The New Jersey Devils have a unique understanding of the challenges that the Anaheim Ducks are facing early this season.
A busy schedule continues for both teams Sunday night when the Devils host the Ducks in Newark, N.J.
Both teams will be trying to bounce back from one-goal defeats.
The Devils dropped their fourth straight decision (0-2-2) on Friday when they overcame a trio of one-goal deficits before falling 4-3 to the visiting New York Islanders in overtime. The Ducks will be looking to rebound following a 2-1 setback to the New York Rangers on Saturday.
The loss to the Islanders ended a back-to-back home-and-away set for the Devils, who lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3, on Thursday night. It was the third back-to-back of the season for New Jersey, which has played an NHL-high 11 games.
The Devils opened the season with consecutive wins over the Buffalo Sabres in the Czech Republic on Oct. 4-5 and have had more than one day off in between games just once since resuming their schedule Oct. 10.
The impact of the condensed schedule may be showing in New Jersey’s recent defensive struggles. The Devils have been outscored 23-16 during their losing streak, during which they’ve allowed at least four goals in every game.
The Devils gave up four goals in a game just twice during their 5-2-0 start.
“Today we were chasing the game right from the get-go and that’s a challenge, but guys stayed with it until the end and I thought we got better as the game went on,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Listen, the league is hard. (Friday) was our ninth game in the last 16 days. It’s a tough schedule.”
The schedule hasn’t been easy and won’t get any less difficult for the Ducks, who have played just three games at home and won’t play again at the Honda Center until Nov. 3.
Anaheim began a four-game road trip against Metropolitan Division foes Saturday. The Ducks will face the Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday and Thursday night, respectively.
The Ducks continued to play well defensively while finding it difficult to generate offense Saturday. Goalie Lukas Dostal stopped the first 27 shots in a scoreless duel before Ryan Lindgren scored 4:13 into the third. Will Cuylle added what proved to be the game-winning goal 7:40 later.
Defenseman Olen Zellweger scored with 7:22 remaining in the third period for the Ducks, who have scored three goals or fewer in six of their seven games.
“I thought we picked it up about halfway through the second period,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We’re just having a hard time scoring goals right now. You get energy in a game and you get some chances, they don’t go in — we’re at that point now where I think guys are starting to press. Just have to find a way to get some blue-collar goals.”
–Field Level Media