Jets 6, Devils 1: Burn the tape

The Devils suffered their first blowout loss of the season on Sunday night. However, I don't think there's much cause for concern.

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A few notes following New Jersey’s blowout loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets:

There’s no need to panic

Dropping last night’s game was meaningful in that, with the Hurricanes also winning, the Devils are now three points back of top spot in the division. Since the Devils have also played one more game, their chances of earning the No. 1 seed in the Metro are now slim. That’s the meaningful part of the game. The only meaningful part.

Everything else is noise. Losing by five goals does not matter in the slightest and it’s not some glaring red flag at this point of the season.

No, the Devils are not letting bad habits creep into their game. No, losing big for the first time all year isn’t going to have the players down heading into the playoffs. And, no, it’s not a sign that the Devils can be taken off the map if you work hard against them.

Here is what happened. The Jets won a few battles that – coupled with some poor decisions from the top pairing early – resulted in good chances, which Vitek Vanecek did not stop.

That put the Devils in an early hole they didn’t get out of. It’s not because the Devils were an atrocity and every player put forth a D-level effort. It’s not because they played like complete garbage. It’s not any of that.

The Jets play slow and methodical. They generate most of their chances from time consuming build-up and cycling down low. They try and make their opponents do the same, which means it takes time to create chances. You don’t just dart down the ice and get easy rush chances against them. You have to work for your opportunities.

The Devils did that, even in the early going. They won the high-danger chance battle 6-5 in the opening frame. They ended it down a pair. The Devils followed that up by winning the HD battle 7-3 in the 2nd period. They ended it down four.

And this isn’t a case of funky numbers or revisionist history. Off the top of my head, I can remember five high-end opportunities in the opening frame alone.

Damon Severson hit a darting Jesper Bratt wide open in the slot. He was stopped. Severson hit Nico Hischier with a beautiful stretch pass that resulted in a good backhand look in tight. It was stopped. Severson took a point shot that resulted in a juicy rebound for Erik Haula with a yawning cage. He missed the net. Timo Meier attacked the paint and had a Grade A look on the doorstep. He airmailed it over the net. Erik Haula hit Timo Meier with a backdoor pass that Connor Hellebuyck made a great post-to-post save on. And this is the 1st period alone.

It was a slower game where you had to grind out opportunities. The Jets scored on theirs and the Devils didn’t. We don’t need to pretend the Devils simply didn’t have any.

It might’ve felt like the Devils couldn’t do much because plenty of offensive possessions ended via a shot being blocked or a pass attempt being off the mark while trying to fit through a tight window. There was also usually a couple of minutes of nothing in between chances, too. But the Devils generated some very good looks and Hellebuyck made the saves. That made things look a lot more one-sided than it was.

Now, I’m not trying to say the Devils put forth some sort of fantastic showing and should’ve won 6-1, not lost 6-1. But they didn’t deserve six against, and they certainly didn’t deserve to be goalless until the dying seconds of the game.