Maybe winning a shootout in the preseason didn’t exorcise the New Jersey Devils’ skills competition demons, after all.
The Dallas Stars beat them 3-2 via a shootout on Friday, extending the Devils’ shootout losing streak to a ridiculous 18. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, New Jersey hasn’t won a shootout since a victory against the Winnipeg Jets on March 10, 2013.
They went 2-7 in shootouts during that 2012-13 campaign, yet last season was a true mind-blowing run, as they dropped all 13.
The Devils have understandably shaken off this pattern, for the most part. In the case of tonight’s loss against Dallas, Devils head coach Peter DeBoer seems happy that New Jersey at least secured a standings point, as the Bergen Record’s Tom Gulitti reports.
DeBoer: "Fortunate to get a point, but we’ll take it."
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 25, 2014
DeBoer: "“They were the better team for most of the game.”
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 25, 2014
Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn scored on their two shootout opportunities while Michael Cammalleri and Jaromir Jagr were shut down by Kari Lehtonen. Both Stars scorers deserve high marks for nifty work, too:
Fun/annoying narratives aside, this is merely the Devils’ first shootout loss of 2014-15. If this continues, the questions will only pile up, though.