The Devils picked up where they left off on Thursday night versus Calgary, welcoming the Ottawa Senators into town with way too much hospitality. The Sens were on the front foot for the entire first forty minutes, gifted with grade A scoring chances due to mental lapses, defensive breakdowns, failed clearing attempts, and ill advised penalties.
Jake Allen stood tall through the first period but after Ottawa had the Devils pinned for the first four minutes of the second, the Senators buried the Devils with two goals in a 33 second span. Two similar, back to back goals where NJ defenders failed to tie up players/sticks in front of the cage, took the air out of a desperate and ready to explode Prudential Center crowd.
However, the Devils would answer back. Just 90 seconds later on a Brady Tkachuk penalty which was generated by a hard Timo Meier forecheck, Nico Hischier would score his 30th of the year to breathe life back into the fatigued fanbase. A beautiful one timer was set up by none other than Jesper Bratt, who with that play passed Scott Stevens for the franchise’s single season assist record with his 61st.
The Rock was rockin’ for a whole 32 seconds, until Stefan Noesen took an inexcusable penalty deep in the Devils o-zone on a meaningless forecheck. The careless Noesen got his stick tied up between the legs of Ottawa Defender Tyler Kleven to send the Senators to the power play. Shortly after, it was essentially game over as a Claude Giroux shot deflected off of the body of David Perron and in to regain the 3-1 in favor of the Sens. Stefan Noesen simply needs to be better. He has been a passenger for a majority of this season. With just three goals in his last 32 games, at the very least bring a smart, veteran, mistake free game. This penalty paired with a failed clear on Ottawa’s second goal are not what is expected out of any player, let alone one with a resume as extensive as Noesen’s. It’s mistakes like this that lose you playoff series, or in this case playoff berths.
Ottawa would then go into “prevent” mode for the remainder of the contest. Allowing the Devils to possess the puck, but not give too much space for quality scoring chances.  With Allen out of the net, Luke Hughes made an elite pass to Erik Haula to cut the lead to 3-2 with just over 23 seconds remaining. After losing the ensuing faceoff (doesn’t it seem this team loses almost every important faceoff?) the Devils were able to regain control and put the puck deep. Allen skated to the bench for the extra attacker and the desperate Devils got to work as the puck pin balled around in front of Sen’s tender, Linus Ullmark, it popped onto the stick of the Devils Captain, Hischier. Nico shoveled a backhander into the net to tie the game with just three seconds to go! The crowd went wi….oh no. Wait…that didn’t happen.  His shot that was heading into the net but was blocked by his own teammate, Stefan “Effin’” Noesen, who was inexplicably standing in the paint, stickless and blocking the far side. The puck labeled for the back of the net, struck “Effin’” Noesen on the inside of the leg, fell between his feet, and was cleared away as time expired…Devils lose.
With only six points separating Jersey from the final wild Card slot, the effin’ Devils and effin’ Noesen need to get their effin’ act together fast. That or they’re going to miss the effin’ playoffs all together. If you can’t tell, I’m not effin’ happy.

Hey Siri, play “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit…

Quick Hits:

Will The Real Nate Bastian Please Stand Up?
Where has this guy been? Ever since his initial jaw injury last year, Bastian has not been himself. He seems very reluctant to get in hard on the forecheck and has lost his identity here with NJ. It seems like the fear of re-injury has slowed his game. While it’s unfortunate and I do sympathize, this is a business and business is not boomin’ right now. I’m not sure he’s a fit for NJ, beyond this season.

Year Five Of Nolan Foote
Can you believe it? Me neither. Nolan Foote is now in his fifth year with the organization. He has played 6,7,6,4 and 3 games with NJ while spending most of his time in the AHL. It’s time to wonder if the experiment is over for the former 27th overall pick, whose game hasn’t appeared to develop much, at least not enough to impact at an NHL level.

Jake Allen/Jacob Markstrom
I have to admit, I was one of those who ripped Jake Allen at times during his struggles and thought his career should be over. After all, he did have massive rebound control issues, especially with the glove, and a penchant for surrendering bad goals at bad times. Allen has seemingly worked on that and bounced back nicely here during this recent stretch.
Too bad the Devils aren’t allowed to have two goalies play well simultaneously. Early in the season we were talking about Vezina votes for Marky, now if I’m Devils brass, I would be hesitant to start him outside of a back to back down this stretch.

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