COdevsfan Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 These past two post-seasons have made me wonder - especially this season. After Marty gets hurt everyone just crossed their fingers and hoped the team could hold on and keep themselves in a position to make the playoffs, but they surpassed expectations during the season. So why the trouble in the playoffs? Why get knocked out first round two years in a row? Is it coaching decisions? Is it really that defense wins playoffs and that's not as important during the season? Is it fatigue from the effort from the season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellOnICE Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 No, it's the fact we don't have a good enough playoff defense. That's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteyvegas Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 The team has been built for a marathon and not a sprint. This has been the problem since our last cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv4Life Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 No killer instinct and the fact that Marty was a crutch between win 552 and last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnderDogX Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 We still lack a legit first line center to accompany Elias...so once teams get a chance to hone in on stopping our 2 or 3 players that can actually score then we are easy to do defeat.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No1betterNJDevs Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 (edited) The end of our regular season, pretty much summed up the way we played in the playoffs. I guess all of us who were giving them sh!t for the losing streak they had towards the end, now has some justification for it. They were giving up in games and had no fvcking heart. And that game where they scored on brodeur with .2 seconds left, just shows you how easily our team gives up. They thought they had that 3 goal comeback in the bag, and it would move into overtime...not only did they dupe us fans, they fvcking fooled themselves. In a way, I was glad it happened to them, because I thought it would make them want to play till the very end...But last night was proof and they should be ashamed of themselves. Plus, You can't win the cup without special teams, and our fvcking power play sucked. Edit: but hey look at the bright side, if you still watch playoff games, we'll still get to hear that fvcking stupid ass monkey jungle tarzan sh!tty announcement during the canes bruins games. whooooopppeeee!! Fvck my life. Edited April 29, 2009 by No1betterNJDevs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revan Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 After Marty gets hurt everyone just crossed their fingers and hoped the team could hold on and keep themselves in a position to make the playoffs, but they surpassed expectations during the season. So why the trouble in the playoffs? Because the regular season doesn't mean a rat's ass. That's what I was afraid of... I was saying that to myself during the regular season: nobody's gonna care how you played in February if you suck balls in April. And that's exactly what happened here this year. And last year. And two years ago. And three years ago...... The Devils went from being a playoff team to being a regular season team only. Sad but true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overtime98 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 These past two post-seasons have made me wonder - especially this season. After Marty gets hurt everyone just crossed their fingers and hoped the team could hold on and keep themselves in a position to make the playoffs, but they surpassed expectations during the season. So why the trouble in the playoffs? Why get knocked out first round two years in a row? Is it coaching decisions? Is it really that defense wins playoffs and that's not as important during the season? Is it fatigue from the effort from the season? because the Stanley Cup is the HARDEST sports trophy to win!!!! How do you think Sharks fans feel? toughest sport and hardest to win a championship in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devils Pride 26 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 No, it's the fact we don't have a good enough playoff defense. That's all. Yes. Spot on. Mike Mottau cannot be a top 4 defensemen in the playoffs, let alone out there to shut down the other team. Pairing him with White is flat out stupid. Let Gionta walk, get Madden out of here (if only for the sake of not switching back to line matching at the start of next years playoffs) In comes Pelley, Halischuk, and Bergfors. That's another thing this team needs, fresh legs and hunger. Rebuild the defense. There's money to sign a top four defensemen. And you have Corrente/Eckford ready for the NHL. If Mottau is still anywhere near the team, this team will never be a true contender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 mottau is fine as a third pairing defenseman. sarge18 (he rarely posts but he has some great insights) and i got to talking during draft day, he said white and mottau will be exposed as a d-pairing and the devils should split them up before the playoffs. i understand why sutter kept them together, but this was a mistake of confusing familiarity with competence. maurice's brilliant adjustment was moving staal off the ruutu-cole line. if he had done this around game 3 i think 'canes win in 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COdevsfan Posted April 29, 2009 Author Share Posted April 29, 2009 I just don't know if I buy the "no heart" point of view. I don't see anyone on the Devils as the typical spoiled athlete who just doesn't care - those types get traded quick out of the system. Maybe I'm naive but I assume this series Elias is pretty hurt because he was invisible - not because he didn't care. I do think this current team can't concentrate or keep up the intensity for a full game - and these lapses are what other teams seem to easily exploit. They also have a tendancy to "panic" and start to run around/watch the puck in the defensive pzone rather then cover people/passing lanes more then past teams, but who do you blame for that - players who should know better, coaches for not figuring out some way to fix the problem or management for perhaps picking guys with more potential then talent? Whatever personal feeling people have about Niedermayer and the Ducks - they beat the Sharks because they were better at holding their positions and not just because of pure talent. I have become a big fan of them for that reason - and agree with someone in another post that if we could grab Beaucamin that would be awesome - of course I would first take back Niedermayer if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRASHER Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 the difference is 81.2 seconds... because the Stanley Cup is the HARDEST sports trophy to win!!!! I've said this a million times and each brutal loss only makes this more obvious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizDevil30 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 I don't know ask the Sharks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattyelias Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 This team needs a shutdown defenseman for the playoffs. Martin can be guy during the regular season but he gets exposed over the course of a series and the rest of defense is a patchwork. No offense from the blueline and no dominating defensive defenseman and this team gets exposed in the playoffs year in and year out since Scott Stevens retired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin226 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 (edited) I'd still like to point out that the game AFTER Marty got his record, the 3/18 game which was against the Canes too, the Devils went from invincible force to weak crap.... How did we all feel about our Cup 09' hopes after Marty's record breaking game on 3/17? On 3/17, everyone here felt this team was something special and would go deep in the playoffs if not win it all.. Then the Devils took the 3/18 game off, which no one on this forum cared about afterwards, and they never looked the same since... I even said that this game could be a turning point in the season and I was laughed at (by a guy who has since become a good friend of mine lol).. But the fact of the matter is in any sport you should always play to win or you'll risk losing whatever it is that helps you win.. Some call it mojo, some call it the x-factor, some call it luck.. But don't ever play like crap and be content with it or it might bite you in the a$$.. We were cocky ba$tard$ prior to the 3/18 and we all expected the Devils to win every game, but after the 3/18 no one had the same bravado and we never regaining our confidence.. So to answer the topic's question (I think).. The Devils knew how to win and were playing as a solid team should prior to 3/18, but when they lost that day it started a snowball that built and built, and eventually it came crashing down in the horrific site I witnessed in person last night.. They are pretty much the same team that won all those games and made us feel really good (same players, coach, and philosophy), but they never were the same team again in terms of how they played as a team and their mentality.. No one can tell me the Devils looked the same after 3/18 and that they felt as confident about the team as they had in Jan, Fed, and early March This post took me 30 minutes to write.. I even made a rough draft.. I'm creating a new thread for it cause it's so damn good Edited April 29, 2009 by Colin226 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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