Cory Schneider's Description Of The Devils' Performance Was Spot-On...And Incredibly Depressing

Cory Schneider: "It wasn’t a great game. It wasn’t a terrible game. It was just kind of a game. It’s probably not good enough right now."

— Andrew Gross (@AGrossRecord) January 10, 2017

"It was just kind of a game". Such an eerily accurate explanation of what took place on the Prudential Center ice last night that some might just call it poetic. Cory Schneider's description of the Devils' performance against Panthers might not be all that detailed, but somehow that only makes it sound that much more appropriate. The three painstaking periods I watched last night weren't the worst that the team has played since they have decided that competence is no longer part of their game plan, but I could definitely argue that they were the most "meh". Someone that hasn't suffered through the Devils' recent stretch might say that game was tinkering on terrible, but that would legitimately leave those in the know at a loss for disparaging words in looking to characterize their previous two egregious efforts.

Seriously, the fact that their defense even bothered to show up and clear the zone a couple of times a period means I have to count a 3-0 loss that featured two empty net goals and a collective zero seconds of game play in which the Devils felt like they stood a chance of winning as a moral victory. That's how bad things have gotten. A turnover ridden, completely disjointed offensive effort in which the game winning goal was a comical defensive breakdown is - at the very least - an average result. If someone had asked me how the game was as I was walking out of it I probably would have stared lifelessly into their eyes and muttered some indecipherable sound. Who knew that one of the only players to show up last night was going to expertly chronicle the game with one non-descript phrase that perfectly intepreted how every person in attendance felt after watching it? The Devils' weren't awful against the Panthers, but they damn sure were uninteresting and - with half a season still left to go - that might even be a more depressing realization.