Saturday, January 3, 2015

Capped by Canadiens,Devils lose 4-2

The New Jersey Devils showed heart and fortitude in playing hard and coming within a goal of the Montreal Canadiens in the third period,but it wasn't enough as an empty net goal pushed the Devils to another loss by a score of 4-2.
Both Devils goals came in the third as noted,with Montreal leading 3-0.
Michael Ryder scored first (5) with Mike Cammalleri scoring (12) later to bring the Devils within one.
The Devils will play Philadelphia tonight.

Hell Raisers

1) The Devils played some of the dumbest hockey that I've ever seen after pulling Keith Kinkaid from the net for a six on five.
The Devils seemed to be reeling on their heels and spent more time defending the empty net than attacking.
If the point was to tie the game,the Devils did a lousy job and eventually would surrender the empty net goal.
This needs to be addressed ASAP

2) I thought Keith Kinkaid was fine in net.
The first goal was off Jon Merrill's skate and the third goal was a goal that he never saw as he was screened,but still made a save before the rebound was put in without any help from a Devil defender.
Overall,a decent night..

3)  Nice job by the referees in missing a high stick on Peter Harrold that cut him and sent him from the game not to return.
If safety is so important etc,shouldn't a clear high stick (blood/injury result) be reviewed via replay.
Awful....

4) I don't expect miracles from this teams or even many wins.
What I do expect is giving the effort that is required of professionals.
I thought the Devils played with that effort against Montreal and I expect more of it against a team on their level such as the Flyers on Saturday night...

5) Three very interesting notes from Rich Chere (found here).
One about rushing Stefan Matteau,which they did,but the other two were about Ryane Clowe in which Lamoriello admits a Clowe return appears questionable (I hope the Devils could get some cap relief),but the most interesting was this about the less than productive results from some high salaried players- "Some of them,all they have to do is look at their salaries." Hmmmm




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