It’s 2:30am PST where I am, so the only thing my brain can come up with is:
AKIRA!
What’s on your mind?
[VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZcY-x5jnvQ)
[NHL Game Center](https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/njd-vs-sea/2023/12/07/2023020403)
[ESPN Game Cast](https://www.espn.com/nhl/game/_/gameId/401559633)
[Shift Chart](http://shiftchart.com/game/2023-12-07-devils-kraken)
[2023-24 Regular Season Schedule (December, all times EST)](https://www.nhl.com/devils/schedule/2023-12-01)
by Devil_Dane
27 Comments
Great to see Nemec get his first goal. Kid is an absolute stud!
Akira won us that game. Great that our goalkeeping finally pulled through and got us 2 points.
Good game from Nemec, he looks so confident on the ice.
Just watched the recap and a very ballsy win. Schmid stole that game for sure and a semi decent team effort defensively. Only 18 shots is kinda meh especially with the high volume of good chances we gave up. It’s improvement for sure however but still gotta make sure we push on the neck in these moments rather than turtle so early
Next task is to make a game like this more decisive.
Winning the next two puts us in wildcard position.
Woke up to the same score as when I went to bed about mid way through the 2nd and just thought my browser didn’t refresh. I mean, there’s no way the devils could play a ‘normal’ hockey game, right?
Schmido back up to .902 for the season. Love to see it.
When NJ drafted Nemec, I hated the pick, but Brodeur said in his interview with the french channel that they felt he had the highest ceiling.
I thought was just an OFD and not a great one.
But when I studied his game at the World Juniors last year, I realized he’s not your run of the mill OFD. He played against Canada, didn’t score, had to cover Bedard, got like two or three penalties, was probably a -1… seems like a bad game, right? IMO, he played an excellent game, because he took the beating while the rest of the team saw him competing and sacrificing for the team and responded by playing well, because they only lost that 4-3 in OT.
That was the game I realized that Nemec has a chance to be a #1 defenseman. The points are nice, but it’s the presence he has… and we haven’t really seen it, yet. But the more important you make him, he seems to take that in stride. He just seems to love playing meaningful hockey and plays with passion, wanting to contribute in any way he can.
We may have a very special player here, boys… we’re not gonna sing too soon, but the game tied 1-1 and he comes in and pots the winner. I hope I’m right about this, and I hope Brodeur was right about him.
After PK’s “SHIMONA!” bit, I am declaring Nemec’s nickname to be ‘Annie.’
Good teams win when they don’t play great, LFGD!!!
😈😈😈
There was a stretch in the second period where it looked like the boys were back. Crisp and clean puck movement, creating space. Its in there somewhere and staying healthy should really help.
Can we please stop making excuses for Timo Meier? The guy has played like a fringe third liner ever since he got here. I’ve been smashed in the past on this sub for even mentioning that he’s stunk. With all due respect for Mikey McLeod, he’s playing a far better game for 15% of the money.
I don’t want to hear “maybe he’s injured” etc etc. You signed an eight year deal. Sit until you’re 100% if that’s the case.
A complete goalie win was way overdue. Can’t believe we are over a quarter into the season and this was the first time of keeping a team under 2 goals. Maybe it’s a turning point. Schmid certainly has turned it around a bit other than the sharks game.
First game this year stolen by our goalie. They have a ways to go to even up all the games lost by poor goaltending.
3 points out of 2nd in the division and some very winnable games coming up. Cant afford a loss to ana or phi this week.
We finally get a low scoring win and people are still complaining that Lindy should be fired for poor play. Like, sure 4-1 would have been nice, but I’d rather see a 2-1 win right now than another 6-5 going show. Maybe the offense wasn’t at their best, but they didn’t need more than 2 to win last night. That’s a massive step in the right direction. We know this offense won’t be asleep most games, we know what they can do. We need to see more wins like this. But I swear people will never be satisfied unless we’re routing teams by 5 goals night in and night out. Enjoy the win and the fact we’ve won 5 of our last six to get us within striking distance of the rest of the division. Isles are in 3rd and have more losses than wins.
Separating the D from the goaltending for this sub continues to be impossible. That was our worst game in shots allowed, 5th worst in xG allowed and 2nd worst in high danger chances allowed. Simply put, one of our worst defensive games of the year. Bleeding chances left and right. But what was the difference?
We actually got saves!
Went to bed after the 1st. Glad I didn’t wake up to some sort of meltdown or heart breaking loss.
That win was 100% Schmido.
I also thought Palat had a very strong game. Regardless of line shuffling to try to get a clearly injured/off Timo going, that line should remain intact.
You can tell Nemec is going to be one of those 25+ minute horses for the next decade+. Very efficient skater, can do a bit of everything.
Nemec seems to having fun, which is a good sign. Laughing with guys on the bench, not gripping his stick too tight. His defensive errors have been ugly, but relatively few. Ive been enjoying watching him play.
Still riding high off last night. I don’t understand how people are saying we played as badly as in some past games. Obviously not a perfect game, but the defense absolutely showed up. Guys were clearing pucks and stripping possessions before Schmid had to get involved. The offense turtling after the first meant more time in the d-zone and a high shot volume, but the guys showed up. Schmid was immaculate. Nemec is a breath of fresh air
GUYS did you see [Nemo’s postgame interview](https://x.com/NJDevils/status/1733014925046329493?s=20)? I love him so much. We must protect him at all costs
“I didn’t think, I didn’t do a celly or something. It’s there and I was really happy, but I didn’t look like I was happy, but I was.”
“First goal is always first, I’ll remember it forever.” ([quoted by Stein](https://x.com/amandacstein/status/1733113128001372670?s=20))
The first and second periods were pretty good, with some stretches where the offense was clicking and generally low event defense outside of a few turnovers.
The only good thing about the third was Schmid, but fuck it, we need to get good goaltending every now and then.
I haven’t felt this confident about this team in a long, long time. I’m more confident rn than I was at any point last season, because you can *see* our guys learning to play D and stick up for each other. With any luck this will be a transformative season.
I’m more impressed with this victory than the ones with wider scoring tbh. We need to win the 2-1 low-scoring nights. And yes, though they are not the only problem I will concede that the goaltenders need to be clutch some nights, especially when the other team shoots damn-near 40 and we’re barely cracking 20.
Akira played well. Defense didn’t totally break down all the time. We scored enough. That’s what we need. We don’t ask how, we ask how many!
Couple days late, but I was at the Vancouver game on Tuesday, and I realized that Luke probably wears the same number as Quinn because they were just far enough apart in age that Luke got all of his brother’s hand-me-downs, while Jack was close enough to warrant his own gear and jerseys.
Also 43×2=86. Jack just went with double his brother’s number, and now Luke + Quinn = Jack.