Entering the game undermanned as it was, the Devils lost three forwards, including two of their top-6 guys, in Pittsburgh and despite that were in the game until the end.
It's worth noting the Penguins had some injury problems of their own, but New Jersey played over a period with nine forwards and did a good job of holding their own and giving themselves a chance to win.
The effort was certainly there, but unfortunately the results were not, which is becoming an increasingly big problem for the team.
10 takeaways:
1. Say what you want about Pete DeBoer, but I don't think he's lost the room and last night was a great example of that. Trailing in the 3rd period against one of the best teams in hockey with no Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac, Martin Havlat or Ryane Clowe, it would have been easy to mail it in. The Devils didn't do that, though, and they kept attacking the Penguins with their nine forwards that included offensive forces Steve Bernier and Jordin Tootoo. They lost the game, obviously, but they outshot Pittsburgh 29-23 and won the shot attempt battle 61-45. It really was a good effort for the Devils and they deserved better.
2. Speaking of Jagr, that Robert Bortuzzo hit was bad. It was way late, Bortuzzo hit him up high and really it was completely unnecessary. You want to finish your checks against good players, obviously, but a cheap shot on a 42-year-old who's one of the best players the league has ever seen is just stupid. He's had an unbelievable career, and if this is his last season he doesn't deserve to miss a chunk of time with an injury suffered on a cheap shot hit by a depth defenseman.
3. Another note: if Elias and/or Jagr miss an extended period of time, I'd like to see Reid Boucher given a legitimate shot on a scoring line. He has a bit of an underwhelming eight points in 17 games with Albany, but he has 44 shots so the points (more so goals) should start to come. 14 A-Devs have a better shooting percentage than him and you could argue Boucher has the best shot on the team, so that's not going to last.
4. I wasn't expecting much from Scott Gomez, but I thought he was very good in his debut. Due to all the injuries he was forced to play over 22 minutes, and he didn't look out of place. He set up a few good chances, and New Jersey generated 66% of all shot attempts with him on the ice at even-strength. He started a huge chunk of his shifts in the offensive zone, but it was still impressive nonetheless.
5. More Gomez: he can still get around the ice and the vision hasn't gone anywhere, but he needs to shoot more. That's not his game, and that's fine, but he had one shot in 22 minutes and there were a few times it looked like he had an opportunity to get a good shot away and passed it up.
6. Damon Severson hasn't scored in 17 games, but he has 37 shots in that span (over two per game). I think he's due for an offensive outburst again because he has a real good shot and is getting too many chances not to. They'll start going in sooner or later.
7. Sticking with Severson, he played a game-high 26:17 against the Penguins, and was a 62% possession player in the process. DeBoer is really starting to lean on him (even more than usual) as he has averaged 26 minutes of ice over his last five, though a couple of those games have gone to overtime.
8. Adam Henrique played physical last night, as he had four hits and mixed it up with Evgeni Malkin a couple times, too. It's never a bad idea to try and knock an elite player off his game, and it was nice to see some of the guys playing with an edge for once. New Jersey isn't the biggest, toughest team, but you can still throw your weight around and pick your spots to let teams know you're not going to be pushed around.
9. Cory Schneider wasn't peppered, but he stopped 22-23 and made some real nice saves along the way to keep the Devils in it until the final whistle. He had some rough patches earlier in the year, but he's up to a .916SV% and has allowed two goals or less in four of his last five. Schneider's giving the Devils a chance to win right now, which is all they can ask. It'd be nice if they could get him some support.
10. The Devils are only four points out of the playoffs, but they really need to start winning some games before it's too late. The Rangers, for example, have struggled this year but are currently 3rd in the Metro and just got Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh back from injury. They are going to be very tough to catch if they pull further ahead, so New Jersey needs to keep that gap small. That starts by winning in Toronto on Thursday.
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