GDT: #60 | Devils vs. Capitals 7pm | Groundhog day edition

[Bleedred]

I thought Cory could have done more with that third goal. Not blaming him but I think there was an opportunity to poke check that puck away from the crease with how far out he was. But I could be wrong. He's a fantastic puck stopper but I do wish he had some more refinement with stick handling and breaking up plays.

I'd have to watch that again, but I didn't see a chance to puck check it while the puck was rolling through. I'd have to see it again.

I just think this was a case of the puck not hitting him tonight. Especially with an insane stretch of him not allowing more than 2 goals in 15 of 17 before the Flyers game, or whatever it was. We have probably played worse defensively than we did tonight, he's just been able to make the stops in those instances. There's been so many times he's sat back there with the 4th line being manhandled and somehow got a whistle and made a save.

Even the first goal went 5 hole, but he was sliding on that one from Ovechkin. So I understand why it beat him, he wasn't really in a position to stop it. I'd say the Flyers game was the same thing, though the fifth goal was probably the one that should have been stopped. We were out of the game by then.

So yeah, there's been games that we've played worse defensively than tonight, especially considering the competition. I thought we looked worse in our own end against Arizona and Ottawa when he got a shutout in those games. That's not to say he should have been able to stop tonight's shots. Just sometimes the puck doesn't hit the goalie, more than the goalie not being good or the defense playing bad.

At this point though, he's gotta get a whistle any time he sees the 4th line in trouble out there, if he's able to.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I thought Cory could have done more with that third goal. Not blaming him but I think there was an opportunity to poke check that puck away from the crease with how far out he was. But I could be wrong. He's a fantastic puck stopper but I do wish he had some more refinement with stick handling and breaking up plays.

That goal happened because the rest of our team didn't bother to play hockey, and just folded up like a portable chair. This loss is entirely on the team for leaving Cory as basically the only Devils player for about a third of a period. You can survive a minute or two like that, not most of a period. That's not how to play with a lead. Cory deserves a better team than this. One that might actually have tried to help him get a win there, instead of standing there helplessly as the Capitals got about a hundred scoring chances. Team totally abandoned Cory there.

 

[Bleedred]

What a miserable loss.

I just told you that! *Fred Gwynne impersonation from My Cousin Vinny*. I've quoted that movie a lot this season, not many times in past one's though haha.

That would be Shero's first jump the shark moment, unless he does something cooky at the deadline.

Honestly I still think we wouldn't have re-signed him LAST offseason if Lou hadn't done it first. I'm probably just underestimating Shero's own attachment to Tootoo from the Nashville days.

I'm hoping there is no Nashville connection. If Shero likes him so much, give him a job with the organization and let him do what Clowe is doing now. Or sign him for the AHL. Same thing goes for Kennedy. I think his NHL days are just about numbered too.

I'm not even that mad. They did just enough to lose but hung around with the best team in the East. Too much puck watching.

The game last night was worse. They looked offensively inept. They could barely get into the Isle's zone in the last half of the game.

Well last night, I think the puck was just hitting the goaltender. Tonight though, the puck was hitting Holtby and still going in. Goals 2 and 3 were pretty bad for him. Last year it seemed we barely could score on him, this year we've scored 3, 2 and 3 goals on him respectively. The goal that Blandisi scored last game on him wasn't good either. The Zajac shot cleanly beat him 5 hole and Blandisi poked it over the line.

Did the Boucher shot hit anything on the way in? I just saw it roll off Holtby's glove.

 

[tr83]

I've been a big fan of his for the entire season (save the pull the goalie situation at the beginning of the year and his deployment of the 4th line at the end of games). This team is much better than last year's team. But Hynes' decisions lately have been quite questionable with Severson being scratched, the Camm situation, and Tootoo given more rope than what you can find at a marina.

What happened to relentless?

 

[NJDevs26]

I've been a big fan of his for the entire season (save the pull the goalie situation at the beginning of the year and his deployment of the 4th line at the end of games). This team is much better than last year's team. But Hynes' decisions lately have been quite questionable with Severson being scratched, the Camm situation, and Tootoo given more rope than what you can find at a marina.

What happened to relentless?

While I agree with most of that what does Hynes have to do with Camm's injury? Unless you mean the secrecy around injuries in general just being annoying, which is probably both Shero and Hynes.

 

[Bleedred]

That goal happened because the rest of our team didn't bother to play hockey, and just folded up like a portable chair. This loss is entirely on the team for leaving Cory as basically the only Devils player for about a third of a period. You can survive a minute or two like that, not most of a period. That's not how to play with a lead. Cory deserves a better team than this. One that might actually have tried to help him get a win there, instead of standing there helplessly as the Capitals got about a hundred scoring chances. Team totally abandoned Cory there.

I think there's a lot of times he's been abandoned out there, and he's able to make the saves and it masks the times he's been hung out to dry or abandoned.

That's not to say the team plays ****** in front of him every night. But some of his best games have been one's where the team was hanging him out to dry. That Ottawa game comes to mind. We were pinned in for most of the 3rd period, but he shut them out with 38 saves or something. The Arizona game wasn't too much different.

For the most part though, the team has played a lot better this year than last year for him. We don't make him have to face 30+ shots as much as we did last year. And that's a credit to Hynes and his system (although I'm still steaming over his 4th line usage and Severson benching). Last year, neither coaching staff could get this team to play well defensively or hold the opposition to a respectable amount of shots against.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I've been a big fan of his for the entire season (save the pull the goalie situation at the beginning of the year and his deployment of the 4th line at the end of games). This team is much better than last year's team. But Hynes' decisions lately have been quite questionable with Severson being scratched, the Camm situation, and Tootoo given more rope than what you can find at a marina.

What happened to relentless?

Yep. I'm not a fan of some of the decisions Hynes has made during the final stretch of the season here. Hopefully it's just some rookie mistakes that he can learn from (as he seemed to learn with regard to the goalie pulls earlier in the year), and not signs of problematic patterns in his coaching. Only time will tell. I hope we've found a gem in Hynes, but he does need to polish off some rough edges that are coming to light now as the standings tighten up.

 

[tr83]

Well last night, I think the puck was just hitting the goaltender. Tonight though, the puck was hitting Holtby and still going in. Goals 2 and 3 were pretty bad for him. Last year it seemed we barely could score on him, this year we've scored 3, 2 and 3 goals on him respectively. The goal that Blandisi scored last game on him wasn't good either. The Zajac shot cleanly beat him 5 hole and Blandisi poked it over the line.

I could have counted 20 passes that didn't connect and another 20 that were flubbed. The passes were more crisp tonight.

 

[Bleedred]

I've been a big fan of his for the entire season (save the pull the goalie situation at the beginning of the year and his deployment of the 4th line at the end of games). This team is much better than last year's team. But Hynes' decisions lately have been quite questionable with Severson being scratched, the Camm situation, and Tootoo given more rope than what you can find at a marina.

What happened to relentless?

While I agree with most of that what does Hynes have to do with Camm's injury? Unless you mean the general secrecy around injuries in general just being annoying, which is probably Shero and Hynes.

Yeah I agree, with the exception of the Cammalleri injury. Unless you're critiquing him at being vague about the injury, which probably has more to do with Shero than him in particular.

But the Severson benchings constantly, that's even considering that Severson is overrated by many on here. He still should be in. Send him to the AHL if you're not gonna play him, he's still eligible for the rest of this year and all of next year. Better than having 8 defensemen up after the deadline with Gelinas, Severson and Hulk playing musical chairs in the pressbox.

And the way we lost this game, or had it tied more particularly. It was the same thing that happened last game against them at almost the exact same TIME! We went ahead 2-1 in the 3rd and then they tied it with 5 or 6 minutes left, and the 4th line was out there and couldn't get it out. Same thing happened tonight, at roughly the same time.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I think there's a lot of times he's been abandoned out there, and he's able to make the saves and it masks the times he's been hung out to dry or abandoned.

That's not to say the team plays ****** in front of him every night. But some of his best games have been one's where the team was hanging him out to dry. That Ottawa game comes to mind. We were pinned in for most of the 3rd period, but he shut them out with 38 saves or something. The Arizona game wasn't too much different.

For the most part though, the team has played a lot better this year than last year for him. We don't make him have to face 30+ shots as much as we did last year. And that's a credit to Hynes and his system (although I'm still steaming over his 4th line usage and Severson benching). Last year, neither coaching staff could get this team to play well defensively or hold the opposition to a respectable amount of shots against.

True. I'm just not going to blame him for not always being able to save the team when they absolutely abandon him out there. It's an unfair expectation to think that any goalie, including Cory, is going to always be able to compensate for a team hanging them out to dry for long stretches. The team is to blame here, not Cory. As I say, I predicted a tying goal and then one on top when the Devils continued to be a disaster in their own end.

Overall, though, the team has played better around Cory this year. That is also true. Last season almost every game Cory was just abandoned for long stretches as the team folded up.

 

[Bleedred]

Yep. I'm not a fan of some of the decisions Hynes has made during the final stretch of the season here. Hopefully it's just some rookie mistakes that he can learn from (as he seemed to learn with regard to the goalie pulls earlier in the year), and not signs of problematic patterns in his coaching. Only time will tell. I hope we've found a gem in Hynes, but he does need to polish off some rough edges that are coming to light now as the standings tighten up.

I appreciate that he trusts the 4th line, but you can't trust it with a one goal lead with Tootoo out there.

I swear to god, both of these last two games against the Capitals were tied at the 5 minute and something second mark, with the 4th line out there BOTH times.

You wanna play the 4th line late, you gotta make Tootoo disappear. I'm sure the analytics department can't tell him that. Tootoo gets murdered in possession in the defensive zone. Eye test and advances stats back that up.

And it wasn't happening tonight at all, not until the point where they tied it. It always catches up.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

That goal happened because the rest of our team didn't bother to play hockey, and just folded up like a portable chair. This loss is entirely on the team for leaving Cory as basically the only Devils player for about a third of a period. You can survive a minute or two like that, not most of a period. That's not how to play with a lead. Cory deserves a better team than this. One that might actually have tried to help him get a win there, instead of standing there helplessly as the Capitals got about a hundred scoring chances. Team totally abandoned Cory there.

For sure the team dumped their pants on that goal. Not trying to blame Cory, just saying you rarely see him break up plays through the crease and the like. Would be a nice element to add to his game. Believe me, he could allow 20 goals over the next three games and I wouldn't criticize him. He's been nothing short of stellar.

 

[Bleedred]

For sure the team dumped their pants on that goal. Not trying to blame Cory, just saying you rarely see him break up plays through the crease and the like. Would be a nice element to add to his game. Believe me, he could allow 20 goals over the next three games and I wouldn't criticize him. He's been nothing short of stellar.

I think it was the Flyers game where the was a goal that I thought he could poke check a puck to prevent one of the goals. I think it was on one of those backdoor pass goals on the PP for the Flyers. I'd also like to see him use the poke check in shootouts more. I remember one shootout that we won last year where he used it in the shootout, and it was in a shootout where I remember him being beat on one that could have been poke checked in the previous shootout. I never really saw him use it again in the shootout after that. Hopefully I never will either, as I've sworn off watching any more shootouts of ours.

Our PK was awesome tonight, but the last two goals looked like a pair of power play goals, with the way both lines were pinned in.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Team was out of gas against a superior team.

Its not an effort issue. They were out worked by the best offensive team in the league when they were out of gas.

Caps were also able to get their changes in quicker allowing for them to have the match ups they wanted more often. They changed to their top line before we could get the 4th line off and that was game.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I have no idea what defensive system Hynes used, but someone please explain to me how 5 on 5 looks like a 5 on 3 for the caps? And we make Orpik look like Bobby Orr, I can't believe he's still in the league. And Gelinas is just a dumb hockey player but Merrill really sucks.... Paul Martin light. Needs to go.

 

[StvBroDan]

After reading all of the last couple of pages losing power until 6:00am wasn't so bad after all. Watching my favorite team play itself right out of a playoff spot.

Some people on this team need to step it up (Henrique) stop passing it off ( Cammy ) you need to heal faster.
Zajac Greene lets go.

BTW there are going to be goals where you question Cory when your team plays in front you like they did. He is not a brick wall or a tall over padded blob like most.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

After reading all of the last couple of pages losing power until 6:00am wasn't so bad after all. Watching my favorite team play itself right out of a playoff spot.

Some people on this team need to step it up (Henrique) stop passing it off ( Cammy ) you need to heal faster.
Zajac Greene lets go.

BTW there are going to be goals where you question Cory when your team plays in front you like they did. He is not a brick wall or a tall over padded blob like most.

I've completely soured on Cammalleri and I'm really surprised there isn't more frustration surrounding him. I know the Devils weren't supposed to be this close but they are and he could have absolutely made a difference for us these past 18 games. Even if he would have only helped the team win one more game, or picked up a couple loser points, it would be a huge difference for them with how tight the standings are and all the additional games they've played vs. the teams they're chasing. He was injury prone prior to signing and he's completely lived up to that billing. And it's happening at the absolute worst time. I don't agree with the thought process that he shouldn't be counted on as much as he is. Well what was the point of signing him then? In it's current form, he's this team's top forward, for better or worse. A long term deal for a player that you'll never be able to count on? It's completely frustrating and they've been so vague about the injury.

All things considered, I think the team has done better than expected in his absence so it's really making me question whats the point of him being here? He'd clearly be a better fit on a contending team that can deal with him missing time. His contract isn't going anywhere though and while I liked the signing at first, I really wish the money could be spent elsewhere now.

 

[guitarguyvic]

People are getting upset with Hynes and Shero now about the vagueness of Cammy's injury? Lol I said it on these boards in the past that it wasn't a Lou thing, just about every team in the league does it. Pointless thing to get angry about.

 

[Devils Dominion]

There should be a rule, you do not send out the 4th line when holding a lead with less than 8 minutes left in the 3rd.

Gio with a -2 on the last two goals.
I believe he had a chance to clear the zone before one of the goals.

The bubble has burst

 

[Rhodes 81]

Merrill needs to go? How about Helgeson and his magical ability to either flub the puck or get beaten to it practically every time he's on the ice? Cammalleri sucks for being injured? What about Henrique sucks for playing at maybe 60% effort for most games. What am I reading here?

 

[JimEIV]

Merrill has been solid since his return and he was sold before his injury. Very pleased with the way he has played in the last two games. He was out there against Ovechkin a few times last night and he handled it extremely well. I just wish they would pair Merrill and Severson together and keep them together. Let them grow together and feed off each other...it really has been our best pairing outside of the Larsson Greene pairing this season.

 

[Lou is God]

I was at the game yesterday, Merrill looked very good

 

[guitarguyvic]

Merrill needs to go? How about Helgeson and his magical ability to either flub the puck or get beaten to it practically every time he's on the ice? Cammalleri sucks for being injured? What about Henrique sucks for playing at maybe 60% effort for most games. What am I reading here?

This is why general managers run teams and not fans. Some of the opinions floating around here after last nights loss...ooof.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

People are getting upset with Hynes and Shero now about the vagueness of Cammy's injury? Lol I said it on these boards in the past that it wasn't a Lou thing, just about every team in the league does it. Pointless thing to get angry about.

Who cares how Lou or any other gm handles it. That's not the issue as most general managers keep these kinds of things in-house. What's annoying about the vagueness in this instance is that we can't even point to an incident that may have led to the injury. Dude has missed like 26 games and we have no idea how it may have happened. No timetable of return except they say he's not ready every couple days. I don't expect them to tell us he has a broken arm or what not, but it's adding to the frustration not knowing what's going on.

 

[Lou is God]

And I hope the Caps win the cup, their fans are great, been to about 5 games their and never once given a hard time.