GDT: ECSF Game 4: Your New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes, 7 PM, ESPN

[NJDevs26]

I'm not seeing our guys give up brutal softies. Maybe the Burns goal last night, but Vitek was def shaken at that point, and the game was over.

Where as Blackwood gives up softies all the time.

Sure you want to see your goalies make some saves, but this has predominantly been the team giving up great chances.

Blackwood is a tease, he’ll make a great save or two around giving up a softie or two. More than even that though, I don’t see the point in putting in a guy you’re clearly moving on from though with Schmid doing what he did, plus VV having his regular season and being signed for two more years. What’s Blackwood’s motivation to play when he’s dead man walking other than juicing up his value for another team? What’s our motivation to try and help him do so when he’s clearly the worst option of the three? Or at least a clearly worse option than Schmid right now.

Plus tbh goaltending doesn’t matter when you play the way we have this series

 

[New Jersey]

Not happy with that game last night.

But strangely still very satisfied with this season.

Sure, heartbreak, but this is a very manageable and reasonable sadness the Devils have inflicted upon me.

 

[devilsblood]

I alluded it to it yesterday but this is the reality of average goaltending. And even though you don't necessarily need an elite goalie to win the cup, it makes things easier when you don't have to worry as much about your goalie going through hot and cold streaks.

Doesn't Carolina also have avg goal tending?

Rag's and Isle's have elite goal tending and they are out.

Blackwood is a tease, he’ll make a great save or two around giving up a softie or two. More than even that though, I don’t see the point in putting in a guy you’re clearly moving on from though with Schmid doing what he did, plus VV having his regular season and being signed for two more years. What’s Blackwood’s motivation to play when he’s dead man walking other than juicing up his value for another team? What’s our motivation to try and help him do so when he’s clearly the worst option of the three? Or at least a clearly worse option than Schmid

Ya, it's a no sense move.

Schmid all day in game 5. Which I'm sure is what we will see.

 

[RandoDoomer]

If they throw Blackwood in tomorrow.....wow....I have no words. So a guy who hardly played this year, and wasn't great when he did, and hasn't sniffed a minute of playoff hockey....that's the guy you send out in a do-or-die elimination game?

I just hope sanity prevails. I'd rather see an upturned broom with a bucket for a head than Blackwood at this point.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Might have been posted already but absolutely unreal...

"first series in nhl playoff history where a starting goalie was pulled in each of the first 4 games"

 

[Louskoolaid89]

Not happy with that game last night.

But strangely still very satisfied with this season.

Sure, heartbreak, but this is a very manageable and reasonable sadness the Devils have inflicted upon me.

It's not strange to be happy with the season even right now. If you told me on opening night after the "fire Lindy" chants that he'd lead us to a franchise record in wins and a series win over the Rags. I'd question what planet you were from.

 

[RandoDoomer]

Might have been posted already but absolutely unreal...

"first series in nhl playoff history where a starting goalie was pulled in each of the first 4 games"

At least we're witnessing history. Amiright?

 

[Louskoolaid89]

If they throw Blackwood in tomorrow.....wow....I have no words. So a guy who hardly played this year, and wasn't great when he did, and hasn't sniffed a minute of playoff hockey....that's you guy you send out in a do-or-die elimination game?

I just hope sanity prevails. I'd rather see an upturned broom with a bucket for a head than Blackwood at this point.

The Leafs playing Matt Murray makes more sense and neither make any sense. So minus sense which is beyond senseless!

 

[DevilsHughes86]

This season has been such a success from top to bottom. Beating the Rangers was the icing on the cake for me.

It hurts right now, but wow what a future this core has.

Still, it isn't over yet. The fat lady might be warming up for a crescendo, but she hasn't sung yet.

Couldn't agree more, pretty sure if we were given the option of this season at the start of the year we would have all been happy with the end results. It's a learning curve for sure, team will only get better from this experience and management can see who they can trust and expect to perform when things get thougher

 

[Better Call Sal]

Regardless of the value of +/- Dougie is the worst on the team by a lot. The next closest is Tatar with a -6.

I think Dougie is a symptom of a common theme with this team.

A lot people here like to breakout charts showing xWhatever stats and highlight HD chances, and heat maps...well Dougie definitely generates more when he's on the ice than he gives up. His CF% is the highest of any Dman on the team - CF is 218 vs CA 179. For 54.9 CF% in the playoffs.

But a lot of the 179 Against is horrific coverage and a lot of the 218 For is meaningless filler. This is a theme with this team not just Dougie... and has been for a while.

I don't disagree with your overall point. I wouldn't say that the majority is meaningless filler, I think that is being somewhat exaggerated. The thing with me is that I recognize hockey is a bit quirky, and I feel as though if you generate enough opportunities, you should reasonably expect a couple to go in, especially if they are in high danger areas. It is uncommon that a team can become permanently snakebitten, but it has been somewhat of a problem this postseason.

All that said, I think we all know that Dougie is no defensive stalwart so I'm probably guilty of propping him up a bit defensively because I haven't seen any of the slow blunders he was committing at times this year.

At any rate, it's nice to have some good natured discourse on here for once.

 

[HughesCorporation]

is it Geersten time yet, or do we have one more win up our sleeve?

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Not happy with that game last night.

But strangely still very satisfied with this season.

Sure, heartbreak, but this is a very manageable and reasonable sadness the Devils have inflicted upon me.

This team way exceeded expectations and there is a ton to build on. This has been a successful season, no question.

 

[Wierzbowski426]

Season overall is absolutely a success, but it seems reasonable to me to not be happy we are getting our shit kicked in, in every loss. I just want to not be embarrassed at this point.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

This team way exceeded expectations and there is a ton to build on. This has been a successful season, no question.

It sure has been but, another stinker like last night would surely leave a sour taste in my mouth. Just want a better effort tommorow and hopefully a game 6 on Saturday.

 

[Bleedred]

The Vanecek stuff is indefensible.

I don’t think everybody realizes just how bad this has been, but he’s been significantly worse than 2021 playoff Jarry that we all still remember and talk about because that’s why we drafted Stillman, and even worse than 2022 playoff Domingue.

He’s literally allowing about one goal and 2/3rd’s more per 60 minutes than expected.

Before yesterday’s disaster it was still close to one goal and a quarter more per 60 than expected.

It’s embarrassing for anybody to start him, whether it’s Marty, Fitz, Rogalski, Ruff.

This is the kind of playoff performance that winds up exiling a goalie out of town.

He should have never have been put back in for game 3 and even if he was, they should have heeded the many warnings displayed in that game to not start him this game.

There were so many red flags in game 3 you could all see the bulls running towards him.

Even if Schmid sucked this series, he was great last series and Vanecek has been consistent bad these entire playoffs. Not one good game. Only one of his relief appearances was the only game he hit .900% and not by much.

Vitek’s best performance in these playoffs was literally Schmid’s relief appearance last night. Think about that.

His best game outside of the game 1 relief appearance was an .867% in game 3 of this series.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Season overall is absolutely a success, but it seems reasonable to me to not be happy we are getting our shit kicked in, in every loss. I just want to not be embarrassed at this point.

I think mostly everyone is in agreement. I think the sentiment that this takes anything away from the season as a whole is unfair, though. There are some people who feel that way.

 

[HoliksGhost]

Fitz will not let this derail us, and by “this” I mean the awful Goal tending situation.

I have faith he will find a way going forward.

That said, I’m still hoping for a miracle and the return of Schimdo standing up like vs the Rangers.

I’m embarrassed today.

 

[Bleedred]

That Burns goal was probably the weakest he allowed last night. It’s almost like he thought for sure he was getting pulled at 4-1 and when he wasn’t (Ruff can stick his timeout up his urethra) he let in that goal right through him to make it 5-1. Yeah, it was one timed, but it was still a bad goal. Went right through him.

And the Pesce goal wasn’t good either. Yeah, he had Tatar in front of him, but he saw that puck, probably even all the way and it goes through him.

That would have been enough to get Schmid yanked in game 1, but nope. Have to try to save face on the embarrassment by keeping him in longer.

Then on goal 4 he’s definitely pulling him now, right? Nope, he’s just calling a timeout lol.

It took that weak ass Burns goal to get him outta there.

 

[Camille the Eel]

They’ve proven they can play backs to the wall a lot more than handling actual prosperity

This one is different though - it’s an elimination game for them, down 3 - 1 and thus not for the other team. And they’ve been so badly outplayed in the 3 losses. Picking themselves up off the mat here is truly getting up from a possible knock out punch.

The one thing I most take away from the last game, is how they lost the game in one 3.5 to 4 minute stretch. Those first couple of shifts after going down 2 - 1. What would they give to have them back. That was where they got KO’d.

They should learn from that. There had to be a better way to handle that game situation. Losing the lead there really seemed to throw them for a loop and then it got totally away from them. Experience and mental toughness can be gained if they learn from that.

 

[NJDevs26]

That Burns goal was probably the weakest he allowed last night. It’s almost like he thought for sure he was getting pulled at 4-1 and when he wasn’t (Ruff can stick his timeout up his urethra) he let in that goal right through him to make it 5-1. Yeah, it was one timed, but it was still a bad goal. Went right through him.

And the Pesce goal wasn’t good either. Yeah, he had Tatar in front of him, but he saw that puck, probably even all the way and it goes through him.

That would have been enough to get Schmid yanked in game 1, but nope. Have to try to save face on the embarrassment by keeping him in longer.

Then on goal 4 he’s definitely pulling him now, right? Nope, he’s just calling a timeout lol.

It took that weak ass Burns goal to get him outta there.

That’s the funny part, the two worst goals of the game were 5 and 6 and the horse was already out of the barn with its head on our pillow by then

 

[Bleedred]

Fitz will not let this derail us, and by “this” I mean the awful Goal tending situation.

I have faith he will find a way going forward.

That said, I’m still hoping for a miracle and the return of Schimdo standing up like vs the Rangers.

I’m embarrassed today.

This is the kind of goaltending performance that gets a goalie exiled out of town.

But I don’t really blame him. I blame the people in charge who deviated from Schmid to start him. I don’t care how bad Schmid was in games 1 and 2. He’s played mostly great games, but gets sat for a guy that’s been consistently bad and didn’t even do enough in his game 2 relief appearance to even earn the start for game 3. It’s bullshit.

If the Canes actually traded a first round pick for somebody this year, whatever team got their pick would really be hating us right about now and talking about Vanecek the same way we talk about Jarry for 2021.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Saw a graphic that said that tied our largest playoff loss at home ever. I knew it was the worst playoff loss score wise I've been too. 7-2 loss at home vs Washington in game 6 of the conference semi finals in 1988 is the other one.

 

[Eggtimer]

To quote Bleed “ This is the kind of playoff performance that winds up exiling a goalie out of town.”
Is 100 % correct . That’s why the Caps moved him . His playoff “ career “ has been ummm , not good .
When we traded for him , I was pretty down in the move but it could have been worse . We could have Campbell right now for 4 more years at way too much $$ .
He was better than anything else available that weren’t a big risk . Except for Filip Gustavsson , but that was impossible to predict that he would end up being as good as he is.
I still think Vejmelka is a good option but not really worth spending assets on .

 

[billingtons ghost]

The Vanecek stuff is indefensible.

I don’t think everybody realizes just how bad this has been, but he’s been significantly worse than 2021 playoff Jarry that we all still remember and talk about because that’s why we drafted Stillman, and even worse than 2022 playoff Domingue.

He’s literally allowing about one goal and 2/3rd’s more per 60 minutes than expected.

Before yesterday’s disaster it was still close to one goal and a quarter more per 60 than expected.

It’s embarrassing for anybody to start him, whether it’s Marty, Fitz, Rogalski, Ruff.

This is the kind of playoff performance that winds up exiling a goalie out of town.

He should have never have been put back in for game 3 and even if he was, they should have heeded the many warnings displayed in that game to not start him this game.

There were so many red flags in game 3 you could all see the bulls running towards him.

Even if Schmid sucked this series, he was great last series and Vanecek has been consistent bad these entire playoffs. Not one good game. Only one of his relief appearances was the only game he hit .900% and not by much.

Vitek’s best performance in these playoffs was literally Schmid’s relief appearance last night. Think about that.

His best game outside of the game 1 relief appearance was an .867% in game 3 of this series.

Oh brother.

Dude. At some point, you'll come to the realization that goaltending isn't in a vaccuum and stop beating the drum to beat up one of our players that really doesn't deserve to be beaten up. Schmid got pulled just like him. Twice. And none of them deserved it, because of the way the team was playing in front of them.

You talk about saves and softies causing momentum for the TEAM, but you have this ridiculous blindspot where you don't believe the exact analog is true.

Goalies tend to fold when their confidence is shaken because the team is a complete shitshow in front of them. Sometimes they recover to play well - sometimes they never recover and are Blackwood.

Vanacek deserves nothing but our apologies and thanks - he put together a terrific season.

If he lets a Brett Burns blast go through him after we've GIVEN THE PUCK AWAY 26 times, I'm really pretty ok with that. Let it sink in that these are not TAKEAWAYS, TURNOVERS. This is us getting rid of the puck well before we need to, showing zero poise, confidence and patience, and playing directly into their counterattacking with speed. We played just like last year, turning over the pucks at the blueline.

He's an average goaltender, playing behind an unexperienced unpoised group of kids who are learning how to win. Maybe Hammond, Gillies etc are absolute crap - but Helleybuck or anyone is going to make absolutely no difference in that game. In fact, playoff Helleybuck has been demonstrably worse when things go south, if you'll remember.

He's going to come back and give us 30 wins for the next three years. Roll with it.

 

[billingtons ghost]

To quote Bleed “ This is the kind of playoff performance that winds up exiling a goalie out of town.”
Is 100 % correct . That’s why the Caps moved him . His playoff “ career “ has been ummm , not good .
When we traded for him , I was pretty down in the move but it could have been worse . We could have Campbell right now for 4 more years at way too much $$ .
He was better than anything else available that weren’t a big risk . Except for Filip Gustavsson , but that was impossible to predict that he would end up being as good as he is.
I still think Vejmelka is a good option but not really worth spending assets on .

There is and was, literally NO ONE better we could have gotten.
He might not be the long term answer - but ya know, if our players can play THAT badly in front of him, and you have faith that they'll eventually not suck - you might want to give a young goalie a chance too.

Or should we just blow the whole 'franchise-record-in-wins-and-points' team up, because, you know - we turned the puck over a bazillion times to arguably the best remaining team in the playoffs; the team that out-systemed and out-disciplined the Islanders of all teams and actually HAS talent too.