I mean, talk about an embarrassing, embarrassing loss. The New Jersey Devils were shut out by the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 on the road Tuesday night, in a game where the opposition was without their best players.
When the Devils were missing their best, the opposition took advantage. That’s what good teams do. Yet, the opposite happened in Toronto, and New Jersey suffered their fourth loss in a row, and their sixth in their last 10 games.
Now, the Devils’ conundrum gets tougher. Do you trust the general manager who put them in this position to make a trade and try to instill any sort of improvement to the roster when there’s still a clear path to the playoffs? Or do you fire him mid-season, something that doesn’t happen very often in season, with the negligence displayed thus far.
You can no longer chalk this up to injuries. That narrative ran dry last season. Yes, they dealt with it again this year, but you knew coming into 2025-26 that you’d need the proper depth to sustain what feels inevitable year after year. Besides, the Devils’ best players are all back in the lineup.
There’s no more excuses for this. It’s not the coaching. Sheldon Keefe is working with what he has. It’s one of two things. The roster construction, or the players themselves, just don’t have it in them.
After all, Keefe has outwardly explained this team lacks mental toughness.
Let’s get to some observations.
10 Observations
- Keefe CLEARLY wanted the Devils to get on the board first and early. He skated Jack Hughes in his first shift for 1:55. I’m pretty sure I saw him out there with all four lines in some capacity. Yes, he’s your best player, but he’s still nursing a hand injury that has him wearing a cast every day. The lack of scoring depth became that much more obvious at this moment. It’s literally Jack or bust in terms of the Devils’ success.
- Admittedly, I’ve been riding Dougie Hamilton a lot lately. And look, it’s for good reason. He’s a $9 million player, and he hasn’t been good. I did like an early shift from him in the first period, though. It was the best play I’ve seen him make in weeks. Toronto was transitioning the puck from the neutral to the offensive zone on an odd-man rush. However, his back check forced a turnover when he swiped the puck away from the puck carrier from behind, which forced the play offsides. It negated the scoring chance and pushed the faceoff outside the offensive zone. If I’m going to be hard on him, I should highlight his positives, too.
- By the way, Hamilton left the game with 50 seconds remaining in the third after what appeared to be a spear to his mid-section. We’ll see if anything comes of that.
- Dawson Mercer is now goalless in 13 straight games. He had the Devils’ best scoring chance in the first period, a one-time chance from the right circle. However, it rang iron and he looked to the rafters in disbelief. Disgust, even. You can see he’s conscious of his lack of production. It’s starting to become apparent on everyone’s face amid offensive struggles.
- I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. You cannot blame a goaltender when the team in front of him doesn’t score. Jacob Markstrom gave the Devils a chance to win tonight. He accrued 2.98 expected goals against and gave up three goals. The third goal was fluky, almost like a pinball. The puck was supposed to go wide and took an unexpected turn. Otherwise, he basically gave up two Maple Leafs power play goals, with the second coming a literal second after the advantage expired. Markstrom made a number of key saves on Tuesday, including what looked like a cartwheel kick when he was on his behind in the crease in the first period. Markstrom is showing signs of life. It’s too bad the team in front of him is on life support.
- On the Maple Leafs’ first power play goal… Ondrej Palat, man. What are you doing? The Devils forced a turnover on the wall and had time and ice to clear it from danger. Yet, he quickly tried to clear the puck, didn’t use the boards, and it was stopped at the Devils’ blueline. He then fumbled over his own feet, lost his man—who was the streaking Maple Leaf—and Bobby McMann got the puck in a high-danger area and scored. Palat is a two-time Stanley Cup Champion and wears a letter. If he’s not going to score, he at least has to do everything else right. At this point, I’m not sure what the ‘A’ on his sweater stands for anymore.
- What makes this burn even more is that Palat previously had the opportunity to get the Devils on the board. Another shift manufactured by Jack’s playmaking ability sent the puck to Palat in the slot for a high-danger scoring chance. But it was yet another shot right to the goaltenders crest on his sweater for an easy save. Too much rode on Palat in the opening 20 minutes, and the Devils came away with nothing.
- What was abundantly obvious was how each team possessed the puck. The Devils were, once again, kept to the perimeter and lacked secondary scoring chances. No snarl, no bite, no fight. The Maple Leafs, however, worked on the inside. The got in the high-danger areas and did the dirty work. That’s a huge red flag.
- The Devils’ lack of a shooter is abundantly obvious on the power play. The first unit persisted of Jack, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Stefan Noesen, and Luke Hughes. And it was pass, pass, pass, pass. No one is thinking shoot-first on that unit, and it’s a huge problem. Again, Timo Meier should be on the first unit, setting up in the right circle, and just ripping shots. Otherwise, go get someone who you think is better suited for that position, but I think Meier gets the job done. Keep Noesen as net-front. That works just fine. But you’re sacrificing one of Nico, Jack, or Bratt on that unit, and it’s not going to be Jack. You need to shoot to score, and they’re not doing that on the power play.
- Speaking of shooters, confident ones score in high-danger areas when there is no pressure. On an odd-man rush led by Palat, the veteran winger intended to find Jack in the slot. However, it hit a Maple Leaf boot and sat in the slot for Bratt. At point-blank range, he sailed the puck over the net. I know he just scored twice in their last game, but confident shooters hit the net, and the Devils are anything but confident right now.
- The Devils absolutely should have scored on their second power play opportunity, by the way. They got their chances for the first time all game. But, as this tends to happen, Joseph Woll played out of his mind. He ended the tilt with 2.33 saves above expected, and kept the Devils at bay in their few moments of sustained pressure.
- Lastly, even the head coach didn’t want to see this. And, I totally agree with his assessment. It was great to see Hischier show some emotion and drop the gloves with Matthew Knies. However, should it have been him? Absolutely not. And this isn’t me sitting here pounding the desk for Kurtis MacDermid. But, as Keefe noted, the Devils lack “balls.” He’s said before there’s a true scarcity of mental toughness, and now the metaphors are traveling south. So, good on Nico for trying to get something, anything out of the Devils. However, perhaps someone else should fight the guy that is two inches taller and over 30-lbs heavier than the Devils captain.
Honorable Mentions
- Cody Glass deserves credit for taking Woll’s stick end to the face, and then remaining on the ice for the next 20-something seconds of his shift. He was worked on by the trainers on the bench and remained in the game, but that had to sting for sure.
- Lastly, it was good to see linesman Shandor Alphonso is okay. He left at the start of the third period after taking a dump-in by Brett Pesce to the head. He came back about a quarter of the way through the final frame and finished officiating the game. It even be the officials that are tougher in this sport.
