GDT: Crapitals @ Devils 7:00 PM

[Devils731]

I don’t know what Washington’s schedule has been like lately but Devils looked tired; especially on the 5th goal.

3rd game in 4 nights, holiday, and travel the night before; I think this is why Keefe was pretty hands off in the post game whereas we have seen him be firmer in other games that didnt go well.

 

[devilsblood]

I missed last night game but I think the 1-0 them and “PK regression” can be chalked up to goaltending not being as good. Detroit and Washington both have good PP’s as well. So if goaltending isn’t as good you are going to allow them to score on the PP.

Also as noted by Keefe, the one PP goal was a 4 on 3, and one of the three had no stick.

I'd have to go back and look at the other goals to figure how much blame I want to lay on the goalie.

 

[My3Sons]

Last night was frustrating, reminded me of the first Detroit game in our not being able to get a point out of it despite being tied late. But also a bunch of old patterns recurred:

1. Playing from behind, at least two goals down (and in the St. Louis game 3 goals down). This was common last season with the Devils that it's odd how it's cropped up again.

2. Awful starts to games, no legs and just watching the other teams skate. This correlates with getting multiple goals behind in each of the games and maybe is just another way of saying it. Even in our win in Detroit we spotted the opposition two goals. Again this was common last year too.

3. Taking tons of penalties. While we can blame it on the refs, it's recurring game after game and with different officials and that lays it at our door I think.

4. Related again, but our penalty kill - which was lights out for the hot streak - has let in a ton of goals. Maybe teams are figuring us out?

We've been playing a low tight box on the PK and preventing cross ice passes, and earlier we were also blocking a lot of shots. But recently the opposition is getting shots through and tipping or ripping them and also walking down the slot to shoot at closer range (Tarasenko's goal in Detroit, Chychrun's (spelling?) last night, some goals that were tipped last night too on point shots). Maybe we had better start jumping out and pressuring the points instead of giving them all day and all the space in the world?

A caveat here is that two of the power plays last night were 4 on 3 and those are harder to defend and get defended differently too. But even here, don't we need to be more aggressive in challenging the other team's possession. (Though impossible to do when Nico breaks his stick).

5. Finally why don't we have a home ice advantage at the Rock? This goes back so many years that it baffles me. Even in our record year in 2022-23 I think our record was worse at home than on the road. Have no answer to this at all.

None of these things will be improved by generalities. You can't do it that way, saying for instance we have to start games hungrier, take less penalties. The guys have to play their system and just do it. But if we don't clean this stuff up we can see more of the same result wise.

I think some of the PK issues are a reflection of less pressure applied by the PK group overall. They are sagging way too much.

 

[Bleedred]

I don't think Allen was to fault on the PP goals against last night. Maybe he could have had the last one that was on the PP?

That was the worst the PK has looked this season, Even the one in the 1st period where we didn't get scored on was bad.

I do for some reason find that some of Markstrom's stinkers come on the PK though. Like the first goal against Detroit and that weak second goal against St. Louis.

 

[NJDevs26]

Did not see this board turning on Mercer. He is/was a bit of a darling round these parts.

Ugly loss, but what you gonna do?

Some of that imo is the byproduct of the offseason back and forth here where the whole concept of us nickel and diming him on the RFA deal even to the point of allegedly sandbagging his role last year got debated endlessly. And let's be fair, he had a poor season last year so patience with him isn't going to be what it was two years ago in general.

 

[NJDfan86]

Also as noted by Keefe, the one PP goal was a 4 on 3, and one of the three had no stick.

I'd have to go back and look at the other goals to figure how much blame I want to lay on the goalie.

Only goal you can really put on Allen is the 6th when he turned the puck over. Thought all the rest were acceptable even if you would like a save in general.

 

[Devs3cups]

Only goal you can really put on Allen is the 6th when he turned the puck over. Thought all the rest were acceptable even if you would like a save in general.

I'd agree, kinda hated he didn't freeze the puck on the 5th goal, but hey it is what it is.

 

[Bleedred]

I didn’t really love the third goal on Allen. I think I said it was the fourth goal, but it was the second goal that came on the double minor.

I think a Devils skater (I forget who it was already) may have prevented him from covering up on the fifth goal. It looked like he was kind of taken out a bit when the Devils player chased a Capitals player behind the net.

 

[NJDfan86]

I didn’t really love the third goal on Allen. I think I said it was the fourth goal, but it was the second goal that came on the double minor.

I think a Devils skater (I forget who it was already) may have prevented him from covering up on the fifth goal. It looked like he was kind of taken out a bit when the Devils player chased a Capitals player behind the net.

2nd was the McMichael PP goal where we were short a stick.

3rd was Chychrun laser through a possible Seigs screen - distance wasn’t great but it was an exceedingly shot.

4th was the play where the puck went between Mercers legs on the side of the net when he should have been further in the slot, lindgren grabbed it and roofed it like 15 feet from the net.

5th replay starts right after the attempted coverage so I don’t recall what happed, but the goal was direct tap in from the slot essentially.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I don’t know what Washington’s schedule has been like lately but Devils looked tired; especially on the 5th goal.

3rd game in 4 nights, holiday, and travel the night before; I think this is why Keefe was pretty hands off in the post game whereas we have seen him be firmer in other games that didnt go well.

They played at home the night before. We had a bit more travel as they needed to leave for Detroit on Thanksgiving then come back to Jersey for this game.

Every team had a condensed schedule last week, though TBF to us we have had a lot more heavy game weeks then pretty much anyone else in the league up until this point