GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (26-15-5, 57 Pts) @ Toronto Maple Leafs (27-16-2, 56 Pts), 7 PM, MSGSN2

[NjDevsRR]

Seriously tho. Look how glorious this is.

4 day break, two 2 day breaks. One trip to Boston. The level of competition. Beautiful.

Id say thats very advantageous before a playoff run.

 

[Devils731]

Imagine how bad some people would think this team is if they didn’t have a top 10 record in the league.

 

[Devs3cups]

Imagine how bad some people would think this team is if they didn’t have a top 10 record in the league.

3rd best P% in the East. The team is facing adversity, but they're getting points.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Seriously tho. Look how glorious this is.

View attachment 962497

4 day break, two 2 day breaks. One trip to Boston. The level of competition. Beautiful.

Id say thats very advantageous before a playoff run.

Call me soft but I'm sitting our stars in that Rags game if we've clinched and they're knocked out of the playoffs. Last thing we need is Rempe being a doofus for the lol's, I still don't buy the fact he's changed after his suspension v Miro

 

[Devs3cups]

Season does feel like a grind though where a lot goes against them.

Europe Trip
Demanding schedule
Once they get in a groove, the break comes
Coming back from the break, controversial reffing against them
Injuries start to flare up
Virus hits the team
Lots of posts in OT

Feels like a lot that can go wrong, goes wrong. Hopefully the team comes up of that adversity and comes out of it having learned a lot.

AND YET, they're still a top team standings wise, and 3rd in P% in the East.

 

[Hisch13r]

I think what frustrates me is I think this team is so close to not just being one of the like 8 contenders in the league where they could win if things break their way but an absolute juggernaut that should be clearly favored over everyone.

I have been saying I don’t think it’s possible but I guess I do see where we’d get to what I want but it’s likely just difficult to swing. What is our TDL cap situation looking like? Like if we were able to snag say both of Palms and Gourde I think we’re demonstrably the favorite against any team in the league and losing would be a massive disappointment. Then in the offseason unload Haula and re-sign Gourde.

Bratt-Jack-Palms
Timo-Nico-Noesen
Palat-Gourde-Mercer
Cotter-Haula-Lazar (f***ing kill me the Cotter-Haula pair lives)

Nobody is f***ing with that forward group when you also have the D group and special teams we have.

 

[Bcap88]

They were 16-6-1 from 11/1 to the break at 12/23

That’s a pretty great stretch of hockey. Are they that good ? Probably not are they this bad as they have showed ? Probably not

 

[guitarguyvic]

They were 16-6-1 from 11/1 to the break at 12/23

That’s a pretty great stretch of hockey. Are they that good ? Probably not are they this bad as they have showed ? Probably not

Yeah and that’s more middle of the pack/WC territory than elite contender territory.

I don’t think anyone is saying this team is bad, that’s just the typical strawman type of stuff that happens when some of us are not as rosy about things as others.

 

[Devs3cups]

I think they can be as good as .650-.680 hockey.

 

[Bleedred]

One silver line to our OT ineptitude

That had to be our best start to an overtime period this season.

Did we score on the first shift of OT against the Islanders in what was our only 3 on 3 goal of the year? I can’t remember.

But that may have been the best minute we’ve played of 3 on 3 the entire season.

 

[NjDevsRR]

One silver line to our OT ineptitude

That had to be our best start to an overtime period this season.

Did we score on the first shift of OT against the Islanders in what was our only 3 on 3 goal of the year? I can’t remember.

But that may have been the best minute we’ve played of 3 on 3 the entire season.

They scored in OT on Saturday too, but 4 v 3

They actually controlled a lot of 3 v 3 play. Just not getting the breaks

 

[Dylan9z9]

He’s playing well, but holy hell, score.

View attachment 962320

The player that was supposed to change are luck ... we changed his luck it seems

 

[Dylan9z9]

I think what frustrates me is I think this team is so close to not just being one of the like 8 contenders in the league where they could win if things break their way but an absolute juggernaut that should be clearly favored over everyone.

I have been saying I don’t think it’s possible but I guess I do see where we’d get to what I want but it’s likely just difficult to swing. What is our TDL cap situation looking like? Like if we were able to snag say both of Palms and Gourde I think we’re demonstrably the favorite against any team in the league and losing would be a massive disappointment. Then in the offseason unload Haula and re-sign Gourde.

Bratt-Jack-Palms
Timo-Nico-Noesen
Palat-Gourde-Mercer
Cotter-Haula-Lazar (f***ing kill me the Cotter-Haula pair lives)

Nobody is f***ing with that forward group when you also have the D group and special teams we have.

That's the team I thought they would be this year ... hopefully they still get there

 

[Maine Fan]

One point at a time.

Go Devils

 

[Better Call Sal]

If we were the ones that came back in this game late after getting outplayed then fine that's cool but we had the lead. Situationally getting a pt out of this shouldn't be seen as some type of win.

You don’t have to like it, but it’s a fact we couldn’t get enough games to OT last year.

Everyone wants both points of course, especially with the lead for much of the game, but it’s easy to see that we weren’t at our best tonight so you have to take the positives where you can. I’m not one to dwell. We need to continue with pushing forward with punching this wall.

 

[Clam Jensen]

How is this possible? It's not like you can have partial Norovirus. Either you're alternating between the shitter and bed or you're not. This isn't like a f***ing cold.

It lingers longer in some that others. Source: my esophagus and butt in comparison to my wife and 7 other family members who all got it on Christmas.

You don’t have to like it, but it’s a fact we couldn’t get enough games to OT last year.

Everyone wants both points of course, especially with the lead for much of the game, but it’s easy to see that we weren’t at our best tonight so you have to take the positives where you can. I’m not one to dwell. We need to continue with pushing forward with punching this wall.

I’m thrilled they gutted out points against top teams while battling sickness.

 

[Billdo]

Not to be a “people have a narrative” guy but it’s crazy that Hamilton is getting slammed for the bad change when it was Luke casually skating off with a guy behind him.

Yeah, I really do understand how a large majority on here are blaming Hamilton for this. It wasn't him who got off the ice and left someone wide open behind him. I get Hamiltons been disappointing but this one isn't something anyone who actually saw what happened can put on him.

 

[Whaddagoal]

After cooling down a bit (ie. 7 hours of sleep)...

What really bothered me about this loss was our inability to play out to the end without having the world on fire. That last 2-3 minute segment at the end when we were getting zone dominated running around like idiots, we barely made it to OT.

We got our asses handed to us on our zone.

And this was after leading for a bit and keeping pace with that team despite our supposed to game time decisions playing.

I eased up a bit on the auston goal, it is what it is, a perfect shot, but after that goal it looks like we just collapsed till OT.

Why we can score in OT like a few seasons ago, is baffling?. Practically all the same tooling is there (minus Severson and Sharangovich). Why is the decision making so awful by our high IQ guys?

Still hard not to be livid with that bad change, more like horrendous change. I saw one replay and it shows Luke waving off, as Toronto is breaking out from the zone. Literally he's getting off the ice when Toronto had puck possession facing North. Dumbest decision in awhile I have seen. While 3v3 is a gimmick of sorts, it still ranks up there, because we literally gave them a open seas to Markstrom without any effort in making that happen.

 

[Billdo]

Defensive structure, goaltending, special teams have been good to great this season.

All season long 5v5 offense has been mediocre and they are still prone to repeated Ruffian unforced turnovers in their own zone. Even in games when 5v5 looks better, they have no snipers who can consistently take advantage when they are tilting the ice.

I think people need to temper expectations for this team this year. And it really pains me to say it because I wanted to believe they were a real contender a couple of months ago but we are 45 games into this thing now.

Yeah. We also have the second most points in the conference, a relatively comfortable spot in division as far as playoffs go, and have the fourth most points in the entire league. Oh and 10th in the league in goals scored and 6th in goals against. It's not all doom and gloom despite whatever narrative you want to create.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

During the road trip they were playing sloppy, undisciplined and immature hockey. Recently they have at least got back to the more patient and mature brand of hockey that will be necessary in the playoffs. It's a step in the right direction.

I wish I knew how much impact the illness was actually having. It could be anywhere from almost none to extreme.

 

[Bleedred]

I'm down in the land of @Bleedred (Tampa) and only saw the 3rd and OT. I mean, in a vacuum, they lost a lead on the road and then coughed up a goal in OT, not a big deal. Problem is, it's been going on for some time now.

Limited secondary scoring would be an insult to the word 'limited'. Might be time to make a move rather than just hope things turn around on their own.

I’ll be travelling to the land of the Canes, well even further north of there and only staying through Sunday. Which means I’ll be on the road for Sunday’s game and try as best as I can to keep up with tomorrow’s game.

So it will be a late goals review. I have it done already, just no time to type it before I arrive.

 

[theoptimist]

I hope this is just the injury for Lazar and not a case of him (unsurprisingly) not being able to play 4C because he has been f***ing dreadful this year.

This is on Fitz. Don’t fret. He shored up the defense, yes, but there was an obvious hole with the departure of our shadow 1C. This is on him. Has nothing to do with last night’s loss in particular. Will be an ongoing issue until it’s addressed.

 

[ninetyeight]

Hard to be mad at 4pts out of possible 6, especially when I feared they'd lose all three. It does suck that we are living of loser points though and have only won 3 in our last 10gp. They also haven't been dominant since that late December Rangers game. I'm glad they are in a playoff spot, but disappointed that they no longer look like a contender, but a bubble team/1st round exit. Hopefully this next stretch reignites them and they get back to that dominant play.

 

[Bleedred]

We are in major panic territory if we come out of these next 3-4 games with 2-4 points.

We can’t afford another week of 500 of sub-500 like we had on that California trip.

At least not right now. Build up another cushion first.

I don’t wanna hear anything about the Flyers. The Flyers are the worst team in the conference if you held a gun to my head and asked me to rank #16.

 

[Billdo]

Yep - coasts right past his guy to go to the bench. Nico had the far boards with the first pass option then Hamilton goes to the bench leaving the breakaway pass option 2.

View attachment 962319

That was literally Luke who did that NOT Hamilton.