Reading Your Own Headlines
Last weekend our youth hockey team had a 4-0 lead and then stopped playing midway through the game. Our opponents out-played us, 2-0, down the stretch, leaving us with a 4-2 win but one that we honestly didn’t earn with a solid effort. Watching the Devils game last night, I could only think of what our head coach said: “These guys started reading their own headlines.” Nobody in the NHL gives up after 2 periods, not in a 2-goal game, not in a 3-goal game (anybody remember The Streak’s conclusion in Montreal, with a trio of goals in the third?). Blowing a pair of deuces on the scoreboard is embarassing.
Bottom line: the offense seems to work, and then it goes silent for long periods of time. Leadership is one part of it, but leaving the lines alone would also help develop some chemistry. Where’s the leadership on defense? Before that, where’s the motion on defense? If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you know that feeling when time dilates, and you’re pretty sure you’re watching yourself come close to getting mangled. I can only imagine what the Devils were feeling once the Habs scored in the first minute of the third. Spinning, spinning, just skidding around on the ice…..
Here’s a headline for the Devils to read: It’s time to start winning Eastern Conference games, and more than that, Atlantic Division games. So far this year the Devils are 8-8-3 against the Atlantic, 17-8-0 against the rest of the East, and 3-2 against the West. They have a losing record in their own division, and that’s one way to watch a high playoff seed turn into tossing grass seed on the tee box in mid-April.
For the remainder of the season, the Devils play 13 Atlantic teams, 15 other Eastern teams, and 5 Western teams. They’re one of only three teams in the East who have winning records against the West so far this year (Penguins are 7-1, Boston is 5-3, and somewhat laughably the Rangers are 0-7). Clearly, opening up a gap in the Atlantic division is a big deal, but it’s an even bigger deal to capture points in the East, as the #5-#8 seeds are likely determined by all of those games that were woulda-shoudla wins. Like the 3rd period meltdown against the Panthers, and last night’s Hab It Your Way mess.
The headlines I want to read are about wins, tight defense, and playoff runs. You know, Devils hockey.
Tags: playoffs