Dan Girardi's terrible defense on the Henrique OT goal

[JT Kreider]

My intention of this post was not to do have a debate about how good or bad that Devils team was. What a dumb argument. Stop hijacking my thread! I hereby am taking control here and re-directing the conversation so we can all point and laugh at Girardi just standing on the side of the net watching our entire season go down the drain. I was sitting in the upper level right behind the net and he was just as useless as me. I saw the whole thing happening in slow motion like my life flashing before my eyes and probably could have jumped onto the ice and tied up Henrique quicker than Girardi.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

On another note, are the Devils the worst team to make it to the SCF since the 2005 lockout? Other than Kovalchuk and a very old Brodeur, not a lot there.

They gave the Kings way more of a challenge than the Rags did.

 

[aufheben]

Deceptively close matchup, but the Kings’ high-end talent at forward puts them over the edge.

 

[Fear the Wushu]

As a Devils fan, that was a fun series to watch. Rangers could have won with a few bounces. Devils still made it to a game 6 though and maybe even 7 without the BS Bernier call after a blatant missed penalty.

 

[aufheben]

As a Devils fan, that was a fun series to watch. Rangers could have won with a few bounces. Devils still made it to a game 6 though and maybe even 7 without the BS Bernier call after a blatant missed penalty.

Their 4th line gave the Rangers nightmares in 2012.

 

[JT Kreider]

As a Devils fan, that was a fun series to watch. Rangers could have won with a few bounces. Devils still made it to a game 6 though and maybe even 7 without the BS Bernier call after a blatant missed penalty.

That was karma for Bernier's terrible dive on the Del Zotto high stick in Game 6

 

[JT Kreider]

They gave the Kings way more of a challenge than the Rags did.

You won one more game, congrats.

Can we please get back to pointing and laughing at Girardi now. Re-watching this game 8 years later got me all pissed off about this again. He should have been cut or traded for blowing our entire season and was rewarded with a massive contract that we are still paying for and f***ed up our entire offseason last year.

Hopefully they don't replay Game 5 against Buffalo from 2007 or else I'm going to see a certain rookie wearing #46 completely out of position on Drury's tying goal and then I'm really going to lose my mind.

Or Game 3 against Tampa just letting Kucherov dance his way through the entire offensive zone and sitting back letting him snipe on Lundqvist.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

You won one more game, congrats.

Can we please get back to pointing and laughing at Girardi now. Re-watching this game 8 years later got me all pissed off about this again. He should have been cut or traded for blowing our entire season and was rewarded with a massive contract that we are still paying for and f***ed up our entire offseason last year.

Hopefully they don't replay Game 5 against Buffalo from 2007 or else I'm going to a certain rookie wearing #46 completely out of position on Drury's tying goal and then I'm really going to lose my mind.

Or Game 3 against Tampa just letting Kucherov dance his way through the entire offensive zone and sitting back letting him snipe on Lundqvist.

Dude who started all of this is a Rags fan. Blame him for the diversion.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

Kovalchuk at 0.4??? Andy Greene at 0 while Peter Harrold is somehow 2.4? Zajac at -2.2 (come on, he was hurt all year).

That 2012 Devils was a good team. Watching them all year, you knew they had it in them and adding Zidlicky (who also has a pretty bad WAR according to that) addressed their one weakness of offense from the back end.

 

[Sky04]

Why the Rangers had Giardi playing the role he did baffles me more, do stupid things and get stupid results.

 

[JT Kreider]

Why the Rangers had Giardi playing the role he did baffles me more, do stupid things and get stupid results.

Phaneuf decapitating Sauer really screwed us and left an irreplaceable hole. He would have been on the ice instead of Girardi in this situation (and Game 1 in LA and Game 3 in Tampa).

Of all our defenseman on the rise during that time (McDonagh, Staal, Girardi, Del Zotto, Stralman) I really thought he was going to be the best of them all. He was pretty much what Brandon Carlo is right now but with even more room to grow.

 

[ElLeetch]

They gave the Kings way more of a challenge than the Rags did.

The difference between the kings winning the series 4-1 and the rangers winning the series 4-1 was literally three goals. There were 3 OT games in that series, and the kings won all three of them.

I don't know how much closer to even you can get than having to decide almost all the games in OT

 

[JT Kreider]

The difference between the kings winning the series 4-1 and the rangers winning the series 4-1 was literally three goals. There were 3 OT games in that series, and the kings won all three of them.

I don't know how much closer to even you can get than having to decide almost all the games in OT

Devils lost two games in OT too, with two blowout losses. The Rangers were a 1/10 against LA and the Devils were a 2/10 who cares. Even when the Rangers had the lead we never really were in control of the game. Classic AV syndrome was a huge lack of killer instinct, the same exact thing happened when he was in Vancouver against Boston and reared its ugly head against Ottawa a few years later.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Why the Rangers had Giardi playing the role he did baffles me more, do stupid things and get stupid results.

What are you talking about? He got first place Norris votes at his best. He certainly earned his role. Undrafted player. Nothing was handed to him. Don't criticize him unnecessarily because your team didn't have the team success in the playoffs when he was on your team. He was actually pretty good with the Lightning from what I saw.

 

[Sky04]

What are you talking about? He got first place Norris votes at his best. He certainly earned his role. Undrafted player. Nothing was handed to him. Don't criticize him unnecessarily because your team didn't have the team success in the playoffs when he was on your team. He was actually pretty good with the Lightning from what I saw.

The hell are you talking about? Where did I say he was bad on the lightning? It's your team that misused him dummy.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

The hell are you talking about? Where did I say he was bad on the lightning? It's your team that misused him dummy.

He finished 22nd in the league in Norris voting the year of this goal. What’s the basis for saying he was misused?

 

[JT Kreider]

He finished 22nd in the league in Norris voting the year of this goal. What’s the basis for saying he was misused?

I dont really think he was a true top pairing defenseman. The strength of this particular Rangers defense was their depth, our forwards were very reliable in their own zone and above all Lundqvist having the best year of his career.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I dont really think he was a true #1 defenseman. The strength of this particular Rangers defense was their depth and mostly Lundqvist having the best year of his career.

That’s different from saying he was misused during these years. He was certainly a very good player and earned big minutes.

 

[JT Kreider]

That’s different from saying he was misused during these years. He was certainly a very good player and earned big minutes.

I meant to say top pairing instead of a true #1. Misused might not be the right word but the guy was the definition of an overachiever and at times overmatched in his role against the oppositions top forwards. This being a prime example.

It is a miracle this team got this far considering their lack of high end talent, Dubinsky having a horrible season and losing Sauer early on.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Meh, they certainly were better than the 2014 Rangers and 2010 Flyers

Yeah right. Team only made the playoffs because of the shootout. They had like 30 ROW that whole season. Flukey fluke stuff. They went directly in the toilet the next season. Rangers won the Presidents directly after making it to the final. I don’t remember how the Flyers did in 2011.

 

[JT Kreider]

Yeah right. Team only made the playoffs because of the shootout. They had like 30 ROW that whole season. Flukey fluke stuff. They went directly in the toilet the next season. Rangers won the Presidents directly after making it to the final. I don’t remember how the Flyers did in 2011.

They won the division, got swept by the Bruins in round 2 and then traded away Richards and Carter and signed Bryz. Lol.

 

[Balance]

Yeah right. Team only made the playoffs because of the shootout. They had like 30 ROW that whole season. Flukey fluke stuff. They went directly in the toilet the next season. Rangers won the Presidents directly after making it to the final. I don’t remember how the Flyers did in 2011.

The Devils missed the playoffs the next year because Brodeur got injured and Hedberg played horribly and when Kovalchuk got injured the team went 0-10 and then the season was lockout shortened to 48 games. Regardless of that, the Devils were still firing 50 shots or so a game at teams and getting stonewalled by opposition teams.

The 2014 Rangers were exactly like the 2012 Rangers, they would have been blitzed by the 2012 Devils in 5-6 games easily.

 

[Paul4587]

Parise was still a great player, coming off an injury season. They had awesome depth. But yeah, they've got to be one of the worst teams. Kind of like Arizona (Phoenix?) at the time, who made the WCF.

The Kings For an 8 seed certainly had an easy run of it to win that cup. They were a very good team but to face Arizona and NJ in the last two rounds must be the easiest two opponents for a Stanley Cup winner in recent history.

 

[JT Kreider]

The 2014 Rangers were exactly like the 2012 Rangers, they would have been blitzed by the 2012 Devils in 5-6 games easily.

Disagree. 2012 and 2014 Rangers were two different completely animals. 2014 was far more deeper offensively, McDonagh was at the top of his game and most importantly they didnt have Torts to run them into the ground. The 2014 team got better as the playoffs progressed, the 2012 team was dead in the water by the middle of the Caps series while at that same point the 14 team was just hitting their stride once we got Kreider back in Game 5 in Pittsburgh.

If you really think the 2012 Devils would have beaten the 2014 Rangers then I will let you have that I guess? If that makes you feel better.

 

[Butch 19]

The Kings For an 8 seed certainly had an easy run of it to win that cup. They were a very good team but to face Arizona and NJ in the last two rounds must be the two easiest for a Stanley Cup winner in recent history.

... as if the Kings had no impact on the outcomes of the games.

puck luck b&*tes!!!