BUFFALO — Doom looms, and the Devils’ misery translated to miserable hockey. So Jacques Lemaire ripped his game-mailers.
“They can’t think the season’s over. They have to play. They’re getting paid. They have to play. They weren’t ready to play,” the Devils coach said angrily after his team was shut out for the second straight evening, 2-0 by the Sabres last night.
If the Preposterous Dream weren’t dead before, it expired as they fell to 1-4-1 in their last six games. They’re playing like it’s the first half all over, so it’s all over. They’re out of gas, out of ideas, out of time and out of the playoffs, all but mathematically, for the first time in 14 seasons.
“It feels like a waste of a season,” said Patrik Elias, who has never missed the playoffs. “That’s what you play for, 82 games, why you prepare and train yourself the whole summer.”
Even if they win their final seven, no shootout-era team has ever reached the playoffs with only 87 points.
“If that’s not enough, it stinks,” Dainius Zubrus said. “It was always a long shot. But having the possibility gave us a goal.”
Now they can’t score one. They’ve been shut out on consecutive nights, three times in these six games and seven times this season.
Their first-half fiasco has returned. They have lost three straight (0-2-1) for the first time since dropping four straight Jan. 1-8 to complete their woeful opening 41 games at 10-29-2. Since then, they’re 24-7-3, but that’s not enough to keep the Preposterous Dream alive.
“Our play of late is not of the standard to be a playoff team,” Martin Brodeur said.
This collapse was a while coming, the signs clear as they began wearying a month ago. When it finally arrived, it did so with a vengeance. The offense, always meager, vanished. They have scored a grand total of five goals in their last six, two in their five losses, one in three games.
They trail the Sabres by 12 points for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth and their Tragic Number fell to three points lost by them or gained by the Sabres to assure their season ends April 10. They could be officially eliminated Wednesday when they host the Islanders.
The body-language difference between the teams was obvious even in warmups, the Sabres relishing the game, the Devils appearing resigned to their fate. Their 23-3-2 eruption is now merely the highlight of a dismal season, threatening to be their worst since 1990-91, when they managed 79 points in 80 games. They have already suffered their most regulation losses (36 in 75 games) since they lost 37 in an 84-game season in 1992-93.
Buffalo took over early on Nathan Gerbe’s rebound goal 4:17 into play and made it 2-0 when Thomas Vanek rebounded Jason Pominville’s shot at 16:17 of the first. Ryan Miller’s fifth shutout was only a formality from then on.