GDT: Everybody Wants to be Up, It's All Uphill from Here: Your New Jersey Devils @ Pittsburgh Penguins, 3 PM, ABC/ESPN+

[Dylan9z9]

He’s really just a crappy hockey player. I would be stunned if he’s brought back. I doubt we will see Lazar back either.

As for Mercer, I’ll continue to bang the drum to get rid of him while he’s still perceived as a real asset around the league. He makes way too many boneheaded mistakes for my liking and way too many plays die on his stick. Soft on the boards….not good at winning puck battles…..It would nor surprise me at all if he is dealt in the offseason as part of a hockey trade.

So you're saying Mercer is a step better then Palat sounds about right package Mercer, Nemec and Palat ..... and I don't think we get better than a Brock Boeser type if that.

 

[Shakir ONeal]

It was bound to happen vs the Penguins, that’s what I’ll chalk this up to

 

[NJDevs26]

It was bound to happen vs the Penguins, that’s what I’ll chalk this up to

I think we've actually split with them this year, figures when they finally play us head up it's the year they've gone to shit.

 

[Bleedred]

Given that Markstrom is post injury I’m not sure why they feel the need to force feed him starts.

Well, they didn't force him to play the Oilers, which I'm not sure if that's because he literally gets blown up by the them more often than not or what.

But if you're gonna bench Haula, you can damn well bench Markstrom after this game and the disgusting past 4 games.

19 goals allowed on 98 shots. Horrible.

Let him ride the bench or put him back on the IR.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Not a great day, 2-2 draw for the Red Bulls, should have won though cause they played poorly. Weather was nice though.

This game though? Woof, garbage all around. That 7th goal on Markstrom was a straight up embarrassment. Burn the tape and move on.

 

[My3Sons]

Well, they didn't force him to play the Oilers, which I'm not sure if that's because he literally gets blown up by the them more often than not or what.

But if you're gonna bench Haula, you can damn well bench Markstrom after this game and the disgusting past 4 games.

19 goals allowed on 98 shots. Horrible.

Let him ride the bench or put him back on the IR.

Daws was good in his recent stint. I’d put Markstrom back on IR and recall Daws and ride the hot hand switching the starter after a loss. It’s not hard to figure this out. Yes Markstrom will grouse at first but he will know he needs more rehab time. The guy is almost as old as you. He’s lucky he’s still able to play at all.

 

[Bleedred]

Markstrom was so insanely bad in this game that I honestly wouldn't be the least bit shocked if he's thrown back on IR.

Literally every goal from 3 through 7 (6 was an empty netter) was stoppable at best.

Goals 3 and 4 leakers, goal 5 was from too far out, minimal screen (a goalie having a BAD game is screened on those), goal 7 was ''Just get me the f*** out of here, I have no interest in playing anymore and I really haven't since the 2nd period began. Just in case you couldn't already tell, now you can''.

 

[Bleedred]

I cannot stress how bad this goaltending performance was today.

If I could make a top-5 worst Devils goaltended games of the decade so far (2020-present) this would have to be on it.

And it’s not an isolated game in a stretch of otherwise good play.

Markstrom’s March of 2025 return from injury is significantly worse than Cory Schneider’s March of 2018 return from injury. This has been a sorrier stretch of goaltending than Cory’s return and very prompt benching in favor of Keith Kinkaid.

He’s gonna wind up giving Calgary a non-playoff first round pick. Top-15 pick courtesy of Markstrom’s embarrassing play.

 

[My3Sons]

I cannot stress how bad this goaltending performance was today.

If I could make a top-5 worst Devils goaltended games of the decade so far (2020-present) this would have to be on it.

And it’s not an isolated game in a stretch of otherwise good play.

Markstrom’s March of 2025 return from injury is significantly worse than Cory Schneider’s March of 2018 return from injury. This has been a sorrier stretch of goaltending than Cory’s return and very prompt benching in favor of Keith Kinkaid.

He’s gonna wind up giving Calgary a non-playoff first round pick. Top-15 pick courtesy of Markstrom’s embarrassing play.

So you thought he played poorly?

 

[glenwo2]

I think the team is in a good spot standings wise. 8 points over the line (going to be 6 tonight after the NYR vs. CBJ game) and 3-1 in their last 4. They're in a pretty good spot. They just gotta keep pushing.

Nope. Rags blanked the Jackets 4-0 so still 8 points over the line.

But on Monday it's going to be the Resistable Force vs. the Moveable Object.

 

[glenwo2]

Columbus regulation win keeps the gap to the playoff cutline the same as going into today. Columbus moves closer, but they already in and they can make it up on Monday.

Well the Blue Jackets got shut out by the Rags tonight.

We are still 8 points ahead.

The real issue now is the Rags are 6 points behind.


We need to beat the BJ's again and keep the Rags the fk away from us.

 

[guitarguyvic]

The scary thing with Markstrom is that he’s at an age where you can’t just assume he will bounce back and regain his form after an injury. This was always the risk with bringing an aged goalie in, and also why it’s not a given that we can rely on Markstrom next year.

I can’t believe this team hasn’t had a real winning streak in two years.

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Deadline moves...

Dumoulin enters the zone late with a clear shot to even the game up, but decides to pass it to someone on the side of the net.

Then you have Sprong behind the net looking to feather a saucer pass into the slot, but instead slams the puck all the way down the ice. I can't even remember if the play resulted in icing or not.

Chowloski is practically finished, and was probably home watching games with a bag of red licorice sticks and a beer.

Glass, well I like him but lets see how he looks in another couple of weeks.

If this GM isn't handing out 8 year contracts to players who can't even skate that long, he is giving away the future for a 35 year old goaltender.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Hilarious that you guys are all over Markstrom.

He wasn't good, but we have.to be better than to give up the type of chances we have up. It wasn't as good as effort as we needed to win

 

[MadDevil]

Hilarious that you guys are all over Markstrom.

He wasn't good, but we have.to be better than to give up the type of chances we have up. It wasn't as good as effort as we needed to win

I've always wondered...do you have to renew your membership in the Goalie Union every year or is there like a lifetime membership?

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Hilarious that you guys are all over Markstrom.

He wasn't good, but we have.to be better than to give up the type of chances we have up. It wasn't as good as effort as we needed to win

He was not good this game aside from stopping a few chances early in the 1st when the Devils came out a tad slow. He let in some goals he would certainly want back today. It messed with the flow of the game but the Devils didn't do him many favors either. They only scored 1 goal until they got gifted some powerplays in the 3rd. It just wasn't as good of a game as they played the previous 3 they won. I'd still blame alot of this loss on Marsktrom.


The vibe with the injuries changed with Jack , Dougie & Siegs. This team , staff and fanbase still want to see them go out and try to make some noise in the playoffs. A bounce back effort against the Blue Jackets on Monday would say alot.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I've always wondered...do you have to renew your membership in the Goalie Union every year or is there like a lifetime membership?

Hey if you can't see this was an all around bad effort by everyone, idk what to tell you. Was Markstrom good? No. Was the team in front of him good? No.

They all played a shit game

 

[MadDevil]

Hey if you can't see this was an all around bad effort by everyone, idk what to tell you. Was Markstrom good? No. Was the team in front of him good? No.

They all played a shit game

It was a joke. We need somebody to balance out Bleed when it comes to goalies.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

With only 1 point behind us in the standings, can the sen knock us out of the 4rd position?

 

[Satans Hockey]

With only 1 point behind us in the standings, can the sen knock us out of the 4rd position?

I assume you mean 3rd which would mean no, as long as we stay top 3 in our division it doesn't matter what Ottawa does. They could end up with more points than us but as long as we are top 3 in our division we would still finish 3rd.

It would be more of a concern if the Rangers passed us and then 4 Atlantic teams had more points than us which would mean we end up dropping to the wild card #2 spot which would most likely mean a matchup with Washington.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Don’t care about playoff matchups, they’re likely gonna get pasted by whoever they face. Just get in so that we can put to rest any ongoing concern that this core isn’t even playoff caliber.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I assume you mean 3rd which would mean no, as long as we stay top 3 in our division it doesn't matter what Ottawa does. They could end up with more points than us but as long as we are top 3 in our division we would still finish 3rd.

It would be more of a concern if the Rangers passed us and then 4 Metropolitan teams had more points than us which would mean we end up dropping to the wild card #2 spot which would most likely mean a matchup with Washington.

Hit 4 instead of 3. Wasn’t sure if the Sens could pass us for the 3rd position. Thanks!

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

I shat on Daws as much as I was Markstrom today after allowing that wraparound goal the last time we played in Pittsburgh, but even he can't possibly be this bad.

Luckily we're not in as dire straits as we were in March of 2018 when we had to perma-bench Cory for Keith Kinkaid until we clinched a spot. Probably only in large part due to that 3 game winning streak. That 3 game winning streak that featured 2 wins coming from Allen and the Markstrom win being a 5-3 game where Markstrom at times looked like he was gonna let them hang around. I think they even hit the post at 5-3 a long shot over his glove that would have made it 5-4.

Couldn't understand the crapping on Daws tbh he played very good for us...Wasn't only one that was wrong on that wrap around I believe it was Dillon who shit the bed on that play as well...Daws showed very well imo

 

[Mgd31]

Don’t care about playoff matchups, they’re likely gonna get pasted by whoever they face. Just get in so that we can put to rest any ongoing concern that this core isn’t even playoff caliber.

Yea at this point it is either a resurgent Carolina, Washington or Florida probably. Pick your poison.

 

[Bleedred]

Couldn't understand the crapping on Daws tbh he played very good for us...Wasn't only one that was wrong on that wrap around I believe it was Dillon who shit the bed on that play as well...Daws showed very well imo

Wraparounds are bad and very uncommon goals. I think there’s only been 2 this month in the whole league or maybe it’s 3? Last night’s results pending. There was one on Vejmelka on Friday though.

But that was the only mistake he made in any game this year.

He probably won’t play at quite as good of a clip as he was playing (which has gotta be like .960% or something) but if he’s gonna At least be solid, the team is better off sending Markstrom back to IR and rolling with those two. We don’t have much runway to let Markstrom figure it out.

If I’m Rogalski I definitely don’t want Markstrom in nets right now, as it makes me look worse.