GDT: ECSF Game 1: Carolina Hurricanes vs. YOUR NEW JERSEY DEVILS, 7PM ESPN

[Devs3cups]

X3. I’d rather have Luke in there making the same mistakes as Graves while being dynamic offensively, than Graves doing his best mud-footed pylon act.

X4. Graves does seem to get caught flat footed and he makes mistakes, whithout contributing a whole lot in the O-zone. That 2nd goal against was oof.

I don’t see why we couldn’t try Luke. His speed could be beneficial for retrievals, breakouts and transition play.

The only thing I wonder about is the PK. Who takes his spot? Severson?

 

[Camille the Eel]

You don’t break up your top defense and penalty kill pair in round 2 of the playoffs and bench one of the guys in order to play a rookie with one games NHL experience, even if he’s Luke Hughes.

For Luke even to be dressed we would have to go 11 forwards and 7 D.

 

[Devs3cups]

You don’t break up your top defense and penalty kill pair in round 2 of the playoffs and bench one of the guys in order to play a rookie with one games NHL experience, even if he’s Luke Hughes.

For Luke even to be dressed we would have to go 11 forwards and 7 D.

This is more probable. It could potentially give a little more ice to Hughes, who wouldn’t be constantly matched up against Staal.

 

[Nocashstyle]

You don’t break up your top defense and penalty kill pair in round 2 of the playoffs and bench one of the guys in order to play a rookie with one games NHL experience, even if he’s Luke Hughes.

For Luke even to be dressed we would have to go 11 forwards and 7 D.

Siegenthaler was benched for Brendan Smith. Anything is possible.

 

[RandoDoomer]

I'll only start to worry if Period 1 tomorrow night looks like Period 1 last night. They had a lot working against them. No rest, coming off emotional 7-gamer versus biggest rival, no real practice, etc.

It's annoying spotting team wins in there series, but whatever. They looked better later in the game, so I'm not gonna hit the panic button (.........yet).

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Canes were 7-1 at home last postseason, 0-6 on the road.

 

[Torts]

To be fair...the Leafs made the call in round 1 to sit Holl and insert Liljegren. It changed the way their defence played and ultimately they won the series. Maybe it is time to get Luke some gametime to potentially give the team a boost.

Also, I guess I'd prefer the team to play one of their worst games all season in game 1 of a series vs. game 7. Lots of series left! Go Devils!

 

[Clam Jensen]

You don’t break up your top defense and penalty kill pair in round 2 of the playoffs and bench one of the guys in order to play a rookie with one games NHL experience, even if he’s Luke Hughes.

For Luke even to be dressed we would have to go 11 forwards and 7 D.

Graves is killing this team though. Nows not the time to be loyal just because.

 

[Billdo]

To be fair...the Leafs made the call in round 1 to sit Holl and insert Liljegren. It changed the way their defence played and ultimately they won the series. Maybe it is time to get Luke some gametime to potentially give the team a boost.

Also, I guess I'd prefer the team to play one of their worst games all season in game 1 of a series vs. game 7. Lots of series left! Go Devils!

Liljegren also isn't a rookie with... two games of NHL experience.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Sitting Graves seems like potentially over-indexing on the Jarvis goal, but I do want Luke in the lineup.

Generally hate 11-7 lineups especially against Carolina too. I think I’d sit Bahl for Luke, maybe pair him with Marino and move Graves down.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Sitting Graves seems like potentially over-indexing on the Jarvis goal, but I do want Luke in the lineup.

Generally hate 11-7 lineups especially against Carolina too. I think I’d sit Bahl for Luke, maybe pair him with Marino and move Graves down.

I'd probably sit Graves but not just for the Jarvis goal. That was pretty bad but shit happens. The biggest reason for me is how long he holds onto the puck in the defensive zone. The Canes are on the defense so fast, Graves is bound to have us hemmed in the zone for longer than needed because he just won't get rid of the puck.

 

[Nocashstyle]

I'd probably sit Graves but not just for the Jarvis goal. That was pretty bad but shit happens. The biggest reason for me is how long he holds onto the puck in the defensive zone. The Canes are on the defense so fast, Graves is bound to have us hemmed in the zone for longer than needed because he just won't get rid of the puck.

Graves has always froze with the puck…the bigger the moment, the more he panics and doesn’t know what to do so he just does nothing.

It’s not even just playoffs, during the regular season he would routinely be the guy turning the puck over in last minutes of a close game.

 

[Stubu]

Jesper Houdini

Which one?

(Too many Jespers in the game to keep track. Bratt, Fast, Kotkaniemi. Same way on Canes with Jordans Staal and Martinook. Then the Isles series had two legit Sebastians Aho, once in the penalty box same time. Must be highly confusing for the PBP crews.)

(Clarification: while I'm something of a Canes fan, your team is still scary as hell through the rest of this series. And looking at your combined roster now and cupboard tomorrow you have some of the brightest futures in the league. And an affably unorthodox HF fanbase too. So f*** y'all and so forth.)

 

[Stubu]

Canes obviously had a game plan to assign Staal to negate Hughes and that's why the two speedsters on the team, Necas and Drury, were rather uniquely on that line.

I actually missed the game outside the short highlights, so's I ask. Was Koko Miami matched up against Hischier, in your view? If yes, I have trouble seeing that working out over a full series.

This continues to be a thriller. Your team has shown it can regroup and come back despite its youth.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Would love to see Luke in next game. So much of the playoffs is about matchups and Luke brings something that our other defensemen don't, in his speed and transition play, that could be a big boon.

I can get if they didn't want to play him against a heavier Rangers team. But this is a much different series.

Completely agreed. We have a crazy slow D. I was concerned about our D's lack of footspeed coming into this series, and those concerns were validated. Graves and Bahl were both badly exposed. We need to play Luke Hughes.

Devils fully deserved to be down 2 after that first period, but they got better as the game went on. Unfortunately they got a bit unlucky with the 3rd goal, when Siegenthaler lost his helmet and had to leave the ice. Hard to blame Schmid for any of those first 3 goals, but I understand why he was pulled. Vanacek let in a pretty soft 4th goal. And the 5th was an empty netter.

They outshot the Hurricanes 17-13 in the last two periods which is at least a bit more promising (yeah score effects but still, after only 1 "shot" in the 1st period it was nice to get something on net). But 5v5 adj numbers still looked pretty good, especially after the first period:

We really missed Meier though.

Hopefully they learn from it and come to play for game 2, because I'll be there. After their turnaround vs NYR hopefully they have confidence in their ability to get back in the series.

 

[FinnishDevil]

I wont be too worried unless the series is like 3-0 or 3-1. Have full faith that we can compete and beat anyone in this league with our best game.

 

[TF1970]

Definitely disappointed in laying an egg last night. Just wish they at least wouldn't have gotten waxed the way they did. like i said beforehand, this is a completely different challenge than what the rangers bring.

 

[Marv4Life]

Not even gonna bother venting. Just make adjustments cuz you ain't comin' back down 2-0 again.

 

[JrFischer54]

Considering the first period they had the score really should’ve been 2-1 and a totally different hockey game. They were getting chances and Anderson isn’t igor so they will absolutely go in. Need Timo back in the lineup big time I wouldn’t make any other moves then that right now. If we go down 2-0 then put Luke in. Also schmid 100% all the way he only took him out to shake the team up and I think it worked they scored and played better.

Bratt my boy sucks!

I’m not worried either. I think losing 5-1 wakes them up

 

[FooteBahl]

I'm going to miss Game 2 and the rest of this series as I will be out of the country for two weeks. meh.

Hopefully when I get back, the Devils are still in the playoffs...

Safe travels, sir. Are you going on a darkness retreat? Lol

 

[Clam Jensen]

Safe travels, sir. Are you going on a darkness retreat? Lol

I think he's going to Sweden to talk to Bratt's family about his play and contract demands.

 

[Brick City]

It was a weird game 1 of a round 2 for me and the group I was with. Definitely less engaged and still coming off the high of game 7. It didn't help the bar we were at didn't give us game audio; it had a good Devils fan presence as last round progressed but hardly anyone showed up last night.

I think even the fans are still gassed, and I mean both energy and wallet. It would've been a very soft sellout in Newark if we were hosting game 1 imo. Hopefully team and fans will be fully recharged come Friday night.

 

[NJDevs26]

It was a weird game 1 of a round 2 for me and the group I was with. Definitely less engaged and still coming off the high of game 7. It didn't help the bar we were at didn't give us game audio; it had a good Devils fan presence as last round progressed but hardly anyone showed up last night.

I think even the fans are still gassed, and I mean both energy and wallet. It would've been a very soft sellout in Newark if we were hosting game 1 imo.

I would have actually been far more worried about selling out games if we had home ice in this series - Wednesday two nights after Game 7, a Game 2 at 8 PM (albeit on a Friday), Thursday and Monday late night as potential home games coming off a four home game Ranger series?

Having only two-three home games max with two weekend makes it easier for the Devils to get sellouts and justify keeping the prices high

 

[BillD]

Islander fans are rooting for the Devils to do what they have shown they can do.
Not because we lost to the Canes (an annoying team to play against) but there is no real ill will among fan bases. Devils didn't exist when the Isles were great and since the move to NJ the Devils and Isles were on opposite situations with the Devs being ascendant and winning Cups and the Islanders sucking. When we were good in '92-93 and later under Trotz, Devs were rebuilding. Don't think we ever met in the playoffs.
I live in NJ and am very impressed by their young speedy team. So fun to watch. Watching every game and have loads of confidence that this is a winnable series.
Go Devs.

 

[devilsblood]

Definitely disappointed in laying an egg last night. Just wish they at least wouldn't have gotten waxed the way they did. like i said beforehand, this is a completely different challenge than what the rangers bring.

We definitely don't like losing in exciting fashion, that's for sure.