billingtons ghost
Registered User
- Nov 29, 2010
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Dude, Cory Schneider at his absolute peak was a grenade handler that gave away the puck. Even in his first year with the squad we seemingly bashed him once a week for turning it over and if not outright costing us a goal, at least making it very interesting.
The relevent point is Blackwood doesn't do that stuff on a regular basis.
As far as backdoors here is the game where our slide really began - the day Hughes signed the contract and his first game back. We got him back and we couldn't win a game.
11/30 Sharks 5 Devs 2
*1. gives up bad rebound
2. 4 of our guys in right corner, pass across crease to wide open guy, roofed
3. 4 of our guys in right corner, pass across slot to wide open guy
4. backdoor tap in on cross slot feed
5. empty net
12/2 Min5 Devs 2
1. Karill walks Graves and roofs it
2. All 5 devils in corner, Graves gets pick pocketed leaves puck behind, pitlick all alone has all day roofs it
3. Rebound off puck whipped from circle, Severson heads it into net. Weird play.
4. Bad rebound off shot from circles. wish he had this.
5. Hartmann walks Siegs - but in reality, I think this and the last goal were when his confidence issues began. He looked bad here.
Is two games of nuttiness enough to unsettle him? Maybe he's fragile. It was at this point we gave him a break, brought Bernier in because obviously he needed a break, and we gave up 8 to the Jets.
12/3 WPG8 Devs4
1. Schiefele parades down mainstreet and makes Bernier look silly Nice D. Backbreakingly bad.
2. Blueline turnover, bang bang passing as our D never resets Ehlers makes Bernier look silly
3. Severson mishandles it, gives it away under forecheck pressure, pass to wide open all alone in front.
< we make a 4-3 game of hit here, showing what I hope is some trademark resiliance, which is cool >
4. Blueline turnover by Kuokk, 2-on-1, Subban never cuts pass, Ehlers roofs it.
5. Tatar turns it over in our zone, back to the point, gets weird deflection pops up in the air and past Bernier. Weird.
< at this point, Bernier is clearly toast.>
6. 10 seconds left in period, Jets go end to end, no one slows down Scheifele and he walks in and rifles one that goes right under Bernier's arm. Terrible goal in a vacuum - but after seeing 5 nutty terrible goals before, it's not surprising.
Blackwood's rest turns into garbage time instead.
7. Conner 3-on-2 at full speed (no one slows anyone down) Johnsson is out of gas, defensemen back off too much and allow cross-ice royal road pass to wide open slapper into open net for Scheifele.
8. all puck watching, Jet sets up camp in front, Blackwood never sees shot from top of circle that goes top shelf.
I'm not saying ALL games were like this. But this is how it all started for him and how Bernier's chronic(?) hip thing got broke.
Bad defense, bad turnovers, bad decisions and bad bounces at least for these three games. And that's really enough to at least get a young goalie off his game.
So does it get better? Chance to practice? Recover? Nope. 2 days later:
12/6 Ott 3 Devs 2
Recap: OTT 3, NJD 2 - F/SO
1. Zacha gives puck away in corner. Goes corner to slot to opposite circle, top shelf. I wanted Blackwood to have this one. Maybe. Nice shot one on one with the goalie from close in, but here's where I go 'make a save'.
2. TERRIBLE transition pass from Bratt hits Zacha in the back skate and ends up on OTT stick. Puck sent to guy behind the net, puts on Tkachuks stick bang bang. Maybe coulda had this one too? But there was no defense being played and an egregious turnover.
3. Shootout. They get two, we get one.
12/8 Next game is 3-0 Blackwood shutout over Flyers, couple of big saves, esp on PK, and one on Sanheim walking in alone but mostly pedestrian - but kudos go to the defense here - limiting Flyers to 25 shots.
Still no practice time though.
12/10
Nsh3 Devs 2
Recap: NSH 3, NJD 2
1. Terrible Puckwatching. Feed from behind the net to Josi all alone in the slot.
2. PP Tovanen blast top of the circle. No chance.
3. Our Dmen back way off for some reason, giving all sorts of ice. Turns into a 3-on-2. Siegs bites, three Devils puckwatching, nice pass and deflection that Blackwood knocks back out onto a NSH stick for a wideopen net. I maybe would've liked to seen him make a better save on the deflection but it would've been nice for someone to tie up the stick of the 3rd guy in, or the second guy who made the deflection.
12/11 Second half of back2 back Schmid against the Isles. 4-2 loss
Recap: NYI 4, NJD 2
1. PP Dobson blast with Lee screen
2. Greene scores. Yuck. Bad goal.
3. Parise shorthanded breakaway
4. Hughes turned it over at our line, Ty Smith mishandles Wahlstrom walks in, finds Pageau with pass across to put it into wide open net as Subban doesn't cut pass.
12/14
Phil 6 Devs 1 Extended highlights for this one because they are so juicy. I'll include some of the ones that DIDN't go in on this one.
NJD @ PHI
SV Ty Smith gets outraced to puck behind net, Hamilton McLeod scramble to help and all run into each other, Bastian tries to help so 4 Devils are behind the net, lands on Flyers stick, pass out in front all alone to Provorov who walks in. Huge save.
1. Terrible goal. Sanheim jukes Subban and slips it under his arm
SV Giroux walks around Hughes - 4 Devils in front of the net puckwatching, Blackwood makes 3 huge saves on Atkinson all alone.
2. 4-on-4 Atkinson classic backdoor tap in far post.
SV Hamilton gets pocket picked 1-on-0 save on Laughton.
3. Braun fluttering deflection off of Zacha's stick. Blackwood never saw it. Not a great goal, but a weird one.
SV Big save off of Laughton alone in front.
Post Absolutely gross giveaway sends vanRiemsdyk in alone
SV Atkinson breakaway
4. Hamilton giveaway at blueline sends Atkinson in alone shorthanded
5. Boqvist hits Smith in the stick with the pass, but it goes weakly right to a Flyer who hits Lindblom who walks in and scores. Terrible play by Smith.
<Schmid now in net>
SV Hughes pass to no one in the neutral zone sends Flyers in
6. Atkinson backdoor pass tap in.
I can continue, but this was a gross enough exercise. At this point, of course he's fried.
That's eight really pretty bad confidence killing efforts in a row - so while 'yeah goaltending has been a problem' - it has been a problem manufactured by the play detailed above that sent us into a tailspin the day Hughes got back.
