Here’s Why the Devils Feel They’re Struggling, Lately

MANHATTAN—Jack Hughes will be the first one to tell you. The result was not what the New Jersey Devils wanted at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night against their rival. He knows he is partially to blame. Put plenty of emphasis on the word ‘partially,’ however. Hughes has seen his fair share of struggles recently, but he’s both a contributor and a victim of team-wide disconnect.

The Devils fell to the New York Rangers in overtime in their last away game of a two-week, six-game road trip. Hughes turned the puck over, not once, but twice in the extra frame. The second one cost them the extra point after Sam Carrick buried the overtime winner.

The Devils’ superstar wore it, and had no one else but himself to blame.

“Yeah. I mean, I would say two not very good plays by myself,” Hughes explained following Thursday’s 3-2 OT loss. “So that’s frustrating. That’s not really a team thing. That’s kind of like a personal thing. And, you know, definitely want to take back two of those plays.”

Certainly, there are individual efforts that if they go array, it could be costly. In overtime on Thursday, that was the case. However, there are other reasons why the Devils shouldn’t even have gotten to the extra frame in the first place, and it’s hardly an accurate take to blame the entire loss on the Devils’ best player all night.

READ: 3 Thoughts: Devils Lack Control; Pay For Penalties in Ugly OT vs. Rangers

In their last six games, the Devils accrued an uncharacteristic 1-4-1 record. Even more uncharacteristic? Their minus-eight goal differential during that span, in which the Devils only scored 11 goals and allowed 19. In terms of goals scored, that’s an average of 1.8 goals per game, which is well below their 3.16 average.

Quite frankly, that goal differential should have probably been a lot higher. However, Jacob Markstrom‘s Herculean play lately has certainly made a severe problem look much more casual than it is.

By now, it’s been well documented how the Devils have lacked depth scoring. However, even the Devils’ top guys have struggled to score lately.

At Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt each ended their respective goal droughts, but their single tallies alone weren’t enough to claim the extra point in overtime.

Bratt explained the Devils aren’t playing on offense the way they were before Christmas.

“There are some areas where I think we want so much that we sometimes try a little too hard,” Bratt explained to New Jersey Hockey Now. “I think there were a lot of times in the game where we are controlling puck possession in the O-zone a little more, and I think we’re lacking that a little bit right now. I think we maybe try for that whole play a little bit, because we want so much offense to happen. But I think in the past, when we were really good with a long sequences in the O-zone, it was just based on puck possession. We were playing smart, we didn’t try any high danger passes or anything through sticks. We were playing good with line changes, and I think that’s where a lot of our good O-zone came from.”

When the Devils were maintaining offensive pressure in the oppositions end, that’s when they were their most successful. That was evident on Thursday when Hughes redirected a Brett Pesce shot past Rangers’ goaltender Igor Shesterkin to tie the game at one.

However, the Devils have struggled to enter the offensive zone cleanly, and even when they do, they haven’t been able to keep the puck on that end of the ice to cycle.

So what’s the difference between now, and before the holiday break, when the Devils were able to maintain that pressure, and looked like a force to be reckoned with?

Head coach Sheldon Keefe explained it’s not for a lack of trying. The Devils just haven’t meshed lately.

“We just haven’t been sharp. Coming back from Christmas, we just haven’t been sharp,” Keefe explained to NJHN. “I think we’re trying. Guys are competing. They’re trying. Our executions just been off. Passing has been off. We just haven’t been smooth. Whether it’s through the neutral zone or through that offensive zone to be able to hang on to [the puck], or the individuals wanting to get back into the offensive zone. We just haven’t been quite crisp like we were before Christmas.”

Keefe admitted the challenges of the schedule have crept up on them, although it’s not an excuse for the Devils’ recent poor play.

“Trying to put a finger on what exactly that is at this point, we’ve got to kind of chalk it up to some fatigue factor coming right out of Christmas,” Keefe continued. “You go back-to-back and then fly across the country, a three-hour time change and play another back-to-back, and all that sort of stuff. We have had some challenges in our schedule, but that’s the reality of the league. We’ve got to be able to deal with it, but an important day off for us [Monday]. I expect our guys to come back better now that people have had more time to get back on time zone and some recovery and all that kind of stuff. But it certainly has not been crisp.”

The Devils play at home in the next five of six games ahead. They’re looking forward to some home cooking and playing in front of their fans to help get them back on track. Heading into the holiday break, and the one home game post-Christmas, the Devils won all five of their tilts on home ice.

They’re looking to get some of that mojo back after a necessary day off on Friday.

“You’re not going to have 82 amazing offensive games,” Hughes explained. “Tonight, we maybe have more offensive zone time than we have on that Cali road trip, but we just got to keep finding our game. And you know, we’ll continue to stack up the wins. We got a couple of games at home here, and we’re looking to continue our really good games that we’ve been playing on home ice.”

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