The New Jersey Devils did not play a good game on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The final score tells you that. They gave up seven goals to a mediocre team, even considering their three-game winning streak. The Devils did cut the Penguins lead to 4-3 in the third period, but a silly penalty by Brett Pesce allowed the Penguins to score a back-breaking fifth goal, and the Penguins scored two unnecessary insurance goals near the end.
There was so much wrong with the Devils' performance on Saturday. They were sloppy with the puck, made bad turnovers in the defensive zone, had a terrible time clearing the puck, and they had no sustained possession in the offensive zone. Overall, it was a very bad performance.
However, what stood out was the play of goaltender Jacob Markstrom. He was responsible for six out of the seven goals against (the other came on an empty net). Many of the goals weren't on terribly difficult shots, with some going in inexplicably. Markstrom has struggled since returning from his knee injury. He's had trouble finding the puck, and his side-to-side movement is somewhat limited. Hopefully, he can get himself in a better spot or the Devils will need to consider treating Jake Allen as the starter.
New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe did not mince words about the performance. He called the team's performance not mature, unlike how they have been playing the previous three games. He called into question the team's consistency and acknowledged that they haven't been able to put together four wins in a row, something their opponents just did for the second time this season.
As reported by New Jersey Devils team reporter Sam Kasan, Keefe was pretty direct about how he felt after the game.
HC Keefe: "We just weren’t good in the game. We weren’t good in execution with the puck. We made mistakes. We didn’t play winning hockey here today. ... You get what you deserve."
— Sam Kasan (@samikasan) March 15, 2025
The "you get what you deserve" is sending messages here. There are multiple excuses the Devils can make for this, but Keefe isn't buying it. The analytics say the Devils should have competed for the win, but reality says something different, and that's what Keefe is reacting to. The Devils turtled when things didn't go their way at the end of the third period. That's not winning hockey.
The #NJDevils flipped the game in the 3rd, but too much to overcome.
— Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_NJD) March 15, 2025
One of Markstrom's worst starts of the season, as he allowed 3.47 goals above expected pic.twitter.com/WpQA85iB5J
The three-game winning streak put the Devils in a good spot despite the loss. After tonight, either the New York Rangers or Columbus Blue Jackets will be within six points of the Devils with one game at hand. This loss doesn't have long-standing issues for New Jersey. Even though Pittsburgh is technically four points out of a playoff spot as of this writing, they have too large a hill to climb to get back in the race.
Meanwhile, the Devils once again face the Columbus Blue Jackets with two important points on the line on Monday. Both teams might be coming off big losses, so the Devils can't repeat the performance if they want to come out with two points.