Shot Down Again-Devils lose Shootout to Flyers

The New Jersey Devils kept their current string going in the final game of their homestand, but few portions of the continuing string were positives as another loss, another shootout loss and another blown lead at home were part of the 4-3 home shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Sean Couturier beat Mackenzie Blackwood as the third Flyer shooter for the only goal of the shootout.
The Devils did receive a point but only totaled six points from a possible twelve from their longest homestand of the season.
New Jersey goals to Sami Vatanen (4 Power Play), Taylor Hall (2), and Wayne Simmonds (1 Power Play) in the defeat.
The Devils begin a five-game road trip in Raleigh tomorrow against the Carolina Hurricanes before that lovely Western Canada swing that everyone loves so much!

Hell Raisers

1) Hey, the power play was working!
Two of the Devils' three goals were scored with the extra man on the ice and their two goals were half of the power-play goals that the Devils had scored all season entering the game.
If there is anything to be hopeful about, perhaps we can start with some improvement on the PP!

2) Wayne Simmonds scored his first goal as a Devil with one of those man-advantage goals and ended a run of some of the worst luck that I've seen from a Devil.
I'm sure Simmonds would have been happier with a win over his former team, but scoring his first goal against them is the next best thing.

3) Taylor Hall finished with a goal and an assist in his first game after his observations on fans booing the team at home.
The goal was a highlight as Hall slid into Flyers goalie Carter Hart seconds after the puck slid through the legs of Hall.

4) The shootout woes continue as no Devils (Palmieri, Hughes, and Hall in this one) were able to score past Carter Hart.
It's funny how shootouts work as on paper, one would think that the Devils should be fairly strong with creative offensive players and players skilled in the open ice, but yet it isn't happening.
Sometimes these things come and go during a season and others just don't have the knack for it.

5) Sean Couturier's game-winner against Mackenzie Blackwood brought the old Peter Forsberg shootout move to mind and no one can blame Blackwood for being unable to make the stop.

6) I know it cost the Devils a power play ( that the Flyers didn't score on) and a ten-minute misconduct for Kyle Palmieri,  but I loved his going right at Matt Niskanen after Niskanen drove Jack Hughes into the boards and then to the concussion area for a mandatory check from the physician.
Jack Hughes is slightly built and at 18 years old, teams are going to test him.
Hughes will eventually have to face some of this and stand up to it, but it was something that I have been waiting for to see who would pick up the gauntlet and defend the future franchise player.
Kudos to Kyle Palmieri for stepping up.

7) Minutes before the game, the Devils obtained veteran goalie Louis Domingue from Tampa Bay for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft.
Domingue played 26 games last season for Tampa Bay, winning 21 of those for the first-place Lightning with a 2.88 GAA and a save percentage of  .908 as the main backup behind Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The twenty-seven-year-old Domingue played a few games for Tampa's AHL farm club in Syracuse and was assigned to the Devils AHL team in Binghamton where he should be a veteran presence to younger netminders, Evan Cormier and Gilles Senn.
Either Cormier or Senn will likely be dropped to the Devils ECHL squad (Adirondack Thunder) and I'm not sure which will move to make space.
Cormier has played in six games, Senn in five, with similar numbers and ages (Senn 23, Cormier 22 in a few days) it's hard to say.
A tiebreaker could be what Ray Shero thinks of Senn, who played in the Swiss league last season, and how much he wants to challenge him vs  Cormier, who played in the AHL last season.

8) Just keep in mind this seemingly small deal as the season wears on for another reason- the awful start for Cory Schneider.
If Schneider's play doesn't improve, he would be a candidate for a buyout and should that happen Louis Domingue would be a low-cost veteran backup to move to the roster.
That would be a worst-case scenario because that would mean Schneider was so bad that either the season's essentially over or nearing that point with Schneider's play being a major problem in a disappointing season.
We are nowhere near that point, but remember this note should it be needed.