GDT: Preseason game #1 YOUR NEW JERSEY DEVILS @ Boston

[Sascha Goc]

I only saw bits and pieces of this game , I was flipping back and forth between this game, football , and the subway series. I just hope by the end of the preseason they have an idea of how to play the system because I imagine it will be a complete 180 of what we were doing from January-April last season.

Before anyone makes any sweeping judgements about players from these preseason games can we please keep in mind this board was raving about how Michael Ryder, Martin Havlat, and Reid Boucher had such great preseasons last season and were going to have great 14/15 seasons. We all know how that ended up.

 

[StnTwnDevil]

Zacha actually started getting better as the night went along but his line mates were not in sync with him. He is very good at handling the puck but I saw one instance where he overhandled it and the other team took it for a breakaway.

That was more of the puck just bouncing over Zacha's stick than him over handling it. But I do agree he got better as the game went on. He seems like he's a bit uncomfortable right now, I think that's part of why he got off to a fairly uneventful start.

 

[Emperoreddy]

That was more of the puck just bouncing over Zacha's stick than him over handling it. But I do agree he got better as the game went on. He seems like he's a bit uncomfortable right now, I think that's part of why his game got better towards the end.

I do think there is some nerves involved with him here at the beginning.

I'm not worried. All the tools are there.

 

[Oneiro]

I thought Josefson also looked good last night. Was a little more active playmaking-wise than I've seen before.

One thing: Matteau has not played that many games. Can we really say that he's a 3rd-4th liner yet? When he's played, I've seen a guy that is on the whole much craftier and sneaky in the offensive zone than a guy who lives off the boards and the cycle game.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I saw the whole game last night and first period they were all great but then everyone started slowing down and not skating.

Zacha actually started getting better as the night went along but his line mates were not in sync with him. He is very good at handling the puck but I saw one instance where he overhandled it and the other team took it for a breakaway.

Our best D pair was Merrill-Severson both of them were good last night. Gelly had some good breakouts but I don't think he belongs on the PK. He failed to clear the pass that lead to that first goal.

I saw some good things out of both Scarlet and White. They are both very good skaters and Scarlet has a nice shot. Our defense was doing ok the first period and then slowly made more and more mistakes. This pairing was up and down all night.

Regarding Gellinas, who wasn't born at the time is the only reason he doesn't get blamed for the JFK assassination on this forum. First, it was on a power play, second, the pk was horrible all game, 4 player just standing around in a box, not much if any puck pursuit. Third, Gellinas made the correct read and did get his stick blade on the puck. Four, sometimes the players on the other team make nice plays. It was an excellent, hard and accurate pass that deflected right to the Boston defenseman who slid all the way down unmolested and wasn't Gellinas who lost and left the Boston defencemen all by himself. Five, Severson didn't look good to me. He looked slow and disinterested. I feel a need to back this guy up, because he gets blamed for everything, while one or two players on this forum crap gold.

 

[theoptimist]

You guys must hate Gelinas. He playeed well last night. Impressed with his breakout passes.

The sequence on the first PP goal was atrocious. The pass would have never gone through had this been a regular season game. He did his best to prevent, and was close in doing so.

Liked JQ's game last night.

Zacha barely touched this puck the first two periods, and it was in the third period in which he really got involved. (I'd say last 5 or 6 minutes of the game). Would like to see Zacha more.

 

[mtnet]

Zacha actually started getting better as the night went along but his line mates were not in sync with him. He is very good at handling the puck but I saw one instance where he overhandled it and the other team took it for a breakaway.

That was my observation as well, that he got better (and more confident) as the night went on where he was kinda lost in the mix during earlier portions of the game. I liked his skating and stick handling once he woke up and I think that one time he simply got a little too fancy and positionally left himself vulnerable to a breakaway. I don't mind that though because rookie mistakes like that are the ones that stick with someone, feeling the sting of a glaring error. What's encouraging though is seeing he has some underlying skills.

I also thought Kalinin didn't look so bad out there and didn't quite get how he was as awful as people thought early on last night. Now make no mistake I get that he's a role player but he also seemed like a decent skater that brings a physical game and I can imagine our revised attack philosophy needing that role at times.

I liked that our face-offs kept pace and SOG topped the opposition. Sucks we got shut out but at least the goals came from Irwin who is a regular in the NHL already and they were both on the PP against us. Some of the disappointments were penalties, 0-6 PP (which I realize is a work in progress), and that some of our returning roster did not really stand out from the rest of the crowd last night (which in part goes along with the 0-6 PP). I get not having practiced our power play yet but I also expect to see better decisions on the puck from our regular roster members, especially with a man advantage.

I'll chime in for those who say we shouldn't get too down on Gelinas yet. He really got worked last night and it is the 1st preseason game after all. Honestly I felt Gelinas had more impact on the ice than Severson did all night, plus he had a couple bomb slaps that were right on time but just happened to not get past their goalie...but the shot was there. Given that we got shut out I'd call that a bit more contribution than most had out there last night.

 

[StnTwnDevil]

I do think there is some nerves involved with him here at the beginning.

I'm not worried. All the tools are there.

I agree, it'll be interesting to see how he handles the rest of the preseason, and possibly some of the regular season.

 

[billingtons ghost]

For those who are defending Kalinen - you had to see the whole game.

While he brought some energy, went to the net and crashed into people - he made some really terrible giveaways and had a number of opportunities to clear the zone but blew it. He had a hand in both of the goals against. Specifically there were two terrible turnovers in our zone.

He also had opportunities with the puck on his stick and blew them.

I had pretty high hopes for Blandisi and Kalinen, and you can't tell much from one game - but I really wanted to see much more from them tonight.

Most of all - if you are coming in as a role player - at least be good defensively so you aren't a liability.

 

[mtnet]

For those who are defending Kalinen - you had to see the whole game.

While he brought some energy, went to the net and crashed into people - he made some really terrible giveaways and had a number of opportunities to clear the zone but blew it. He had a hand in both of the goals against. Specifically there were two terrible turnovers in our zone.

He also had opportunities with the puck on his stick and blew them.

I had pretty high hopes for Blandisi and Kalinen, and you can't tell much from one game - but I really wanted to see much more from them tonight.

Most of all - if you are coming in as a role player - at least be good defensively so you aren't a liability.

I can agree with all that, it wasn't all rosy. Honestly it took me a little while to get to know these new numbers so I likely missed some of the bad plays by our newbies during the 1st period.