Evan Rodrigues punished for hit to the throat on Marco Rossi in New Jersey

Evan Rodrigues sent the New Jersey Devils to the penalty kill for four straight minutes Saturday after his stick caught Marco Rossi up high.

Officials called it a double-minor for high-sticking. The stick rode up into the throat area of the Vancouver forward, and that's the kind of contact that gets an entire bench on its feet.

Four minutes is a long time to give anybody. Giving it to a Canucks team averaging 4.4 goals per game borders on reckless.

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And Rossi isn't some depth body. The 25-year-old has 3 goals in 5 games, and Vancouver pays him $5,000,000 a season to produce exactly like that.

Rodrigues has nothing to show for October yet. The veteran forward has no points through 3 games and sits at a -4 rating.

Rough look for a $3,075,000 player. Especially in a lineup that needs every forward pulling his weight right now.

Because the Devils are already wobbling. Sheldon Keefe's group came into the first meeting between these teams this season at 1-2-0, with a -7 goal differential.

Sheldon Keefe's slumping Devils can't afford four minutes like this

The last two games were ugly. A 6-0 shutout loss on Long Island was followed by a 5-3 loss at home to Utah.

Now picture handing four minutes of power-play time to Elias Pettersson. Vancouver's leading scorer already has 8 points, including 2 power-play goals.

It's like leaving the front door wide open in January and then complaining about the heating bill. You did that to yourself.

The crease doesn't offer much cover either. Jake Allen has an .875 save percentage through 3 appearances, and Nicolas Daws sits at .813.

Vancouver isn't exactly cruising. The Canucks have allowed 26 goals in 5 games and arrived in New Jersey off a lopsided loss in Carolina on Thursday.

So a four-minute power play in a game between two leaky teams? Nobody on the New Jersey bench wanted to gift a swing like that.

This was a careless play from a veteran who should know better. And he hasn't given the Devils enough elsewhere to offset a mistake like it.

The bigger question is where it goes from here. Does a stick to the throat area die on the scoresheet, or does the league office want a look?

Vancouver gets no time to dwell on it. The Canucks are back on the ice Sunday against the Rangers, the back half of a road back-to-back.

The Devils host Ottawa on Monday. How much rope Keefe gives Rodrigues by then might say more about this locker room than any double-minor.

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