Has The Devils Poor Play At Home Carried Over From Last Season?
The New Jersey Devils have a 1-1-1 record in games played at Prudential Center to start the 2024-25 season.
Oct 19, 2024; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) reacts after scoring a goal against the New Jersey Devils during the first period at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images - Has The Devils Poor Play At Home Carried Over From Last Season?As part of the 2023-24 NHL Player Poll, players were asked which arena is the toughest to play in as a visiting team.
As expected, T-Mobile Arena, TD Garden, and Bell Centre all cracked the top five. While no one knows where Prudential Center ranked, it wouldn't be a stretch to believe it was ranked near the bottom.
Last season, the New Jersey Devils earned 37 points on home ice in Newark, New Jersey, with a record of 17-21-3. The club allowed 149 goals against, second-most in the league behind the San Jose Sharks.
The club's poor home play was not the reason the team missed the postseason, but it did become a weakness.
A weakness that is starting to emerge again.
Excluding their "home" game in Prague as part of the 2024 NHL Global Series, the Devils have played three games at Prudential Center and hold a 1-1-1 record.
After their regulation loss in their home opener to the Toronto Maple Leafs, head coach Sheldon Keefe acknowledged they did not give the fans a lot to be excited about.
"We did not give them much to cheer about tonight," Keefe said.
In their next outing in front of their home crowd, they were perfect on the scoresheet, handing the Utah Hockey Club their first loss in franchise history.
On Saturday night, 16,514 hockey fans sat inside Prudential Center and watched an entertaining back-and-forth game, during which the home team fought its way back to force overtime.
Ultimately, fans witnessed their team lose the game. When he met with the media, Timo Meier spoke about needing to improve their performance in front of the home crowd.
"In our building, we have to play better in front of our fans and make this a harder place to play," Meier said on Saturday. "We didn't do a good enough job in these (first few) home games we had. We got to clean that up."
"Unacceptable effort on home ice," Keefe said of his team's 6-5 overtime loss to the Capitals. "That is two out of three games on home ice that it has been an unacceptable effort, so we will continue to address that."
A 1-1-1 record on home ice alone is no reason to sound the alarms, especially this early in the season. However, the Devils' struggles on home ice have been well documented, and as Keefe and the players know, they need to figure it out sooner rather than later.
The Devils will play three more home games at Prudential Center before closing the books on the first month of the season. Those six points are essential if the club wants to remain at the top of the Metropolitan Division.
New Jersey will host the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 6:45 P.M.
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