The New Jersey Devils lost to the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Saturday night. The loss essentially ends any hope the Devils had of making the playoffs. They had a chance to move within five points of the New York Islanders, but now they remain seven points out of their closest playoff spot.
It wasn’t without controversy. The Devils tied the game on a Connor Brown goal with less than five minutes to go in the game. The referees overturned the goal for a “hand pass,” even though no such pass occurred. The NHL rulebook is very vague about what counts as a hand pass.
The goal was important on multiple levels. The original shot that Brown caught in the air came off the stick of Dougie Hamilton. That would have given him an assist on the play, extending his points streak to a league-leading 11 games.
This came after Hamilton originally extended the streak in the first period on Timo Meier’s goal. Originally, Hamilton was given the secondary assist, while Cody Glass had the first assist. Later in the game, scorekeepers changed the secondary assist to Connor Brown, removing Hamilton from the stat sheet.
Dougie Hamilton's point streak ends in controversy
The game as a whole was frustrating, as it probably puts a dagger into the Devils’ season before February even begins. They didn’t even make it to the Olympic break with a real shot at the playoffs. Everything is a pipe dream at this point.
The one thing we were holding onto was Dougie Hamilton’s play since his ill-advised and mistimed healthy scratch. He’s been on fire ever since, but now that streak is over.
It was one of those situations where the bad news compiles. Hamilton’s streak ends. The Devils season is probably too far gone. The trades are going to come soon, including a likely Dougie Hamilton trade, and the man with his hand on the switch is Tom Fitzgerald.
It’s a bad situation for Devils fans, and we foresee some empty arenas in Newark on gameday. There’s a real frustration with his fanbase, and we can’t blame them anymore. The mediocrity has been accepted, and nothing short of a way-too-late Ondrej Palat trade has come to save this team.