The Devils took the first syllable of deadline too literally. They’ve been staggering since.
The five-game losing streak they bring to Newark tonight against the Flyers is their worst since 2000. It has turned them from conference leaders to still sweating their playoff berth, looking at opening on the road, which has proven fatal to them four of the last five times they’ve tried it.
But really, this slide to mediocrity began when Lou Lamoriello failed to strengthen their offense at the March 26 deadline.
Since the deadline passed, the Devils have won 5-of-14 games, scoring a grand total of 22 goals.
“I don’t know what we were expecting [for help], but after the deadline, the pace of play elevates, and we haven’t caught up with that,” captain Jamie Langenbrunner said after the Devils lost 3-2 to the Rangers at the Garden last night.
In this five-game skid, they’ve been shut out, blown out, and last night, bummed out, when the winner slid in off Nigel Dawes’ neck with 3:06 to play.
“It’s probably one of the toughest [losses],” Martin Brodeur said. “We played extremely well, finally scored some goals, two in one period, and had a lot of momentum. To lose in a shootout is one thing. To lose on a lucky goal in regulation is tough to digest.”
Their futility against the Rangers, however, has been going on all season, losing seven (0-4-3) to them in a season for the first time in their history (they lost all six in 1993-94).
“This is hard to believe and hard for us to accept,” said Zach Parise, who gave the Devils the lead they took into the third, snapping his seven-game goal drought. It was only the sixth time (17-4-2) this season the Devils have lost when Parise scored.
They still believe the Devil Way is the winning way, but really, right now, they have to win Any Way.
“We did enough good things tonight to win, and still found a way to lose a hockey game,” coach Brent Sutter said. “We have to find a way to win these games, not lose them. Losing five in a row, it’s a concern, especially the way we’ve lost games.”
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Sutter said Bryce Salvador might not play again during the regular season, suffering from what the team calls a lower body injury.