New Jersey Devils Decisions Lead To Another Horrible Loss At Home

We are going to keep this short and sweet today as all Devils fans freak out over the loss and hang our heads in disgust. While it may seem like jumping on a team that just had a few bad games and is still in the thick of it, anyone who has been watching this team knows what it is at this point, and it honestly looks like almost all fans are in agreement with a lot of things which is rare for any fan base. That being said, let's look a bit at the Rangers game and a bit more at the constant problems.

This team's defense is awful, and they should have felt bad about their play a long time ago on the back half of the rink. They consistently leave the goalie out on his own, and it is usually the same few guys making the worst plays, and they not only don't get punished, they get rewarded.

Luke Hughes and Brendan Smith should have been benched numerous times this season for a period (or games in Smith's case), but they never are despite losing this team game. Luke Hughes had awful giveaways all game. It doesn't matter who needs playing time. Mistakes deserve consequences. Young players need to play to grow, and he should be playing every game this season, but putting him out to make the same soft defensive mistakes over and over doesn't just hurt this team. It hurts his development.

Smith, as a defenseman, will be trotted out there whenever Lindy feels like it for who knows what reason. He can't defend, can't score, and he has been responsible for too many goals in the last two games. Watching him in the offensive zone corner so the Rangers could score yet again Thursday night was just insanity. Your job is to play defense, so maybe you should play defense. He and Luke Hughes are competing for the worst pairing in the NHL together, and for some reason, we see them every second game at best, and the Devils refuse to play Miller, who is better. The other thing Smith is supposed to do is provide some sandpaper to this roster and he sure was quiet tonight when our biggest rival pummeled this team on the scoreboard and physically.

This team has no accountability and is so inconsistent in how they do things. Hughes can make bad plays and cost goals because he is young and scores, fine but we have seen Holtz get benched and sit on the 4th line with AHLers and still be on pace for 20 goals because he plays slightly better defensively than them? What is the logic in that, Mr.Ruff? Especially with how many people on this roster coast through not just games but weeks at a time.

Timo Meier is probably still rather banged up by that trade still looks terrible. That being said, who signs a guy for $9 million, plays him on the opposite side he usually does and limits his powerplay time?

Ondrej Palat was a lousy signing, but it has looked good for about six playoff games and that is it. Once again, it's not clear if he was actually playing Thursday night despite being listed with Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt to start the game.

Nico Daws has only been here a few weeks and has started six straight games, including the last back-to-back. Goalies burn out and get tired, so maybe don't toss the kid into the deep water for no reason and ruin his confidence. Not giving Isaac Poulter at least a shot in the third was also wrong for too many reasons. The game was probably over anyway, but the team would have got a spark and wanted to play harder for his first NHL game, and Daws could have used the rest.

This team could not be any softer. Nathan Bastian should get an apology from the coach, GM, and the rest of the roster for getting blown up and having almost no push, then coming back, having Trouba go for his usual attempted injury hit, and having to fight him himself. Bastian showed a lot of grit today, and he deserves great respect for everything he did. That being said, Jonas Siegenthaler, as the only guy who tried to do anything, deserves credit for at least trying and for somehow having the power to get a penalty for throwing zero punches and getting hit in the face by the Rangers player.

This team deserved the "John Tortorella" treatment on Thursday night, especially in the dressing room. We have seen how they operate, so we know that didn't happen. Torts might not be everyone's cup of tea, but you know what? His teams don't quit on plays, let alone games, and this team is the softest they have ever been, not just physically but emotionally, since they get off their game so easy and have shown that to the entire NHL fanbase the last few weeks. This team should be praying not to get into the playoffs because they will be obliterated with how they play right now when the whistles go away and are continuing to show that they can do absolutely nothing about it if you just play a little chippy and hit them.