'We Should Be Happy But Not Satisfied': Devils Players Discuss Consistency At Halfway Mark Of Season

kristy flannery

Fri, Jan 3, 2025, 5:29 p.m.·2 min read

Through the first half of the 2024-25 season, the New Jersey Devils have put themselves in a good position.

After 41 games, the team's record is 24-14-3, with 51 points. The Devils are second in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference behind the Washington Capitals and fifth best in the League.

With half the season remaining, the challenge becomes remaining as consistent as possible over the next 41 games.

For power forward Timo Meier, the answer is simple: it is the hunger to get better every day.

"I think that is our motivation. We try to get better as a team and individually every day," he said in Anaheim. "What we have done so far, I think we should be happy but not satisfied.

"We have got a long way to go," he continued. "We have made some strides in the right direction, but we also know there is much more possible."

The Devils entered the 2024-25 campaign with a new head coach and six new players, including three new defensemen to work into the fold.

It took time for things to gel, but entering the holiday break, New Jersey was playing its best hockey.

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom went 8-1-1 with a 1.30 goals-against average, a .937 save percentage, and two shutouts over 10 games in December. Defensively, New Jersey became the first team since the NHL tracked shots in 1959 to play seven consecutive games without allowing more than 20 shots against.

Offensively, the Devils scored four or more goals three times in their last five games before the holiday break.

"I think we have handled a lot of situations well," Meier continued. But, some things we can do over longer stretches and more frequently. I think there is still a way we can get better."

To Meier's point, the Devils have still been unable to string together more than three wins at a time.

While the team was firing on all cylinders, it has struggled since returning from the League's mandatory three-day break. Through three games, New Jersey has a 0-3-0 record and was shut out for the sixth time this season on New Year's Day against the Los Angeles Kings.

New Jersey captain Nico Hischier shared a philosophy we have previously heard regarding rediscovering their game and maintaining consistency in the first half.

"(We can't) look too far ahead," he said. "Take it day-by-day and game-by-game. I think that is (a piece of) the recipe for us for the rest of the season."

The Devils' next game will be Saturday, Jan. 4, against the San Jose Sharks. It will be a chance to jump back into the win column and return to their game that was so strong mere weeks ago.

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