There was a point, about midway through Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh, where it kind of, sort of felt as if the Devils might manage to salvage a point, maybe even steal two from the Penguins.
Paul Cotter had scored, an almost water-to-wine level miracle. Jacob Markstrom was playing as well as he has at any point this season. The Devils sure seemed to be spending a lot of time in the Penguins’ end.
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But that was more a function of the Penguins playing much of the second period short-handed than anything the Devils did. And, the Devils failed to make Pittsburgh pay for any of the slew of second-period penalties that could have easily turned the game New Jersey’s way.
Instead, the Penguins killed all four Devils’ power plays before scoring three unanswered third period goals to send the Devils to their fifth straight loss.
The Devils have now dropped five in a row for the second time this season. Five-Game Losing Streak No. 1 was the Nov. 29 to Dec. 6 skid that began their free fall from atop the Eastern Conference standings. In the 91 days since, they’ve also managed a four-game winless streak (0-3-1, Dec. 21-Dec. 30) and a four-game losing streak (Jan. 4-Jan. 11).
The current five-game streak dates back to a 4-1 loss in Ottawa on Jan. 31. They’ve also lost seven of their last eight games. A somehow even way more damning stat – the Devils have not held a lead in regulation since Jan.25, when Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring in a loss to Seattle.
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Thursday marked the seventh straight game the Devils fell behind 1-0. This time it was Pittsburgh’s previously sputtering power play – the Penguins were on an 0-for-10 drought coming in – that dumped the Devils in a 1-0 hole when Tommy Novak tipped a Kris Letang point shot past Markstrom with 1 minute 9 seconds to play in the first.
Cotter, who hadn’t had a point in 23 games dating back to Dec. 13, got the Devils even at 4:56 of the second.
For some reason, the Penguins decided to challenge the play for goalie interference. This gave the Devils their second power play of the period and a chance to take the lead, but the Devils couldn’t capitalize on the delay of game, or slashing and interference minors to Avery Hayes and Letang later in the period.
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Pittsburgh would get goals from Jersey native Connor Clifton and Egor Chinakhov 50 seconds apart early in the third to put the game out of reach. Clifton roofed a slap shot from the right circle over Markstrom at 6:30 and Evgeni Malkin found Chinakhov snuck behind Brett Pesce and Jonathan Kovacevic at 7:20.
Blake Lizotte would pick off a Hamilton pass and score into the empty net at 18:01 to seal the win.
Up Next
The Devils will try to avoid a six-game losing streak when they travel to St. Louis and face the Blues at 5 p.m., Saturday. The Blues are somehow even worse than the Devils. St. Louis (21-28-9) is 30th out of 32 teams. The Blues are 2-7-1 in their last 10. They beat the Seattle Kraken 5-1 Thursday night on a Dylan Holloway hat trick. Holloway had a four-point night.
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Your Thoughts
They’re pretty much daring GM Tom Fitzgerald to fire head coach Sheldon Keefe at this point right? Or ownership to fire Fitzgerald and Keefe? Or something? Anything? This has to be close to the absolute nadir in team history. Not even being hyperbolic. There’s the 96 choke job and Tom Chorske’s giant middle finger to Lou and Lemaire, and then. …. That Game 7 collapse to Carolina is up there. This may not be that level of awful, but it’s still horrifying. These guys have completely up and quit, every last one of them. The core guys, who are supposed to be leaders, are just so checked out. I know that at this point they’re better off losing out, picking Gavin McKenna, and starting over next year, but how can this be allowed to continue? . … It’s not just me, is it?
