NJ Devils Beat Washington Capitals 5-3 | Cotter Haula Noesen ARE A FORCE!

29 comments

1. Ace, last night in the post-game palooza, Yegorov came up. He is committed to BU for the 25-26 season.
   The team had 9 give aways in the 1st period then got things under control. So that is a step in the right direction. While I still think they are a bit sluggish in the 1st period of the ladt two games, it is nothing like ladt year's first periods. LGD!

2. Jack with have 3 points minimum against Utah on Monday

3. A game they would have lost last year. Not a great performance but there should be improvements moving forward.

4. The good new the Devils are 3-1 without Jack. The bad news is Jack sucks. He isnt finding open space. He's getting into tighter spots and he barely handles the puck.

5. WE MUST MOVE TIMO. Timo can not play with jack they just dont have chemistry because they have overlapping styles of play in a bad way. I know it means someone on the second needs to move, ruining the Tatar Hischier Mercer line, but Meier needs to play on the right away from jack.

6. Hyped for pesce to join the team soon

7. Very early but:
   Holtz 2 games, zero points, minus 1, average TOI 14m
   Cotter 4 games, 5 points, plus 3, average TOI 12m 40s

8. Palat demoted to the 4th line making $6M or whatever he's making …
   I wanted to give him a pass on last year, since the whole year was bad but, man, this says a lot about what Keefe thinks of him atm.

9. Love the lineup ideas- said this personally before the preseason as I really thought cotter would be a huge addition. Speed and net-front presence are essential to have on each line to have a balanced attack. We have experienced too much what it’s like when we don’t have that and end up getting pushed around in years prior. We are blessed to have enough big-bodied, skilled players to have up and down the lineup, which creates matchup problems for the opposition. I think a staple of us being successful this year is having a balanced 4 line approach where we can have top 6 all playing relative minutes and then still substantial minutes for our bottom 6 as well. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we go 11F 7D once Hughes/Pesce are back, hard to take any of the current D out of lineup, great chemistry as well. I like Tatar on “4th” line, but that just gives us 2 3rd lines and a bit more of a scoring touch down the lineup, give them both same ice time, unless one is really clicking. Would prefer Foote/Halonen over Bastian, but he has been playing well.

   Bratt-Hischier-Meier
   Cotter-Hughes-Mercer
   Palat-Haula-Noesen
   Tatar-Lazar-Bastian

10. The Caps definitely wouldve came back last year and beat us

11. Markstrum needs to learn to control the rebounds. He reminds me of Vtech Vanecek and that is going to bit them in the ass

12. Jack got hurt in preason they called it a charlie horse maybe it was something more and ofcourse there not gonna say anything

13. They should try Noesen on the Hughes line. He needs a right shot with him for more one timer options. It really is too bad Lebanc signed with the Jackets.

14. Not worried about Marky. He's still doing well with the high quality saves, and after 3 games, I haven't seen any bad goals.

    Powerplay needs a shakeup. Need to split up having all the top guys on the 1st unit, and balance the attack.

    Stretches of flat play, so I would like to see more energy from some players/lines and our D still needs some fine tuning, but not much to complain about when your 3-1.

    Steady as she goes, and wait for the post season. LGD!

15. My question is if Jack is hurt then why is he playing?

16. Its good to see that the penalty kill has been locked in to start the year. Special teams directly dictate who wins and we’ve gotten a lot of momentum from our penalty kill. However, our power play definitely can use work. Gotta capitalize on the opportunities we get with the man advantage especially early in games like we saw last night.

17. Ace! I made the comments weeks ago that Cotter should play with Jack and Jesper. I'd call it the "Fast and Heavy" line. Put Meier on the right side with Nico. Killer!!!

18. i'm such a supporter of trying cotter and hughes. in my opinion they think similarly (if that makes sense😅) and i think they'll have such great chemistry. LGD!!!😈😈

19. Cotter mania! Let’s go Devils.

20. They looked really shaky at times I won’t lie… but they found a way and that’s good.
    I think they’re still trying to find their game in this new system. I expect there will be more speed bumps

21. Cotter needs to stay with Haula and Noesen. Moving him to a line with Jack would be a MAJOR downgrade for Cotter right now. Jack is a fairy on skate right now and needs to ride the pine for a game or two to get his head right. He has single handedly caused our power play to be terrible. He is MASSIVELY disappointing right now and I love Keefe for seeing it and starting PP2 first on that last power play. Jack needs to figure it out. He’s bringing down Meier and Bratt’s games right now.

    Also, when Pesce and Luke return, the lineup should look like this on D:

    Dillon – Hamilton
    Sieganthaler – Kovacevic
    Hughes – Pesce
    (Casey as an extra to replace Hughes the moment he falters, which he will).

    I said before the season started that the Devils would be in best position if they had Nemec and Luke in Utica. I received a lot of shit for it. I’m willing to give Hughes a shot but if he starts giving up the puck and causing problems on D, Casey needs to get the call.
    Hughes – Pesce

22. Siegenthaler might be odd man out when d corps getting fully healthy. Of course, Seigs has been turning it around this year too, so it’s a little bit of an embarrassment of riches. It’ll certainly spark competition. Exciting time to be a Devils fan!

23. Cotter/Hughes/Mercer would be the best line in the NHL

24. I'll be sitting on the Restaurant Ledge for the first time tomorrow, snagged an incredible deal. Hope you attend too, Ace!

25. Paul cotter has been a stud for the Devils!! Casey has been doing great as well.

26. Is it just me or is there some shots fired? In the post game for this one Cotter goes "you have your guys, your so called superstars" talking about the lines. Or is this just him trying to inject some maturity and accountability?

27. when our top 6 gets going + Pesce, we will be lethal

28. that 3rd line tho 🤌🏽🔥. but i 100% agree on your lines combination !

29. I’m glad I don’t have to make the call about Casey. That dude has 100% earned a spot on the team. Trying to keep the fanboying down but could see him being a Calder finalist if he keeps it up like this and stays in the show. Love Marky,but the goal scored from the slot, (pass came from behind the net,) was avoidable if he stays on his feet and hugs the post (instead of being down in butterfly. He was too deep in that net, and gave them way too much to shoot at. (The pass also never should have made it to the slot either in that scenario, he or his d need to break that pass. You probably already know, just saying.) Cotter, Haula, Noesen’s effort is what has been missing from this team. Grinders who can pick up the slack. At first I balked a little at your idea to move Cotter, but would like to see if he can ignite a line with Jack (probably nursing an injury) and Mercer. If it doesn’t do anything though in one game I’d say move him back to the original line.