The New Jersey Devils Are Consistently Inconsistent

The 2023-24 season for the New Jersey Devils can only be described as “Consistently Inconsistent.”

It is amazing how the Devils can look so good for a stretch but also so bad in a split second. Even though the Devils have won three of their past four games, their one loss was to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, March 23rd.

New Jersey barely hangs on in the Eastern Conference playoff mix. The Devils are five points out with 10 games to play. However, the Devils have given up 16 points to teams below them. And in those games, the Devils played their worst hockey. However, New Jersey can go out any night when they play their game and compete and beat the Winnipeg Jets.

But it is a tale as old as time. The New Jersey Devils play up to the level of their competition and down to the level of their competition, especially when their backs are against the wall. Now, the task is pretty impossible to make the playoffs, given how many points the Devils have given away this year. But they are still in the mix.

However, when the Devils need the wins the most, their lack of maturity shows. The perfect example is the Ottawa game on Saturday night and the Anaheim game during their California trip on a Friday night. It is about knowing the situation and what wins can do for you this time of year—not leaving points on the board. In both of those games, the mistakes of a young team cost them.

While everyone points to the goaltending, it is understood that playing a patient game matters this time of year. The New Jersey Devils did that in their two wins before they lost to Ottawa. Interim head coach Travis Green was happy with his team’s performance in the three wins. But those things he liked in the wins were not there in the loss to Ottawa.

“Everything I said the other night about our game that I liked,” interim head coach Travis Green started, “we did the opposite tonight. 

But to their credit, the Devils came back and played one of their best games of the year, shutting out an Islanders team ahead of them in the standings. The players knew how to forget about the Senators’ loss and how to get ready for such a big rivalry game. But you’d wonder if the disappointment of the loss on Saturday would creep over to Sunday. And the Devils were a completely different team.

“We talk about teaching, learning,” Green said, “Learn when you play well, learn when you don’t, our team really responded tonight. When you play back-to-back games and don’t play well that first one, it’s a real short turnaround. We talked about as a player, there’s nothing worse than when you play badly and have to wait a few days, and the best thing about it was getting to play again today. We had a real good meeting before the game, and our team really responded.”

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And that is what has been so frustrating about the New Jersey Devils this season: their lack of consistency in their game. How could the same team look so good in one game and poor in another? The coaching staff wonders about this question daily, and if they had answers, you would see more consistent results. But it all comes back to what Travis Green said about maturity and teaching moments.

“We talked about the maturity level of our group on the road trip, being ready to play from the start of the game and then being committed to your game for 60 minutes,” Green said. “We got to play a certain way within our structure, but also within the passion and emotionally engaged in the game.”

It has been a disappointing season for the New Jersey Devils. There were expectations for the Devils coming into the season, and they were not just from the outside world. Those expectations started in the offseason and carried over into training camp. Following their playoff success, it was time to take the next step.

Go down the list of what has gone wrong for the Devils this season, from goaltending to injuries to defensive problems to poor back-to-back records, but one of the biggest has been a lack of consistency. The Devils have not had a three-game winning streak since December.

Given the situation of the standings, a winning streak of any kind now or even earlier in the might have the New Jersey Devils in the playoff picture instead of on the outside looking in and needing help.

Let’s see what the rest of the season holds. But the pattern of being “Consistently Inconsistent” hurt the Devils this season.