New Jersey Devils Go Through The Motions In 1-0 Loss To New York Islanders

It was a sleepy Sunday afternoon game for the Devils, and the 1-0 final score was fitting for the effort

The New Jersey Devils secured a playoff spot this past week. In fact, not only was their postseason spot clinched, but their entire first round fate is sealed as well, with the Devils locked into a first round matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes. And even beyond that, New Jersey cannot catch the Hurricanes in the standings to steal home ice in the first round. So in other words, with three games left in the regular season, New Jersey has absolutely nothing tangible to play for. And boy did it show in a sleepy 1-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Sunday afternoon.

During the game, which was a national broadcast on TNT, head coach Sheldon Keefe was interviewed. And while I generally hate these in-game spots because they’re usually cringe and offer nothing of note, I have to admit that this one was different. The question of what Keefe wants to see entering the postseason was asked, and Keefe said something to the effect of “Well I’d be lying if I said our number one concern is anything other than getting to the playoffs healthy”. It was a bit of unexpected candor from a head coach in that spot.

And those words informed a great deal my viewing experience today. I’m not going to go as far as to say the Devils quit on today’s contest. But I do think whenever there was a choice between taking a risk to make a play and making a business decision, the business decision always won out in the end. I really wonder if Keefe told his team before the game to take it easy and to protect against injury above all else. This would make the compete level I saw out of the Devils today make a lot more sense.

And if this was truly the case, then honestly, so be it. I want New Jersey to win games, and I’m sure you do as well. But as we outlined above, this team has absolutely nothing to play for aside from pride and perhaps a few guys reaching some statistical milestones. Which isn’t nothing, but the goal of getting to the dance in one piece is the primary concern. The fact that I’ve spent this entire article up to this point taking about the big picture and not the game itself should be an indicator of that as well. Yes it’s possible that some bad habits seep in as a result of playing out the stretch like this, but I would take that risk over more injuries befalling New Jersey.

As for the game itself, like I said there’s not a whole lot to say. The one exception to that, of course, is Paul Cotter getting ejected for a hit to the head of Adam Pelech. Here’s the hit, as well as an extended breakdown of it from the TNT intermission crew:

My two cents? Yeah, I’m of the opinion that it was a bang-bang play that wasn’t as avoidable as color commentator Darren Pang made it seem. Did Cotter deserve to get a five minute major and ejected? I can’t argue that he didn’t. At the end of the day it was still a hit to the head, even though I thought there was no intent from Cotter. Even Keefe said in that same in-game interview I mentioned above that Cotter isn’t that type of player, but it was the right call. So while I think Cotter was in a tough spot, I can’t sit here and act like it was a complete miscarriage of justice that he got the boot and the Devils were sent to a five-minute penalty kill.

I guess what helped was the fact that the Devils killed off the entire major without allowing a goal. Which I believe is the second time they’ve done that this season (the other being November 25th vs. Nashville), but it’s possible I’m forgetting one. I’ll be honest though, I don’t so much credit the Devils’ penalty kill as much as I fault the Isles’ power play. My goodness that is a bad, bad unit. New York has been the worst special teams squad in the NHL this season, and it showed in a big way during the major penalty.

In any case, the Devils killed that off, but couldn’t generate any offense or momentum at all as a result. In fact it served as a fitting comparison to that November game against the Predators. That major against Nashville came very late in the game with the Preds down two goals. New Jersey killed off the penalty, and then IMMEDIATELY scored into the empty net to put the game on ice. This kill of a major led to absolutely nothing of note. A perfect microcosm of where the team was in November versus where the team is now. The offensive chances were few and far between this afternoon, and even on the rare occasion when New Jersey did threaten to score, Ilya Sorokin was there to answer the call every time.

The lone goal of the game was an immensely frustrating one: A Bo Horvat snipe that came in the final minute of the second period, made possible by a hideous turnover by Timo Meier.

It appeared for a second that Keefe was intending to challenge for offsides on the play, as it did look like Kyle Palmieri might have entered the zone just ahead of the puck off the stretch pass. But either way, that is about as bad a play as you can make if you’re Meier. It was also the third time in three games that New Jersey has given up a goal in the final minute of the period, after doing it TWICE against Boston on Tuesday. And as it turned out, that Horvat goal was all the Isles needed today.

In all, this loss means absolutely nothing to the Devils. It doesn’t change their playoff fate one bit, and while it’s frustrating to once again get shut out (their ninth shutout loss of the season), everyone got out of the game healthy. According to Keefe, that’s what matters.

The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats

The Game Highlights: Courtesy of the NHL’s website

Cotter’s Fate

I guess the biggest question out of this game is, will Paul Cotter face a suspension for his hit to the head of Adam Pelech? I have long since stopped trying to predict what the Department of Player Safety will do, as they seemingly make decisions at random. They’ll let Jacob Trouba two-hand swing his stick at someone’s face and bash his elbow into other people’s skulls with little to no punishment, but then they’ll turn right around and suspend a player for something about 10 times less egregious.

So in the end, I don’t know. Obviously if Cotter is suspended for one or two games, it’s not the end of the world. But if he has to miss a postseason game or two, that could be a problem. It’s not like Cotter is a game breaker and without him the Devils are toast. He’s a bottom-six grinder with some skill, a player that I think provides value to the lineup, but one New Jersey can live without for a game or two. I think the Devils would be worse without him, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that thanks to the good ol’ DoPS.

It Begins

In case you needed yet another piece of evidence that Keefe is putting his team in bubble wrap before the postseason, we got our first healthy scratch due to rest of the home stretch:

It makes sense. Stefan Noesen is a veteran, one of the older players on the team. I would expect to see him in the lineup in at least one of the final two games of the regular season, but I would also expect players like Ondrej Palat, Cody Glass, Brenden Dillon, Brett Pesce, and other vets get one of the final two games off as well. Maybe not all at once, the Devils still need to ice a full team after all. But don’t be surprised to see less than full capacity lineups coming soon.

Is He Back?

The best thing to happen today other than everyone getting out of the game intact? Jacob Markstrom’s performance. It was another strong one from Markstrom, and it appears he’s rounding back into form after returning from his leg injury.

In his first eight games after being activated from Injured Reserve (March 2-26) Markstrom only won two of those games while posting an abysmal .846 Save%. But in his five games since, Markstrom has won three of them with a save% of .904, including stopping 21 of 22 shots today. His only clunker was a couple games ago against the Bruins, when he allowed a whopping seven goals on 16 shots. If you throw away that outlier, Markstrom has been stellar since the 26th of March.

We all know that it will be a challenge for New Jersey to defeat the Hurricanes in round one. It would’ve been a tough matchup even if the Devils were fully healthy, but with no Jack Hughes or Jonas Siegenthaler and at BEST a compromised Dougie Hamilton, the mountain gets that much taller. The most realistic way the Devils can pull off the upset will be if Markstrom steals the series. He’s certainly capable of it, and if his recent form is any indication, he might just do it.

Next Time Out

The Devils are back at it on Tuesday in their penultimate game of the season and their last road game of the campaign. They’ll be in Boston to take on the Bruins at 7:00pm.

Your Take

What did you make of today’s game? Where do you fall on the rest vs. rust debate? What do you expect next time out against the Bruins? As always, thanks for reading.