game, set, match

[brodeurgirl30]

A team is NEVER down... I think the Devils look slower because they are hesitating. I've seen it before... it's like I said abou tthe whole team playing like Sean Brown -- there is this hitch in timing -- when you stop to watch what's going on -- when you shouldn't be doing that -- you should anticipate and trust your good hockey sense.. these guys are all winners with brilliant intuition -- that's why they're there. They have to trust themselves.

I know this is playoffs and what I am talking about is regular season but I have to agree....

The same Devils team played the same Canes team on 4/11 and won in overtime after the Canes scored w/ 15 seconds to tie it at the end of the 3rd.

This team can beat the Canes.

[daneyko_booster]

if lou was smart he should have taken a timeout with 20 seconds to go, but he didnt...

Right, he should have taken a time out right after the lengthy video replay review. Did you watch the game?

[rbdf]

People, I'm just as disgusted as the next guy over that last 20 seconds, and I was actually warming up to Luko over the last couple of weeks, and thought he'd had a pretty good game, playing a lot more minutes than he normally should, due to White being out. But for him to leave Staal of all people standing in the paint with something less than 20 seconds to go is just inexcusable - knock him down, take the penalty, what are they gonna do, pull the goalie? they already did that. And then theres the fact that he couldn't out race a carolina forward to the corner to retrieve the faceoff win by madden. And for those of you saying madden should have played it forward, what are you, high? you always win it back to your d-men who have the room and time to look for an outlet pass - it's the basic setup play, no way do you want to give the puck to your opponent and let him set up his final rush like that. No, that one is entirely on Luko - may he burn in hell that rotton ba$tard.

So the devils look slow, the devils look overmatched. You know what, they are slower and they are overmatched. And this doesnt' come as any surprise. Carolina has been on top with Ottawa all season. They're one of the best in the league. The devils have struggled until the last month of the season. For a long time there it was questionable if they'd even make the playoffs. Look, losing to Carolina in the semi's is not a bad thing. They are a better team. Losing in 4 straight however would be awful. And losing without ever really testing their rookie goal tender would be just flat out repulsive. I am thankful the boys made the playoffs at all. Then to sweep the rag's right out of their own house and lock the doors on MSG just one week into playoff time was icing on the cake. BUT, I don't want to see them be what I'm guessing is the first and only team to sweep an opening round only to be swept in the second round. Make a series out of it, win two games at least, put some shots on net, stop taking so many penalties, stop giving up so many power play goals, and stop leaving Staal in the crease with less than 20 seconds to the win, come on Luko, hit the f*cker, take a two minute cross check as the clock ticks off its final seconds - it's not like it will carry over to the next game.

[ilzz89]

untill devils actually start playing 60 minutes games not 20 there will be a sweep .....

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

This is so typical, such a typical reaction,

We were unlucky not to win that game , but writing the series off 2 games in is a joke.

I will admit if we had played like we did game 1 i would concede that were probably dont stand a chance, but it was a different story.

The tying goal was more luck for the canes , the puck was so close to leaving our end.

The canes still have to reach 4, there are possibly 5 more games left, the next game our players will be fired up becuase that loss will have hurt much more than the first one.

OH and there a poll on nhl. com , it asks , "Which team trailing in their semifinal series is most likely to advance to the next round?"

Guess which team is winning

[Vinnie]

This is so typical, such a typical reaction,

We were unlucky not to win that game , but writing the series off 2 games in is a joke.

I will admit if we had played like we did game 1 i would concede that were probably dont stand a chance, but it was a different story.

The tying goal was more luck for the canes , the puck was so close to leaving our end.

The canes still have to reach 4, there are possibly 5 more games left, the next game our players will be fired up becuase that loss will have hurt much more than the first one.

OH and there a poll on nhl. com , it asks , "Which team trailing in their semifinal series is most likely to advance to the next round?"

Guess which team is winning

The Senators? I bet the people voting for the Devils are the same ones that thought the Devils would win in four or five.

It's easy for people to say "yah the Devils will win! wooo! "...will anyone put their money where their mouth is?

[Vinnie]

The Senators? I bet the people voting for the Devils are the same ones that thought the Devils would win in four or five.

It's easy for people to say "yah the Devils will win! wooo! "...will anyone put their money where their mouth is?

Welllllllll I put my money where my mouth is......and I'm glad I did

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

will anyone put their money where their mouth is?

I have a 3 way bet with my friends for $50 each to whoevers team gets the furthes , and i bet on the devils to win the cup ( got odds of 66/1 in decemcer)

and i might go put more money on us to win this series.

[MantaRay]

Anyone who says the Devils are overmatched just hasn't watched this series. The majority of Carolina's goals were accidents.

Right now, I blame our coaching for shifting lines around instead of going with the lines that won 15 games straight. Your coaches aren't supposed to panic but Lou has been overreacting and the players are doubting themselves and it shows.

[redruM]

I knew the winning streak had to end... just didn't expect it to end like this....

[Jerrydevil]

I knew the winning streak had to end... just didn't expect it to end like this....

Very disappointing.

[Big-D]

Right now, I blame our coaching for shifting lines around instead of going with the lines that won 15 games straight. Your coaches aren't supposed to panic but Lou has been overreacting and the players are doubting themselves and it shows.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Our coaches have started to panic. I mean the end of the game where players weren't sure who should be taking the faceoff, who was supposed to be on the ice, shows the choas the coaches are in trying to figure out what to do rather than rolling out 4 lines like they did during their 15 game winning streak.

[Jerrydevil]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Our coaches have started to panic. I mean the end of the game where players weren't sure who should be taking the faceoff, who was supposed to be on the ice, shows the choas the coaches are in trying to figure out what to do rather than rolling out 4 lines like they did during their 15 game winning streak.

This is on the players.

[UnderDogX]

This is on the players.

I disagree.....I think a lot of players are going out there and doing what they can do...I think it is a combination of things....coaching is a lot of it...from the point we were down 2-0 in game 1 the coaches look like they've been trying to match this match that and Carolina has just been rolling their four lines and dominating us...We don't have as much depth as Carolina, that's obvious and I'm not saying there aren't players who should have stepped up when it counted and they haven't...but again I'll say players like Janssen, Elias, Langs (who, minus the penalties when he's frustrated, has been playing his heart out), Gomer, and Parise have been doing the best they can with what they have...Elias has played 7 games, 3 in which we lost and one which was a shut out and he still leads the league in playoff scoring with 14 pts...I mean you really can't ask much more from some of these players...we just flat out lack the depth, skill, and speed of the Hurricanes....now when we are playing on all cylinders then it doesn't matter and we can flatten any team...but in the end the coaching and Marty's impersonation of swiss cheese have doomed us...but in the end Lou's offseason moves have really come to haunt us because we lack scoring depth and it is showing...

[Jerrydevil]

I disagree.....I think a lot of players are going out there and doing what they can do...I think it is a combination of things....coaching is a lot of it...from the point we were down 2-0 in game 1 the coaches look like they've been trying to match this match that and Carolina has just been rolling their four lines and dominating us...We don't have as much depth as Carolina, that's obvious and I'm not saying there aren't players who should have stepped up when it counted and they haven't...but again I'll say players like Janssen, Elias, Langs (who, minus the penalties when he's frustrated, has been playing his heart out), Gomer, and Parise have been doing the best they can with what they have...Elias has played 7 games, 3 in which we lost and one which was a shut out and he still leads the league in playoff scoring with 14 pts...I mean you really can't ask much more from some of these players...we just flat out lack the depth, skill, and speed of the Hurricanes....now when we are playing on all cylinders then it doesn't matter and we can flatten any team...but in the end the coaching and Marty's impersonation of swiss cheese have doomed us...but in the end Lou's offseason moves have really come to haunt us because we lack scoring depth and it is showing...

The coaches didn't blow Game 2 with 3 seconds left. The coaches didn't take unbelievably bad penalties in Game 3.

You wanna blame the coaching, fine. But to let the playerrs off the hook? Awful.

[UnderDogX]

The coaches didn't blow Game 2 with 3 seconds left. The coaches didn't take unbelievably bad penalties in Game 3.

You wanna blame the coaching, fine. But to let the players off the hook? Awful.

Like I said, I'm not saying that there aren't players that should step up....Gio and Marty both come to mind...but what I am saying is that if the coaching staff, during game 1 and 2 mainly, weren't so busy trying to match up this player with that player and rolled 4 lines on a consistent basis then we could have gotten something going....take a look at some of the games during the streak...they weren't all home games...we didn't always get the best match ups but the important thing was is that we, as a team, clicked...they rolled four lines and each line did what they had to do...again some players, hell, a lot of players should be stepping up....Gio, Marty, Madden...but we have a lot of players who are role players and not skill players...most of our team is made up that way...thats the thing about players who are hardworking and less skilled...when it counts hardwork only takes you so far and some skill has to be applied...our skill factor isn't as high as the Hurricane's skill factor and that can't be put on the players....but the coaching staff could have given us a better chance by letting us play the kind of games we played when we were winning....i really do believe some of game one was rust and the coaching staff started to panic because we were also out matched...if we could have gotten our bearings during game 2 and didn't have players out there together that shouldn't have been out there together such as Madden-Pando-Gio...or Pando-Elias-Gomez...then game two could have been a different game and the last 20 seconds might not have mattered so much....and most players...at least 75% of players who have their back against the wall and are getting frustrated because they can't get anything going are going to take an undisciplined penalty here and there....not saying its right but its true.....again, i'm not saying the players aren't to partially blame but equal blame needs to go to the coaching staff as well....

[Jerrydevil]

First of all, I agree with you that matching up lines against this team doesn't really work.

But I disagree that the 'Canes have THAT much more skill than the Devils. Our guys are being shut down.

I'll tell ya what, though ... based on these three games, they're a better defensive team than NJ.

[MantaRay]

Yes, the players have the responsiblity, but our players were confident going into this series, we let in two accidental goals in game one and the coaching staff started to panic.

By changing lines we got our forwards and defensemen out of sync with what they had developed over the past few months. As a result, they have begun to question themselves, taken alot of bad penalites and some decision making.

I am still baffled how Kozlov played in game two.

Bottomline: If NJ regrouped and Lou/J-Mac stuck to their guns we could have rallied in game one and changed the entire outlook of this series. Carolina has not shown me they are a better team, but they have taken advantage of the breaks WE GAVE THEM.

[UnderDogX]

Yes, the players have the responsiblity, but our players were confident going into this series, we let in two accidental goals in game one and the coaching staff started to panic.

By changing lines we got our forwards and defensemen out of sync with what they had developed over the past few months. As a result, they have begun to question themselves, taken alot of bad penalites and some decision making.

I am still baffled how Kozlov played in game two.

Bottomline: If NJ regrouped and Lou/J-Mac stuck to their guns we could have rallied in game one and changed the entire outlook of this series. Carolina has not shown me they are a better team, but they have taken advantage of the breaks WE GAVE THEM.

I agree whole heartedly....

and its not really that the 'Canes have THAT much more skill than us...but as a whole they have 3 scoring lines, a depth we lack...and it is that depth that shows they are faster and more skilled as a whole than we are...but yeah match up our top players with theirs and I would take ours in a heartbeat....