Talk about weird and awkward. Professional athletes spend so much time together that they literally become as close, or closer than family. So, when a player or players go to a different team, whether it’s their choice or the team’s, it can be strange when they eventually play against their former teammates. Hockey players always say they can and do put those feelings aside from the opening faceoff to the final horn, but there’s no denying it can create some awkward moments. It can also be a terrific source of motivation. 

Sunday night at Prudential Center, the Devils hosted the San Jose Sharks for the second half of a back-to-back set. The result was a 1-0 loss for the Devils as former New Jersey netminder, Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside all 44 of their shots on goal. For Blackwood, it is his 11th career shutout, third as a member of the Sharks and first against the Devils. But he wasn’t the only former Devil to play against the current Garden Staters in this contest.

Vitek Vanecek didn’t play as he backed up Blackwood. But Fabian Zetterlund and Tyler Toffoli, each of whom spent time over the past few seasons calling New Jersey home, saw ice times of 17:43 and 17:39, respectively. Neither registered a point, although Zetterlund did come close; more on that down below. 

However, the main story was that Blackwood led the Sharks, aka the “Devils West,” to a victory that not many saw coming. 

Blackwood started against his former team, in his former home, for the first time (he played part of a game against them in San Jose last year before leaving with an injury) and it’s only natural to wonder how he felt about the whole situation. 

“Now, second year, I don’t know,” Blackwood told The Hockey News’ San Jose Sharks Beat Writer, Max Miller prior to the game. “I’m pretty far away from that, so I don’t have a lot of extra stuff. It’s obviously just another game, but, you know, you’d like to go out and have a good one, but you want two [points] every other night too. So you do the best you can.”

“Maybe just because [I] played there a little bit, you have a little bit of familiarity,” Blackwood continued in his conversation with Miller. “I mean, lots of the guys on that team are still there from when I was there. Maybe talking to them a little bit, but I don’t know. [I’m just] trying to get to the point when you’re playing the game that [and] you’re not really thinking about it.”

Tyler Toffoli, who has played for seven teams in his career and was traded from the Devils to the Winnipeg Jets at last season’s Trade Deadline, told San Jose Hockey Now’s Beat Writer, Sheng Peng on the site’s podcast over the summer that the most difficult place to leave was New Jersey. Toffoli attributed those feelings to the expectations being higher in The Garden State and how comfortable he and his family had gotten during his time with the Devils. 

Meanwhile, the players who still call New Jersey home managed to throw 44 shots on goal against Blackwood but they could not find a way to get one into the back of the net. That meant that the Devils’ three-game winning streak came to an abrupt end. 

“I didn’t think we did enough through two periods,” Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. We certainly didn’t make it hard on their goaltender. We made life real easy very honestly.”

The Garden Staters had a couple of first period opportunities to score, most notably when Jesper Bratt had the puck on his stick, but they were unable to solve Blackwood. On the other hand, the Sharks did manage to “score” one goal in the opening period, with an “assist” from a former teammate of theirs. Nico Sturm broke in on Jake Allen. He fired a shot and watched as the puck bounced away to Timo Meier in front. The former Shark couldn’t corral the little rubber disc, causing it to go into the Devils’ net and gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead 16:21 into the first period. 

The goal was an unfortunate result for Meier, but the Devils very much looked out of sorts in the period. New Jersey was “cheating” to the puck to try and create offense, got way too fancy with the puck at times and gave it away six times. Overall, the Devils were careless with the puck in the opening period and it came back to bite them.

A lot of the same issues plagued the Devils in the second period as they continued to overcomplicate things instead of keeping things simple. This manifested itself the most when they would cycle the puck and “refused” to shoot it. By the midway point of the period, fans in attendance were loudly chanting at the Devils to “SHOOT THE PUCK!”

As we alluded to before, Zetterlund almost gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead with 7:15 to go in the second period, but the goal was taken away after it was determined that he pushed Jake Allen’s pads and interfered with the goaltender. 

“That’s, flip a coin on that one,” Keefe said. “We had the good fortune of the call on the ice going our way. So that puts the pressure on them (the Sharks) to decide whether or not they want to challenge that. That’s one of those things you’re kind of tossing a coin on. I don’t think anybody would know how that one’s gonna go.”

Just as the Devils were beginning to pick things up with under two minutes left in the middle period, Erik Haula was called for illegal checking Jan Rutta in the head, an action that led to a scrum in the corner. The penalty put New Jersey on the penalty-kill with 1:46 left in the period. 

The Garden Staters successfully killed off the entire penalty, part of a three-for-three night on the penalty-kill, but they were unable to score the equalizer during the third period. It wasn’t for lack of trying though as they put up 19 shots on goal during the final period. 

In the end, it wasn’t the result New Jersey wanted. Now they go on the road for two games against the Panthers and one against the Lightning. Those three games will be a good litmus test of where this current Devils team is at and at the end of the trip, their season will be roughly one-quarter over. Where has the time gone? 

The “Thanksgiving Checkpoint” is fast approaching and New Jersey will want to make sure it’s holding down a playoff spot when that time comes, but we’ll get into the reasons why at another time. For now, focus on the task at hand and try to earn a better outcome against the defending Stanley Cup champions.