GDT: Devils @ Blue Jackets - 7:00 PM - MSG+

[BurntToast]

The Devils made the game interesting but it’s hard to win games when players drop out hours before the game. It’s a bit interesting, I wouldn’t be surprised to see players from both teams get sick after this game.


Let’s dissect the Blackwood conundrum. You can’t blame Blackwood for this game, but it’s been a while since he stole a game for the Devils.

I think he has a low Hocky IQ for his position. Blackwood is inconsistent, often relying too much on athleticism and the butterfly, and he plays too far back. Blackwood struggles to make it across the crease.

 

[Devs3cups]

I don't know that I agree with that. I've never seen a player for the Devils influence a game more than Kovy did. And that team also had no business making the playoffs and yet he carried them on a broken back to the SCF.

It's kinda close for me honestly. Kovy was my favorite player, and I always prefered Kovy (even after what he did lol, his 11-12 season will always be memorable to me) to Hall, and I agree he was a superior player to Hall overall.

But Kovy had Parise and Elias (he was still really, really good in 11-12) that season, and they were all really close in points, as well as Marty, who could still play. Hall in 17-18 had 41 more points than the second scorer on the team (Nico). That's insane.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I don't know that I agree with that. I've never seen a player for the Devils influence a game more than Kovy did. And that team also had no business making the playoffs and yet he carried them on a broken back to the SCF.

I love Kovy but this is nonsense in terms of regular season. Hall had the more impressive season and it’s honestly not close.

Hall factored into 37.5% of the goals forced on the 16th ranked offense in GF compared to Kovys 36.4% on a team that was ranked 11th.

Hall was a +14 compared to Kovys -9

Hall had 7 game winning goals while Kovy had 5.

Hall only played with two other players who hit 20 goals that season and one who hit 50 points. Kovy played with two other THIRTY goal scorers, two 20 goal scorers, a 78 point player, 69 point player and a 50 point player.

Hall was a one man show in 17-18 and did it by himself with far less ice time than what Kovy was given. Thats why he won the MVP. Kovy was fantastic but was a part of a very good and spread out offense in 11-12. Elias was arguably as good as Kovy that season. There wasn’t a Devil in the same universe as Hall in 17-18. Also that 11-12 team making the postseason wasn’t unexpected or outlandish. They made the playoffs for a decade and a half before that season, sans one due to a shitshow coach in Johnny Mac.

Many people still cannot grasp how damn good Hall was that year. It was absolutely insane to watch. Like I said, we may never see an individual effort like that ever again. (Hope I’m wrong with this crop of kids)

 

[Unknown Caller]

Hall had the best season, Kovy was the best player. What Hall did in the year they made the playoffs was downright stupid, but outside of that year he wasn’t better than Kovy.

 

[McDuffz88]

Hall 17-18 > Kovy 11-12

We may never see a more dominant performance by a Devils forward in one season in our lifetimes. Thats how amazing Hall was that season. That team had no business making the postseason.

At the end of the day if you forced me to pick between the two its Kovy all day everyday. Guy was a threat with his eyes closed. Hall had a flash in the pan season while Kovy was the definition of a pure sniper. Imagine having him on Hughes wing.

 

[Guttersniped]

Elias 2000-01 > Hall 17-18 > Parise 2008-09 > Kovy 2011-12

 

[glenwo2]

The difference tonight was goaltending .....

Bratt being out certainly didn't help either.

 

[OmNomNom]

At the end of the day if you forced me to pick between the two its Kovy all day everyday. Guy was a threat with his eyes closed. Hall had a flash in the pan season while Kovy was the definition of a pure sniper. Imagine having him on Hughes wing.

That flash was really hot though. On the overall sure, I'll pick kovy at his prime, but we were a more of a playoff team in 11-12 than we were in 17-18, not even close

 

[SJinNewJersey]

Elias 2000-01 > Hall 17-18 > Parise 2008-09 > Kovy 2011-12

Where does the Stevens 93-94 season slot in? Or is this just forwards only, because then we need to start looking at all the Marty seasons?

 

[glenwo2]

Dammit. Just when Jack and Bratt are looking unstopppable together.

Man....looking at the difference when Jack was with Bratt against Columbus last game and without him this game is startling.

Bratt is certainly the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak.

 

[NJDevs26]

Man....looking at the difference when Jack was with Bratt against Columbus last game and without him this game is startling.

Bratt is certainly the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak.

Eh last night actually wasn't as bad as I figured it was gonna be without Bratt...they had three goals and by all accounts should have had twice as many except the Jackets goalie played well. If anything it just underscores the fact we haven't had our own 'stolen' game by a goalie in a long time.

 

[John Pedro]

Man....looking at the difference when Jack was with Bratt against Columbus last game and without him this game is startling.

Bratt is certainly the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak.

Not sure if I agree

Jack could've ended with 3pts easily last night

he set Nico up with a open net
he had a chance saved by the goalie in tight
he hit a post on the PP

Mercer and Jack had a lot of great shifts in the offensive zone, incluinding a nifty cross-ice pass that Mercer couldn't quite get a one-timer off

 

[Buck Dancer]

We hit the pipe once and the opposing goaltender robbed us 3 times… Bratt being out of the lineup wasn’t a factor at all in this loss.

 

[ninetyeight]

Missing Bratt is definitely a factor, 'cause he's amazing. But Jack still looked good even without him.

Hot goalie for them deplated lineup for us, hard to get mad. I think they played alright.

 

[Cheddabombs]

We hit the pipe once and the opposing goaltender robbed us 3 times… Bratt being out of the lineup wasn’t a factor at all in this loss.

Missing Bratt is definitely a factor, 'cause he's amazing. But Jack still looked good even without him.

Hot goalie for them deplated lineup for us, hard to get mad. I think they played alright.

Getting some mixed signals here

 

[devilsblood]

Man....looking at the difference when Jack was with Bratt against Columbus last game and without him this game is startling.

Bratt is certainly the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak.

Not sure if I agree

Jack could've ended with 3pts easily last night

he set Nico up with a open net
he had a chance saved by the goalie in tight
he hit a post on the PP

Mercer and Jack had a lot of great shifts in the offensive zone, incluinding a nifty cross-ice pass that Mercer couldn't quite get a one-timer off

I thought we looked pretty good, but like I mentioned last night, without Bratt on his line, I thought Hughes was really looking to take it upon himself.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Jack still had several chances, two major ones that were robbed by the post and Korpisalo. I thought he had a strong game overall. Of course we missed Bratt but I don’t think it withheld Jack from doing his thing.

 

[Buck Dancer]

Getting some mixed signals here

There’s no mix signals at all. We managed to take the game to them and if it wasn’t for 3 game changing saves, one on Nico and two on Jack, plus the post we nailed on the PP, we would’ve won this game by 2 or maybe 3.

Merzlikins was the difference in this game, not the absence of Bratt. If we wouldn’t of generated anything offensively, I would agree but that wasn’t the case at all.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Not sure if I agree

Jack could've ended with 3pts easily last night

he set Nico up with a open net
he had a chance saved by the goalie in tight
he hit a post on the PP

Mercer and Jack had a lot of great shifts in the offensive zone, incluinding a nifty cross-ice pass that Mercer couldn't quite get a one-timer off

Mercer played his best game in forever with Jack. I think the Devils have done him a disservice slotting him with the linemates he's had over the last few months. He clearly isn't ready to drive a line by himself, but put him with Hughes or Bratt and he's a totally different player.

It sucks that the Devils don't have another decent option for 3C, because it would be really interesting to roll with Hughes-Bratt on L1 and Hischier-Mercer on L2.

 

[Buck Dancer]

Mercer played his best game in forever with Jack. I think the Devils have done him a disservice slotting him with the linemates he's had over the last few months. He clearly isn't ready to drive a line by himself, but put him with Hughes or Bratt and he's a totally different player.

It sucks that the Devils don't have another decent option for 3C, because it would be really interesting to roll with Hughes-Bratt on L1 and Hischier-Mercer on L2.

If I had to criticize Fitz for two things this off-season, not adding a veteran 3rd line center would be at the top of that list and not adding legit wingers for our young centers would be a close second.

 

[billingtons ghost]

The Devils made the game interesting but it’s hard to win games when players drop out hours before the game. It’s a bit interesting, I wouldn’t be surprised to see players from both teams get sick after this game.


Let’s dissect the Blackwood conundrum. You can’t blame Blackwood for this game, but it’s been a while since he stole a game for the Devils.

I think he has a low Hocky IQ for his position. Blackwood is inconsistent, often relying too much on athleticism and the butterfly, and he plays too far back. Blackwood struggles to make it across the crease.

I think you're right but it's all confidence too. The backdoor tap in fest leads you to play deeper in net and give up goals on longer shots, those goals lead you to try to be more aggressive, so you get beat on dekes.

He's just a young goalie mental mess out there from what I'm seeing. Too much thinking and not enough flow. I actually have alot of confidence he's more Jarry and will pull out of it versus Murray and not...

 

[hidek91]

Last game before what break?

Before the potential break due to our games being postponed due to lots of players missing with COVID protocol. Doesn't seem to be the case though.

 

[Better Call Sal]

There’s no mix signals at all. We managed to take the game to them and if it wasn’t for 3 game changing saves, one on Nico and two on Jack, plus the post we nailed on the PP, we would’ve won this game by 2 or maybe 3.

Merzlikins was the difference in this game, not the absence of Bratt. If we wouldn’t of generated anything offensively, I would agree but that wasn’t the case at all.

It was Korpisalo in net.

 

[Devs3cups]

Man....looking at the difference when Jack was with Bratt against Columbus last game and without him this game is startling.

Bratt is certainly the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak.

Jack had a great game last night and created many chances for himself and for others. He can definitely carry himself.

With that being said, having Bratt on his wing is of course a huge plus, as Bratt also has the talent to drive a line by himself. Just a crazy electric duo these two have become, and we’ll have that duo for a long time, which is exciting.

 

[Bleedred]

Do what you have to do for the rest of this season, but if covid is still a significant presence in our lives next season (I think it will be to some varying degrees) then either stop testing people altogether or just f***in stop testing people with no symptoms.

I would bet that by the end of this season about 80% (I wonder if that's a fair guess or if it's even more than that? It can't be much less than that) of players and maybe even coaches and support staff/people involved with the team will have tested positive at least once at some point over the last two seasons and quite a decent amount in both seasons, as we've already seen several guys end up on our covid list two years in a row.

So what are we gonna do, sit players that have had the virus 2-3 times in the last 2-3 years? They're much more of a threat to the general public (who are far away from the players at games) than the other guys in the locker room and players on other teams, who by that point will have had it 2-3 times already (asymptomatic for the last 2 or maybe all 3) and if you keep trying to look for these problems then they're gonna pop up. How many seasons do we need to go through this? We've even seen players and general managers express this over the last several weeks. I think this is one thing that the general consensus of people involved (fans, employees) with the NHL will come to an agreement on. That doesn't mean it will be the law of the league though.