The New Jersey Devils were off to an excellent start to their season. Until, suddenly, they weren’t. And now, their head coach is calling them out on their antics.
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In consecutive games now, the Devils have come out of the gates poorly. On Thursday, New Jersey coughed up a 1-0 lead on a turnover in their own end of the ice that led to William Eklund springing for a breakaway and beating Jake Allen.
As opposed to a strong pushback against the Sharks, the Devils sunk in and allowed them to take a 3-0 lead after 16 minutes of play.
“I don’t think it was a structure issue. It was a work ethic and competitive issue for us,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said.
New Jersey started poorly on Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche as well. It was quickly 2-0 just under three minutes into the first period in Denver. Ultimately, the Avalanche rang up the Devils for five goals before an answer, and scored eight in total to down them in regulation.
It was a similar feeling in San Jose when Dawson Mercer cut the 3-0 deficit by scoring a power play goal. Yet, had no answer for the Sharks’ relentless pursuit of the puck.
“That was not it. That’s not the way you can work, compete, & the urgency you need to have defensively,” Keefe said. “You cannot win in the National Hockey League with that as the baseline. That’s unacceptable & once again you get what you deserve.”
The Devils are now 8-3-0 to start the season, and certainly could be in much worse shape had they not started so well. Keefe challenges the Devils to rise to the occasion to get the train back on its tracks.
“We’ve got to get better at embracing the hard things. If we want to win consistently, we have to embrace the hard things and do it on a regular basis,” Keefe explained. “We got away with some things in the early goings of the season. Wins went our way and special teams carried us through. But the reality of the league is it’s hard. If you don’t embrace hard things, it opens you up to be able to lose on any night to any team.”
Keefe pulled no punches when it came to explaining the Devils’ learning curve. He was hesitant to buy into the early “maturity” narrative, as he’s been seeking to fix some defensive issues that have persisted in New Jersey for a while. Even in their early wins this season, he saw those issues creeping through.
“Some things defensively have been creeping in and have been there not just throughout the start of the season, but have been there historically as well,” Keefe concluded. “We’re just not there. And that’s individuals. If we want to be a serious hockey team, we’ve got to do these things better, or we don’t have a chance to compete with the best.”
