GDT: Sabres @ Devils, 7 PM, MSG+

[MachoDiablo]

Rangers are my most hated team but I hated Flyer fans more for years and years. I was pretty neutral to the Islanders in the past.

The recent success of the Islanders have made them completely insufferable, and even this crap season hasn’t hasn’t doused the douche flames. They seem to feel like they have to be Super Fans or something and prove their love by being ridiculously loud all the time even though it’s f***ing rude as visiting fans.

The Rangers fans just cheer goals, suck their goalies’ dicks and shit talk us. Same old same old.

You might be on to something; I'm obviously biased as a Mets and Devils fan, and thus I spent years reserving my greatest "fan-hatred" for Yankees and Rangers fans (and obviously Philadelphia fans, in general, but just focusing local here). However, and I preface this with saying I have family members who are fans and that I'll happily cheer them sometimes since I'm not as big a football fan, I've had this lingering feeling for awhile that the actual scummiest portion of a fanbase in terms of behavior and overall conduct during games in this area may well be some Jets fans.

I bring them up because the more I thought about that, the more I kind of noticed some of those aspects popping up in some corners of the Mets' fanbase, and it really stuck out, as you say, when the Islanders got decent again and their fans started showing up more. It's led me to start positing that there's just something inherently weird going on with Long Island-based fans, I say as a sweeping, crass generalization. Maybe being in the area known for Mets/Jets/Isles/Nets or Knicks fandom has just snapped some people's brains from being "long suffering" yet that combined with that general New York sense of entitlement many fans seem to develop, anyway, and created a nasty combination in some.

I'll still say the Jets fanbase takes the cake because they get the deadly combo of that Long Island boorishness with that Bergen County Yankees fan attitude. Worst of all worlds!

...ok, is there anyone I didn't piss off with this post? I'm trying to fill the Player Haters checklist.

 

[13BearerOfHope]

Nico has had 3 bad games in a row

 

[Mgd31]

Nico has had 3 bad games in a row

I didn't see the Kraken or Vegas game, but he was fine last night. If Bratt finishes on 1 of the couple chances Hischier sets him up on the powerplay and Sharangovich finishes the point blank chance in the 2nd, then he's got a couple of easy assists and we aren't even talking about this. He also led the team in shots

 

[Patrik26]

Rangers are my most hated team but I hated Flyer fans more for years and years. I was pretty neutral to the Islanders in the past.

The recent success of the Islanders have made them completely insufferable, and even this crap season hasn’t hasn’t doused the douche flames. They seem to feel like they have to be Super Fans or something and prove their love by being ridiculously loud all the time even though it’s f***ing rude as visiting fans.

The Rangers fans just cheer goals, suck their goalies’ dicks and shit talk us. Same old same old.

There is no debating the NYI fanbase have become ultimate douchebags in the past 4-5 seasons.

 

[Mgd31]

And yet they're 10 points ahead of the Devils in the standings.

I wouldn't trade our skater group for them ever. We will do better than them next year.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

No, he wasn't.

The power play, which he was supposed to fix, was equally dreadful at the beginning of the year.


Banging shots off the glass and getting caught out of position has nothing to do with injury or wearing a face mask.

Dougie Hamilton had the highest CF% in the NHL in the first month of the season and was exactly who we paid for.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

the most stupid thing would be to bring back hammond and gillies and trade blackwood.

Pretty much sums up the point of don't overreact....Blackwood could stay or be a part of a hockey trade...Have np with him getting another shot as long as there is legitimate competition brought in that makes him compete for the job....There is no way they come back with Gillies or Hammond I agree even though we all know they aren't the only things wrong with the Devils.....

 

[Camille the Eel]

Usually appreciate your comments but this one is way off base.

With the exception of the Okposo flub (the kind of mental lapse that even the best of goalies make - just happens), the other four were scored within five feet of his crease. One of the goals coming on a rebound AFTER he stopped the initial breakaway.

Have a far bigger issue with the Zachas, Hamiltons, and Subbans getting paid a heckuva lot more than Hammond.

Thanks for that. I thought that on the 2d shorthanded goal he lost focus. He made a good stop on the breakaway but then stopped tracking the puck and fell asleep on the rebound, so that he wasn’t square to it or maybe even watching the puck when it got thrown back into his feet. The shot seemed to surprise him. Was he maybe screened there by confusing action in front of him? And that was a real backbreaker of a goal coming so soon after the wounded pigeon.

 

[crashline]

They should put out 5 defenseman on the power play .... why not?

Given the rate at which we leak shorties we should really roll out 6 goalies.

 

[Call Me Al]

did not watch last night as i was at the phish show at msg (the only thing higher than our goalies’ GAA is me last night hehehe)

howd okhotiuk look? pretty much the only thing i’m interested in. also did we really give up two shorties on the same pp? lmao

 

[OmNomNom]

did not watch last night as i was at the phish show at msg (the only thing higher than our goalies’ GAA is me last night hehehe)

howd okhotiuk look? pretty much the only thing i’m interested in. also did we really give up two shorties on the same pp? lmao

okh was considered the best dman, and had a really nice 1st goal (stepped up from the blue line and ripped a floating rebound into a semi open net)

 

[glenwo2]

I went to see Chris Rock so I had to record the game. Just watched from the 2nd period on... it was almost as funny as the comedy show... I love the Devils but the powerplay, goaltending, coaching and Pavel Zacha are a cruel joke!

Did he still have a palm print of Will Smith's hand on his face?

 

[Bleedred]

the most stupid thing would be to bring back hammond and gillies and trade blackwood.

Gillies has basically already been exiled. They haven’t allowed him to start a game in over a month and his second to last start was just about two months ago. He’s only even played when they’ve had to yank Daws and he was sitting on the bench dressed as the backup.

I could see Hammond being re-signed, but for the AHL only, but even that seems much less than unlikely to me.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Thanks for that. I thought that on the 2d shorthanded goal he lost focus. He made a good stop on the breakaway but then stopped tracking the puck and fell asleep on the rebound, so that he wasn’t square to it or maybe even watching the puck when it got thrown back into his feet. The shot seemed to surprise him. Was he maybe screened there by confusing action in front of him? And that was a real backbreaker of a goal coming so soon after the wounded pigeon.

True. Could have been better on the rebound shot but anytime you get a stop on a breakaway that's a plus.

The "wounded pigeon" - and the continued frailty of this team to not recover after any bit of adversity - has been the real sore spot for me watching this group for the past two seasons (regardless of who is in net).

I keep going back to the fact that Hammond was 4-0 with Montreal (Montreal???) and Wedgewood is playing some of the best hockey of his career for the Stars.

As Lindy Ruff said in his post-game comments, Nikita Okhotiuk shouldn't be the team's best defenseman.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Nico has been playing fine. Not registering any points does not equal poor play.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Nico has been playing fine. Not registering any points does not equal poor play.

Ya we shouldn’t expect points every game from a 3rd line center.

 

[Camille the Eel]

our scoring as a team is down I think since Jack went down but certainly since the start of the road trip. I haven't looked back to research this since making the last post, but our 2 goals last night won't win most games (especially with our goal tending) and we didn't exactly fill the net in Las Vegas, Seattle or Colorado as I think about it, or certainly in Dallas either. We had a few more in Arizona maybe, with a couple going in with seconds at the end of the second period there.

But you score as a group, a rising tide floats all the boats, and it was even a plus on the road when the scoring started coming from the bottom lines, the McLeod and the Boqvist units while, yeah, Nico's line and the Bratt/Zacha group started to go cold.

In Seattle I thought the Kraken were marking Nico and hitting him within two seconds every time he touched the puck btw. They gave him no room at all.

Nico had some good looks last night. On the power play he hit the guy in the mask with a one timer.

 

[My3Sons]

Nico has been playing fine. Not registering any points does not equal poor play.

It absolutely does....for some.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

Have said it before he is and has been one of the best 200 foot centers in the game ...now with his confidence growing and the points coming he get the recognition he deserves....

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

One thing for sure we miss Hughes and his ability to make the other team play more cautious against us....

 

[Bleedred]

True. Could have been better on the rebound shot but anytime you get a stop on a breakaway that's a plus.

The "wounded pigeon" - and the continued frailty of this team to not recover after any bit of adversity - has been the real sore spot for me watching this group for the past two seasons (regardless of who is in net).

I keep going back to the fact that Hammond was 4-0 with Montreal (Montreal???) and Wedgewood is playing some of the best hockey of his career for the Stars.

As Lindy Ruff said in his post-game comments, Nikita Okhotiuk shouldn't be the team's best defenseman.

You’re really gonna make me do this. Aren’t you also the poster that was beating your chest a couple months ago about how you were told David Rittich was not NHL caliber, but tried to use the fact that he won a game the night before as evidence that whoever told you that was wrong? I think that was you. Good old David Rittich, who has somehow been even worse than some of the Devils trash goalies this year. Yup, that was you. You must be the lone member of his fanclub. Even Vejmelka has an army sized fanclub.

Hammond was 4-0 in Montreal because he only allowed ONE goal in those 4 games that was as bad as about 4 of the goals he allowed again Florida, at least a couple of the goals he allowed in the game against Montreal and about 3 of the goals last night.

That blue line goal? He didn’t allow a goal like that in Montreal. The pathetic second short handed goal? He didn’t allow anything like that either. What was he doing on the fourth goal? He played that as poorly as he could.

Do I really need to find the 8 goals he allowed as a Canadien and post the videos of those goals, then post the 23 he’s allowed here? He’s a been f***ing joke here. This isn’t about the team. It’s about a f***ing terrible 34 year old minor league goalie, who has pretty much been an almost career minor league goalie, who had a random hot streak for one bad team, then came to another team and probably played either to his capabilities or even less.

His 4-0 streak in Montreal wouldn’t be the first FLUKE run in his career, nor nearly the longest.

He had about a 20-something game run of FLUKE goaltending in 2015.

Hammond and Gillies are two of the biggest bozo goalies to have played a game in the NHL this year. In case you ain’t noticed, there isn’t a demand for these f***ing terrible clowns. That’s all made evident by the fact that neither damn one of them played an NHL game before this year since the 17-18 season.

 

[Bleedred]

And if you’re gonna use Hammond’s 4 games or FLUKE goaltending with Montreal, the other goalies that have played there this year don’t even have as high of a save percentage as he did there.

Am I to believe that Jake Allen and Carey Price are not as good as Andrew Hammond? Although Carey Price was probably even worse than Hammond last night, although none of the goals were as bad as the first goal Hammond allowed and maybe not even quite as bad as the second. I don’t even think Montembeault is worse than Hammond and he’s pretty f***in bad.

 

[Bleedred]

I’m really trying to talk myself out of finding all 8 goals Hammond allowed as a member of the Canadiens and posting the videos here for the non-believers (and I don’t think there’s many of these non-believers) to see that he only allowed one bad goal against the Islanders and nothing else was nearly as bad as the 9 goals I’ve marked stoppable on Hammond (out of 23) as a Devil.

 

[NJDevs26]

By the same token you can make the argument a guy allowing crappier goals here than another place could be technique based, maybe our staff is trying to reinvent goaltending the way they think they can reinvent the PP

 

[Bleedred]

By the same token you can make the argument a guy allowing crappier goals here than another place could be technique based, maybe our staff is trying to reinvent goaltending the way they think they can reinvent the PP

If you're implying the goalie coach here sucks then I fully agree with this.

I'd honestly like to see Rogalski ganked along with the rest of this staff, but I think he's probably safer than anybody else on the staff at least as of this offseason.

Why the hell did Hammond play that fourth goal the way he did?