434 replies to this topic

[DaneykoIsGod]

[Amberite]

Perfect screen by Parise. Clarkson should be strapped into a chair with his eyes taped open while this loops over and over for 3 days straight.

[DaneykoIsGod]

Perfect screen by Parise. Clarkson should be strapped into a chair with his eyes taped open while this loops over and over for 3 days straight.

Textbook screen from Zach. Perfect. And there's so much about Kovy that's impressive on this shot: the patience to wait until he had a double-screen with Zach and the Nashville defender, the perfectly placed shot, and the power behind it considering that he barely pushed off his back foot. If you just watch Kovy and not the puck, it almost looks like the body motion of a soft dump in or something, not a laser to the crossbar.


On an unrelated note, a couple interesting stats:

2011-12 - 3-1-0 record, 6 points, 7 GF, 8 GA through the first four games
2010-11 - 1-2-1 record, 3 points, 7 GF, 14 GA through the first four games

(It should be noted that the tack-on goal in the box score for the shootout winning team doesn't count toward GF.)

Also interesting is Kovalchuk's TOI these past two games:

10/13 vs. LAK - 29:37
10/15 at NSH - 32:04

He's played over 60 minutes in the past two games combined. Right now he's 4th in the league in TOI, and the closest forward to him is Anze Kopitar (ranked 36th).

Edited by DaneykoIsGod, 17 October 2011 - 01:58 PM.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Textbook screen from Zach. Perfect. And there's so much about Kovy that's impressive on this shot: the patience to wait until he had a double-screen with Zach and the Nashville defender, the perfectly placed shot, and the power behind it considering that he barely pushed off his back foot. If you just watch Kovy and not the puck, it almost looks like the body motion of a soft dump in or something, not a laser to the crossbar.


On an unrelated note, a couple interesting stats:

2011-12 - 3-1-0 record, 6 points, 7 GF, 8 GA through the first four games
2010-11 - 1-2-1 record, 3 points, 7 GF, 14 GA through the first four games

(It should be noted that the tack-on goal in the box score for the shootout winning team doesn't count toward GF.)

Also interesting is Kovalchuk's TOI these past two games:

10/13 vs. LAK - 29:37
10/15 at NSH - 32:04

He's played over 60 minutes in the past two games combined. Right now he's 4th in the league in TOI, and the closest forward to him is Anze Kopitar (ranked 36th).

No one can ever dispute that Kovy has gifts...it's whether or not the brain in charge will ever get the most out of them. The crazy TOI even takes away from his production a little bit...4 pts in 4 GP seems a little less impressive with that much ice time.

Glad you eliminated the phantom GF. It's only 4 games, teeny tiny sample as we all know, but considering how much this team struggled to score goals last season, I can't ignore the early trend towards that issue this season. The plus side is that they've scored 6 goals when a goalie is in the opposing net, but have somehow found a way to win 3 games. And they are getting SOG...78 of them in the last two games. It's not easy to have a ton of offensive faith in this bunch, not yet, but hopefully some of those shots find their way into the net, at a better than the current 4.8% rate.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976, 17 October 2011 - 03:04 PM.

[Triumph]

'This' team didn't struggle to score goals, because 'this' team didn't have Zach Parise. The chances are coming and these players can finish.

[Devils Pride 26]

It doesn't bother me with Kovy getting so many minutes, because he isn't the kind of player who needs to check extremely hard at both ends of the ice. If it were Parise, that would be a different story, but Kovalchuk is a home run hitter who can be threat on a double shift by himself on the fourth line. I'm not calling him a floater, but his game seems much more paced allowing him to handle the minutes. Kovy also accumulates a lot of minutes at the point on the powerplay, another less strenuous position.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

'This' team didn't struggle to score goals, because 'this' team didn't have Zach Parise. The chances are coming and these players can finish.

No sh!t, I KNOW it's not the exact same team as last season, 'this' team doesn't have Travis Zajac until whenever, 'this' team jettisoned Brian Rolston, 'this' team didn't start the season with Langenbrunner and Arnott, blah blah blah.

But let's face it, 'this' franchise's teams, year-to-year (recently), have had trouble finishing. We're seeing more of it this season. I said it was a teeny-tiny sample, as far as 'this' season goes. I don't expect them to continue to shoot 4.8% as a team...even last year's offensive trainwreck managed to shoot 7.3%. But it's going to take more than you saying the Devils are a good team for me to buy in and start believing that. I need to see it happen.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976, 18 October 2011 - 08:05 AM.

[NJDevs4978]

No sh!t, I KNOW it's not the exact same team as last season, 'this' team doesn't have Travis Zajac until whenever, 'this' team jettisoned Brian Rolston, 'this' team didn't start the season with Langenbrunner and Arnott, blah blah blah.

But let's face it, 'this' franchise's teams, year-to-year (recently), have had trouble finishing. We're seeing it more of it this season. I said it was a teeny-tiny sample, as far as 'this' season goes. I don't expect them to continue to shoot 4.8% as a team...even last year's offensive trainwreck managed to shoot 7.3%. But it's going to take more than you saying the Devils are a good team for me to buy in and start believing that. I need to see it happen.

Not to mention there are only eight players left on the roster from the last time this team was in the playoffs. And that includes Kovy, who's never been part of a good team here, and Zajac, who's gone for god knows how long.

This group has some proving to do.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Not to mention there are only eight players left on the roster from the last time this team was in the playoffs. And that includes Kovy, who's never been part of a good team here, and Zajac, who's gone for god knows how long.

This group has some proving to do.

Yeah, agreed. Four games into the season, just five players on the roster have found the back of the net. There's some young guys looking to establish themselves. Good for Hedberg and his .945 save%, but who expects that to continue? Is Marty going to break down multiple times this season?

Not saying that this year's team is going to suck, but there's plenty of legitimate questions. None of us can say what the 2011-12 Devils are just yet.

[Triumph]

Yeah, agreed. Four games into the season, just five players on the roster have found the back of the net. There's some young guys looking to establish themselves. Good for Hedberg and his .945 save%, but who expects that to continue? Is Marty going to break down multiple times this season?

Not saying that this year's team is going to suck, but there's plenty of legitimate questions. None of us can say what the 2011-12 Devils are just yet.

I can say they're going to be a pretty good team who makes the playoffs a very large % of the time. Of course I would've said that last year, too, but that doesn't invalidate this year. Yeah, great, five players have found the back of the net. The others have taken a combined 61 shots in 4 games. They're going to start scoring.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I can say they're going to be a pretty good team who makes the playoffs a very large % of the time. Of course I would've said that last year, too, but that doesn't invalidate this year. Yeah, great, five players have found the back of the net. The others have taken a combined 61 shots in 4 games. They're going to start scoring.

Let's face it, we all wondered what last year would bring, with Lou doing something we'd never thought we'd see the Devils do (signing Kovy to his mega-deal). Though some wondered aloud whether the brave-new-world Devils would make the playoffs last year, NO ONE expected the complete first-half meltdown, and the second-half surge that followed, and the season total of 174 goals that INCLUDED phantom shootout goals. Last year was so bizarre.

I've already said that the team will score more than they've been (4.8% for a full season isn't going to happen), but who knows how much more? They'll probably find the back of the net at a better than last season's 7.3% rate, but how much better? They SHOULD be better than last season collectively, but they really have nowhere to go but up.

[Triumph]

Let's face it, we all wondered what last year would bring, with Lou doing something we'd never thought we'd see the Devils do (signing Kovy to his mega-deal). Though some wondered aloud whether the brave-new-world Devils would make the playoffs last year, NO ONE expected the complete first-half meltdown, and the second-half surge that followed, and the season total of 174 goals that INCLUDED phantom shootout goals. Last year was so bizarre.

I've already said that the team will score more than they've been (4.8% for a full season isn't going to happen), but who knows how much more? They'll probably find the back of the net at a better than last season's 7.3% rate, but how much better? They SHOULD be better than last season collectively, but they really have nowhere to go but up.

NJ's real scoring problem wasn't on the top lines, where their scoring was not great, but not entirely horrible. Their scoring problems really came lower down in the lineup and on defense. They got 18 goals from defense and the defense collectively shot 3.3%. And the bottom 6 forwards all year? From Steckel, Clarkson, Josefson, Zharkov, Tedenby, Mair, Pelley, Sestito, S. Gionta, Vasyunov, here's how many goals they got: 32. 32 goals in 433 games. That's really, really bad. I think the defense will improve, and while the 4th line figures to be horrendous, the 3rd line should be halfway decent.

[Devils Pride 26]

Give it a rest already CR, goals will come. I don't get how people are upset after throwing 40 shots on net the past two games. If they got 40 combined I would be concerned, BUT THEY MANAGED 78 SHOTS AGAINST TWO OF THE TOUGHEST DEFENSES AND NETMINDERS IN THE LEAGUE!

For a team that averaged 28.8 shots per game last year, only 6 times did they shot the puck 37 times or more -- with 4 of those being losses where the offense was in attack mode. Only one of the games came in the second half, the Kovy game winner in Toronto.

They have already done that twice this year, both coming in wins, both coming in tied games throughout the third period. I like what this says about Deboer's style as well.

Last year, against the same Nashville Predators, the Devils were held to a season low 16 shots. If that does not prove what a different team this is, I don't know what will.

http://www.nhl.com/i...ame=gameSummary

[NJDevs4978]

Who's 'upset'? I'm just saying I'm not convinced the scoring woes are behind us yet (and the results aren't there goalwise even with the 3-1 start), or that we're already back to being a 100-point lock for the playoffs good team after four games.

[Triumph]

if anything, the problems will be with the goaltending, not with the offense. jacques lemaire had the team playing ridiculously low-event hockey last season. deboer does not.