TORONTO – They have lost once in nearly a month, they are chasing the NHL road victory record, amd they are challenging for their third straight conference title and 100-point season.
They are also headed towards a fourth straight spring-time fall.
The Devils have raised the bar themselves. This was a rebuilding year, and the reconstruction has moved faster than scheduled. But there are still a few closets that need clearing of skeletons, ones that are rattling their bones. Loudly.
Lou Lamoriello’s Monsters away from the Meadowlands have been rampaging along at about half-speed, riding the first-time excitement of Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias, who have helped Jason Arnott remember how to move his feet, and all the good things that happen when he does.
But there are some seriously underachieving Devils riding this romp like commuters on a train. They don’t even seem worried.
Bobby Holik is only the most noticeable of the straphangers, but given his disappearance at this time last season, this reprise reeks of history repeating itself, as if the Devils didn’t have enough to fret until Scott Stevens returns from his groin pull fully fit.
“I’m not worried about it, not the way the Green Line [Arnott, Sykora and Elias] is going. They’re playing great, doing so very well,” Holik said.
Then he added the requisite “if,” the one on which the Devils will turn as either contenders or disappointments.
“If the other lines start putting some goals in …” Holik said.
That’s a big if. They didn’t last season, when Holik scored on March 14, and never again, and the Devils utterly died for goals in the playoffs. Holik has already passed that date this year, and he’s in another drought. Regard this year’s Sykora as last year’s Doug Gilmour, and the situations are very, very comparable.
When the Devils face the Leafs here tonight, it will have been a full month since Holik has scored a goal, last connecting Feb. 19, when he led the team. He has been caught by Sykora at 23, with Arnott one behind at 22.
If we have seen Holik’s final goal – or anything close – of this campaign, or if he can’t turn it on in the playoffs, the Devils will fail to clear the bar they raised themselves.
The situation has not been lost on Robbie Ftorek. He had a meeting with Holik Tuesday to discuss the drought and what it means. In Edmonton, a 4-1 thrashing Wednesday that elicted the call for Ron Low’s head, one crucial matter went relatively unnoticed: Ftorek recreated the Crash Line, with Krzysztof Oliwa playing the part of Mike Peluso.
No business resulted, and that shouldn’t be a surprise. In a move that nearly ended his days with the Devils, Holik held out of training camp two years ago, demanding a more offensive role and an end to Crash Line duties. Randy McKay still plays a gritty game, but his ailing back is limiting the lengths to which he can do battle. He fights rarely these days, and the one he had in Vancouver, nothing special, forced him out of practice.