The New Jersey Devils don't play well in front of their home crowd. Coming into Tuesday's matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Devils have played an even split between home and away matchups, 15 of each. They have been a different team at home than on the road all season. This isn't a surprise. However, when digging through the numbers, they will shock our readers.
First, let's go over some of the matchups at home compared to the road. The Devils biggest wins this season were the two wins against the Panthers and the drubbing against the New York Rangers. All three of those games were on the road. The Devils biggest win at home was against the Carolina Hurricanes, but losses to the San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, and Tuesday night's terrible loss to the Maple Leafs have all come at the Prudential Center.
So what is happening to the Devils at home? Why are they playing worse? The numbers tell an interesting story.
First, let's look at the offense. That's the headline right now, as the team is trying to figure out why it has so many shutouts at home. They literally got shutout by former Devils goalies Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, who are ironically both members of the Colorado Avalanche now. The numbers do show a concerning trend.
The Devils shoot 9.5% at home. Hitting the back of the net at less than a 10% clip on Prudential Center ice is less than ideal if this was a normal offense. Doing it with an offense led by Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier that also has the top power play in the league is devastating. The Devils are actually taking more shots at home, so if they could just shoot at a similar pace as they do on the road, it would be very impactful.
On the road, the Devils are shooting 12.6%. If they did that all season, they'd be the third-best shooting team in the entire league. They are taking under 25 shots per game, but they are scoring at a higher clip. The Devils have 50 goals at home in 16 games and 53 on the road in 15.
What's scary, though, are the goaltending statistics. We have no idea what might make a goaltender play better in front of an opposing crowd, but the numbers are hard to argue. The goaltending duo of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen have a combined .921 save percentage on the road, but that number drops to .874 at home. Those are both eye-popping numbers for opposite reasons. The Devils couldn't sustain with .874 goaltending. That would basically be where they were last season. And .921 is peak Martin Brodeur.
This has brought up to the real reason for the record disparity on the road and at home. The Devils have given up 50 goals at home and just 34 on the road. Sixteen goals is a lot. It's basically one goal per game more for each home game. One goal decides more games, as we learned on Tuesday night.
This isn't even like one goalie is to blame. Markstrom and Allen are both in the .870s at home. Markstrom has a putrid .689 high-danger save percentage at home. It's .864 on the road. That's almost 20%! Allen has a ridiculous .913 HDSV% on the road, but that number drops to .775 on home ice. It doesn't make any sense, if we're being frank.
The Devils have a .733 points percentage on the road. That would be one game behind the Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals for best record in the league. They have a .531 points percenage at home. If that was their whole season, they would be sitting behind the Rangers and likely outside a playoff spot.
What's the fix? This is one of those things that only those in the room can figure out. Why are things not working out at home? Is there a way the Devils can make their own destiny with their style of play? It's just not that easy, but Sheldon Keefe has to find a solution.
Many stats found via Stat Muse.