GDT: Devils @ Red Wings Happy Thanksgiving 7:00 MSG2

[Emperoreddy]

Nah its actually a good excuse when 3 core pieces are out. Now with Jack back and Nico close, its no longer an excuse

I'm assuming Nico is back Friday. With a bunch of winnable games in front of us and Timo being the only major piece missing games, there definitely isn't much of an excuse left.

 

[Killing Joke]

this is absolutely pathetic

 

[Bleedred]

I found myself today thinking back to when he started game 3 against the canes. When the devils scored 8 and he still nearly let Carolina rally from like five goals down to get within three with plenty of clock left. That was pitiful.

That was another swing and a miss by the staff to give him game 4.

They got what they deserved by letting him come back out for game 4.

Because he won a game where we scored 8 goals.

Again, I can’t stress enough that he’s damaged goods and a lost cause here.

I don’t think he’s doomed forever, but here he is.

You can’t get away with that kind of playoffs and be back with the same team and everything be fine the next season, unless you’re Brodeur and have already won at least one cup and been to a couple conference finals before that pitiful stinker of a playoffs.

Not in your only playoff appearance can you go on to continue a successful stint with that team.

That usually gets a goalie exiled, but we already had another guy to exile first.

Speaking of that guy, it’s hilarious that ever since he stopped being a threat to take more games from him, Vanecek’s play has badly suffered. And then when he was banished to the press box for the playoffs and not even being dressed, it’s funny that he struggled.

They almost need to scratch Schmid for games Vitek plays and get a Blackwood doppelgänger to dress and put him on the bench in a ball cap. Maybe that’s what he needs. Evidently since that guy stopped being a threat to take any playing time from him, he’s been an absolute plane wreck here.

 

[Devils731]

this is absolutely pathetic View attachment 772073

Unrelated but it probably does show how it’s still early.

Washington with a 0 goals differential has a good record while Pitt at +11 is only at .500.

Doesn’t paint a better picture for the Devils though.

 

[Bleedred]

Washington definitely overachieving with that dead ass zombie roster.

It just remains to be seen how long they continue to overachieve. Just in the short term like last year? Or long enough to make the playoffs and get absolutely blasted by a superior opponent. Which almost anyone that could possibly face is going to be a superior opponent. Unless you think Columbus is coming back from the dead and their push for the playoffs started tonight.

 

[JimEIV]

Dude, the offense is top 10 in the league at 3.7 goals per gm. Shots and goals is not a goddamn concern until we have another few games like tonight, hence the goaltending and D is being discussed more. Even in our other worst games this season we would still pot 3 goals

That's wrong. The Devils were 12th in Goals For coming into this game... I'm sure after getting shut out they'll be closer to the middle of the pack.

Their offense has been hit and miss the last 10 games and still every time they score more than 3 goals they win and every time they score 3 or less they lose. Pretty simple

 

[NjDevsRR]

Unrelated but it probably does show how it’s still early.

Washington with a 0 goals differential has a good record while Pitt at +11 is only at .500.

Doesn’t paint a better picture for the Devils though.

Extremely early. When Jack and Nico went down I made a post saying we are in for a tough stretch and it would be a small victory to stay at or above NHL 500 before we get both of them back.

Friday is the day. They will either sink or swim from here on out, no more excuses

That's wrong. The Devils were 12th in Goals For coming into this game... I'm sure after getting shut out they'll be closer to the middle of the pack.

Lol you are wrong Jim as always. You cherrypicked total goals vs goals per gm because they played less games than some other teams. Like, FFS many teams have 2 or 3 more games than us, so your retort actually makes the offense look even better than how you try to paint it. Why do you always do this? They are top 10 in goals per game. Slipped four positions after tonight, they were sixth. And was it even worth cherry-picking a stat to make them drop two places to try to win some kind of pointless argument? Enough

Edit: no one in our division is in the top 10 besides us. We really need to sort out the system play and goaltending

 

[Emperoreddy]

this is absolutely pathetic View attachment 772073

Actually makes me feel a bit better. Mountain they need to climb really isn't that steep.

 

[Bleedred]

This team's D is dog shit. Blaming the goalie is a beta move.

Tonight’s goalie has been dog shit since last February and has been badly outplayed by the other goalie (albeit in half the games played, but several more playoff games than him) in that same time period.

Defending the goaltending is the beta move. Vanecek is done here after the plane wreck that was last playoffs. He can’t be redeemed here.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Blackwood had better numbers from February on than Vanecek through the end of the playoffs, even with the disaster that was his final game as a Devil that lost him his job of even dressing to Schmid. I’m actually too scared to go look that up right now. I don’t even wanna know.

Blackwood’s disaster of a final game here was basically every. Single. Playoff. Game. Vitek. Played. Even the game he won.

 

[Ducks4Cup]

The way this team plays this season vs last season is not the same.

They have not lost their identity. They’re absolutely fine.

I wish we could put together a collage of these posts to look back at in March.

lol after what we just watched “they’re absolutely fine”
ok…

 

[NJDevs26]

Dude, the offense is top 10 in the league at 3.7 goals per gm. Shots and goals is not a goddamn concern until we have another few games like tonight, hence the goaltending and D is being discussed more. Even in our other worst games this season we would still pot 3 goals

It is but leading the world with 23 PPG is a big reason for that. A 35% power play probably isn't sustainable in the long run though.

 

[Emperoreddy]

It is but leading the world with 23 PPG is a big reason for that. A 35% power play probably isn't sustainable in the long run though.

Their 5 on 5 shooting percentage isn't sustainable either though. PP will cool off, but 5 on 5 scoring will go up.

 

[NjDevsRR]

It is but leading the world with 23 PPG is a big reason for that. A 35% power play probably isn't sustainable in the long run though.

And our 5 on 5 goal rate is unsustainably low. That wont continue either, especially as we get healthier

A lot of folks here need a little more patience. Im also concerned, but they are at .500, its not 2010-2011 right now. They lost three big guns to injury and are slowly getting healthier. I believe this team Will right the ship, its too talented not to

 

[Devs3cups]

It is but leading the world with 23 PPG is a big reason for that. A 35% power play probably isn't sustainable in the long run though.

Being 30th in 5v5 goals for and 31st in S% when you're 11th in xGF, 4th in SCF and 6th in HDCF probably isn't sustainable either (all stats 5v5).

The 5v5 offense will get better.

 

[Bleedred]

Roll with Schmid for a while.

Efforts like this are not conducive to winning with any goalie. Best case is literally a 1-0 loss with this kind of pathetic effort.

But roll with Schmid.

Vitek’s load is blown here. We are past the point of no return with him. If he’s gonna play it needs to be in a much more reduced role. Hear me now, believe me later.

He’s so much of a lost cause here that I don’t think Kinkaid or Kallgren would be much worse.

Not MUCH worse at least.

Vitek won’t find his game again until he’s in another city. One where he didn’t have an astronomically bad playoffs in his only playoff appearance there, where the team was rescued by another goalie and able to salvage the round without him.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I don’t disagree with you on xG, I think it can be misleading. But when I watch the games I see other goalies make difficult saves and I just don’t see vitek make them.

I don’t see other goalies bailing out this many odd man rushes, clear cut cross ice feeds to a wide open man on the opposite side, unforced turnovers that result in extended shifts in the zone with super scrambly defenders, etc.

If there was a way to measure chances on a more varied scale that took into account additional elements other then just location, I’m confident the devils would be at the bottom of the league is those against.

 

[NJDevs26]

Being 30th in 5v5 goals for and 31st in S% when you're 11th in xGF, 4th in SCF and 6th in HDCF probably isn't sustainable either (all stats 5v5).

I mean you'd think Jack, Bratt, Dougie and Toffoli alone would be better but I'm not sure how many more people I can trust offensively right now. Nico's goalscoring has dried up since late last year and he's coming off seemingly major injury, Timo - maybe we're due for a good streak? I'm still waiting to see it here. Mercer's been dogshit awful all year, same with Palat.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Tonight aside, I believe Palat's advanced stats have been solid. Puck just hasn't been going in for him and injuries have put him in a top 6 role he isn't fit for.

 

[glenwo2]

Washington definitely overachieving with that dead ass zombie roster.

It just remains to be seen how long they continue to overachieve. Just in the short term like last year? Or long enough to make the playoffs and get absolutely blasted by a superior opponent. Which almost anyone that could possibly face is going to be a superior opponent. Unless you think Columbus is coming back from the dead and their push for the playoffs started tonight.

Isn't it nice to have other teams fans (and fans of teams that had zero to do with tonight's matchup) come by and insert their unwanted 2 cents?

This is what I now do :

 

[Bleedred]

Isn't it nice to have other teams fans (and fans of teams that had zero to do with tonight's matchup) come by and insert their unwanted 2 cents?

This is what I do :

I don’t know, I didn’t really notice those posts. Unless they were deleted lol.

 

[glenwo2]

I don’t know, I didn’t really notice those posts. Unless they were deleted lol.

It was that one who said "complaining about goaltending is a beta move". LOL

 

[Devs3cups]

I mean you'd think Jack, Bratt, Dougie and Toffoli alone would be better but I'm not sure how many more people I can trust offensively right now. Nico's goalscoring has dried up since late last year, Timo - maybe we're due for a good streak? I'm still waiting to see it here. Mercer's been dogshit awful all year, same with Palat.

They're generating offense at pretty much the same level as they were last season. The finishing has been pretty meh but that usually stabilizes.

The team has enough problems in net/on defense, we don't have to dig for more problems when they aren't really there.

 

[NJDevs26]

The way this team plays this season vs last season is not the same.

lol after what we just watched “they’re absolutely fine”
ok…

I'm gonna be nice and ask once...why do you have Ducks4Cup as a screename and profess to be a Devils fan?

 

[glenwo2]

I don't want to hear a Caps fan's unwanted opinion, @Bleedred

 

[Killing Joke]

It is but leading the world with 23 PPG is a big reason for that. A 35% power play probably isn't sustainable in the long run though.

Advanced stats show the pp was actually on a shooting bender. It’s. It actually even that good expected goals wise.