Chalk Talk: John Marino Must Close Gaps in Devils Defense Zone

The New Jersey Devils are a shell of themselves from a year ago. Entering the season, the Devils had expectations on them to succeed and follow up last year’s performance with another playoff run. That has not been the case through the first 20 games. As a matter of fact, the Devils are one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL. And that begins in their own zone. Specifically with John Marino.

Now, it is easy to point the finger and criticize from afar, especially when things are not going right. Remember, John Marino was getting praise for his play last season after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins. This season, Marino, like the rest of the Devils’ defence is a shell of themselves.

We knew the losses of Damon Severson and Ryan Graves would impact this team. Nobody thought it was going to be this level. As written earlier, the Devils lack the physical play necessary to win and battle in their own defensive zone. Not to mention book is out on the Devils and they are not surprising teams anymore. Add in the fact that Andrew Brunette is in Nashville, and this is the situation the Devils find themselves in. Battling for a wild card spot.

But back to Marino for a minute because in this edition of Chalk Talk or the Devils Chalkboard, we are going to look at his effort on the game-winning goals against the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings and why he needs to tighten the gap between him, the opposing player, and the puck.

Devils Chalkboard: Marino’s Poor Play Leads To Two Easy Goals

Jimmy Vesey‘s Game Winning Goal

Before we get to what happened on the game-winning goal, the Devils were up 3-2 in the game. Jesper Bratt and Tyler Toffoli both had chances to extend the lead to 4-2 or even 5-2. However, Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin came up with the big saves necessary to allow Artemi Panarin to tie the game off a face-off in the Devils defensive zone coming out of a TV timeout.

With the game tied at 3-3, Rangers defenseman Zac Jones hit Vincent Trocheck with a pass that allowed him to enter the Devils zone and take three players with him.

Everything is fine here. The gap control is pretty good. Trocheck does not have anywhere to go with the puck.

The issue becomes, the Devils lose the gap control when he drops the puck to Jimmy Vesey who is trailing the play. Trocheck’s speed forces the Devils to back up which gives Vesey and Tyler Pitlick space to operate.

Vesey will pass the puck to Pitlick, who walks down the middle of the ice with nobody on him and gets a good shot off on Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek. As you can see, the Devils lose Vesey, who breaks right down Broadway towards the net. Not to mention, you have Dougie Hamilton, John Marino, Erik Haula, and Jack Hughes out on the ice.

Haula does not pick up Pitlick, and neither does Hughes. Granted, the goalie should be getting the shot here. But it is the two defensemen that need to pick up Vesey driving the net.

The puck will come off Vanecek. Vesey beats Marino to the puck. Now, this shot should not even go off if the defenseman is playing between his opponent and the puck. Former Devils player Colin White was good at that. And you can see the effort by Marino is not the greatest. Being that far behind Vesey will not allow to make a play on the puck with just a normal stick check.

He needed to move himself between his opponent and the puck. That goal is preventable and, again, situational awareness for these young Devils players. Again, there is nothing wrong with taking a penalty here. Unfortunately, the puck is in the net and the Rangers end up winning the game.

Devils: Jack Hughes Says The Devils Need To Be More Physical

Lucas Raymond‘s Opening Goal v. Devils

The Devils were playing a really good first period against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, their final three minutes were not good. The Devils gave up three goals in a two-minute span to close out the first period. It was ultimately what did them in. There was too much watching and standing around by this group, who showed against the Pittsburgh Penguins several days earlier what they really are made of.

Now, there were problems on the first and third goals for Detroit. Both of which saw the Devils lose gap control. But let’s highlight the first goal by Lucas Raymond.

The play starts with a loss of the puck in the neutral zone. The Devils lose another board battle. Those board battles are what kept Pierre Turgeon in the league along with his skills as he told Full Press Hockey during Hockey Hall of Fame Weekend.

Again, look at the gap control here. Not very good. Now Shayne Gostisbehere is able to get the puck to Lucas Raymond for a two-on-one with Robby Fabbri. Just look at the space they have to set up and note the effort of John Marino here.

There is too much space between Marino and Raymond. Brendan Smith has to decide which man to take. This leaves room for the puck to go to Fabbri, which opens up Raymond for the shot on Vanecek.

The puck goes to Fabbri and then back to Raymond for the opening goal of the game. Again, the space between Marino and Raymond is too large. He needs to close that gap. Just don’t glide here; he needs to be backpacking and skating hard to prevent the goal or a shot.

Now let’s go to the third goal of the period.

The Devils lose another neutral zone board battle. However, this time it seems they have a numbers game in their favour. However, that is not the case. Notice the gap between Fabbri and Jesper Bratt that will play a factor in the goal, along with the effort from Tyler Toffoli and Daniel Sprong.

As you can see, the puck is passed by Sprong to Fabbri for a shot on Vanecek to make it 3-0 Detroit. Sprong charges the net, which makes Jonas Siegenthaler stay with his man. That is all well and good. Again if Toffoli maybe skates instead of glides to Sprong, the pass does not get off. John Marino is with his man in the lower left-hand corner. That leaves Jesper Bratt on Fabbri.

Bratt’s effort, like Marino’s effort, was not ideal. He needed to close the gap so the shot did not get off. Again, little situational details that help prevent goals with a period winding down.

Everyone wants to talk about goaltending and how the Devils need a save. And they do, but cleaning up your own zone first will go a long way in not relying on your goalie to make that save so early in a game.