Post-Game Talk: Devil IV

[Machinehead]

I think this debate can be summed up as follows...

NYR need either
A) more speed at forward
B) better puck movers at the blueline

Both would be ideal. But we struggle with a dearth of both.

The board is gonna go for

C) We were "willing" to play on a Tuesday and a Thursday and became a soft country club on a Saturday and a Monday.

 

[HonestGabe]

Lines need a major shakeup. Gallant needs to learn how to adjust in a series to counteract the other team's strengths. We have to find a way to breakthrough the Devils trapping the neutral zone and sustain zone time.

Panarin - Zibanejad - Kakko. - Kakko has been winning board battles and cycling the puck. Maybe this creates space for Zib and Bread at 5v5
Kreider - Trocheck - Kane. - I liked this line when put together and I'm not sure why GG deviated from it.
Lafreniere - Chytil - Tarasenko. - Chytil opens up the ice off the rush, Tarasenko actually shoots the puck


Roll them evenly at ES and try a different look. And for the love of God can we take Mika out of the bumper on the PP? It never works

 

[Fitzy]

The board is gonna go for

C) We were willing to play on a Tuesday and a Thursday and became a soft country club on a Saturday and a Monday.

Don't get me wrong- I think the effort last night was poor. But that's just one of several moving parts including the always under-considered part from homers on message boards- maybe the Devils did something too?!? Shocking I know.

NJD beat us at our own game. It runs counter to the early narrative but we may need to loosen up.

 

[Brutananadilewski]

All of the bolded are directly related to skating.

Definitely not. How many times yesterday did you see the Rangers set-up on the powerplay or have offensive pressure and not a single one in blue was in front to at least screen Scmid?

 

[Machinehead]

Again, in these 4 games, have you seen the Devils outright dominate the Rangers?

Game 3 was 50/50, and not a living soul was saying the problem with the Rangers was that they were slower than molasses.

And again, get this team 2-3 speedsters and it doesn't mean shit when your goalie is the only one that can make a long stretch pass, shots that go wider than a chipped field goal, or you have players do spin-o-ramas in front of the goalie while still not getting a SOG.

You're still dying on this hill that a slow team can't ever look good in games.

The first three games were fine, therefore we have good speed.

 

[ReddestRum]

lack of willingness was ONE of the factors that imo have contributed to the losses in games 3/4.. just one. When a team isn't doing the small things that made them effective previously, you have to ask yourself why? lack of speed in terms of "overprocessing".. .overthinking, which this fancy ass team does over and over again... I'm not saying we have a team of young Bures... but
saying we're the slowest team is just stupid. Krieder is slow? lol? Panarin, Mika? Chytil, Fox?

Ck is fast in a straight line but has absolutely 0 puck IQ other than shoot. Panarin is a curl-backer. Mika tries to be fast on occasion but will eventually dangle himself out of a free meal if someone's in front of him. Fil can be fast enough to drive the net but will normally put a useless backhand on net. I've never once seen Fox skate end to end and take a shot.

 

[Machinehead]

lol. your argument doesn't hold water.

If we win game 5, all of the "willingness" people will be dead silent because you know that if anything doesn't hold water, it's the idea that a team alternates games in which they care.

You'll be ready to pounce if they lose game 6 of course.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

@Machinehead nailed this, actually. They looked at a comparatively small sample set where Lafreniere abused younger, inferior players in the Q.

Lafreniere was dynamite in the WJC too so maybe that contributed. It's just crazy for a guy to be as consensus a slam dunk pick at 1st OA at the time and then this to be the actual player he is.

 

[Brutananadilewski]

You're still dying on this hill that a slow team can't ever look good in games.

The first three games were fine, therefore we have good speed.

Buddy, you're the one that keeps moving the goalposts.

I bring up the canes, "but that was last season." I bring up the first two games, "but those are just two games."

I will ask this question one last time: have the Devils outright dominated in either game so far?

 

[ThePeoplesPeople]

If I am going to watch this puke, I would rather see the Kid Line develop by playing 18 mins+ a game. If they stuck to the plan that Colorado and others carry out, you would have Rantanen and Landeskog by now in Kakko and Laf. What a ****** shame.

Kakko maybe - he shows enough where you can see him becoming a 70+ point player when he finally gets top minutes and some PP time.

Laf should be traded this summer - whether we win the Cup or drop 4 straight to the Devils - while a team may still want to take a chance on his talent. I like the kid .. I really do. But he can't skate, he can't pass, he can't shoot. We simply picked a bad year to get lucky and win the lottery.

 

[Kovalev27]

Yup this is him all game long. Being at the game you see it even more. He’s a child

 

[Machinehead]

Buddy, you're the one that keeps moving the goalposts.

I bring up the canes, "but that was last season." I bring up the first two games, "but those are just two games."

I will ask this question one last time: habe the Devils outright dominated in either game so far?

Yes. They absolutely kicked the shit out of us last night.

Game 3 was fine and we dominated the first two.

I think that answers your question.

Please explain to me what any of that has to do with speed.

 

[duhmetreE]

We were blue collar rangers games 1 and 2. Game 2 was a masterpiece.

We were country club rangers games 3 and 4. Uninspired egos. Game 4 was the 180 of game 2.

 

[Kovalev27]

By the way the devils have done f***all in winning these two games. They haven’t played a good game in this series. They’ve scored 7 total goals in 4 games. Of which 1 on a penalty shot, 1 in OT, and 1 an empty netter. They scored early on a very lucky broken play breakaway and then sat and watched us fist ourselves. They didn’t throw a hit. They didn’t create anything either. Their goalie was shaking in his skates and we completely let him off the hook. Easiest game he’s ever played last night.

If we lose another game in this series it will be our fault alone

 

[ReddestRum]

Yup this is him all game long. Being at the game you see it even more. He’s a child

I would have to agree his maturity is not there yet, and I'd argue this is what got him benched mid-season.

In one of our games this season, we made it to overtime. It was just about to start and the camera pans the bench right as Laf gives this give ass yawn. I couldn't believe that he was that tired or bored or uninterested.

Might be a whole load of nothing, but I've never seen a player yawn uninterestingly on the bench.

 

[NikC]

If we win game 5, all of the "willingness" people will be dead silent because you know that if anything doesn't hold water, it's the idea that a team alternates games in which they care.

You'll be ready to pounce if they lose game 6 of course.

So, did you see them doing any of the things i mentioned?

Not chase after dumping the puck
Take shots at the goalies chest.
Not crash the net
Not forecheck
Not hit
refuse to go to the net.

Even at slow speeds? I didn't. I see a team being coached into a defensive shell and they don't know how to generate offense in this style. I see a team overprocessing/overthinking... and it's affecting they're execution.

The coach seems to think there's a lack of effort, because he called the team out because of it!

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

So frustrating.

I said it before the playoffs started.

If everyone on this team, especially the stars, play to their upmost abilities, this team will be very very hard to beat over a 7 game series.

What we have seen is a mish-mosh of it the first two games, but collectively as a team they were very good.

Games 3 & 4, almost everyone underachieved or where just OK.

This team is deep enough to win a Cup. If they wind up losing this first round series after being up 2-0 they have no one to blame but themselves. Im kinda surprised honestly. At one point in the second period it actually felt like the beginning of the year where they were really struggling.

Really hope that was just a flash and not something real, because if thats the case forget it. The Devils havent even been that great. Which makes this even worse. This series could/should be over.

 

[duhmetreE]

This team needs Adderall.

Get pucks deep and bang.

 

[ReddestRum]

We were blue collar rangers games 1 and 2. Game 2 was a masterpiece.

We were country club rangers games 3 and 4. Uninspired egos. Game 4 was the 180 of game 2.

Game 1 we came out flying. It's literally the most hustle I'd seen from the team in a very long time. Game 2 was an absolute masterclass in just breaking them down. I won't even speak to games 3 and 4. I'm just so sick and tired of the inconsistency of this team.

 

[will1066]

Yup this is him all game long. Being at the game you see it even more. He’s a child

Child, please!

 

[Brutananadilewski]

Yes. They absolutely kicked the shit out of us last night.

Game 3 was fine and we dominated the first two.

I think that answers your question.

Please explain to me what any of that has to do with speed.

Kicked the shit out of us? Where their lone goal for a long while was due to Kakko not banking on his shot, their PP probably being worse off than ours, and them just collapsing and playing timid as well?

I will repeat: get 2-3 speedsters and:

Does that resolve this team being unable to complete a pass?

Does speed correlate with shot quality as they have been missing the net?

Do you need speed to park your ass in the crease when your team has possession of the puck?

 

[Crease]

I would have to agree his maturity is not there yet, and I'd argue this is what got him benched mid-season.

In one of our games this season, we made it to overtime. It was just about to start and the camera pans the bench right as Laf gives this give ass yawn. I couldn't believe that he was that tired or bored or uninterested.

Might be a whole load of nothing, but I've never seen a player yawn uninterestingly on the bench.

There was a game this year where the camera panned to the Rangers bench, final minute, down one goal, empty net, coach drawing up a play. Laf can be seen sitting on the bench, looking up, laughing at whatever meme was being shown on the jumbotron.

Guy is the definition of "just happy to be here." Seems to be enjoying the lack of responsibility.

 

[Machinehead]

Don't get me wrong- I think the effort last night was poor. But that's just one of several moving parts including the always under-considered part from homers on message boards- maybe the Devils did something too?!? Shocking I know.

NJD beat us at our own game. It runs counter to the early narrative but we may need to loosen up.

I'm not saying their isn't a mental aspect to it. The momentum of the series flipped with game 3 and we didn't have the most energetic game yesterday. I'm very sure they'll be ready for game 5, mentally.

Beyond that, the conversation is just tiring. I wanna talk about hockey - roster building and X's and O's. That's what a forum like this exists for. I can get rudimentary "the other team doesn't exist, the results hinge on my team trying hard enough" takes on boomer ass Facebook, let alone Twitter.

It's pointless too. Ok, you're right. The team didn't try hard enough. Now what? Trade all of them? Get new players who may or may not do something you can't measure? It's pointless as a roster building approach and pointless as a discussion.

I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding of the level of competition we're at. Brian Scalabrine said it best: "I'm closer to LeBron than you are to me." Guys that aren't interested don't make it here. "Just get there and do the thing!" when the highest level professionals in the world are trying to stop you, and you're doing nothing fundamentally to disrupt them, is not how pro sports works.

 

[savebyrichter94]

The five guys you mentioned are average skaters. Probably right around 50th percentile. Yes, even Kreider. He's not fast anymore.

Those are our fast guys.

He’s fast when he wants to be, most of the time he floats around doing f*** all honestly, hooray he stands still and tips pucks, how about dump it in, skate and use your ridiculous strength to body somebody? Nah too much too ask apparently

 

[Machinehead]

Kicked the shit out of us? Where their lone goal for a long while was due to Kakko not banking on his shot, their PP probably being worse off than ours, and them just collapsing and playing timid as well?

I will repeat: get 2-3 speedsters and:

Does that resolve this team being unable to complete a pass?

Does speed correlate with shot quality as they have been missing the net?

Do you need speed to park your ass in the crease when your team has possession of the puck?

I think it would help.

You're framing it as if it would solve every problem and nobody is saying that.