GDT: There Will Be Blood: Devils @ Oilers 4pm MSGSN

[Triumph]

Even so, this team should have games where they look very good and the Devils are 26 games into the season and they only have a handful of really good games. The team needs something to freshen things up as they’ve been stale all season.

I think the last three have been 3 of their best games defensively. They just need to build off that. I wish they had a lefty forward to bring up from Utica - Nolan Foote being hurt is unfortunate, he could work well on this team.

 

[jkrdevil]

Even so, this team should have games where they look very good and the Devils are 26 games into the season and they only have a handful of really good games. The team needs something to freshen things up as they’ve been stale all season.

It was the third game in less than 4 days (given the times of the games) with brutal travel. The forward group is incredibly banged up with more than one player probably playing when they shouldn’t because they have no depth at forward right now.

 

[Devs3cups]

I wish I could be a little more optimistic about the team right now. I just don’t like how they’ve played most of the year, regardless of the results. I’m not worried for right now or the future. It’s just frustrating given the talent level on the roster.

I think the Vancouver game just killed something inside of me lol.

 

[JrFischer54]

We generated jack shit for like 40 minutes of this game.

But their shit goalie didn’t let in any softies did he?

 

[None Shall Pass]

Just happy that our goaltenders are stopping pucks. Schmid's stat line is going to look worse than it should because that silly turnover for the 3rd goal, which is just a rookie trying to do too much.

3 out of 4 on the road trip, hard to be mad.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I can agree. Again, for the record, I’m not worried about the future. I love the young core and the talent is there. They’ll be good. But this season might just be a maturing year, learning to deal with adversity. Maybe they go on a huge run here.

And thats fine. But this team can also become something special later in the season. The pieces are there. We have to wait and see

 

[Devils731]

I think the last three have been 3 of their best games defensively. They just need to build off that. I wish they had a lefty forward to bring up from Utica - Nolan Foote being hurt is unfortunate, he could work well on this team.

May be a little damning with faint praise.

3 games ago they were outshot 38-17 so I’m not saying that was a good game.

Calgary game was probably a push so neither good nor bad.

Today’s game gets a pass due to the schedule but I’d give them a push on this too.

So I’m not getting the warm fuzzies based off the last 3 games.

It was the third game in less than 4 days (given the times of the games) with brutal travel. The forward group is incredibly banged up with more than one player probably playing when they shouldn’t because they have no depth at forward right now.

I didn’t criticize this game. Was commenting on the season and despite the wins I don’t think this road trip was particularly well played by the Devils, which continues not particularly good play from prior games.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I think the Vancouver game just killed something inside of me lol.

All teams are giving up leads. Its just so much parody and talent in this league. Its not just us. But, that seemed to be a wake up call and the last 3 games were clearly focused on playing a more responsible gm. Now, it came to the expense of some offense, so they have to find a good middle ground. It is early early early in the season

 

[Bleedred]

I said Edmonton would be the toughest team on this trip. And they're the only one we didn't beat.

Most of the rest of the month is filled with winnable games, but we have two against Boston and one more against Edmonton in about 10 or 11 days.

Edmonton's start to this year is the other end of the fluke that Washington's start has been.

I've been touting them as a cup contender since last year. I still think they'll win one cup the next 3 years, as long as they keep their two stars.

And as long as there's good people running the team, things may be about to get even better with Holland's upcoming retirement.

That Jack Campbell contract is still rough.

 

[Devs3cups]

All teams are giving up leads. Its just so much parody and talent in this league. Its not just us. But, that seemed to be a wake up call and the last 3 games were clearly focused on playing a more responsible gm. Now, it came to the expense of some offense, so they have to find a good middle ground. It is early early early in the season

Yeah, it’s happened, but giving up a 3 goal lead in the 3rd period is completely unacceptable whatever the context is as far as I’m concerned. That game was just the complete melting pot of what is wrong with our team. We’ll see what happens.

I hate feeling this way about the team but man it’s hard not to when I watch them play.

 

[MadDevil]

Did anybody call the next GDT?

I'm in the mood for an exorcism.

Complete with a priest and a nun.


I find it hard to see him being any worse behind our team than the broken Vitek.

But Edmonton can't take back that kind of cap.

Unless you wanna take back Campbell's (lol) who has I think 3 more years left after this to Vitek's 2? And at a higher cap hit.

I'm not sure he'd be much worse than current Vitek behind this team.

I firmly believe Vitek will perform worse here than anywhere else though.


Those other games must have been yeeeearrsssssss ago. I don't think he's been an NHL regular since about 16-17.

I'm gonna guess the first 2 were with Colorado.

If I'm not mistaken, I seem to remember DD hyping him up as well, after we lost a couple to him. Not as much as he hyped Mrazek though.

I do vaguely remember him shutting us out though. I would have forgotten about that if you hadn't posted his career numbers against us. It had to be either in 15-16 or 16-17.

Yes, it was 2017. I looked it up because I thought it would have been hilarious if all 3 games were with different teams, but the first 2 were with the Avs.

 

[Triumph]

May be a little damning with faint praise.

3 games ago they were outshot 38-17 so I’m not saying that was a good game.

Calgary game was probably a push so neither good nor bad.

Today’s game gets a pass due to the schedule but I’d give them a push on this too.

So I’m not getting the warm fuzzies based off the last 3 games.


I didn’t criticize this game. Was commenting on the season and despite the wins I don’t think this road trip was particularly well played by the Devils, which continues not particularly good play from prior games.

They gave up a ton of shots against Seattle but what they didn't do was give up lots of breakaways or open looks in the slot. They gave the goalie a chance to have a great game and he got lucky as well, but given how poorly the forwards played, I like how the D looked.

The fundamentals for playing the good defense they played most of last season are there, to me, in the last three games. They just need the forwards to execute better at the offensive end, both in generating chances and converting on them.

 

[Devs3cups]

They gave up a ton of shots against Seattle but what they didn't do was give up lots of breakaways or open looks in the slot. They gave the goalie a chance to have a great game and he got lucky as well, but given how poorly the forwards played, I like how the D looked.

The fundamentals for playing the good defense they played most of last season are there, to me, in the last three games. They just need the forwards to execute better at the offensive end, both in generating chances and converting on them.

Defensively I’ll agree that the looks that other teams have gotten haven’t been egregious.

 

[MadDevil]

But their shit goalie didn’t let in any softies did he?

Schmid gave up 1 soft goal and made a mistake handling the puck. He also made some good saves. The team did jack shit to help him offensively until they were down multiple goals. Excuse me for not blasting our "shit goalie", who basically stole us the game in his previous start.

 

[Devils731]

They gave up a ton of shots against Seattle but what they didn't do was give up lots of breakaways or open looks in the slot. They gave the goalie a chance to have a great game and he got lucky as well, but given how poorly the forwards played, I like how the D looked.

The fundamentals for playing the good defense they played most of last season are there, to me, in the last three games. They just need the forwards to execute better at the offensive end, both in generating chances and converting on them.

I don’t disagree but I still think it’s damning with faint praise.

26 games into the season and “they stopped being awful and weren’t bad” is a low standard.

I obviously think the Devils can be better but I’m not seeing how they do it with their current concept unless players start playing significantly better; which I do think is a criticism of the concept.

 

[Oneiro]

I liked their effort here, a few unfortunate gaffes to the wrong team ended up as goals but they were doing little things I haven’t seen all year. I didn’t feel like they forced too many plays, made bad pinches. They played a pretty tight game, at least relative to earlier ones.

The schedule is relatively soft. They can definitely make some ground here.

 

[devilsblood]

I think the last three have been 3 of their best games defensively. They just need to build off that. I wish they had a lefty forward to bring up from Utica - Nolan Foote being hurt is unfortunate, he could work well on this team.

Any word on his timeline?

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Things I would like to see changed:

1. Change Bahl-Marino pairing.
Pair Siegenthaler with Marino if you want to run a shut down pair; and pair Bahl with Nemec. Or trade for a top 4 LHD defenseman that can PK.

2. Put Mercer back with Jack Hughes.
We need secondary scoring and Mercer is not getting it done at 3C. Toffoli can play left wing.

3. Get Meier going.
If he is hurt sit him. If he is not, move him up and down the lineup until he can find some chemistry with someone. I'll try him first with McLeod and Holtz and have Lazar center the 4th line while Huala is out. Try him on Nico's line again for Palat. Try him on Jack's line for Toffoli.

4. Start Schmid next game.
Yes he lost today and made a big error. Yes Vanecek had a nice game against Calgary but I still don't trust Vitek and Schmid deserves a run at no. 1. Continue to rotate goalies on back to back nights.

5. Power play needs some tweaking.
I think teams have worked us out and we have been a bit predictable lately. We need to shoot more. Either give more license to Luke to shoot more from point. Or give more time to Nemec instead of Luke. Or move Hischier to PP2 and call up Holtz or Meier to PP1 and place them in "Ovechkin office" at left half wall and rip one timers. Toffoli can take Hischier role in bumper / front of net.

 

[My3Sons]

Not Schmid’s best game but he gave them a chance and made some tough saves. Also noticed that Nemec got caught a couple of times but not sure if he was adventurous or got caught a bit flat footed. He did hustle back so he is aware of what’s going on. For a back to back against a hit and rested team it could have been much worse.

 

[Devs3cups]

Liked Nemec’s game again tonight. He’s so aware. His game score was the best on the team tonight I believe.

Luke was solid too I thought.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Honestly this was a successful road trip, and even today I don't think they played bad. Just not enough juice.

The d play has tightened up a bit

 

[AfroThunder396]

Looked like the team at the end of a long road trip playing the hottest team in the league.

Hard to argue with six of eight points on the trip.

 

[Devs3cups]

Apparently Jack broke the bench door lol. Dude has fire. He’s pissed. I’d expect a big game Wednesday with 2 days rest at home.

Bad streaks happen.

 

[JK3]

We need to know what’s up with Timo. I don’t even think of him as a contributor to this team never mind a weapon. He’s just there, periods go by and I’m like oh yeah I forgot we have this guy.

 

[Devs3cups]