After one of the worst-officiated games of the
season, the New Jersey Devils valiantly killed off an atrocious
overtime roughing call on Marek Zidlicky only to fall to Ryan Miller in a
predictably miserable shootout effort. Overtime ended with Tyler Ennis
taking a cheap shot on Adam Henrique with no fear of any consequences,
perhaps forgetting that these two teams would meet again
later that week. On Thursday, expect another physical, chippy, grinding
game between two teams that are falling apart at the seams this year.
With the New Jersey Devils relegated to backup goaltending, the team
that once led the Eastern Conference has fallen squarely into the
clutter of a shortened season's playoff race. Johan Hedberg has been
horrible, Keith Kinkaid is back in the AHL, Jeff Frazee is backing up
Moose on Thursday, and the Devils goaltending situation is driving their
losing streak.
The offense has sputtered. New line
combinations don't seem to be making any difference, while the top-line
still lacks punch. The New Jersey Devils failed to add any offense in
the offseason, but they lost a top-line winger. Their performance
recently shouldn't be much of a surprise.
The New Jersey Devils
defense is failing as well. It doesn't help that their goalie cannot
make a key save when the Devils need one, but many of the scoring
opportunities that have led to goals can be traced back to poor pinches
by Zidlicky, bad defense around the net, and sloppy play. The New Jersey
defense can't do anything about Johan Hedberg poking a pass through his
own five hole, but they certainly haven't helped him much.
Still, I have faith in the Devils. The offense finally found a way to
generate consistent pressure in the tail end of Tuesday's loss - first
with a shorthanded goal and then with some sustained forechecking. If
they can start finishing their chances, they can outscore their
opponents regardless of who is in net behind them. The New Jersey Devils
desperately need a win, while the Buffalo Sabres started to rebuild
when they fired the face of their franchise last month. Motivation is on
the Devils' side.
Wouldn't it be interesting if the Buffalo
Sabres beat New Jersey, the Devils' losing streak sputtered along a
little further, and Lindy Ruff found his way to New Jersey? Don't rule
it out, because if New Jersey keeps playing like this, Peter DeBoer is
not safe - even after a Stanley Cup run. In the golden years of Martin
Brodeur's playing career, the Devils need to win right now. I think
they'll pull out a victory against Buffalo this Thursday and finally get
back on track in time for Brodeur to get healthy - but DeBoer could be
running out of time if he fails to turn things around against an Eastern
Conference bottom-feeder.
New Jersey Devils 3 - Buffalo Sabres 2
Medium confidence... I've lost 14 units on this skid... I'll go 7 here and try to swing at the fences.
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