GDT: #13 New Jersey Devils vs. Chicago Blackhawks

[Dialamo]

Well it looks like I missed a wonderful game! Another 2 points in the bag!

 

[Bleedred]

Palmieri might be the closest replacement to Parise we've gotten.

I don't believe he's as good, but it's far past time we've got another good and young top 6 forward on this team.

For a while I was a little mad that Lou/Conte passed him over in that 2009 draft, but it's probably worked out better this way for several reasons.

His first year as a pro was 2010-2011, Josefson shouldn't have played in the NHL that season and shouldn't have been called up that early. He didn't really exactly play too many games, as he was injured for more than half the season.

That would have been Palmieri called up that season, he probably plays a lot of games that year with the Parise injury. Or perhaps instead of that trash throwaway other Palmieri that we had. Kyle only played 10 NHL games with the Ducks that year.

The next year we had Pete, who knows if Palmieri would have been loved by Pete or not? He may have never had a secure spot in the lineup, or at least not in the earlier years of Pete.

 

[debplaceyonice]

I was watching on TV, are we not doing the PK "KILL" horn chant anymore? Always thought that was great and original to us.

 

[Sascha Goc]

Since we just played like the Harlem Globetrotters on ice against Chicago it's ok to bash Gionta now

 

[Volchenkovs Face]

The sad part is Gio actually showed wheels getting back in the zone and then blocking a shot, but because he chunked the empty net that's all we'll remember.

No the fact that Gio failed to clear the puck twice on that one shift, is what we should remember.

 

[mtnet]

I'll say it again, Hynes has a good portion of this roster punching above its weight right now, they put in the work tonight and deserved the win

I agree with Boucher if he said that cause I was thinking the same thing, looked to me like the devs were taken lightly and before they knew it the hawks found themselves back on their heels facing a 3 goal deficit

 

[Sascha Goc]

I'll say it again, Hynes has a good portion of this roster punching above its weight right now, they put in the work tonight and deserved the win

I agree with Boucher if he said that cause I was thinking the same thing, looked to me like the devs were taken lightly and before they knew it the hawks found themselves back on their heels facing a 3 goal deficit

I am a big fan of this coach. The team buys in 100% to what he is selling and it is apparent on the ice every shift.

 

[MadDevil]

Jesus H. Christ. We win and people are STILL complaining about Gionta? Let it go already.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I am a big fan of this coach. The team buys in 100% to what he is selling and it is apparent on the ice every shift.

Yep. He's got their respect and he's got them believing in themselves. Great to see.

 

[Chessarmy]

Fantastic win. I have nothing to complain about. Everyone played well and this ended up being a major statement game for our guys tonight.

They're making the playoffs.

 

[NJDevs26]

You're probably right that Zajac isn't as bad as last year would indicate but also not as good as his current pace suggests. People (myself included perhaps) at times might have gotten a little carried away talking about how poorly Zajac played last season, but that really comes from a place of frustration with his game at that point and disillusionment with the team as a whole for being out of the playoffs for multiple years in a row. I guess I just understand where people are coming from with their complaints about Zajac (and I personally expect more from him than I would from a fourth liner, as I indicated in the team thread), so I'm not going to mock those who had concerns or doubts about him, since last season was worrisome and not likely to inspire trust. At the end of the day, though, I obviously hope for the best from Zajac this season.

A top six forward with 27 points is REALLY bad even by last year's curve. Yeah a lot of people were just 'bad' but Zajac's dissapointment stood out and not because of the contract which is so overhyped to begin with. I'm glad he's apparently got some of his offensive game back, at least I hope this isn't just a brief, good month like the end of '13-14 was.

And I wasn't one of the ones saying trade him at any cost either, first off it was silly cause you're trading him at 10 cents on the dollar (with a limited market anyway cause of the NTC). You only trade guys at ten cents on the dollar if you know it's not getting any better or if he's poison in the room, neither of which were true. Plus quite honestly even a decent-level Zajac is important to this group and personally I'd just rather not trade one of the few guys that stayed when all the other big names were leaving.

Jesus H. Christ. We win and people are STILL complaining about Gionta? Let it go already.

Seriously...Met fans don't hate the Wilpons as much as HFDevils hates baby Gio. Well okay a slight exaggeration but it shouldn't even be that close tbh.

 

[Bleedred]

I'm still more annoyed that Gionta had the first empty net chance which was over 4.5 minutes after the goaltender being pulled. More annoyed that it took 4.5 minutes for an empty net chance than Gionta actually missing it.

If that was a penalty kill (with the goalie in net), it would have been like the PK of the year so far with how well it was defended.

But they seemed to do nothing but defend for almost the entire 5 minutes before the goal was scored.

They also did quite a bit of defending for the last 90-ish seconds or whatever it was after the Hawks second goal.

 

[MadDevil]

In fairness too, Gionta's attempt went off Seabrook's stick, so it's not like he completely whiffed on an empty net.

 

[Bleedred]

In fairness too, Gionta's attempt went off Seabrook's stick, so it's not like he completely whiffed on an empty net.

I actually didn't know that, but that would make sense.

O'Neill was a lot better on the 4th line. Our 4th line even pinned them in for a decent amount of time on one shift tonight.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I think we all knew that Cory was going to steal some games and make us better than we were.

I think we all knew Zajac would bounce back at least a little bit.

I think we all knew Palmieri would help this team.

I think we all knew we'd get a bounce out of a new coach, of at least the deadcat variety.

I think we all knew that replacing Havlat, Ryder, Zubrus dead wood with some younger legs would help

I think we all knew that the continued growth curve of the young Defensemen that Lou was growing in his hothouse would greatly improve the team someday.

I think we all knew that Cammy and Henrique were the real deal, and that if they could get any kind of secondary scoring from someone else, that would be great.

I think we all knew that JJ could contribute in some form and become a decent part of this team.

I don't think anyone could have predicted Stempniak.

I don't think anyone could have foreseen it all happening at the same time.

So... all of this said... there are going to be rough times ahead, but there is certainly some legitimate cause for optimism.

Are we a playoff team? Hell no. But we can sure scare the pants off of whoever is in #8 spot, I think.

If they can figure a way to keep the ball rolling, and somehow mix in Matteau and Boucher and get Tlusty and Kalinin to contribute... this could be a really really fun year to watch.

 

[Bleedred]

We've even been in almost all of the games we've lost too.

I think opening night against Winnipeg was one of the real duds. That was probably the worst game, and even that was 2-1 for a decent amount of time in the game. Penalty killing was beyond disastrous in that game.

We were tied against Washington for a better part of 2 periods, then the wheels came off in the last 10-12 minutes of the game and made it look a lot more lopsided than it really was.

The Nashville game was 1-0 for almost the entire time and I clearly remember a Tootoo post hit early in the game.

We were in control of the Columbus game until the last 10 minutes.

The last Islanders game could have been at least a point if we weren't getting pinned in so much late.

We could have also beaten the Sharks if Palmieri doesn't fire an OT breakaway shot far wide, or if Cammalleri doesn't fire way wide in the shootout.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

I give up trying to forecast anything about this team for the rest of the season.

I don't think the Devils are gonna be able to sustain this success over a full season, but the fact that they're doing this at all is impressive as hell. I love seeing the underdog take it teams that should almost assuredly beat them.

Funniest thing is, at least at 5v5, Devils have been pretty unlucky. Before tonight, they were shooting below half the league average sh%. So you wouldn't even be crazy to expect better (or similar) results going forward.

 

[Bleedred]

Just now rewatched the Henrique and Toews fight.

I was answering a text and looking at my phone when that happened in real time, pretty much missed it.

 

[Comparison Ford]

I think we all knew that Cory was going to steal some games and make us better than we were.

I think we all knew Zajac would bounce back at least a little bit.

I think we all knew Palmieri would help this team.

I think we all knew we'd get a bounce out of a new coach, of at least the deadcat variety.

I think we all knew that replacing Havlat, Ryder, Zubrus dead wood with some younger legs would help

I think we all knew that the continued growth curve of the young Defensemen that Lou was growing in his hothouse would greatly improve the team someday.

I think we all knew that Cammy and Henrique were the real deal, and that if they could get any kind of secondary scoring from someone else, that would be great.

I think we all knew that JJ could contribute in some form and become a decent part of this team.

I don't think anyone could have predicted Stempniak.

I don't think anyone could have foreseen it all happening at the same time.

So... all of this said... there are going to be rough times ahead, but there is certainly some legitimate cause for optimism.

Are we a playoff team? Hell no. But we can sure scare the pants off of whoever is in #8 spot, I think.

If they can figure a way to keep the ball rolling, and somehow mix in Matteau and Boucher and get Tlusty and Kalinin to contribute... this could be a really really fun year to watch.

I think I may be able to speak for everyone here and say this year is already more fun to watch than the last two years combined.

 

[Bleedred]

Hiney Head already has this team playing a respectable team defense that Pete couldn't do last year, nor the mighty Hydra.

We don't seem to be allowing 30+ shots like last year.

Tonight we were leading the game for almost 57 minutes and still only allowed 29 shots on goal. I'd bet half of them in the 3rd period came while Q had his goaltender pulled.

Even in that Ottawa game where we allowed almost 40, we still had over 30 ourselves. We allowed 35 or 36 last game against NYI, but we've been keeping them to a respectable amount for the most part. I think we're still top 5 in the league in lowest shots against.

Last year we'd have 35 shots against and only like 18 shots for, or even less some of the times.

 

[New Jersey]

Whatta wonderful night to be at the Rock. Great performance. Fell apart a bit a third but they stood their ground at the death. LGD.

 

[Bleedred]

Blackhawks GDT is pretty depressing after this one.

So many of them think they are not a playoff team this year.

I can definitely see them having a down year and not being a cup contender. By down year, I mean a wild card spot and a playoff run that isn't very long like 2011 or 2012. I think they're still a playoff team. They were missing Keith and Hossa tonight, and Crawford had an off night. I don't think there's a defenseman in the league better than Keith. He's already a hall of famer if his career somehow ended today IMO. Hopefully they don't have those guys back for our game against them next week, I could see them jumping on us after this loss.

They were giving a lot of praise to Schneider in there too, and were not taking this game lightly before it started because of Schneider.

 

[devilsblood]

Saw in the pregame MacLean talking about JJ's need to shoot the puck more.

It seemed he was much more aggressive in that manner. Had at least 3 shots, 2 of which I'd say were not your normal JJ shots.

Do we think this was something the coaches noticed about JJ. Not shooting enough, and the orders were put out to shoot more?

 

[devilsblood]

Also, best crowd of the season last night? Appeared that way on TV. They picked a good game.

One last note. Why not double shift Kane more often? He's so good with the puck, it borders on effortless. Defenders can't really touch him, heck they back off half the time, doesn't seem like he would get too worn out playing the extra minutes.

 

[Blender]

Josefson seems a lot stronger this season as well. He used his speed and strength to drive through guys quite a few times. It's good to see.