The chants started in the cheap seats and petered out after about 10 seconds, although that might be because most of the Devils fans in this small weekday matinee crowd at the Prudential Center were simply too stunned to speak.

The ones that could? Well, they agreed on where to direct their ire.

“FIRE HYNES!”

“FIRE HYNES!”

“FIRE HYNES!”

This is not supposed to be something you hear at an NHL arena six games into the season, but to be fair, these have been an extraordinary six games for the Devils. They blew a four-goal lead in their opener to the Winnipeg Jets, something that had only happened seven times in the previous 1,775 games with teams up four over the past 10 seasons.

You could file that under the catch-all umbrella of “that’s hockey.” But this? This was no fluke. The only stunning thing about the Devils blowing a 4-1 lead to the Florida Panthers on Monday afternoon was that they had a 4-1 lead in the first place.

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This was a shaky, undisciplined, sloppy performance from the start, and that falls squarely on head coach John Hynes. He is just weeks into his fifth season in Newark and not even 10 months removed from signing a multi-year contract extension, but he is squarely on the hot seat now after the way this team has performed so far.

Take high expectations after an offseason spending spree, then add in a scuffling young star and the overriding fear that a league MVP might bolt for free agency, and you’ve got a full blown crisis for a head coach.

“Although our record is not close to what we want it to be, I do believe, and I think there’s evidence, that we should have a couple of wins on the board," Hynes said when asked about the increased pressure he faces. “Unfortunately, we don’t, but there’s not an overreaction”

The third week of October is not when good NHL organizations fire coaches, and to be clear, the days of Devils architect Lou Lamoriello tossing coaches overboard at the first sign of things going awry are long gone.

Josh Harris and David Blitzer are not impulsive men. Just look at their other sports properties. Brett Brown will enter his seventh season with their 76ers despite a .362 winning percentage and back-to-back losses in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The NBA rumor mill has had the guillotine hover over Brown’s head forever, but Harris-Blitzer has not wavered. “Brett’s job was never in jeopardy,” Harris said at the end of last season when the Raptors bounced the Sixers in a heartbreaking Game 7 loss. Fans who want Hynes gone yesterday should keep that in mind.

Still: The Devils are an inexcusable mess, and based on this small sample size to start the season, you wonder if his message is getting through to the most talented roster -- by far -- that he has had in Newark. You could see this loss coming like a Columbus Day parade down Broad Street with the way they played in the defensive zone against the Panthers.

The mental lapses are troubling. The Devils should have taken a 4-2 lead into the locker room after the second period, but a sloppy final minute ended with Panthers right wing Brett Connolly wristing a shot past Devils goalie Cory Schneider with just 7.5 seconds. It felt like the loss was a foregone conclusion at that point.

Defense was this team’s biggest problem heading into this season and remains so two weeks in. The addition of star PK Subban has done little to help that so far, and the loss of captain Andy Greene to an upper-body injury isn’t helping, either.

It isn’t the only problem, though. There is a palpable buzz at the Prudential Center every time Jack Hughes touches the puck as the crowd hopes to see his first NHL goal. The No. 1 overall pick had an open net and a bouncing puck in front of him when, somehow, he managed to hit both posts with a shot that harmlessly skittered away.

Hughes pounded his stick on the ice in frustration. Again, six games is no reason to panic, but the Devils have their future tied into this kid. If he doesn’t develop into a productive top-six forward like everyone expects in the short term (and far better than that in the long term), it could stall any hope that this franchise becomes a contender.

Is coaching the problem? Put it this way: Even if it’s not the problem, if Hughes doesn’t show progress in his first professional season the blame will fall squarely on the head coach.

He’ll face off against No. 2 pick Kaapo Kakko for the first time on Thursday night when the Rangers come to Newark, and a Devils victory over their cross-river rivals will go a long way to dialing back the heat on the man behind the bench.

But if it’s another performance like this turd on Monday? Those chants for Hynes’ job aren’t likely to peter out this time. They’re just going to get louder. And they’re not going to stop.

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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.