New Jersey Devils are saying all the wrong things after loss to Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins went into their Saturday night tilt with the New Jersey Devils missing both David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy from the lineup. They are not a team that can afford to lose any two players, let alone their two best players. 

Even with the Devils’ recent struggles, this should have been a much better performance from them. After being shut out for two straight games, most would assume they were going to break out in a big way. The team the Bruins put out just didn’t have near the talent level the Devils do, even with Jack Hughes and Brett Pesce on the sidelines. 

We don't care how it’s laid out; that’s a bad lineup from the Bruins. There’s not enough talent, and that’s on management for putting them in that position. 

Yet, the Bruins came out the winners. It wasn’t particularly close on the scoreboard. The Devils never had the lead, as they scored just one goal off the stick of Timo Meier. They didn’t really make Jeremy Swayman sweat. Sure, they had a few good chances, but there weren’t too many that made us think the Devils got robbed.

They did a great job of suppressing total shots, but the shots they did allow came off awful mistakes that went in the net half of the time. After an empty net goal, the Devils ended up losing 4-1. It was possibly the worst feeling the fanbase has had all season. 

The loss was the fifth in a row. They have fallen out of the playoffs entirely, as the rest of the Metropolitan Division are getting points every night while the Devils have five regulation losses in a row. 

There’s no end in sight, either. Nothing says this team is going to turn it around until Jack Hughes and/or Brett Pesce return to the lineup. Timo Meier and Nico Hischier are playing incredibly well, but nobody else is. There are way too many passengers on this offense. 

However, that doesn’t seem to be the vibe when asking the players what they think of their game. It sounds like the Devils think they have the right system in place, they just need to get some luck.

"It’s easy to leave here today and think we lost the game and feeling down in the dumps. But we did a lot to crawl ourselves out of a brand of hockey that was kind of not us and that was a lot closer to our style of play... Even though we didn't get a win, definitely a step in the right direction as far as how we want to play and how we want the games to look."

Connor Brown, Devils forward

That quote makes sense when you’ve lost four of six or if you’ve snuck out a win here or there, but the Devils have one goal in their past three games combined. They need to understand that it's more than just “looking” alright. They have to finish, and they didn’t finish on Saturday night. 

On top of that, they made more mistakes than they had high-danger chances. This includes multiple times where players passed right to the Bruins in the defensive zone. Despite the shot count, they did not make it easy on Jake Allen.

"Maybe we were forcing it a bit (coming into the Bruins game) and maybe we were skipping a lot of steps and kind of got away from our identity as a group. Today, I feel like we found our identity. We played to it. I think we play like that we're going to have a lot of success."

Connor Brown, Devils forward

Again, we're ignoring the glaring mistakes the Devils made and the fact they were playing a nothing lineup. No offense to the Bruins, but they need to be full strength to be a true competitor. They were the opposite of that, and the Devils still shot themselves in the foot.

"We gotta understand that that's the right way to play. We look fast. We look connected and just a couple breakdowns that are costing us."

Brenden Dillon, Devils defenseman

Brenden Dillon had the biggest mistake of the night, getting a pass from behind the night intercepted by the Bruins and leading to their first goal of the night. It was uncharacteristic by Dillon, but he also has to understand the issue at hand. The Devils are not good right now, and if they "play like that" most nights, those mistakes are almost always going in the back of the net.

He did say they have to finish chances, which is the right thing to say. It's fine to focus on the positives when the rest of the world will focus on the negative.

Right now, this is a talented hockey team that isn't good. The thing about talent is that it can turn things around quickly. Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe talked about the mistakes and how the Bruins finished on their chances, and the Devils didn't. He did give an excuse that the schedule is insane, but everyone is facing that with the 2026 Winter Olympics on the horizon. They just need to win.