GDT: Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 1: Your New Jersey Devils (WC2) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (1E)

[AveryQuietMan]

anyway, talking about crowd noisemakers is just throwing in the towel.

who cares.

 

[Unknown Caller]

they just need to do their thing while stepping up.

this whole narrative of 'playoff games are just another game' is hurting the team. dont know which leader decided to try this angle... but it wont work. we tried to play our game and tampa just steamrolled us in the first.

i know not many people here rely on the mental side of the game but it really sunk us tonight. if we had vets saying this was going to be different from any game they have ever played we might have had a chance.

this team has the skill to upset teams like this. they were overconfident thinking that they just had to play their game. they didnt come into this as underdogs.... they came in cocky. and got slapped.

but just like the devils do they bounced back. i dont see sat going the way this did.

and hynes.... stop wearing tampa blue.....

I don’t think it’s mental at all. I think it’s the fact that the Devils are bottom 10 (in many cases bottom 5) in the league in Corsi for, Corsi against, Corsi percentage, expected goals against, goals against, save percentage, and expected goals for on special teams.

Tampa is top 5 in the league in Corsi for, Corsi against, Corsi percentage, expected goals against, expected goal percentage, shooting percentage, save percentage, PDO, and power play percentage.

What does this mean? For the Devils to win, either both teams need to pull a 180 from the way they played all season long, or the Devils need to have a great shooting percentage and excellent goaltending. Winning the special teams battle is huge as well. The Devils just won’t have a chance if Keith only makes the routine saves and posts a sub .900 sv% like he did tonight. Obviously the loss isn’t his fault, but given the way both teams have played all year, it’s likely that most of the games will look like this one.

 

[MadDevil]

Listening to the game on the radio I thought they were having sound issues at first, but then I found a stream and saw it was those annoying clapper things. At least they're not plastic rats I guess.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

They can use anything that makes some noise. Because without a gimmick evidently their fans don't. Contrast that arena tonight to Winnipeg or Pittsburgh last night.

Everyone can take lessons from Nashville in regards to volume. That crowd was absolutely juiced tonight.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Everyone can take lessons from Nashville in regards to volume. That crowd was absolutely juiced tonight.

Must be nice to have such a stacked team. Easy for fans to get that cocky and juiced.

 

[Devils Dominion]

anyway, talking about crowd noisemakers is just throwing in the towel.

who cares.

Why would you make such a connection? Odd

The clappers made it difficult to enjoy the broadcast .

I don't think they are necessary nor enhance the game night experience for the home fans.

Did other arenas hand them out last night or tonight?

 

[AveryQuietMan]

I don’t think it’s mental at all. I think it’s the fact that the Devils are bottom 10 (in many cases bottom 5) in the league in Corsi for, Corsi against, Corsi percentage, expected goals against, goals against, save percentage, and expected goals for on special teams.

Tampa is top 5 in the league in Corsi for, Corsi against, Corsi percentage, expected goals against, expected goal percentage, shooting percentage, save percentage, PDO, and power play percentage.

What does this mean? For the Devils to win, either both teams need to pull a 180 from the way they played all season long, or the Devils need to have a great shooting percentage and excellent goaltending. Winning the special teams battle is huge as well. The Devils just won’t have a chance if Keith only makes the routine saves and posts an sub .900 sv% like he did tonight.

i agree 100%.

so thats why you need to come into this series as an underdog. but the devils came into this series with some swagger that they didnt deserve. they thought if they just play their game they would be able to compete with the bolts. and look what happened........ you just showed the stats. why would anyone think 'just play our game' would be good enough?

thats why i am harping on the ' just play our game narrative' the vets set this team up for a loss..... but in the end they were still in it during the third period. bad move by the vets and now it doesnt matter. they were decent for enough of the game to give me hope. now they see what its gonna be like. just sucks vets/coaches didnt prepare them. thats all im saying.

 

[Emperoreddy]

There absolutely was a mental issue tonight. The whole first period was them being out of sync mentally.

 

[Devils Dominion]

A split is a MUST and Game 1 tonight is *the* game to do it.

I see it to be very difficult if the Devils don't win tonight.

How difficult?

 

[sddev]

anyway, talking about crowd noisemakers is just throwing in the towel.

who cares.

I care. It's not throwing in the towel. The broadcast was borderline unlistenable.

 

[Emperoreddy]

The big bad Tampa narrative is already overplayed.

There was nothing intimidating about their game tonight. Vas looked shaky and exploitable, and that PK is so bad it is going to cost them series before this is all over, potentially this one.

We played a typical bad Devil’s game tonight. Made too many mistakes, sloppy breakout, no puck luck.

 

[AveryQuietMan]

The big bad Tampa narrative is already overplayed.

There was nothing intimidating about their game tonight. Vas looked shaky and exploitable, and that PK is so bad it is going to cost them series before this is all over, potentially this one.

We played a typical bad Devil’s game tonight. Made too many mistakes, sloppy breakout, no puck luck.

right.......

so they couldnt match their play in the first because of mistakes?

they looked horrible for the first 30 lets be honest.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Devils need to score first in these games so they can control the flow of it. Get behind Tampa and they’ll just shut it down like they did in the 3rd.

 

[Emperoreddy]

right.......

so they couldnt match their play in the first because of mistakes?

they looked horrible for the first 30 lets be honest.

All the goals against were due to mistakes.

 

[Whaddagoal]

Devils need to score first in these games so they can control the flow of it. Get behind Tampa and they’ll just shut it down like they did in the 3rd.

Yes yes yes............ (and)...Inject more skill into the 2nd, 3rd or 4th line by means of Bratt. Bratt with the puck will take time away from Johnson/Palat and company. The game isn't all that physical (as of game 1), so surely he can pull his puck protection moves and not get wrecked.....surely....

 

[AveryQuietMan]

All the goals against were due to mistakes.

i agree but we played our game. that was the result

they arent unbeatable but maybe we shouldnt have thought just playing our game was going to win agaisnt a team who has been here before. our game is/was a regular season game.

we finally got it together and made it a game. preparation was def lacking. but not gonna bash hynes.... or vets like boyle/lovejoy........

we got this man im not trying to dog the team but we werent prepared when we couldve been.

 

[Emperoreddy]

i agree but we played our game. that was the result

they arent unbeatable but maybe we shouldnt have thought just playing our game was going to win agaisnt a team who has been here before. our game is/was a regular season game.

we finally got it together and made it a game. preparation was def lacking. but not gonna bash hynes.... or vets like boyle/lovejoy........

we got this man im not trying to dog the team but we werent prepared when we couldve been.

We didn’t play our game at all.

We played a typical Devil’s losing game. I’ve seen this game many times this year. Honestly there was very little to show it was a playoff game outside of the annoying noise makers.

 

[Emperoreddy]

One of the most infuriating things tonight, and it has been going on all season is Lovejoy’s weak ass clears up the boards that always end up on the stick of a forechecker. It always leads to 5 more seconds of zone time, ruins the breakout, and forces us to dump and change.

He really adds nothing outside of a few blocked shots. We need crisp breakouts to be effective and LJ supplies none of that.

Even with Mueller and Moore having poor nights, LJ has to sit.

Hynes can’t think he can play a buttoned up, typical tight playoff game and expect to win. This team is helter skelter and trying to limit that because the calendar changes is a bad idea.

 

[AveryQuietMan]

We didn’t play our game at all.

We played a typical Devil’s losing game. I’ve seen this game many times this year. Honestly there was very little to show it was a playoff game outside of the annoying noise makers.

well its up for debate. i guess i shouldve said we 'tried' to play our game.

really dont see how you arent getting my point to be honest. so ill sum it up.

we werent ready for the playoffs and the bolts were. we tried to play they way we had all year and the bolts stepped it up. so while we were playing our game the bolts made it look like we were playing pond hockey. halfway through the game we got the memo and made it close. one bad turnover in the third sunk us but it was a valiant effort.

it was obviously a playoff game for the last 20-30 minutes. devs stepped up and played like they should. and if they keep that up they will win.

 

[Jets012]

It's crazy how our main problem is arguably the left side of the defense yet our coach is too scared to see if our best one that he's had pencilled in as the #6 defenseman all year could handle top four minutes.

 

[Emperoreddy]

It's crazy how our main problem is arguably the left side of the defense yet our coach is too scared to see if our best one that he's had pencilled in as the #6 defenseman all year could handle top four minutes.

Who Butcher? He can’t handle those minutes. His usage isn’t some accident.

Greene is the best, worst option. He also wasn’t the issue tonight. Moore/Mueller were easily the weakest pairing.

 

[glenwo2]

How difficult?

Oh so NOW you're digging back in the beginning of the night and mocking my post?


Very nice, DD.

 

[glenwo2]

Yes yes yes............ (and)...Inject more skill into the 2nd, 3rd or 4th line by means of Bratt. Bratt with the puck will take time away from Johnson/Palat and company. The game isn't all that physical (as of game 1), so surely he can pull his puck protection moves and not get wrecked.....surely....

I've stated this before(somewhere) but this is a series that needs more skill and playmakers than smashmouth players.

Bratt provides that skill. I wondered when Bratt would get a chance to play....looks like that chance may be happening as soon as Game 2. GOOD.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Honestly they could afford to be a lot more physical. It is risky because their PP is potent, but you want to try and get Tampa to start taking more penalities.

Their PK is that much of a liability. Tell Wood and Coleman to be even more irritating.

 

[Jets012]

Who Butcher? He can’t handle those minutes. His usage isn’t some accident.

Greene is the best, worst option. He also wasn’t the issue tonight. Moore/Mueller were easily the weakest pairing.

Greene wasn't the issue tonight. He hasn't been the issue all year. He's overmatched at this point (should be a bottom 4 defenseman) but he still has solid games here and there. Moore/Mueller were a train wreck that arguably were the largest reason we lost tonight.

And again, I really don't know why people claim Butcher couldn't handle those minutes. People don't realize how dominant he's been in the minutes he's received. There aren't many defenseman who shine against weak competition then just completely fall apart against good competition. We aren't asking him to be a stud. We should just be asking for him to be better than Mueller/Moore. Look at his rankings amongst our defenseman:

1st in Points/60
1st in CF%
1st in GF%
1st in xGF%

I mean I understand he isn't a stud in his own end and when you watch the games his skating is his weak-point. But I mean come on, there's zero chance IMO that Mueller or Moore are better players. Like zero. Because both have faced protected minutes at one point of their career and have not been remotely close to doing what Butcher's doing. I get trying to get him acclimated to the NHL game, but he should at the very least be on the 2nd pairing. No doubt in my mind him and Severson would make a nice pairing together and take a ton of pressure off of Greene/Vats. We simply are a better team when he's on the ice. We have a very good young defenseman. Just feel he's under utilized.