GDT: #24 New Jersey Devils vs. Colorado Avalanche: Baba YeTWO

[Bleedred]

The Devils are becoming the Sharks now.

The Sharks were my inspiration for coining the phrase ''Cream of the crap''

They lost to like 393 times to non playoff teams in 13-14 and it cost them the division to Anaheim. Then they had to play LAK in the opening round (who I wanted to avoid LONG before the playoffs even started and the chokejob) and you all know what happened then.

Then last year, they lost like 498 times to non playoff teams and missed the playoffs altogether.

And they also had a winning record against the good teams in both of those years.

 

[Devils090]

I wonder why no one has questioned the coaching staff yet? If they can regularly beat upper echelon teams, it's not talent....its not being prepared.

Well they never win in Calgary so that game is always a loss, but it's very concerning they keep playing down to their competition. Some questions could definitely be asked but for me I like how the team has looked most of the year so far. Like I said though, if this keeps happening it's a major red flag

 

[Uli Hiemer]

Didn't Hynes ***** at them for dogging it in practice?

 

[Devils090]

It's not even so much the Devils 'should' win these games but 0-5 is just ridiculous

Agreed, they don't have to win all 5 but getting 0 points from those games is just unacceptable to me if you can beat Chicago twice, and the Rags and Habs on the road. This may seem a little much to be complaining about given our expectations to start the year but it's no less frustrating leaving points on the ice to bad teams.

 

[Bleedred]

Yeah but in the past, that was all DeBoer's fault.

The only thing I blame DeBoer on as far as Josefson goes was not recognizing his shootout skill when the team desperately needed it in 13-14. He should have been put in the lineup as a 4th liner (which is what he is, a 4th liner and that's all he'll ever be) so we could use him for the shootout, instead of scratching him so many times.

Other than that, I don't think he should have gotten any longer of rope than what he got.

And now this coaching staff has given him almost twice as much rope as he deserves. 15 games without a point at all, 27 games dating back to last season without a goal or even strength point at all.

 

[Bleedred]

Can we lose to Ward's remaining 2.9 ounces of cat urine tainted bone dust on Thursday night?

Or maybe we'll even lose to Eddie ''One of the only goaltender's that been worse than Keith Kinkaid this season'' Lack.

If Kinkaid gets lit up by them, I think I've lost confidence in him completely.

 

[Devils090]

Watch Ward blank us after that disgusting performance he had in MSG

 

[JimEIV]

Well they never win in Calgary so that game is always a loss, but it's very concerning they keep playing down to their competition. Some questions could definitely be asked but for me I like how the team has looked most of the year so far. Like I said though, if this keeps happening it's a major red flag

I honestly think it is just a coincidence. The devils just had a big emotional win against Montreal a flat game was a pretty good possibility. And like you said west coast trips have never been kind to the devils. I'm each one of looked in context is reasonable.

 

[Bleedred]

Watch Ward blank us after that disgusting performance he had in MSG

And Kinkaid get lit up and give up 4.

He sure did a fantastic job at giving the Rexall crowd a 84 Oilers reunion on ice.

Maybe he and Ward can combine to give the Raleigh faithful the 06 cup winning Canes on ice.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

The bottom six is pathetic. Merrill/Severson/Moore need to play smarter on defense, Hynes needs to shake up the pairings. I think it's time for Larsson to anchor his own line and for Greene to resurrect Severson

I'm thinking this as well.

Maybe we give the Gelinas-Larsson experiment a go again at even strength.

And yes, Greene-Severson should be reunited to jump start Damon.

Still keep Greene-Larsson on the PK

 

[JimEIV]

The only thing I blame DeBoer on as far as Josefson goes was not recognizing his shootout skill when the team desperately needed it in 13-14. He should have been put in the lineup as a 4th liner (which is what he is, a 4th liner and that's all he'll ever be) so we could use him for the shootout, instead of scratching him so many times.

Other than that, I don't think he should have gotten any longer of rope than what he got.

And now this coaching staff has given him almost twice as much rope as he deserves. 15 games without a point at all, 27 games dating back to last season without a goal or even strength point at all.

That is an absolute fair and very good point.

I don't recall hearing that argument before but that is a real criticism that Pete deserves.

 

[glenwo2]

That is an absolute fair and very good point.

I don't recall hearing that argument before but that is a real criticism that Pete deserves.

Name me criticisms that Pete didn't deserve.

 

[Chessarmy]

I wanted to like DeBoer, but the way he handled Larsson was moronic. I can't forgive him for that.

 

[glenwo2]

Guess Jim went to bed. What a coincidence.

Anyway, long story short : Pete sucks. Nothing new here.

 

[njdevil26]

I'm already tired of this crap. Josefson amd Gionta are awful and so frustrating to watch. This team needs bottom six help BAD. I can't believe I am looking forward to Ruutu coming back. Hopefully he and Tlusty are ready soon. The D really needs to step up offensively.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I honestly think it is just a coincidence. The devils just had a big emotional win against Montreal a flat game was a pretty good possibility. And like you said west coast trips have never been kind to the devils. I'm each one of looked in context is reasonable.

Most likely right. West Canada just isn't kind to this team. They were flat in the return game against Columbus.

and they came out flat tonight which does happen after an emotional win (and they spent the whole pre game saying they weren't going to fall into that trap and they fell into it).

You can't win many games when you only play for 20 minutes.

There is a lot of hockey left this week so they can and need to bounce back quickly.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I know my Devils.

I said quite a few times starting last week that they better get points vs MTL because they would lose vs Colorado.

They always lose vs the Avs.

Tonight was no different in an absolutely disgraceful home effort and loss. But expected.

I knew they would come out flat and make a team that got rolled last night in Brooklyn all of a sudden look outstanding.

Devils were outgoaltended tonight as well.

Berra was very good and Cory let in a softy.

Just an awful game to sit through. But its hard to be mad when you look at the schedule and peg in an automatic loss vs the Avs everytime.

Devils can't beat Torts nor Roy.

 

[glenwo2]

^ Devils CAN and HAVE beat Torts in the past.

It's Roy who seems to have some hex on us.

 

[Devils Dominion]

^ Devils CAN and HAVE beat Torts in the past.

It's Roy who seems to have some hex on us.

I'm talking about in games since Torts left the Rags.

This whole coming off an emotional win stuff is weak sauce.

The game was 3 nights ago and if anything a big win is supposed to give a team an emotional lift into the next game.

Can they possibly have too much overconfidence?
They shouldnt.

 

[Scorcho]

The bottom six is pathetic. Merrill/Severson/Moore need to play smarter on defense, Hynes needs to shake up the pairings. I think it's time for Larsson to anchor his own line and for Greene to resurrect Severson

Greene-Severson
Larsson-Gelinas
Merrill-Moore

 

[Bleedred]

I think we only played him 3 times after as a player, but we never beat the Avalanche with Roy again after that cup finals loss. We had a winning record over Roy in his career before that. We even lit him up and had him pulled in both regular season gAmes against them that same season of the cup finals.

I'm pretty sure 2 of them were shutout losses too. One of then was the Dano breakaway I was talking about earlier. I'm pretty sure Salomonsson had a breakaway and was stopped by Roy that game.

Speaking of Salomonsson, our entire 3rd line is made up of them. Another crummy Swedish forward, only he was a fifth round pick and closer to 30 than anything.

I'm not even sure if I spelled his name correctly. We'd be lucky to have 2001-2002 Pierre Dagenais or possibly even 03-04 Christian Berglund on our 3rd line right now.

 

[John Pedro]

I wanna Larsson/Severson/Gelinas over Moore and Greene on the PP. Larsson is our best defenseman right now. He's surpassed Greene IMO so I don't get Greene playing 3 to 4 more minutes than Larsson.

They need to reward him with some offensive zone and PP time. Otherwise, they'll risk him turning into a Hjalmarsson/Vlasic type of defender who's really good at everything except offense.

Plus, Greene and Moore aren't doing a great job on the man advantage.

 

[MadDevil]

Greene is playing like an extra minute per game over Larsson, so I'm not sure where that 3-4 minutes comes in. Larsson plays over 18 minutes at even strength and is 3rd in the league in SH TOI per game (Greene is 1st by the way), so I can understand not giving him PP time. If you give him more PP time you're gonna have to reduce some of his minutes at even strength and the PK, which is where he's excelling right now.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I hate to be redundant, but the two biggest issues that will keep this team out of the playoffs is the lack of bottom six and defensive scoring. I'm not surprised by our bottom six, just look at the players, however, I am by our defense. I thought Larsson, Greene and Severson would produce more than they have with the others chipping in. Maybe it's for the best. The team does play hard and seems to be in most of the games they have played. Still, I believe we still need a another good draft pick at forward and a offensive type defensemen. Tall order, but that's the way I see it.

 

[John Pedro]

Greene is playing like an extra minute per game over Larsson, so I'm not sure where that 3-4 minutes comes in. Larsson plays over 18 minutes at even strength and is 3rd in the league in SH TOI per game (Greene is 1st by the way), so I can understand not giving him PP time. If you give him more PP time you're gonna have to reduce some of his minutes at even strength and the PK, which is where he's excelling right now.

Greene is slightly getting softer minutes than Larsson as of late. You'd expect the opposite as Greene is the veteran with limited offensive skills and Larsson showed really good offensive potential last season.

I don't think I'd like to split them up as one of them would en up playing much less than they should. And Gelinas/Moore aren't good enough to play tough minutes with Larsson.