Monday, March 3, 2014

Devils Defensive Dumbness dooms vs Sharks

The New Jersey Devils played pretty well for most of the first two periods and then continued to make bad decisions with the puck.
The San Jose Sharks made them pay as puck possessions decisions set up each of the four Sharks goal and San Jose slipped away with a 4-2 win over the Devils at the Rock.

Adam Henrique (18) and Patrik Elias (13) each scored in the second period to lift the Devils to a
2-1 lead that would slip away in defeat.
The Devils will host Detroit on Tuesday before traveling to Detroit on Friday.

Hell Raisers

1) Four botched puck led to four goals for the Aqua and Whatevers which usually means defeat.
On goal one,Cory Schneider goes out behind the net to play the puck.
The problem was he didn't immediately play it as he waited a bit before attempting to move the puck,which put the Devils out of sync on the clear and shortly led to the Logan Couture goal.

2) The normally dependable Andy Greene tosses the puck away as the Devils enter the Sharks zone.Two passes later and San Jose has tied the game at two.

3) Anton Volchenkov tries to get too cute with a pass,gets it stolen for a Sharks breakaway that ends with Jon Merrill not taking the pass away,falling to the ice and basically handing San Jose another goal to slide past a helpless Cory Schneider.

4) And finally,Eric Gelinas attempts to clear,Patrick Marleau intercepts,cruises in and beats Schneider for the game winner.
All four of these were less than intelligent decisions and all cost the Devils goals and the two points..

5) The lost points were huge as all the teams that played yesterday that the Devils are chasing earned points.
Could these points help Lou Lamoriello's decision making before Wednesday?
Talk to me after Tuesday,where a loss just might make things cleat to Lou.

6) Sorry to seem so negative and I did like the Henrique and Elias redirections for goals because it shows that the Devils are at least being active around the net.
However,those dumb defensive/puck decisions for a team that has to be built on defense is going to get you every time.
And what it is going to get these Devils is a good seat for the playoffs-watching at home...

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