GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (7-2) vs. Arizona Coyotes (0-9-1), 7 PM, MSG+

[oxman44]

Gotta give credit when credit is due. I thought AZ played great last night. Their speed was really a factor. They were first on pucks all night long, the breakout was really quick and smooth and the forecheck was smothering us. I think they were the fastest team weve played all year. That being said they probably shouldve buried us and didnt, prob one of many reasons they are winless. Ive seen them play a couple other games and I think they were playing a bit above their heads last night, motivated by their current place in the standings. but hey, they were flying out there.

I was honestly just hoping we could salvage a point out of this one but to win outright showed great character by the boys. Bratt and Hall saved our bacon. The PK is already looking nasty and always a threat and If our PP can continue like last night we may end up with one of the leagues top special teams units.

Its just wild thinking about this in a couple months:

Hall- Zajac - Palmeri
Mojo- Hischer - Stafford
Rico - Zacha - Bratt
Gibbons - Boyle - Coleman

 

[DevilDog]

No question the calls went Zona's way in the 1st. It's not that the Devs didn't deserve the calls, they did. And it's an issue that's going to bite them sooner or later if they don't clean it up. But some calls could have gone their way as well, so blaming officiating for this one is weak.

Impressive win all things considered. Glad to see Hall carrying the team a bit. And what more can be said about Bratt?

 

[devilsblood]

Mueller hasn’t been good, but he deserves a bit of rope. I’m going to be baffled if Hynes scratches him after how much he played him tonight.

There’s always a chance a 22 year old, who hasn’t played a full season in the NHL, can get better. Whereas the old guys (#12) have no upside and are getting worse by the day. So we’d be better off playing Mueller than Lovejoy and probably even Prout, as Prout has no future with the team.

I def thought Mueller had a few very nice plays last night. I'm not breaking down his entire game, but I saw positives while not seeing glaring errors. I walked away with a good feeling in regards to Mueller which is good given I was fairly cool on him prior.

 

[Maine Fan]

I am so impressed with these coaches and players. I never expected this from the Devils this season.

Enjoy, Go Devils

 

[Blackjack]

On Cory's 1st GA...

Here's a screen cap of Christian Dvorak's shot which resulted in the rebound that Fischer scored on. I think Schneider is in good position here (Ben Lovejoy is not, but I would argue forgivable considering it was a good rush on the power play)



I'd argue that from this range it's hard to ask your goalie for much more than the initial stop, which Scneider got.

The rebound dribbles out to the bottom of the face-off circle. Maybe Coleman and Gibbons could have collapsed a little bit quicker, but I have a hard time criticizing anyone on this goal.

 

[Its a Trap]

It’s a rebound goal. Those things happen. If that coyote player isn’t coming down that wing the rebound is going out to the point. Just an unlucky rebound

 

[glenwo2]

There was a lot going against the team tonight.

An entire 1st line's worth of forwards was out (Zajac, Palmieri, Johansson)
#1 Defenseman was out
Coyotes desperate to win
Hischier not right
2nd game of a back to back
I was at the arena
Refs trying to beat us
Ben LoveJoy in the lineup

But they stayed in it and found a way to win. That's awesome.

Now get back to pounding teams please.

Added those two bolded for more accuracy.

and you're DAMN LUCKY the Devils won with you there.

 

[glenwo2]

I kinda feel bad how Arizona lost this game on the PK. I didn't read the reaction on here, but I think it sucks when the other team gets penalized for a questionable hit, when defending their player. Similar to the zacha penalty a few games back.

I don't feel bad.

Considering the Refs were letting the Yotes get away with BLATANT HOOKING in the first period while calling penalties on ONLY the Devils. SCREW THAT NOISE!

 

[Patrik26]

I have to somewhat agree with bleedred on the whole Cory thing. I won't directly blame him for any particular goal but he needs to make an occasional save and bail the team out at times. It's bad when every time the opposing team enters the zone I get nervous. This is two straight years now of bad play. Is he done? Maybe, maybe not. Unfortunately I don't trust Kinkaid enough to say let's trade Cory. Just have to hope he can bounce back soon.

How many horrendous rebounds did Cory allow off the glove side last night? I counted at least 3.

 

[Bleedred]

How many horrendous rebounds did Cory allow off the glove side last night? I counted at least 3.

Honestly, I didn’t think his rebound control was a problem last night. There was that one that led to the goal and maybe one other kind of dangerous one. I thought his rebound control was actually better than it had been the last time he played. There were a couple games where his rebound control was very bad last week. On one of Tampa’s goals, he had the puck in his pads on the power play at one point. You could hear the thud and see it in between his pads. Obviously, he lost it somehow and the puck came back into play, and we were scored on about 20 seconds later.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Re: Nico....you don't toughen up beating up guys below your level. I'm of the opinion to let him get bumped around a little bit.

Nico isn't like Zacha or Butcher. He doesn't have a fragile mental game, confidence issues, or physical deficincies (no more than any other 18 year old, anyway).

Let him toughen up a little. I'm confident he can handle it and adjust. He'll learn more trying to play against top guys like Matthews and Keller than he will against lesser players.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I don't feel bad.

Considering the Refs were letting the Yotes get away with BLATANT HOOKING in the first period while calling penalties on ONLY the Devils. SCREW THAT NOISE!

The "ref you suck" chants were a few calls too late IMO.

The refs were awful last night and heavily in Zona's favor.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Eh we've been reading about their great talent for five years, it's just not there aside Keller and a couple other exceptions. They should have absolutely buried us in the first period, the fact it was 1-1 after they got a million power plays and we sleptwalked through the period doesn't exactly speak well for them.



Seriously...even Matt was almost beside himself on the radio. The last thing in the world I'm gonna feel bad over is them getting a questionable call against when they had several actual calls that didn't get whistled.

They are an awfully coached team. Some good young pieces sure, but the team as a whole doesn’t fit well together.

 

[hidek91]

Just finished the watching game:

1) IMO it's not about coaching but their goaltending has been subpar (to say the least) and their forward depth excluding 1st line is just awful, bunch of not yet ready prospects and 4-th liners/AHLers.

2) Lack of Greene was visible tonight, having to watch ALL Prout/Lovejoy/Mueller on the ice was awful. I think this season, of those three, Lovejoy has been the best but I still think he should be #7 at best. Mueller and Prout simply don't belong in NHL (I know a lot of people will disagree with but that's just fetishizing youth, vide Tedenby, Josefson, Urbom etc.

3) Our forward depth is awesome, 2 years ago we had AHL-ers in top-six and now if there were no injuries we could have 3 dangerous scoring lines + Gibbons, Wood and Coleman/Quenneville/McLeod on 4th line. Awesome

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

Re: Nico....you don't toughen up beating up guys below your level. I'm of the opinion to let him get bumped around a little bit.

Nico isn't like Zacha or Butcher. He doesn't have a fragile mental game, confidence issues, or physical deficincies (no more than any other 18 year old, anyway).

Let him toughen up a little. I'm confident he can handle it and adjust. He'll learn more trying to play against top guys like Matthews and Keller than he will against lesser players.

I think Nico's biggest issue last night was fatigue. He seemed a step slower than he usually is, and I'll chalk that up to playing back-to-back nights in his 9th and 10th NHL games. Nothing to worry about, it was always going to happen.

 

[devilsblood]

Just finished the watching game:

1) IMO it's not about coaching but their goaltending has been subpar (to say the least) and their forward depth excluding 1st line is just awful, bunch of not yet ready prospects and 4-th liners/AHLers.

2) Lack of Greene was visible tonight, having to watch ALL Prout/Lovejoy/Mueller on the ice was awful. I think this season, of those three, Lovejoy has been the best but I still think he should be #7 at best. Mueller and Prout simply don't belong in NHL (I know a lot of people will disagree with but that's just fetishizing youth, vide Tedenby, Josefson, Urbom etc.

3) Our forward depth is awesome, 2 years ago we had AHL-ers in top-six and now if there were no injuries we could have 3 dangerous scoring lines + Gibbons, Wood and Coleman/Quenneville/McLeod on 4th line. Awesome

I thought Mueller looked good last night. Then I checked his possession #'s and they backed up my thoughts. About 60% cf.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Mueller made many good plays last night.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

On Cory's 1st GA...

Here's a screen cap of Christian Dvorak's shot which resulted in the rebound that Fischer scored on. I think Schneider is in good position here (Ben Lovejoy is not, but I would argue forgivable considering it was a good rush on the power play)

Lovejoy on the PK watching the other side of the ice until the pass is made. What an imbecile. That goal was ALL him and should have never even been a shot because he had NOBODY but air covered. How hard is it to look for the passing lane and likely target on your side of the ice? No situation awareness at all.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

How many horrendous rebounds did Cory allow off the glove side last night? I counted at least 3.

Those were the ones that ticked me off the most. The puck is literally in your glove and becomes a rebound straight back out? It's like he had on a brand new glove with a rubber palm. For a guy supposedly battling a nagging groin issue, he looked to be battling a catching hand issue more.

 

[Zippy316]

I thought Mueller looked good last night. Then I checked his possession #'s and they backed up my thoughts. About 60% cf.

Lovejoy on the PK watching the other side of the ice until the pass is made. What an imbecile. That goal was ALL him and should have never even been a shot because he had NOBODY but air covered. How hard is it to look for the passing lane and likely target on your side of the ice? No situation awareness at all.

That goal was awful the entire way up the ice.

Noesen was the forechecker and didn't force the play to where Coleman was which allowed them to move up the ice with speed. When Coleman came over, he has to pressure the puck and/or get in the passing lane to block the backdoor. Noesen was trailing that guy so he tried to back up so he wouldn't double commit, but was left in no mans land. In reality, one of Noesen or Coleman should've been on the other side of the ice, but due to Noesen's poor forecheck, they were left scrambling.

Lovejoy's not innocent, but the entire sequence by Noesen was poor as well.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Just watched the game. It wasn't pretty as you've all said but I didn't think it was terrible. MoJo and Palms out really tests the chemistry up front and it showed. I thought the D did OK considering Greene was out. Mueller had his best game as a Devil.

Going forward, I don't know how you can break up Hall and Bratt. There is a legitimate chemistry there and you can tell Hall enjoys playing with him.

I can't wait to see the forward corps fully healthy. This team has a legitimate 4 line attack once Zajac and Boyle are inserted into the lineup.

 

[Devilsgrl35]

I thought Mueller was fine last night and some nice plays. Hall and Bratt were amazing and won the game. Nico had a tough night. The refs were awful. I also got a kick out of the dancing lobsters lol

 

[Nubmer6]

I thought Mueller was fine, and I'm beginning to warm up just a hair to Moore. I thought Severson had a really rough night though.

 

[NuxFan09]

Hey Devils fans! Really happy for how your season is going so far. Lots of talent there and a bright future to be sure.

Quick question: Who goes down/gets waived when all of Zajac, Palmieri and Boyle are healthy? At first I would have figured Gibbons and Coleman but from I've seen/heard/read, both those guys are playing awesome in their own way (aka Gibbons the shorthanded superstar!). I imagine Noesen is at least one of them?

 

[glenwo2]

Hey Devils fans! Really happy for how your season is going so far. Lots of talent there and a bright future to be sure.

Quick question: Who goes down/gets waived when all of Zajac, Palmieri and Boyle are healthy? At first I would have figured Gibbons and Coleman but from I've seen/heard/read, both those guys are playing awesome in their own way (aka Gibbons the shorthanded superstar!). I imagine Noesen is at least one of them?

Your guess is as good as mine.

(okay...close the thread now. )