NEWARK, N.J. -The Devils pushed until the final seconds but their comeback attempt fell short as New Jersey droped its fifth straight, tonight a 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers.
"(We need to) be more detailed. We have a game plan and we were lacking again just executing it," Captain Nico Hischier said post-game. "I think we just have to get even more in there, we're not scoring enough and you have to score goals to win game and I think that's the big thing right now."
"I didn't really like our start," said Brendan Smith. "They came out and played a physical, fast game, and put it on us. That's kind of our recipe and we didn't really get to that until later in the second. And then we shot ourselves in the foot again. We keep spotting teams these goals. It seems like a lot of it is us doing it. I think they played well and created chances, we didn't bury on ours, but at the end of the day I think we keep spotting.
"I'm going to be positive here because I think that it's something we can do and we've seen how we can play and in that sense I'm still positive that we have it to get to that next level but right now it's too hard when you keep spotting teams goals."
"When you look at what was the strength of our team was really how well we played defensively," Ruff said. "When you start to get a little frustrated offensively you start to cheat. But the backbone of our game has been how well we play defensively and we can't get away from that. And I thought there was a period of time we got away from it. We gave up a few rush plays, we stood in on a few plays that we shouldn't have stood in on.
"If you want to take something out of the game, when you're struggling offensively, and every team goes through that," Ruff explained. "I've been around a lot of teams and you got through stretches and all of the sudden the goals don't want to go in, all of the sudden you're putting a lot of pucks on the net or they're not getting deflected, you're not getting to that second puck. Your B plan is stick with what got you there and you might have to win 1 nothing or 2-1."
Devils Fall to Panthers, 4-2 | GAME STORY
Despite pushing until the final seconds, New Jersey drops its fifth straight to end a three-game homestand
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