ECQF Preview: Your New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes - We're Playoff Bound!

[My3Sons]

My bar for this upcoming series is don’t get blown out of the water. If the games are close and competitive that is fine by me.

I think if you are gonna hammer the team if/when they lose then you just want to self-flagellate.

this is a family site. We can't have the kids reading about self-flagellation.

 

[MB3]

They could lose all 4 games 10-0 and firing Keefe would be absolutely moronic

I agree with this 100%

 

[Zippy316]

I agree with this, and we’ve seen the offense click at times. The defense and Keefe’s structure are usually solid.

We’re going to have to lean a lot on our bottom-6 which scares me a bit. Also, the Canes forecheck always gives us trouble. Hoping for something good, but bracing for impact.

I’ve said it before but that’s my biggest concern. Can our forwards outside of Hischier and Bratt win their minutes against Carolina? It’s even more important on the road unless Hischier’s line manages to brute force their way to winning the Staal matchup.

Because you never know. Red Bulls had a similar season last year, missed one of their best players for months, finished as a lower seed, playing like shit heading into the playoffs. Everyone(myself included) expected the #2 seed Columbus to sweep them in a best of 3 for the first round, instead they swept Columbus and made a run to the final

Games have to be played, there's always a hope and a chance. Otherwise there's no point in even watching.

The difference between the Red Bulls last year and the Devils this year is the Red Bulls were fully healthy day one of the playoffs (and Forsberg had a few weeks to get in form). That team was a wagon the first two months of the year and then found their game again once healthy.

I would maybe buy this if Jack and Siegenthaler were back for the first round. But without Jack, the comparison ends there.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Stealing one on the road is paramount. Carolina has essentially the best home record in the league (along with LA, 31 wins). That building has been hell for us in recent years.

 

[jkrdevil]

In terms of scheduling, round 1 is slated to be played over a 16 day matrix. So it looks like every series will have 2 days in a row off at some points.

I'm guessing a Sunday start. Carolina plays Wednesday and Thursday, so I doubt they start them by having to play 3 games in 4 nights. Looking at the TV schedules there is only slated to be 2 games on Saturday. I'm going to guess those are going to be reserved for series with Canadian teams so Sportsnet can have the traditional Hockey Night double headers.

EDIT: Best guess for Game 1 is either 12:30 pm on Sunday or Monday night (one east series has to start on Monday).

 

[Clam Jensen]

What does getting in and getting slaughtered do for you? Get ready for some keefe playoff magic. Should be able to wrap this up in about 10 days

Check my post history for my thoughts, I don’t feel like typing it out again.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Sunday
Tuesday
Friday
Sunday

would be my guess for round 1.

 

[HersheyBob27]

Because you never know. Red Bulls had a similar season last year, missed one of their best players for months, finished as a lower seed, playing like shit heading into the playoffs. Everyone(myself included) expected the #2 seed Columbus to sweep them in a best of 3 for the first round, instead they swept Columbus and made a run to the final

Games have to be played, there's always a hope and a chance. Otherwise there's no point in even watching.

How many more time do I have to watch daniel sprong play? Playoff sprong is gonna be unbelievable

 

[Mgd31]

I mean its very simple. The Canes are going to run rampant on us 5 on 5. We don't have the horses (especially in the bottom 6) to match up with them

The Devils will only win like the Rangers did last year.

Special teams - Rangers outscored Hurricanes 7 to 2 on the PP/SH
Goaltending - Shesterkin drastically outplayed the Anderson/Kochetkov duo

 

[HoliksGhost]

If we commit to the defensive structure we played against the rangers in the matinee game, we should survive the initial surge.

 

[Satans Hockey]

The difference between the Red Bulls last year and the Devils this year is the Red Bulls were fully healthy day one of the playoffs (and Forsberg had a few weeks to get in form). That team was a wagon the first two months of the year and then found their game again once healthy.

I would maybe buy this if Jack and Siegenthaler were back for the first round. But without Jack, the comparison ends there.

They still won only 1 game out of their last 11 before entering the playoffs and lost 2 out of 3 before the playoffs with Forsberg after his return. Wasn't like they dominated in the playoffs either, they stole almost every single game they won.

Dougie if he's coming back against his old team might get some needed energy going too.

 

[Bleedred]

Would Fitz and Keefe keep their jobs if the Hurricanes swept them in four games with two shutouts?

I know it's negative, but based on their recent play...

Fitz is gonna go before Keefe. And I don’t think there’s any chance Fitz goes since we made the playoffs, barring something internally that has nothing to do with team performance.

Keefe could eventually go before Fitz, but it will probably be in several years from now if it happens.

If either of them go in the next 1-2 years it’ll be just Fitz or both. Not just Keefe.

 

[jkrdevil]

Sunday
Tuesday
Friday
Sunday

would be my guess for round 1.

My best guess is Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday with the 2-day break coming between games 4 and 5. The other option is Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday (again the 2-day break).

 

[Bleedred]

My best guess is Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday with the 2-day break coming between games 4 and 5. The other option is Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday (again the 2-day break).

There’s a concert on Saturday the 26th, so I’m thinking games 3 and 4 will be on Friday and Sunday, which was already leaked somewhere but maybe that was fake, only because they put it together with the idea that there would be no Saturday game because of the concert?

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Agreed with the Friday Sunday for our home games, I think they'll just give the teams an extra off day for traveling versus an extra day in NJ.

Also I think Sunday will be a matinee like 2023 for the weekend home game.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Red Bulls play at home on Saturday so I expect us to play game 1 that night so I'm expecting to watch it on delay on the DVR lol

Carolina's arena has nothing on the schedule so it really could be anything. Our arena only has Saturday the 26th booked.

We could do sat/mon/wed/fri. I'd rather that simply because it avoids having a home afternoon playoff game which I hate.

 

[Nocashstyle]

What does getting in and getting slaughtered do for you? Get ready for some keefe playoff magic. Should be able to wrap this up in about 10 days

“Why would you rather get into the playoffs and have a very slim chance of winning the cup when you could just miss out on the playoffs entirely and 100% guarantee no shot at the cup at all.”

 

[FooteBahl]

I’ve said it before but that’s my biggest concern. Can our forwards outside of Hischier and Bratt win their minutes against Carolina? It’s even more important on the road unless Hischier’s line manages to brute force their way to winning the Staal matchup.


The difference between the Red Bulls last year and the Devils this year is the Red Bulls were fully healthy day one of the playoffs (and Forsberg had a few weeks to get in form). That team was a wagon the first two months of the year and then found their game again once healthy.

I would maybe buy this if Jack and Siegenthaler were back for the first round. But without Jack, the comparison ends there.

Agree with this 100%. We need guys like Timo, Mercer, Cotter and Sprong/Haula(to a lesser extent) play above their weight to take this series. I think Nico and Jesper will bring it.
I do strongly believe we’ll see a few Niedermayer’esque moments from Luke as well…I believe he has the ability to impose his will this time around.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

there is a concert at the Prudential Center on Saturday 4/26 at 8pm

they will not be playing a home game that night. I doubt you'd be able to squeeze in a 1pm game too but I don't know how extensive the concert set up is.

 

[Zippy316]

Agree with this 100%. We need guys like Timo, Mercer, Cotter and Sprong/Haula(to a lesser extent) play above their weight to take this series. I think Nico and Jesper will bring it.
I do strongly believe we’ll see a few Niedermayer’esque moments from Luke as well…I believe he has the ability to impose his will this time around.

The way we win this series is by playing tight games and having depth players step up.

Someone out of that Tatar, Mercer, Haula, Palat, Sprong, Cotter, and Noesen group is going to need to go on a heater. It’s more than likely we need some big moments from Luke and Dougie as well.

It’s going to be hard to count on Hischier-Bratt in Carolina being hard matched against Staal. It’s going to also be hard to count on PP goals against the Hurricanes PK too.

Unfortunately, given the entire year to date performance of our depth, I don’t have confidence any of them will do that. It’s a far cry from 22-23 when you had guys like Sharangovich, Wood, McLeod, and younger versions of Palat and Tatar. You had flashes of great play from them at different points of the year. This year, our depth players play hard, don’t hurt us, but they’re just not contributing as we need them to.

 

[Satans Hockey]

there is a concert at the Prudential Center on Saturday 4/26 at 8pm

they will not be playing a home game that night. I doubt you'd be able to squeeze in a 1pm game too but I don't know how extensive the concert set up is.

100% impossible because the game could go to a few ots and cancel the concert. Plus concert tours never load in that late in the day even if they have a smaller stage.

 

[FooteBahl]

The way we win this series is by playing tight games and having depth players step up.

Someone out of that Tatar, Mercer, Haula, Palat, Sprong, Cotter, and Noesen group is going to need to go on a heater. It’s more than likely we need some big moments from Luke and Dougie as well.

It’s going to be hard to count on Hischier-Bratt in Carolina being hard matched against Staal. It’s going to also be hard to count on PP goals against the Hurricanes PK too.

Unfortunately, given the entire year to date performance of our depth, I don’t have confidence any of them will do that. It’s a far cry from 22-23 when you had guys like Sharangovich, Wood, McLeod, and younger versions of Palat and Tatar. You had flashes of great play from them at different points of the year. This year, our depth players play hard, don’t hurt us, but they’re just not contributing as we need them to.

Maybe it’s just me and I could be completely wrong, but the 22-23 version of the Canes were scarier to me than this year’s version.

I have the devils taking this in 6.

 

[Edmonton East]

The only real path to an unlikely victory is a low event, low scoring series. Issue with that is you need Markstrom and/or Allen to be consistently good and not allow any muffins for that to even work....which is unrealistic based on this season and the prior 2 years of play by both goalies.

Here's to hoping for a miracle though.

 

[Bleedred]

there is a concert at the Prudential Center on Saturday 4/26 at 8pm

they will not be playing a home game that night. I doubt you'd be able to squeeze in a 1pm game too but I don't know how extensive the concert set up is.

Doubt it. Bands start sound checking between 3:00-4:00. Not enough time.

I think we can assume that day is out.

 

[Bleedred]

The only real path to an unlikely victory is a low event, low scoring series. Issue with that is you need Markstrom and/or Allen to be consistently good and not allow any muffins for that to even work....which is unrealistic based on this season and the prior 2 years of play by both goalies.

Here's to hoping for a miracle though.

You lost me at Allen.

Not that I’m disagreeing with what you said, but I don’t even think they’d go to him if Markstrom Vitek’s the first two games like in 2023.