Rangers 5, Devils 1: Deja vu

The Devils dealt with a lot of the same problems in another blowout loss on home soil.

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A few notes following yet another disappointing effort from the Devils in Game 2:

Enough is enough

If Miles Wood plays another game as a member of the Devils, Lindy Ruff is doing his team a massive disservice. The infatuation with Wood has to end. Right now.

In the series opener, he played less than anybody and posted a sub 50 xGF%. He also took a bad penalty in the offensive zone – as he so often does – that led directly to a goal from New York’s lethal power play.

And, you know what? That’s fine. The staff thought Wood would be a useful piece and it didn’t work out. The series is 1-0; not the end of the world. Have a pass and correct your mistake.

The correct adjustment, in my estimation, was removing Wood from the lineup in place of Yegor Sharangovich. Ruff didn’t do that. No, Wood was not pulled for Yeezy; Jesper Boqvist was.

Boqvist has been very good on the 3rd line for several months now and been a factor in New Jersey’s bottom-6 routinely outplaying the opposition’s. His reward was sitting while Wood – after a bad Game 1 showing – was promoted. Promoted!

How does Wood respond, you might ask? By completely nuking the 3rd line and helping the Devils control 2% – no, this is not an error – of the expected goal share at 5v5. Oh, and he also took another bad offensive zone penalty that led to a goal.

In Game 1 the Devils started slowly but were only down 1-0. Wood’s penalty made it 2-0 and put them in a world of trouble.

Last night the Devils were reeling a little bit but it was a 1-1 scoreline. They were fine. Wood’s penalty led to the 2-1 goal and the Devils never really recovered.

Add it all up and Wood owns a 26 xGF% through two games – worst of all Devils to dress in both – while taking two penalties that led directly to back breaking goals.

The Rangers have done a much better job at 5v5 than I expected but their bread and butter is making you pay on the PP and letting Igor Shesterkin take care of the rest.

Wood is as undisciplined as they come and is legitimately feeding into New York’s strengths; and you’re giving him MORE opportunity to do just that.

New Jersey is in deep, deep, trouble now. Realistically speaking, they need to go into New York and take both games to have a chance of winning this series.

Taking Wood out is a must. So, too, is removing Brendan Smith from the lineup. It’s not even that Smith is unplayable in that he has no business on an NHL roster. That’s not the case.

But the Devils very clearly have seven defensemen better than him (yes, I’m counting Luke Hughes already). Even if playing Hughes isn’t an option, there is no circumstance in which you should be scratching Jonas Siegenthaler – who led Devils defensemen with a 66 xGF% in Game 1 – in favor of Smith. None.

Siegenthaler is a much better defenseman and less penalty prone, which kind of matters when going up against New York.

Are the Devils playing well otherwise? No. Could they be down 2-0 even without Wood and Smith dressing? Sure!

But these decision are legitimately shooting the team in the foot and making life more difficult on an inexperienced group that kind of needs something to break their way to gain confidence.

And the worst part is – even if Ruff sees the light and makes all the optimal decisions moving forward – it’s probably too late.

Timo Meier showed up