New players, same dissapointing Devils

Posted on October 11, 2019 by hasan4978

I said after the Devils’ horrendous opener that I didn’t want to go nuts in terms of calling for John Hynes to be fired or anything drastic like that, although I certainly didn’t like the signs coming out of that game and the parallel to how other disasterous seasons began (this year’s football Jets, or the ’10-11 Devils to name two).  If the Devils wanted to drive me nuts and get me on my last nerve in record time, okay here it is – I’m nuts now.  This might be blow it up time and not just with the staff although god help us I really don’t see any reason after five years why things will improve on that end.  It certainly has to start with the staff at the very least.  Especially with quotes like this:

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1182483497572884481

Really?  We’re gonna take bows after a close loss to the OILERS?  At home?!  Where we blew yet another lead?!

Perhaps my best decision this week is to only have watched the Devils sparingly.  Not as if there was a lot of entertainment value involved, in spite of GM Ray Shero’s offseason additions and the franchise mantra of ‘fast, attacking and supportive’ which has never seemed more laughable than now.  You can get whatever brand of player you want, the first requirement above all else needs to be that they’re good hockey players!  There’s no way to spin this first four games as anything other than an unmitigated failure on all levels.  After the ghastly opener, to go on the road and get your scalps handed to you 7-2 by Buffalo(!) was frightening.  Then to follow it up with a passionless 4-0 loss to the Flyers last night was dispiriting.  Tonight’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Oilers was infuriating and not because of that stupid non-disallowed goal late when the Devils blew YET ANOTHER lead in the dying moments of the third period.  I don’t want to hear the whistle blew (especially since it shouldn’t have anyway), that’s a loser’s lament.  Bad teams don’t deserve breaks and this is a bad hockey team right now.

I get the Oilers and Sabres are both off to hot starts right now but my god if you’re lost against these teams, how are you going to fare against the Bruins, Lightning and other proven good teams?  This was supposed to be a winnable part of the schedule and right now they have zero wins in four games, which is actually one less than the John MacLean Devils had at the same point of their train wreck half season.  It’s truly frightening how much I’m getting 2010 flashbacks.  I mean both seasons they blew Opening Night in spectacular fashion (‘only’ losing 2-0 and 3-2 leads to the Stars at home, before dying in OT) and then went on the road to get housed 7-2 the next night each time.  Only then it was at least the Caps destroying us as opposed to an unproven outfit that’s getting over its own recent streak of losing seasons.

Buffalo it has to be said, may have finally found the right coach for their young group bringing back Ralph Kreuger from soccer.  It’s time for Shero to try it, it’s just not gonna work with Hynes.  It’s not any one decision or a number of decisions – although scratching Pavel Zacha and Jesper Boqvist in favor of AHL role players Kevin Rooney and John Hayden in Philly was a ‘seriously dude?’ moment.  And Hynes was all too quick to switch the lines around and change something that was working against the Jets, while he was too happy to lay off the trigger finger in Buffalo.  Even beyond all the stupid decisions, what young players – specifically the defensemen – have actually gotten better under this staff?  Maybe Zacha for a few meaningless games last year?  Damon Severson after looking like he was ready to take a step forward at the end of last season has taken like three steps back this year with an awful start.  Mirco Mueller’s been an abject failure and one of Shero’s few trades that looks like a total dud.  I guess you could say Taylor Hall’s taken a step forward but it’s not like he wasn’t a great player before getting here.

Development was supposed to be what this staff was good at and I really don’t see a lot of it here.  Certainly tactics and lineup decisions are questionable at best…does this team even have a system beyond running around like chickens with their heads cut off?  Special teams (both PK and PP) have been a tire fire this year.  Maybe if this were another season Shero could afford to be patient, heck he was patient enough last year when he trolled the fanbase giving Hynes an extension during the downslide of another poor season.  But after all the moves this offseason – trading for P.K. Subban and Nikita Gusev, signing Wayne Simmonds and drafting Jack Hughes – Shero can’t afford to just say business as usual, especially with the future of Hall likely riding on what this team does going forward, both because Hall himself won’t want to commit to a loser long-term, and because if this team continues to careen downhill Shero might wave the white flag and go to rebuild #2, in which case he should go immediately onto the hot seat himself.

I’m sorry, it’s time for the excuses for Shero to end now.  This is year #5 of the new era, Shero’s had more than enough time, and a couple of lottery ball breaks to build his own team.  Rebuilds do not take ten years, I’m sorry – this isn’t 1985.  Especially in this market, you can’t afford to have the fanbase get apathetic in a market with a small base of hockey fans to start with and so many other options for entertainment dollars.  Maybe all of his moves looked great on paper, but it’s possible that they weren’t right in terms of team-building.  Gusev for example…the dude’s got talent but right now he looks like Damien Brunner plus in that all he is, is a playmaker.  Hynes certainly doesn’t trust him defensively, and he probably doesn’t deserve it.  It’s early to get on Hughes but he certainly isn’t as ready-made as Nico Hischier was two years ago.

Certainly the new additions and key players haven’t been pulling their weight either.  Hall you could excuse based on rust, but where is the supposed impact of a Subban?  Simmonds looks too slow to keep up with the frenetic chickens with their heads cut off system.  Gusev if he’s only going to play ten minutes then he certainly isn’t any kind of an answer in the top six.  When so many players are underachieving it usually comes down to coaching, but effort is definitely a players issue and the effort already hasn’t been there in two games…the Philly fiasco would have been even worse if Cory Schneider didn’t play well in the first two periods before caving in during the third.  At least he managed to finish this game upright and so far he’s played better than Mackenzie Blackwood, who stunk in Buffalo.

Whether Shero fires the staff or not – and god knows if this gets to 1-7 or 0-8 with the inevitable Rangers embarassment of the Devils at the Rock next Thursday it’ll be impossible to avoid the five-alarm fire this season is becoming – decisions also need to be made on key players.  Hall’s a free agent that’s still unsigned, but if the team continues to stink to this level at least it makes the decision to trade him at the deadline a whole lot easier, assuming he doesn’t re-sign.  Defensemen Andy Greene (who missed tonight with an UBI) and Sami Vatanen are also free agents and this D really can’t afford to lose any talent.

All I know is I’m getting depressed over losing the same ways each season and doing the same darn recaps.  All we’ve gotten for change, change, change so far is one quickie playoff appearance that was over with inside a week.  Eventually Shero’s going to have to answer for why the rebuild has stagnated.

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Wayne Simmonds speaks about his time with Flyers before big return

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Derek

Good guy Wayne Simmonds returns to play his former team the Flyers as a Devil in a unique Turnpike Rivalry. AP Photo by Bruce Bennett Philadelphia Inquirer via Getty Images

Tonight, Wayne Simmonds returns to the city of Philadelphia. It was there where he developed into a good power forward, who gave everything he had to the Flyers.

After being traded from the Kings to the Flyers with Brayden Schenn in a deal that saw Mike Richards go back to Los Angeles on June 23, 2011, Simmonds gave Philadelphia fans the kind of popular tough, rugged player they love. For eight years, he produced 203 goals including two 30-plus goal seasons. He amassed over 100 penalty minutes four different times while being a stand up teammate, who wasn’t shy about making opponents accountable with his fists.

Now, following a brief stint with the Predators last Spring, he will be on the opposite side of a unique Turnpike rivalry between the Devils and Flyers. He spoke to reporters about it.

Simmonds felt he deserved to stay in Philly. But it wasn’t to be with the team he knew since age 22 moving in a different direction. They cleared cap space to sign Kevin Hayes and swapped tough defenseman Radko Gudas to the Caps for stay at home type Matt Niskanen.

He’ll wear his trademark number 17 for the evil black and red instead of orange and black. Considering how popular he was, he should get a video tribute and acknowledgement from the crowd before the boos start.

Most importantly, Simmonds knows his new team hasn’t played well so far. After blowing a 4-0 lead in a gut wrenching 5-4 shootout loss in the home opener to the Jets, they embarrassed themselves in Buffalo on Saturday night. It wasn’t a contest with the Sabres blowing out the Devils 7-2. The worst moment coming when PK Subban made an awful mistake by dancing around with the puck at the Buffalo blueline. It led to a brutal turnover and Sam Reinhardt breakaway goal on Mackenzie Blackwood for the death blow.

With top pick Jack Hughes struggling so far, he will play on a third line with Simmonds and two-way threat Blake Coleman. That’s probably the way to go due to Hughes’ defensive issues in the first two games. He’s admitted he must get better.

The start of this Rivalry game is after 7:30 PM on NBCSN. Good news is that Cory Schneider returns to the net after leaving the first game due to cramps. It looked more serious, but fortunately isn’t for the Devils.

It will be a special night for Simmonds, who’s a good guy. Maybe he rises to the occasion and gets one of those tips for a power play goal to spark his new team.

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Namestnikov dealt to Senators

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Derek

The Rangers have traded Vladislav Namestnikov to the Senators. In a deal just announced, they subtract Namestnikov and retain $750,000 to free up space on the roster. They collect a fourth round pick.

A thanks to Namestnikov for how hard he played under David Quinn. He might not have been the scorer they hoped for after getting him from the Lightning. However, he adjusted his game and became a valuable secondary forward who Quinn trusted both five-on-five and on the penalty kill.

With the Rangers moving in a different direction, and Namestnikov twice getting moved down to the fourth line in the club’s first two games due to Quinn bumping up Brendan Lemieux, it isn’t surprising. Though I never figured he’d go so early.

Best of luck to Vladdy with Ottawa. He’ll need it.

As for where the Rangers go from here, maybe they plan to recall Filip Chytil. But he just started playing for Hartford and at center. They could just plug Greg McKegg in on the fourth line and penalty kill role.

There’s no reason to rush either Chytil or Vitali Kravtsov back up. Especially when Kravtsov was a healthy scratch in the Wolf Pack’s second game yesterday. The key to this remains patience. They don’t have to bring either young player up right away.

I think maybe it opens the door for either Boo Nieves or defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who’s played well scoring a goal and continuing to look ready. With Quinn opting to use Brendan Smith in a unique double role as a fourth line energy guy and on the improved penalty kill as a defenseman, it’s worked out well so far.

It’ll be interesting to see what the organization decides. They don’t play the third game until this Saturday afternoon against the Oilers. Hardly an ideal opponent to reinsert a kid.

There was some overreaction to Kravtsov being benched in his second AHL game. Maybe some of the other fans need to chill. It doesn’t happen right away. I have more confidence in the current staff when it comes to the team’s prospects.

Anyway, that’s gonna do it. Congrats to Mika Zibanejad on being named the NHL’s First Star of the Week. A well deserved honor following his eight points highlighted by a hat trick in the 4-1 win at Ottawa.

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A cool Staal quote on the new top line

Posted on October 6, 2019 by Derek

Mika Zibanejad wears the Broadway Hat following his hat trick in Ottawa. AP Photo via Getty Images courtesy New York Rangers.

Plenty of people have already took notice of the new Rangers top line. And why not? Through two games, they’ve been dynamic.

It looks like for now, Pavel Buchnevich will stay with Mika Zibanejad and early Christmas present Artemiy Panarin. The cohesive trio have great chemistry. They already created some magic with a Panarin pass leading to one of the prettiest goals so far from Zibanejad on a tic tac toe play with a unselfish Buchnevich.

Even their teammates are noticing. Take Marc Staal, who heaped high praise on what he’s seen in two games.

When you can move the puck around like magicians, it makes it look easy. Not every game will be like that. Especially against tougher opponents. However, for Zibanejad to record his third career hat trick against his former team was special.

Here’s how it looked and sounded on MSG from the underappreciated John Giannone and partner Joe Micheletti last night.

It’s pretty cool that Zibanejad got his three goals in different situations. The first came on the power play on the rebound. The second during a seamless transition started by rookie Adam Fox with puck wizardry from both Panarin and Buchnevich leaving Zibanejad speechless. The third one off a terrific defensive play from Brendan Smith to cause a two on one shorthanded with Zibanejad using a perfect toe drag and laser top shelf to turn the trick.

It definitely could be a fun season. It’ll be interesting to see these guys go up against two of the game’s best players in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl later this week.

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Game 2: Zibanejad dominates Senators with a hat trick and four points

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Derek

It was a memorable night for Mika Zibanejad. AP Photo via Getty Images

Two words. Mika Zibanejad! For the second consecutive game, he put up four points in a Rangers win. In fact, Zibanejad made a little history that puts him in great company.

Through six periods of the brand new season, Zibanejad has eight points (4-4-8). He joins Jaromir Jagr as the first player to go back-to-back four point games to start a season. The legendary Jagr last did it in ’95-96 with the Penguins. The ageless 47-year old wonder still plays in his native country, the Czech Republic.

It was a good night for the Rangers, who improved to 2-0-0 on the season. They got good performances out of Zibanejad’s line with Artemiy Panarin recording his second power play goal and an assist, and Pavel Buchnevich tallying three two helpers. The number one line combined for all four goals and eight points. Jaw dropping stuff.

UPDATE: Check that. They changed the scoring on the Zibanejad first goal. Chris Kreider gets credited with a assist. Buchnevich loses one.

Jacob Trouba had a primary assist on Zibanejad’s power play rebound that got it started in the first period. He was steady throughout in a team high 22:38 while paired up with rookie Libor Hajek. The revamped D worked out well for David Quinn, who also had Brady Skjei with Adam Fox. Marc Staal stayed with Tony DeAngelo.

They also got a very good game from Alexandar Georgiev, who was strong throughout making 31 saves. The only goal that beat him came on a Brady Tkachuk redirection on a big Thomas Chabot point shot that tied the game at one in the first period.

It was Zibanejad, who did in his former team literally. In a lopsided second, he scored twice. The first one I highlighted in the previous post when he took a Panarin feed and went back and forth with Buchnevich before burying an easy one-timer past poor Ottawa netminder Craig Anderson. He must’ve felt dizzy from that sequence. It was incredible or incredulous depending on who you root for.

With the Sens on a power play, secret weapon Brendan Smith forced a turnover inside his own blueline. Zibanejad and Lias Andersson came two on one. Using Andersson as a decoy, he patiently toe dragged around a diving Senator before wiring one upstairs to complete the hat trick. It was beautiful.

On the other side, Georgiev didn’t give up anything else. His rebound control was excellent. So, he gets the start in Game 2 and picks up right where he left off. A good thing for the Blueshirts, who now don’t play again until next Saturday against Edmonton.

The Rangers worked more magic for a Panarin power play goal at 2:51 of the third to put the game away. The top unit dominated with pinpoint passing, shot attempts and eventually a great passing play started by Zibanejad to Buchnevich, who whirled across for a perfect one-timer by the Bread Man short side for a 4-1 lead.

There was nothing else to see. They’re two for two. That’s also a good baseball term in October. Think Yankees. Exactly.

Three 🌟 Of Game:

3rd 🌟 Artemi Panarin, Rangers (power play goal for 2nd, assist #2 in 18:03)

2nd 🌟 Pavel Buchnevich, Rangers (3 2 🍎 in 16:34)

1st 🌟 Mika Zibanejad, Rangers (hat trick including ES, PPG, SHG, plus 🍎 in 20:32 with 18/22 on draws)

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Mika Zibanejad records first hat trick

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Derek

The season is only five periods old. Already, Mika Zibanejad has the first hat trick for the Rangers. He has lit up his former team in Ottawa tonight through two periods.

The score is: Zibanejad 3, Senators 1. Here’s the second one on just a crazy back and forth Harlem Globetrotters passing play between Mika and Pavel Buchnevich.

Wow. After scoring on a rebound for a power play goal in the first from Jacob Trouba and Buchnevich, Zibanejad untied the game with that crazy tic tac toe goal from Buchnevich and Artemiy Panarin.

He completed the hat trick in style with a shorthanded goal on a terrific toe drag and top shelf shot past Craig Anderson.

The Rangers will carry a 3-1 lead into the third period against the Senators, whose lone tally came from Brady Tkachuk on a neat deflection from Thomas Chabot.

Alexandar Georgiev has been solid thus far making 19 saves. His rebound control has been good. There is one period to play.

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K’Andre Miller suspended by Badgers

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Derek

In a bit of disturbing news, the Wisconsin Badgers have suspended defenseman K’Andre Miller for a violation of team rules. He wasn’t present at their practice and it doesn’t sound like he’ll take part in their IntraSquad game.

Obviously, it’s not what you want to hear. Especially for the future New York Rangers defenseman, who’s expected to have a big sophomore year for the Badgers. He was a preseason unanimous All Big Ten selection.

Taken by the Rangers with the second first round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, Miller has a lot of upside. Hopefully, this is only a temporary setback and valuable learning lesson for him.

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Rangers visit troubled Senators in classic trap game

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Derek

Artemiy Panarin looks to keep it going with Jacob Trouba at Ottawa. AP Photo by Mary Altaffer via Getty Images

In about an hour from now, the Rangers and Senators will face off from Ottawa in Kanata, Ontario. The name of the arena they still play in is called the Canadian Tire Centre. Maybe it should be renamed Canadian Tire Fire.

That’s only due to probably the worst NHL owner in Eugene Melnyk. If you haven’t read New York Post Rangers beat writer Brett Cyrgalis’s scathing column, please do yourself a favor and read it. It really hits home on the big issue with the Senators.

When you think about where Ottawa was in the 2017 Playoffs, it’s sad. They were that close to beating the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pens in a seven game Eastern Conference Final. That was then. This is now.

Star players Erik Karlsson and Mark Stone are long gone along with quite a few other former Sens including since we’ll traveled Derick Brassard (now with Islanders). It’s strange. Craig Anderson remains the number one goalie. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who’s best known for tormenting the Rangers to basically end the AV Era, is still there. So is Bobby Ryan and Mark Borowiecki.

The Senators roster is considered by most pundits to be the worst in the league. They do boast promising young players such as budding power forward Brady Tkachuk and top defenseman Thomas Chabot. But it’s a long climb back. It’ll be up to those two along with Colin White and Erik Brannstrom to determine the club’s future.

They also have Anthony Duclair. Yes. That Duclair, who once was a top prospect for the Rangers before getting packaged to the Coyotes for Keith Yandle. Since, he’s moved on from Arizona to the Blackhawks to the Blue Jackets to now his fifth organization in Ottawa. Hopefully, he’ll stick.

So, it should be a piece of cake for the new look Blueshirts featuring Artemiy Panarin, Jacob Trouba and Kaapo Kakko with Alexandar Georgiev starting? Not so quick. One thing about Ottawa. They beat the Rangers two of three last year and haven’t lost at home to them since Nov. 14, 2015 with New York prevailing in a shootout 2-1.

It’s also worth noting that the Senators lead the all-time series with a 50-38-3-4 record. They actually do better at MSG where they’re a perplexing 28-17-0-2. Ottawa is 22-21-3-2 at home vs the Rangers.

It is the Senators home opener. They lost on Opening Night to the Maple Leafs 5-3. It was all downhill after Tkachuk scored his first in the opening shift. Toronto got five of the next six goals. They can do that to almost anyone and will. They’re 2-0-0 already after overwhelming the Blue Jackets last night.

The Rangers are not making any lineup changes. Only tweaks to the blueline which struggled in a 6-4 home victory over Winnipeg on Thursday. In particular, Brady Skjei and Libor Hajek. So, Skjei-Trouba is broken up for now. That could change. Coach David Quinn has decided to go with Skjei and Adam Fox while trying Hajek with Trouba to help the rookie. Marc Staal and Tony DeAngelo remain intact.

Brendan Smith will continue to play on the fourth line as Quinn promises to find more ice time for Lias Andersson, who didn’t have a particularly good start after tripping on a cord during intros.

It’s a classic trap game for a young team that’s still in the early stages. It wouldn’t be surprising if they lose. Hopefully, they can avoid the Ottawa trap.

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Hynes to give rookie Jesper Boqvist a look in NHL debut

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Derek

Devils rookie forward Jesper Boqvist makes his NHL debut tonight. AP Photo by Bruce Bennett via Getty Images

When the Devils take on the Sabres upstate later, there’ll be one change to the lineup. Coach John Hynes has decided to take a look at rookie Jesper Boqvist.

A second round pick taken number 36 in 2017, the 20-year old Swede had a good camp to make the roster. Now, he’ll make his NHL debut at Buffalo. In a bit of a surprise, Boqvist will play on a new line with Pavel Zacha and talented Russian Nikita Gusev, who scored in his first NHL game.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1180591035660914688?s=19

I guess that means Hynes wants to use Gusev in a different role for a game. He broke up the second line. Rookie Jack Hughes will likely center Jesper Bratt and Wayne Simmonds.

The Devils also received good news on starting goalie Cory Schneider, who departed last night’s game after the Winnipeg second goal with an injury. It sounds like the best case scenario.

Until he returns, Mackenzie Blackwood will likely start. He’ll man the net tonight.

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Opening Nightmare

Posted on October 4, 2019 by hasan4978

 

I really didn’t want to have to rantpost again, not this season and especially not after tonight. Honestly I don’t even know how much my heart is in a rantpost at this point. Last year was embarassing enough as a Devils fan, but at least GM Ray Shero recognized that status quo wasn’t acceptable after one of the worst years in franchise history and made moves to bolster the talent level of the roster. After a solid preseason, optimism was sky high among Devils fans. Although we were facing a Jets team that always gives us trouble, they were missing a couple key players and coming off a tough loss at the Garden the night before. If there was ever a time to get them, it was tonight.

And sure enough, through thirty nine plus minutes the script could not have gone better if you were a Devils fan. KHL import Nikita Gusev scored the team’s first goal of the season and his first NHL goal to get the Devils on the board. Then the Devils rocked the Jets and backup goalie Laurent Brossoit for three goals in the second period, with first Blake Coleman getting his usual hustle and grit goal early in the second period, then Sami Vatanen blew one through the Jets goaltender and finally Coleman looked rather Ovechkian – if you don’t believe me just look at Derek’s post below and YouTube Ovechkin falling down goal – somehow managing to roof one shortside with one hand on his stick while falling down, scoring over what appeared to be a hapless goalie.

At 4-0 late in the second period, this team was mere seconds away from a deserved, thunderous ovation going off the ice back into the locker room. What should have been an afterthought goal by Dmitri Kulikov to spoil the shutout with eleven seconds remaining in the second period instead became like the first raindrop before an oncoming monsoon. Perhaps that was my first indicator the third period wasn’t exactly going to be easy, when the post-buzzer reaction from the crowd after what otherwise was a dominant period got muted after the late goal. Still, even me in my darkest hour of pessimism as a Mets, Jets and Devils fan could not have envisioned what happened afterwards.

If Kulikov’s goal seemed a mere annoyance at the time, Jack Roslovic’s goal early in the third period was a dose of cold water nobody in the building welcomed, and not just because it made the game 4-2 but for the even more ghastly realization afterward that goalie Cory Schneider was hurt…AGAIN. The same Cory who was supposedly healthy for the first time in years, had looked great in camp after a decent second half and good World Cup during the summer – now he had to be helped off the ice after barely two periods of real hockey. I don’t know how serious his injury was, maybe we’re lucky and he pulled a hammy but if he tore anything or re-injured his hip then my god you really just cannot count on him to be anything close to a starting goalie anymore, contract or no contract.

As confident as I might be in Mackenzie Blackwood on another day, this was the farthest thing from an ideal situation to come into, with the team reeling and him not expecting to play at all tonight. It’s one thing when you come in for a goalie that isn’t playing well, you can usually sense when a game’s going awry and start preparing yourself to come in but no amount of preparation can simulate coming in cold the first game of the season. Sure enough my worst fears were realized in the third when first Mathieu Perreault scored to cut the lead to 4-3, and seeing that clunker of a goal go past Blackwood I knew we were losing right then. Blackwood wasn’t ready to play and the team was in full shell shock now, while I was in full rant mode. I just couldn’t believe this was happening AGAIN, after how my football Jets spectacularly blundered their season opener.

Our descent back into being chokers and losers was complete when Ranger castoff Neal Pionk scored to tie the game. All it took was thirteen stinking minutes for the Jets to erase a 4-0 deficit like it was nothing! Thirteen minutes!!! I don’t want to get in all fire coach Hynes mode after one game, and to be fair goaltending and the most ill-timed of injuries was more decisive in the meltdown than even bad defense but it just never ends with this team. Blown lead after blown lead, I don’t want to hear about new NHL or how good the Jets are…malarkey. A 4-0 lead in your building with barely twenty minutes left, you cannot let that get away. That’s about as likely as well, quite a few of the Met bullpen implosions this year. But that’s a separate story.

Until there was maybe three or four minutes left in the period the Devils were like a fighter in a fog after getting hit with a haymaker, still on their feet but not really doing anything. And the refs certainly didn’t help matters (or my mood) missing a number of potential Jets penalties including a total takedown of Jack Hughes in front of the net in the first period, not to mention it seemed as if every marginal icing where a Jets player slowed up the refs allowed the icing while the Devils got jipped out of an icing call or two. Finally the Devils had a couple of good shifts late in the third, but still nearly lost the game in the dying seconds in what would have been a too fitting coup de grace when Blake Wheeler somehow hit a post and missed a wide open net from in close. Yet the gimmicky three-on-three gave us chances to salvage some honor back but despite four or five quality chances to win the game the Devils outright missed the net on far too many of them and couldn’t cash in a barely deserved winner.

Maybe on a normal night I’d actually have felt fine about going into a shootout…but with a shaky goalie and a choking team I really didn’t want to deal with drawing out the misery any longer. While Gusev at least cemented his own solid debut with a shootout goal, Kyle Connor quickly evened the score after it seemed like he was allowed to come to a complete stop and take as much time as he needed on his attempt. I’ll probably look at the highlight later and realize he didn’t, but man in the moment it looked like he was allowed to have all day in front of Blackwood before scoring. With Hughes, Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri all missing their chances the shootout lurched to its inevitable but deserved end when Wheeler atoned for his late-game miss and finally put us out of our misery.

If there was ever a night where the expression ‘loser point’ was apt, it was tonight for the Devils. Anyone that wants to tell me oh at least they got a point tonight, get out of my face. This was a loss that felt like three losses rolled into one. It not only brought back memories of my football team’s recent season home opener disaster, but also one of the Devils’ recent past where they came into another season with unbridled optomism after a bunch of offseason signings and additions. Things looked great when the Devils scored two early goals and then led the Stars 3-2 late in the game, but somehow blew both leads and the whole ball of wax 4-3 in OT. The year was 2010-11…and that loss was the harbinger of bad times to come in the John MacLean error.

I really hope we’re not headed down that path. And yes I know last season was the complete inverse where we outscored four straight opponents 17-4 and looking like a dominant team before falling off. Obviously Game #1 of 82 isn’t always a harbinger, but man it just couldn’t have gone any worse for the Devils tonight. Not only blowing a 4-0 lead in craptacular fashion but likely losing Schneider for another extended period. If this team wants to prove it’s not the losing, choking dogs they’ve been for most of the post-2012 era it starts tomorrow night in Buffalo. Nut up, beat a team you’re supposed to beat and stablize things, then you can actually point to three points in two games and try to regain your equilibrium after getting hit with a Mike Tyson-esque punch – whatever happens with Cory will happen but at least you can plan around Blackwood and whoever his backup will be and try to play well enough around them to win, the way the 2017-18 Devils did with Keith Kinkaid.

If that doesn’t happen, then things could get very cloudy in a hurry. Especially vis-a-vis Hall…why would he sign long-term with an organization that can never seem to get out of its own way? A horrible start will mean probably trading Hall then going into rebuilding 2.0 after an offseason where acquiring entities such as Gusev and P.K. Subban meant we were supposed to be past ‘trusting the process’ here. Sooner or later this team is going to have to take the next step or Shero – for all his good intentions this offseason – is eventually going to have to answer (among other things) for why he is going to the wall with a staff that doesn’t seem able to actually improve this team’s mental toughness or defensive capabilities. And these players will have to answer for why they can’t get this team over the hump.

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