New Jersey Devils’ Penalty Kill Must Improve

By Nick Villano @nick_villano on October 19, 2014

Despite having two straight bad seasons by organization’s standards, the one thing the New Jersey Devils have done right is the penalty kill. They led the league in the past two full seasons (excluding the lockout-shortened season) in penalty kill percentage. This season they are ranked 21st in the league.

It has a lot to do with the Devils two straight losses. What was once a strength, now looks like an early-season weakness. The San Jose Sharks scored three goals on Cory Schneider on Saturday. Two came with a man advantage. The Devils ended up losing the game 4-2 after the Sharks scored an empty net goal to put them up by two.

Looking at that, you can see that the Devils are hurting on the PK. This season, the team took five games to have six power play goals against. Last season, it took 12 games to allow the same number.

What’s the difference? Some say regression is likely when it comes to penalty kill save percentage. Schneider is a very good goalie, but even the best have trouble when they are a man behind. Schneider seemed like the exception to the rule. He posted a .925 save percentage on the PK. It seemed like something that would eventually fall.

There is one main missing piece from last year’s team. Anton Volchenkov became a cap casualty when he was amnestied last offseason. While he was not living up to his contract, he was the best penalty killer on the team. Now he is in Nashville, where they have the eighth best PK in the early season.

The Devils are heavy on offensive defensemen. They no longer have Peter Harrold or Mark Fayne on the roster. They now have Jon Merrill, Eric Gelinas and Damon Severson playing full-time minutes. Add in Marek Zidlicky to that mix, who is about 90 percent offense, and you see that this isn’t a normal Devils defense. They don’t have the trap defense they are known for.

Peter DeBoer has to figure out how to continue with the offensive-minded players playing a defensive system. They are finally scoring goals. They can’t continue to allow just as many. This could be a very good season if they can keep the success on the offensive side, while playing as well on the back end as they did in the past. That starts with keeping the puck out of the net on the penalty kill.

Nick Villano is the New Jersey Devils writer for Rant Sports.  He also adds to the site’s NBA, MLB and NFL content.  You can follow him on Twitter or add him to your Google circle.