The Devils coach finally blew his top. Brent Sutter saw this last year, and remembers the outcome — out in five.
“They have to realize what’s at stake. The playoffs are clinched? Big deal. We’ll be done in a week,” coach Brent Sutter warned after the Devils lost their fifth (0-4-1) straight, and worst of the lot, 3-0 to the Rangers at the Garden last night.
The Devils fell apart at the end of last season, winning once in regulation in their final 13 — 18 counting the playoffs. They endured their previous five-game losing streak March 19-27, 2008, the fifth loss coming at the Garden, too.
“This group tried to throw the switch on last year and it didn’t work,” Sutter said.
Sutter said he’s still looking for the answer.
“I don’t know why. I have to figure it out,” Sutter said. “I don’t have the answer. I try different things and I don’t get a response.
“At some point, if you lose five in a row, you have to recognize that there are some problems to be resolved.”
Truth be told, the Devils lately have looked like an old team, averaging 31.7 years old, that can’t handle quick teams.
At the wrong time, New Jersey has hit the wall, shut out for the seventh time this season, but more pertinently, held to two goals or less in each of its five straight losses.
“There’s no offense because there’s no urgency,” Sutter said. “You have to pay a price to score goals and we don’t want to do that right now.
“Did their goaltender [Henrik Lundqvist] have to make any really tough saves? With the leadership in that room this shouldn’t be happening.”
Their Atlantic Division lead stands at six points, with Philly owning a game-in-hand.
“Don’t they want to finish second in the conference? Don’t they want home-ice advantage?” Sutter asked.
The loss was also the Devils’ fifth straight on the road, and sixth in seven away from Newark.
“The road has a lot to do with jam, with character, with compete. Am I [ticked] off? [Blank-blank] right I’m [ticked] off,” Sutter said.
Lou Lamoriello, before the game, regarded this losing streak as a bump, something to take in stride. But he’s been known to make drastic moves, even later than this, with a first-place team.
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Mike Mottau said Sean Avery challenged him to fight in the first, and Mottau took a “next shift” rain check, and Avery would not go. . . . David Clarkson threw the unresponsive Avery to the ice twice, trying to start a fight, and took an extra penalty, and a misconduct. “I was just trying to give the team a spark. He had one glove on, so I figured he’d fight,” Clarkson said. . . . The Devils will visit the Penguins tomorrow. . . . The Devils have allowed 127 shots in last three games.