Devs v. Canadiens

[nj96]

They were blowing calls all night. The diving call on Gionta was BS. You can see the D's stick get under his skate. And the Niedermayer call he was trying to get around a forward interfering with him.

I don't think the entire team played badly, just not together. It just looked like everyone was traded here for this game. No cohesion. No chemistry.

-Dan

[djstubbs]

Ummmm...

...did anyone else see Hale completely blow the play on the final Habs' goal?

And why are there some people on this board willing to slam White at the drop of a puck, but Hale is somehow playing well?

Welcome to Crazyworld...

<JESTER>

Yes you could say Hale cost us the game.

But really it was the refs bad call on Nieds.

It should've been 4 on 3... or no penalty at all.

[LizDevil30]

The last goal was not Marty's fault. Puhleese, next you're gonna say he didn't score.

[njdevils_info]

Yes Doc was very upset and it's not like him to show any bias. But it was obvious to anyone watching the refs hurt the Devils. The one PP they got was cancelled out because they give G a dive????????????? But the player, I can't think of who, doesn't get called for diving? That dive would've been a 10 in the Olympics. I am fuming. And I don't generally blame refs either, but this was outrageous, they gift wrapped this win for the Habs.

I agree 110%. I know the Devils have been playing poorly. They need defense. They need offense. The only saving grace in this game was Marty. It doesn't help that the refs were blind to blatent penalties by montreal

[djstubbs]

I went crazy when the penalty on Nieds was called because it was BS, I went crazier when the goal was scored.

That was a sh!tty ref performance that should be reviewed.

[HellOnICE]

Refs just blew the game. No power plays, come on now.

[sundstrom]

i'm slamming white. and i'm slamming hale. as i said earlier, hale should be in albany, but has to play due to injuries and lou's eronious belief that sean brown was the answer.

and white has been awful. i used to say that he was a huge part of our future, but at this point, i'd rather have any of the devils cast off defensemen: mitchell, smith, bombadir, modry, than white.

and mr. madden. i love your heart, but you've been equally awful this season. i'm not even upset about his inability to do anything with the puck. his defensive "shut down" game has also gone to sh!t.

basically, we've hit a point where nobody other than marty, gomez, and elias are doing ANYTHING positive for this team. the defensive system no longer exists. the grinders aren't grinding.

there is no ballast on this team without stevens and burns is also to blame. if he's going to rant and rave, get fvcking results. if you're going to yell for defense, then fvcking get it.

i recall a few years ago when the devils were slumping before arnott was dealt, i actually blamed stevens. i realize now how foolish that was. this team looks like a perenial 6 or 7 seed without him.

[NJayDevil]

Finally some more people who see it as I do.

[Pepperkorn]

refs blew the game but Nieds elbowed -- I mean there's just no question about it. MAYBE they should have cancelled each other out since he was being hooked to high heaven.But see? Why is Nieds like this? So bytchy? I'm sorry guys I know I'm all alone on this but it just makes me crazy - always has. ANYHOW - there were so many non-calls in the third ... now IMO the Pando call was BS based on all other (non)calls. & Marty was great tonight.

[njdevils_info]

refs blew the game but Nieds elbowed -- I mean there's just no question about it. MAYBE they should have cancelled each other out since he was being hooked to high heaven.But see? Why is Nieds like this? So bytchy? I'm sorry guys I know I'm all alone on this but it just makes me crazy - always has. ANYHOW - there were so many non-calls in the third ... now IMO the Pando call was BS based on all other (non)calls. & Marty was great tonight.

I agree with you PK. And I think there isn't a member here that would deny the fact that Stevens returning is what this team needs the most.

[NJDevs4978]

The refs sucked, but come on the TEAM sucked too. You can't really blame the refs for the loss even though they were ridiculously in favor of Montreal. The flow of the game was ridiculously in favor of Montreal too. Being outshot 39-29, I know the first defensive pairing was out but come on - this is supposed to be a great system as much as it is great players.

[Weekes Head]

I went crazy when the penalty on Nieds was called because it was BS, I went crazier when the goal was scored.

That was a sh!tty ref performance that should be reviewed.

No, the penalty on Nieds was NOT BS, he clearly put up the elbow.

[cyrisjoe]

another power friggin play goal allowed, we will be 20th by seasons end.

[Pepperkorn]

i recall a few years ago when the devils were slumping before arnott was dealt, i actually blamed stevens. i realize now how foolish that was. this team looks like a perenial 6 or 7 seed without him.

wow sunds...

it so sucks though doesn't it?

[NJDevs4978]

Garbage game, garbage goal at the end (sorry Marty you had a great game but that last one sucked) and GARBAGE officiating.

If Clemmy doesn't play in Florida I'm gonna have to be committed.

That makes sense! Let's bench the guy who single handedly kept us from getting blown out.

How do you figure that last one was Marty's fault?

It's not about benching him it's about RESTING him. He's on pace for 77 games this year. This after playing around 100 games last year (73 regular season, 24 postseason, whatever in the preseason). This cannot go on. There's a reason Marty's GAA is around 2.5 over the last month plus and it's not Stevens and it's not because he sucks without Stevens, it's because he's been ridiculously overplayed. Yeah he had a great game tonight because of the Montreal adrenaline (though the last goal was shortside so it was certainly questionable) but guess what he hasn't been playing like this the last month plus.

[pattyelias]

I had no problem with the call on Nieds. It was dumb. However, the non-call on Elias getting tackled during the 5 on 4 really ticked me off, and the fact that the powerplays were 5-0 in favor of Montreal was BS. Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now its Luongo time on Wednesday. That game will definetely not be fun to watch.

[LizDevil30]

29 shots is not listless play. Okay they didn't come out on fire, but Theodore did. It was a goalies game.

I'm calming down, but extremely disappointed with this loss because of the things that occurred late in the game to determine the outcome. The late goal really sucked. I was sure they'd get a point out of this.

Next game they win.

[Pepperkorn]

I don't know Has... I think Marty would say something -- he's vain and all, yeah. But he knows his limitations -- and has always said resting hurts his game - i dont know why that's so hard for people to believe. It makes perfect sense to me in my performing experience. And He shows no signs of mental fatigue He's sharper than anyone out there... so what's with the call for rest thing we've always got going on here?

Maybe Whitey and the whole stinky bunch just need rest playing so many games --- they certainly have a more grueling taxing work out game in game out than Brodeur --- Throw anything that you want at me -- I just don't see the logic

[NJDevs4978]

I don't know Has... I think Marty would say something -- he's vain and all, yeah.

[Elias Sports Bureau]

Another disheartening loss. Like I said this morning, we're where we are in the standings because we belong there. It doesn't look like we're going to change much.

And wouldn't it be mondo bizarro if the Lightning don't wind up in the third slot, since they're playing some really nice hockey.

It's really easy to say we deserved calls and blahblahblah, but we were still in this game until less than 30 seconds left. So there were plenty of other opps for us. We have to start taking SOME of them.

Do you get the feeling the prevalent 'tude on the bench was bubbling over so they sort of lost sight of what they had to do? They were really ready to yap to the refs. I hope they weren't prepping speeches on the bench.

[cyrisjoe]

i dont think marty needs rest, he is playing great hockey, like in toronto, score could of been 5-0, and here it could of been 3/4-0 before the devils got there 2nd shot on goal...so i think its the other players who need to step it up, marty is fine

[David Puddy]

Score could've been 5-1 the other way, too. I know the Devils played bad, but we got a lot of scoring chances and Theodore equaled Marty tonight.

[Derek21]

Theodore just made a great save on Craig Rivet 

-Hasan

Yeah, that was pretty funny. Rivet almost shot that directly into his own net .

As for the game, I thought it was pretty exciting. Great skating and chances and awesome goaltending. Unfortunately for your team, you got screwed over by the officials at the end. Not so much on the two calls. But on the Elias takedown. That has to be called. For 17 mins of the 3rd, they let go of everything. Then the two calls in a row w/o giving the Devs an even up when it should have been. And when Doc Emrick sounds upset, you know something's wrong. He doesn't whine about officiating like JD.

So, they robbed them at the end.

I thought Brodeur played his best game in a while. He made a lot of great saves. Even those three in a row near the end kept his team in. Just that last ditch effort play by Mtl to keep it in and they kept being persistent. Ward didn't have much room there but he found an opening. Nothing you could do there.

The bottom line is his team isn't as good defensively w/o Stevens. When you have two of your top three guys out, it complicates things. Montreal's speed was too much for them tonight. The only thing that prevented it from being a blowout was Brodeur. He deserves kudos for how he played. Ya know... if Kyy bitches about him on AOL after this one, he really is senile . The goalie gave his team a chance to steal a game they had no business being in.

Whoever said the Gionta unsportsmanlike wasn't warranted, cmon. Even Chico admitted that Gionta flopped. It probably could have been just a Mtl PP there. But the refs decided to even it up. And Mtl still scored off that.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Devils sent in the tape and filed a complaint about the end of the game officiating.

[sheeps]

It's good to hear that I wasn't the only one upset about officiating. See, being around 21,000+ Habs fans, they weren't exactly upset at the non-calls against the Habs, and were very upset at the calls on the Habs. So I thought I was crazy disagreeing with this slew of people.

Good to hear (from many diff't sources) that I am not. I think the officiating was horrible - BOTH ways, but especially our way.

[insanity_gallops]

Good to hear (from many diff't sources) that I am not. I think the officiating was horrible - BOTH ways, but especially our way.

Hehe, Sheeps, your differing sources all share one common trait -- they're Devils fans. Kind of a biased sample.