The New Jersey Devils continue to shoot themselves in the foot as their playoff chances dwindle.
The New Jersey Devils continue to shoot themselves in the foot as their playoff chances dwindle.
The New Jersey Devils' California road trip started out with such promise. After the club earned a 7-2 win over the San Jose Sharks, the energy was high as the players spoke to the attending media about finding joy in the game and having fun.
That energy and momentum came crashing down days later when the Devils, despite firing 55 shots at Anaheim Ducks' goaltender Lukas Dostal, suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss at Honda Center.
Things ultimately went from bad to worse when the Los Angeles Kings handed New Jersey a 5-1 loss on Sunday afternoon.
After that game, Timo Meier, who scored his team's lone goal against the Kings, met with the media.
"It's the same story. It just sucks," Meier said. "We have to go home and focus on the next one. We have to go now. We can't wait any longer. We're at the edge. Now we just have to start."
After the NHL All-Star Break, Kristy Flannery of The Hockey News caught up with Meier to reflect on the season up to that point and asked the power forward if he felt his team beat themselves in the first half.
"A little bit of both. At home, we had some games I thought we could have definitely grabbed points out of," he said.
Hockey is a game of mistakes, and the team that makes the least mistakes wins. The Devils' mistakes have haunted them since October, specifically the ones committed in their own zone.
"(We) shot ourselves too much in the foot in the first half where we left some points out there," Meier said to Flannery.
The team continues to shoot themselves in the foot as they push for a playoff spot.
Against the Kings, the Devils lost track of how many opposing skaters were on the ice, allowing Phillip Danault to sneak behind the defense for a breakaway and the Kings' first goal of the afternoon. Danault's second goal resulted from Tyler Toffoli's pass being picked off at the Kings blue line.
"We can't hand them the goals we handed them — the breakaway goal. Not having awareness of having a guy in behind us," Ruff said. "On the one side of that it looks like we're going to create some offense. But we turned what should have been offense into offense for them."
It is one thing to lose to a team who is outright better than you; it is an entirely different story when you beat yourself. More often than not this season, the latter has happened, leading to heartbreak, disappointment, and frustration for the players inside New Jersey's locker room.
Things do not get easier for the Devils as they face a difficult three-game homestand with the Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, and Carolina Hurricanes coming to Newark. The first of the three will be Tuesday night when the club hosts the Panthers.
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