Here are my quick hits following the Devils’ 3-2 L in SJS, heading into tonight’s game in SEA:
Heartbreaker in SJS
It’s always hard to believe, process, and digest a loss like this when you’re just 24 seconds away from taking a game to OT and securing at least a point. And yes, to make matters worse, the Devils have now dropped four in a row overall and five in a row on the road, which are each the longest respective streaks we’ve seen from any Devils team since 2022.
As I talk about in the clip below from our postgame show, this is the type of loss that, as a former player, you know needs to sting. Not that we ever want to come up with moral victories or sugarcoat anything about this loss, but it was encouraging to get some reassurance that, with the way Marky came off the ice and with some of the postgame reaction we heard, it seemed this one left a pretty gut-wrenching feeling inside that locker room and on the plane headed to Seattle. For me, any team ready to move into their “winning window” is able to recognize that embracing and battling through these adversity moments together as a group is extremely important, and to me, it feels like the Devils have done that.
Defensive Adversity
It’s been tough to watch the Devils take a nosedive in an area they take so much pride in, that being in their defensive game, as they’ve conceded 3.50 Goals/GP (T-6th most) over the course of the losing streak. Considering the Devils had been conceding just 1.38 goals per game in their previous 8 GP (which was the lowest in the league), I don’t think anyone could’ve seen this dramatic of a swing coming. But again, these are the ebbs and flows of an 82-game season, and I’m pretty confident we could see these numbers turn back around just as quickly as they spiked up.
Offensive Adversity
Offensively, on the other hand, I keep going back to the first periods as such a pivotal reason for the lack of results in the losing streak, as the Devils have not started on time and given their goaltenders a single first-period goal in these last four games. Yes, it can be easy to point back to that Opposing Sv%, which continues to rear its ugly head as, once again, the best in the league over this stretch. But for me, your main focus and message moving forward here in SEA has to be that, “Hey, we’re going to come out and do whatever it takes to get Marky a lead in the first 10 minutes.” There has to be some more urgency right from the get-go!
Be sure to join Rachel and me on our pregame show tonight as we break down some key footage of the adversity the Devils have gone through in this stretch. We’ll also recap the SJS game, review any NJD line changes, and discuss some more keys to snapping the losing streak in the final meeting against SEA tonight. It all starts at 9:30 p.m. on MSGSN!
Let’s Go Devils!
-Sal
Here are some graphics from Saturday's broadcast!