Jake Allen began skating out of his crease with 2.7 seconds remaining in the third period of the New Jersey Devils 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders at Prudential Center on Thursday night.
The veteran goaltender knew his team needed to build momentum between the holiday and Olympic breaks.
"14 games left to the break, and we need to be on the right foot and build momentum," Allen told The Hockey News in early January. "We don't need to be perfect. We don't need to go 13-1, but we just need to find a way to build our game to a point where we can go into that break on a good mental note."
With the arrival of the Olympic break, the Devils squandered multiple opportunities to gain traction in the playoff race, posting an 8-11-1 record since the holiday break. As of Feb. 6, New Jersey is 11 points out of a playoff spot with 25 games remaining in the 2025-26 regular season.
The club has yet to find consistency game to game. For every step they take forward, they take two or three back. With 57 games in the books, post-game quotes have become rinse-and-repeat, with players and coaches reciting words they have already spoken.
"Absolutely, beyond frustrating way to finish, because we just beat ourselves."
"Some old habits were there again, and that cost us the game."
"Not good enough both on the power play and penalty kill."
"We're right there again. Too many times this season. It is very frustrating."
On Tuesday night, after the Devils' 3-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, head coach Sheldon Keefe made pointed statements regarding his current team.
"We just wilt in the third period. That is just not good enough," he said. "We are not mentally tough enough, clearly. These are critical moments in our season.
"Mental toughness and conditioning, physical toughness and conditioning, we are wilting in these situations, and that's not a good sign."
While I recommend listening to Keefe's full media availability from that night, how many of those comments were aimed at the players in the locker room rather than the Devils' management and ownership?
As a group, the players have underperformed, with very few bright spots this season. Cody Glass has been a revelation and has done more than expected when he signed a two-year contract with New Jersey in July. He, along with Connor Brown, Arseny Gritsyuk, Lenni Hämeenaho, and Colton White, headline the players who have met or exceeded expectations.
© Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn ImagesWhen a team performs as poorly as the Devils have, the players and the coaching staff will be publicly criticized, but the problems they are facing this season are nothing new. A lack of a bona fide top-six scoring winger, concerns about center depth within the organization, and Jack Hughes missing time with an injury are recurring narratives.
With the same issues re-emerging season after season, eventually, the finger has to be pointed at management and ownership.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald has come under fire due to his team's lackluster season, and when he met with the media in January, he took ownership.
"This is on me," he said. "Where we are at right now is on me. I am one to take accountability for myself. I will say we are a collaborative organization, and we are all in this together, my group. But I am the leader of the group, and this isn't good enough. It is absolutely not good enough. We are not meeting the standard and expectations that we have set."
Whether it is having too many cooks in the kitchen that is the Devils' front office, showing patience to a fault, or putting the wrong mix of individuals together, it has become clear that something is not working, and it goes well beyond the on-ice product.
Would a shake-up to the roster as it is currently constructed make an impact? It is possible, but over the seasons, players have been rotated in and out, and the coaching carousel has made its fair share of laps.
The players are out of answers, and on some nights it seems Keefe is as well. Fitzgerald admitted that this disappointing season ultimately lands on him, and while no one is completely absolved of blame, he and his staff have been the common denominator over the past few seasons.
There is a reason there are current rumblings that potential general manager candidates believe there will be a change in New Jersey. They are in a results-based business, and that extends beyond players and coaches.
If and when the Devils are mathematically eliminated from the postseason, a hard conversation between ownership and Fitzgerald is needed, if it hasn't occurred already, followed by changes that go beyond the roster and coaching staff.
The most alarming nuance of New Jersey's situation is how many ways the "What went wrong for the Devils this season" conversation can begin. That discussion can start in multiple ways, ranging from the front office to roster construction to the organization's overall culture.
That is enough for a call to action from ownership.
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