Post-Game Talk: Devils beat Capitals at long last

[Bleedred]

I can't see faulting him at all for the second goal.

The first goal wasn't great. It was another one of those typical goals that he allows that are stoppable but not terrible ones, which in many of his recent games (not including Buffalo or Edmonton, where I didn't think he gave up really he shouldn't have, other than his usual horrid attempts on breakaways which I didn't fault him for) he seems to allow one of those stoppable but not so terrible goals, along with a very bad goal.

 

[RememberTheName]

One of the best games I have ever seen Nico play. What a game from him. He was absolutely flying all over the ice tonight and had two well earned goals to show for it. That one move he had I believe in the 2nd where he nearly completely undressed the Caps defenseman was almost unreal. Just goes to show what Nico can do with a little bit of confidence, something I think he has lacked for a little bit.

Hughes only getting credit for 2 takeaways and only 1 for Rango is criminal. They seemed to each have 3 or so that game. Absolutely ridiculous performance in that regard from those two. Were stripping pucks left and right and seemed to be giving the opposition 0 time to make a move before the puck was off their stick and in the Devils possession.

Also, Sharangovich, please improve your passing. Thank you very much.

Boqvist experiment should be over. He is on that cusp of being semi-passable but shouldn't be in your lineup unless you need him to, but he's so close from being a serviceable player. If he could just improve a little bit everywhere. I'd like to see Holtz get in for the next game on that line with Zacha and Hischier and see what happens.

Severson and Siegenthaler. That's all.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I watched the game from late in the first period. Weird game, but glad we came away with the win. Some thoughts:

Hughes takes away, and Hughes gives away. He had some amazing moves to pickpocket various Caps to create chances, but also had some baffling giveaways that almost resulted in goals against. He's an electric player, clearly a huge net positive, and I love seeing him create offense every time he touches the puck, but he's a Devil and needs to be more responsible with the puck and better defensively. I think that will come with more experience.

Nico was really good today. His tip in off the Severson point shot was exactly the kind of garbage goal I think we need to see a lot more of. And he doesn't have the best wrist shot but I loved seeing him rip it past Samsonov to win the game. I also noticed him several times making strong defensive plays. A complete game from the captain.

I don't know what the hell Blackwood was thinking with that giveaway. I think he expected the refs wanted him to keep the puck in play and weren't going to blow the whistle, but he still should have frozen it with Eller bearing down on him. He played really well otherwise, with a few saves he had no business making, like the shorthanded 2 on 0, or a pad save on a cross ice feed later. I don't think the second goal was stoppable. A guy throwing the puck up then batting it out of midair like that is even harder to stop than a deep slot deflection.

The other defensemen stepped up big time with Dougie going down early. It's still an adventure any time Severson or Smith touches the puck though, both had really weird giveaways. Poor PK didn't deserve the extra 2 on that roughing call. Siegenthaler and Graves were excellent eating hard minutes.

You can see he wanted to cover it, but PK calls for it and he second guessed sort of hesitanted and tossed a cookie out.

He needed to trust his first instinct and just ignore PK there and just cover it. Just pure lose of focus and poor management.

He bailed Jack earlier out on some bad decisions, and Jack helped bail Blackwood out with the OT winner.

That's what a team does.

 

[Emperoreddy]

He’s also still injured from what we know and has been reported lately. Unfortunately.

Outside the gaffe which was a mental error and nothing to do with his health, this is about as good as you will get from Blackwood right now.

I don't think he is healthy enough to do much better for the remainder of this season.

But same thing I don't think he had much chance on the goals he has given up since the break outside of today's 3rd goal for sure.

We wouldn't be talking about him at all right now if he didn't lose his mind on goal 3b

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Triumph]

You can see he wanted to cover it, but PK calls for it and he second guessed sort of hesitanted and tossed a cookie out.

He needed to trust his first instinct and just ignore PK there and just cover it. Just pure lose of focus and poor management.

He bailed Jack earlier out on some bad decisions, and Jack helped bail Blackwood out with the OT winner.

That's what a team does.

The thing is, Blackwood covers the puck entirely too much in this spot. He should be playing this puck, there is absolutely no reason to sit on this; there's two options for the Devils and only one Capitals player anywhere nearby, and basically the only way Blackwood could reasonably f*** this up besides somehow shooting the puck into the stands is the way he did it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

The thing is, Blackwood covers the puck entirely too much in this spot. He should be playing this puck, there is absolutely no reason to sit on this; there's two options for the Devils and only one Capitals player anywhere nearby, and basically the only way Blackwood could reasonably f*** this up besides somehow shooting the puck into the stands is the way he did it.

If that's the case he needed to commit to playing it then. He was way too indecisive and gave up a cookie.

 

[Buck Dancer]

Great game by Blackwood? Not even close! He made some great stops, but the 2nd goal he allowed was terrible, the 3rd was a benchable offense if we weren’t utterly devoid of a playable backup.

The 2nd goal was a batted puck in mid air that changed direction literally 2 feet in front of him. Saying that it was a terrible goal to allow is absurd.

I feel that there’s this trend to crap on Blackwood for his rough stretch yet we can come up with every excuse in the book for guys like Nico, Jack, Severson, etc when they were playing just as bad.

 

[Hisch13r]

 

[TBF1972]

sTriP tHe C oFf NiCo

they should have traded him at 2017 trade deadline

 

[TBF1972]

Not the update we needed.

Doubt he would have been going to the hospital if he just needed stitches.

heart transplant? leg amputation? or something serious?

 

[Ripshot 43]

Was that Siegenthaler that Ovechkin was trying to run into the bench?

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Was that Siegenthaler that Ovechkin was trying to run into the bench?

Boqvist.

 

[DevilDog]

The 2nd goal was a batted puck in mid air that changed direction literally 2 feet in front of him. Saying that it was a terrible goal to allow is absurd.

I feel that there’s this trend to crap on Blackwood for his rough stretch yet we can come up with every excuse in the book for guys like Nico, Jack, Severson, etc when they were playing just as bad.

The only trend is the one that says Blackwood is one of the worst starting goaltenders in the league:

The stats back it up.
NHL Stats

 

[TBF1972]

Kids are learning to win.

you don't have to learn to win. most of us are competitive enough to try. NOT accepting losing is more critical.

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[TBF1972]

If you take out all the games he has points in he has 0 points in 6 games. Certified disgrace right there.

In fact if you take out all the games he’s played he hasn’t played any games either. Why are we paying this guy anyway.

once he records his first few nhl games, he will be too old for the calder.

 

[TBF1972]

Ya Ftiz's work on the defense has been excellent. We'd absolutely be in the running for #1oa again without his adds.

Shero by comparison? See our bottom pair. One of whom will most certainly be gone next year.

the devils should resign subban ...



... just to avoid getting slew footed.

 

[NjDevsRR]

the devils should resign subban ...



... just to avoid getting slew footed.

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[MadDevil]

Blackwood hasn't been very good overall this year, but outside of his massive brainfart was actually pretty solid last night. Thankfully we still won so it's not something he or we should dwell on.

 

[Cheddabombs]

One of the better plays from him yesterday that I saw was in the neutral zone, maybe in the 3rd period, when he batted a clearing attempt out of the air, controlled it, got around a Caps' player and calmly passed it back to his partner. Just a nice little sequence to regain control. Severson is what he is. A good 2nd pairing defensemen, good skating and awareness in the offensive zone, not great on the powerplay and prone to defensive lapses. I'd like to resign him on a reasonable contract if possible.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Just saw in that thread the video of the Dowd goal and how Someone went after PK. I didn’t know why but it shows that PK again seems to use his patented slew foot technique.

 

[Better Call Sal]

One of the better plays from him yesterday that I saw was in the neutral zone, maybe in the 3rd period, when he batted a clearing attempt out of the air, controlled it, got around a Caps' player and calmly passed it back to his partner. Just a nice little sequence to regain control. Severson is what he is. A good 2nd pairing defensemen, good skating and awareness in the offensive zone, not great on the powerplay and prone to defensive lapses. I'd like to resign him on a reasonable contract if possible.

100% agree. I brought it up in the general team thread but it will be a very interesting situation to see what happens when his contract ends. Would love to have him back at a reasonable price but it's also likely he may want to test the market. And if he does, I feel he's already gone because some team will probably pay him handsomely.

To me, our right side of our defense is probably our biggest weakness in our pipeline. I wouldn't be upset in having Dougie and Sevy manning the top 4 RD spots for several more years.

 

[Unknown Caller]

100% agree. I brought it up in the general team thread but it will be a very interesting situation to see what happens when his contract ends. Would love to have him back at a reasonable price but it's also likely he may want to test the market. And if he does, I feel he's already gone because some team will probably pay him handsomely.

To me, our right side of our defense is probably our biggest weakness in our pipeline. I wouldn't be upset in having Dougie and Sevy manning the top 4 RD spots for several more years.

He seems exhausted with all of the losing, which I don't blame him for. He wasted like 70% of his prime on a dumpster fire team already. I think he probably will test the market as well, which puts the Devils in a tough spot. You should be able to get a really nice return for him, but then you're opening up a significant hole that will set the team back next year.