The New Jersey Devils continued their sluggish start to the 2016-2017 season after succumbing to the Boston Bruins in a 2-1 regulation loss. After an uneventful 40 minutes, Kyle Palmieri opened the scoring at 4:14 of the third period on the power play, getting his second of the year. A little more than five minutes later, Brad Marchand tied things up with his third tally of the year. The Bruins sealed the deal at 18:45 of the third period when Patrice Bergeron (who made his season debut last night) fired a high shot that slipped past Schneider. It was the second time in three games the Devils held a lead over their opponent, only to see it squandered and result in a regulation loss. There were a few noteworthy takeaways from last night’s festivities worth mentioning that could shed some light on the state and direction this Devils team is currently headed.

 

 

• In four games, the Devils have scored six goals (1.5 per game). They’ve struggled to surpass that two-goal threshold, which is a strong indication of the team’s inept offense thus far. I’ve said for weeks going into the season it will take the Devils offense 10-15 games to gel and get used to playing with each other and in Coach Hynes’ playing system. I can’t stress enough that the fans stay patient over the next few weeks while things come to fruition.
• With scoring still on topic, another concern is the team’s struggles with five-on-five scoring. The Devils haven’t scored an even strength goal in two games with their last coming in their 3-2 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning last Saturday.
• Last night’s loss was the Devil’s third road game this season, over which they’ve gone 0-2-1. It’s not necessarily anything to get riled up about at this point, but the longer the Devils keep this winless road streak going, the more cumbersome it will become for the team to get that first win away from home. Nonetheless, this trend is worth acknowledging, and if this persists into November, Coach Hynes might have to take a step back and take a different approach with his team.
• Although they’re averaging a 49% success rate in the faceoff dot this season, the Devils did fairly well on draws last night, going 52% against Boston’s deep arsenal of centers. Adam Henrique and Vernon Fiddler each went 53%, while rookie center Pavel Zacha registered a 64% success rate in faceoffs. The Devils are currently 18^th overall amongst teams, but it’s an encouraging sign considering how poorly Devils centers performed in that department last season.

 

New Jersey is back in action again tomorrow night when they host Zach Parise and the Minnesota Wild.