Do New Jersey Devils Actually Blow More Leads Than Other Teams?

The New Jersey Devils blew a two-goal lead in opposition to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday with simply 5 minutes left within the recreation. This appears like deja vu as a result of it completely is. The Devils have blown their fair proportion of leads throughout the season. It’s what occurs when a crew has a significant problem with goaltending. Issues get tight when the crew has the lead.

Nonetheless, is that this a Devils downside, or is that this overblown as a result of there are a lot fewer comebacks to go along with the collapses?

It appears to be the latter. In response to Natual Stat Trick, The Devils have allowed 55 objectives in 984 minutes whereas they’re main. The Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks, two groups simply as dangerous because the Devils, they usually’ve allowed the identical 55 objectives in 30 and 90 fewer minutes respectively.

So, the Devils don’t appear to play that a lot completely different than different groups once they have the lead. Is that this an NHL-wide downside? By no means thoughts, let’s repair one downside at a time.

Let’s take a look at probabilities now. The Devils even have a optimistic high-danger probabilities share when they’re within the league. In those self same 984 minutes, they’ve 207 high-danger probabilities whereas within the league. They’ve solely given up 179 high-danger probabilities. Solely 4 different groups within the league have a greater share in terms of this particular stat.

So what is going on? Properly, once more, nothing that doesn’t occur to different groups. The Devils’ losses simply are available in a extra dramatic trend and the goalie of alternative isn’t serving to issues. Let’s return to the Panthers recreation the place the Devils blew a four-goal lead and misplaced in extra time. They gave up five-straight objectives within the third interval and extra time to a crew that went nuts offensively.

The Devils bought completely drilled within the third interval whereas they had been up by 4. They’d simply 9 complete probabilities at even energy and gave up 20. It will get even worse in terms of high-danger probabilities. They bought crashed 7 to 0 in that interval, and that’s how they blew the lead.

It looks like the blown leads simply appear to harm extra. They sting, and that sting doesn’t go away quick. Nonetheless, it’s not a long-lasting downside. A great coach will be capable of repair this.