Post-Game Talk: Devils' team humiliation in Tampa

[Ripshot 43]

@Bleedred after that game I think you should contact the Devils and ask them to pay you back for your expenses last night. I am so glad that I decided against making this my sons 1st game.

 

[The 29th Pick]

Didnt watch the whole game, did Zacha score ?

 

[Ripshot 43]

Didnt watch the whole game, did Zacha score ?

A smart man would bet no

 

[Billdo]

I'd send Zacha down to Binghamton honestly. I'd call up Seney.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Glad I missed this one

 

[FooteBahl]

If you told me today I could lock in Zacha as a solid, career, 3rd-line center, I'd take that in a heartbeat and run with it.

I see nothing that suggests he will be a 2nd line scoring Center in this league, and 1st line Center is completely out of the question at this point. The tools in the kit are not there.

I tend to agree with you, but the frustrating thing with Zacha is that the tools are in the kit. The first two games he looked like a person who was drafted sixth overall and just needed to pot one to open up the floodgates.

 

[Fear the Wushu]

You have one line in the top 9 that is contributing nothing offensively. You have a coaching staff that refuses to address the issue... probably because they don't want to disrupt the 1st line or the Zajac line, so they keep forcing something that is clearly not working...but the thing is they have been pretty good defensively. And we really aren't losing because we aren't scoring enough goals, we are losing because of breakdowns, lack of discipline and overall poor quality of execution. A lot of this goes directly to the coaching staff....

It's not the coaching staffs fault that Andy Greene is literally a rotting corpse on ice and Ben Lovejoy is Ben Lovejoy. They both suck tremendously.

Vats / Mueller have been nothing but great so far.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Teams get rolled every now and then. Tampa just got rolled 7-1 by f***ing Arizona. They were also on the road.

The early 2nd period was the turning point of this game. It was a tied game after 20 minutes, and we came out completely flat footed and in disarray. We then were never able to recover from the Coleman double minor and 5-on-3 with Zajac in the box. We all had that inevitable feeling of goals there with our 2 best PK players in the box together.

Shake it off. Move on. Watch the tape and then burn it.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

It's not the coaching staffs fault that Andy Greene is literally a rotting corpse on ice and Ben Lovejoy is Ben Lovejoy. They both suck tremendously.

Vats / Mueller have been nothing but great so far.

Greene was actually quite good this year overall before this game

but sure why let facts get in the way

 

[devilsblood]

Throw out the tape, dont let one game beat you twice.

This is my take from last night. Crumple that game up and throw it in the garbage.

 

[Emperoreddy]

As annoying as Zacha’s stat line and Nojo’s exisitense is, in the end Jim is right that scoring goals reallly hasn’t been this team’s problem.

All our loses had more to do with breakdowns and a lack of mental discipline in key situations that led to the game slipping away. Difference tonight is they made a lot more of those mistakes, and decided to stop skating way earlier in the game.

I put this mostly on the players. They need to look in the mirror and say playing this loose and slow is unacceptable. Coaching needs to do what it can to send messages, but these guys still have to execute on the ice.

Stop taking really bad penalties would be a good start.

 

[Azathoth]

As annoying as Zacha’s stat line and Nojo’s exisitense is, in the end Jim is right that scoring goals reallly hasn’t been this team’s problem.

All our loses had more to do with breakdowns and a lack of mental discipline in key situations that led to the game slipping away. Difference tonight is they made a lot more of those mistakes, and decided to stop skating way earlier in the game.

I put this mostly on the players. They need to look in the mirror and say playing this loose and slow is unacceptable. Coaching needs to do what it can to send messages, but these guys still have to execute on the ice.

Stop taking really bad penalties would be a good start.

This. They looked so dialed in the first 4 games and then someone flipped the switch to autopilot.

 

[Shakir ONeal]

Boyle's worst game as a Devil for sure

 

[AfroThunder396]

I feel like Tampa exists purely to humble us every time we think we're getting better and growing as a team.

We still have a long way to go before we're a contender.

 

[njdevil26]

I can't give Mojo any crap... he's on a line with Zacha who has zero points in 9 games as a second line center... and revolving door at right wing of a waiver pickup (Dea), and old man who's completely done (Stafford), and a kid who didn't contribute anything with his time here (Quenneville).

 

[Devilsfan118]

How can you guys put any blame on MoJo when he's being forced to play with a fringe NHLer as his center?

Zacha is a black hole on that second line and he's hurting the team tremendously at this point. I don't know how you fix it since you're probably not getting anything for him a trade at this point.

Could a 'conditioning stint' where he pots a few goals really hurt, though?

 

[devilsblood]

I can't give Mojo any crap... he's on a line with Zacha who has zero points in 9 games as a second line center... and revolving door at right wing of a waiver pickup (Dea), and old man who's completely done (Stafford), and a kid who didn't contribute anything with his time here (Quenneville).

Both Mojo and Zacha deserve crap.

The rw situation has been crap too. But that could be a product of Mojo and Zacha as much as anything else. At the least we should be able to hope that those two could get a guy like Q or Noesen going.

 

[devilsblood]

Would be nice if Schneids can get out of the gate looking sharp.

Thursday is looking like a big game.

 

[Blender]

I can't give Mojo any crap... he's on a line with Zacha who has zero points in 9 games as a second line center... and revolving door at right wing of a waiver pickup (Dea), and old man who's completely done (Stafford), and a kid who didn't contribute anything with his time here (Quenneville).

MoJo is the veteran on the line, he should be leading it. It's not just his lack of production that is a problem, it's that he looks lazy and soft out there.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

the thing that bugs me the most is Zacha and Johansson looked dominant the first 2-3 games of the year. They were controlling the play, getting a ton of chances, etc.

The past few games, its the total opposite.

 

[devilsblood]

MoJo is the veteran on the line, he should be leading it. It's not just his lack of production that is a problem, it's that he looks lazy and soft out there.

One wonders if this is not why a 26 year old, 50 point player, with 2 years left on his contract was had for a 2nd and a 3rd.

 

[devilsblood]

the thing that bugs me the most is Zacha and Johansson looked dominant the first 2-3 games of the year. They were controlling the play, getting a ton of chances, etc.

The past few games, its the total opposite.

I don't think they've been bad per se, certainly not as good as they looked early, but not awful, they just can't get on the board.

 

[Wingman77]

I don't know...from a forward perspective the depth seems fine to me.

Hall, Hischier, Palmieri, Zajac, Coleman, Wood, Bratt, Johansson, Zacha, Boyle, Noesen...that's 11 forwards you should be able to count on any given night.

Bratt being out shouldn't be causing mass havoc throughout the lineup...the problem seems multi faceted to me.

You have one line in the top 9 that is contributing nothing offensively. You have a coaching staff that refuses to address the issue... probably because they don't want to disrupt the 1st line or the Zajac line, so they keep forcing something that is clearly not working...but the thing is they have been pretty good defensively. And we really aren't losing because we aren't scoring enough goals, we are losing because of breakdowns, lack of discipline and overall poor quality of execution. A lot of this goes directly to the coaching staff....

Think about it...after a game where we gave up 8 goals we are talking about Zacha's lack of production/progress...on a night he was -1 and Johansson was Even while Hischier was -4 and Hall was a -3 yet completely free from criticism.

There seems to be a lack of perspective in these conversations.

From an offensive standpoint, there are still some question marks as to what we can get out of several guys that had quality seasons last year or signs of hope. While those promising signs were nice and some guys have shown potential, such as Wood, Coleman, Bratt, Dea, Noesen, and Zacha, they still have to prove that they can consistently contribute. Add in other guys like Zajac and Boyle, guys who can be very streaky and at times inconsistent and there will likely be some rough patches of play coupled in with those better patches throughout the season, like we've seen to start here.

There is certainly potential on this team, the potential to be as good or better than last season. There will be ebbs and flows when some of the better guys go cold and others pick the slack up, but I just think it is going to be tough to expect what we got the first 4 games on a consistent basis, at least until some of the mentioned question marks, begin to take more steps forward.

 

[Better Call Sal]

the thing that bugs me the most is Zacha and Johansson looked dominant the first 2-3 games of the year. They were controlling the play, getting a ton of chances, etc.

The past few games, its the total opposite.

That's a big part of why everyone is frustrated with them. Since then, they haven't been a line that we can look at to turn the tide of a game or even give us a spark.

If it's not the top line, it's been some combo of Wood, Zajac and Coleman by and large. The 4th line has done their job in spurts, which is to be expected, but that 2nd line has been a black hole.

 

[devilsblood]

That's a big part of why everyone is frustrated with them. Since then, they haven't been a line that we can look at to turn the tide of a game or even give us a spark.

If it's not the top line, it's been some combo of Wood, Zajac and Coleman by and large. The 4th line has done their job in spurts, which is to be expected, but that 2nd line has been a black hole.

That is far and away the story of our struggles.

And not last night as that was a just a train wreck, but there is no getting around the fact that 2nd line scoring is a serious concern right now.