The dismissal of Lindy Ruff did not have the desired effect on the New Jersey Devils who fell 5 to 3 to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
The challenge was still significant for Travis Green who serves as interim head coach with the dismissal of Ruff on Monday. Florida became the first team in the Bettman circuit this season to reach the 90-point mark thanks to a sixth consecutive victory.
The Devils continue to slide in the standings with a third straight loss.
In less than seven minutes of play, the Panthers were in command 2-0 thanks to Nick Cousins and Evan Rodrigues. It was already the 45th time this season in 62 games that the New Jersey squad had allowed the first goal of a match. Jack Hughes allowed his team to retreat to the locker room after 20 minutes of play with a single goal behind.
Timo Meier made a great piece of individual play to level the score during the second period. The forward broke away from his coverrs and pushed the puck with one hand on his stick behind Anthony Stolarz.
However, a little less than two minutes later, Eetu Luostarinen got the better of Akira Schmid with a good wrist shot in the upper part. Nick Cousins came back to the attack in the third period by redirecting a shot from the point. On the sequence, Matthew Tkachuk collected his third assist of the game.
Colin Miller gave the Devils hope with less than nine minutes left in the third period, but despite a late push, the Devils lost. Stolarz stood out in particular on a shot from the enclave by Tyler Toffoli. The goalkeeper finished his evening with 22 saves.
Moments later, Sam Reinhart scored his 45th goal of the season by sending the disc into an empty net.
In front of the Devils cage, Schmid blocked 26 pucks.
