Devils' 5-2 Loss to Sharks: Lack of a Response
The New Jersey Devils failed to respond after losing 8-4 to the Avalanche just a couple of nights ago, falling 5-2 to the Sharks.
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New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe was all about the response after his team lost 8-4 to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night in Denver. Well, he certainly didn’t get the response he was looking for.
As Keefe described after the game, he thought a lack of work ethic cost the Devils early in the game. They dug themselves a hole too deep to climb out of, resulting in a 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks. Now, they need to regroup quickly to prevent this from snowballing into something worse than a two-game skid.
Devils Didn’t Have It in the 1st Period
Yesterday’s loss to the Sharks had a similar start to the 8-4 loss to the Avalanche. Jacob Markström made a mistake less than a minute into that game that resulted in the Devils falling behind 1-0.
In San Jose, it was Jonas Siegenthaler who couldn’t corral a rim around the boards from Dawson Mercer. The puck got past Siegenthaler after it took a weird bounce and onto William Eklund’s stick, with him scoring on a breakaway to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
Just like that, the Devils were behind the eight-ball again.
But unfortunately, they didn’t have much of a response after Eklund’s goal. Šimon Nemec and Mercer had a miscommunication on the Sharks’ second goal, with Nemec rimming the puck around the boards toward no one in particular. The result was a turnover, and Philipp Kurashev scored from a high-danger area.
A few minutes later, Alexander Wennberg redirected a Mario Ferraro shot from along the wall, and the Devils suddenly found themselves down 3-0 (Jake Allen probably should have made a save on that one, even though it was redirected).
The Devils did score on the power play late in the first to make it a 3-1 game, and they dominated the second period until the Sharks scored two late goals to go up 5-1. However, they were not ready to play yesterday.
The Sharks thoroughly outplayed the Devils in the first, outshooting them 15-9 and generating 1.61 expected goals at all strengths (1.11 at five-on-five). Meanwhile, the Devils generated just 0.47 expected goals at five-on-five and 0.83 at all strengths. That’s just not good enough against a team like the Sharks, and it shows the Devils lacked the necessary effort early on.
Palát Struggling in the Top 6
Ondřej Palát was once a great player, but he’s just not what he used to be. Last night’s performance was emblematic of why, and it hurt the Devils when they were trying to mount a comeback in the second.
As has been the case for a season-plus, Palát just hasn’t been able to convert on the chances that Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt create at five-on-five, and it cost the team in the second.
With the Devils trailing 3-1, I counted at least two grade-A chances that came off the sticks of Hughes or Bratt that Palát flubbed. Sure, he’s getting into the right spots, but he’s not converting the chances his linemates create. Had he scored one, perhaps the Devils would have gotten some momentum and completed the comeback.
Palát hasn’t scored a goal in 11 games this season, and it’s getting harder to justify him in the top six, even though it’s likely just because Evgenii Dadonov remains out with a fractured hand.
I know Keefe didn’t like Arseny Gritsyuk with Hughes and Bratt during the preseason, but it might be worth another look. Palát flubs way too many chances to keep getting top-six minutes, even if he’s just filling in for Dadonov.
Allen Had a Clunker of His Own
Markström had a rough night in Denver, so it made sense to go back to Jake Allen, who’s been excellent this season, but he was due for an off-night of his own.
Allen did not struggle as much as Markström against the Avalanche, but it was easily his worst performance of the season. As mentioned above, he probably should have stopped Wennberg’s goal, but he also should have made a save on Tyler Toffoli’s goal that made it a 5-1 game.
Overall, Allen gave up five goals on 2.52 expected goals, which generally tracks with what my eyes told me. The good news from these last two games is that I doubt Markström and Allen will keep up .820 save percentages, so there should be some positive regression coming in net.
Of course, there’s the Brett Pesce injury. That’s a factor. The Devils certainly do miss him, but Pesce’s absence probably isn’t causing Allen and Markström’s save percentages to tumble nearly 8-10 points. Just like there are highs and lows with shooting percentage, there are with save percentage, too. This should sort itself out eventually.
Quick Hits
Every player will have a bad game here and there, but Luke Hughes was all over the ice, and not in a good way. He finished with the worst expected goals share (xG%) among Devils skaters at 14.31 percent, struggling mightily in the defensive zone and not creating much offensively. With Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic out, the Devils can’t afford for Hughes to have off-nights too often. He needs to be much better than he was yesterday.
The curious case of Nemec continues. Yes, he made a mistake on the Sharks’ second goal, but he finished second in xG% among Devils skaters to his defense partner, Brenden Dillon. Unfortunately, they were on the ice for three of the five goals against, so that’s how they end up at the bottom of the game score chart. For whatever reason, goalies are saving just .791 percent of the shots when Dillon and Nemec are on the ice. They’re not playing poorly enough to tank a goalie’s SV% like that, so they should be due for better results.
Dawson Mercer is off to the best start of his career. He picked up two more goals last night, bringing him to six goals and 11 points in 11 games. He is shooting 30 percent, so that will cool off at some point, but he’s also legitimately playing well. The Devils needed him to take a step forward this season, and so far, he’s answered the bell.
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