258 replies to this topic

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

anyone who thinks the devils were outplayed is a fool, the devils were in control the entire time. It wasn't until the final 5 minutes the rangers had any substantial chances (not counting betts's nice shot). The devils shut down the rangers and were never in danger of losing.

[smelly]

anyone who thinks the devils were outplayed is a fool, the devils were in control the entire time. It wasn't until the final 5 minutes the rangers had any substantial chances (not counting betts's nice shot). The devils shut down the rangers and were never in danger of losing.

I could not disagree more. From where I've sat all year in Section 105, this was easily the worst game the Devils have played in the last three weeks. They were sloppy with the puck, refused to dump and chase (especially on the PP when the Rangers stood four guys across the blue line to prevent Elias, Gomez, and Gionta from skating the puck into the zone), made too many long passes and cross-ice passes that led to too many TOs at the blue line for my liking. Classic Devils hockey is played along the boards and in the corners, with short passes and the forwards coming back to the puck -- not home run passes and ill-advised rushes that leave the D outnumbered and the Fs our of position. I expect much better next time.

[RowdyFan42]

The crowd tonight was truly amazing. Devils fans are doing a great job showing the NHL and TV networks that we are loud and here!!

That reminds me; does anyone else think FSNY makes CAA sound like a mausoleum? I flipped over to OLN a few times and the arena sounded much louder. And up here we also get the Sabres games on MSG, and when I put that game on after the end of this one, the crowd noise was so loud that I could barely hear Rick Jeanneret.

[Sickman]

On face, it is easy to say we were outplayed but I disagree. We were playing a tight defensive game. It reminded me a lot of how we played in the last game in Philly and the Thursday night gams vs Philly. The Rangers had a lot of puck control but they did not generate that many offensive opportunities from it. Also, when the chips were down the Devils dominated on the 3 on 5. The Rangers played better and shut down our scoring lines but you know what? It did not matter. We still won. We have won two games and we can still play better!

Finally somebody with a semi positive outlook of the game. While the Devils may not have played their best game I really cant see how everybody is saying they were lucky tonight. I have to give the Rangers some credit because they did work their asses off tonight but to say they dominated the Devils just doesnt wash. What good is all that puck control if you cant get any shots on net?

The main problem with the Devils tonight was that they kept turning the puck over in the neutral zone and the Ranger forwards would just rush up the ice in transition. Im hoping White will be back soon cause the D is just not anywhere near what it can be with him in the line up.

As much as the Rangers "dominated" the game tonight, I think a lot of people are forgetting that the Devils could have maybe scored another 2 or 3 goals in this game themselves. Gomez had two awesome chances himself but Weeks made a couple nice saves.

The way I see it, both teams made plenty of mistakes tonight, but the Devils were able to capitalize on their chances unlike the Rangers. They will have to be better in game 3 for sure but they werent as bad tonight as some are saying. I dont think the Rangers could have played any better then they did and they still lost 4 to 1.

A little tweaking by the coaching staff and the Devils should be fine. They have to stop taking stupid penalties though. If they do that with a healthy Ranger line up, then they will be asking for trouble

[metallidevils]

anyone who thinks the devils were outplayed is a fool, the devils were in control the entire time. It wasn't until the final 5 minutes the rangers had any substantial chances (not counting betts's nice shot). The devils shut down the rangers and were never in danger of losing.

you are...extremely wrong

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

you are all spoiled, watch some other series and you'll see what sloppy hockey is really all about. The devils didn't look their best, but they still utterly dominated the rangers.

edit:keeping in mind that this is the lundquist, kasperitis, ward, jagr-less rangers.

Edited by halfsharkalligatorhalfman, 24 April 2006 - 11:28 PM.

[Mitico12]

Bottom Line...the Devils won. I'm sure we are all in agreement that this is a good thing.

But, there are some major concerns:

1. Gio/Gomer/and Parise were ineffective for most stretches of the game
2. Patty and Sarge didn't get as much time with the puck, and definitely turned it over a lot

3. The PP...the Devils did not stick with the basics on the PP. I saw Gomer and Patty trying to carry the mail in all the time, rather than do what was simple...dump and chase...

4. The D was soft at times...there were several occasions when I witness Lukowich softly challenge the puck in the corner, and not chase it agressively enough, allowing the rags player to get there first and maintain possession

5. Pando/Mad Dog/and Marshall were being worked on quite a bit with the rags cycle...I saw them running around a few times...

My suggestion for next game (only, and I repeat, only if he's willing to accept his role)...

Put Kozlov in place of Cam Janssen on the wing...Kozzy can skate, hit, and score goals if needed...

[njdevil26]

well its a good thing we won... so i dont have to hear sh!t from my ranger fan friends... i called up one buddy and told him next time he was out to buy himself a broom haha...... i hope we can win it in at most 5 id love for the clinching game to be at home... (mainly because i have tickets for game 5 haha)

[brylin18]

- the devils have a habit of playing down to the level of their opponent. they came out and played a mediocre game because the rangers presented a mediocre challenge......and they still came out of there with a win. with jagr back in the next game, i think we'll see the devils take it up a notch also.

- the rangers did not dominate the game. sure, they kept the puck in the devils zone alot, but almost all of their play was in the periphery......the devils will take that any day of the week. how many quality chances came out of all of their play in the devils zone? not too many.

- janssen has to be careful. he cannot afford to take any penalties.

- i thought hale looked really good. the defense as a whole has been excellent. how good is that lukowich pickup looking now?

Edited by brylin18, 24 April 2006 - 11:42 PM.

[ice dog]

Absolutely brutal.

However, we got a win with Gomez-Parise-Gionta playing like crap and Langenbrunner-Brylin-Elias not playing a whole lot better. Gotta count yer lucky stars when that happens.

yeah, i also agree with a few of brylin18's comments in this last post...

the rangers played a better game, and really showed some hustle. However, that goal by ozo...uh...madden excuse me...at the end of the 2 minute 2 man advantage simply broke the rangers back.

the way Marty is playing you know he wants to end this thing in 4 games...man is he focused.

Game 3 in MSG is going to be good.

You are right though, you know the team is hot when the deviled eggs get scrambled, yet maddog picks up the scoring with a hatrick and 2 shorthanded goals at that!

[Derek21]

you are all spoiled, watch some other series and you'll see what sloppy hockey is really all about. The devils didn't look their best, but they still utterly dominated the rangers.

edit:keeping in mind that this is the lundquist, kasperitis, ward, jagr-less rangers.

I disagree. The Rangers struggled to finish. They couldn't hit the net. And at times, passed up shots trying to be way too fancy on those two power plays. They had plenty of chances.

If you look at the Devils' goals, one was off a moronic pinch by Ozolinsh. The second was off a nice play by Martin to Gionta on a power play. The third was another boneheaded play by Ozo putting it in his own net after the Rangers fumbled the puck around for a 2:00 5-on-3 outside of a Sykora post.

And the fourth was when the Rangers were pressing to cut it to one and got predictably caught leading to Madden's hat.


Outside of those goals, the Devils best players generated very little. They turned over the puck a ton but our players didn't capitalize. I will credit the Devil D for doing a good job in one facet. Blocking a lot of shots. They finished with 18 blocks. Oh btw...the Rangers also missed the net 20 times. That means they attempted a lot of shots. 26 of which got through.


If I am them, I am happy with the effort but not pleased with the lack of ability to finish. I was very pleased with how they competed. They play like that Wednesday, they have a good chance of winning.

[MantaRay]

Your best players were Holliweg, Betts, Hossa and Prucha.....which doesn't bode well since only Prucha is a threat to score.

I don't think NJ was happy about last night and will improve in game 3.

[Don]

anyone who thinks the devils were outplayed is a fool

BTW - You probably won't make too many friends calling about half the posters here "fools".

[Elias26]

I had a great time last night. The best was when the Rangers had the 5 on 3 powerplay I thought they won the game the way the Rags fans were chearing and going crazy. And then Madden happened....

[MantaRay]

I dont think we were outplayed, but we definately didn't play our best.

This is a really difficult series to play without Jagr in the line-up. The Devils do not play well against lower quality teams. Our whole team philosophy is counter-punching, right now we are shadow boxing.

We play best when we are focused. Its difficult to focus on an opponent that isn't very threatening. I hope the Devils wake-up after last night.

[Devils731]

I agree with the people who don't think the Devils played great but I don't think the Devils got vastly outplayed either. The Devils weren't at the top of their game but many of the Rangers best chances never even got through to Marty because the Devils recovered and blocked the shot. Also, the Rangers weren't getting many rebound chances because the Devils were getting to the first. The Devils couldn't get their passes to click tonight, but if they did the Devils would have had at least 5 more odd man rushes. The Rangers played super aggressive positionally and the Devils will burn them on many nights if they keep doing that.

[Nature's Minister]

I'm glad the Devils had a bad game. You can't keep the intensity with which they were playing going forever - teams need to take a night off once in a while.

They'll refocus in time for game three.

[gogonjdevil]

It's hard to say that the Devils didn't get outplayed when most of the game was played in our end of the Ice. That being said. We have something the Rangers don't! MARTY!

No matter how many defensive breakdowns happen...No matter how many breakaways occur...no matter how many goddamn wraparound attempts (seriously...it was 12 years ago...he's not falling for it again!)...we have Marty between the pipes.

In my eyes, that was the difference in the game last night. I think he made 2 or 3 outstanding saves. The save on the breakaway. The diving save at the end was unreal. Any one of those goes in and the momentum shifts.

Whether the Rangers play Lundquist or Weekes, it doesn't matter. We still have Marty and he's on fire right now.

[SueNJ97]

I agree with the people who don't think the Devils played great but I don't think the Devils got vastly outplayed either. The Devils weren't at the top of their game but many of the Rangers best chances never even got through to Marty because the Devils recovered and blocked the shot. Also, the Rangers weren't getting many rebound chances because the Devils were getting to the first. The Devils couldn't get their passes to click tonight, but if they did the Devils would have had at least 5 more odd man rushes. The Rangers played super aggressive positionally and the Devils will burn them on many nights if they keep doing that.

I took a second look at the game and let's just say it wasn't NJ's most intelligent game. But it wasn't the Rangers', either. I think the issue is that it was worse than we have gotten used to NJ playing lately, but it was much better than we saw NY play on Saturday. NJ's top line played, essentially, a lazy game. when they saw the Rangers clogging up the NZ at full strength and lined up 4 across the blue-line on the NJ PP they refused to dump it in and chase it. They tried to make the pretty play (the second line was also guilty of this for quite a bit of the game). That led to a significant amount of turnovers. That was the right thing for the Rangers to do, but the funny thing is that when NJ does that (although they don't line up 4 across the blue line on the PK) they are accused of ruining hockey...but I digress.

However, I listened to the post-game interviews and the guys are well aware that they were trying to take the easy way out. They probably won't make the same mistake again. If the Rangers do the same thing next game, you can expect the Devils to dump and chase, if necessary. That should cut down on the NZ turnovers by NJ which allowed NY to get into the NJ zone and apply pressure the way they did. When they dump it deep, if NY recovers, they will have to come the length of the ice, meaning NJ has a chance to force the turnover. We'll probably see lots of NZ play, not what NY fans want to see and not what the NHL wants, but the hell with it, we're used to it.

The Rangers certainly did play a better game than they did on Saturday. NJ was the less disciplined team last night. That has to stop. Someone needs to talk to Grant about shutting up after they call him for a penalty. No matter what you think of it you just go to the box. Personally, I'd think about sitting him if he can't get it through his head.

Whether NJ was actually really lucky to win this game or not, let's hope they think they were. That should get them in the right frame of mind for Game 3.

None of that, however, should take away from the performances of Rafalski, Martin, Pandolfo, Madden or Marty, the Wonder Goalie.

[Triumph]

I don't think the Devils played as terrible as some people are saying - I do think there's things to worry about and I think if the Rangers played their A game they could've given New Jersey a much more difficult time. However, the Devils led early, and typically in games where a team leads early, they will look like the 'worse' team because they are trying to protect the lead. There have been outright dominant games that New Jersey has played in the past few weeks, but this is the playoffs and it isn't 2000 - this Devils team isn't going to shut down an opponent all game long, especially not a desperate opponent like the Rangers.

So I can't say the Devils were lucky to win - I can say the Devils were a bit lucky to be leading by 3 going into the third.