Someone post the article since I dont want to pay $1 lmao
Here you go...Novo seems just as fed up as the rest of us. He also tweeted that he didn't get a chance to ask Ruff questions last night.
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The faint chants started late in the third period, only to be quickly outdone by the thousands of rival fans shrieking in joy as Vincent Trochek potted his goal to make it 5-0 Rangers at Prudential Center Thursday night.
“Fire Lindy! Fire Lindy!”
They weren’t nearly as loud as
last year’s rendition, but the gaggle of remaining
Devils fans had seen enough – and they let their coach hear it.
Lindy Ruff’s Devils, now 28-24-4 in a season that began with Stanley Cup dreams, fell to their Hudson River foes, 5-1, dropping their second straight game and the three of their last four contests in the process.
They may have out-shot New York 40-18 and dominated possession metrics, but the team’s lack of preparedness – especially on special teams – and their lagging physical edge remains an issue in the season from hell. With 26 games to go – and the Devils now five points out of a playoff spot – Ruff and Co. can’t afford to secure just moral victories.
One instance of a Devils dud is on the power play, which laid another goose egg despite 11:52 minutes (!!!) with an extra attacker on five total opportunities. Ruff and
Travis Green’s man advantage unit is now 2-for-46 in their last 14 games. Aside from bodies returning from injury and the
Dawson Mercer-
Jesper Bratt swap tonight, Ruff has done little to fix things.
Pressed on this after the game, Ruff said he’s working with his staff on better options – and said reporters were creating “excess pressure” by asking players about the lifeless unit.
“I imagine you’ve asked every player – now they’re feeling it and you guys are creating excess pressure,” Ruff told reporters. “Us as a staff will go through that power play. We change things up, we met with individual groups tonight – as opposed to when you meet with all 10 or 11 of your guys. We’ll go through the whole thing again and just try to get better.”
One question later, Ruff stormed off, answering just nine questions despite myriad issues facing his team.
Perhaps it’s a sign: Maybe the 64-year-old coach, who, to his credit, helped surge players like
Jack Hughes,
Nico Hischier,
Dougie Hamilton and others to career year’s last season, is
out of answers in a season marred by inconsistencies, injuries and another goalie disaster.
The Devils still have talent. There’s no doubt about that. They’re sixth in expected goals percentage (53.28%), seventh in five-on-five scoring (122) and fifth in Corsi (53.16%), they finished with 92 shot attempts in Thursday’s game alone.
If this season is a wash (and we may know that answer after this weekend’s back-to-back) GM
Tom Fitzgerald needs to start thinking about the future. Maybe the coach who waited until the All-Star break to tweak his defensive scheme and has barely touched his power play amid a brutal cold stretch isn’t the one to guide the Hughes brothers through their respective primes.
There’s still a great team somewhere in these Devils. They might just need a fresh voice to unlock it.
Game recap:
The Rangers beat the Devils 5-1 at Prudential Center Thursday night.
Mika Zibanejad,
Alexis Lafrenière (twice) and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, while Jack Hughes scored for New Jersey. Devils goalie Nico Daws made just 13 saves on 18 shots.
The night began with a bang when Rangers rookie Matt Rempe laid a dirty hit into
Nathan Bastian along the boards at 2:25 of the first. Rempe, 21, was given a match penalty and held his hand up to his ear as he was booed off the ice and into the locker room. Bastian would return to the game near the end of the first period.
Then – surprise, surprise – the Devils failed to convert on the ensuing five-minute power play. They are now 2-46 on man advantage chances in their last 14 games.
Zibanejad capitalized on New York’s power play mere second after the Devils’ wrapped up, faking the initial shot before coasting inside and tucking it past Daws.
Lafrenière padded the Rangers’ lead with his first of the night at 17:56, scoring in close after a brutal Luke Hughes giveaway in the first period. The Devils finished with an abysmal 24 giveaways to New York’s three.
It only got worse for New Jersey once the second period opened up.
At 9:53 of the middle frame, Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin launched a stretch pass to Artemi Panarin, who found Kreider for his 29th of the season to make it 3-0. The Devils held an 11-6 shot edge over their rivals in the second, but more flubbed power plays, turnovers and Lafrenière’s second goal of the game prolonged their beating from New York.
Once the third rolled around, Trochek and Hughes traded goals as New York coasted to its ninth win in a row.
