The irony of this situation is delicious. Dubinsky calls out Clarkson for fighting guys that don't usually fight. And then, presumably to show how tough he is, Dubinsky fights Carter... a guy who doesn't usually fight. And he gets his clock cleaned. To add to the embarrassment, he injures himself somehow, and now Carter is chirping him for it.
Gotta love this rivalry.
But you just know Dubinsky is too dumb to ever get the message. He'll try this same **** again next time I'd imagine and again get destroyed, wash, rinse and repeat
Pat Leonard @NYDNRangers
So Rangers say Dubinsky will travel, but it's his nose/sinuses - not his hand - that is bothering him. Makes more sense #NYR
As one of their fans said:
Quote:
His new nose should compliment his frosted tips nicely.
I also see Colorado blew out Minnesota. Wonder if the Devils will take them seriously next game.
Minnesota has been one of the most disappointing teams this second half, and Colorado is a team who has made a season out of winning 5 straight, losing 6 straight, winning another 4 straight, losing another 5 straight, and so on.
They actually made us look like a joke last time when we were on their ice. I hate that team. Landeskog, Hejduk, Jiggy who aint even a starter, Duchene, Stastny, and then a bunch of no names.
From here on out we will see what teams the Devils will take seriously.
Carolina, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Isles 3 times, Colorado, Ottawa 2 times, should be able to at least win MOST of those games. That will get us into the playoffs.
If we wanna march into the playoffs on fire, or maintain our seed we should be able to go, and beat the Flyers, or Pittsburgh at least once too. The Rangers win was great, but we need more of that right now.
I didn't expect the Devils to lose to the Islanders Sunday. I expected one loss to them this week, but not that day. I also didn't expect a point against Boston, a blowout win over the Caps, or this win against the Rangers so who knows?
The Devils redeemed themselves, and made good with last nights win after that horrible performance Sunday. Hopefully we don't have another horrible performance vs the Islanders again this week.
All around solid performance by the team. Best game I've seen Kovy play this year. Now, can we please get even with Islanders tomorrow. I bet the rookie is in net again.
Devils are 18-4-0 in games Kovy has scored goals in. That's a pretty incredible stat right there.
It goes to show when Kovy is in a goal scoring slump no wonder the Devils lose 5 out of 6. So hopefully he stays out of those slumps. We can win a few games without scoring from him. We blew out Washington without any net contributions from him! Long term though if Kovalchuk isn't scoring goals the Devils aren't scoring goals. Don't matter if Zach, and Clarkie, Poni, or Elias are scoring either.
All around solid performance by the team. Best game I've seen Kovy play this year. Now, can we please get even with Islanders tomorrow. I bet the rookie is in net again.
I highly doubt that. They got lucky with him once. I think the Islanders are probably thinking the Devils will come out striking, so they'll go with Nabokov. We haven't faced Nabokov this year yet. Hopefully we'll send him back to the KHL.
Now I said the Islanders are thinking the Devils will come out striking.
The only question that matters is will the Devils come out striking? Will the Devils make Nabokov look like a pee wee goalie too? Or will they make him earn his paycheck?
Clearly after last game the Islanders are a team you have to take seriously. You can look at the number 13 in front of them, and forget them, and then look at the number 1 next to the Rangers, show up, capitalize on mistakes, and be rewarded with a win.
Will the Devils treat the 13th place team like a must win as if it's the Rangers? Or just relax?
It only happened 4 days before the game should be fresh in their memory.
Anybody else a little worried about the teams ability to clear the zone? Didn't wanna harp on it last night or even bring it up. It didn't matter cause we got the W.
Though this is how the Devils give up most of their goals. Struggling to get out of the zone. It's usually blamed on Marty or the goaltending, but the truth is how is he supposed to clear it when it's in front of him along with the opponents best firepower? I noticed this a lot in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd period. I can always see it coming, and it never surprises me. You always know when it's coming they're just asking for it.
Even if he made some of the saves on ones people deem as easy it's only gonna go in 5 seconds later. He could save it, and he'll be on the floor sprawling, and is out of position, and it eventually goes in on the third try.
I think this needs to be addressed as we move forward. I find it hard to believe it's because the team is out of shape. It don't matter who is on the ice it's always a struggle. Between every line, and every D pairing.
BG, why do you go to their board just to cause trouble?
Do you post things like this just to cause trouble?
__________________
"Why I'll be a Devil forever [...] two words. Trust and respect." - Mr. Pat Burns
"I learned not to question Cowbell's willingness to ban." - Brian Boyle
Anybody else a little worried about the teams ability to clear the zone? Didn't wanna harp on it last night or even bring it up. It didn't matter cause we got the W.
Though this is how the Devils give up most of their goals. Struggling to get out of the zone. It's usually blamed on Marty or the goaltending, but the truth is how is he supposed to clear it when it's in front of him along with the opponents best firepower? I noticed this a lot in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd period. I can always see it coming, and it never surprises me. You always know when it's coming they're just asking for it.
Even if he made some of the saves on ones people deem as easy it's only gonna go in 5 seconds later. He could save it, and he'll be on the floor sprawling, and is out of position, and it eventually goes in on the third try.
I think this needs to be addressed as we move forward. I find it hard to believe it's because the team is out of shape. It don't matter who is on the ice it's always a struggle. Between every line, and every D pairing.
It seems to be a systems issue and a quickness issue. The Devils want to skate/pass the puck out of the zone, and if the defenseman and/or wingers aren't getting to pucks quick enough or deciding where to play the puck quick enough then they're quickly in a board battle to retain control.
So what you see teams doing is keeping 4 guys in the zone, except for the weak side defenseman, because they know that the Devils can be hemmed in. The Devils need to recognize when teams are doing this and chip and chase their way into creating 2 on 1's. This would force both defenseman to drop back earlier which would make it easier to skate/pass pucks out.
I also think the Devils do have some personnel that are more likely to get hemmed in. Salvador and Larsson get hemmed in a lot because they aren't quick enough to the puck at times and neither make quick decisions...well Larsson makes quick decisions sometimes, but they can also be ridiculously bad decisions. Janssen, Clarkson, Sykora, and Kovy are not the winger you want on the halfway when trying to clear it either. Janssen isn't agile enough to adjust to pucks, Clarkson ices it too often, and Sykora and Kovy are prone to shying away from a physical play there.
It seems to be a systems issue and a quickness issue. The Devils want to skate/pass the puck out of the zone, and if the defenseman and/or wingers aren't getting to pucks quick enough or deciding where to play the puck quick enough then they're quickly in a board battle to retain control.
So what you see teams doing is keeping 4 guys in the zone, except for the weak side defenseman, because they know that the Devils can be hemmed in. The Devils need to recognize when teams are doing this and chip and chase their way into creating 2 on 1's. This would force both defenseman to drop back earlier which would make it easier to skate/pass pucks out.
I also think the Devils do have some personnel that are more likely to get hemmed in. Salvador and Larsson get hemmed in a lot because they aren't quick enough to the puck at times and neither make quick decisions...well Larsson makes quick decisions sometimes, but they can also be ridiculously bad decisions. Janssen, Clarkson, Sykora, and Kovy are not the winger you want on the halfway when trying to clear it either. Janssen isn't agile enough to adjust to pucks, Clarkson ices it too often, and Sykora and Kovy are prone to shying away from a physical play there.
We just gotta fix this. This is the biggest issue. This is why the team can't play 3 periods. Usually it's the 3rd. Luckily last night it was in the 2nd, and not the 3rd period. This is why we have won, and went to so many shootouts, and OT's also. Breakdowns in the zone. Same story every game. Though we did have a couple shootouts, and OT where we came from behind pretty impressively. Nashville, and one against Florida are the fast that come to mind. Boston was a good one, but we gave up a goal in the 3rd, and let them tie it.
Here is a good stat though. 3 games in a row not allowing a goal in the 3rd period. Washington was one of the only games we played 3 solid periods, and kept it out of the zone most of the game. The Islanders we were losing coming into the 3rd, and last night we were tied.
This team usually plays better 3rd periods when they enter it losing. Tied sometimes too.
My friend was telling me that clarkson was being a punk, the last game. Simply because he wouldn't fight Prust or Rupp, who were asking him to go. He said he'll give a pass on Rupp, but he wouldn't fight Prust because he knows he'll get his ass kicked.
Apparently that doesn't count, cause it was 3 years ago and Prust has improved so much. ?
He also stated he went after Dubie, because dubie can't fight.
I was dumbfounded. I said Clarkson isn't a straight up goon, and that he generally fights guys his own size. You look at his fight card, aside from fighting Ryan Malone about twice every year... everyone is physically about his size.
This team usually plays better 3rd periods when they enter it losing. Tied sometimes too.
That's true of pretty much every NHL team. The team trailing has to force the play and the team leading is playing conservative. Nothing can really fix that.
Also yes Josefson had a great game last night. Carter did too even before the goal. He had a good chance on Lundqvist in I believe it was the 2nd.
Just a little Marty is better post. He's often been criticized by Devils fans, and non Devils fans alike. The save percentage is a little lower, the goals against average is a little higher, and usually he has 4-6 shutouts by this time. Even last year when we sucked he had more shutouts.
He's also had more 1 goal games to make up for it than ever. Most of the goals he's given up recently have come from the team breaking down in their own zone. I think he had a pretty bad game against Tampa, but other than that not bad lately. Like Pete said he's given us a chance to get points like against the Isles, and we didn't answer for him.
I feel the word soft is used a little too much. To me a stoppable goal isn't exactly a soft goal. To get technical the only really soft goal he's given up the entire season is the one in Ottawa shorthanded. Now he's given up some stoppable goals this season. One could say Lundqvist gave up a stoppable one last night on Clarkson/Sykora. He also made some saves he shouldn't have like the ones in Clarkson later in the 3rd period.
Truth is Marty every year has given up stoppable goals. That doesn't mean he's a mediocre goaltender or at the same time that this season is truly his best. For what he is a 39 year old goaltender with so much wear, and tear[Almost 1200 regular season games] he's doing fine. His flaws are just noticed more, because of his age, he doesn't have 4 shutouts right now, and because this team is not in first place. He had some horrible games like in Toronto, and one against Washington I wasn't happy about, but he hasn't cost us as many games as people think.
