I figured the least I could do after playing hooky from going to the Devils game tonight was write about what’s apparently going to be no worse than their second best home game of the year (and about what’s been happening on and off the ice lately). Currently the home side is up 3-0 on the Kraken after two periods despite some late hairy moments towards the end of the period it’s pretty much been a dominant Devils game, a rarity this year – particularly in Newark. After one of those ‘look good in a loss’ games at Carolina on Saturday, one thing seems painfully obvious…the system overhaul that was talked about before that game was way, way, way overdue.

Apparently it was obvious to everyone except this coaching staff that you needed to simplify things with a revolving forward core due to injuries, young defensemen and violently shaky (at least until the last two games) goalies. Finally it seems as if that change has been made, the main question now is…has it come too late? Before tonight’s games, the Devils sat six points out of the final wild card spot and eight points behind the Flyers for the automatic third division spot. With around thirty games left in the season and far fewer before the trade deadline, it’s basically now or never if the Devils are going to go on a season-saving surge towards the playoffs.

Admittedly, last week back from the All-Star break pretty much broke me in terms of enthusiasm for the cause, if I wasn’t already broken before that. Sure, the Devils started off with a surprising win against the Avs with a ton of players out of the lineup – Jack Hughes would come back from his long injury layoff for the next game against Calgary and Tyler Toffoli missed the game due to illness in addition to all of our other missing players elsewhere – but even that game was filled with annoyance. Granted, for two periods I was actually enjoying watching a team with no expectations overperform, since that’s been the inverse of what most of this season has been about. It was nice to actually clap the team off the ice instead of boo them off. 

Of course, then in the third period the Devils decide to turtle with a 3-1 lead, get stupid (with Luke Hughes getting plastered showing off behind his own net leading to a layup goal #2) and yet again get rancid goaltending on goal #3 that invetiably tied the game after that – despite Vitek Vanecek actually having one of his better games around that horrid unscreened wrister which made me snap. Even after John Marino somehow pulled a Bobby Orr with just over two minutes left in regulation and scored flying through the air, and after Erik Haula scored an empty-netter I somehow missed as I was walking out of my section at the final horn I was still annoyed that the Devils had reverted back to form and needed yet another moment of talent to overcome their painful deficiencies. 

Another hideous home loss against the Flames on Thursday proved that point, yeah I know they ‘played better’ and Vitek gave up three bad goals – spare me, nobody deserves any slack for this team’s rancid home form against mediocre and poor teams. At least I wasn’t at that fiasco, shockingly I think I still have above an NHL .500 record at the Rock this year which makes me feel a little better after opting out of going tonight. Even if I missed one of the apparent better home games, I’ve also managed to miss fiascoes like Thursday night and the 5-1 Ducks game in December.

After that, there was no way I was watching Saturday’s expected embarrassment at Carolina. The fact Vitek had his best game of the season and the Devils still found a way to lose (and in OT, no less) might have actually been more annoying than seeing 6-3 on the scoreboard. Even Vitek playing on Saturday – his third game in five days – after stinking up the joint against Calgary on Thursday just showed once again nobody in this organization is ever held to account for anything. Except Alex Holtz, I suppose. Missing the playoffs without even attempting to do anything to shake up the room would be unforgiveable, but Fitz has turned into Joe Douglas 2.0 before my eyes. Patience is a virtue, except when it turns into enabling and being too in love with the guys who had a great regular season and won ‘one’ round of the playoffs last year.

Apparently the system change is going to be our version of making a coaching change, so I suppose the last two games have been the new system bounce. Forget about actually seeing accountability for Vitek being the worst goalie in the league this year, that ain’t happening at this point – especially with the in-house options not doing all that much better anyway. Akira Schmid’s continued to stink it up in Utica while Nico Daws was also awful in his last three starts before the break. At least he seems to be okay tonight, now that he’s finally playing due to a ‘lower body injury’ for Vitek. I don’t want Fitz to get raked over the coals in a trade, but sometimes you have to just cut your losses and send a message the way the Oilers did earlier this year when they waived their goalie and fired the coach. And look at them now.

And as I’m typing Seattle scores to cut the lead to 3-1 halfway through the third…OH BOY. Didn’t look like a great goal for Daws to give up either, enhancing the point of the previous paragraph ironically. Of course Holtz made a mistake of his own on that shift, probably sending him back to the scratch box when Mr. Magoo Lindy Ruff plays 11-7 in Nashville tomorrow with Brendan Smith coming back into the lineup. While I’m nervously waiting to see just how hairy the Devils make this finish I might as well finish this blog with the off-ice stuff.

Of course in the annals of bad timing, season ticket renewals couldn’t have come at a worse time this year with the team struggling at home and falling out of the playoff race. If the MetLife game on Saturday wasn’t already massive, the current positioning of the Devils and Flyers just makes that game even more meaningful beyond two rivals playing on the outdoor stage. Really the Flyers could all but finish us off with a win Saturday, unless we somehow hold on to this game and win the next two but even then a loss on Saturday would be a four-point game since we’re likely going to have to beat out at least one of Philly or Detroit for a playoff spot. 

And the Devils pick now to have their season ticket holder drive, laughably advertising playoff ticket access while sneaking in massive increases across the board underneath the hype machine. If I didn’t luck into cushy aisle seats right behind the net in 120 years ago, I’d have likely peaced out of season tickets long ago but I know I’ll never get that seat again if I give it up so I’ll likely have to eat this increase too. As it is I had to cut back from two to one ticket since the friend who was going to games with me before the pandemic hasn’t gone to nearly as many since, ironically going to one ticket lessens the number of games I have to worry about selling a single seat since I do go to around 2/3 of games a year and with the ability to trade in a few games for credit I don’t have to worry about the secondary market too often.

As I close this out, the Devils mercifully hang on to beat the Kraken…hooray for small miracles. They have to find a way to actually (gasp!) win a road back-to-back tomorrow then beat the skidding Kings at home Thursday before I take any kind of a ‘playoff push’ seriously. With so-called lesser teams coming up now, they’re gonna need a massive surge to get back in the mix before the trade deadline although with how passive Fitz has been this year it wouldn’t shock me if he just sat it out even if we were clearly out of the playoffs by then. A lot of trust that was earned last year has been broken again with this organization, hopefully this week is the start of repairing that. Otherwise we’ll be left to lament one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history imploding before March.