Red Wings 3, Devils 0: No-event hockey

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A few notes from New Jersey vs Detroit, the least exhilarating game in the history of the sport:

No-event hockey

Win or lose, the New Jersey Devils have generally played an eventful and entertaining brand of hockey this season.

That was made much more difficult when Jack Hughes went down with injury and flat-out impossible with Nico Hischier also sidelined; at least temporarily.

Playing against a putrid Red Wings team in the latter half of a back-to-back, the Devils mustered up next to nothing across 60 ugly minutes of hockey.

They generated only 38 shot attempts (32 at 5v5) and looked completely lifeless. It’d be understandable if they were going up against, say, the Boston Bruins. But at home to a fatigued team that allowed seven goals a day prior? Embarrassing is probably the better word.

It’s not the end result that was disappointing. Losses probably help more than wins at this point. But the process was discouraging to say the least.

The Devils barely tested Alex Nedeljkovic throughout the game. There was no sustained pressure at 5v5 and the team did not record a high-danger scoring chance on the man advantage.

If we take Yegor Sharangovich out of the picture, 17 Devils combined for 12 shots on goal. That’s never going to be good enough.

Nobody could generate chances with any sort of regularity. The rare ones they did create were not exactly maximized.

Tie Smith @TomConn21069232

@TheBrattPack63 the pavel zacha special

Believe it or not, it was not the team’s least eventful game in terms of shot attempts generated or total shot attempts. It was high on the list, though.

For the sake of watchability, let’s hope Nico is back sooner than later. I honestly don’t think the Devils have played a less entertaining game all season.