GDT: ECQF GM1 - New Jersey Devils host the New York Rangers - 7PM EST on MSG2 and MSGSN

[TBF1972]

I know that’s most likely a joke, but I really get lifer vibes from Nico.

i don't think it's nico causing your liver vibes

 

[Unknown Caller]

I think the Rangers could keep this style of play up the entire series but the Devils should make adjustments so that it would be foolish for them to do so.

If the Rangers are going to sell out on shot blocking then you need to fake more shots, you need to be going East to West to making blocking more difficult, you need to setup your cycle to be prepared for shots off the board as the shooter shoots wide to avoid the block, etc…

The Devils should play different in game 2 than they did in game 1 and hopefully the changes are so effective that the Rangers need to then adjust their game plan.

If you force the Rangers to change their gameplan it will lead to them loosening up as their gameplan is very tight and slow right now. That will benefit the Devils.

This exactly. The Devils need to hold onto the puck for an extra half second for the lanes to open up. They have the skill to take advantage of teams selling out to block shots, but it's tough to make that adjustment in-game when you're jittery and chasing the game.

 

[RNCDevil]

Good morning Devils faithful. I hope everyone saw a brilliant sunrise and breathed in the fresh air.

I was very impressed with how the Rangers threw their bodies around the rink last night. Eyegore played well and their PP is just crafty. They just have elite puck movers all over the place. Tarasenko looks pretty impactful as a pickup....now I'm done talking Ranjerks.

The Devils need to just do what they do. I thought their 2nd period was quite good. It was one game. I don't want them to play tight. This is a fun team. Have fun and give 'em hell on Thursday! I wouldn't mind if Miles Einstein was riding the pine, but it's more abou the Devils' top 9 handling their business and I think they will.

 

[Better Call Sal]

You can both be great. But it's hard to argue how memorable this GDT will be.

You know I'm busting chops. We're all a family here.

 

[TBF1972]

Even a great goalie probably gives up at least two tonight. NJ was discombobulated on the PK and why were three centers on the ice for Lundgren’s goal? None of those guys had a clue what to do there and that’s not hero fault. If you play five left tackles at the same time four guys are out of position and nobody is snapping the ball.

agree. sending out the offense while on defence is a huge coaching failure.

 

[youryeah]

Nah those Jets were so hopeless, as most Jet teams are. It brought back last year's Mets because that regular season was the good ship lollipop for 150+ games, everything went right until the last two series of the year that meant anything - at Atlanta and the Padres in the playoffs. It's like you could care less the Mets won 100 games because they were SO bad when the chips were down. Just like the Devils being the winningest team in team history and all the other cutsie individual records are gonna be worth a pile of shit if they get bounced in four or five easy games here.

please stop I'm getting PTSD. devils, mets, jets fan here :')

 

[Eggtimer]

This exactly. The Devils need to hold onto the puck for an extra half second for the lanes to open up. They have the skill to take advantage of teams selling out to block shots, but it's tough to make that adjustment in-game when you're jittery and chasing the game.

That’s the thing though . Rangers are trying to fir e us to get away from the type of game we play when we are successful . They know what we are good at , and made adjustments to try and eliminate or st the very least minimize our speed through the neutral zone and force us to play a style we don’t really want to - chip the puck behind their D and chase .
The good news is that I have seen us make our own adjustments where we use touch passes to a the player supporting the puck carrier , where the player skated into the pass with speed and backs off the defenders . Or even taking a pass and go east -west instead of north as fast as possible . That takes away from our quick transition game but at least we can gain the offensive zone .

 

[Better Call Sal]

I don't think the matchup is a nightmare, but it just highlights how idiotic it was that people actually wanted this series over the Islanders and thought we would own the matchup because we beat them in a couple 1 goal regular season games.

Also, the Devils now have 1 garbage time goal on Shesterkin over the last 5 periods. I think we can put to rest the theory being floated that we had somehow "solved" him.

I don't think anyone here was claiming we had Shesterkin solved necessarily, but over the last 2 years, these are his stats against the Devils:

21-22 - 2 GP, 1-1, .895 SV% and 3.60 GAA.
22-23 - 4 GP, 1-2-1, .907 SV% and 3.23 GAA.

He is, without question, the biggest factor in this series as a whole because he is an elite goaltender. But I'm willing to give the above sample size some weight as opposed to the last 5 periods.

And again, I don't even think we tested him too significantly last night. Maybe a handful of grade A chances, but not to the degree we've seen ourselves be capable of this season.

 

[Eggtimer]

Rangers are taking away the points and doing a good job of covering our late man entering the zone ( usually one of our Dmen )
We will need to find a different option .
We had way too many one-and-done’s . I’m order to light up Sheshterkin , we will need to find a way to get rebounds and do something with them … thing is , Rangers are jamming up the shooting lanes and keeping everything to the outside . It’s almost forcing us to try to play a cycle game . Need movement down low and wait for lanes to open or lose coverage when they don’t shift coverage properly

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

It is a historical perspective as a fan that we as fans have watched this organization in a game 1 hole constantly over the years. It is not an analytical link to the current roster. How many ways do I have to write that?

But you came in hot with the “I got blasted for saying this completely irrelevant thing” as if it was at all predictive. It’s just something that has happened in the past, and barely worth mentioning. We haven’t won anything in decades, obviously we’ve lost our share of game 1s.

 

[Unknown Caller]

That’s the thing though . Rangers are trying to fir e us to get away from the type of game we play when we are successful . They know what we are good at , and made adjustments to try and eliminate or st the very least minimize our speed through the neutral zone and force us to play a style we don’t really want to - chip the puck behind their D and chase .
The good news is that I have seen us make our own adjustments where we use touch passes to a the player supporting the puck carrier , where the player skated into the pass with speed and backs off the defenders . Or even taking a pass and go east -west instead of north as fast as possible . That takes away from our quick transition game but at least we can gain the offensive zone .

That's all well and good that they had that strategy, but this is all a result of the Devils goalies giving up early backbreaking goals. It's the same thing as the Boston strategy. When the Devils fall behind, the teams can slow the game down, clog up the neutral zone, sell out to block shots, and have a much more effective defensive system.

When the Devils get a lead and the other team has to open up and chase the game, the Devils can smoke that strategy. Getting out in front is everything though. They can't have soft goals against in the 1st period.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

We beat ourselves. Simple as that. The Rangers showed up with a game plan, and we were shooting from the hip. It was painfully obvious which team has been here before.

Extra passes, weak clears, general carelessness with the puck.. it's just not going to fly against a veteran team with a veteran coach and the best goalie in the world. It's just not. The powerplays were totally inexcusable.

That said, it's far from over. They had the yips. It was pretty clear. Now bear down, play to your strengths, and take Game 2 by force.

Score the first goal and ****ing FLOOR IT. Enough with the east/west nonsense after barely gaining the zone. Enough with the pretty passes at the circles. Embrace the speed game - do not help them eliminate it. Skate down their frigging throats, put every puck on net and crash the hell out of it.

Devils in 6.

 

[Unknown Caller]

We beat ourselves. Simple as that. The Rangers showed up with a game plan, and we were shooting from the hip. It was painfully obvious which team has been here before.

Extra passes, weak clears, general carelessness with the puck.. it's just not going to fly against a veteran team with a veteran coach and the best goalie in the world. It's just not. The powerplays were totally inexcusable.

That said, it's far from over. They had the yips. It was pretty clear. Now bear down, play to your strengths, and take Game 2 by force.

Score the first goal and ****ing FLOOR IT. Enough with the east/west nonsense after barely gaining the zone. Enough with the pretty passes at the circles. Embrace the speed game - do not help them eliminate it. Skate down their frigging throats, put every puck on net and crash the hell out of it.

Devils in 6.

Get a lead and make the Rangers open up and chase the game, and you'll kill them in transition. It's that simple. Fall behind early, and they're going to sit in a shell, sell out to block shots/passes, and let Shesterkin backstop anything else that trickles through. Boston set the blueprint in that April 8th game.

 

[BahlDeep]

Hamilton looked like Gelinas out there yesterday

 

[Rhodes 81]

I'm not too worried about looking like we did last night in every game moving forward. I wouldn't mind seeing us sprinkle some of the scratches in from game to game just to give some different looks and toolboxes to the lineup.

I'm confident we can carry the play at even strength and figure out a way to get more shots through. None of that will matter if we can't avoid the Ozone penalties and at least generate some chances on the powerplay.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Hamilton looked like Gelinas out there yesterday

Him and Siegs have been bad defensively for a while. The tough part with Siegs is he also provides no offense.

 

[JK3]

Two high powered offenses have gone 0-19 on the PP in the playoffs with Golfcart, oof.

 

[D3vilsH0ck3y]

I have been told on good faith that lineup is not set yet for game two but there will be at least one change and possibly a second… speculate away on the 1 change. I’ll say Sharangovich for Bastian

 

[Eggtimer]

Even Sheshterkin gameplanned accordingly.
He rocketed out of his net to cut down the angle whenever we had a shot chance down low . I haven’t seen him be that aggressive coming out like that . They had to have watched a shit load of video on us and know what plays we like to run and where and how we generate scoring chances.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

I have been told on good faith that lineup is not set yet for game two but there will be at least one change and possibly a second… speculate away on the 1 change. I’ll say Sharangovich for Bastian

Smith in for Bahl seems a given, knowing Ruff.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

I have been told on good faith that lineup is not set yet for game two but there will be at least one change and possibly a second… speculate away on the 1 change. I’ll say Sharangovich for Bastian

If anything, I’d stick Bastian on the net front on the PP. Move Timo down to PP2 to be a featured shooter.

I don’t expect much in the way of lineup changes to be honest. Wouldn’t mind getting Luke in there. If they really want to get Sharangovich in, sit Wood (they won’t).

 

[D3vilsH0ck3y]

If anything, I’d stick Bastian on the net front on the PP. Move Timo down to PP2 to be a featured shooter.

I don’t expect much in the way of lineup changes to be honest. Wouldn’t mind getting Luke in there. If they really want to get Sharangovich in, sit Wood (they won’t).

Yea Bastian wouldn’t be my first choice but just reacting to game 1 seems like they benched him pretty quickly. I think Sharangovich is meant for the playoffs been saying it all year. Plays well in big moments, good PKer and not afraid to shoot the puck

 

[JrFischer54]

anyone mentioning past teams decade ago gotta stop. no idea how these kids are going to react to these situations. i had zero worry in 2012 after getting shut out because that team was loaded with vets. going to be real interesting to see how these kids start tomorrow night. going to start in goal if vitek lets in a soft one then all bets are off.

 

[Eggtimer]

Two high powered offenses have gone 0-19 on the PP in the playoffs with Golfcart, oof.

We have used the same setup all year ( with minor changes ) It’s easy to predict . It’s too easy for the Rangers to figure out and know how to stop it .

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Yea Bastian wouldn’t be my first choice but just reacting to game 1 seems like they benched him pretty quickly. I think Sharangovich is meant for the playoffs been saying it all year. Plays well in big moments, good PKer and not afraid to shoot the puck

When he manages to hit the net. Just a very vanilla player for me, and I don’t think we lack for forward PKers to be honest. Our problems seem more with defending lanes around the net.