I suppose it was only a matter of time before the clock struck midnight on an undermanned Devils' defense, but for it to happen a little more than a week after making a long anticipated move to reinforce their blue line and just days after potentially their most promising performance of the season? They must have thought Sami Vatanen was going to serve as their Prince Charming, because - outside of three-of-six periods against the Blue Jackets - they've been leaving the puck behind like it's a glass slipper ever since his arrival. I suppose the half-full glass was bound to start evaporating at some point, but I guess I just assumed this team would remain steady handed enough to not let the inevitable leaking of optimism come by way of an incessant spilling of ridiculously unnecessary turnovers. Perhaps that is what has me the most disappointed about the Devils' disastrous weekend. It's not that they took a sizable tumble out of first place in a loaded division they stood no business being a top of, nor is it the fact that they lost to two teams who are - by all accounts - closer to competing than they are. Rather, it's the way they lost to those teams. It's not that they gave up far too many goals, but instead that they simply gave away far too many goals. Out of the ten pucks that ended up in the back of their net between Friday and Saturday, seven can be traced back to the stick of either a negligent, reckless, or lazy New Jersey Devils' player. As a team that need not look further than their season-long shot totals against to understand that they have irreconcilable issues in their own zone, the lack of attention paid in protecting it was simply inexcusable. From Steve Santini being soft on his stick, to Andy Greene making blind passes through the neutral zone, to Travis Zajac failing to make an easy clear during the penalty kill, to Brian Boyle getting pick-pocketed below the circles, to Damon Severson making a half-assed move as the last man back on the power play, to Sami Vatanen looking like a deer in highlights in the face of a forecheck. If the Devils wanted to stop the bleeding then all they really had to do was stop using the weapon that is Artemi Panarin to self-inflict some of these wounds...
And I get it, inconsistency is a hallmark of young teams. Unfortunately, said inconsistency has predominantly come from the older players that have consistency built into their job description as a top priority. Too many of the names above are that of veterans who are being entrusted to lead by example, but they had recently put on a clinic of what not to when playing a distinguished role for a team whose defensive strategy is based on succumbing quantity over quality. Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid will take a disproportional amount of blame because their names aren't Martin Brodeur, but they were hung out to dry by a lineup that knows damn well their slim margin for error can't withstand those that are unforced. I don't think anyone expects this team to play perfect hockey, but up until this past weekend they were doing a decent job of finding a happy medium between that and precarious hockey. With a hell of a lot more divisional games on the horizon, they better start searching for it again.
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