Capitals 6, Devils 4: Talent isn't always enough

High-end skill has a way of masking mistakes. Unfortunately for the Devils, there were too many to overcome on Wednesday night.

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A few observations from a disappointing home loss against the Washington Capitals:

Talent isn’t always enough

The New Jersey Devils have as much high-end talent as anybody. They don’t always need to start games strong. They don’t always need to control the run of play. They don’t always need to take care of all the small details. On many nights, their gamebreakers can simply be opportunistic and erase a lot of the bad – if not all of it – en route to a victory. There are always exceptions, though, and we saw one last night.

Although the Capitals may no longer be a good team, they are a veteran team that’s been around the block a few times. They started the season with just one win over the first five games and entered play on a three-game skid. You knew they would come out with a strong effort and, once again, the Devils just weren’t ready for it.

A rocky start from Akira Schmid didn’t help matters but the Devils did nothing to help out in front of him.

They were sloppy breaking out of the defensive zone. They were soft on pucks. They were turning it over in bad areas of the ice. And they couldn’t generate a thing.

The Devils could’ve scored on all of their 1st period shots and they still would have trailed after 20. They were that bad at both ends of the ice.

As one might expect against a poor Capitals team that can’t defend, the Devils flipped the switch and surged their way back into the game. Forget erasing the lead; it only took the Devils 10 minutes to take one of their own.

Unfortunately, the Devils made too many mistakes to see the lead through. They took three minors over the final 30 minutes (one of which was converted on). They turned pucks over and it was far too easy for the Capitals to break them down and get to the middle of the ice.

Despite another awful start, it was a winnable game. Heck, the Devils responded so well to start the 2nd period – Lindy Ruff must’ve tore the paint off the wall during the 1st intermission – that they actually played their way into a spot where they should have won.

In the end, though, the Devils probably left the ice with what they deserved. You can’t no-show to start a game (again) and you can’t be so careless with the puck and expect to win.

Even if it had’ve worked out last night, the Devils won’t be going anywhere playing like that.

Timo Meier has arrived