NJDfan1711

Pretty much the same. If the difference between exercising or not exercising the first year of his ELC results in several extra wins, which could therefore mean we make or don't make the playoffs, it's easily worth it.

Even better that the Hughes brothers scored together on a play, in the city of "Brotherly Love". Suck it Philly.

Jarry scored tonight. Was a nice shot. First goalie in Pens history to score.

I didn't wanna muck up a GameDay thread with general convo, but since others have already kind of gone there, I guess I just want to ask what some here, since I seem to be in the minority, see in Schmid, or rather, don't see in VV? Reason I ask is because based on last game, at least in my eyes, 3 of the 4 goals he allowed were really not his fault. Goal #1 was on the PP and the Isles had great luck movement. Hard for any goalie to stop Horvat's one-timer there. Goal #2 was a breakaway....yet again, hard to stop, the shooter always had the advantage there. Goal #3 was odd and probably weak - I'll chalk that one up as a softie that should've been stopped. Goal #4 was off a tip/deflection from a guy in front where the puck completely changed direction and VV had to desperately dive for it; literally no chance there. Obviously 14 saves on 18 shots for a .770 sv % is awful, but I don't think it tells the whole story. Raanta let in 8 goals on 14 shots a few nights ago and I can almost guarantee at least half of them probably weren't his fault. I know everyone says your goalie has to bail you out every now and then, which I fully agree with and I'd say VV isn't doing that, but I wouldn't say by any means that there's a huge difference between the two goalies right now, or that one is outplaying the other by any large stretch.

I don't think there's any chance Schmid gets both. But yeah, I agree, it would make the most sense to give him the nod tonight and VV tomorrow.

I also didn't think the Wings would be as good as they've been so far this year. Granted they're not in our division, but if we are competing for a Wild Card spot, they're an extra team that were fighting with. Right now at the 1/4 point in the season we have a game in hand but they're 4pts up, so technically they could still be ahead of is by a game/2pts. Not worried, just aware. I think the Wing will fall off some, and we'll rise.

Let's Go Devils.

Overall, a pretty good period, we had good pressure and puck movement, controlling the neutral zone and getting entries into their zone. Not a bad cycle at times either. Need to stay out of the box, and avoid skirmishes like at the end of the period.

Nice job of shooting the puck there by McLeod. Bit of a gift for us, seemed like an easy 2 on 1.

Bad penalty call overall, but my God Mercer, that was just so stupid. Dano nailed it, he didn't even have to do anything because Bahl was back. Bad awareness.

That's absolutely amazing and hilarious. Never seen anything like that before

Let's Go Devils.

I saw the hugs and pats on the back from players to Nico at the end of the game which on the one hand was nice, they appreciate what he brings to the team, but on the other handI don't want Nico, or anyone else, to think they can skate away to easy victories now that he's back. He makes a difference, yes, but the effort and execution tonight was night and day. The last 6 games were fvcking terrible, and we need the effort that we got tonight to show up moving forward throughout the season. "No days off", as someone used to say.

23-5 shots? Good job boys

Holtz has a shot

Same. I'm by no means a huge fan of any other team, other than perhaps the lightning because I've lived in this area for so long, but I do enjoy the storylines as well. I'm interested to see if Ovi breaks the goals record, how bedard turns out, etc. I also like to watch other teams on occasion because it helps me understand what's going on when we play them.

I'm curious why you, and others, dislike the NHL so much. The league definitely has done things that don't make sense or are just plain stupid, but I still find the product entertaining. Maybe I'm just a big(get) hockey fan in general, but if I'm flipping channels and looking for something to watch, I can usually catch any game and be interested in watching.

Yeah, it's fvcking stupid nonsense. I could understand not playing him for ALL of your back-to-backs throughout the season, but anyone, especially a young guy, is capable of playing some every now and then. Hell, even I've played in iron man tournaments in the past when I played two or three full games in one day, and several games over a weekend. I've even played a couple games without a single substitution. fvcking brutal, but you do what you have to. Beyond all that, how about you give your goalie a chance to get a little fvcking rhythm, huh? Neither guy is gonna have a chance to get on a hot streak if they're constantly getting yanked every other night, like a yo-yo. Does Ruff actually ask these guys if they want to and are ok to start a back to back? Or does he just make blind assumptions? I have to believe either guy, Schmid or VV, if you ask either one, they would say they want to be out there.

There's been few reasons to cheer lately. I hope you get a bunch tonight. I'll be watching on my laptop - if they put together another putrid effort, I may smash it on the wall. Let's Go Devils.

Pretty much spot on ^. I hate to bring up the Lightning often, but I'm close to the team, and I see in them a lot of what our team could be, given the talent on our roster compared to what they've had for the past 5-7 years. Tonight was another example of how teams with skill can either show up and want it, or not show up. They literally hung 8 goals on Raanta tonight. On just 14 shots! Yes, Raanta played the entire game, and finished with less than a .500 save percentage. And the Bolts did this ON THE ROAD. Here's a little glimpse at what the stars on their team are during. Stamkos, 9 goals. Hagel, 10 goals. Point, 11 goals. Kucherov, 15 goals. I know Meier and Nico are hurt (that's another conversation altogether, durability matters), but we need guys like Jack, Toffoli, Bratt, Mercer, and, yes, Palat, to carry this team when the bottom guys aren't supplementing the scoring. Following up a miserable shutout with a 1 goal performance, at home, against one of the worst teams in the league is fvcking pathetic. Someone should be lighting the locker room on fire to show that this team has balls and that they care. So much complacency right now, from the coaching staff on down.

Stanch the ongoing hemorrhaging? I feel like that's the opposite of what we need. If we're giving up on both Vanecek and Schmid, we need a goalie who is young and going to be part of our future - we are close to being done with our rebuild and should be on the up and up with our current core of players. We don't need an aging veteran goalie who's stop-gap for just a season or two. Schmid is young and there's no reason to bail on him yet. He played well in the playoffs last year and perhaps he should get the lion's share of playing time instead of VV and see how he handles it. We'd be better served to trade for or try to pick up a stay-at-home defenseman somewhere, rather than reach for a goalie who might not be an upgrade over what we have now.

Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys.

I just want to point out that the Lightning have been putting out two goalies who are LESS than AHL caliber this season, and they are playing well. The just beat the best team in the league two nights ago. Take a look at the Bolts goalies when you get a chance. One guy literally has bounced around to about a dozen leagues you've NEVER heard of, and the other guy has about 30 NHL games under his belt. They are, quite literally, WAY worse and less experienced than our guys. So, you absolutely can put guys in goal that are AHL quality and still manage to win some games. At the very least you can manage to not look like complete dogsh!t. The Devils on the other hand cannot.

Had to turn the game off. First time in a long time I've done that. We can't even complete a simple fvcking pass when the guy is 5 feet away. This has been an absolutely pathetic effort tonight. Ruff has to be on notice after this. Too much talent for this team to be sitting at 20th place in the league, and looking like they can fall even further, fast.

It's usually never a bad idea to put the puck on net, but if Luke would learn to be a little more patient, he may create more chances for himself and his linemates, rather than just mildly pushing the back to the crease so the other goalie can cover it.