After kicking off the new season with a 3-2 overtime win over the Flyers thanks to 3-on-3 cheat code Jack Hughes, the Devils have dropped their last two games to the Islanders and Mammoth. They were outscored by a combined 11-3, including a dismal 6-0 shutout to the Islanders.

Following the latest defeat to their Long Island rival, they were unable to keep up with the high-flying Mammoth in a frustrating 5-3 loss at home in a game they never led. Due to an early Timo Meier high-sticking minor that led directly to a Clayton Keller power-play goal, the Devils were chasing the play.

With new acquisition Luke Evangelista scoring the first of a pair, MacKenzie Weegar put them behind less than two minutes into the second period. Despite Evangelista continuing to play well by evening the contest at two, another untimely Meier minor allowed the NHL’s top-ranked power play to connect for the second time on Tuesday when Nick Schmaltz tallied.

If there’s a bad habit from last year that they want to eliminate, it’s slow starts and bad finishes to periods. They allowed Lawson Crouse to double up the Mammoth lead with less than a minute remaining in the second. That proved costly.

Despite continuing to battle back thanks to some extra effort from Jesper Boqvist, who stuck with it to score in his return as a Devil, a bad turnover from Luke Hughes in the neutral zone resulted in Schmaltz setting up Vincent Trocheck for the coup de grace with over three minutes left in the game. As well as he played with partner Brett Pesce, Hughes was late to pick up Trocheck after the giveaway. An area he’ll need to fix in his fourth season.

Following the Islanders blowout loss, players expressed some frustration with how they played.

“It is what happened last year,” fourth line center Cody Glass told The Devils Narrative reporter Kristy Flannery. “We wanted to get that out of our game, and it came back. That is the frustrating part for us. We need to get that completely out of our game because it was very, it was too familiar.”

“That is when turnovers happen, right,” Jesper Bratt added before the Devils fell to the Mammoth at The Rock on Oct. 6. “It escalates when you want too much, and everyone is too pressured. It comes from the right reason that you want to win, but that is usually not the way to win when you take those risks. I think that is kind of what has happened a little bit with us.”

Sometimes, old habits die hard. For the Devs, they must wait until this Saturday for their next chance to respond. They’ll host the Canucks at 3:30 PM in a special matinee.

Despite being viewed as an NHL doormat, Vancouver is two up and two down over the first four games as they prepared to take on the Hurricanes on Thursday night. Somewhat surprisingly, former Devil Paul Cotter is off to a quick start with a team-leading four goals and six points, which is tied with teammate Elias Pettersson in team scoring.

With the team struggling defensively and in net, Remi Poirier was a full participant in this morning’s practice. Both Jake Allen and Nico Daws also took reps. Perhaps embattled head coach Sheldon Keefe wants to get his first look at Poirier, who team president and general manager Sunny Mehta claimed from the Stars from waivers before the start of the season.

We’ll have a better idea by the weekend.

Noesen Goes on Waivers

Earlier today, the Devils placed Stefan Noesen on waivers. Despite a solid training camp, he didn’t get off to a good start. In two games, he struggled to distinguish himself, and was a minus-2 on the fourth line.

Ultimately, Keefe probably realized that the younger Boqvist is a better option. A faster skater who’s energy usually rubs off on linemates due to his hustle, the 28-year-old forward scored last night when he put a backhand in to cut the deficit to 4-3 in the third period. He makes $1.25 million less than Noesen ($2.75 million AAV) on an expiring deal.

As expected, the 27-year-old Boqvist replaced Noesen on the fourth line. They lined up the same at practice with Glass in between Boqvist and rookie Amadeus Lombardi.

Jack Hughes took a maintenance day. Regarding Jonas Siegenthaler, who exited Tuesday’s game in the third period with an injury, the Devils are still evaluating him for Saturday.

“He’s feeling a lot better today. I think he’s going to try and skate tomorrow and see how that goes, and then make a decision from there,” Keefe told reporters.