Sometimes in an artless contest, all it takes is being the least ugly.
However, that distinction on Friday night at the Prudential Center did not go to the Devils, who spent the majority of the game doing their best to exorcise offense and stifle creativity, and who were fortunate to go home with their loser’s point in a 2-1 shootout defeat to the Blue Jackets.
“Having three days off, that had an effect on us,” said veteran forward Patrik Elias, who was referring to the mandatory three-day Christmas break that had just ended. “We didn’t skate well, we didn’t put the puck in places where we could get our forecheck going. We didn’t make good passes, neutral zone, everywhere. We were late on everything. Marty gave us a chance to at least get a point.”
Marty, of course, is their to-be Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur, who was steadfast in making 29 saves and two more in the skills competition before Cam Atkinson beat him in the third round, dropping the Devils (15-16-8) to 0-6 on the season in the shootout, having scored just once in 20 attempts.
“Win in regulation, that’s the solution,” said Brodeur, who is expected to sit in favor of Cory Schneider in the second leg of this back-to-back, Saturday night on Long Island against the Islanders.
And it’s probably a good thing for the Devils to get right back on the ice, otherwise they might notice that in the past six periods of hockey — including the 5-2 loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago before the break — they have a total of 29 shots on net, with eight of them coming in the third period of this game. One of those was from Adam Henrique, who broke his own 12-game goal-less streak when he tied it 1-1 with 14:25 remaining in regulation.
“What’d we have, nine shots after two periods again?” Brodeur correctly asked. “You’re not going to win many games doing these types of things.”
What’s also hurtful is that no matter how hard it is to get used to, the Blue Jackets (17-17-4) are a division rival, and they now have taken five points in the three games the teams have played this season. Although the Blue Jackets flew into New Jersey on Friday morning — the new collective bargaining agreement not allowing any type of team activity until then — somehow they came out a bit faster than the Devils, going ahead 1-0 just 7:34 into the first when former Ranger Artem Anisimov, standing unbothered in front of the net, lifted one over Brodeur.
“I didn’t like how we played early in the game,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I don’t know why — they had the same break we did. They had better legs than us early and they were playing faster than us.”
It also ruined the return of Ryane Clowe, the rugged winger who played 10:38 and was denied in his shootout attempt following a 32-game absence in the wake of his third (or possibly fourth) concussion in the past year.
“I felt like I missed 30 games in the first [period],” said Clowe, who started on the fourth line but was bumped up in the second period. “I thought as the game went on, I got a little bit better.”
So now, with the Islanders on their plate and a bad Metropolitan Division still to be figured out, the Devils will take their ugly duckling act on the road.
“We would have liked two points,” DeBoer said, “but this is probably the just result.”
Captain and defenseman Bryce Salvador (foot) will travel to Long Island and could return to the lineup after missing the past 30 games.