I don’t know what was more fucking brutal, the final score or the intermission crew. Probably both.
But I believe in the boys. I think that they got rid of their jitters and will play out of their minds this Thursday.
What’s on your mind?
[NHL FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n00VG0QQjCI)
[ESPN Facts](https://www.espn.com/nhl/game/_/gameId/401541440)
[NJD.TV Rewind](http://shiftchart.com/game/2023-04-18-rangers-devils)
[Shift Chart](http://shiftchart.com/game/2023-04-18-rangers-devils)
[YouTube Post Game Show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWU5xrJiBrk)
[Amanda Stein Game Story: Devils Drop Game 1 to Rangers, 5-1](https://www.nhl.com/devils/news/devils-drop-game-1-to-rangers-5-1–game-story/c-343658552)
[Mike Morreale Game Recap: Fox’s 4 assists help Rangers top Devils in Game 1 of Eastern 1st Round](https://www.nhl.com/news/new-york-rangers-new-jersey-devils-game-1-recap/c-343602978)
by Devil_Dane
26 Comments
Keys to success:
1.) Shoot the fucking puck
2.) Shoot the fucking puck
3.) Stop making boneheaded passes
4.) Stop shooting it directly at their shin guards
5.) Shoot the fucking puck
6.) There’s no requirement to play hot potato in the offensive zone you’re allowed to shoot the fucking puck
I am not deterred by the loss, as I never expected to sweep the series. This is a young team new to playoff hockey. For the first ten minutes they were totally unprepared but despite the score I actually think they played better the rest of the game.
Well that was a learning experience if anything, and I’m not that worried. Our youth and inexperience showed profoundly last night, but those are problems that fix themselves with time.
We played well 5 on 5 and Shesterkin is mortal. We played better as the game went on and held the Rags to zero shots on net for extended periods of time. Whoever wins this series wins in 6.
And Jesus the Rangers commentators are BAD!!!!!!! Completely disengaging. I miss Bill and Dano.
2 things. Obviously need to get more out of the power play and someone needs to make a statement and send Trouba into the third row.
Embarrassing and pathetic. Throw it out. Start over
Every higher seeded team lost last night. I’m sure similar conversations are happening across all of those fan bases (especially Toronto holy shit they got pasted).
To think we’d sweep the series is asinine. Rangers played about as good a defensive game as they could’ve. The first period was brutal, but I felt like we controlled the tempo in the second and into the third except when Haula took that dumbass penalty in the offensive zone.
I for one am amped up for tomorrow. It’ll be my first playoff game in person and I’ll be there screaming my head off. I’m still confident Devils take the series in 6.
The difference was they were 2/3 on the PP and we were 0/4. You turn that around and we’re winning that game last night.
Shesty made big saves Vitek didn’t.
The rock was ready to go last night but the boys gave them nothing to cheer about. Hopefully this is a wake up call and they don’t come out flat on Thurs. LGD
The rags also won 2 of the first 3 last time, with 2 shutouts, and we all know how that went.
I think they bought into the whole narrative that they don’t have the experience and they don’t play the right kind of game for the playoffs. Didn’t play the game that got them here.
I very nearly contacted my rep for a refund because they as I might I really couldn’t find much hockey being played by the Devils. /S
In the past, when shesterkin has had good games, we have absolutely peppered him with shots. He’s a diva, he breaks eventually more times than not.
Shot blocking: if the rangers are going to clog up the ice and not let shots through, we should let that happen. As I see it we have two choices from there: 1. If they get down on the ice, reset. If they do it again, reset. They can’t do this infinitely and it uses a lot of the defenders energy. Use it against them, and 2. MAKE THEM THINK TWICE ABOUT BLOCKING YOUR SHOT. If that means aiming for the groin, the face, etc, aim there. We must break them and I don’t care how many of them get bloody, battered, or killed.
Show these boys film from November. Even if we lose, they are so fun to watch when they play like that it is worth it.
Looked at the face off numbers and couldn’t believe we were over 50%. Idk but it seemed we lost every “big” draw
Colorado and Vegas also lost. I don’t think any of us three teams should panic yet.
That was not enjoyable
It was a disappointing night for sure but I still believe.
Jack looked like Jack in the second and third and he will be dangerous the rest of the series but he needs support. If he is making a run on net I want to see his wingers crashing full speed behind him.
Mercer looked tentative and I think passed too much. Hopefully he shakes it off.
Meier came on late but should be up with Nico and Mercer.
Our supporting guys didnt rise up as hoped but I have faith they will.
Hamilton looked like a lost puppy on the PP and man is he soft. Carolina fans warned us he is a disappointment in the playoffs and I can see why. Absolutely no hustle or elevation in his game at all. Still terrified of making contact with people.
Bahl continues to impress. Give me Hamilton-Bahl, Graves-Marino, Siegs-Sevo.
The PP is horrendous. We need to end the 4 forward experiment and go back to two D. Give me Hamilton-Graves with Jack-Nico-Meier for PP 1 and Severson-Bahl with Mercer-Haula-Palat/Tatar for PP2. (I cant tell you how excited I am for Luke to play because him and Hamilton will make this strategy work perfectly.)
PK – If Kreider is going to plant infront of the net and be left alone swap Graves for Bahl. You go infront of our goalie i want you to have to battle for that spot.
All that being said, I think we saw the best the Rangers have and it wasn’t impressive. I only fault Vany on the first goal and if we can get to rebounds we can put up numbers on Shesterkin.
God I had the worse dream last night …..
ohhh no. 😭🤯😱
Get Wood out of the lineup. It should have been obvious that his penalties were gonna bite us in a series against the Rangers. Get Yegor back in an get him PK time too. He’s also had some scoring success against the Rangers.
Get Meier into the top 6. We’re gonna need our top 6 fully loaded to consistently score against Shesterkin.
1. Put Meier on the Hischier line
2. Put Lazar in over Wood
3. More focus on establishing the zone after an entry, not just immediately driving the net every time. I noticed Hischier do this multiple times, but in the playoffs you are going to get closed in on much quicker after you cross the blue line.
4. Our power play has been vastly overrated coming into the playoffs, and it is now being exposed.
The most worrying thing I saw last night was Vitek. Unfortunately he just couldn’t make the big saves that we needed him to. It’s obviously a tough ask, but 2 goals on 8 shots is bad no matter how you look at it. Other than that, for the most part it was a very evenly played game.
I’d be more positive if it was one or two aspects of the game we struggled in and those were the difference, but there are just…so…many. How do they all get fixed in the span of a two week series? Given it’s “lines in a blender” Lindy who’s tasked with charting the course correction , I’m not hopeful.
I see a lot of people bashing Vitek saying he couldn’t make big saves. Maybe i was watching a different game, but for a short time he was the only reason this game wasn’t 5-0 by mid 2nd period. Also two of those goals we let a Ranger skate unfazed through our defense.
Not saying the dude stood on his head but at 2-0 he made a few very big saves including breakaways.
We were unprepared. No one looked ready to play last night. Go to the arena today, get torn a new asshole by the coaches (who also need to get yelled at themselves), learn from the mistakes or more what we didn’t do and get ready for game 2.
Couple key things:
Stop playing their game. We keep trying to go for hits, and us making unnecessary hits lead to the first 3 goals. Take a hit while it’s there, finish your checks, but don’t force them. I understand the “playoff hockey” narrative, but we gotta play OUR game, not theirs. That’s how we beat them 3 times this season.
They’re blocking shots like crazy. If they wanna do that, make it hurt. Make them think about blocking the shots. Hit ‘em where it hurts and make them think again about going down.
Powerplay needs to wake up. They’re super aggressive on the PK, gotta make it fast and accurate. Quick passes, use the bumper, just get shots on net. Too many fancy cross ice passes killed all four of the power plays. I think shake the lines up too, make them PP1 and PP2, not PP1 and 5 random players.
Switch the lines up. Palat needs a bigger role to be useful. He was almost nonexistent last night, need him to be useful if that’s what we brought him in for.
I think the post game pressers covered it perfectly, it was all nerves. They came in with 8 skaters who never played a playoff game before. They were nervous, and tried to fit the “playoff hockey” narrative. We won games OUR way, so continue to do it. Use it as a learning experience and kick their asses on Thursday.
Be happy nobody got hurt and we’re going into game 2 with a chip on our shoulder completely healthy. I believe in this team, I am not nervous. Regroup and show em why we deserve to be there. Game 1 of a 7 game series. LETS GO DEVILS
Timo should be with either of the two top lines!!!! I understand Haula has playoff experience but so does Timo and the skill set for both are night and day. Ruff has to get his head out of his ass and bring Timo up instead of burying him on the 3rd line.
Devils need to focus on defense and goaltending and not overextend themselves in the o zone, especially since over half their shots are being blocked and never reach the net.
The team looked completely unprepared to play yesterday.
How much falls on Ruff versus young guys getting a feel for it?
Look guys, I’m willing to take the blame on this one. My Marty jersey is clearly cursed this year. I wore it game 1 and 2 of the season, then stopped.
Ah shit. This one’s my fault. We always play badly when I get a new jersey and yesterday both me and my friend just had a pretty big mail day. I’ll stop buying jerseys til the summer.
I’d like to see Douglas Hamilton really uncork from the blue line tomorrow and run some PP through his shot. They want to clog lanes let them, can only block so many clappers. Just seems insane to not take shots at all over just trying to find clear lanes to the net with traffic.