Game Summary

In what was their first matchup of the season, the Devils suffered a 5-0 blowout loss at the hands of the New York Rangers. It’s been the same tale that it has been for the last month. The Devils couldn’t generate any shots, got significantly outshot, and were just outplayed for all 60 minutes of the game. New Jersey had five power plays on the night and managed just a measly 19 shots on goal. Cory Schneider was also left out to dry once again. Aside from Chris Kreider’s goal to open up the barrage, there was nothing Schneider could do on the rest of the four goals.

The Devils have three days off until their next game on Thursday night, which will give Hynes and his staff time to try and alleviate the Devils defensive woes before finishing this road trip.

Game Notes

• As mentioned above, the Devils managed just 19 shots on goal. They’ve now been outshot in eleven of their last thirteen games. As bad as their defensemen have been, their forwards are not helping either. Hynes mixed up his defense pairs, to no avail, but he needs to mix up his forward lines as well. Otherwise, not much will change.

• Not to sound like a broken record, but the Devils defensemen are not helping Schneider out at all. Case and point on Brandon Pirri’s goal. He was all alone in front of the net. The Devils had an opportunity to clear the puck but couldn’t, then they couldn’t clear Pirri out of the crease and Schneider was hung out to dry again. This has been a common theme over this thirteen game stretch and a big reason why Schneider’s numbers have fallen drastically.

• The whole team played poorly, but it was a particularly rough night for Kyle Palmieri. He blew a tire on a power play that led to a Rangers short-handed goal. He also accidentally redirected a Brady Skjei shot that found its way past Schneider with just 2.5 seconds remaining in the second period. It’s surely a night Palmieri, and the rest of his team, will like to forget.

• Todd Cordell touched upon this a couple of days ago, so I’m not going to get much further into it, but the Devils don’t have many options on defense. They’re not going to make a trade and are thin at NHL-ready options in Albany. They’re just going to have to get through this with their current personnel and hope they can start executing better on the ice.