How much reasonably could have been expected out of the Devils was the question. And the answer turned out to be New Jersey's team was still California Dreamin'.
On a lazy Monday night in Newark, the Devils returned home to Prudential Center after a successful three-game road trip out west and played a steady but mostly ineffective game against the Jets, losing 3-1.
Coach Pete DeBoer said before the game he was unsure what he was going to get out of his team after winning two of three against the Kings, Ducks and Sharks, and what he got was a safe game, one where the Devils (9-10-5) played to their smarts rather than trying use their tired and road-weary legs.
But after they had won eight of their previous 10 contests, getting them back into the playoff picture after a dreadful start, the Devils' plan didn't quite work out. The Jets (11-11-4) managed to take advantage of the few opportunities they did get, ending a four-game losing streak (two in shootouts) and starting their six-game trip — which brings them through all three Metropolitan-area teams this week — off on the right foot.
The Devils pushed late in the third, and even got a goal from veteran Patrik Elias midway through the period, a great deflection from the high slot that beat Ondrej Pavelec over his glove. Although that got the game to 2-1, and 41-year-old Martin Brodeur made some key stops down the stretch, it just wasn't quite enough. Devin Setoguchi ended the scoring with an empty-netter in the final minute.
Just about seven minutes into the second period, young Winnipeg sniper Evander Kane got a great look from right in front of the goal, but was denied by Brodeur. Making his second start in a row and his 10th start in the past 14 games, Brodeur was sharp for most of the night, but didn't see the initial shot from Kane, and was lucky to keep it out.
Of course, as hockey has a way of finding karmic equality, it was on the ensuing faceoff that Kane corralled the draw won backward by Olli Jokinen and took a freewheeling snap shot. That one Brodeur didn't see either, yet it beat him on the near side to give the Jets a controlling 2-0 lead.
Although later in the period Elias would ring the crossbar on a shorthanded 2-on-1 chance, and then 41-year-old Jaromir Jagr would be denied from in close by his Czech compatriot, Pavelec, and that same 2-0 score is how the scoreboard read after first 40 minutes.
The Devils didn't have much to offer in a rather listless first period, the best chances of their seven shots coming from Jagr, continuing to amaze every night as the team's best forward. But Pavelec was sharp in the early going, and allowed 20-year-old Mark Scheifele to give the Jets a 1-0 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the period.
On the scoring play, the Jets had a developing 3-on-2, with Jagr as the Devils' third man returning on a backcheck. As Michael Frolik streaked up the left side, Jagr went to the middle and double-teamed Matt Halischuk, leaving Scheifele wide open at the far post.
Jagr has been great, and so have the Devils, but not on this night, when they were still California Dreamin'.
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