goals on some of those power-play opportunities. The Devils were ranked third in the league in power play offense in the regular season, scoring 61 power play goals.
The Hurricanes ranked first in penalty killing during the regular season, but New Jersey was ranked right behind them. It seems that didn't matter, as the Devils gave up six power-play goals to a Carolina team that was ranked 25th in power-play offense, which was pitiful for New Jersey. The Hurricanes capitalized on minor mistakes and took advantage of them in the series.
Lack of Scoring outside of the Core
The Devils' lack of depth was exposed in the series against Carolina as they were begging for goals from the bottom six players. New Jersey scored 11 goals in that series against the Hurricanes; 7 of those goals were scored by Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, or Timo Meier. Championship teams have players from top to bottom scoring goals when they are going on Stanley Cup runs; the Devils were clearly missing that in the five games against Carolina. Hopefully, the additions to this team can help this year with players like Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov.