Desultory Devils drop in Detroit

Other than a few minute rush in the second period,the New Jersey Devils appeared lackluster and lazy and it showed on the ice as the Devils were blitzed in Detroit by the Red Wings 7-4.
I'll get to the specifics below,but suffice it to say I'm not pleased.
Adam Henrique scored twice (19 and 20) with one coming in garbage time with the other New Jersey goals to Jaromir Jagr (20) and Patrik Elias (14 shorthanded).
The Devils return to action tonight at the Rock vs Carolina,where a better effort is expected.

Hell Raisers

1) Cory Schneider allowed seven goals and although he wasn't blameless or even close to good,it was not all his fault.
I counted three times in this game that Schneider made saves and Detroit scored on uncontested rebounds because there were no Devils in sight to even apply mild pressure on the puck.
Schneider wasn't good,but there were more to this game than just his play.

2) The defense stunk.
That's harsh,but I don't care.They stunk.
When teams score multiple goals by players trailing the play and then add in more as seen above-you stunk.

3) Want specifics?
Whoever put Jon Merrill and Bryce Salvador together as a pair made a sizable error in judgement.
No chemistry at all and Merrill was more often than not on the ice when the Wings scored.
These guys need to be separated and as in yesterday.
Bleech.

4) Let me know when Marek Zidlicky arrives in Detroit because he was nowhere to be found on simple clearing plays.
The defensemen in this game were just so damn bad that I cannot take it...

5) The three quick goals in the second period were fun to watch,but it was about the only span of the game that the Devils showed any life at all.
I know the legs are tired blah,blah,but so were the Wings and they managed to get by.
Adam Henrique showed some nice hands on his first goal and the Patrik Elias goal on a shorthanded rush was sweet,but otherwise.....Slow.

6) It's games like this that make this a chore to write.
I really try to be fair and I don't want to be negative.
After all,I'm sitting behind the keyboard-they are on the ice.
Nonetheless,when you play bad.you play bad and I'd be wrong to pretend otherwise.
Players have bad nights,I get that and before someone writes and says "can you do any better'?,I couldn't.
However,when you see a lack of effort on the ice and things are so clearly wrong,I have to call them on it.
Let's hope it can be written off as a bad night and we can move on because if this is what we are going to get even 25% of the games for the rest of the year,there will be no playoffs in Newark....