The road trip from hell is finally over.  Thank Jeebus.

The West-Coast road trip will be a rarity for the Devils with the new unbalanced schedule, and that’s just fine with the Swampthings.  The Devils finished the trip 1-3-1, mustering only 7 goals throughout.  The most crushing day came out of the loss in SJ, a night when both the Islanders and Rangers won their games, leaving the Devils in the dust. They finally seemed to come alive against L.A., but fell short in a shootout.

The aspect of their play that has me smashing remotes on a daily basis is their overly-conservative play.  Scoring 2 goals in a game is not going to get you to the playoffs.  I think it worked about 10 years ago, not now.  I wasn’t much of a Cluade Julien fan so far, and this road trip didn’t help the cause.  The man’s lacadaisical, ho-hum approach to things is not going to cut it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets axed quicker than Kevin Constantine.  It’s no secret the Devils are a team that needs to constantly be kicked in the ass in order to play at full potential.  I’m sorry, have I said that once, twice, three, four times before? A shakeup is in order - The season is already 1/4 gone. cough*rafalski*cough

I looked at the preceding road trip as a true test of character for New Jersey, and the result is not warming.  The tight rope act failed.  Now come out and wow us, boys.