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GDT - Devils @ Penguins - 3/24/2016


NJDfan1711

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Schneider back at practice yesterday, but apparently he suffered a setback?  Anyway, Wedge getting the start again.  Kinda glad.  Would like to see him play again, especially against a pretty good team.  Pittsburgh has us in most stat categories, but Special Teams is the one thing that seems pretty even.

The lines will probably look something like this:

Joseph Blandisi Adam Henrique Devante Smith-Pelly
Reid Boucher Travis Zajac Kyle Palmieri
Blake Pietila Sergey Kalinin Mike Sislo
Bobby Farnham Stephen Gionta Tuomo Ruutu

That bottom 6 man...woof.  The only one I really like is Kalinin.  Farnham I think is a perfectly fine 4th line player, maybe even 3rd.  We just have to see if he can keep up his Clarkson-like season next year too.   At least we get to see what Pietila can do.

Go Devils.

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Losing tonight doesn't really hurt the Flyers.  I doubt they catch the Penguins with or without help from us.  At this point, they're playing much better than the Islanders, which is why the final two spots probably remain contested between them, the Flyers, and the Wings.

Speaking of the Flyers though, I mentioned in another thread that it's frustrating to see us as a bubble team again this year, pretty much only 6-8 points out of the playoffs, which is just 3 or 4 wins, but what's even more maddening now that I think about it, is that the Flyers very well may be a team that gets in.  This sucks considering we were ahead of them in the standings for the bulk of the season, and they really weren't playing good hockey by any stretch of the imagination up until the beginning of the year.  Kudos to them for turning it around, but at the same time I feel compelled to say shame on us for letting that spot go.  We knew it was a long shot and probably too good to be true, but damnit we were flirting with both wildcard spots for a good 60-70% of the season.

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14 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

Losing tonight doesn't really hurt the Flyers.  I doubt they catch the Penguins with or without help from us.  At this point, they're playing much better than the Islanders, which is why the final two spots probably remain contested between them, the Flyers, and the Wings.

Speaking of the Flyers though, I mentioned in another thread that it's frustrating to see us as a bubble team again this year, pretty much only 6-8 points out of the playoffs, which is just 3 or 4 wins, but what's even more maddening now that I think about it, is that the Flyers very well may be a team that gets in.  This sucks considering we were ahead of them in the standings for the bulk of the season, and they really weren't playing good hockey by any stretch of the imagination up until the beginning of the year.  Kudos to them for turning it around, but at the same time I feel compelled to say shame on us for letting that spot go.  We knew it was a long shot and probably too good to be true, but damnit we were flirting with both wildcard spots for a good 60-70% of the season.

You can make the argument that the Devils really didn't deserve to be there as late as they were...when they were 29-21-7, so much pointed to them falling back to Earth, and it finally happened.  They've been outshot 2075-1789 on the season...what makes it easier to accept is that this doesn't feel like a Devils team that lost a lot of games that they should've won...it's very much been the other way around. 

There's always a batch of teams that finish within grasp of a playoff berth that can play the "What if" game...hell, you can start with the '95-'96 Devils.  But there's no point in it.  I think the Devils team gave it the ol' college try in every way, but ultimately just weren't good enough or deserving enough.

 

Let's go Devils! 

Glad to see Wedge getting another start.  Not a bad thing for a kid like him to play against some of the NHL's very best. 

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1 hour ago, NJDfan1711 said:

Speaking of the Flyers though, I mentioned in another thread that it's frustrating to see us as a bubble team again this year, pretty much only 6-8 points out of the playoffs, which is just 3 or 4 wins, but what's even more maddening now that I think about it, is that the Flyers very well may be a team that gets in.  This sucks considering we were ahead of them in the standings for the bulk of the season, and they really weren't playing good hockey by any stretch of the imagination up until the beginning of the year.  Kudos to them for turning it around, but at the same time I feel compelled to say shame on us for letting that spot go.  We knew it was a long shot and probably too good to be true, but damnit we were flirting with both wildcard spots for a good 60-70% of the season.

It was a spot absolutely no one expected us to occupy at any point this season, and a spot we no longer deserve(d) after our performances in February-onward.

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19 minutes ago, eaglejelly said:

What happened to Kinkaid? I didn't see the game where he got pulled for Danis. Did he get hurt or did he just suck?

An .827 save% in his last three GP and an .872 save% in his last 9 GP overall.  Pretty bad.  He and Danis pretty much opened the door for Wedge to get a look. 

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2 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

You can make the argument that the Devils really didn't deserve to be there as late as they were...when they were 29-21-7, so much pointed to them falling back to Earth, and it finally happened.  They've been outshot 2075-1789 on the season...what makes it easier to accept is that this doesn't feel like a Devils team that lost a lot of games that they should've won...it's very much been the other way around. 

There's always a batch of teams that finish within grasp of a playoff berth that can play the "What if" game...hell, you can start with the '95-'96 Devils.  But there's no point in it.  I think the Devils team gave it the ol' college try in every way, but ultimately just weren't good enough or deserving enough.

 

Let's go Devils! 

Glad to see Wedge getting another start.  Not a bad thing for a kid like him to play against some of the NHL's very best. 

 

1 hour ago, DJ Eco said:

It was a spot absolutely no one expected us to occupy at any point this season, and a spot we no longer deserve(d) after our performances in February-onward.

I think you both are absolutely right, but I guess it just stings a little more when, despite possibly not deserving it or expecting to be there, when you are actually in a position and a playoff spot is within your reach come January-ish, to squander it seems like such a waste.  Also like I said, when it's our hated rival that is more likely than not going to get that spot we once occupied, the bitter taste is that much stronger.

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Excited for Pietila-Kalinin-Sislo, that line will have some nice speed, even if they don't convert on anything.

Pietila is centering that line. I think that has to mean Hynes likes what he sees.

What a save early for Wedge on Bonino.

What a pass and score by Zajac and Palms

Sent from my C6725 using Tapatalk

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Wow Palms...he's going to be able to squeeze a few more dollars out of the Devils now...

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