GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (19-29-5) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (27-25-1), 7 PM, ESPN+/Hulu

[StevenToddIves]

Yeah I agree. I think the refs are a bit old school in that they want our kids to fight through it.


Do you have a breakdown by period, or do we just throw up a chart and bow to it as usual?

He was absolutely dominant in the first period with 3 shots, 2 more blocked and one goal. He got hit once.
He had 2 shots in the second, 2 blocked, and got hit twice in the 2nd. We went almost 10 minutes with 1 shot on goal.
He had 0 shots on goal in the third, 2 blocked and got hit twice.

He had a great expected goal number at the end of the day, but with 0 shots in the third, none of it happened in the third period.

Peeke singularly blocked 4 Hughes shots. I mean, that's an amazing stat if you ask me. The entire Devils blueline blocked 5 shots all game.

That being said, I feel Hughes played well -- he was dangerous all game. Columbus defended him quite well with a "contain" strategy of matching Peeke up against him and keep Hughes on the perimeter while clogging up the shooting lanes. Basically, the gameplay was "let anyone on the ice beat us except Jack Hughes".

Lindy Ruff countered this (pretty well, I'd say) by moving Bratt up to the Hughes line later in the game. I liked the mentality of "well, you can't stop them both". It almost worked, but Merzlikins came up with a couple of huge stops against that line in the 3rd period, which were huge in deciding the outcome.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I really don't think Severson was trying to avoid Laine there, he was trying to line him up for a hit and missed. This replay shows that pretty clearly

Severson literally ducks and closes his eyes, shrinking out of the way of the oncoming Laine. Watch it again.

The Scott Stevens defense school would say "line him up at the waist and skate straight into him". But Severson ducks and covers. This was not an attempt to hit, by any means. Just awful defending. When he realizes Laine has bounced back in the other direction, Severson throws out a weak elbow attempt, but that's the extent of his proactiveness here.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Severson literally ducks and closes his eyes, shrinking out of the way of the oncoming Laine. Watch it again.

The Scott Stevens defense school would say "line him up at the waist and skate straight into him". But Severson ducks and covers. This was not an attempt to hit, by any means. Just awful defending. When he realizes Laine has bounced back in the other direction, Severson throws out a weak elbow attempt, but that's the extent of his proactiveness here.

I've watched that clip multiple times, I think it's clear Severson is going for a hit. Not ducking or avoiding contact.

It looks like he's trying to line him up, then when he notices Laine about to walk him and go the other way he tries to cover it by tossing some ass. Not great defense, but not avoiding contact. And credit to Laine for a great move. Something some people rarely seem to do, other teams have great players that can make nice plays too.

 

[Call Me Al]

severson isnt scott stevens but he was clearly trying to lay a hit

 

[billingtons ghost]

Yeah, I didn’t watch every second of the game, I just posted a chart. He had a fine game, especially as a 20 year old on a back to back.

He absolutely had a fine game. An excellent game in fact. But don't for a second think your chart proves that Peeke and the BJ physicaltiy didn't impact his game.

 

[MartyOwns]

whatever severson did, it was embarrassing. not worse than his 2 on 1, but it’s up there

 

[Tao Jersey Jones]

If they had to get women to do the play-by-play or color, they could have given a few bucks to Sherry Ross and Susan Waldman. These two are like Ron Burgandy and Veronica Corningstone if Anchorman weren’t a comedy.