New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider is going to sit against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, giving Keith Kinkaid is his first NHL start. That breaks a streak of 15 games in which Schneider has started, as he was the only goalie in the League to start all of his team’s games.

(UPDATE: The streak continues. Schneider starts vs. the Wild, per DeBoer.)

He had his sixth loss of the season, a 4-2 defeat to the Boston Bruins in which Seth Griffith beat him with a between-the-legs backhander. The break comes at a critical time for the team and for Schneider, who’s been average at best.

He’s 6-6-2 with a 3.00 GAA and a .901 save percentage. He’s been pulled four times. That’s in stark contrast with last season’s 1.97 GAA and .921 save percentage that had many wondering why coach Pete DeBoer didn’t give him more than 45 starts. (The answer, of course, was no one wanted to disrespect what was left of Marty Brodeur.)

Said Schneider after the Boston loss, via Fire & Ice:

“It’s a tough stretch here,” said Schneider, who had been pulled in his previous two starts. “Sometimes it feels worse than it is, so you just have to stay positive. I’m going to hang my head, I’m not going to feel bad for myself. I’ve gone through stretches like this before and sometimes it’s about putting the work in and putting your head down and every chance you get to practice you’ve got to put the work in.

“But, this isn’t the goalie that I know I am and I think that my teammates know I am. So, I can absolutely be better and it’s time to stop talking and just go do it.”

There are three ways to look at Schneider’s start for the Devils, who are 6-7-2, have lost four straight and are four points out of the wild card:

1. Schneider is simply exhausted.

He never had more than 13 straight starts at any point of his NHL career. Factor in the fact that he’s a clear-cut No. 1 and the Devils defense has been lacking in all areas, and the dude might just need a check-your-brain-at-the-bench night off. Or two.

2. Schneider has actually been good and the Devils’ penalty kill sucks.

There’s a hell of a disparity right now between Schneider’s overall save percentage and that at even strength, where he’s stopped 314 of 339 shots for a .926 save percentage.

His save percentage shorthanded is the worst in the NHL: .782, with 17 goals scored on 78 shots. The Devils, conversely, have the worst penalty kill in the League at 64.4 percent. I repeat: 64.4 percent. Which isn’t good when you’ve been shorthanded the third-most times this season at 59.

This could be a real chicken-or-the-egg situation: Is the Devils’ PK struggling because of Schneider, or is he struggling because of the PK?

Finally, and most discouragingly for the Devils ...

3. Maybe He Can’t Be The Man.

Schneider has had his chances to stake a claim to the crease. He gave it back to Roberto Luongo in Vancouver. Last season, he gave Brodeur his chance to take it back as well.

His 45 games last season were the most he’s played in an NHL season, and it earned him a 7-year, $42-million franchise cornerstone contract with the Devils starting next season, with a no-trade clause. That’s a hell of a commitment to a goalie that’s never been “the guy” yet in this career.

He’s “the guy” now, and he’s apologizing for his efforts just 14 games into the season.

So that’s a little voice in the back of your head, wondering if Schneider has the stuff to be an elite, workhorse netminder in this League.

But overall, you have to believe there’s a good chance his early-season struggle is a product of average play, a ghastly penalty kill and the fact that Bryce Salvador is allowed to legally call himself a “defenseman” despite strong evidence to the contrary this season.



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