GDT: New Jersey Devils @ Washington Capitals 7:00PM: Playing out the stretch edition

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

TG-When I asked Lamoriello the reasoning for sitting Matteau tonight, eh said, “There's no real reason.â€

“We've got healthy players who we want to put them in situations that they can succeed and we'll go game by game and see what the best situation is for the young guys,†Lamoriello said. “Should they stay? How long? There's no definite plan. It's going to really (depend) on the how the game is, who's healthy, who isn't healthy, a lot of variables.â€

“What he brings every night is energy and physicality,†Lamoriello said. “I don't think there's anyone he fears. I think he'd rather go through than around you. I think that's what you need on the road.â€

Judging by the last line in Lou's quote, maybe Matteau will just play in all the road games from now to the end of the season?

 

[Bleedred]

Khudobin?

I was wondering why the heck you'd make that trip in late March anyway unless you were already planning to see friends or something

My friend had tickets from earlier. Too far of a trip though.

Just losing to that team at all makes me mad. Especially in their current sorry state.

 

[JK3]

Judging by the last line in Lou's quote, maybe Matteau will just play in all the road games from now to the end of the season?

Sorry I left out this line that was before that last sentence, Lou's actually referring to Ruutu there.

TG - Ruutu was a healthy scratch Monday night, but Lamoriello seemed to want his physical play and tenacity back in the lineup tonight.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Sorry I left out this line that was before that last sentence, Lou's actually referring to Ruutu there.

TG - Ruutu was a healthy scratch Monday night, but Lamoriello seemed to want his physical play and tenacity back in the lineup tonight.

Oh, thank you for clarifying. So maybe it's Ruutu that gets the road games, and Matteau that will get the home games. Or maybe there is no plan I can hope to understand, not being Lou.

 

[Bleedred]

That was the first game I think we ever scored a 6 on 5 goal when Schneider played.

It was definitely our first all season.

I keep thinking we did it with Kinkaid one game, but I might be thinking of the handful of times we did it with Marty last season.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Oh, thank you for clarifying. So maybe it's Ruutu that gets the road games, and Matteau that will get the home games. Or maybe there is no plan I can hope to understand, not being Lou.

Or Lou expected all the hitting we saw tonight and didn't want Matteau to get smashed up.

Idk these are all stabs in the dark. We will never get the answer.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Or Lou expected all the hitting we saw tonight and didn't want Matteau to get smashed up.

Idk these are all stabs in the dark. We will never get the answer.

Lou could have wanted to protect Matteau. Really anything's possible. We'll never know until one of us figures out how to invade Lou's mind.

 

[njdevils1982]

No one will ever get Denis Maruk.

missed game and reading through the thread……is this something to do with trivia cause ive got a feeling i might have a chance……


ok…..reading on….

 

[Emperoreddy]

missed game and reading through the thread……is this something to do with trivia cause ive got a feeling i might have a chance……


ok…..reading on….

Name the 4 caps with 50 goal seasons that isn't Ovi

 

[JK3]

Matteau would have been fine, he's a big kid and can take care of himself. Isn't this the role we want him in? Makes zero sense, tonight was the perfect game for him to play.

The only thing I can see is they want him to get a little more seasoning being up with the team, going through some practices and getting some instruction at this level.

 

[njdevils1982]

Name the 4 caps with 50 goal seasons that isn't Ovi

ya…..i wouldve blanked on all tonight even while previously knowing about that crazy ass maruk season….

 

[NJDevs26]

Name the 4 caps with 50 goal seasons that isn't Ovi

Sadly I'm not even sure if Jagr was one of them cause he was so awful there, or at least I remember him being awful.

Looked it up, nope...and among the others who did do it, I wouldn't have gotten Carpenter either for that matter. Peter Bondra I should have remembered, he was real good for a while. Gartner's the only one I remembered offhand.

 

[DenisSamson3]

Yeah I think Jagr had one or two seasons in his 30's there. Bondra?

 

[Emperoreddy]

Sadly I'm not even sure if Jagr was one of them cause he was so awful there, or at least I remember him being awful.

Looked it up, nope...and among the others who did do it, I wouldn't have gotten Carpenter either for that matter. Peter Bondra I should have remembered, he was real good for a while. Gartner's the only one I remembered offhand.

Steve blurted out Carpainter immediately.

Jim nailed it. Don't ask me what page lolol

 

[Bleedred]

I don't think I saw Gionta and Zubrus on the 6 on 5. And of course we score!

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I don't think I saw Gionta and Zubrus on the 6 on 5. And of course we score!

What a surprise.

I do hope our coaching staff took notes on that...

 

[MadDevil]

Matteau would have been fine, he's a big kid and can take care of himself. Isn't this the role we want him in? Makes zero sense, tonight was the perfect game for him to play.

The only thing I can see is they want him to get a little more seasoning being up with the team, going through some practices and getting some instruction at this level.

That's the thing I think people tend to forget. A kid can learn things without playing every game. Being around the coaching staff and players can help a kid learn how to be a pro, learn the system, etc. And it could just be as simple as Matteau, Ruutu, and Zubrus are all kind of similar in their skillsets, so they're pretty much interchangeable. Boucher has a bit of an advantage in that he's got a skillset that not a lot of our forwards do. So he's probably going to get the nod over Matteau if it's between the two. Let's see what happens next game.

 

[Bleedred]

TG said we scored two goals with the goalie pulled this year already, we were just trailing by 2 both times.

I can't remember either.

I immediately remembered after looking at the game logs. Last time was against the Stars in a 4-3 loss on that last road trip right before DeBoer was fired.

Other time was in that stupid comeback in St Louis where we seemed to score 3 goals in the last 4 or 5 minutes of the game and lost 4-3. Back when our PK (thanks again POS Foligno!) was giving up multiple goals per game and Cory got pulled and Kinkaid gave up what wound up being the game winner (a PP goal) and got the loss. We were losing 3-0 while Cory was still in there (big surprise). Then the Blues thought it was April and did their best playoff impersonation and stopped playing for 5 minutes. Forgot who scored the goal, but I clearly remember Ryder scoring two of the goals.

Kinkaid was also in during the Dallas game after coming in to relieve Schneider also. I knew I remembered scoring a couple 6 on 5's when Kinkaid was in.

 

[NJDevs26]

TG said we scored two goals with the goalie pulled this year already, we were just trailing by 2 both times.

I can't remember either.

I'm gonna guess off the top of my head one was in St. Louis when Ryder scored those useless pair of goals late in the futile comeback

 

[MadDevil]

Some nights we could have a 6-on-3 and it wouldn't matter.

 

[Bleedred]

I'm gonna guess off the top of my head one was in St. Louis when Ryder scored those useless pair of goals late in the futile comeback

Yup that was one of them! Gomez scored the other one in Dallas.

Some nights we could have a 6-on-3 and it wouldn't matter.

My favorite is the next shift after calling a timeout and drawing up a play, we proceed to lose the faceoff and the puck is in the back of our empty net usually within 5 or 6 seconds, sometimes even less.

That's happened a lot lately. I actually got excited when we held the zone for more than 10 seconds tonight on the 6 on 5 and was feeling very optimistic that we would actually tie the game during it.

 

[Better Call Sal]

At this point, competitive games are all I ask for. I'm glad they're still staying with teams and giving the effort they have.

I can't believe Bernier's season.

 

[JimEIV]

Steve blurted out Carpainter immediately.

Jim nailed it. Don't ask me what page lolol

I liked the Caps in the early to mid 80's...Some of my favorite players as a kid where there. I used to really like Kevin Hatcher and of course Rod Langway, Scott Stevens and Larry Murphy....Those teams were stacked defensively. I liked Hatcher and Langway because they American defensemen.

And I always liked Gaetan Duchesne too. Don't ask me why? I think I just liked his name.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Sorry I left out this line that was before that last sentence, Lou's actually referring to Ruutu there.

TG - Ruutu was a healthy scratch Monday night, but Lamoriello seemed to want his physical play and tenacity back in the lineup tonight.

Because if there's one thing Matteau isn't, it's physical...

That's just an all around terrible answer. I'd rather him just say "status quo" and start making balloon animals to distract everyone.

 

[Drewr15]

I liked the Caps in the early to mid 80's...Some of my favorite players as a kid where there. I used to really like Kevin Hatcher and of course Rod Langway, Scott Stevens and Larry Murphy....Those teams were stacked defensively. I liked Hatcher and Langway because they American defensemen.

And I always liked Gaetan Duchesne too. Don't ask me why? I think I just liked his name.

Realize how I old I am because I remember all of these guys too.