GDT: Game 45 - Devils @ Vancouver 7PM, MSG+

[HOLLYWOOD]

WTF  are their linesmen for again?

 

Getting tired of all these BS coaches challenges of irrelevancy until someone scores.

[EdgeControl]

We like to pass to the other team, a lot

[mfitz804]

That didn't look very embellish-y to me. 

[HOLLYWOOD]

WOOHOO

[JSR]

Hall OT winner!  Enjoy your bogus point, Canucks.

[eaglejelly]

What a play by Zajac, Hall redeems himself, Devils win

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[WaffleFries]

Zajac is a back-checking GOD.

[mfitz804]

Hall yeah!!!!

AMAZING play by Zajac, perfectly done. 

Wasnt pretty tonight but it's 2 points. Taylor Hall is my 1st star for not passing that puck to Severson and actually taking the shot. 

[EdgeControl]

Travis "two-way" zajac,  yeah baby

[MadDog2020]

Hall baby!! What a back check by Zajac!!


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[Jerzey]

Love how Hall went right to Zajac and thanked him. 

[mfitz804]

1 minute ago, Jerzey said:

Love how Hall went right to Zajac and thanked him. 

Acknowledged it in the post game interview too, class move by Hall. 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Incredible stat: Devils have scored 2 or less goals in 30  of 45 games this year. Most in the NHL

 

Devs now .500 18-18-9

Edited January 16, 2017 by HOLLYWOOD

[MadDog2020]

Incredible stat: Devils have scored 2 or less goals in 30  of 45 games this year. Most in the NHL
 
Devs now .500 18-18-9

That's insane.


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[mfitz804]

4 minutes ago, HOLLYWOOD said:

Incredible stat: Devils have scored 2 or less goals in 30  of 45 games this year. Most in the NHL

 

Devs now .500 18-18-9

That's Devils hockey. If the defense and goalkeeping is good, they have a chance. If it's not, they don't. Can't even count on their ability to svore a 3rd goal. 

I really feel like they pulled this win out of their a**. They looked awful offensively and just managed enough defense to survive. 

[sundstrom]

wins aside, the devils are just playing much much better. i think the last two games have been zacha's best by far. he and josefson have had a nice two games.

[Mike Brown]

RECAP

• Offside challenge is the worst rule in hockey.
• Zacha - Josefson - Bennett line looked great tonight, and could be a very effective line for us possession wise.
• Poor Coleman, just inches from scoring his first goal in the 2nd period, and then gets his 1st goal taken away in the 3rd.
• Solid road effort overall.

EVEN STRENGTH POSSESSION

• CF: 35 to 32, 52.24%
• FF: 28 to 25, 52.83%
• SF: 21 to 17, 55.26%

[mfitz804]

3 minutes ago, sundstrom said:

wins aside, the devils are just playing much much better. i think the last two games have been zacha's best by far. he and josefson have had a nice two games.

Agreed, especially JJ. I'd like to see it start resulting in something. 

[RunninWithTheDevil]

Now 5-4... Don't jinx the streak

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

9 hours ago, HOLLYWOOD said:

Incredible stat: Devils have scored 2 or less goals in 30  of 45 games this year. Most in the NHL

 

Devs now .500 18-18-9

Well, NHL-.500 anyway, though as I learned last year, apparently some have their own interpretation of what NHL-.500 actually is.  But the Devils now have a .500 point%.

The "incredible" stat is why I can't take the Devils seriously...they just have such a hell of a time putting pucks in the net.  It's SUCH a struggle for them most nights.  And the standings show why anyone who's saying "Well the Devils are only 5 points out with a game in hand on the Flyers!" isn't reading the standings properly (not accusing anyone here specifically of doing this, but I'm sure some fans already thinking the Devils are somehow in a playoff hunt).  Ottawa is three points up with four games in hand, and Carolina is four points up with two games in hand.  

Anyway, happy to see the Devils go 5-3-2 in their last 10 (they can probably hover around a .500 point% for a while or even go a bit above that with the easier schedule), and especially to see Cory putting up a .940 save% for January.  Still a ways to go for him to make this an overall respectable season (his .910 save% ranks 29th among qualifiers), but gotta start somewhere.     

[Derlique]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Well, NHL-.500 anyway, though as I learned last year, apparently some have their own interpretation of what NHL-.500 actually is.  But the Devils now have a .500 point%.

The "incredible" stat is why I can't take the Devils seriously...they just have such a hell of a time putting pucks in the net.  It's SUCH a struggle for them most nights.  And the standings show why anyone who's saying "Well the Devils are only 5 points out with a game in hand on the Flyers!" isn't reading the standings properly (not accusing anyone here specifically of doing this, but I'm sure some fans already thinking the Devils are somehow in a playoff hunt).  Ottawa is three points up with four games in hand, and Carolina is four points up with two games in hand.  

Anyway, happy to see the Devils go 5-3-2 in their last 10 (they can probably hover around a .500 point% for a while or even go a bit above that with the easier schedule), and especially to see Cory putting up a .940 save% for January.  Still a ways to go for him to make this an overall respectable season (his .910 save% ranks 29th among qualifiers), but gotta start somewhere.     

Could be worse, Cory could be Steve Mason or Neuvirth! 

Seriously, tho. Sundstrom and I were discussing in chat about how we both want JJ as the 4th line C going forward. He drives possession and is a good special teams guy

[NJDfan1711]

Caught the second half of the game, seemed pretty good overall.  The fact that people are saying that it's such a struggle for us to score offensively and we squeaked out a win just by playing barely good enough defense/goaltending is EXACTLY what I was saying the other day.  It's not silver lining per se, but it's something.  If our defense doesn't fvck up and shoot us in the foot, and Cory is average or better, we have a fighting chance.  If the defense plays well and Cory is above average or excellent, then we have a REALLY good chance.  The funny thing is, people probably look at us and say the offense is the question mark, but that's actually the opposite.   The question mark every game is really whether or not the defense and goaltending will be decent and what it should be, and whether or not they can keep us in the game.  The constant, non-variable in the equation that is our Devils team, is the offense.  That's not a question mark.  We KNOW they're not going to score much.  We basically, again unfortunately, we have to plan on scoring 2 or fewer goals each night, and hope that the other areas of our team can come through for us.  It really really sucks, and it puts a burden on those other guys, but it is what it is.

Anyway, you can't not be pleased with how this road trip has gone so far.  2-0-1 so far on a road trip out west is awesome.  The opponents haven't exactly been amazing, but they've been decent enough where these are solid wins/points that we're picking up.  Again, on the road no less -- where we've been pretty terrible so far this season, so it's good to see it start to even out.   If we can keep up a good home record and win the bulk of the games that we have coming to us in our own building over the next month or two, we might start to see some hope.  Long road to go though, just gotta take it game by game.

Tomorrow will be a tough test against a really good team, and of course still on the road.  Hopefully they play with a little motivation trying to get revenge on Parise.  We need to close the book on that chapter and show/tell him we've moved on.  Obviously we're not in as good of a position as he is on the Wild, but we can't keep reflecting back on 2012 and when he left.  Time to move on, and time to get better. 

I remain optimistic.  What else can ya do?  

 

[BostonNala370]

What a back-check by Zajac. I was watching football but through the DVR I got to see the back-check and winning goal this morning. Our two best players do it again.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

14 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

Caught the second half of the game, seemed pretty good overall.  The fact that people are saying that it's such a struggle for us to score offensively and we squeaked out a win just by playing barely good enough defense/goaltending is EXACTLY what I was saying the other day.  It's not silver lining per se, but it's something.  If our defense doesn't fvck up and shoot us in the foot, and Cory is average or better, we have a fighting chance.  If the defense plays well and Cory is above average or excellent, then we have a REALLY good chance.  The funny thing is, people probably look at us and say the offense is the question mark, but that's actually the opposite.   The question mark every game is really whether or not the defense and goaltending will be decent and what it should be, and whether or not they can keep us in the game.  The constant, non-variable in the equation that is our Devils team, is the offense.  That's not a question mark.  We KNOW they're not going to score much.  We basically, again unfortunately, we have to plan on scoring 2 or fewer goals each night, and hope that the other areas of our team can come through for us.  It really really sucks, and it puts a burden on those other guys, but it is what it is.

Anyway, you can't not be pleased with how this road trip has gone so far.  2-0-1 so far on a road trip out west is awesome.  The opponents haven't exactly been amazing, but they've been decent enough where these are solid wins/points that we're picking up.  Again, on the road no less -- where we've been pretty terrible so far this season, so it's good to see it start to even out.   If we can keep up a good home record and win the bulk of the games that we have coming to us in our own building over the next month or two, we might start to see some hope.  Long road to go though, just gotta take it game by game.

Tomorrow will be a tough test against a really good team, and of course still on the road.  Hopefully they play with a little motivation trying to get revenge on Parise.  We need to close the book on that chapter and show/tell him we've moved on.  Obviously we're not in as good of a position as he is on the Wild, but we can't keep reflecting back on 2012 and when he left.  Time to move on, and time to get better. 

I remain optimistic.  What else can ya do?  

 

A lot of it is going to come down to Cory...he's capable of sustained .930+ save% runs, and that's what this team is going to need to have any outside shot at squeaking into a playoff berth.  Cory pretty much used up all of his slump time in November and December...he needs to be dynamite from here on out. 

Agree on the offense, it is what it is, and I don't see it getting much better (though it probably will a little).  Santini has helped on D in his short time here...obviously, a big reason the Devils are 4-2-2 in their last 8 games is that they're suddenly giving up a lot less goals (take out the two empty-netters given up in the 3-0 Panther loss, and the Devils have only allowed 13 goals in those 8 games).  But that seems more flukey than anything else. 

Right now, Ottawa is on pace for a 96-point season.  Just to pick a number, I'll go with 95 points as a Wild Card cutoff point.  Devils would need 50 points in their final 37 games to pull that off...basically, 25-12-0, 24-11-2, 23-10-4, etc.  Just doesn't seem doable...this still feels like a low-80s point total kind of team.  And Shero should definitely sell on PA Parenteau (he couldn't be a better rental), and if he gets really lucky, Cammarelli as well. 

But yeah, as far this trip is concerned, the Minnesota game is gravy.  I would've taken a split on this trip.  What I'm hoping for now is that Minnesota doesn't make the Devils look as bad as so many other of the better teams do...but damn, the Wild have been beastly lately:  17-1-1 in their last 19 GP, 74 GF, 41 GA...basically one of those games where if the Devils get whupped 5-1 or something like that, you just accept that these Devils aren't ready to compete with a team like that, and move on. 

[NJDevils1214]

12 hours ago, Mike Brown said:

Offside challenge is the worst rule in hockey.

I agree. Many many many years of having officials call offsides and foul balls etc and now the coaches challenge is brought in more to add artificial suspense rather than solve some real issue. Officials are humans and some games have had their outcomes altered by human error since they began, I don't like changing that now. It was something I always accepted as a possibility. That being said, eventually it will go the way we want it to so it will all even out.

Edited January 16, 2017 by NJDevils1214