Last night, the New Jersey Devils lost another winnable game against the Calgary Flames. After scoring first, the team allowed three-straight goals setting up a 5-3 loss. The Devils fall to a record of 25-21-3 and sit at sixth in their division.
Recap
Period One
The Devils opened up the game completely dominating, but Jakob Markström was excellent keeping it scoreless. Eventually, they were able to score with Jesper Bratt making an excellent pass to Ondrej Palat.
The Devils kept getting great chances, but with about two minutes left the Flames scored a weak looking goal on Vitek Vanecek. Remember those words because that was a common theme in this game. The two teams were locked up at one by the period’s end.
Period Two
The Devils continued with the momentum to start the second period continuing with more great chances. That would all change though as Nazem Kadri spun a shot on goal that Vanecek seemed to have covered. However, the puck snuck past him and Connor Zary was right there to tap it in.
After that the Flames controlled the flow, getting a flurry of chances of their own. This included a shift where the Flames hit two posts in a span of a few seconds. Just like how Calgary was lucky to be tied after one, the Devils were lucky to be down one after two.
Period Three
The third period opened with more pressure from the Flames, who were able to score again on another bad play that he should have covered in front. Former Devil Kevin Rooney was able to score his first goal a year-and-a-half as the Flames went up two. Shortly after Erik Haula was sent to the box for a four-minute high-sticking penalty. Things seemed dark for the Devils, but they were the ones who capitalized with Nico Hischier scoring a shorty to make it 3-2.
After a big kill including a goal things seemed to be going the Devils way, but that wouldn’t last for long. Another series of bad plays by Vitek Vanecek and him failing to get his pad on the ice allowed Andrei Kuzmenko to score his second goal in as many games. The Flames were up by two once again.
While Palat would score his second goal of the game to make it 4-3, the Flames would just keep the game out of arm’s reach as they would score an empty netter with 90 seconds left. Calgary would take this one by a final score of 5-3. A tough loss for the Devils.
Game Notes
Goaltending Kills Seasons
For as much as injuries have hurt the Devils this season, goaltending has hurt them even more. The rankings of their goalies in terms of goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (GSAx/60) according to MoneyPuck is 55th and 50th out of 59 qualified goaltenders (15 games played), respectively.
That is atrocious, but if you’re general manager Tom Fitzgerlald it isn’t black and white. You have a few options in terms of what to do. While going to get a goalie now seems like the most logical solution, the team’s playoff chances are dwindling and with how much it would cost at the moment it might not be worth it to not even make the playoffs.
On the other hand you owe it to this team to get a goaltending with how they’ve been playing otherwise. It’s a tricky situation, but one that needs to be handled sooner rather than later.
Slipping Away From the Playoffs
After last night’s loss the Devils are five points out of a wild card spot and seven points out of third in the division. Not only are the Devils not winning enough but the teams around them aren’t losing enough either.
The team needs a ton to go their way to have a shot at the playoffs. Given how this season has gone, that doesn’t seem likely. It all starts in net though, so if a change is made there you never know what could happen. For now however, MoneyPuck has the Devils at just under a 25% chance to make the playoffs.
What’s Next?
The Devils travel to Raleigh to faceoff against the Hurricanes at 7:00 pm ET.