Those couldn’t have been empty seats taking up half the new Newark arena. They must have been ghosts, the way they kept saying “Booo.”
The Devils provided no substance themselves, and coach Brent Sutter delivered an even louder verdict after they were swamped 5-0 by the Penguins last night, their worst loss this season.
“It was a total lack of professionalism and commitment as individuals and as a group,” Sutter said. “It’s totally unacceptable. I will not accept that. It’s not even close.
“There’s one issue that will get resolved because it won’t happen again. We gave them a day off [Sunday], and I thought it affected us today. They were given the day off to get them recharged mentally. I think they thought it was a reward. That was not the case at all.”
There weren’t that many live witnesses to the first shutout the Devils suffered in their new $380 million building. It was the third straight disappointing crowd at the new arena, which sold out 17,625 for the Oct. 27 home opener. Since then, the announced attendances were 13,218 for a 6-1 victory over Tampa Oct. 31, 14,523 at a 3-2 triumph over Toronto Nov. 2, and 14,032 last night. Each of the three figures apparently represented tickets sold, as each night, the building appeared around half full.
The smallest announced crowd to watch Sidney Crosby and the Penguins this season saw New Jersey blanked for the fourth time in 14 games this season to remain in the Atlantic Division cellar.
“It’s one thing to lose, and another thing to lose easily. Tonight we lost very easily,” Sutter said.
Sutter cited Travis Zajac, Brian Gionta, Zach Parise, Martin Brodeur and reliever Kevin Weekes as his only decent players last night, calling Paul Martin “OK” and the rest “very average players, at best.”
Vitaly Vishnevski and Sergei Brylin were each minus-4, Vishnevski falling to minus-10 this season, Sheldon Brookbank and David Clarkson minus-3 in the debacle that saw the Pens feast on the third defense pair and third line.
The Penguins killed off two Devils power plays before connecting on their first. Sergei Gonchar’s blue-line slap was deflected in the slot by ex-Devil Petr Sykora, and fell at the right side of the crease to Crosby. Before Brodeur could react, Crosby smacked the puck under the goalie at 12:09 of the first, stretching the Penguins’ season-long streak of PPGs to 14 straight games. It also was the 12th game of 14 this season in which New Jersey allowed a PPG against.
Adam Hall gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead for the third straight game, a bulge they blew in each of their previous two losses. Sykora made it 3-0 at 5:48 of the second.
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Richard Matvichuk was waived yesterday. If unclaimed, Lou Lamoriello said the 34-year-old defenseman will be assigned to Lowell (Mass.). mark.everson@nypost.com