Things aren’t going as planned for either Cory Schneider or Andy Greene after both signed long-term extensions this offseason (picture from NJ.com)

Normally I try to avoid going to three games in a week but given the Devils were playing the Pens and Flyers this week and my friends wanted to go to yesterday’s game against the Habs, I was all set to do it until the snowy/slushy/slippery weather combined with a crappy team kept me home tonight.  Other than a game or two late in the 2013 season I can’t remember a time both the Devils and Flyers met with so little on the line for both teams, but given the fact they’re nine points out of the playoffs (with the Rangers having multiple games in hand) the Flyers are likely to miss the postseason for the second time in three years while we’re in even worse position and it’s a near certainty we’ll miss the postseason for the third straight season.

In fact, both teams’ fans would probably prefer they lose this game to improve their draft position given the balleyhooed anticipated top two picks but for me it’s still too early to look at the standings in an inverse way.  Not that I particularly care about wins and losses at this point – sadly even beating the Flyers tonight would do very little for me given the fact we’d just improve their draft position – but there’s still way too much time left in the season to actively root for the Devils to lose every game.  At a certain point losing becomes counterproductive and just increases the negative vibes (and winning in a near hopeless cause during the spring of 2011 set up the following season, so even that kind of winning can have some benefits).  Not everyone is going to be gone next year, you want guys like goalie Cory Schneider or the young defensemen to gain/increase their confidence, not to mention having some of the vets to pick it up to enhance their trade value since it’s still several weeks to the deadline.  At times like this you start to root for individuals as much as anything else, like the goalies to play well or former #4 overall pick Adam Larsson to finally get a real chance for the first time in three years and respond last night with nearly twenty-eight good minutes.

I did want to go tonight since it’ll be one of the last few games with ‘atmosphere’ in the building this year.  Sadly the Devils’ 3-1 win over Pittsburgh on Monday was the first home win I was in attendance for since November 11.  It might have well been the team’s best game of the season too, but so far the results of the new coaching cerebrus have been mixed at best with the team going 1-3.  Maybe strange decisions can be excused given the team’s current position in the standings, but was there any real reason Andy Greene got barely twenty minutes last night while Marek Zidlicky got twenty-eight?!  Greene got more shorthanded time than Zid had on the power play so the five-on-five time difference was even more stark.  If this were a different organization I’d think some of the things they were trying to do were meant to facilitate losing (playing Steve Bernier and Jordin Tootoo on the power play?  Having Travis Zajac at the point during a third-period man advantage while Patrik Elias lost a key offensive zone draw?).

Yes the team has been compromised I know…between injuries, sicknesses and just plain bad luck every retread short of Cam Janssen and Rod Pelley has been called up to play games by now – and their returns any day wouldn’t surprise me – even one-time Devil Mark Fraser is making his return tonight with a seemingly deep defensive core having been riddled by injuries starting with Damon Severson on the shelf probably till after the All-Star break, Bryce Salvador being in witness protection, Eric Gelinas sick and Peter Harrold out after suffering a facial injury last night.  Things up front aren’t much better though the lineup is mostly healthy save for Ryane Clowe, Steve Bernier and Stephen Gionta.  And whoever else I may be forgetting – at this point you need a gameday program to tell who’s in the lineup on a nightly basis.  I really can’t remember a season anywhere close to this in terms of guys going in and out of the lineup at the drop of a hat.  Ironically one of the oldest players on the team (Zidlicky) is one of only two Devils to have played every game this season with Greene being the other.

Talking about the lineup is depressing but the team’s play itself hasn’t been particularly scintillating.  Granted the effort has been there for the most part in the four games since the coaching changes but of course the team lost at MSG and at Detroit – where they always lose, along with last night’s game where the Habs’ speed and pressure bottled up the Devils for the first two plus periods until Montreal got the ‘worst lead in hockey’ going up 3-0.  After the Habs started to sit back, the Devils surged back with two goals and made a game of it but of course came up short.  At least it was a better showing than the last time my friends came to a game (one of the Washington fiascoes last month).  What’s more after two semi-winnable games at home tonight and against the Sabres on Tuesday, the Devils’ five games before the break are murderous with a trip to Boston, playing the Isles here then going on the West Coast for three games before a lengthy – and needed All-Star break.  In other words it’s almost certainly getting worse before it starts to get better.