Tonight, in Game 2 between the New Jersey Devils and the Florida Panthers, the effort, or lack there of, that the Devils showed in the first two periods en route to a 4-2 loss really caught my eye. No one was trying. There was no playoff atmosphere. It was utterly pathetic. No players, not even Ilya Kovalchuk, had any fire in them; that desire to win. As a Devils fan, that really worried me.
This worried me because never, with any recent champions, have we seen them take a period off, and just decide to not show up on a certain night. Look at the Boston Bruins of last season; the champs. Do you think veterans like Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi, and Shawn Thornton, would accept anything less than a 100% effort of their teammates, or themselves? Of course not. That team held themselves accountable, and showed great determination every game they played in last year's playoffs.
Does the showing the Devils put out tonight remind you at all of the Bruins of last year? It shouldn't. The Devils were flat for two periods. And in the playoffs, that is completely unacceptable. The Devils need to look inside themselves, and find the fire, the determination, the passion in them, if they want to be successful in the postseason; but that has yet to happen.
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