GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (21-7-2) vs. Florida Panthers (14-13-4), 7:30 PM, MSG

[NjDevsRR]

He needs a big bounce back game. His play has dipped. Hasn't been bad, but we need better right now

A nice 3-0 shutout would be what the doctor ordered. Carolina is inconsistent scoring wise like us, so you never know.

 

[jkrdevil]

The sad part is they somehow managed to annoy me hella more with this shitshow than they did by losing to ALL THREE of their biggest rivals in a week's time.

My PTSD is more distant than that...it's a little like Lemaire's final full season here, where we were 31-9-1 in the first half then flatlined in the second half and laid down in the playoffs against the Flyers. Funny thing about that season is we were 0-2 then too, then rolled for a while.

There is that season too. That was basically Marty’s last great season and carried that team. Of course Lou saw where that season was heading and tried for the big trade in getting Kovalchuk (so he sold out the depth on the team that ultimately killed that season).

It is hard not to have PTSD with the team as we have seen long streaks just tank things.

We obviously are there right now. I think just one win might be a stopper and turn things around. But the ball is rolling downhill now and each loss it speeds up.

 

[Emperoreddy]

A nice 3-0 shutout would be what the doctor ordered. Carolina is inconsistent scoring wise like us, so you never know.

Winning that game could be the medicine to shake the cobwebs out.

A strong back to back along with managing some points against Boston even if they lose we would be back on track.

Idk if 1 or 2 points out of a possible 6 this week will be good enough to end this bad streak.

 

[MadDevil]

To address the "we don't comeback when trailing after 40 minutes" thing, our win percentage when trailing after 2 periods is .125. 16 other teams have an equal or worse win percentage this season. We have the same amount of wins in that situation as Carolina, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, and the Rangers. Colorado, Calgary, Florida, and Toronto have 0 wins when trailing after 40 minutes. Also, guess who is tied for the most wins with 4? The powerhouse Anaheim Ducks.

 

[Emperoreddy]

There is that season too. That was basically Marty’s last great season and carried that team. Of course Lou saw where that season was heading and tried for the big trade in getting Kovalchuk (so he sold out the depth on the team that ultimately killed that season).

It is hard not to have PTSD with the team as we have seen long streaks just tank things.

We obviously are there right now. I think just one win might be a stopper and turn things around. But the ball is rolling downhill now and each loss it speeds up.

What makes it worrisome is two games against Boston, which even when we were streaking looked like uphill battles because Boston simply doesn't lose this year.

They got to get that stopper win before they hit those Boston games as looking for a stopper in those games isn't the best strategy.

 

[Devs3cups]

No no no! We don’t get it. There’s always a logical explanation as to why every loss is due to something beyond the control of a pretty talented NHL team and they somehow have the universe working against them.

Everything is always fine. The next loss will bring a fresh excuse.

Again, I’m not saying that the season is over or this is the worst team in the league or any of that other BS. They could definitely go on another tear.

This stretch of games is a problem. They got blown up by an Islanders team that they should skate into the ground. Dropped a 2 goal lead to the Rangers. Couldn’t score against Wedgewood and Philly at home. Didn’t show up tonight.

One or two of those things happening in the last week is fine. All 5? Nope.

Is it a bump in the road or a sink hole to the center of the earth? I don’t know, but I’m definitely getting ascared

No one would be finding “the excuses” as you call them if the team was actually playing like garbage. They played like garbage against the Isles, other than that they played good or at least good enough to win every game.

 

[guitarguyvic]

To address the "we don't comeback when trailing after 40 minutes" thing, our win percentage when trailing after 2 periods is .125. 17 teams have an equal or worse win percentage this season. We have the same amount of wins in that situation as Carolina, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, and the Rangers. Colorado, Calgary, Florida, and Toronto have 0 wins when trailing after 40 minutes. Also, guess who is tied for the most wins with 4? The powerhouse Anaheim Ducks.

LOL using a lack of third period comebacks as evidence that the team isn't good has to be one of the strangest non-sensical arguments I've ever seen here.

 

[Bleedred]

Vitek has a .915 sv % against Carolina in 3 games. Let’s hope his good play against them continues.

Blackwood is a .953% and 2-0-0 against Carolina, but he’s only played them twice.

And why do I bet the last time he played them was sometime during his 3 month heater that he’s still living off of in 2019-2020?

I don’t remember him playing Carolina last year and we didn’t play them at all the year before.

Vitek is an .867% and 0-0-1 in the regular season against Florida.

He’s never started a regular season game against them before. That was a game in which he came in for relief of Samsonov and gave up the OT goal and literally only played 36 minutes in.

 

[guitarguyvic]

What makes it worrisome is two games against Boston, which even when we were streaking looked like uphill battles because Boston simply doesn't lose this year.

They got to get that stopper win before they hit those Boston games as looking for a stopper in those games isn't the best strategy.

You realize that Boston isn't going to continue winning games at an 83% clip for the whole season right?

Not saying that as a prediction about the outcome of the Devils games against them. My only point is that Boston losing to us is not as unimaginable a result as you're making it seem.

 

[Devs3cups]

Listen, I totally get that people are disappointed with what we are seeing right now because it may in fact be a sign that this team was not the juggernaut they appeared to be for 20+ games. As a fan of a team coming off of a decade of failure, the high of seeing the team looking like they've leapfrogged into a legit division leader in one offseason is tremendous. It's hard to not just ride the excitement of feeling that we were finally getting the payoff in spades for all our suffering. And now, cracks are showing and it turns out they no, this isn't a 130 point team that's gonna steamroll the rest of the league and avoid losing streaks...

...but it's a pretty big leap from that realization all the way to "this team isn't any better than previous years and not only are they not capable of winning any upcoming games against good teams, they're going to be out of the playoffs by February".

Could they completely crumble that way? Yeah they COULD. When you have a young inexperienced group trying to battle through a tough patch, playing more experienced teams who have now made strategic adjustments and often hold a distinct physicality advantage, with the prospect of management possibly giving Blackwood too much rope going forward, and the always present threat of additional injuries taking key players out of the lineup...yeah anything is plausible.

But to suggest that a five game losing streak comprising of close losses against playoff caliber teams, following 25 games where the team was setting records for wins and dominating opponents, is evidence that a collapse WILL happen? That's just a completely unreasonable, hysterical take.

This team is much closer to their 13 W caliber than they are to this L streak caliber.

 

[jkrdevil]

Listen, I totally get that people are disappointed with what we are seeing right now because it may in fact be a sign that this team was not the juggernaut they appeared to be for 20+ games. As a fan of a team coming off of a decade of failure, the high of seeing the team looking like they've leapfrogged into a legit division leader in one offseason is tremendous. It's hard to not just ride the excitement of feeling that we were finally getting the payoff in spades for all our suffering. And now, cracks are showing and it turns out they no, this isn't a 130 point team that's gonna steamroll the rest of the league and avoid losing streaks...

...but it's a pretty big leap from that realization all the way to "this team isn't any better than previous years and not only are they not capable of winning any upcoming games against good teams, they're going to be out of the playoffs by February".

Could they completely crumble that way? Yeah they COULD. When you have a young inexperienced group trying to battle through a tough patch, playing more experienced teams who have now made strategic adjustments and often hold a distinct physicality advantage, with the prospect of management possibly giving Blackwood too much rope going forward, and the always present threat of additional injuries taking key players out of the lineup...yeah anything is plausible.

But to suggest that a five game losing streak compromising of close losses against playoff caliber teams, following 25 games where the team was setting records for wins and dominating opponents, is evidence that a collapse WILL happen? That's just a completely unreasonable, hysterical take.

I don’t think anyone thinks the season is over. But the frustrating thing is they are now a bad week from basically giving back all the cushion they built up on the playoff race back. When you win 13 in a row (and have 2 three game win streak in both sides of that streak on top of it) you don’t expect a month later to be right back into a dog fight for positioning.

The bubble is usually about 14/15 points above NHL .500. With the win streak they basically bought a 6 game (12 points) cushion. That is almost all gone and another bad week evaporates it.

Anyone who looked at the schedule coming into the month saw the second half would be brutal. They are now playing teams better than anyone they have played so far. To only get one win out of the first part of the month is frustrating.

 

[Devs3cups]

I don’t think anyone thinks the season is over. But the frustrating thing is they are now a bad week from basically giving back all the cushion they built up on the playoff race back. When you win 13 in a row (and have 2 three game win streak in both sides of that streak on top of it) you don’t expect a month later to be right back into a dog fight for positioning.

The bubble is usually about 14/15 points above NHL .500. With the win streak they basically bought a 6 game (12 points) cushion. That is almost all gone and another bad week evaporates it.

Anyone who looked at the schedule coming into the month saw the second half would be brutal. They are now playing teams better than anyone they have played so far. To only get one win out of the first part of the month is frustrating.

We’ve seen a lot of people saying we’ll be out of the playoffs and that the season is basically over. The insinuations are evident.

 

[BostonDevil]

No one would be finding “the excuses” as you call them if the team was actually playing like garbage. They played like garbage against the Isles, other than that they played good or at least good enough to win every game.

So we’ll be in the xGF and most shots without scoring Stanley Cup! Wheeee!!!

How long will you accept playing winning hockey and not actually winning?

You’re right in that this team is better than the 5 loses they just had but playing good hockey with nothing to show for it doesn’t translate for me.

They were also better than the 27 wins they had last year

I wish I was as patient as you are considering the things we’ve seen in the last few years.

One of us will be right in the end and I really hope it’s you!

 

[NjDevsRR]

Winning that game could be the medicine to shake the cobwebs out.

A strong back to back along with managing some points against Boston even if they lose we would be back on track.

Idk if 1 or 2 points out of a possible 6 this week will be good enough to end this bad streak.

I’d say 6 out of the next 12 would be a good goal.

 

[Devs3cups]

So we’ll be in the xGF and most shots without scoring Stanley Cup! Wheeee!!!

How long will you accept playing winning hockey and not actually winning?

You’re right in that this team is better than the 5 loses they just had but playing good hockey with nothing to show for it doesn’t translate for me.

They were also better than the 27 wins they had last year

I wish I was as patient as you are considering the things we’ve seen in the last few years.

One of us will be right in the end and I really hope it’s you!

I’ll accept it for more than 5 games that’s for sure lol. Look, I get that losing sucks, but the team hasn’t played badly at all in the last 4. If they were it would bother me much more.

Also, my expectations for the season were basically maybe being a playoff team with some improvement. My expectations haven’t changed all that much, regardless of the 13 game winning streak. In my eyes, the team has improved and I believe in this group. They’re also a young team, they were bound to get cold streaks.

Also, if the team keeps playing like it generally has since the start of the year (yes, including the last 4 games), they’ll win a lot more hockey games than they’ll lose. The eye test and underlying numbers reflect that to me.

 

[billingtons ghost]

It would have been nice if Lindy, or Brendan Smith had sent that message as this shit was happening. In many ways this was the most annoying loss somehow of the five because of this shit, and three of the other four losses were to our biggest rivals. Florida kept trying to fire us up for crissakes, and we wouldn't take the bait, we stayed flatline until it was far too late.

Lindy should do nothing of the sort.

It needs to source from the players alone. Brendan Smith was the only one to do anything. What's he going to do? Skate 90 feet out of position to hit Ekblad? It needs to be all of the players. Not just one or two guys.

 

[Killing Joke]

this team is really pathetic. tonight's loss is the worst one of the 5 losses since they did f*** all in response to dirty play aimed at nico from the panthers.

Couldnt even pick up a point.

Also, change the D pairings up. Dougie and Siegs have been horrible as of late, specifically Siegs who has been horrible this entire month so far.

The PP needs some switching up as well. Specifically set up and how they move the puck. the half wall to the d man bullshit hasnt worked the last two seasons, idk why they are still forcing that garbage. Its back to being a stationary mess.

Smith also needs to sit for Severson. Keep Bahl in.

Also any time Nico and Bratt want to show up and come back to the NHL that would be great.

Tonight was an absolutely gutless loss.

Oh, and you dont need fighters, you just need guys with an attitude that have no issue shoving a stick into the throat of another team getting out of hand.

Stop with the last second goals against, stop with the lazy clears that dont get out and just force us in the zone longer.

They picked a horrible time to suck given the schedule coming up the next 6-7 games.

And keep blackwood away from this team. Hes a cancer and hes god awful.

 

[billingtons ghost]

To address the "we don't comeback when trailing after 40 minutes" thing, our win percentage when trailing after 2 periods is .125. 16 other teams have an equal or worse win percentage this season. We have the same amount of wins in that situation as Carolina, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, and the Rangers. Colorado, Calgary, Florida, and Toronto have 0 wins when trailing after 40 minutes. Also, guess who is tied for the most wins with 4? The powerhouse Anaheim Ducks.

The ducks have the most practice at trailing.

 

[NjDevsRR]

The ducks have the most practice at trailing.

Ayyyy lmao

 

[Devils090]

Just seems like we’ve been figured out and we have no response to it. Plus we can’t respond to physical play.

 

[Jack Be Quick]

Confirmed, Smith is Shoresy.

Jimmy Connors. Although the first time I heard it it was coming out of fictional Billy Beane's mouth.

 

[MadDevil]

The ducks have the most practice at trailing.

Yes, they've been trailing after 40 minutes 16 times this year.

It should also be pointed out we're top 5 in terms of winning percentage when leading after 40 minutes. 4 teams have not lost once this year, and our sole loss was an OT loss. And we've been leading after 40 minutes more than any other team.

 

[TBF1972]

this will be my only post here and i won't read any message of the pseudo fans, who celebrate devils loses as their personal achivements.

i still strongly believe in this team.

 

[NJ07102]

When the opponents get tougher, this team folds like a pocket knife. Again and again, year after year after year.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

The only good thing about tonight's game is that some really really chill dude gave me a free club seat in section 19 , 14 rows from the ice. I was gonna buy a ticket outside the arena off Gametime or Tickpick an hour before puck drop. Thankfully this random person offered me a ticket and it winded up being a good night with an awesome seat and free food + drinks.

The negatives for tonight...Idk even know where to start.... This team came out so flat the first 10 minutes on home ice nonetheless , Florida has regressed since last year. They are playing the f***ing Staal brothers regularly for f***s sake. I love Schmid and we haven't been giving him good goal support over the last few games but why did he start over Vitek ? The powerplay is so bad man , Hughes holds the puck forever , skates with it and than sends a telescoped pass right to the other teams stick. Earlier on the season the powerplay was hot because literally every player on the ice was comfortable taking a shot and actually trying to score. Instead we send out Holtz and Dougie on the top unit all for them to not even get any onetimer shots off. Bratt isn't even on the top PP unit which is an absolute joke in itself.

This team for some reason never has anyone glued infront of the goalie in the offensive zone or on the powerplay. Haula scored by crashing the net on the cycle but there was literally so many plays over the last few games where there just is not enough of a net front presence 5 on 5. Wood managed to do it on his goal against the Stars but it was lacking big time the last 3 games. Something so damn simple yet is always effective.