Post-Game Talk: Devils Win 3-2 in the shootout

[NJ DevLolz]

I remember the hot takes about him last year after he didnt play all that well in his first handful of games in literal months, on a new team, during a pandemic with no practice time.

Yup. I was one of them. But it was stupid in hindsight because a) his defensive metrics in Washington were absurdly good and b) the reasons you mentioned. The fact that people wanted Bahl over him was hilarious though

 

[Hisch13r]

I remember the hot takes about him last year after he didnt play all that well in his first handful of games in literal months, on a new team, during a pandemic with no practice time.

Also his numbers were literally good. He just got .800 goaltending and it made people think he sucked

 

[njdevils1982]

I fell asleep again... Sometime in the 3rd.

man, i vaguely remember making peanut stir fry after the game and going for a walk 'n burn

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

5-3-2 while missing probably the three best players on the team at different times in Hughes, Hamilton, and Blackwood is pretty stellar when you also mix in historically bad special teams. You’d like to think that gets ironed out even a little bit.

I’m sure it’s tough with the injuries but i’d like to see Ruff try and keep some lines together and develop a little chemistry. I think all the turnover and inconsistency in linemates/ice time is a factor contributing to the Devils controlling 5v5 play but not scoring. Graves’ goal last night only happens because Zacha wasn’t able to get a stick on the pass even though it wasn’t meant for him.

 

[Hisch13r]

5-3-2 while missing probably the three best players on the team at different times in Hughes, Hamilton, and Blackwood is pretty stellar when you also mix in historically bad special teams. You’d like to think that gets ironed out even a little bit.

I’m sure it’s tough with the injuries but i’d like to see Ruff try and keep some lines together and develop a little chemistry. I think all the turnover and inconsistency in linemates/ice time is a factor contributing to the Devils controlling 5v5 play but not scoring. Graves’ goal last night only happens because Zacha wasn’t able to get a stick on the pass even though it wasn’t meant for him.

Johnsson-Mercer-Bratt and Tatar-Nico-Zacha should be kept together. The bottom of the lineup is going to struggle to produce much of anything and we’re just going to have to live with that until Jack’s back (unless we trade for Strome).

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[Buck Dancer]

A bubble team would be fantastic in my view...if we are playing meaning games past February, that is a huge improvement from the last several years...

But the problem is we really haven't gotten into the difficult part of our schedule yet. We definitely should have won more of these early games...Losing to the Blue Jackets, Ducks and Kings in a row doesn't really feel like"bubble" to me...feels more like ping-pong ball watch.

I’m with you on this. We’ve had injuries to key players, there’s no denying that but the Pens had an injury riddled roster, the Sharks got hit with COVID, the Kings were without their #1 dman, etc.

This was probably the easiest stretch we had in our schedule and managed to do okay but I would in no way use that as a point projection moving forward since the level of competition won’t be as weak.

 

[Mgd31]

I usually would think of this as an "excuse" but even when the Devils were really good west coast trips were tough...I remember that there was some crazy record that the Devils hadn't won in Vancouver for like 4 years mostly while the Devils were very good and Vancouver just meh.

But this one wasn't really a very long one.

3 out of 6 points is enough to tread water until healthy I suppose... problem is, this was the "easy" part of our upcoming schedule it gets a tougher soon.

I would feel a lot better if they got the extra points against the Blue Jackets and Kings

 

[Mgd31]

A sheltered pairing of Smith and White was good last night.

 

[Eggtimer]

So far I feel that Graves has stepped it up and done a very good job while Hamilton is out. He is playing a lot of minutes and has looked good doing it. He tried to activate more on offence and was a shut down guy when needed. His play has been wash bettter than I ever expected .
I get that we have a decent record all things considered but we have had an easy schedule and the other teams we played also had injuries and issues of their own.

I would have liked to seen us beat the Ducks (I think we could have if our special teams didn’t epically fail)
Time will tell I guess . If we fix our special teams and a couple of guys break out of their slumps I think we can do ok until Hughes and Wood get back. Goaltending will be tested here in the next half dozen games

 

[Call Me Al]

i just want special teams to not both be among the league worst 2 years in a row that’s not so much to ask

 

[Triumph]

i just want special teams to not both be among the league worst 2 years in a row that’s not so much to ask

If the PK isn't middle of the pack by season's end either there've been a lot of injuries to players or the goalies just haven't made stops. Your PK will not be any good if teams score on 2 out of the 9 shots they take.

 

[My3Sons]

A bubble team would be fantastic in my view...if we are playing meaningful games past February, that is a huge improvement from the last several years...

But the problem is we really haven't gotten into the difficult part of our schedule yet. We definitely should have won more of these early games...Losing to the Blue Jackets, Ducks and Kings in a row doesn't really feel like"bubble" to me...feels more like ping-pong ball watch.

None of those teams are bad right now. CLB is actually 7-3.

 

[MVP Zacha]

5-3-2 while missing probably the three best players on the team at different times in Hughes, Hamilton, and Blackwood is pretty stellar when you also mix in historically bad special teams. You’d like to think that gets ironed out even a little bit.

I’m sure it’s tough with the injuries but i’d like to see Ruff try and keep some lines together and develop a little chemistry. I think all the turnover and inconsistency in linemates/ice time is a factor contributing to the Devils controlling 5v5 play but not scoring. Graves’ goal last night only happens because Zacha wasn’t able to get a stick on the pass even though it wasn’t meant for him.

We also can't forget that we are still missing our team leading goal scorer last year in Miles Wood. He bring much more than goals to this team as well. He is a much needed physical presence that we really need.

 

[AfroThunder396]

A bubble team would be fantastic in my view...if we are playing meaningful games past February, that is a huge improvement from the last several years...

But the problem is we really haven't gotten into the difficult part of our schedule yet. We definitely should have won more of these early games...Losing to the Blue Jackets, Ducks and Kings in a row doesn't really feel like"bubble" to me...feels more like ping-pong ball watch.

We got a point in two of those three games. Our goaltending and defense are keeping us in games we would have gotten blown out in last year.

The special teams obviously needs to be addressed but it's encouraging that we're getting points even in losses, and even stealing some wins in games where we aren't playing our best.

I agree that our season will be decided by our Metro division games but there's still a lot to shake out. The Canes will not continue winning 90% of their games. The Flyers and Jackets are nowhere as good as they've looked the first 10 games. I don't buy the NYR hype, they have three good skaters and can't win a game unless Shesterkin starts. There are going to continue to be struggles, especially if we don't get special teams figured out, but I think we can hang with every team in the division and not look like a Mickey Mouse club.

An interesting note: people remember the 2012 team for the dominance in the playoffs, but we only finished 6th in the East and were on the bubble for most of the season. That team was 15-13-1 on December 1st, definitely a bubble team (18th in the league, T-10th in the East). Probably because our PP was horrible, 13% which was bottom-5 in the league. On December 12th we traded for Kurtis Foster, who gave our PP a shot in the arm. It went from 13.2% to 20.6% the time he was here. Ponikarovsky was acquired January 20th to improve our bottom-6 depth. Then Foster was flipped on February 24th for Zidlicky. Zajac came back from injury, Gio2 got called up on the last game of the season. The roster we had for Game 1 against the Panthers was very different from the roster we had in November/December.

I bring this up because that team was a work in progress all season. We went from 10th in the East on Dec 1 to 5th in the East by the trade deadline because Lou was proactive about supplementing the roster and fixing the holes he saw. I'm fascinated to see what Fitz does with the roster if we're still hanging in there late in January. We have plenty of picks/prospects to use as trade fodder if he wants to add reinforcements. He's been preaching about the long game for a while, but we have expendable assets and holes that need to be filled.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I can’t get behind blaming the coaches for the PP. This team lacks high end skill, even still after all these first round picks. With Hamilton out of the lineup there isnt a single player on either unit that scares an opposing PK.

Also if you watch it they can’t even complete simple passes and they lose the vast majority of puck battles. Not sure how the coaching staff is supposed to have any control over that.

 

[Call Me Al]

it’s coaching- we have players skilled enough to pass the puck to each other and move around quickly. everything they do is so deliberate, uncreative and slow that the d just pressure and clear the zone with ease

a couple of practices with a better strategy and they’d be much better than they’ve been

 

[Devils731]

I can’t get behind blaming the coaches for the PP. This team lacks high end skill, even still after all these first round picks. With Hamilton out of the lineup there isnt a single player on either unit that scares an opposing PK.

Also if you watch it they can’t even complete simple passes and they lose the vast majority of puck battles. Not sure how the coaching staff is supposed to have any control over that.

Some of losing puck battles is getting in too many of them and not having the option to avoid them.

A good PP entry, which should be possible with the Devils neutral zone skating ability, will allow the team to enter with control and give time/space with one or no passes.

The Devils PP entry often ends with the player entering the zone having no option to pass, which allows the defenders to take away all his time/space without risk.

The number of times I’ve seen the Devils skate it over the blue line and then dump around the boards to nobody is infuriating. The Devils often have the worst aspects of both skating the puck in and dumping it in.

The coaches have designed the zone entry to work this way and it’s awful. The PP zone entry shouldn’t have 3-4 players standing still as the player skates over the blue line.

—————-

This even ignores that the team wastes time using the drop pass zone entry in an incorrect fashion. It shows, imo, a fundamental misunderstanding at what their system is attempting to accomplish and that reflects very poorly.

 

[JK3]

Some of losing puck battles is getting in too many of them and not having the option to avoid them.

A good PP entry, which should be possible with the Devils neutral zone skating ability, will allow the team to enter with control and give time/space with one or no passes.

The Devils PP entry often ends with the player entering the zone having no option to pass, which allows the defenders to take away all his time/space without risk.

The number of times I’ve seen the Devils skate it over the blue line and then dump around the boards to nobody is infuriating. The Devils often have the worst aspects of both skating the puck in and dumping it in.

The coaches have designed the zone entry to work this way and it’s awful. The PP zone entry shouldn’t have 3-4 players standing still as the player skates over the blue line.

—————-

This even ignores that the team wastes time using the drop pass zone entry in an incorrect fashion. It shows, imo, a fundamental misunderstanding at what their system is attempting to accomplish and that reflects very poorly.

Spot on, I'm glad someone noticed this. I made a comment last night saying I can't believe how many times they dumped the puck in AFTER gaining the zone. The Devils are at the top of the list with controlled PP entries but there are no options once they do so. If they can get set they don't look too bad but most of the time they just waste half the PP retrieving the puck after failing to keep it once they get into the zone.

The other point is spot on as well, they rarely move up the ice as a unit with speed and often have guys standing flat footed at the blue line.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Siegenthaler seemed to have a very steady game when I watched him. Good to see him improve since they’ve needed that with Smith struggling to get going. It’s not a surprise a young player would have issues missing essentially all of camp and early season with injury. Maybe sending him down for a couple of weeks to work on his pace would help. Not to punish him but to give him a reasonable chance to work on getting his game up to speed with less pressure on a winning team. Also Nico had a very good game with several very good passes and at least one good shot but he still looks like he’s laboring out there when I watch him. I just don’t see any burst and he’s skating between the 20s to avoid getting stuck out of position to my eyes. The rest of his game would be fine if he got his jump back as I see it. Hopefully that happens.

I agree completely that Nico is laboring in his skating right now. He’s fighting some kind of injury (high ankle, groin) because this isn’t his normal stride or edge work. You could really see it during his overtime shifts.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Spot on, I'm glad someone noticed this. I made a comment last night saying I can't believe how many times they dumped the puck in AFTER gaining the zone. The Devils are at the top of the list with controlled PP entries but there are no options once they do so. If they can get set they don't look too bad but most of the time they just waste half the PP retrieving the puck after failing to keep it once they get into the zone.

The other point is spot on as well, they rarely move up the ice as a unit with speed and often have guys standing flat footed at the blue line.

we also seldom move as a unit once we set up in the O zone on our power play. There's way too much standing around. We throw the puck to the half wall and back to the point. The point guy moves laterally trying to get an angle to get a puck to the net. Somewhere we get pressured and cough it up. We hardly ever even move the puck around the top of the diamond to the other half wall. But if we do, it's predictable that we're trying for a seam pass without anyone else switching or moving. Way too much standing around and watching. The PK is much more active and dynamic than we are, and much more successful at making something happen. It's just a passive look, clueless as to an approach and without any confidence, looking scared half the time. It's even worse in our own end when we try to get organized to wind up, it's like our guys are running into each other.

 

[Devils731]

It’s not good when the PP and PK both look their best when the team is in chaos mode, react and respond, and at its worst when they look the most under control and within the systems.

 

[JK3]

we also seldom move as a unit once we set up in the O zone on our power play. There's way too much standing around. We throw the puck to the half wall and back to the point. The point guy moves laterally trying to get an angle to get a puck to the net. Somewhere we get pressured and cough it up. We hardly ever even move the puck around the top of the diamond to the other half wall. But if we do, it's predictable that we're trying for a seam pass without anyone else switching or moving. Way too much standing around and watching. The PK is much more active and dynamic than we are, and much more successful at making something happen. It's just a passive look, clueless as to an approach and without any confidence, looking scared half the time. It's even worse in our own end when we try to get organized to wind up, it's like our guys are running into each other.

It's hard to tell what they're trying to do because they spend so little time set up. Right now the opposition knows our power play stinks so they're really aggressive with the pressure and we just crumble. A normal PP with any sort of skill should be able to pick that apart with a quick pass and catch them over committing. I'm fine with them working the puck around the top and have Dougie or Smith walk the line looking for screens and tips but like you said there needs to be some movement. If they're looking for seam passes they need to work the puck high/low to spread the defenders out.

Some people think it isn't coaching but when you are trying to feature shooters why the hell would you roll out PK, just waaaay to slow to make a play and is really clunky with the puck and skating the blueling. As crummy as Smith has been he's still a way better option for that task. Like Devils731 said we're just waaaaay too scrambly and in panic mode when they finally get in the zone. Hopefully things calm down a bit when Dougie comes back.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Watched the second and third periods this morning. Looked like they were all tired, which is understandable. I thought Nico had a really good game.

Nice to have the posts steal a game for us for once. Bernier is the backup goalie we desperately needed. I have so much confidence in him.

Mercer seems to be our smartest player. Holtz does not look out of place. Sevs and Subban are the opposite of smart... Not sure what's up with Smith. He just doesn't look right.

For the love of jeebus fire Recchi and Nas. I don't know how it's even possible to be as bad as we are on special teams at this point.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Literally seven (7) days ago.

Was that the Columbus game? Funny because the Blue Jackets last weeks were like us last night, tying it late and then winning in a shoot out.