For the second time in as many games the New Jersey Devils were only able to find twine once, and as a result their efforts were again rewarded with a regulation loss.
Mark Scheifele broke a 24-game goalless drought when he scored late in the 1st period and the Jets never looked back en route to their 3-1 win.
Patrik Elias was the lone goal scorer for New Jersey while Scheifele, Evander Kane and Devin Setoguchi scored for Winnipeg.
Some notes:
- The score wouldn't suggest it, but I thought the Devils actually played a pretty solid game. At times they went through some lulls and didn't create much, but for the most part they were consistently generating scoring chances. The team was unable to capitalize on their chances, though, as has been the issue for much of this year.
Off the top of my head, Jaromir Jagr and Elias both missed a couple good chances. The Devils failed to convert on several odd man rushes, as well. If they capitalize on even one of those chances, the Devils come away with at least a point last night.
- Eric Gelinas continues to impress me more and more every time I watch him play. We all knew the offensive ability was there, but he's handling himself very well in the defensive zone, too. Early on he was getting beat wide with speed a fair bit, but his positioning has improved and as a result he's rubbing players off the puck and doing a good job of preventing scoring chances. Not only has his defensive play improved, but he's played with more edge of late. I don't know that he'll ever be a No. 1 defenseman who can anchor a blue line, but I think he has the potential to be a good No. 2 or No. 3 guy.
- What in the world is up with Damien Brunner? He is now pointless in his last 12 games and has only scored once in his last 19. Not only is he not producing, but he's creating next to nothing offensively and isn't even shooting. No. 12 has one shot in his last three games despite playing almost 40 minutes in that span.
- Speaking of slumps, who is No. 17 and what has he done with Michael Ryder? After scoring four goals in his first nine games as a Devil, he's scored just once in his last 15 games. He's not doing much in the playmaking department either as he only has one assist in his last eight games.
If the Devils were getting any kind of production from Ryder and Brunner they'd be sitting in a playoff spot right now.
- This isn't related to last night's game, but Andy Greene should get serious consideration for USA's Olympic team. He's not flashy, but he does everything well. He's positionally sound, makes a good outlet pass, can skate and will eat up a ton of minutes. I'm not the one making the decisions, but if I'm picking the roster for Team USA I'd much rather have a two-way minute munching defenseman like Greene than a reckless one-way player like Johnson, Jack.
Maybe that's just me.
- Martin Brodeur is the best goaltender of all-time, in my opinion, and he can still get it done, but he's definitely a slump buster. Scheifele hadn't scored in 24 games. He scored. Kane hadn't scored in 11 games and he found twine, too. Seems like win or lose, anyone on the opposing team who's struggling snaps out of their skid when they go up against Brodeur.
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