Post-Game Talk: Devils lose to Caps 2-1 in OT (The More Things Change...)

[glenwo2]

....the more they stay the same.

Make no mistake :

The only reason the Devils got here (aside from a fortunate rebound put-back by McLeod; high marks for him btw) was Big Mac.


The bottom line though is that the Devils just cannot generate any offense unless it's through lucky bounces or ricochets.

Meanwhile the other teams just skate on offense, know where to go with the puck, know where to pass it, know who to pass it to...and KNOW...HOW...TO...FINISH.


No one really stood out from the rest tonight aside from the Goaltender, at least in my eyes.

SO...I've added a few more poll suggestions....


I will also add that the next game against this team is the LAST this season and THANK GOD FOR THAT!

Maybe we have a chance to win a friggin' game now.

After that game, 18 of the next 20 games will be against teams they have a chance to beat : Boston(of all teams), Buffalo, Rags, Flyers, and Pens.

Only the 2 games against the Isles don't look good.

Click to read more...

 

[NjDevsRR]

Johnsson stinks. But he isn’t viewed as a franchise savior, he’s just a guy. He did lead the team in CF% and xGF% tonight which is typically good enough when a young guy does it. But it doesn’t count when he plays well and doesn’t score. That’s just more evidence that he can’t score.

Johnsson is peculiar, black hole offensively but the puck doesn’t go in the devils net when he is on the ice. I wonder if he is still near tops on the team in GA per 60 at 5v5.

Im guessing thats why he isnt be taken out of the lineup.

 

[tr83]

Johnsson is a black hole on both sides of the puck and they're stapling him to Hughes.

Palmieri looks like he's already thinking free agency, so of course Hughes is gonna suck.

It doesn't help that any bulk Jack put on in the offseason is gone. He and Tyce Thompson should be careful when the leave the arena. The wind whips down those city streets. I wouldn't want them to take off like kites

 

[Blackjack]

 

[tr83]

Too many guys on this team are afraid to go to the net. Chip the puck high off the goalie and crash the net. If you are truly a fast team, then they should be able to get back defensively

 

[Maine Fan]

Johnsson is peculiar, black hole offensively but the puck doesn’t go in the devils net when he is on the ice. I wonder if he is still near tops on the team in GA per 60 at 5v5.

Im guessing thats why he isnt be taken out of the lineup.

I can'g agree with you.

 

[Nocashstyle]

I get what all the optimists are saying. But still, elite players don’t need to rely on their linemates in order to produce. Elite players produce no matter what and make their linemates better. And no, I don’t expect Hughes to be elite yet at this age, but his production should still be much better regardless of circumstances.

 

[The Great Dame]

Don’t tell that to Moritz Seider. That kids the real deal. Imagine if we had a top-pairing defenseman who looks capable of turning into a true #1 like that? Sheesh. When even is the last time we had a true number 1 defenseman?

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Look closely at the replay frame by frame. It appears that Orlov's shot could have been deflected off of Sharangovich's stick. Orlov gets his shots off quick and they carry lightning speed.

The Devils tried their best and could have won, but management has their work cut out for them. The game stats says it all.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Did someone get injured? Or just a reference to suckitude

 

[BostonDevil]

Does Holtz really have a chance to play this year? Not expecting him to light the world on fire but would like to see if he can shoot a little.

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Ryan Murray was a really solid pick up and played well. I feel he and Ty Smith are head and shoulders above the rest of the D.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

Ryan Murray was a really solid pick up and played well. I feel he and Ty Smith are head and shoulders above the rest of the D.

I’ll take Kulikov over Murray.

 

[tr83]

With Murray and Kulikov, I feel pretty good about the back end, except Vatanen. That guys is another black hole

 

[MadDevil]

Did someone get injured? Or just a reference to suckitude

He followed it up by saying that none of the elite looking players from that class have done much, so I'm guessing it's more the latter.

As much as I'm not overly worried about Jack yet it is kind of weird the #1 and #2 overall from that draft have a combined 67 points so far.

 

[TheDuke93]

How is that not a penalty on Ovi at the end of the game btw?

 

[BurntToast]

Johnsson is terrible and shouldn’t be in the building let alone on the Ice in OT.

I see the potential in Jack Hughes but he is super weak. Can his confidence and health withstand the time it will it take for his body to catch up? I can see him frustrating Devils fan into his mid 20s (not his fault). He just looks like a child. His passing is the only thing that saves him. He might be fast but he isn’t very good at juking defenseman, he is very easily knocked off the puck and he has fallen an alarming amount. He just looks sloppy. Unfortunately his shot is terrible. He might get a “Bratt Style” bridge deal, when it could of been of the 7mil Nico makes.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

He followed it up by saying that none of the elite looking players from that class have done much, so I'm guessing it's more the latter.

As much as I'm not overly worried about Jack yet it is kind of weird the #1 and #2 overall from that draft have a combined 67 points so far.

This years class is doing no better though. Either the days of teenagers coming in and dominating right out of the gate are over (or be much more rare), or it’s two entire classes in a row full of players not matching their projections. I’d say it probably the former. Some of these kids (Hughes, Kakko, Laf, Byfield) are going to break out at some point.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

Johnsson is terrible and shouldn’t be in the building let alone on the Ice in OT.

I see the potential in Jack Hughes but he is super weak. Can his confidence and health withstand the time it will it take for his body to catch up? I can see him frustrating Devils fan into his mid 20s (not his fault). He just looks like a child. His passing is the only thing that saves him. He might be fast but he isn’t very good at juking defenseman, he is very easily knocked off the puck and he has fallen an alarming amount. He just looks sloppy. Unfortunately his shot is terrible. He might get a “Bratt Style” bridge deal, when it could of been of the 7mil Nico makes.

Disagree with the bold. His skating is by far the best part of his game (more edge work than speed), and he’s already elite at transitioning the puck and gaining the zone. The problems come after that.

The level of horrendous the PP has sunken to continues to hurt his (and others) glamour numbers, too.

 

[Blackjack]

Did someone get injured? Or just a reference to suckitude

Dach was injured but I think he's mostly referring to Hughes and Kakko not getting going and the rest of the top of the draft class mostly spinning their wheels too.

 

[Bleedred]

Hughes is way better than Kakko.

Kakko is awful.

 

[Billdo]

Don’t tell that to Moritz Seider. That kids the real deal. Imagine if we had a top-pairing defenseman who looks capable of turning into a true #1 like that? Sheesh. When even is the last time we had a true number 1 defenseman?

27 or 4.

 

[HersheyBob27]

Hughes is way better than Kakko.

Kakko is awful.

One is a little less bad than the other

 

[Blackjack]

What’s his reputation, Jets fans didn’t seem to have any issues. Was there a lot of Kulikov hate out there?

I went back and looked at the UFA signing thread on the main board. The initial reaction was actually mostly positive but by the 2nd or 3rd page there were a few Jets fans dragging him a bit, although most of them shrugged their shoulders at a $1.15 million deal. There was one in particular that I like though, even thought it wasn't totally negative:

I feel like you’ve gauged it correctly. A bit of old hyperbole on both sides.

You definitely should not be visibility excited. There is zero percent chance that Devils fans will be saying “what a sneaky good gem this guy is!” about Kulikov by the end of the year. He’ll have some games where he throws a nice check and doesn’t look like a complete black hole offensively and there may be some murmurs of “this guy is underrated”. But like all things, the play of a 30 year old Dmitry Kulikov will even out to match what he is, which is there is a long track record of, which is commensurate with a slightly above league minimum one year deal.

Then again, he’s only making slightly above the minimum, he’s an NHL level defender and in the current times and on a team that has rolled out some truly bad depth in the past few years, there’s nothing wrong with that. Put him on your third pair and forget about him one way or the other...that’s a perfectly acceptable outcome.

Confirmed Signing with Link: - [NJD] Dmitry Kulikov signs with the Devils (1 year, $1.15M)

Haha

 

[My3Sons]

Don’t tell that to Moritz Seider. That kids the real deal. Imagine if we had a top-pairing defenseman who looks capable of turning into a true #1 like that? Sheesh. When even is the last time we had a true number 1 defenseman?

When was Lovejoy traded?