Took the trip to Buffalo from Long Island to witness this debacle....what a wonderful reward the Devils provided for my fandom. It’s one thing to lose but this was disgusting, embarrassing and completely unacceptable. I’m not one to subscribe to the sky is falling notion after just two games but this defense is a complete train wreck and I don’t see a fix in sight...one gaffe after another and another yet again. Part of the problem is we have too many forwards who are not adept defensively to help chip in and mask the blue line deficiencies. We seemingly do not have a good mix or balance of players with varying skill sets to complement one another. This defense still has no sandpaper and quality stay-at-home types. Where is the defensive structure out there? This team looks like it just wants to play run and gun. Again...unacceptable and that’s on the coaching staff.
I have not been anti-Hynes and again, I realize it’s only two games...HOWEVER, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or coaching genius to figure out that a Hughes/Gusev/Bratt line is going to be a disaster waiting to happen defensively. OK- so he figured that out after game 1 and then went to a line of Hughes/Wood/Bratt for game 2? Miles Wood!! Are you kidding me?! Pavel Zacha absolutely should be playing with Hughes to stabilize that line defensively and help with faceoffs. I’ve said it time and time again as well that Hughes can potentially unlock some of the offensive ability we’ve seen in glimpses from Zacha.
Quickly losing a lot of faith in this coaching staff...no more excuses...
