GDT: Devils @ Sabres - DAS EUPHORIA PART TROIS

[Camille the Eel]

Our speed gave them fits tonight. Took over the game progressively after the first ten minutes. If a team isn't heavy with us and doesn't clog up the ice, we are evidently a tough match up.

That said, they were missing their best player, Eichel, had Kane just coming back after missing a bunch of time, and lost O'Reilly for the third period. That's their top guy and two of their other three best players.

I am super impressed and surprised by the increased physicality of Severson's play. Against Foligno a couple of times tonight he threw his wait around. He's bulkier then when he came up two years ago. Has matured physically (you forget he's six feet tall) and he's got this compact mass and strength that he's using very effectively. He keeps a low center of gravity compared to bigger players and with his strength on his skates is able to move them and hold position. With that and jumping into plays late to wheel and deal he's starting to look like an all star D man.

Who would a thought we'd be 7 - 3 - 3 after 13 games. Given the west coast trip coming up, important to bank points now.

Also thought Zacha fine tonight. Made some good plays, safe chips out of our end, good passes. I understand him at wing with Josefson though I don't like it. He's tougher in the corners than JJ and it also takes the pressure off the kid; allows him to acclimatize to the NHL game without too much responsibility.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Our speed gave them fits tonight. Took over the game progressively after the first ten minutes. If a team isn't heavy with us and doesn't clog up the ice, we are evidently a tough match up.

That said, they were missing their best player, Eichel, had Kane just coming back after missing a bunch of time, and lost O'Reilly for the third period. That's their top guy and two of their other three best players.

I am super impressed and surprised by the increased physicality of Severson's play. Against Foligno a couple of times tonight he threw his wait around. He's bulkier then when he came up two years ago. Has matured physically (you forget he's six feet tall) and he's got this compact mass and strength that he's using very effectively. He keeps a low center of gravity compared to bigger players and with his strength on his skates is able to move them and hold position. With that and jumping into plays late to wheel and deal he's starting to look like an all star D man.

Who would a thought we'd be 7 - 3 - 3 after 13 games. Given the west coast trip coming up, important to bank points now.

Also thought Zacha fine tonight. Made some good plays, safe chips out of our end, good passes. I understand him at wing with Josefson though I don't like it. He's tougher in the corners than JJ and it also takes the pressure off the kid; allows him to acclimatize to the NHL game without too much responsibility.

Giving them the injury excuse is bunk when our best players are also playing like crap and we were missing Camm. Not to mention our other best player, Cory, had the night off.

 

[Bleedred]

Giving them the injury excuse is bunk when our best players are also playing like crap and we were missing Camm. Not to mention our other best player, Cory, had the night off.

Agreed.

And we've played and beaten MUCH better teams than the Sabres this year too. The important thing is that we beat these cream of the crap teams, which didn't help us at all last year because we lost these kinds of games to Toronto and Columbus particularly. Well, we didn't even get points against Columbus in the games we lost to them.

I expect to beat the Sabres most of the time, even when Eichel and company are in the lineup.

They're not that great of a team and they're coached by Danny Abysmal, who was the commander of the ship behind many Pens choke outs earlier in the decade.

The Sabres are probably the worst team we've played so far, so I don't feel the need to count blessings that we beat them without their best players and with an AHL caliber goalie in net. Maybe the Hurricanes and Coyotes are worse, it's a toss up. The Coyotes and Hurricanes have much worse goaltending than the Sabres have had the last few years though.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Agreed.

And we've played and beaten MUCH better teams than the Sabres this year too. The important thing is that we beat these cream of the crap teams, which didn't help us at all last year because we lost these kinds of games to Toronto and Columbus particularly. Well, we didn't even get points against Columbus in the games we lost to them.

I expect to beat the Sabres most of the time, even when Eichel and company are in the lineup.

They're not that great of a team and they're coached by Danny Abysmal, who was the commander of the ship behind many Pens choke outs earlier in the decade.

The Sabres are probably the worst team we've played so far, so I don't feel the need to count blessings that we beat them without their best players and with an AHL caliber goalie in net. Maybe the Hurricanes and Coyotes are worse, it's a toss up. The Coyotes and Hurricanes have much worse goaltending than the Sabres have had the last few years though.

I disagree. I think the Canes are the worst. They looked absolutely terrible. Yotes might be even worse, but they played a better game against us then the rest.

It is good to be beating the cream of the crap for once. We left way to many points on the board against the cream of the crap last year.

 

[DerekDevils30]

It is good to be beating the cream of the crap for once. We left way to many points on the board against the cream of the crap last year.

Yep. After pulling my hair out the past few years, it's nice to pick up the points you should get.

 

[Bleedred]

I disagree. I think the Canes are the worst. They looked absolutely terrible. Yotes might be even worse, but they played a better game against us then the rest.

It is good to be beating the cream of the crap for once. We left way to many points on the board against the cream of the crap last year.

The Canes are weird. They are a pretty good possession team and they seem to have good coaching. Buffalo probably edges them in offensive talent though and absolutely has them at goaltending, although the guy we played tonight has been worse than Ward and Lack in the past few years. Carolina kind of reminds me of us under Pete in the lockout year and maybe in 13-14 as well. I think their forwards might be even worse than that though, just quicker and not as old.

We could go 4 in a row tomorrow. That would be very nice. I'll sadly be missing it. I'm going to the Sharks/Bolts game in Tampa. Hopefully I'll catch the replay. We played a game on the same night I saw the Sharks in Tampa last year, it was a blowout loss to Philly.

 

[VoidCreature]

According to NHL network, the last time a Devils defenseman scored on a penalty shot was Scott Niedermayer against the Habs on November 11, 1998. Same day!

 

[Cheddabombs]

I'll have to watch the highlights tomorrow but just looking at their record, 7-3-3 is looking pretty good right about now. A little better than I thought they would be thus far. Too bad the metro has 3 teams that are clearly above the rest.

I want another one tomorrow, no reason we can't bring it to them again! Also... Greene scoring on a penalty shot in OT was just about the last way I thought we would win this one aha

 

[Bleedred]

Yep. After pulling my hair out the past few years, it's nice to pick up the points you should get.

Speaking of leaving points on the table, we left way too many on the table to Buffalo in 13-14 and the lockout year. We had some brutal losses to them in the shootout those two years. It was absolutely frustrating.

That Bernier OT winner was pretty hilarious though. I'll never forget that night, both because of the Bernier OT goal and reasons I don't wanna remember. Steve's call on the Bernier goal was hilarious.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I'll have to watch the highlights tomorrow but just looking at their record, 7-3-3 is looking pretty good right about now. A little better than I thought they would be thus far. Too bad the metro has 3 teams that are clearly above the rest.

I want another one tomorrow, no reason we can't bring it to them again! Also... Greene scoring on a penalty shot in OT was just about the last way I thought we would win this one aha

We are 3 points behind those teams with a game in hand.

We are currently 5th on the conference. I don't think anyone expected this 13 games in.

 

[NJDevs26]

We are 3 points behind those teams with a game in hand.

We are currently 5th on the conference. I don't think anyone expected this 13 games in.

It's a cushion they need with the nightmare Dallas + WC trip coming up next and a ton more road games the next month.

 

[Bleedred]

It's a cushion they need with the nightmare Dallas + WC trip coming up next and a ton more road games the next month.

We've done surprisingly well on the California trips the last 3 years.

We've won in San Jose and LA the last two years, while getting blown out in Anaheim both times.

Then we won in LA and Anaheim in 13-14, while losing in San Jose.

The Canadian trips are worse nowadays. No words even needed for the Florida trips.

 

[Emperoreddy]

We've done surprisingly well on the California trips the last 3 years.

We've won in San Jose and LA the last two years, while getting blown out in Anaheim both times.

Then we won in LA and Anaheim in 13-14, while losing in San Jose.

The Canadian trips are worse nowadays. No words even needed for the Florida trips.

Cali teams aren't world beaters either. We should be able to pick up points out there.

 

[VoidCreature]

Cali teams aren't world beaters either. We should be able to pick up points out there.

Interestingly enough, Hall has scored all his goals this year against Western teams. It might be coincidence, or maybe he's more familiar with the goalies out there. Either way, I think he'll help us when we have to go to western Canada, especially when we play the Oilers. He'll be flying in those games.

 

[Edmonton East]

Couple grievances.

1) Zacha needs to play center. I don't think there is a debate to be had here

2) keep Palms the hell off the point on the PP. Hell, I'm fine with taking him off it all together to send a message. He looks awful.

 

[Edmonton East]

Having forwards who pose a threat to the other team especially with speed generally helps to ease up the pressure on our defenders.

If you look at the defenders Pittsburgh won the cup with, they weren't a spectacular group, but Pittsburgh's speed at forward covered up for a lot of that.

Pitt also had a top 3 in the league PMD that ate 25 minutes a night. That can cover it up as well.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Pitt also had a top 3 in the league PMD that ate 25 minutes a night. That can cover it up as well.

Well something is covering up it up because we are doing well defensively right now.

 

[Comparison Ford]

Watching the replay now. I like the tenacity of Bennett-Henrique-Palmieri and think they can do some damage once they get some points on the board.

Also, Taylor Hall is an animal.

 

[Edmonton East]

Well something is covering up it up because we are doing well defensively right now.

Transition game is mediocre, and that's a big part of the defense. Also, they were lucky to not give up a handful of goals in the opening period if you just wanna talk about zone play tonight.

That said, Severson has been great. He is one of the most important players to this team right now from my perspective. Hopefully he stays healthy or it will be a serious struggle for this team.

 

[BurntToast]

I remember watching Severson play in juniors and he was a beast. If I am remembering correctly they were down to four D in the playoffs and still won a game or two. The Devils are not blowing the doors off teams and the pp is a non threat but they have great resilientcy. OT losses to some good teams and 1 win 2 loss to the Lightning. I wish they would stop smashing lines together. Coaches, Devils had a top ten pp last year, make one unit the same as last years top and then you can throw everything else into the second including Hall. Its seem ppl try to hard to force it to him or are overthing. Remember when we couldn't score 5v5 and pp had to be great?!