In Newark the firing of Lindy Ruff on Monday by the New Jersey Devils cannot be hoped for as a solution to the Devils’ woes this season. 
Their disappointing performance on the ice is across the bench, not just the goaltenders, not just a select number of forwards, of the youth of the defense.
A new coach is not going to fix any of that.
Exhibit A was on display Tuesday night as New Jersey lost, 5-3, to the visiting Florida Panthers.
Interim coach Travis Green was unable to conjure up a solution to the woes in Newark.
Anthony Stolarz made 22 saves in his the win.
The Panthers improved to 43-16-4 off their sixth straight win.
The Panthers took a quick a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza.
Nick Cousins, who hit for a double, picked up his first at 2:54 for a 1-0 lead to the Panthers.
“We have a game plan each night and guys go out there and execute,” Cousins said. “It’s been a lot of fun coming to the rink. Everybody’s pulling on the same rope, and we’ve got four lines that are contributing every night. It’s different guys every night. I mean, when you do that, you have success, so it’s a lot of fun right now. We’ve just got to make sure we keep it going.”
Evan Rodrigues hit off the power play at 6:30 to extend the lead to 2-0.
Jack Hughes scored off a power play at 11:45 to cut the deficit to 2-1, but New Jersey chased the game the entire night, not catching up at any point.
“I thought we showed more energy and were harder on pucks, but there were spurts when we were good at that and there were other spurts in the game where we weren’t as good,” Hughes said. “So, we’ll have to continue to work on that.”
You got rid of your coach, now you need to step up.
New Jersey dropped to 30-28-4 off their third straight loss, and fourth in five matches.
“Our guys didn’t have a lot of plays with the puck, and any time you don’t pass the puck well and receive the puck well, it’s really hard to get a lot of traction in your game,” Green said. “I thought we started to play a little better (in the second period) with the puck.”
In the middle frame, Timo Meier knotted the game, 2-2, at 11:01, but the tie lasted all of 96 seconds.
The Panthers’ Eetu Luostarinen hit off a wrist shot from down low to put Florida back in front, 3-2, for good. put the Panthers ahead 3-2 at 12:37, scoring on a wrist shot from the high slot.
Cousins collected his double at at 5:33 of the third period, scoring off a tip in, for a 4-2 lead to the Panthers. off a tip-in from the slot.
New Jersey got one back on a marker form Colin Miller at 11:16 to get back within one at 4-3.
“It’s going to take a little bit of time to maybe get some of the things that [Green] is looking to implement,” Miller said. “There were some good parts of the game with our compete stuff, and then some areas where we need to improve.
Sam Reinhart iced the win for the Panthers with an empty-net strike with eight seconds left on th4e game clock for the 5-3 final count on the scoreboard.
“I think that line (Cousins-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk) keeps getting better,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “They’re holding on to pucks, reading off each other.”
Akira Schmid made 26 saves in the loss.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won on Tuesday night, 5-3, over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The win pushed the Pens ahead of New Jersey on games played, each with 64 points.
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