After dropping two of three home games, including a Sunday afternoon contest against Tampa Bay that carried major playoff implications, the New Jersey Devils begin a three-game California road trip at San Jose on Tuesday.
With just 24 games remaining in the regular season, it could be a make-it-or-break-it trip for Lindy Ruff’s squad, which trails third-place Philadelphia by five points in the Metropolitan Division and the Lightning by seven points for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The good news is New Jersey is 15-10-2 on the road this season and will play two of the three worst teams in the league in the Sharks, who are tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the fewest points in the NHL with 35, and the Anaheim Ducks (43 points).
A change of scenery also might be welcomed for the Devils after their 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay in a key four-point swing game in the playoff race. The frustrated Prudential Center crowd began chanting “Fire Lindy” in the third period. And a story on NJ.com on Monday also called for his firing.
“I take full responsibility. I take full responsibility,” Ruff said after Sunday’s loss. “You want to win and we’ve dealt with a lot (of injuries), players want to win. I’m responsible for wins and losses and who gets on the ice and who doesn’t get on the ice.
“We have a very passionate fan base. They want to see wins.”
The loss to Tampa Bay dropped New Jersey’s home record below .500 at 14-15-2.
“If you look at our home record, that part hurts,” Ruff said. “I feel fully responsible.”
Ruff said he wasn’t concerned with his job security. Just a season ago, the Devils finished second in the Metro with 52 wins and 112 points.
“I’m in a business where job security is what it is,” Ruff said.
The Devils open the trip with a game against the Sharks, who have lost three straight games, have the worst goal-differential in the NHL (minus-97) and snapped a six-period goal drought with two in the third of a 4-2 home loss to Nashville on Saturday. New Jersey then plays Anaheim, which has the fewest home wins in the league (8-20-1), on Friday and then takes on Los Angeles, which also has struggled on home ice this season (11-10-6), on Sunday.
“The emphasis (on a successful road trip) was there even before this weekend,” Devils forward Tyler Toffoli said. “We know every point matters whether it’s one or two.”
San Jose, which is just 9-16-2 at home, got third-period goals by Mikael Granlund and Filip Zadina to snap its goal-less drought and close to within 3-2 against the Predators on Saturday. However, the Sharks were unable to force overtime after pulling goalie Kaapo Kahkonen for an extra attacker, and Gustav Nyquist sealed the win for Nashville with an empty-netter.
“It was frustrating tonight because we had some really good stretches and then we had some really tough ones, and the one thing we’ve got to do is clean up our bad stretches,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “They can’t be as bad as they’ve been, but we did a lot of good things against a good team. That’s a good team.”
–Field Level Media
