Devils again looking for way out of 1-0 hole
NEWARK — As the New Jersey Devils watched video of what went wrong for them in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, it played like a rerun.
“When I look back at our playoff trail, one of the areas that has cropped up in every round is that we have been a little tentative in the first game, kind of (feeling) our way, and then jumped in with both feet,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said.
In Saturday’s Game 2 vs. the Los Angeles Kings at the Prudential Center (8 p.m. ET, NBC), the Devils’ mission will be to play more with an open throttle and to establish a more effective forecheck, although DeBoer said fixing the forecheck could be a complicated endeavor.
“You want a nice boxed answer on how to fix it,” DeBoer said. “But it is not that easy. The game starts in your own end, breaking out clean, getting through the neutral zone with speed, putting the puck in the right place, running good forecheck routes, keeping pucks alive with pinches.”
Fixing the forecheck can be as complicated as figuring out how to pay down the national debt, especially against a team that is 13-2 in the postseason with nine consecutive road wins.
The lack of an effective forecheck played a role in the Devils producing 17 shots on goal in a game decided in overtime.
“There’s no clean answer to it,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got to be a little sharper in all areas.”
The Kings have won the first game in all four of their series. “You get that first one, and your confidence builds,” Los Angeles winger Jeff Carter said.
In their quick march to reach the championship series, the Kings say they found their killer instinct.
“It’s about finding ways to win,” goalie Jonathan Quick said.
The good news for the Devils is they have lost Game 1 and won Game 2 in their last two series. They were down 2-1 and 3-2 in the opening-round series vs. the Florida Panthers and found a way to advance.
“We’ve been tested throughout these playoffs,” forward Ryan Carter said. “We have a lot of confidence in this locker room, and I think that will hopefully show in the next game.”
Devils center Travis Zajac said the key for Game 2 is to chip the puck past the Kings defense. “They have back pressure all the time from their forwards,” he said. “We have to get pucks behind them and then go to work.”
Zajac said the Devils were watching a little bit in Game 1, trying to see what the Kings were doing when they needed to concentrate on their own games.
“We didn’t win enough battles to keep pucks alive,” he said.
The Kings said they planned to play better and they expected the Devils to do likewise in Game 2.
Said Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter, “I think we know our opponent is a lot tougher than anyone we played yet.”