Five Things We Learned From Tonight's Game v. Philly

Let's get right to it.

1) This team is flat-out awful. Give them an open net, they'll find a way not to score a goal.

2) Marty Brodeur is far from finished. He played a great game, the kind of game he used to win. But because his mates can't score, having just given up a single goal, he gets another loss.

3) Saturday night. Very little else going on. Division rivals in the house. And attendance was just 13,705. Then again, who would really pay to see this team right now?

4) One night after the Flyers were embarrassed at home -- and the Devils coming of like a month of rest -- this team still couldn't get it done. They faced a fragile team, with a fragile goalie -- and put nothing past him. Ray Emery made it look rather simple tonight.

5) Travis Zajac was out of the lineup tonight. Has there been a worse contract given to a player in Devils history than the one he got a few years ago? Since he signed it, he's been invisible.

5B) Peter DeBoer has to be on the watch-list again. This was an inexcusable loss -- perhaps worse than any other of the year, given the circumstances surrounding the Flyers over the last 24 hours.

This is what happens when one writes before a game ends

Note: This is what happens when a journalist writes his story before a game ends. See below for full details. Needless to say, I’ll do a re-write of this.

The Devils traveled to Boston this weekend looking for their first road win of the year against the defending Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins. No shock — they didn’t get it.

Here are the five things we learned from the game.

n  Despite Game 3 of the World Series being tonight between the Red Sox and Cards, the Bruins sold out again tonight — and there weren’t too many empty seats. A lot of hockey fans mustn’t be baseball fans.

n  Despite losing the game, Martin Brodeur played his best game of the year — hands down.

n  Damien Brunner scored his fourth goal of the season. So far, acquiring Brunner was Lou Lamoriello’s best move of the off-season.

n  Throw away the stupid OT loss part of the win-loss column, and the New Jersey Devils are 1-10. The 1982-83 Devils had a better start than this team has. And folks, I see no sense of urgency on Lamoriello’s or Peter DeBoer’s part at this point. At first, it didn’t worry me one bit.


But think of this folks — this team is playing worse than the original New Jersey Devils did — and it’s exponentially worse than the team that John MacLean coached.

I hate to admit this — I love the man and genuinely think he’s a great guy — but the time has come for a change. And unfortunately, Lamoriello can’t trade the team.

It’s time for DeBoer to go. I am still not sure who the next coach should be — but I know it’s got to be someone with fire …

I hate to admit this — I love the man and genuinely think he’s a great guy — but the time has come for a change. And unfortunately, Lamoriello can’t trade the team.

It’s time for DeBoer to go. I am still not sure who the next coach should be — but I know it’s got to be someone with fire … ala John Tortarella or Mike Keenan. More on this to come.

But this team looks content losing. And watching it is, quite frankly, extremely painful. Just 11 games into this season, there is no reason to believe they’ll improve. And until some sort of move is made — and I know it’s early — it’s fair to say this season is a write-off.

But this team looks content losing. And watching it is, quite frankly, extremely painful. Just 11 games into this season, there is no reason to believe they’ll improve. And until some sort of move is made — and I know it’s early — it’s fair to say this season is a write-off.

n  It’s been painfully difficult for me to watch this team. There have been bad Devils teams — the 1988-89 team comes to mind — that were pretty bad, but were still fun to watch because there was spark, fire, drive, a desire to win.

New feature: ‘Five Things We Learned From Last Night’s Game’

Welcome to a new feature on NJDevsBlog.com — “Five Things We Learned in Last Night’s Game.” We hope to include this on the site after each game for the rest of the season. With that in mind, we begin.

1) Cory Schneider, as a good as he can be and often was last season, is prone to letting up the occasional soft goal. In fairness, Vancouver’s goal that tied the game at 2 from Daniel Sedin at 12:37 of the second period did find the most miniscule space open between Schneider’s pads and the ice — but that’s a shot he saves 99 of 100 times.

2) Attendance at the Rock on weeknights is going to be awful this season. Last year, the Devils were coming off their improbably run to the Finals. The lockout had everyone longing for hockey. But this year’s quite different, coming off a non-playoff year — and starting the 2013-14 season off with 1 win in 10 games. Only 13,203 were at the Rock on a Thursday night with one of the league’s better teams in Newark. Imagine what happens when lesser teams are here on a Tuesday?

3) Peter DeBoer has to be feeling the pressure. A Bleacher Report story lists him as the second-most likely coach to be fired in-season.

Could Peter DeBoer be the next NHL coach to be fired?

4) The Devils have been in four shootouts this year — with three players shooting in each. Not one has scored a goal in said shootout. Remember not too long ago when a Devils shootout was almost a guaranteed extra point? No more.

5) Eric Gelinas was sparky last night, scoring his for NHL goal to give the Devils a 2-1 lead in the first period. He’s a keeper as far as I am concerned. He appeared to be one of the few out there who actually enjoyed being on the ice.

5B) Tell me it wasn’t the slightest bit weird to see John Tortorella behind the bench for Vancouver? I will admit it — I was hoping there’d be occasion for another shout fest between him and Pete. For all of you who say our coach is too passive, remember when the two of them nearly threw benches at each other? 

This guy could be coaching Mites on Ice and I’d still detest him.