When you are a great team in the NHL, you will usually experience many highs, but there are times when the morale can be low, which leads to frustrations among the fans and in the locker room. The 2024-25 Devils are now experiencing that with a three-game losing streak. While most of it is due to their strong physical play not being there, it also doesn’t help that the referees make it seem impossible for the Devils to get any momentum going.
We hate to use the referees as an excuse for the bad play and lack of scoring depth, but there is enough proof that the referees have made terrible calls and have changed the games for the Devils in the past three games, and two of them are against excellent teams in the Hurricanes and the Kings.
In the 3rd period against the Hurricanes on December 28, the game was tied at two. Martin Necas was moving across center ice when Timo Meier came across, and both their knees collided. Necas looked like he got hurt. The referees looked at it, kicked Meier out of the game, and gave him a major penalty and a game misconduct as a parting gift.
The Devils have had terrible luck with officiating during their three-game losing streak
The problem was that, after the call, Necas returned to the ice and looked fine, so why did Meier get kicked out? The Hurricanes got the five-minute powerplay, and Jackson Blake scored on it to give the Hurricanes the lead, and they went on to win the game 5-2.
The Devils' problems with the refs got even worse against the Los Angeles Kings on New Year’s Day, as the Devils were down 1-0, trying anything to tie up the game in the second period when it seemed Timo Meier scored to tie it up at one. However, Jim Hiller saw something he thought was goaltender interference and challenged the goal. Upon replay, it looked like there was no conclusive evidence of goaltender interference, so the goal should’ve stood. However, the refs saw enough contact to overturn the call.
NHL Public Relations determined that “New Jersey’s Stefan Noesen impaired Darcy Kuemper’s ability to play his position in the crease before Timo Meier’s goal.” The call completely ruined any momentum the Devils were trying to get, and they ended up getting shutout 3-0.
While the main reason for these losses is the lack of bottom six scoring and the defense not playing like it has done in December, calls like these two can’t happen if the Devils want to keep winning. If this continues to become a problem, you know Sheldon Keefe will be ripping into the media about it.