The alarm bells that started ringing when Jack Hughes cut his finger at a team dinner about a month ago are absolutely screaming now.
With Hughes still out – a rumored best-case scenario is a Christmas return – the Devils announced Thursday that they’d lost leading goal scorer Timo Meier.
For how long? Who knows? Meier wasn’t injured but has taken a leave of absence “due to a family matter.”
But perhaps more concerning than the loss of another key player is goalie Jacob Markstrom’s continued poor play.
Markstrom, as he has been in most of his 15 starts this season, was abysmally bad Thursday night. He allowed three goals on just seven shots in under 8 minutes before getting yanked in the Devils’ 8-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Prudential Center.
While Markstrom didn’t take the loss – Jake Allen came on in relief and allowed five more – he gave the Devils no chance to win. The big Swede, who was supposed to be the answer in net the Devils have been looking for since Cory Schneider’s hips disintegrated, now has an .875 save percentage and a 3.66 goals against average.
He’s allowed three or more goals in 10 of his last 11 starts, and in 13 of 16 games played this season.
On Thursday, he gave up goals to Nick Paul and Darren Raddysh 51 seconds apart before the game was even four minutes old. Paul scored off a Dougie Hamilton turnover at the blue line and Raddysh ripped a 55-footer past Markstrom.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he wiped out any momentum the Devils might have enjoyed thanks to Luke Hughes’ second goal of the season at 7:00, by allowing Pontus Holmberg to score less than a minute later. The crowd was still cheering the announcement of Hughes’ goal when Holmberg rolled a weak backhander through Markstrom’s five hole to silence the crowd.
That was all Sheldon Keefe needed to see. Keefe pulled Markstrom for Allen, who probably would have been content to remain on the bench the way the Devils were playing.
A Jake Guentzel goal at the 15 minute mark pretty much ended any chance the Devils had of coming back in this one. With no Hughes and no Meier a three-goal lead might as well have been 10.
The only bright spot Thursday night, and it wasn’t much of one, was Jesper Bratt scoring his first goal since Nov. 5 – a stretch of 16 games.
The Devils, who added goals by Angus Crookshank and Paul Cotter, were never able to get closer than three goals.
Crookshank’s goal was his first goal and point as a Devil.
Up Next
The Devils, who have lost five straight at Prudential Center, host the Anaheim Ducks at 12:30 pm, Saturday afternoon. Anaheim, which beat the Devils 4-1 back on Nov. 2 in Anaheim lost to the Islanders 5-2 on Thursday. They’re in second in the Pacific Division behind Vegas.
Your Thoughts
What did everyone else think? This one was rough. Markstrom has been horrible. Is he playing hurt? Did they rush him back early? It’s hard to tell. He wasn’t good in his one game before getting hurt. He’s not even serviceable at this point. To allow three or more in 13 of 16. … And it isn’t just the goals allowed. It’s when he allows them. On the first or second shot. Right after the Devils score. In the first and last minutes of periods. They’re all killers when there’s so little margin for error with Hughes and Meier out,