Devils Desperately Need a Spark After Loss to Lightning

The New Jersey Devils are too talented to be playing like this. They desperately need a spark to revive the team.

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Every week is an important one for the New Jersey Devils, given where they are in the standings. But with how they played this past week, you wouldn't have guessed what the stakes were in the playoff race. It culminated in an embarrassing 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, putting their playoff hopes further out of reach. Now, they desperately need a spark to get back within striking distance of third place in the Metro. 

Devils Lifeless Against the Lightning

If that game against the Lightning felt like Groundhog Day, it's because it was. The Devils didn't get off to a bad start, but as we've seen so many times this season, that didn't matter much. 

The Devils and Lightning finished the first period tied at 0-0. All things considered, it was a relatively even played first opening 20 minutes. Both teams got their fair share of chances, and Akira Schmid came up with a couple of big saves. 

There were signs of trouble, though. Jonas Johansson has been one of the worst goaltenders in the NHL this season. He came into yesterday's game with an .886 save percentage and had given up close to ten goals above expected. Of course, the Devils did nothing to test him in the first, which carried over into the rest of the game.  

In what was the most important contest of the season, the Devils failed to fire 20 shots on goal on one of the worst goaltenders in the NHL. It only got worse as the game went on, as they had just three shots on goal in the third period, and that was with two power plays. 

Think about that. The Devils had three shots on goal with two power plays in the third period in a game where they needed to come away with two points. And they generated next to nothing on Johansson. That is absolutely embarrassing on any level, no matter how you slice it.

The Devils were lethargic all game. They were slow to puck battles, their passing was off, and they weren't sharp defensively. The power play was terrible, and they couldn't generate anything at five-on-five.