Devils face must win games in Toronto and St. Louis and Beyond

It might be safe to say that every game left in the month of November is a must win for the struggling Devils squad which entered thus season with huge expectations. Now, the Devils are fighting to get out of the NHL cellar and get back into looking like an actual contender. Getting a lottery draft pick is usually not in the Devils vocabulary, even though in the new NHL since the lockout, teams have fared well due to having these lottery picks in the pre-lockout and early post-lockout era's. Examples are Carolina, who drafted Eric Staal, Pittsburgh with Crosby and Malkin and Chicago with Kane and Toews. But, the Devils always have lofty goals and expect to win the cup every year much like the Chicago Bulls did during the Jordan era.

Tonight could be a start of what everyone in Devil land has been hoping for, a winning streak even though a win would only bring the streak to 1 game. If the Devils lose one game out of their next two, major changes could be coming and the first of which could be a coaching change. There are many Devils fans on Twitter and Facebook that are calling for Lou Lamoriello to make a coaching change. Lou Lamoriello himself might have to step back into coaching, I mean after all it was under his coaching that the Devils actually advanced past round 1 in the playoffs. But, the catch is that current Devils coach John MacLean was by his side diagramming probably each play.

So, tonight's games as well as each game is a must win for the Devils, but especially the next 4 games. If the Devils do not win tonight, maybe Lou does not wait until the 20 game mark and starts making some changes as the Devils simply cannot afford to keep digging themselves into a bigger hole only to play desperate hockey in February/March/April as that might be too late. Last year, the Carolina Hurricanes started the year out very poorly, but played desperate hockey in March, but it was too little too late. So, the Devils must have a good end of November and a dominant December to get back into contention.