Cory Schneider was the goaltender of record when the Devils defeated Tampa Bay in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last season, so it would be incorrect to state that he hasn’t tasted victory in 2018.
However, with Tuesday’s 7-3 defeat in Ottawa, Schneider has now lost his last 14 regular-season starts (all but one in regulation) dating back to Dec. 27.
If he’s ever going to break that streak, he’s going to need a lot more help from his teammates than he got on Tuesday.
The Devils squandered an early 2-0 lead, allowing six unanswered goals until late in the third period. New Jersey coach John Hynes pulled Schneider after the fourth goal in favor of Keith Kinkaid, who had started 11 of the previous 12 contests. The switch was probably more of a wakeup call to the Devils’ skaters in front of Schneider than an indictment of his play. No one can be sure, since Hynes’ postgame remarks lasted all of 80-something seconds, with the word “noncompete” repeated over and over.
Hynes had to be frustrated since this game was set up perfectly for Schneider -- the Devils seemed to get their mojo back in Pittsburgh on Monday with a resounding 5-1 win, and Ottawa has been the epitome of a team in turmoil. The Senators had lost six of their previous seven games and were reeling from the reporting of a recorded Uber ride.
Unfortunately, when you continually leave opponents unattended in high-danger areas in front of the net, even the most thought-out goaltending plans fly out the window.
Devils captain Andy Greene appeared quite despondent after the game for letting Schneider down, even though he may have been the least culpable among the six defensemen. Damon Severson and Mirco Mueller in particular had rough outings. Severson failed to tie up Mark Stone in the crease on the game-tying goal in the first period, and Mueller’s turnover behind the Devils’ net early in the second period set in motion the sequence that led to Colin White’s go-ahead tally, again unmarked from Schneider’s doorstep.
Greene noted that the team needed to be more attentive to details to allow Schneider to re-establish his game following offseason hip surgery.
Schneider, 33, dealt with debilitating injuries last season, and his rehabilitation leaked into the start of this season. In lieu of a preseason, Schneider made three starts in Binghamton in late October before being deemed fit for a recall. He got his feet wet by relieving Kinkaid for the final 15 minutes of an 8-3 debacle in Tampa Bay last Tuesday and then lost his first start, 4-3, in Detroit on Thursday.
I wouldn’t directly fault Schneider for any of the goals he’s given up, but at the same time, sometimes you need your goalie to steal a game. The Devils are around the middle of the pack in most goalie statistics, which helps explain why they’re 6-6-1. Schneider's .750 save percentage on high-danger shots is the ninth worst among the league's 62 goalies with at least 100 minutes of ice time.
Right now, I trust Kinkaid a whole lot more than Schneider in terms of ability to make necessary game-changing saves. However, Kinkaid can be inconsistent, which means the Devils are going to need Schneider to find his groove. Soon.
ROSTER SHAKEUP
A follow-up to my last post on the need for the Devils to be proactive to alleviate their slump: The club did subsequently hold a few players accountable, sending centers Pavel Zacha and Kevin Rooney down to Binghamton.
The Zacha demotion was bold, considering his pedigree as a No. 6 overall selection in the 2015 draft. Zacha was expected to center New Jersey’s second line this season. However, after a couple of solid games to open the season, he quickly regressed into a nonfactor on the ice, or worse. He was pointless in 10 games and losing confidence.
Unfortunately, only one of the Devils’ three games since the moves was played to their identity. Hynes deemed Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Islanders a step in the right direction, but that’s only when compared to the deplorable efforts in the prior two games. It was still substandard..
So while the Zacha demotion may have been the correct move for both the player and the team, it was hardly a cure-all.
The Devils conclude their seven-game road trip this weekend with games in Toronto and Winnipeg, two difficult buildings. I’m not sure another shuffling the deck will do the trick.