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GDT- St. Louis at New Jersey: 7pm ET


Derlique

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Merrill and Severson are definitely struggling.

I just have to think back to Larsson early on to remember how these young defenders can turn it around.

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I just hope they don't need a coaching change first :P

 

At least Hynes isn't doghousing them yet the way Pete did with Larsson.  Not that there's anyone to doghouse them for, even a bad Merrill/Severson's still better than Gelinas.

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This is more of what I expected this year.  Devils hung with the Blues until the Blues turned it on and then that was it - NJ had a few chances but they really did not have much happening for the final 2 periods of the game.  Josefson led the team in shots on goal.

 

Teams that are more structured and have more talent will do this to NJ regularly.  Thankfully there aren't many teams that are both things.

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This is more of what I expected this year. Devils hung with the Blues until the Blues turned it on and then that was it - NJ had a few chances but they really did not have much happening for the final 2 periods of the game. Josefson led the team in shots on goal.

Teams that are more structured and have more talent will do this to NJ regularly. Thankfully there aren't many teams that are both things.

Not thankfully, we play another one Thursday in their house... And they'll be ready after what happened Friday. Edited by MadDog2020
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The thing that stuck out to me was that the Blues were physically stronger on a bunch of plays. Both goals came from Devils being muscled off the puck (Cammalleri and Tootoo).

With that being said, this loss was a more entertaining game than 1/2 the Devils wins last year. This is just a much more enjoyable team to watch and there is much better play happening.

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It's all part of the learning curve.

I think Severson and Merrill will turn it around. Finding consistency at an NHL level is one of the toughest things to do.

They both have the skills, you don't just lose that in a season.

It would be nice to have a few players waiting to step in to take their spots though, keep the pressure on, like Hrabarenka or Mozik.

Edited by Chimaira_Devil_#9
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Weird game. Devils played well in the first and then it seemed like as if the teams decided to switch jerseys during the first intermission. Even though the Devils dominated the first, they didn't get many good scoring chances due to the Blues doing a good job at defending and shot blocking.

It looked like the team was a little bit out of gas in the second and third while the blues also turned it up a notch. No real shame in losing to a team like that.

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Weird game. Devils played well in the first and then it seemed like as if the teams decided to switch jerseys during the first intermission. Even though the Devils dominated the first, they didn't get many good scoring chances due to the Blues doing a good job at defending and shot blocking.

It looked like the team was a little bit out of gas in the second and third while the blues also turned it up a notch. No real shame in losing to a team like that.

 

Yeah, when the team goes on an 8-2 burst it's easy to forget that they're not really that good and weren't projected to be (not to mention that they only have three regulation wins on the season).  Like Tri alluded to, there's teams that the Devils are going to match up horribly against. 

 

Zajac is a bit of a concern...sounds crazy to say that if you look at the glamour numbers only (and a lot of fans are), but he's only managed 19 shots in 14 GP...that's an 111-shot pace over 82 games (even worse than his 112 shots over 74 GP last season).  He's also getting more than ice time than he ever has (but to be fair it's not by a ridiculous amount).  And of course, there's the 31.6 shooting% so far...if this was a Mike Rupp-type doing this for some other team, this would be getting pointed out a lot.

 

Would love for Zajac to enjoy a resurgent season (the guy has always been extremely easy to like and root for), but damned near everything points to him cooling off. 

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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We're gonna lose games like this from time to time (feels crazy saying that, after last year haha)... St. Louis is a powerhouse out West; we owned them one period, they owned us the next and the third was pretty even. 

 

Last week, looking ahead to this stretch of 4 games (Chi, Van, Stl, Chi), I thought 3-4 points out of the 8 would be a positive benchmark. We currently have 4; so I was pretty zen after last night's loss and going into tomorrow's game as well. Saturday vs. the Pens is the game I really want us to win. We usually do beat them and they are directly ahead of us. That's the real test.

Edited by DJ Eco
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This Devils team seems to struggle against bigger teams. Watching last nights game reminded me of the WPG, WAS, and CLB games where you could just see those teams had a size advantage on us.

I'm not trying to kill the guy, but Merrill seemed to play a little soft last night.

Edited by xxchaznjxx
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This Devils team seems to struggle against bigger teams. Watching last nights game reminded me of the WPG, WAS, and CLB games where you could just see those teams had a size advantage on us.

 

Winnipeg definitely did, they are larger and more physical than they ever have been, but Columbus played unbelievably soft the game we played them, I was really surprised. Washington's just a really good team. That really was a fluke loss.

 

Chicago, Vancouver, Philly and the Islanders were pretty physical affairs and we've come out on top. I think we can hang with them. St. Louis just has an awesome team this year, I wouldn't look too far past that.

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This team is fun to watch, even in losses like this.  I mean, they were clearly outplayed by a better team (a cup contender once Stastny comes back, imo) but they still had some chances late and played a tough game.

 

Love what this new coach has done, love that the guys are buying into it and playing hard.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm still very much so pro-tank in the sense that if a team is truly pathetic (like the Devils last year) it makes sense to just 'embrace' losing for a year.  But, against my better judgement, this Devils team has me thinking about sneaking into the playoffs as a wildcard.  I mean this thinking will quickly die out if they go on an extended losing streak or two (which seems pretty likely at some point, especially if injuries start to set in) but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

 

I'm actually enjoying Devils hockey again for the first time in a couple years.  Feels good man.

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