Devils' 5-2 Loss to Bruins: Familiar Woes

Poor goaltending and a rough second period brought the New Jersey Devils down in a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.

Follow us on Twitter: @AlexC_NJD, @NJD_OnTheRush

The New Jersey Devils just can't seem to buy a win in the second half of a back-to-back. After taking a 2-0 lead against the Boston Bruins, they gave up five unanswered goals en route to a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins. Here are three takeaways from the defeat. 

Vaněček Didn't Help His Cause

Did the Devils outplay the Bruins last night? No, they did not. But let's not kid ourselves. Goaltending was a significant factor in the Devils losing another second half of a back-to-back. Vitek Vaněček started the game well, but it unraveled quickly for him. 

Vaněček stopped 1.15 goals above expected in the first period and was a significant reason the Devils went up 2-0. But as we've seen from him too many times this season, he gave up a couple of goals he shouldn't have. 

Let's take Jake DeBrusk's goal that got the Bruins on the board and started the comeback. Vaněček did a poor job playing the puck behind his net, but that wasn't where he goofed up most. Look how far his right pad gets outside the net. He pulled himself out of position, giving DeBrusk way too much of the net to score:

Via NHL.com

Things didn't get better for Vaněček after that point. David Pastrnak's first goal was a bit of an unfortunate bounce off John Marino, but Pastrnak's second tally a few minutes later partly goes on the goalie too. Vaněček went down and committed to the shot too early. That left Pastrnak with a wide-open net for an easy goal: 

Via NHL.com

Granted, Pastrnak on a partial breakaway isn't the easiest for any goalie, but Vaněček didn't help his cause. The Bruins had just 1.21 expected goals in the second period. Yet, they scored four goals. For context's sake, the Devils generated 2.78 expected goals for the game but scored only twice because Linus Ullmark made timely saves, especially in the third period. 

Vaněček finished the night by giving up 2.36 goals above expected. As The Hockey Writers' Daniel Amoia pointed out on Twitter, only Ilya Samsonov has a worse goals saved above expected than Vaněček this season. 

At this point, the Devils should turn to Nico Daws, who was excellent in the 6-2 win against the Ottawa Senators. He made a couple of saves on Senators breakaways and stopped 6/6 of high-danger shots. It may have been one start, but he was much more technically sound than Vaněček. It shouldn't even be a difficult decision. 

Time to Break Up Meier, McLeod & Mercer