3 Thoughts: Devils’ Top Players Absent, Losing Their Battles, Another Concerning Trend

The New Jersey Devils have had a road trip from hell. Coming into Saturday afternoon, they were riding a three-game losing streak. Against Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks, the Devils’ losing streak was extended to four, as they gave up the game-winning goal with under 30 seconds remaining in regulation.

READ MORE: Devils Trade Chatter; Tom Fitzgerald in San Jose, Concern Over Scoring

Devils Recap

It was an entertaining, high-flying first period that saw plenty of chances go back and forth in both zones. Still, it was the Devils who surrendered the first goal when Nikolai Kovalenko scored his first goal as a member of the Sharks to give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

The Devils went to the power play two and a half minutes into the middle frame, and Nico Hischier tied the game scoring his 19th goal of the season, his sixth on the power play.

In the third, Macklin Celebrini regained the Sharks’ one-goal lead, receiving a pass from Will Smith in a 2-on-1 odd-man rush. However, Paul Cotter knotted the game again, sneaking behind the Sharks’ defense and fooling Yaroslav Askarov to score his ninth goal of the season.

With just 25 seconds remaining in the game, Cody Ceci netted the game-winning goal to swipe two points off the table in regulation.

Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves on 24 shots, turning aside two Sharks power play shots.

Takeaways

1-0 Them, Again?

In this losing streak, the Devils are beginning to look like their former selves, again. In three of their last four losses, they’ve given up the first goal of the game. That was a concerning trend in the 2023-24 season that has seemingly creeped back up on them.

A failed clearing attempt in the first period by Luke Hughes saw the Devils defenseman, Erik Haula, and Dougie Hamilton all move out of position as the latter two skaters tried to negate the turnover. Instead, Kovalenko was given the entire slot to skate through, receiving a pass from Eklund who drew the defenders, and snuck the puck past Markstrom to open the scoring.

The little details in the Devils’ game that saw them go into the holiday break hot have seemingly dispersed. A failed clear attempt here and there happens, but the support to defend in layers is missing. Before the holiday, Hamilton and Haula wouldn’t pinch, rather stay deep in their zones to cover the ensuing attackers. Even though it’s passed, it feels like the Devils’ minds are still on break.

Losing Their Battles

On the game winning goal, it’s quite clear how Ceci’s shot from the blue line made it past the Devils goaltender.

Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnathan Kovacevic have been two of the NHLs best defenders, let alone on the Devils. However, on the game winning goal, they both lost their battles in front of Markstrom’s crease.

Kovacevic failed to clear Tyler Toffoli on Markstrom’s right, while Siegenthaler failed to clear Luke Kunin at the top of the crease. Thus, Markstrom was blind and Ceci’s shot found twine.

With just seconds left in regulation, the effort in front of Markstrom was quite poor.

Paging Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt?

One of the Devils’ biggest concerns of late is depth scoring at even strength. However, lately the Devils’ best players have struggled to score.

The bottom-six at even strength on Saturday actually flipped the script. They were strong and created scoring chances, thus Cotter’s goal in the third period.

However, Jack Hughes hasn’t collected a point in four games, and Jesper Bratt is goalless in his last seven games.

Every player goes through a slump, however, the Devils’ depth on offense isn’t strong enough to support these types of absences, and it’s certainly reflected on this road trip.

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