The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Game 4, NJD 4 at TBL 3

I didn't see the game, so I can't really comment with full knowledge of the game. I heard some of it on XM radio though, so:

The Good: Parise (!!!!), Gomez in OT!

The Bad: Letting in three goals - again!

The Ugly: The Tampa Bay radio announcers (Mishkin and Espo) - awful awful homers.

The Good:
-Parise's general awesomeness
-Zajac's passing
-Greene's composure and solid play defensively, as well as his hard shot
-Gomez on the two goals he created

The Bad:
-Gomez for most of the night (awful turnovers)

The Ugly:
-Matvichuk's immobility. When's White back?

The good - Finally a OT win for marty
To Bad - Matvichuk and Lukowich are too slow
The Ugly - The fluke goals Tampa are getting

The Great - Parise/Zajac/Langenbrunner..these guys are scary. To thin, Zajac has a hard snap shot, when he improves that shot he will be a double force.

The Good: Parise!!! This kid is fun to watch.

The Bad: Elias. Where are you?

The Ugly: The 'Fans' on this board.

Was going to post this elsewhere, but my 2 cents...

So they play the full game tonight and guess what? It's a new series. Anything is possible.

It's been said that the Stanley Cup is the toughest trophy to win in all of sports because of the long grueling schedule, the emotional swings; an incredible mental and physical test. It's what separates the men from the boys.

So please, can we stop the wild predictions of doom and gloom, stop throwing in the towel on the season, stop all the reckless bashing of our team, stop throwing them under the bus?

This is not the best Devils team of all time and are a long shot to win the Cup. They have flaws, everyone knows it. Welcome to parity in the NHL. Can we just have some fun here, discuss it civilly, and let them play the game! When the season is finally over, then let’s talk about next year. When the lunatic posters spew their trash don’t take the bait. This board is starting to become almost unreadable.

We are Devil's fans. Let's separate the men from the boys and show some discipline. Never give up until the last whistle blows.

Good: Parise and gomez winning the game for us.
Bad:This is not devils games of too many scoring on both sides. We need to get back into those 2-1, 3-1 or evena SO once in a while. U\
Ugly:Series is'nt over yet!

Good:
Parise (again) This guy is a stud. I sure picked a good avatar!
Greene played very well.
The PK, esp. in OT
Zajac with his best game of the series

Bad:
The EGG, except for one huge play by Gomez.
The 4th line played what 5 minutes total amongst the 3 of them?
Madden looks lost out there. Vinny is eating him for lunch.

Ugly:
The "Power" Play. This is beyond disturbing. It is a minor miracle that it didn't cost us this game. If it doesn't get fixed it will be our undoing. I mean on the 5 on 3, we didnt even get it in the zone.

The good - Finally a OT win for marty
To Bad - Matvichuk and Lukowich are too slow
The Ugly - The fluke goals Tampa are getting
The Great - Parise/Zajac/Langenbrunner..these guys are scary. To thin, Zajac has a hard snap shot, when he improves that shot he will be a double force.

^5 Amen to that brother.

Good: More Parise. More Greene. More Langenbrunner. And Gomez scoring the game winner in beautiful fashion. Marty looked much better tonight - when he got beat they were on tough shots for a goalie to get. The Devils generating a ton of scoring chances.

Bad: Not converting on most of those ton of scoring chances. I was really afraid all those missed opportunities in the third would come back to bite them in the ass.

Ugly: Not much here, maybe Martin's penalty less than a minute into OT? I can't think of much ugly tonight.

Good -
Parise
Gomer finally shooting
Elias playing w/ heart busting his ass every shift - might not show on the scoreboard, but made his presence felt many times (esp. that hit on Richards)
The hits - when this team hit, they controlled, when they stopped playing the body, they had to hang on for dear life

Bad -
Tendency to drop the puck in low and lose the battles on the boards. TB is a puck possession team, keep the pucks away from them and from the boards, and you'll control play

Ugly -
The "power plays" when a SH Tampa squad cycles and controls the puck in our zone longer than we did in theirs. As soon as St. Louis or Lecavlier get the puck, the Devils stop fighting, start collapsing, and give up quality chances to the two players they need to stop

The Good: Parise!!! This kid is fun to watch.

The Bad: Elias. Where are you?

The Ugly: The 'Fans' on this board.

Was going to post this elsewhere, but my 2 cents...

So they play the full game tonight and guess what? It's a new series. Anything is possible.

It's been said that the Stanley Cup is the toughest trophy to win in all of sports because of the long grueling schedule, the emotional swings; an incredible mental and physical test. It's what separates the men from the boys.

So please, can we stop the wild predictions of doom and gloom, stop throwing in the towel on the season, stop all the reckless bashing of our team, stop throwing them under the bus?

This is not the best Devils team of all time and are a long shot to win the Cup. They have flaws, everyone knows it. Welcome to parity in the NHL. Can we just have some fun here, discuss it civilly, and let them play the game! When the season is finally over, then let’s talk about next year. When the lunatic posters spew their trash don’t take the bait. This board is starting to become almost unreadable.

We are Devil's fans. Let's separate the men from the boys and show some discipline. Never give up until the last whistle blows.

The Good: Not being afraid at looking at the Devils objectively

The Bad: Fanboys not being able to accept any criticism of their team

The Ugly: Fanboys dictating what we should or shouldn't talk about rather than ignoring post and moving on

The Good: Not being afraid at looking at the Devils objectively

The Bad: Fanboys not being able to accept any criticism of their team

The Ugly: Fanboys dictating what we should or shouldn't talk about rather than ignoring post and moving on

Good advice there :sarcasm:

The Good: Not being afraid at looking at the Devils objectively

The Bad: Fanboys not being able to accept any criticism of their team

The Ugly: Fanboys dictating what we should or shouldn't talk about rather than ignoring post and moving on

Muttley im gonna have to agree with you on this....most of i read your posts and I have to say there is some great truths to them, but at the same time I dont bother to get involved when certain other fans make their one liners i.e. root for the rangers.

The good: Parise, Langenbrunner (our best by far fighting for loose pucks), Greene, Matvichuk, The EGG line's play in the last half of the third and overtime - especially Gomez. Also I think Oudya is getting better each game - this coming from a guy who wanted him benched after each of the first two games.

The bad: The EGG line's play in the first two and a half periods - especially Gomez, Martin's penalty in OT.

The ugly: The powerless powerplay, Madden's play against Lecavilier, the inability of the team as a whole to clear the crease, Lightning fans booing obvious calls/noncalls.

The good: The win. It's simple as that. At this time of year I don't care how we play as long as we win. The play of Parise and Greene. I just think it's unbelievable how calm and poised Greene looks back there. I just feel really calm when he has the puck.

The bad: Our habit of letting Tampa Bay come back from behind. In game one they came from a 1-3 deficit, in game two from a 1-2 deficit and yesterday from a 1-3 deficit again. The Devils must find a way to get the job done defensively.

The ugly: All the missed scoring chances. The play of our checking line. I have never seen Madden and Pandolfo get embarrased like they have been in this series. The lack of icetime for our 4:th line. I strongly believe that guys like Rupp, Dowd and Rasmussen could contribute a lot more if given the opportunity. 1-2 minutes a night is not gonna us much from them...let them play 6-7, let them take the body and punish the Tampa D. Right now we're seeing absolutely nothing of it. Tampa is dominating us physically.

The good: Gomez, while he wasn't great offensively all night, he played a tough game and wasn't taking crap. He came into a few scrums and threw the Lightning around.

The Bad: Elias needs to do more then take the slap shots.

The Ugly: Not Shadowing Lecavalier or St. Louis. When are they going to realize that those two cannot be left alone on the side of the net?

the good: the offensive chances we are getting.
the bad: the offensive chances we are getting that are chances and not goals.
the ugly: the only thing i can think of is letting their stars continue to produce.

The Good: Parise and Gomez

The Bad: Brylin and Rafalski losing many of their battles along the boards

The Ugly: Giving up a two goal lead

the good: the offensive chances we are getting.
the bad: the offensive chances we are getting that are chances and not goals.
the ugly: the only thing i can think of is letting their stars continue to produce.


Heck, who else is going to produce for them, when their star fowards are out there every other shift. Hopefully, it comes back to bite them in the arse in a long series.

The Good : Everyone showed more enthusiasm, like they actually wanted to win. Parise was awesome again, and Zajac actually holding on to the puck. Gomez back to his old self.

The Bad : We still can't control LeCavalier and St. Louis, and now some of their other people are shooting too. Brodeur still looks weak on his Glove side.

The Ugly : We had so many chances on goal, yet we missed so many times. Some of those were very gimme goals that would have gone in if we had better shot accuracy. Do our forwards actually practice shooting?

The ugly: All the missed scoring chances. The play of our checking line. I have never seen Madden and Pandolfo get embarrased like they have been in this series. The lack of icetime for our 4:th line. I strongly believe that guys like Rupp, Dowd and Rasmussen could contribute a lot more if given the opportunity. 1-2 minutes a night is not gonna us much from them...let them play 6-7, let them take the body and punish the Tampa D. Right now we're seeing absolutely nothing of it. Tampa is dominating us physically.


There were more than I can count.

Heck, who else is going to produce for them, when their star fowards are out there every other shift. Hopefully, it comes back to bite them in the arse in a long series.

I hope that Overtime took a little out of those 3 clowns last night. I could tell that in OT they didn't have as much jump as they usually do. Now that we've made it to game 5, I hope that they're tired and the Devils can capitalize on that and parlay it into a laugher.

There's a lot of blame being heaped on the checking line for allowing ST. Louis and Lecavalier to get open and score as they have. But keep in mind the players we are talking about. They're the type that can be kept under wraps all game long - and still bury the only scoring chance they get in a game.

It's a lot to ask of any line, to keep two great players under wraps 100% of the time, and I think it's a little unfair to criticize them for their performance so far.

The Ugly: The Tampa Bay radio announcers (Mishkin and Espo) - awful awful homers.

They are beyond ugly more like fugly. I heard him make goal calls for both teams last night driving home form class. I missed him calling the Parise goal and this was the one he redirected because he did it so matter factly. Then for the Tampa goals I thought he was going to play out my speakers. Heaven help him if they get to finals and win a 7th game overtime. On the other hand it would be fun to hear his call if they lost.

Good - Parise (is this guy gold or what?), Andy Greene's effort

Bad - Vinny and St. louis each on the score sheet, Zajac inability to hit the net.

Ugly - Rosie o Donnel

They are beyond ugly more like fugly. I heard him make goal calls for both teams last night driving home form class. I missed him calling the Parise goal and this was the one he redirected because he did it so matter factly. Then for the Tampa goals I thought he was going to play out my speakers. Heaven help him if they get to finals and win a 7th game overtime. On the other hand it would be fun to hear his call if they lost.

You've never heard the finals seconds of his call for Game 7 in 2004. I know they played it as the intro to the radio broadcast last year for every game. My ear drums couldn't take it and I always seemed to be caught in my car with the radio on whenever there was a game (I never followed the Lightning schedule).

Honestly the New York area in general has some top notch announcers none of whom are that bad of homers (everyone going to be a bit of a homer because they spend so much time around the team). I think that has a lot to do with most of them doing work at a national level.

The Good: Not being afraid at looking at the Devils objectively

The Bad: Fanboys not being able to accept any criticism of their team

The Ugly: Fanboys dictating what we should or shouldn't talk about rather than ignoring post and moving on

Spot on Muttley.

I usually hate the doomsday talk as much as the next guy but damn me if it isn’t justified in this instance. Do you guys seriously think that IF we manage to slip past Tampa we have any shot against the Sens as we currently stand? Sure, the end of last night was a good start but the team looks lost outside Parise, Rafalski and Zajac. The defense is slow and confused, the eggers look uninterested, Madden and Pandolfo couldn’t shut down Manute Bol and Brodeur looks scared. Vinny and St. Louis have run roughshod over us and the offense has once again succeded in making a crappy goalie into an all-star. Compounding matters, there have been few signs of consistency which makes it hard to expect any of the positives, albiet few, to continue. We have a very good team that can do some real damage when they are firing on all cylinders ... problem is that isn’t happening right now. I think this is clear to any fan who isnt a complete idiot.

So why crucify someone for pointing out the truth?

The Fugly, Mr. Softy letting in another goal.

The Good: Parise!!! This kid is fun to watch.

The Bad: Elias. Where are you?

The Ugly: The 'Fans' on this board.

Was going to post this elsewhere, but my 2 cents...

So they play the full game tonight and guess what? It's a new series. Anything is possible.

It's been said that the Stanley Cup is the toughest trophy to win in all of sports because of the long grueling schedule, the emotional swings; an incredible mental and physical test. It's what separates the men from the boys.

So please, can we stop the wild predictions of doom and gloom, stop throwing in the towel on the season, stop all the reckless bashing of our team, stop throwing them under the bus?

This is not the best Devils team of all time and are a long shot to win the Cup. They have flaws, everyone knows it. Welcome to parity in the NHL. Can we just have some fun here, discuss it civilly, and let them play the game! When the season is finally over, then let’s talk about next year. When the lunatic posters spew their trash don’t take the bait. This board is starting to become almost unreadable.

We are Devil's fans. Let's separate the men from the boys and show some discipline. Never give up until the last whistle blows.

Second the motion. Go Devils!

The Great: Zach Parise, the intensity shown by Scott Gomez, the team celebration around the OT winner

The Good: Andy Greene's shot from the point, Richard Matvichuk's physical play around the net, Martin playing all around great minutes, Elias throwing checks and playing with purpose, Marty making the stops late in the 3rd and in OT

The Bad: Marty still doesn't seem quite like Marty, Oduya is a turnover waiting to happen, not rolling a fourth line, Gionta still isn't the same after the groin injury (despite a clutch goal)

The Ugly: Muttley giving up early and wanting to break up this team so very badly... Despite clearly being a tight knit group that really plays for each other (with greater depth than ever), a team record 108 point season, tops in the Division, second in the Conference, bending but not breaking in a tough 2/7 match-up where we now have home ice... But there he is waving the white flag, ready to trade away our core players for what exactly I do not know. And calling true fans "fanboys". Ugly.

The Great: Zach Parise, the intensity shown by Scott Gomez, the team celebration around the OT winner

The Good: Andy Greene's shot from the point, Richard Matvichuk's physical play around the net, Martin playing all around great minutes, Elias throwing checks and playing with purpose, Marty making the stops late in the 3rd and in OT

The Bad: Marty still doesn't seem quite like Marty, Oduya is a turnover waiting to happen, not rolling a fourth line, Gionta still isn't the same after the groin injury (despite a clutch goal)

The Ugly: Muttley giving up early and wanting to break up this team so very badly... Despite clearly being a tight knit group that really plays for each other (with greater depth than ever), a team record 108 point season, tops in the Division, second in the Conference, bending but not breaking in a tough 2/7 match-up where we now have home ice... But there he is waving the white flag, ready to trade away our core players for what exactly I do not know. And calling true fans "fanboys". Ugly.

:handclap:

The Good:

-While St. Louis and Vinny continue to shoot from impossible angles, Marty has not let in a " softy " since Game 3! He has finally overcome them mentally.
-We were much better in our own zone this game and beat TB's tenacious forechecking system.
-Parise is the man - please double shift him on the first line with Elias and Gomez. Hell, give him 20-25 minutes of ice-time, he's young, restless, and most importantly HOT!

The Bad:

-Bad, sloppy passes in the neutral zone which lead to turnovers or icings. Why is it that we have to ice the puck from our own zone at least once a game, while most other teams don't need to resort to such desperate measures?
-Missed shots, overpassing, and terrible shot selection. GET THE SHOTS ON NET (*cough* Oduya *cough*). I have seen him (along with other Devils dman) go for wide shots (in hopes of a deflection) way too many times unsuccessfully. Stop being fancy and shoot the puck at the net!
-Capitalize on all opportunities and crush the opponent - Parise in front alone, Gomez in front alone, Brylin in front alone (twice).

The Ugly:

-Marty gave up 3 goals once again, but I still love him. We need him to give up no more than 2GAA in the remaining 2 or 3 games with TB.
-Luck, and breaks are all going towards TB's way right now. WILL THE HOCKEY GODS HELP US?

Even uglier: Posters bashing each other. Talk about embarrassing. This nonsense has to stop. This is what other teams fans will see, not the other stuff.

Spot on Muttley.
Do you guys seriously think that IF we manage to slip past Tampa we have any shot against the Sens as we currently stand?

Yes.

Yes.
Agreed. NJ matches up well with the Senators, not so much with the Lightning.

Muttley giving up early and wanting to break up this team so very badly...

"break up"? :amazed:

where did I post/say that?

But there he is waving the white flag, ready to trade away our core players for what exactly I do not know.

"trade away our core players"? That would be like 5 or 6 players!

Now, where exactly did I post this?

P.S. Once again, if the posts bother you so much in this thread, what are you still doing reading this thread? You ruin the flow for everyone else and you risk starting a flame war and getting this thread locked. (unless of course, that's unfortunately your true intention)

Good: The Devils in the last 10 minutes + overtime. Zach Parise and his line. Richard Matvichuk continuing to make me eat crow. Paul Martin.

Bad: Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis still owning. Brad Lukowich and his non-coverage of Lecavalier (I watched the game with a Pens fan and he was SHOCKED as to how open Lecavalier was. Matvichuk had his man, so it's all you "B-rad"). Johan Holmqvist showing up big against the Devils offense.

Ugly: Andre Roy (in general), the way Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis are seemingly always out there and threatening NJ with crazy offense, missing a ton of glorious chances all alone in front of the net (ugly only because we won, otherwise, it's bad).

"break up"? :amazed:

where did I post/say that?



"trade away our core players"? That would be like 5 or 6 players!

Now, where exactly did I post this?

P.S. Once again, if the posts bother you so much in this thread, what are you still doing reading this thread? You ruin the flow for everyone else and you risk starting a flame war and getting this thread locked. (unless of course, that's unfortunately your true intention)

I have no general problem with the posts in this thread, or this entire series of threads for that matter. Cool idea stolen from the Sabres board. Gives us Devils fans the opportunity (and a structure) for some genuine post-game discussion, pro and con. Really enjoy it, hope it continues for several rounds of the playoffs and plan to keep on reading it. Thanks for your concern.

The only posts that "bothered me" were from you. In particular. The pompous and condescending use of "fanboy" admittedly pissed me off, as many of us here on this board are actually men, myself a season ticket holder since Season One, and need not be described as childish for the audacity of actually supporting this team (on OUR OWN fanboard, for that matter...). Especially during the playoffs!

And, frankly, the intent of your most recent post seems entirely designed just to "bother me". If there is any other purpose to the post, it is certainly lost on me.:shakehead

But I have to say, in my own defense, that it is pretty hard to start a "flame war" if there are no rival factions in play. Not like I am a Ranger fan (for the love of God...) I can't imagine there is the beating drum of war between the "glass is half full" and the "glass is half empty" camps in the New Jersey Devils fanbase. And certainly not between the "wildly pessimistic, how do we immediately retool this team" mini-camp and everyone else.

I find it absolutely hilarious that expressing my unwavering loyalty to our team, which you apparently find blind and lacking the keen realism of your point of view (which I disagree with), would somehow be the cause of locking a thread on a fanboard. Pretty much seems like what we are all here to do, doesn't it? Hard to troll one's own team board by being overly supportive. That is one odd crime to be accused of...

Whatever. I am a die-hard Devils fan. Have been for 25 years. If you do not enjoy the company of die-hard Devils fans, stop reading their board yourself.

And if you care to keep posting, and carrying on grudges (against certain players or other members of this board), be prepared to be taken to task by those that disagree with you. And you can respond. And so on. Back and forth. And that is how these pages get all filled up. Enjoy the process. It's fun. That's why we are all here. Because it is fun.

Let's Go Devils!!!

Good: The Devils in the last 10 minutes + overtime. Zach Parise and his line. Richard Matvichuk continuing to make me eat crow. Paul Martin.

Bad: Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis still owning. Brad Lukowich and his non-coverage of Lecavalier (I watched the game with a Pens fan and he was SHOCKED as to how open Lecavalier was. Matvichuk had his man, so it's all you "B-rad"). Johan Holmqvist showing up big against the Devils offense.

Ugly: Andre Roy (in general), the way Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis are seemingly always out there and threatening NJ with crazy offense, missing a ton of glorious chances all alone in front of the net (ugly only because we won, otherwise, it's bad).

your ugly is dead on!

The fact that Roy is out there just running guys with no consequence pisses me off beyond belief. And the liberties St. Louis and Lecavalier are giving is outright disgusting! We have to reform to the devils of old where we gave respect to NOBODY!

I just really feel If we play with a chip on our shoulders the next few games we can take this series, but the sitting back and waiving sticks at them method is not going to accomplish anything

Another "Ugly" is our utter failure to clear the puck from our defensive zone time and time again. Never seen us so stymied by a forecheck in my life.

But on the "Good" side our play in the offensive end was much more confident and showed more jump than in any of the previous games.