The New Jersey Devils are only halfway through their longest road trip of the season, and it’s proven to be a clunker so far.
The Devils have lost three in a row in regulation for the first time this season and need to correct things in a hurry before visiting the San Jose Sharks on Saturday afternoon.
New Jersey opened its six-game trip with a 5-2 loss at Carolina before losing back-to-back games in Anaheim (3-2) and Los Angeles (3-0) on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The team spent Thursday traveling to San Jose and snuck in a practice on Friday before facing another early start against the Sharks.
Devils coach Sheldon Keefe was much more pleased with his team’s effort in the loss to the Kings than he was in the defeat to the Ducks, who are five spots below Los Angeles in the Pacific Division standings.
“Maybe ran out of gas a bit there in the third period, but there’s a lot to like about the game (against the Kings),” Keefe said. “Certainly in comparison to (the Ducks).”
New Jersey will aim to improve on the power play after going 0-for-6 on the man-advantage against Los Angeles to fall to 0-for-10 during its three-game skid.
“You go 0-for-6, you need to get something to fall,” Keefe said. “I thought our power play was actually quite good (against the Kings), considering the quality of the opponent.”
Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler scored for the Devils in the loss to Anaheim. Meier’s 14 goals this season are tied with Jesper Bratt for the fourth-most on the team; Nico Hischier leads with 18.
The Sharks had lost eight straight before a 2-1 win against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
“We got a result, which is nice, but that’s what it takes night in and night out,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Shift in and shift out.”
The Sharks have been aided by the arrival of rookie goalie Yaroslav Askarov, who was acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators last summer. The 22-year-old made two appearances for San Jose in November before being recalled again on Dec. 18. He’s 2-2-2 in six starts overall with a .921 save percentage and 2.35 goals-against average.
Askarov has impressed teammates with his puck handling.
“He makes our job easier,” Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. “He plays the puck. It’s like playing with Mike Smith. He comes out and plays everything. You just get to an open spot and they’ll find you. It makes our job quite easy out there.”
Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring on Thursday with his team-leading 15th goal before Mario Ferraro followed up to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
San Jose also delivered more hits, tallied more blocked shots and killed both Tampa Bay power plays.
“That’s what it takes to win in this league, so we matured, we learned a valuable lesson,” Warsofsky said. “Proud of the guys, the leadership group did a really good job, I thought, tonight, getting our younger guys prepared, and getting the whole group ready for 60 minutes.”
–Field Level Media
