|
Chris: It’s Groundhog Day yet again, as Devils lose in familiar fashion |
|
|
|
|
|
It’s Groundhog Day yet again, as Devils lose in familiar fashion
It’s the same old song for New Jersey, as the Devils lose another game due to anemic offense, unfortunate blunders and lack of focus. Over the last two months it has been Bill Murray, Groundhog Day-esque fashion in which Jersey has repeatedly lost games. For those not familiar with the 1993 film, Murray’s character Phil finds himself in the predicament of reliving the same exact day over and over again. Contrary to Murray, the Devils will not be handed a script on how to
right the ship and finish with a happy ending.
Agains
Again the Devils struggled to get shots early on. Just nine shots total through the first two periods.
Again they received zero production from their bottom six forwards.
Again (and more on this below) Jake Allen was unable to handle a soft shot to his glove, giving up a high danger rebound and inevitably a goal on what should have been a simple initial save.
Again, the aforementioned Allen received little to no run support, for his ninth loss in his last 11 starts. One measly Palat power play goal with under five minutes remaining was the only (legal) goal they would score.
Again the Devils surrendered the first goal, completely deflating them and let the opposition completely dictate play.
And again, if the Devils cannot remedy these issues, they’ll see their own shadow and an early summer.
Jake Allen
For the most part, Allen has been very solid, making some very big saves over this current stretch. However, he has struggled mightily with rebound control, giving up three identical rebound goals in his three most recent starts. I’m not blaming the losses on Allen entirely, but a team with as fragile of a psyche as this battered Devils group has, needs these saves.
Don’t kill me in the comments until you go watch all three of these goals. They’re weak shots to the glove that Allen drops in high danger areas and immediately surrenders the goal on each rebound.
January 27th’s Joel Farabee goal which came just 28 seconds after the Flyers scored their first, made it 2-0 and deflated the Devils.
February 2nd saw Tage Thompson capitalize on the same glove blunder rebound. Thompson’s goal made it 1-0 in the first. The Sabres would add two more before the Devils could get out of the frame.
And Finally, last night at the Rock it was Nicholas Roy’s turn. This time early in the second to suck the life out of the arena.
I’m not here to blame Jake Allen for these losses. Just pointing out the almost identical style of these three recent miscues. With a little more goal support and a few wins in those games, I’d probably not even be talking about these goals. But, to quote the great Don Cherry, “if my aunt had b***s, she’d be my uncle.”
Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»