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BY SAM HITCHCOCK
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
COMMENTARY
Just a few hours after the Devils lost to the Flyers Saturday afternoon, which was their second loss in two games, a friend of mine asked, “What happened? Back-to-back 4-1 losses?”
I noted that Alexei Ponikarovsky made his Devils debut in the Flyers game, having been traded to the team Friday night, and Ponikarovsky proceeded to score the Devils’ lone goal in their defeat.
“It is pretty simple actually. You know who scored in the Devils’ past two games? Ponikarovsky and Sykora. The Devils made the trade for Ponikarovsky to improve their front-nine depth, but when they get nothing from their top-end players -- Kovie, Parise, Elias, and Henrique -- they will still lose.”
The Devils outshot the Bruins and the Flyers by impressive margins, firing 31 on target in each games. Yet, only two goals went through on the 62 shots. I immediately lauded the trade for Ponikarovsky. He gives the Devils more size, more game experience (he is 31 and has been in the league for ten years), and most importantly, more depth.
With Ponikarovsky added to their lineup they will have a legitimate third line; assuming Zajac can stay healthy, he would center a Ponikarosky-Zajac-Clarkson line. The clear difference between the Devils versus the Bruins and Flyers is that those teams get big scoring from their top guys, but also have sensational depth with productive secondary scoring (a perfect example is that the Flyers have lost Pronger, van Riemsdyk, and now Briere, but continue to score way over three goals a game on average).
Henrique is a 21 year-old rookie, so he is understandably exempt from this scrutiny, and Elias, because he is the Devils’ point leader and is at the not-so-young age of 35, is excused as well. Kovalchuk and Parise, please step right up and take the blame.
Kovalchuk strangely only had one shot on goal against Boston, and fired four shots against Philadelphia. Kovie had no goals or assists and produced a -2 during the two games. Parise had seven shots combined in the contests, finishing with no points and a -3. That would be the first big problem.
The offensive players the Devils expect to rely on are not producing. This makes four games for Parise without a goal (and he has only mustered one assist in that span). Maybe the trade rumors swirling around him have been distracting, but as long as he is wearing the red and white he needs to manufacture goals at a higher rate. Currently, he is not doing that.
