GDT: New Jersey Devils vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

[Tretyak 20]

I couldn't watch the game tonight but I'm not surprised in the slightest by the outcome. Can anyone give me a recap?

Devils come out guns-a-blazin', but as usual can't actually score. Leafs get a somewhat lucky goal, rest of game doesn't really matter.

 

[guitarguyvic]

This is really the crux of the matter IMO, how does this team just implode for no obvious reason? I don't think this is a PDB/coaching issue (yet), I tend to think it's more of an on-ice leadership (or lack thereof) issue. Nothing against Sal, but he's not exactly Scott Stevens. Problem is no one is really stepping up, no one is taking ownership. It's like a runaway train with a bunch of engineers in the control cab all looking at each other debating who's turn it is to take the helm.

Agree about the lack of on ice leadership. Sal being given the captainship was criminally stupid. Is there a more mediocre player in the league currently wearing the C for their team? I can't think of one.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Devils come out guns-a-blazin', but as usual can't actually score. Leafs get a somewhat lucky goal, rest of game doesn't really matter.

Add powerplay sucks and this is a sufficient summary.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Devils were probably the better team, couldn't capitalize on chances and the powerplay was dreadful. Couldn't score on a 5 on 3. Toronto scored on a redirection and a weird bounce on a half breakaway after the Devils cycled in their zone for 3 minutes. Same story, different game.

Devils come out guns-a-blazin', but as usual can't actually score. Leafs get a somewhat lucky goal, rest of game doesn't really matter.

So status quo basically? Awesome.

I'm ****ing sick and tired of this ********. Firstly, if Larsson isn't in the lineup tomorrow I'd be tempted to write a very strongly worded letter to Petey. Part of me wants to see the Devils turn this around and make the playoffs. But then another part of me wants them to keep sliding so that Lou will realize what a ****ing ****-storm this team is and hopefully make some changes that should have already been made.

 

[Unknown Caller]

So status quo basically? Awesome.

I'm ****ing sick and tired of this ********. Firstly, if Larsson isn't in the lineup tomorrow I'd be tempted to write a very strongly worded letter to Petey. Part of me wants to see the Devils turn this around and make the playoffs. But then another part of me wants them to keep sliding so that Lou will realize what a ****ing ****-storm this team is and hopefully make some changes that should have already been made.

My only issue with tanking is that we have gained so much momentum in terms of our fanbase that we now consistently sellout games. Even if we made the playoffs there's about a 10% chance we would even get out of the first round. The issue with missing is that we could lose all of the momentum we gained. And I'm not ready to stop going to hockey games yet. It's only been a few months.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Elias has 1 goal, 3 points in his last 11 games. Zajac has 1 goal in his last 19 games...1 goal. Clarkson has 3 goals in his last 24 games. Henrique has 1 goal in his last 11 games. He had another stretch when he was goal-less in 9 games. Other players like Poni and Zubrus haven't scored to their potential when healthy either.

All of those players are capable of, and have produced in the past, much more. The above is the reason we haven't scored, and ultimately the reason we are where we are. That's not on Lou. That's on those players. It's their responsibility.

For anyone to say that this forward group is crap just needs to look at these numbers and compare them to each player's numbers over the last 3 seasons. Clarkson has had a rough stretch but for the most part is producing overall at his average rate. If Zajac scores at the rate he is expected, and Elias is productive per his usual over the last 11 games, we are in a much much different position. Same with Henrique and Zubrus.

Lack of skill really isn't a good excuse for these guys to not be scoring. They have all proven they are much better offensively than they have showed thus far this season.

Don't get me wrong, having someone who could adequately replace Parise's production would obvously help ease the pressure. But I think the major roadblock with this current group is a lack of chemistry, poise, mental fortitude, and leadership. Nothing to do with skill, IMO.

 

[JK3]

Last year this team was a forechecking team that was relentless. They used to come out shock and awe style and just blitz opponents into coughing up the puck, high speed constant pressure that most teams had major problems with. They used to thrive on turnovers and puck possession. Remember the swarm mentality, what the hell happened to that? I can't even tell what style they play anymore. The biggest difference from last year is through that relentless attack they would consistently score the first goal, which allowed them to control the game, and alway keep teams on their heels. For some reason that team is gone, the "one not to be mentioned" was a big part of that but I don't see why they don't play that style anymore. Now they never score the first goal which makes them play this game of catch up which they are just terrible at. They are not an offensive powerhouse that can run and gun or even score off the rush. They can barely enter the zone with the puck so we're left with dump and chase with a weak forecheck or playing this game where they do control the play but are relegated to this lame perimeter style where they lob weak shot from outside. Hell they don't even crash the net anymore and cause chaos like they used to. It's really sad to watch them attempt to enter the zone and try to create anything that resembles a scoring chance.

 

[Mogwai211]

its called regression to the mean. This was not a 10-2-3 team just like Chris Davis isnt goint to have 150 HR and hit .720. Anybody who looked honestly at this team in Jan knew we'd be somewhere between 6-10 and thats where we will finish more than likley

Well, hindsight is 20/20, and 6 is a whole lot better than 10. After all, they finished 6th last year and had a pretty darn good run. I think losing Marty (again) really broke their momentum and now with Kovy out it seems like mediocrity has struck all over again. Whatever the reason it's past gut check time, they need to find themselves now or bid this season farewell.

 

[Tretyak 20]

Add powerplay sucks and this is a sufficient summary.

Pretty much. I heard there was a message left on our PP's cell phone - pathetic called, it was wondering when we were gonna catch up to it.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

Having gone to the 3rd game ever as a HS senior I remember it well...the younger fan base( most on this board) are in a weird spot. They, out side of 1/2 a JMac season have never experienced a bad season , yet they have never enjoyed a Stanley Cup Championship in adulthood. . Having lived thru the teams of the 80s when I was as old as most are now you really need to enjoy how good we are year in and year out.We have been to 5 SCF in 18 years..the Rangers 0 Toronto not since 67. NYI 0 Philly 1 . Cant for the life of me understand those who say I'm done with this team yet they keep posting night after night. I for one am willing to infuse this team with some young talent and see where it can take us. Move a few of the young D for Forwards and we should be able to re tool fairy quick. IMO be;d be better off getting a top 12 pick than losing to pitts or Boston in 5

Yea I'm 23 so losing seasons have been a rarity in my lifetime. I barely remember 96 since I was 7 yrs old. I remember watching the last game of the season against Ottawa when we got eliminated with my dad and thats it. I remember the 2000 and 2003 cups pretty well since I was a bit older than the 95 cup. I really dont remember much about that. We all knew 2011 was an aberration because Maclean was clearly in over his head. This has been the most frustrating season I've ever been a part of personally. From the hot start, to the Hedberg disasters after Marty went down, and now to the putrid offense after Kovy's goes down. Its just been a cornucopia of ups and downs. Im definitely grateful for the success though. 5 cups in 18 seasons is unreal and most teams fans are pretty jealous of us.

 

[Devils Trap]

Im 18. Only seen the team fail for half of the Mac season and half of this year

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

Last year this team was a forechecking team that was relentless. They used to come out shock and awe style and just blitz opponents into coughing up the puck, high speed constant pressure that most teams had major problems with. They used to thrive on turnovers and puck possession. Remember the swarm mentality, what the hell happened to that? I can't even tell what style they play anymore. The biggest difference from last year is through that relentless attack they would consistently score the first goal, which allowed them to control the game, and alway keep teams on their heels. For some reason that team is gone, the "one not to be mentioned" was a big part of that but I don't see why they don't play that style anymore. Now they never score the first goal which makes them play this game of catch up which they are just terrible at. They are not an offensive powerhouse that can run and gun or even score off the rush. They can barely enter the zone with the puck so we're left with dump and chase with a weak forecheck or playing this game where they do control the play but are relegated to this lame perimeter style where they lob weak shot from outside. Hell they don't even crash the net anymore and cause chaos like they used to. It's really sad to watch them attempt to enter the zone and try to create anything that resembles a scoring chance.

Yup I've been wondering what the hell kind of system we've been running all year. This definitely isn't what we saw last year. The Carter-Gionta-Bernier line has been the only one to resemble last year's system and success. Everything else is a head scratcher. The dump and chase bull**** is awful to watch. It never produces anything

 

[bmqdevils]

i'd say this was the worst regulation loss since 2010-11 against the canadiens when parise came back from his injury and we were officially eliminated from the playoffs. but there's still hope. we're 3 points out and if we fix our pp and get kovy back we'll make the playoffs.

 

[Rhodes 81]

I'm used to cheering for teams way ****tier than this

 

[njdevils1982]

(only caught the end)

the last 10 minutes were promising .....the penalty was a good call......

....what was with sully? saw some nice moves that almost clicked.

 

[Bleedred]

The 95/96 season wasn't as disappointing. The team just choked and didn't show up to play a last place Ottawa team in the last game and that was that.

We can blame Moose still, but take out that Philly game and he got 1.83 goals worth of support per game while Marty was injured. You need to have a GAA lower than 1.83 to give your team a chance to win if they're scoring at a pathetic rate like that. The goalie with the lowest GAA in the league this year who has played a considerable amount of games doesn't have a goals against much lower than that. Craig Anderson has a 1.49 in 14 games this year. Like I said Marty could have gotten us loser points then. He comes back, wins two games, and then we're getting a bunch of loser points, and now no points. Part of that could be due to losing Kovy, but if Marty hadn't gotten injured, and Kovy hadn't either, we would probably have racked up so many loser points it would have put last years Panthers to shame.

Both our goalies haven't been good in shootouts this year, but the teams percentage in shootout goals has been astronimically bad that it doesn't matter because the shooters don't usually give the goalies a chance to win anyway. And it seems like this team for the most part plays for the shootout, and doesn't attack much in OT. Or they wind up taking a penalty in OT, and that's 2 less minutes of attack time. Though I have to say the OT against Ottawa we tried, but bad luck. They gave a good effort against the Flyers, but Bryz had an amazing game that night.

 

[JackHughes86]

it feels so weird to see the devils do bad

 

[Bleedred]

Other than Loktionov Lou's pretty much screwed the pooch on everything since Game 6. I like Matteau but they could have gotten rid of the Damocles hanging over their head easily and now it's looming large next year. The only good thing is it'll spur Lou to quit shopping at Woolworth's this offseason to try to replace the Parise-size hole in our offense.

And what's happened to Larsson this year is inexcusable by any standard. They need to get rid of Tallinder, let Zidlicky walk and get rid of this lame-*** merry-go-round. I don't care that the D allowed 20 shots or whatever, they have zero transition game and zero speed. If you're going to play a bunch of positional plodders on defense then just bring back Jacques for the 999th time. DeBo's system ain't winning with this group of forwards/d-men.

You're right about Woolworth's. No more Butler signings or Tedenbust from here on out. No more 8 defensemen EVER. Matteau looks like a nice pick, but I can't justify it if we lose out on a top 15 pick next year that we have to forfeit. I wasn't gonna bring it up, but everyone else is. Stats junkies will say I'm wrong, but allowing less than 20 shots per game is not cause our defense is great. It's more to do with a whole team effort, and most of the game is played in the other teams zone. We also allow fewer shots with Marty in net than Moose too. It's because of his stick handling and working it out of the zone. He's to credit for a large part of that.

Having a great defense corps is not a big reason for that. It's more or less we outpossess teams, and play a lot in their zone. Our defense is good, but not good enough to make up for our lack of scoring. I could have told you that in January. This team isn't good enough to play a defensive system either. They can't even trap to close out a 4-2 lead in the 3rd period. The ''defensive depth'' hasn't done much other than causing us to lose games 2-1 rather than 4-1. Big whoop!

Also one more thing on goal support. We've scored 16 in 8 games since Marty is back. 1 of them was a freebie goal from Staal that was credited to Marty so take that out. That's 1.88 goals for per game which is also skewed by the 4 goal game against Tampa Bay where Garon was HORRIBLE. If not for how awful Garon was that game, and the gift penalty shot awarded to Kostopolous we probably score 1 goal that game too.

 

[aboriginal]

I wouldn't let zids walk. There's no point. He's a meatball but he produces. His points are needed.

 

[Bleedred]

I propose

Emperoreddy-Cheddabombs-bleedred
Statusquo-Apice3-Scottyk9
hlaverty06-Devils Trap-MadDevil
GDDevils-AirheadPete-Steve Cangialosi123

Tundra-NovaIII
BrodeurCups-NJDevilsZG
AfroThunder396-CerebralGenesis

Marty Brodeur
Nick0930

Lets go get it boys!!

Just read over the GDT and saw this! Awesome! First line RW! Actually on Pete's team I'd be on the left since I'm a lefty.

Fire him. Bleed is a natural LW!!!

Yes actually I am! Not a righty!

 

[Bleedred]

I wouldn't let zids walk. There's no point. He's a meatball but he produces. His points are needed.

I would take him back, but a few problems. Tallinder or Volchenkov would need to go. Tallinder's contract is not tradeable I don't think. Wouldn't surprise me if Lou tried, but no luck. Volchenkov needs to be amnestied, but I can see that happening next year rather than this year. Or we roll 7 defensemen provided Harrold walks, but an NHL defenseman (Larsson) will sit every game since they're all capable guys and no depth guys like Harrold. Tallinder has been solid for us since those horrible games in February. After his last benching up until his injury he was very good, and still continues to be.

However we're better off investing that money in a forward or Zidlicky. And it's not like Gelinas will get a spot either. So one of Tallinder/Volch needs to go, or we have 7 guys who should be in the lineup nightly again. It will essentially be like having the 8 d men again cause we wouldn't have a Harrold. If we lose Zidlicky though our defense will go back to scoring 12-16 goals a year again which among lowest scoring defenses in the league. Our defense the last few years has been outscored by other teams defenses on already low scoring teams overall. Most of the other guys have the offensive upside of Colin White and Dano.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

Last year this team was a forechecking team that was relentless. They used to come out shock and awe style and just blitz opponents into coughing up the puck, high speed constant pressure that most teams had major problems with. They used to thrive on turnovers and puck possession. Remember the swarm mentality, what the hell happened to that? I can't even tell what style they play anymore. The biggest difference from last year is through that relentless attack they would consistently score the first goal, which allowed them to control the game, and alway keep teams on their heels. For some reason that team is gone, the "one not to be mentioned" was a big part of that but I don't see why they don't play that style anymore. Now they never score the first goal which makes them play this game of catch up which they are just terrible at. They are not an offensive powerhouse that can run and gun or even score off the rush. They can barely enter the zone with the puck so we're left with dump and chase with a weak forecheck or playing this game where they do control the play but are relegated to this lame perimeter style where they lob weak shot from outside. Hell they don't even crash the net anymore and cause chaos like they used to. It's really sad to watch them attempt to enter the zone and try to create anything that resembles a scoring chance.

Holy **** dude. I've been trying to find a way to sum up how I feel about this team, but this is it right here. I honestly don't think there is any possible way to better explain what we have been seeing. Whatever the case, I think you nailed it. Just an honest and accurate analysis of our team.

 

[Uli Hiemer]

i met chico tonight, and i take back any bad i have ever said about him.

he was straight up about the situation the devils are in. he was very candid and appreciative of the fans.

 

[NJDevilsZG]

I propose

Emperoreddy-Cheddabombs-bleedred
Statusquo-Apice3-Scottyk9
hlaverty06-Devils Trap-MadDevil
GDDevils-AirheadPete-Steve Cangialosi123

Tundra-NovaIII
BrodeurCups-NJDevilsZG
AfroThunder396-CerebralGenesis

Marty Brodeur
Nick0930

Lets go get it boys!!

Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

thanks for lulz in this ugly times

Just realised Marty got fixed to #666
And there is #6 games losing streak attached to it.
Guess you gotta pay the piper ...

 

[Bleedred]

i met chico tonight, and i take back any bad i have ever said about him.

he was straight up about the situation the devils are in. he was very candid and appreciative of the fans.

He's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I don't mean just in hockey but in general. Sometimes he can be a bit blunt too, but it's very refreshing. I'd love to talk with him right now to see what he's saying!