GDT: Hard Times: Your New Jersey Devils @ Washington Capitals, 7 PM, MSG+

[Better Call Sal]

Your New Jersey Devils

visit the Washington Capitals

It's been a rough go of it as of late.

Questionable lineup choices, inconsistent goaltending, and no defensive structure to speak of.

All of that said, we've seen this team be better. We KNOW they can be better.

Going into this year, we knew with this roster it wasn't necessarily going to be a smooth year.

It's time to start the turnaround. And Spidey's just the one to do it.

YOUR NEW JERSEY DEVILS UNCONFIRMED LINEUP:

#9 Taylor Hall (A) - #13 Nico Hischier - #63 Jesper Bratt
#90 Marcus Johansson - #37 Pavel Zacha - #21 Kyle Palmieri
#20 Blake Coleman - #19 Travis Zajac (A) - #41 Mikey McLeod
#11 Brian Boyle - #43 Brett Seney - #44 Miles Wood

#25 Mirco Mueller - #45 Sami Vatanen
#6 Andy Greene (C) - #28 Damon Severson
#8 Will Butcher - #12 Ben Lovejoy

#1 Keith Kinkaid (9-5-4, 2.72 GAA, .912 SV%, 3 SO)
#35 Cory Schneider (0-5-0, 4.27 GAA, .863 SV%)

SCRATCHES/INJURIES:

#16 Steve Santini (Healthy)
#18 Drew Stafford (Healthy)
#23 Stefan Noesen (Healthy)
#49 Joey Anderson (Fractured Ankle - Out Indefinitely)
#74 Egor Yakovlev (Healthy)

LEADERS:

Goals: Palmieri - 12
Assists: Hall - 17
Points: Hall - 24
+/-: Lovejoy - +7
PIM: Wood - 25
PPG: Palmieri - 5
SHG: Coleman - 2
GWG: Hall/Palmieri - 2
S: Hall - 80
S%: Zajac - 24.1%

WASHINGTON CAPITALS UNCONFIRMED LINEUP:

#8 Alex Ovechkin (C) - #19 Nicklas Backstrom (A) - #43 Tom Wilson
#13 Jakub Vrana - #92 Evgeny Kuznetsov - #10 Brett Connolly
#65 Andre Burakovsky - #20 Lars Eller - #25 Devante Smith-Pelly
#18 Chandler Stephenson - #26 Nic Dowd - #23 Dmitrij Jaskin

#6 Michal Kempny - #74 John Carlson
#9 Dmitry Orlov - #2 Matt Niskanen
#29 Christian Djoos - #22 Madison Bowey

#70 Braden Holtby (9-5-2, 2.74 GAA, .917 SV%, 1 SO)
#1 Pheonix Copley (5-2-1, 3.06 GAA, .899 SV%)

SCRATCHES/INJURIES:

#34 Jonas Siegenthaler (Healthy)
#44 Brooks Orpik (A) (Knee Surgery - 4-6 Weeks)
#72 Travis Boyd (Healthy)
#77 T.J. Oshie (Upper Body Injury - Day to Day)


LEADERS:

Goals: Ovechkin - 18
Assists: Backstrom - 22
Points: Ovechkin/Backstrom - 28
+/-: Kempny - +11
PIM: Kuznetsov - 22
PPG: Ovechkin - 7
SHG: None - 0
GWG: Oshie - 3
S: Ovechkin - 90
S%: Wilson - 28.6%​

Now, kick the ever-loving shit outta them!

STICK BY THE BOYS AND HAVE FAITH

LET'S GO DEVILS!

​

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[OmNomNom]

YOUR new jersey devils?

#notmydevils

 

[NjDevsRR]

Just.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Win.

 

[EliasFTW]

So happy i get to miss this game.

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

Lets see if we are going towards Jmac era 2.0. Lgd tho.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Lets see if we are going towards Jmac era 2.0. Lgd tho.

it hasnt entered that territory already?

MacLean's 2010 season's first 23 games were this order: 3L>1W>2L>1W>3L>1W>2L>1W>2L>1W>3L>2W>1L, went on to only win 2 of next 10 before being fired near Christmas time
Hynes' 2018 season's first 23 games were this order: 4W>3L>1W>3L>1W>3L>2W>2L>1W>3L

Thats Hynes' 9 wins vs MacLean's 7. And we all know which roster was better and by how much...

These next ten games may possibly match MacLean's season

 

[NJDevs26]

it hasnt entered that territory already?

MacLean's 2010 season's first 23 games were this order: 3L>1W>2L>1W>3L>1W>2L>1W>2L>1W>3L>2W>1L, went on to only win 2 of next 10 before being fired near Christmas time
Hynes' 2018 season's first 23 games were this order: 4W>3L>1W>3L>1W>3L>2W>2L>1W>3L

Thats Hynes' 9 wins vs MacLean's 7. And we all know which roster was better and by how much...

These next ten games may possibly match MacLean's season

The MacLean roster was clearly better and showed it under competent coaches, other than not having Parise it was still the rest of the nucleus of the team that won a division in 2010, had the best record in the league during the second half of 2011 and would win the conference in 2012.

This absolutely is not in MacLean territory yet...the only time it was close was the big road trip, but they've at least been competent at home. If they lose ten in a row from there then you have an argument. But there's a big difference between 9-10-4 and 9-22-2.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

The MacLean roster was clearly better and showed it under competent coaches, other than not having Parise it was still the rest of the nucleus of the team that won a division in 2010 and would win the conference in 2012.

This absolutely is not in MacLean territory yet...the only time it was close was the big road trip, but they've at least been competent at home. If they lose ten in a row from there then you have an argument. But there's a big difference between 9-10-4 and 9-22-2.

Clearly better?

Just how?

Top 5 Scorers (Parise hurt all year), Elias Kovalchuk Zajac Rolston Zubrus / 9 guys 32+

Top 5 Scorers Last year, Hall Hischier Palmieri Butcher Bratt / 5 guys 32+

I would most definitely take 2018's roster over 2010 for a franchise AND in a 7-game matchup.

edit: And while I don't want us to because we are still 'relatively' close to a playoff spot with the # of games left, but it wouldn't shock me to lose 8 of the next 10 with the way theyve played and interviewed as of late

 

[NJDevs26]

First of all that team actually had an above-average defense...and two competent goalies - we have a below-average defense and one competent goalie that's never played a full starter season. That's a pretty big difference you gloss over. Plus age isn't a negative in a short period of time when you're talking about a team that actually DID stuff between 2010-12. This team hasn't shown anything other than it's a borderline playoff team at best.

Sure this team can score a little more but it's also system-related. It's about goal differential more than goals themselves in terms of what's a better team. This team's goal differential is in the red at -8 (and were barely in the black at +4 last year), the 2011-12 team was +19, the 2009-10 team was +31 and I'm sure the second half of '10-11 was pretty good if I had time to look that up.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

First of all that team actually had an above-average defense...and two competent goalies - we have a below-average defense and one competent goalie that's never played a full starter season. That's a pretty big difference you gloss over. Plus age isn't a negative in a short period of time when you're talking about a team that actually DID stuff between 2010-12.

Why does what happened in 2012 matter when we dont know what'll happen by 2020?

All Im saying is its 9 wins in 23 vs 7 in 23, and with the upcoming schedule: I can see them possibly losing 8 of 10.
Caps, Jets, Lightning, Kings, Ducks, Sharks, Knights, Predators. Then for added fun, the next 5 are Columbus twice, Boston, Toronto, and Ottawa.

Edit: If they do lose 8-10 of the next 12-14... do you fire Hynes?

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Bravo on the Kinkaid Goalposts Meme... lol

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

it hasnt entered that territory already?

MacLean's 2010 season's first 23 games were this order: 3L>1W>2L>1W>3L>1W>2L>1W>2L>1W>3L>2W>1L, went on to only win 2 of next 10 before being fired near Christmas time
Hynes' 2018 season's first 23 games were this order: 4W>3L>1W>3L>1W>3L>2W>2L>1W>3L

Thats Hynes' 9 wins vs MacLean's 7. And we all know which roster was better and by how much...

These next ten games may possibly match MacLean's season

Yikes.. now that you put it that way.. PANIC!!!!

 

[Better Call Sal]

Bravo on the Kinkaid Goalposts Meme... lol

Definitely my favorite one I thought of

They’re hard to think of on the spot sometimes, especially when I’m focused on doing them in class like I did last night!

 

[Darkauron]

Spiderman will save the season!

 

[New Jersey]

I’ll watch tonight–begrudgingly.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Do I have to? Ughh, fine, I guess.

 

[FooteBahl]

Was the starter for tonight announced yet? I would give Kink the start tomorrow and Cory tomorrow. Cory hasn’t started at home yet right?

 

[Bleedred]

Was the starter for tonight announced yet? I would give Kink the start tomorrow and Cory tomorrow. Cory hasn’t started at home yet right?

I don’t even like that we can’t start Keith two in a row if he has a decent game and doesn’t face 800 shots. We should be able to. I really wish they would have pulled the trigger on sending Cory to the AHL to get some consistent work down there. And no, he hasn’t started at home this year.

I feel like if Cory starts tonight, he may win. It’s been 48 weeks tonight since his losing streak started. 24 weeks ago today, I had one of my favorite, most perfect days in quite a while. So it’s only right that day should be the halfway point between Cory’s regular season losing streak starting and ending. Don’t think he’ll get the start tonight. It will probably be Kinkaid and if we lose, Cory’s playing tomorrow. If we win, then Hynes might consider going back to him tomorrow.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Was the starter for tonight announced yet? I would give Kink the start tomorrow and Cory tomorrow. Cory hasn’t started at home yet right?

Nothing has been 100% confirmed for the lineup.

 

[NJDevs26]

Was the starter for tonight announced yet? I would give Kink the start tomorrow and Cory tomorrow. Cory hasn’t started at home yet right?

If I thought it would help that’s the way to go but starting Cory at home would scare me and potentially scar him once the boos started. My guess is they’ll pull a KK will start, tomorrow is up in the air.

 

[Bleedred]

Imagine how much worse Cory’s save percentage would be if played a couple home games and our shot counters didn’t even count some of those saves?

If I thought it would help that’s the way to go but starting Cory at home would scare me and potentially scar him once the boos started. My guess is they’ll pull a KK will start, tomorrow is up in the air.

I think we should seriously consider Keith tomorrow again if we lose and he plays well. Hynes sounded annoyed with Cory after last game he played. You could tell by the way he talked about him. He was annoyed, but refrained from throwing him under the bus. That and the fact that he didn’t make any other lineup changes the next night, when he normally would after a 5 goal against game. It seems like he also is afraid to play Cory. I was actually under the impression that Cory would possibly get that Islanders game if we hadn’t even beaten (whoever we played between Carolina and the Islanders. Montreal? LOL I forget already) with Keith. Then after the Tampa game it was like a few steps back.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

win tonight and we're 4 points back of NYR for 3rd in the Metro with 2 games in hand and also 3 points back of a WC spot

I get that the past few weeks have sucked overall, but the season is far from over. We went on a similar poor stretch around January of last year.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Cory just needs some self-confidence is all:

 

[Better Call Sal]