GDT: Devils @ Sharks, 4PM - MSGSN

[Bleedred]

If you thought we were going to go from 63 points to +100 points in one season… you are a very optimistic person.

There’s a difference between believing this team was going to get better, even a lot better and entering the playoff race, and foreseeing what has actually occurred.

I, for one, knew the offense was there but we’re way better defensively than I thought possible.

And that's exactly where I was.

I never would have predicted 100+ points, but I've tried as best as I could to at least never pull a ''Well, we're definitely not a playoff team and that's a fact'' almost any year, while I have definitely said that about plenty of other teams in any given year.

Especially after the 17-18 seasons which was yet another season where we gained a whole lot of points (not nearly this many that we're on pace for) but that team clearly wasn't as good. That was basically Taylor Hall and we did have some good depth scoring that year, I must say. It was basically our best in the last 15 years, outside of when we were healthy to start this year. Gibbons, Noesen, Coleman, Wood, Boyle, all had really good years, and they were almost exclusively in the bottom 6 and a lot of them were even on the 4th line. Definitely career years for Gibbons, Noesen (until maybe this year) and even Wood to this point. Boyle also had one of his better 30-something year old seasons that year from a points production standpoint, if I'm not mistaken. Zajac had a pretty poor start to the year, after starting out injured from the offseason and coming back what was earlier than I think he was initially said to be back by. And Palmieri even missed like 20 games that year too.

And that team even had it's goalie issues. Kinkaid was almost unplayable in the first half of the year and Cory was almost unplayable after December and completely unplayable in March and April until he got back in for the playoffs.

And both goalies were also injured at points where Appleby and Lack were up. I remember Blackwood was up as a dressed backup, though he didn't play any games. Kinkaid wasn't injured for long though. I just remember him getting hurt in a game in Philly after allowing 3 goals on 6 shots or something and disappearing for a week or two, while Ken Appleby shut out the Flyers for the rest of the game and then got a start one of the next few games. And of course I said Kinkaid faked an injury to pull himself out of embarrassment.

But like I said, I was expecting 80-something points this year. Probably mid to upper 80's. And I would have said potential for anything like this kind of season to actually happen would have been nullified by too many games of Blackwood and that being the difference between potentially 95-100 points and 80-something.

 

[glenwo2]

So does anyone here think that perhaps....

.....PERHAPS....The Devils were looking a bit ahead of the Sharks to the Kraken?

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Missed most of the second half of the game.

Any impressions of Sharangovich's game after the assist on the opening shift?

 

[Based Anime Fan]

During the losing streak in December to not remember, we lost several games we totally should have won. I am really most impressed that we're gutting out games we most definitely should not have won. This is good.

We should remember the streak. It's important.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I am so sorry my eyes saw this.

 

[Zippy316]

Is there a better clip of whatever Vanecek is doing at the end of this clip

 

[Hisch13r]

He was very wrong about the offense. I do remember him having random numbers involving our shots & shooting % to bolster his argument that we were incapable of scoring more.

And then we generated a lot more offense this season, because you can do that to score more goals.

But our offense is better this season. Our possession game is better this season. This isn’t just last year’s version of the team with Marino and better goalies either.

I was generally aware of our strengths last season and I’ve been presently surprised by the team.

As a side note, I don’t think there’s a “still not actually good, but kind of better and not a doormat anymore” phase. Not in a NHL where half the teams don’t make the playoffs. You have to get to the actually good stage or you’re still bad.

It doesn’t mean anything when people say Detroit was supposed to be “better”. If they aren’t going to be good, they’re bad.

And it's not like Detroit's really actually better. 25th in xGF% this year with 45.69%. Last year were 27th and just over 46.3%. They're on pace for 10 more pts than last year but they've been crashing and I don't think that'll really change. They'll probably finish in the high 70s rather than last years 74.

 

[Camille the Eel]

What’s the story on the tying goal - did Jacks shot go straight in or was it at least tipped by a San Jose player? It certainly looked like Palat at first.

Can’t believe we won a shoot out. Can’t believe we finally tied a game with our goalie pulled.

 

[Emperoreddy]

What’s the story on the tying goal - did Jacks shot go straight in or was it at least tipped by a San Jose player? It certainly looked like Palat at first.

Can’t believe we won a shoot out. Can’t believe we finally tied a game with our goalie pulled.

Tipped off EK's stick

 

[Hisch13r]

What’s the story on the tying goal - did Jacks shot go straight in or was it at least tipped by a San Jose player? It certainly looked like Palat at first.

Can’t believe we won a shoot out. Can’t believe we finally tied a game with our goalie pulled.

It was Karlsson

 

[John Pedro]

Didn't catch the game, but looked he didn't play our best, probably a bit tired. Nice that we found a way to win.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Missed most of the second half of the game.

Any impressions of Sharangovich's game after the assist on the opening shift?

He wasn't bad, but he's not the right fit for either of our top 2 lines bc he just doesn't dig out picks. I love the guy but you can't have him with Jack and Novak or they'll get pinned. You can't have him with Nico and Bratt for the same reason.

My hope is that he, Boqvist and Mercer are good enough in their own zone to stay together once the fourth line is reunited when Bastian returns.

 

[Hisch13r]

Didn't catch the game, but looked he didn't play our best, probably a bit tired. Nice that we found a way to win.

First period was god awful. 2nd and 3rd were fine but they should be better than fine against SJ. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on the fatigue thing. Should come out better against Seattle.

 

[Camille the Eel]

It was Karlsson

Ahaha - Karlsson is a beast.

 

[Bleedred]

I haven’t gone through the schedule that closely. I’m just figuring 2/3 gets Vanacek roughly 25 more starts. That would put his game total at 53 for the season. That would be roughly 10 more games than he’s ever started in an NHL season before. No reason to push him that far with the Devils pretty comfortable in their playoff position.

He should be able to play 53 games or even 55.

Once you get into the upper 50's and 60's...... Not many guys do that anymore, outside of the workhorses (Hellebuyck, Vasilevskiy, Saros) and their teams usually sign BUMS like Rittich, Elliott and Lankinen, who you don't really expect to give 20 starts to, provided their guy stays healthy.

 

[glenwo2]

Is there a better clip of whatever Vanecek is doing at the end of this clip

Love the "TIME GAME" comment by MSG.

That is one hell of a Typo.

 

[Billdo]

We've won almost have of this seasons road games while player exactly half of this seasons road games; that's wild.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Simply not true. The Devils regular lineup featured PK Subban and Ty Smith on defense with both Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes missing long stretches of the season.

The additions of forwards Eric Haula and Ondrej Palat have been huge upgrades.

With regards to goaltending, both Mackenzie Blackwood and Akira Schmid have far better numbers than they did a year ago.

The Devils issues a year ago were a lot bigger than goaltending.

Yes and that's why they were a 75-80 point team and not a 100 point team. I'm not saying goaltending suddenly made us one of the best teams in the league this year, but last year it absolutely made us one of the worst (instead of being just not particularly good).

 

[Zippy316]

He wasn't bad, but he's not the right fit for either of our top 2 lines bc he just doesn't dig out picks. I love the guy but you can't have him with Jack and Novak or they'll get pinned. You can't have him with Nico and Bratt for the same reason.

My hope is that he, Boqvist and Mercer are good enough in their own zone to stay together once the fourth line is reunited when Bastian returns.

Sharangovich is weird because he shows flashes of really good play. When he was moved up to the Hischier line in LA, they were creating almost every shift. He even played a part in the first goal today.

But sometimes his lines definitely just seem like they hit a wall. He likely will be best as the third line guy that is more than capable of moving up when you need a spark.

 

[glenwo2]

We've won almost have of this seasons road games while player exactly half of this seasons road games; that's wild.

Devils need to start re-establishing Home Ice, though.

'Cause you know at this rate, they might end up with Home Ice at least once, should they make the Playoffs.

 

[Bleedred]

18-2-1 on the road, which is just silly

Is there anybody that even has that kind of record at home, other than Boston?

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

He wasn't bad, but he's not the right fit for either of our top 2 lines bc he just doesn't dig out picks. I love the guy but you can't have him with Jack and Novak or they'll get pinned. You can't have him with Nico and Bratt for the same reason.

My hope is that he, Boqvist and Mercer are good enough in their own zone to stay together once the fourth line is reunited when Bastian returns.

Interesting. So where does that leave Zetterlund?

 

[Guttersniped]

Simply not true. The Devils regular lineup featured PK Subban and Ty Smith on defense with both Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes missing long stretches of the season.

The additions of forwards Eric Haula and Ondrej Palat have been huge upgrades.

With regards to goaltending, both Mackenzie Blackwood and Akira Schmid have far better numbers than they did a year ago.

The Devils issues a year ago were a lot bigger than goaltending.

Palet has played 12 games out of 44, but yes, the additions mean something.

It definitely looks like the two new assistant coaches have really improved how the team plays Ruff’s system both offensively and defensively.

Also the team’s younger players have matured after having their first real full season under Ruff, 2020-21 was weird 56 game hell season with few full practices.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

If you thought we were going to go from 63 points to +100 points in one season… you are a very optimistic person.

There’s a difference between believing this team was going to get better, even a lot better and entering the playoff race, and foreseeing what has actually occurred.

I, for one, knew the offense was there but we’re way better defensively than I thought possible.

Agree. Some of us saw the Metro slipping so that was an additional cause for optimism. If the playoffs started today the top 3 betting favorites to make the Finals would likely be from the Atlantic.

 

[Billdo]

Simply not true. The Devils regular lineup featured PK Subban and Ty Smith on defense with both Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes missing long stretches of the season.

The additions of forwards Eric Haula and Ondrej Palat have been huge upgrades.

With regards to goaltending, both Mackenzie Blackwood and Akira Schmid have far better numbers than they did a year ago.

The Devils issues a year ago were a lot bigger than goaltending.

He literally said health in the post... if Hughes and Hamilton weren't injured who knows. Haula and Palat have been good though even with Palat missing the majority of the games.