Devils notes: 'Canes limiting the D, lack of depth is evident, and more

The Hurricanes have done a great job of preventing the Devils' defense from contributing in the offensive zone.

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A few New Jersey Devils notes on this off-day:

Taking away the defense

One thing that’s stood out: the job Carolina’s done limiting New Jersey’s defense in the offensive zone.

The Devils don’t have many defensemen who can pull defenders out of structure or hit seam passes that cause breakdowns – especially without Luke Hughes.

Only two of their four defensemen – Brian Dumoulin and Simon Nemec – even managed a single 5v5 shot assist in Game 2.

Considering how trigger-happy Dougie Hamilton is, the playmaking from the defense right now is just the occasional flash in the pan from Simon Nemec.

The only thing the defense has done is spray shots towards the goal. Unfortunately, the Hurricanes have also done a fantastic job of clogging up the middle and preventing those attempts from getting through.

Devils defensemen attempted 30 shots at 5v5 over the first two games. Eight made it to Frederik Andersen. Eight. That’s a 26.67% on-target rate and Luke Hughes, who didn’t even play last game, accounted for two of the eight.

The Devils attempted 12 shots from the backend in Game 2 without Hughes. Only one hit the net.

The Devils don’t have much of a rush offense and struggle even more than usual in transition against the high-pressure system the Hurricanes run.

Factor in a lot of the low-to-high plays they string together in-zone are resulting in missed shots/blocked shots, and a change in possession, and more than just puck luck – or a lack thereof – factors into the team scoring once in back-to-back games.

The defense needs to do a better job of getting pucks through when they take shots, or working the puck back down low for net drives, rather than blasting them into traffic and killing possessions.

Depth is an issue