GDT: Your New Jersey Devils vs. the New York Islanders - NO SLEEP TILL

[JimEIV]

I'm really on the fence about Vatanen, I often thinks he makes the wrong decisions, he's been pretty average, but I'll give him a pass for playing that many minutes.

His game definitely gets sloppy from time to time... I don't think there is a question about that.

 

[Devils Dominion]

His game definitely gets sloppy from time to time... I don't think there is a question about that.

My beef with him at times is he doesn't get the 50/50 pucks in the corners as much as I think he should.

 

[JimEIV]

My beef with him at times is he doesn't get the 50/50 pucks in the corners as much as I think he should.

Interesting. Not something that I have noticed. I will keep an eye out in the future.

 

[haak84]

LOL...look at Detroits roster. Then look at Tampa's roster.


If you want to say that about the middle of the pack teams, then I can hop on board.

you picked the best team in the league and the worst. the middle of the pack is much larger than previous years and there our fewer dominant teams and fewer weaker teams

edit: i did post the best and worst difference is tiny. so that was dumb of me.

 

[bobilly45]

No I think we are about to break out. The Islander game was our first reasonably structured game in a couple weeks. Maybe even this season, if you consider the opening couple weeks to have been an extension of pre season maybe.

On the bright side, Mueller, Vats and Sevs have stepped up their play. The development of our younger defensemen is a big thing going forward.

Unfortunately, Butcher is getting exposed as he’s playing more real minutes. A liability just now but he needs to play his way through it.

Nico is blue chip. Amazing 2 way game at this point. Coleman has become an asset.

Also unfortunately I do not trust our goaltending. Eberle should have had a second goal on that post shot late in the 2d. Kinkaid wasn’t square to the puck and left him a lot on the short side to shoot at.

His positioning was actually very good last night. He was one of the only guys to show up. If a goalie takes away all of the net leaves you just the post, hes done his job. If you dont get that concept you dont understand the position.

I have no doubt kk is "for real" this season, biggest motivator for him is a starters contract and $$$ next season. Cory is the big ?, does he come back to his avg, or has yet another sub par season. One wont be here next season, and that's when I worry about goaltending (regardless if they keep cory or kk) bc blackwood is not good. Johnson is a few yrs away who holds the best potential to be solid.

 

[MartyOwns]

No I think we are about to break out. The Islander game was our first reasonably structured game in a couple weeks. Maybe even this season, if you consider the opening couple weeks to have been an extension of pre season maybe.

On the bright side, Mueller, Vats and Sevs have stepped up their play. The development of our younger defensemen is a big thing going forward.

Unfortunately, Butcher is getting exposed as he’s playing more real minutes. A liability just now but he needs to play his way through it.

Nico is blue chip. Amazing 2 way game at this point. Coleman has become an asset.

Also unfortunately I do not trust our goaltending. Eberle should have had a second goal on that post shot late in the 2d. Kinkaid wasn’t square to the puck and left him a lot on the short side to shoot at.

you don’t trust our goaltending because of one play, where all kinkaid gave him was the post and that’s what he hit?

 

[BenedictGomez]

Just watched that game due to being at Baconfest all day yesterday.

My 5 thoughts:

1) MoJo invisible as usual, it's really getting disheartening watching him produce little-to-nothing game after game.

2) Butcher was a defensive liability all game, forcing Lovejoy to be SuperLovejoy a few times, and that's not a good thing since Lovejoy isnt "super".

3) Severson had his worst game of the year, he was miserable, and only by the grace of god did several of his mistakes not end up in the net.

4) 6x4 with EN & PP at end of game, WTH are Drew Stafford & Brian Boyle out there? (Should be: Hall, Nico, Zajac,Palms, Butcher, and either Wood or Pickles

5) Why the hell is Drew Stafford still in the NHL?

 

[BenedictGomez]

The only silver-lining I saw in that game was Seney was solid in his NHL debut.

I was impressed he won 60% of his draws, including so key ones at the end. I went to look and see if that was an aberration or if he's good on draws in general, but alas the AHL website doesn't track FO%. Nevertheless, I'd rather see 22 year old on the ice gaining experience, than Drew Stafford's rotting corpse of a career . Surprisingly, Gabriel didnt look awful in his 5:50 either, but I completely fail to see why he was called up, especially if you're playing him < 6 minutes.

 

[BahlDeep]

We all laughed at Melnyk's Senzzz this past off-season, but right now I see them beating us up in Kanata

And Buffalo just killed them 9 to 1 lol

 

[BenedictGomez]

With the exception of offensive production, which Severson has been #1 at this year, Mueller has been our best defenseman statistically while playing against the toughest competition. How can anyone complain about him?

Not only that, but Mueller only has 2 points fewer than Severson, despite the fact Severson plays on the PP and Mueller does not.

 

[Devils Dominion]

And Buffalo just killed them 9 to 1 lol

Won't matter to us if we don't beat them

 

[MartyOwns]

And Buffalo just killed them 9 to 1 lol

Arizona Coyotes light up ex-backup Louis Domingue in 7-1 rout of Tampa Bay Lightning

 

[BahlDeep]

Arizona Coyotes light up ex-backup Louis Domingue in 7-1 rout of Tampa Bay Lightning

I meab if Ottawa was as good as Tampa, you might have a point

 

[Camille the Eel]

you don’t trust our goaltending because of one play, where all kinkaid gave him was the post and that’s what he hit?

He didn’t leave him just the post. He left him a foot and a half at the top of a triangle of open area. You could see it clearly on the second replay. Eberle blew the shot. You can’t infer that he had only the post to shoot at from the fact that he hit the post.

But it’s a fair criticism of what I wrote that this was just one play of the game. On the other hand, in a tight game, Greiss was perfect and Keith wasn’t.

I do think he’s the best we’ve got, until Corey proves otherwise.

 

[My3Sons]

You think the contract de Haan got was absurd money? $4.5 a year for an reliable Top 4 defenseman is not absurd money to me, sure it might be more than he's worth, but to fill a need sometimes you got to bite the bullet and roll the dice.

NJ wanted to roll with the younger defenders for this season. The patience on defense has worked so far with Sevs and Mueller making some progress even if Bratt has been a bit iffy at times. A guy like DeHaan makes sense in two years when Green and Lovejoy are both gone. Plus I don’t think Shero wants to block the NCAA guys he will probably try to sign this offseason. At the time I saw DeHaan as a good potential signing but I more or less envisioned him doing what Mueller is doing and didn’t he get a four or five year deal or am I thinking of MOORE?

 

[Cage Helmet]

Zajac has 8 points in 10 games

He’s been solid. That wasn’t meant to put him down. Just that we all know he won’t keep up quite to that pace and is better suited in a reduced role at this stage. He’s still a lot better than Zacha in spite of what his detractors tell me. That wasn’t a knock on TZ. It was a deserved shot at PZ.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I meab if Ottawa was as good as Tampa, you might have a point

Senzzz got a point vs TB
We lost by 5 to them