Post Game Thread: New Jersey Devils at Anaheim Ducks – 01 Mar 2024

31 comments

1. Really hope Jack is just playing hurt and last year wasn’t an outlier because he’s really looking more like serviceable at best when averaged out than someone you can hitch your team’s wagon to lately

   Obviously don’t mean “I hope he’s hurt”, you know what I mean

2. Heartbreaking loss, tough one for Jack. Will have lots more of those opportunities, and will make good on most of them.

3. Defense wins championships! We see it again tonight like we have so many times this season. Until this coach instills in the team that you have to take care of your own end first, this shit will continue to happen. Goalies are not ever gonna be any good if they dont get support. Yes they can stand on their heads from time to time, but they cant do it every night. Defensive mistakes kill this team. This could be fixed overnight with the right coaching.

4. Damn seems like Nico is on the verge of tears. This year really has just proved that it’s the hope that kills ya.

5. Please please please don’t go back to the poverty era devils whatever you do please please please

6. Damn, Nico hatin’ on Nico, “We should have won 3-1, 3-2”

7. After another game where we started out working from behind, I decided to dig a bit more into the stats over the course of the Lindy Ruff era to see how this season compares when it comes to conceding the first goal:

   | Season | # of Games Conceding First Goal | Record in Games Conceding First Goal (Points %) | Overall Team Record (Points %) |
   |:|:-:|:-:|-:|
   | 20-21 | 27 of 56 (48.2%) | 3-19-5 (.204) | 19-30-7 (.402) |
   | 21-22 | 44 of 82 (53.7%) | 11-30-3 (.284) | 27-46-9 (.384) |
   | 22-23 | 42 of 82 (51.2%) | 22-13-7 (.583) | 52-22-8 (.683) |
   | 23-24 | **44 of 60 (73.3%)** | 19-23-2 (.455) | 30-26-4 (.533) |

   We’ve matched our season high already conceding the first goal and we’ve still got 20 games to go. While they have a lot of come from behind wins, the bigger issue is we’re not forcing OT in the other games and after starting out in a hole we miss out on even getting the loser point. You turn 5 of those losses into an OTL and we’re in a playoff position.

8. The ending of this game was truly a new kind of excruciating pain. Are you kidding me?

9. This is my first season as a Devils/hockey fan, it can’t get any worst than this right? Can it?

10. The seasons been over, Lindy wasn’t getting fired. Fitz is a huge hockey respect guy love it or hate it. He actively loves doing what’s best for players, he made that trade with Nashville at the draft. I’m sorry but after the season Lindy had last year, I just don’t see him sending a HOF coach to retirement like that.

    I know we are the fastest growing fan base but can we please stop with the non stop over reactions. So we have a down year with injuries and a coach who’s out of ideas, it happens. Guess what last year was record setting and the future is so bright.

    Remember we are not Leaf fans.

11. It’s kinda funny how your goalie/defense lost y’all the game, yet somehow some of y’all are complaining about the dude who contributed to every single goal and is the only reason that shootout would have even resulted in a tie for this team as opposed to getting blown out.

    Sure he’s young and cocky, but who wouldn’t be if you were in his position, he’ll mature over time.

    It was a terrible attempt, but shit happens, it’s definitely not his fault they lost. It’s 100% on the goalie/defense.

12. “A Crushing Loss”

    * That penalty shot was emblematic of this season. Game is on your stick. Its all up to you if you win or you lose. And there wasn’t even a shot taken. That has been this season for us.
    * Another game where the opposing team didn’t win it, we just lost it.
    * Every time we’re in grasping distance of making a real leap in the standings, we do this. Every time.
    * I will say that its really good to have Jack back. This game, no matter how ugly it was, showed me the Jack Hughes of October 2023. If he’s back then I gotta believe we have something left in the tank.
    * Two PP goals. PK didn’t give up anything.
    * I’m going to say something potentially controversial, I know Jack was having a whale of a game but ~~he shouldn’t have been the one to take the penalty shot~~.
    * Thought it was an uncharacteristically silent/potentially bad game from our Captain tonight.
    * We looked like the better team for the first two periods and when it needed to count in the third period, we couldn’t string anything together until there was under three minutes left in the game.
    * I think Lindy should have pulled Daws sooner. Akira at least stepped up in the third when the Ducks were outplaying us.
    * Its clearly a frustrating year not only for us but for the team. They can’t build off anything. Have a great offensive performance last game, put up over fifty shots this game and get goalied. The constant up and down and up and down and up and down. I am dizzy.
    * I’m happy Bratter is okay. I was really concerned in the first period when he went down, stayed down, and need Millsy to help him to the bench. But for the rest of the game he didn’t look out of step at all.
    * I am terrified about what the lines look like on Sunday against the Kings.

    Enjoy the fucking ride, folks. Its surely going to be something!

13. Nice to see Timo pulling trigger at least

14. Tomorrow or Sunday morning, I will wake up to Saros as a Devil.

15. I hate Fitzgerald and I really despise Lindy ruff as a coach. Pissed an entire season away holding onto mid players and keeping a bad coach around. Never should’ve let brunette go. 

16. Remember the 4 dropped points to the ducks at the end of the season.

17. Bro 82 shot attempts to 33. 2/4 on the powerplay. Your superstar has a penalty shot to tie it with 2 seconds left. How the fuck do you lose this game?

18. Fire Lindy

19. Jack Hughes isn’t a superstar. Downvote me fools.

20. I feel like I took last season for granted and feel like a colossal idiot in doing so

21. Hey guys I have some Shero era dreams and guarantees to sell you about how great we’re gonna be in the future. It’s a great coping strat. Don’t even worry ab this game, come live in a dream like state where you think ab the bright future and never have to deal with the harsh realities of winning hockey games and being upset at the latest embarrassment. Forget winning 52 games last year, think ab Nemec and Hughes in 2 years!!Exciting!! We’re basically guaranteed at least 2 cup! Don’t ask for everything right away!

22. that one hurts, because you’d expect john marino of all our guys on the ice to see that play developing (not that the forwards hustled either). Sloppy defense compounded a very mediocre night for Daws. 🙁 Offensively, we had not just “high danger” scoring chances, we were taking some indisputably quality shots. But eventually the defense made some pretty atrocious plays. And fuck it, let’s trade for a goalie. I give up. I think we’ll regret losing Mercer though.

    Good signs abound, except that this is why we’ve been saying the season is basically over – because you have to accept that games like this will happen. Hockey’s like a somehow randomer jai aliai. We effectively have no games to burn.

23. Nemec makes that Penalty Shot

24. Oh fuck off.

25. Daws and Schmid are now tied at a -.25 game score average (tied for 15th worst out of goalies with 10 games, 69 goalie sample size) to go along with Vanecek’s -.42 (8th worst).

26. 12th in the conference by points percentage.

27. I like Toffoli but I think he should be traded. He has production yet it feels like he doesn’t fit with this team

28. https://x.com/spittinchiclets/status/1763803049615569054?s=46&t=TZesTgSaeSulemIu1EYwZA

29. I said it a couple weeks ago, if they keep Lindy Ruff after those losses after the outdoor game, they’re announcing that they are punting on the season. My expectations now are for the offseason, get a goalie, get a coach.

30. I’m a pretty new hockey fan let alone devils fan, so please take this with a grain of salt

    I can’t get quite on board with blaming coaching/management. I’ve watched a lot of Yankees baseball to know that the whole “fire Boone “ stuff was just a scapegoat. The players were largely responsible and did take accountability for it last season.

    Yes it matters in some situations, but the level and intensity of play is largely up to the players. Again, as a new hockey fan, it just seemed like the ducks played with a lot more grit and aggression, devils took some big hits and didn’t deliver much in retaliation. I know goaltending is bad for us and somehow always amazing for the other team, but To me it just seemed like they didn’t want to play to win up until the 3rd period.

    Can we please put at least some responsibility on the players and not mindlessly chant “fire ___”

31. things are bad. things are very bad.