The Devils came out of their second game of the season with a loud wake-up call.
After an encouraging opening-night win, New Jersey was blanked 6-0 by the Islanders on Saturday at UBS Arena, and the scoreboard told only part of the story. The Devils have now been outscored 15-0 in their last two visits to that building.
Sheldon Keefe didn’t mince words after the loss.
“I would just say we were playing preseason hockey against a team that was probably playing February-type hockey,” the Devils coach said. “They played at another level today that we haven’t seen. I guess you would say we failed that stress test.”
The game was tight through the first period. New Jersey skated to a scoreless opening frame and even held a 9-7 edge in shots, but things fell apart after that. By the end, Keefe said the Devils were paying for mistakes they thought they had cleaned up.
“There are little things, like shift length, for example, and puck management,” Keefe said. “On the goals we gave up, especially the first one, we were caught on the ice for way too long and were tired. You can’t defend tired.”
The Devils finished with 37 shots and controlled play at five-on-five, but they didn’t do enough to make life uncomfortable for Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin. Jesper Bratt pointed to that as one of the night’s biggest misses.
“I just don’t think we did a good enough job of taking (Sorokin’s) eyes away,” Bratt said. “We made the saves a little too easy for him.”
New Jersey’s speed and skill can create damage in open ice, but that edge fades when opponents stay organized and close off the middle. Bratt said the Devils’ issues showed up in the wrong places.
“Our details in the defensive zone, with the puck around our blue line and at their blue line, caused a lot of goals and situations that shouldn’t happen,” Bratt said.
The power play was another problem. The Devils went 0-for-5 on Saturday and are 0-for-9 through their first two games. That stood in sharp contrast to Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win against Philadelphia, when the puck movement and chances were more encouraging.
Against the Islanders, Keefe said the structure simply wasn’t there.
“I just think we’re not adhering to any sort of plan or structure,” Keefe said. “We’re out there kind of making it up and trying to skill our way through it. That’s what we tried to do with a lot of our five-on-five game as well.
“That’s not good enough. Teams are playing hard and structured. It’s not going to cut it, no matter how talented you are.”
Nico Daws gave up six goals on 32 shots, and the Devils didn’t do him many favors in front of him. The second goal was the one that stuck with him most, with Islanders center Brayden Schenn scoring after Daws couldn’t control a shot that hit him in the chest.
By the end, Keefe summed it up in blunt fashion.
“We scored zero,” Keefe said. “We gave up way too many chances. We just got outclassed by another team today.”
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