The New Jersey Devils head into the first full week of November after a ho-hum first month of the season. October had its ups and downs, with a four-game losing streak as the low point and an incredible start including two wins in Prague as the high point. It's the first month of Sheldon Keefe's Devils career, and it's clear he's still trying to find the right buttons to push.
For the most part, the Devils come out of October feeling positive. Even by points percentage, the Devils are a playoff team with a 7-5-2 record. They've technically won as many games as they've lost, but the schedule was not easy and they survived.
November doesn't get any easier, so the Devils have to make sure they learned lessons during their first month. They still have 14 games on the docket in November. What should they bring into these matchups?
Lesson #1: Beating bad teams is worth as much as beating good ones
Last season, the Devils clearly did not always take games seriously against lesser opponents. The team went 0-2 against the Ducks, 0-1-1 against the Coyotes, and they added losses to the San Jose Sharks, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and the Calgary Flames. The Devils knew these losses would crush them at the end of the season. It was one of the many reasons the Devils were in the spot they were in.
This season, we’re not seeing those losses. The Devils have five regulation losses, and only the Detroit Red Wings loss is to a team currently outside of the playoff picture. Even their overtime losses came from the Islanders in a strange game (a non-playoff team that has fallen off a cliff), and the Capitals (who are the surprise of the NHL season, and the Devils are one of their three losses).
The Devils have a very hard schedule in November. They only have six games against non-playoff teams. They have two games against the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers, another matchup with the Lightning, and three intra-division games versus the Capitals and Hurricanes. That’s just some example of the schedule moving forward. They cannot lose the games against the San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, or the re-match against the Islanders.