Jump to content

Goaltending is huge


'7'

Recommended Posts

the rags are on fumes as is. multiple days off won't help them, nothing will help them...they will spend the rest of the series in their zone relying on their 5 goalies and the sofa king.

Trouble is...this is working for them

It's absolutely sickening! I think the Devils should call an equipment check just for gamesmenship if nothing else...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most frustrating thing for me is that Lundy has been good but he hasn't been spectacular. He's just in our heads. Today we got more shots to the goal but we over-thought things way too much on our scoring chances. He's really good and always in position but there's no reason we can't bury goals on him 2 to 3 times a game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most frustrating thing for me is that Lundy has been good but he hasn't been spectacular. He's just in our heads. Today we got more shots to the goal but we over-thought things way too much on our scoring chances. He's really good and always in position but there's no reason we can't bury goals on him 2 to 3 times a game.

He fought the puck early in the game too. The Devils just didn't get any second shots on him. Today was a tough one. Game 4's gonna be a big one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the only difference in this game, as the Devils outplayed the Rags on ALL FRONTS (I still recall that graphic that NBC flashed...scoring chances Devils 23 Rangers 10) but again...you have one goalie letting up a stoppable shot to Girardi followed by a backbreaker softie from the point (which wasn't even tipped) and another who stops everything from every angle every time. Could you blame marty? I suppose, he pretty much always sh!ts himself at the sight of the rags in the playoffs...but when you have somebody like lundqvist there isn't much you can do.

The difference will be goaltending...the rangers will get some soft goals because of brodeur. The devils have to be pinpoint precise because of lundqvist, he will not allow a single soft goal. No tricklers from the point, no wrist shots from D-men after a faceoff.

I'm really worried, because this is EXACTLY what I saw during the entire 2008 series.

The series isn't over...but we need some help, we need some BREAKS! That's what the rags got today. BS penalty on Salvador (what did he do exactly) let to a PP goal and then the softy.

Can we play like crap for a game and win? ONCE? because the Rags played like crap today for 40+ minutes, got a BS pnealty in our zone on one of their rare good shifts.

As someone who is critical of "Mr. Softie" for his post season appearances basically since 2000, I think it is way off base to pin this on Brodeur. Obviously the premise that "goaltending is huge" is correct but unlike past years, this years team is not built around goaltending. In the years coming out of the lockout, Brodeur almost single handedly covered for the atrocious defenses LL put out there and we were able to win enough games 2-1 to win the division. It was frustrating because we all knew the only way we could advance once the playoffs started was for Brodeur to continue to be the best player on the ice and he never did that. Instead, he played like Dan Cloutier most of the time (granted those craptastic defenses were futher exposed once the level of play increase in the playoffs.)

This year, the Devils are built to win 3-2 and 4-3 type games. Honestly, you could have stuck 20 other NHL goalies in our net this season and we would have ended up with equal or better record so our success in the playoffs was never contingent on Marty stealing one. Lundqvist is supposed to be outplaying Brodeur. If we played Pittsburgh, would we expect Zajac and Henrique to outplay Crosby and Malkin? I would just want them to skate at a level such that the difference in the perfomance of the top line centers wasn't so great that we couldn't beat them in other areas where our team is stronger. Marty has given us a good chance to win all three games so far which is all I was looking for. This is soooo much different than 2008 where his clunkers absolutely killed the Devils.

This series is on our scoring lines. The depth forwards have done a good job and have even chipped in a bit in game 2 but where the hell are Elias, Parise and too an extent Kovy? In a series where we know we'll need to score 3 goals a game to win, we're screwed if we're only going to get 1 goal combined out of our 3 top 25 regular season scorers. Hopefully we see a similar performance tomorrow night to the game 3 win over Philly where all three scored.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This series is nothing like that one. We didn't dominate a single game in that series. That Devils team didn't even show up.

I think you're half-right on this. This series is definitely nothing like that one, and what we HAVE seen is that the days of the two-steps-slower Devils really are a thing of the past. Even if the Devils do ultimately lose this series (and that's a big IF...being down 2-1 does not mean a series is over, but for some reason some fans of ALL teams act like it is), it won't be for the same reasons that pretty much every team from 2004-2010 got eliminated from the playoffs. Those teams were easy to overpower and control for most of their playoff opponents...which is why I don't agree with your "That Devils team didn't even show up" observation...I just think those teams weren't very good, and had a way of putting up more points than they really should have.

As for the goaltending...still goes back to the same thing...this particular goalie against this particular team. Lundqvist just friggin' owns them...Tri will point to Fenwicks and Corsis and zone time and how luck is playing a major factor, because when the sabermetrics point to one result and the actual result is quite different, that's what sabermetricians tend to do. Are the Devils unlucky? I sure don't want to read post after post of how unlucky the Devils were, should they lose this series, but all of this truly is as maddening as it gets...when it was 0-0 after two periods, you just KNEW the friggin' Rangers were somehow going to find a way...the Devils have had their share of tough playoff losses, but I don't know if I've ever been as flat-out frustrated as I am right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The bottom line is that we no longer have a shut down goalie. Will he make great saves? Of course. But expect 1-2 goals every game. WE know that. We need to score. Marty can no longer get us into an overtime 0-0 game. He HAS to let one in every game, period. On the other side, Henrik is shutting us down like Marty did to Anaheim back in '03. Goaltending is NOT going to win this tournament for us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.