I'm not letting Reirden and his clown staff off the hook. But I thought I would look over the highlights of the game again and there some interesting things I noticed.
The Devils 1st goal which was scored by Bratt on a breakaway never should have counted. Why, because when Panik carried the puck over the Devils blue line, the refs clearly missed a hooking under Panik's lower glove where holds the stick(it was evident because Panik lost the puck and got twisted around because of the hooking). Hooking penalty and the play would have been blown dead once the Devils touched the puck.
On the Devils 2nd goal(Devils on the PP) there was a wrist shot from the point that was deflected downward by a Devils players stick. Nick Jensen was in front of Samsonov and went down on one knee. I think on most nights that deflected puck goes wide off of Jensen's leg, but tonight the puck somehow squeezed through a small space between Jensen's leg and skate boot, bounced off the post and sat there for Simmonds to tuck it in the net. You could argue that it was bad bounce.
The end of the game was a huge clusterpuck! Kuzy takes a dumb hooking penalty and then a bit over a minute later Kempny takes a very stupid penalty out of frustration getting in a small tussle with a Devils player in front of the net. Should it have been coincidental minors? I think so but they only got Kempny. Caps had a 2-man advantage earlier in the game and failed. I guess if you go with the thought that the refs mostly even things out, then the Devils were gonna get a 2-man advantage as well.
Devils were 2/3 on the PP and the Caps were 1/6. Special Teams was the difference, so the Caps PP lost this game unless you think the Caps usual reliable PK failed tonight.
Last, Dillon only got 13:50 playing time and none on the PK. Kind of strange considering he played 20 min and 48 secs on the PK against the Habs, while noting that he just came in a trade from the #1 PK team in the NHL, so I'm sure he was a big part of that in San Jose. Kempny PK'ed for 1:49, which I find odd considering PK is not Kempny's strong suit. I wonder, if Gudas had been dressed would him and Dillon been on the PK instead? By the way, Siegenthaler has digressed a good deal. His 5 on 5 play hasn't been good most of the season and now he seems to be not much better on the PK. I think now that teams are ramping up their play in the 2nd half of the season, Siegs is getting exposed a lot more. It's probably best if he's the 7th d-man unless they decide to go with Fehervary.
Coaching had more mistakes tonight as they keep building up a list of why they are inadequate for this roster. The game is tied 2-2 late. I don't care if it's against the lowly Devils or another team, play it smart and at least keep it tied and go into OT. Devils continued to play their game despite giving up a 2-0 lead. They stayed patient and took advantage of their opportunity with the PP to win the game. The Caps showed no composure and patience in the closing minutes when it was still a tie game. For the players not show that reflects how bad the coaching is.
