This is the best way to describe the Devils right now. Yes I know, many teams would kill to be 30-15-6….and 2nd in their conference but not to a Devils fan…I admit I expect better at this point. Call it what you will but I believe the Devils are capable of beating anyone in the East but what has happened a lot this season is that the Devils beat themselves.
Last night was a microcosm of that very theory. Someone kidnapped the penalty killing unit early last nite as Kovalchuk scored wide open twice. For a team that gave up 10 power play goals on the road to give up three in one night was completely out of character. Assignments were missed and even on the ones the Devils killed off….Brodeur was by himself more times than not. You would never know a guy who had a .900 save percentage but except for maybe the wraparound goal…you really couldn’t blame him on any of the rest of the Thrasher goals for the night. That was just the bad.
Now there were some really good things that happened last night. For one, the Devils could have laid down at 2-0…and it could have been a 5-2 rout like it was the last time they played down in Atlanta….but they didn’t. The Devils scored 3 unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead late in the second period. Then down 4-3….Brylin scored on a pretty backhand tap in…basically the equivalent of a slam dunk to send the game into OT where the Devils had a glorious chance or two to win it but just missed. The Devils did generate 40 shots last night which is usually two games worth of shots. I almost forgot….for the first time in 11 games….Elias scored!! EUREKA!! Langenbrunner had a 3 point night…even Parise scored. However, then there was a but.
This is where things got ugly. Travis Zajac who has gone pointless since seemingly the new year got started had a wide open net with no one on him early in the first. Now this doesn’t rank up there with Patrik Stefan but if the Devils grab a 1-0 lead early, it is pretty much lights out or at the very least a huge confidence boost. However, he flat out misses it. No excuse to really…ice wasn’t chippy and to his credit after the game, he admitted he just had a bad game and was pressing. The fact of the matter remains that yes Parise drew a power play but the goal would have been bigger. The Thrashers later got one of their own and converted it like nothing to it. Then the Devils were up 3-2…and again the game hung on the balance…and Zajac was wide open…and again…had almost half the net…and just shot it high. It was a shot he nails during the early part of the season but for some reason he has hit that wall. The Thrashers then tied it when Rafalski (who never should have been an All-Star) makes the cardinal mistake of passing behind your back in your own zone…and just like that…a 3-3 tie. Add in Marty being a little unlucky in the shootout and there you go…one tailored 5-4 loss in a shootout.
That magnifies what has been going on in the Devils season. Though Julien has done a good job for the most part with these guys. There are times where something more could have been done. The Devils are fire on ice but the problem is they play with fire more than they should and some nights, like last night, they get burned.
