New Jersey Devils Fail to Build Off Win - Lose to Phoenix Coyotes 5-3
by Matthew Ventolo on Oct 28, 2011 2:43 AM EDT
in Devils Game Recaps
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PrintIn their third game on their four game road trip, the New Jersey Devils fell to the Phoenix Coyotes 5-3. In a game where the Devils really didn't get their game going - they surely did pay for their lack of consistency in the third period. The Devils showed signs of life here and there, but never controlled the game for a long period of time. They got off to good starts after each intermission, but failed to continue that success. The 'Yotes however worked very hard throughout the game and got awarded with some goals on a ton of pucks thrown towards Johan Hedberg. Credit Phoenix for their play and sustainable pressure.
The Devils failed to build on their win against the Kings, yet their performance was more alarming. This team is becoming bipolar. It wasn't the Pittsburgh game bad - but it did have its rough spots for a period of time. I saw no urgency in their game. There was no 60-minute effort. The things they did well last game that they improved on did not continue. These are things I'm sure Pete DeBoer and the coaching staff will address.
This was just a mediocre performance by the Devils. No one player really stood out. No one aspect of their game was well executed. When the Devils did get the puck into the zone, they did have good movement. But failing to get a shot off or a good scoring chance negates that. Captain Zach Parise scored on a individual effort with some help from Mike Smith. Mark Fayne scored on a blast from the point through some bodies, and Nick Palmieri added a meaningless goal with 5 seconds left in the game when the decision was decided.
I have more on the game after the jump. From more on the Coyotes side - please visit Five For Howling.
Here is the video recap from NHL.com:
The Reviewed Goal: A little over 6 minutes into the game - David Schlemko dumps the puck in deep from the point and the puck bounces around. It gets to Daymond Langkow who shove it towards the net and Patrick O'Sullivan clearly kicks the puck towards the net. It goes in. No goal, right? Well there was a lot of chaos around the net and the kicked puck goes off of Bryce Salvador's stick as he dove to stop the puck. It fluttered up and in. Per Rue 49.2 (ii):
(ii) A kicked puck that deflects off the stick of any player (excluding the goalkeeper’s stick) shall be ruled a good goal.
Well Toronto and the officials got it right, but this is a pretty dumb rule. I mean O'Sullivan no doubt intended to kick this puck in. He stick got tied up by Bradley Mills. Just becuase it hit equipment (yet didn't stop the momentum of the puck) means it's okay?
Shots and Corsi: The Coyotes were firing on all cylinders tonight. Shots on goal were 42-34 at the end, yet after two periods, they were a staggering 34-21 in favor of the home team. The Devils did finish at +1 at even strength Corsi (-3 in Fenwick though). After the first period, they were -11 in Corsi; after 40 minutes, they were -6. Phoenix sat back after their fourth goal in the third period and went into a defensive trap. This alters the Corsi numbers and gave the Devils the slight advantage.
The Devils top line in Ilya Kovalchuk - Zach Parise - Nick Palmieri was your worst of the night: -6, -9, -7 respectively. Only the Henrik Tallinder and Adam Larsson pair was positive on the blue line. Your leader was Ryan Carter at +6.
The New Guy: Let's discuss Ryan Carter for a second. He was good. He's faster than I thought and he brings a nice compliment to the fourth line. He was credited with one shot attempt, 7 hits, 13:41 TOI with 2:01 SH-TOI in 18 shifts. The entire fourth line got over 10 minutes and 10 shifts. DeBoer liked what he saw in this line and so did I. After two periods - this line was the only positive line in terms of Corsi.
The Goals For: After the soccer style goal, the Devils did respond the right way (It didn't last long though). In that time, Parise got possession and dumped the puck in. He chased it down all by himself and as Mike Smith went to play the puck, he underestimated Parise's speed. He try to get it passed Parise but the captain hugged the boards, got the puck, and his wraparound chance on the open net was an easy one. A result of hard skating by Captain Zach.
The Devils started off playing well in the second period. About the quarter the way in, Tedenby's good board work opened some space for a pass to Mark Fayne. His shot from the point went through some bodies (David Clarkson and Adam Henrique) and Smith didn't see it. It was the Devils first and only lead of the game.
Palmieri's goal came off a face-off on the left dot of Smith at the end of the game. I'm only mentioning this becuase it's Palmieri's first of the season and Henrique first point as a pro (he took the faceoff). Henrique has played well in his few games up here and it's a well deserved point. Tonight he had just under 17:00 TOI and 4 shots on goal and was a +3 in Corsi. Keep it up kid. As for Clarkson and Tedenby - they were on for two of the devils three goals and showed signs of great offensive pressure. Like most of the Devils - they just weren't consistent enough. They were probably the Devils best line.
The Goals Against: We already discussed how the first one went down. The second came on a Coyotes powerplay in the second period. The third came right at the end of the period. Both were plays where the puck was thrown at the net - bounced around (either from a block or off of Hedberg) and right to a 'Yote. Ray Whitney scored on the man advantage and Raffe Torres scored on a nice rebound to give Phoenix the tie and lead respectively. These are tough goals to allow. Yet, when you aren't on your toes and instead your heals, concentration and reaction time hinder. They Devils failed to clear pucks in and around Hedberg all night and it cost them three goals.
Both goals in the third were products of turnovers. The first was made by I think Kovalchuk and turned into a 3-on-2. Nice movement caused Adam Larsson to bite and this created space for Martin Hanzal to take a shot from the side of the net. Moose didn't hug the post quick enough and he went right though. The other turnover was by Adam Larsson - he skates up and at the blue line and makes a horrible pass. Radim Vrbata steals it and Hanzal sets up Whitney for his second goal of the game.
Discipline: The Devils took four minor penalties tonight and only drew one. Mark Fayne, Petr Sykora, David Clarkson, and Kovalchuk all with penalties that could have been avoided. It cost them a goal. They surrendered 6 shots in just over 6 minutes of short handed time. Not too bad - but if they played with better discipline - they wouldn't need to do this for so long.
Moooosee: I can't really blame him on any of the goals (he maybe should have had the Hanzal one). But the Devils didn't clean up after him and they gave him a number of odd man rushes. Prior to the Fayne goal, Moose stopped a beautiful tic-tac-toe play with a great lateral move on Hanzal. He was very good. He stopped 37 shots. I don't know if conditioning may be an issue with him (I don't think so) but it's possible Kinkiad may be considered for Saturday's game against the Stars.
Odds and Ends:
Aside from a few bad passes - Kovalchuk was solid tonight. He made a few cross ice passes that were really something but it didn't lead to much. He only played 20:48 and had 2:10 on the kill. He had 4 shots on 7 attempts (none on goal in the third).
Each defensive pair saw a goal against tonight. Salvador and Volchenkov were on for the first goal and the Phoenix PP goal. Henrik Tallinder and Larsson were on for the two in the third. Andy Greene and Mark Fayne for the one to end the second period. Who was the best pair? Tough call. They all had good plays here and there. I thought Volchenkov was very good behind the net and aside from Fayne and his goal, A-Train was the best defender on the ice.
Parise was 2 for 11 at the faceoff dot. Has this ship sailed? Probably not. It's only been two games.
Cam Janssen played 8:15 of actual hockey. He even redirect a pair of shots from the point that went side. Woah...
What did you think about tonight's game? What did you like, what didn't you like? What do the Devils need to improve on for next game? What have they done well so far in this road trip? Let us know. Thanks for reading.
Notes:
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The new guy Carter looks like a good skater and for Deboer to put him in right away tells me Rod Pelly or Mills will have to pick their game up if they want ice. 2 big plays by Yandle and Ray Whitney burned Devs and if ZP gets net instead of post maybe the Devs get a point instead of nothing. Whitney is a guy that the Canes are still missing; he just makes great scoring plays and still looks potent at his age. Its early and a long season so these inconsistent efforts will probably mark the team until Thanksgiving.
Agreed. I’d really like to see a Pelley/Carter/Mills fourth line though. Not the biggest guys but they can still hold their own and play a gritty game. They’re all fast skaters too, and can play actual hockey while tiring down opposing defenses so that our top lines can have an easier time. Janssen/Boulton should be occasionally started to keep them fresh for games that we know we will need a bigger enforcer. What do you think?
Was trying to do my best Chico impression at 2 am. Success!
Fixed – Thanks.
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
by Matthew Ventolo on Oct 28, 2011 8:44 AM EDT up reply actions
In a game where the Devils really didn’t get their game going – they surely did pay for their lack of consistency in the third period. The Devils showed signs of life here and there, but never controlled the game for a long period of time. They got off to good starts after each intermission, but failed to continue that success.
Give credit where it’s due: the Coyotes had more to do with that than the Devils.
I didn’t think the Devils played a particularly poor game, I think Phoenix just played a better game—a team doesn’t compile 34 shots in two periods by accident. If they didn’t have the goal cushion they did they likely would have easily topped 50, and while a certain amount of that lies at the feet of the Devils, at least as much of it is due to the Coyotes playing the game they wanted more often than not.
Kicking motion...
Am I the only person who thinks they should just scrap this rule? It is usually pretty subjective and seems to go either way from review to review.
I have no idea why a puck kicked in off an opponent’s stick is legal but off his body is not. I don’t think they should scrap the rule, but the way it is called is totally arbitrary.
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I agree and I couldn’t believe the ruling on this even if they got it right because it touched Salvador’s stick.
Either way, I think the rule should read as follows:
- You cannot kick the puck directly into the net from anywhere, period.
- If you are in the crease, you cannot kick the puck off of any opponent body or stick and then into the net.
- If you are in the crease and you kick the puck, it must first go off the stick of a teammate before going into the net.
It does seem a rather silly rule. If the NHL is that interested in increasing scoring — and they always seem more interested in a greater number of goals scored — I don’t see a good reason why you can’t simply kick pucks into the net. If the NHL wants to forbid pucks from being kicked in soccer-style, there’s no reason to have exceptions such as the one invoked last night. Does the average hockey fan even know about rule 49.2? (I know I didn’t until last night.)
More than that, why is it okay to kick-pass, and kick-clear, but not kick-shoot?
Will the spotlight being placed on this rule result in crafty players looking for ways to use this clause to their advantage? Say…. by looking to bank shots in by kicking them off defenders? Smart players are always looking for an edge, and this seems to be a pretty creative way to make one, especially with the prevalence of defenders tying up sticks (usually legally) to abort scoring chances.
How many times?
How many times during the last two games has Kovalchuk raced into the left side of the offensive zone with the puck and then rifled a long pass across to his winger on the right? I specifically remember him doing this at least twice to Palmieri against the Kings, and then again to Parise last night. I’m so confused by this play. Each time Kovy does it I think to myself “that’s going to be intercepted or poked away” but he’s amazingly managed to connect on every attempt I’ve seen except for one. At first I blamed Palmieri for not being able to handle an incredible pass. But then Parise failed to come up with it last night as well. As ridiculous as it is that he’s been able to thread these types of passes across the ice and through multiple defenders, I still find myself scratching my head and thinking that it was both risky and not the best option on the play. I don’t ever see anyone else try those types of passes and I think it’s another example of Kovy deviating from his natural proven talents to try and force something unnecessary.
Also, once again Adam Larsson managed to make a massive mistake and then be bailed out by luck. Deep in our zone with the puck he tried to send a long pass down the middle of the ice and while standing still. Two Coyotes were right there to pick it off at the center of our blueline and would have had a near 2on0 if the puck hadn’t bounced over their stick and out of the zone. I posted in the pregame thread that during the past several games I felt Larsson was making way too many passing errors, specifically with longer passes. Although I thought he played well last night, he still couldn’t survive an entire game without making at least one egregious passing error as a result of being lazy. Hopefully someone is noticing this and helping him correct it, otherwise I dread that sooner rather than later we will be talking about how dumb Larsson looked on a future play where he telegraphs a pass to the other team and it leads to an easy goal.
Larsson is going to make passing errors. He’s going to do this because he’s actually trying to make long passes, something which Devils’ defensemen haven’t done consistently in a long time. I didn’t see the whole game (or the play you are talking about), but Larsson made an unbelievable pass to spring Clarkson.
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Don’t get me wrong, I love Larsson and am 100% behind our defense getting more involved in making more plays and contributing to the offense. But the play I’m talking about was more than bad and if he was standing still like I think he was then he needs to learn that those are hardly ever going to work in this league. I don’t like to bash people but I only bring it up because I have literally made note of 3+ passing errors that Larsson has made in the past 3-4 games. It’s at the point now where I start to cringe afterwards because he seemingly keeps doing it over and over again. I want you to watch him closely next game and see what you notice. I hope that he proves me wrong but if he keeps it up I think it’ll definitely stand out to you.
How many times during the last two games has Kovalchuk raced into the left side of the offensive zone with the puck and then rifled a long pass across to his winger on the right?
He does this a ton. I find myself wishing that he’d be a little more selfish and simply shoot the puck if he thinks he has a lane and attempt to create a rebound, or drive the net if he thinks he can get around the defenseman…. rather than try to thread a pass to a cutting winger for a tip or one-timer.
Pamieri has demonstrated to me that he isn’t the guy who can handle the “drive the net and redirect the incredible Kovalchuk pass” role. I’ll give Parise a pass for last night, because he hasn’t had much in the way of time or opportunities to get used to the role. But I would like to see a different guy on the right wing and see if some of those passes can be cashed in — if they are, it’s goals in the immediate present and likely some room for Kovalchuk to work because teams will have to respect the pass. I wonder if Clarkson might be that guy, but I’m loathe to break up the Tedenby-Henrique-Clarkson unit right now because they seem to be generating chances on a somewhat consistent basis.
Maybe Zharkov is that guy. (In addition, Zharkov is responsible enough defensively that he and Parise can cover up for Kovy when he doesn’t backcheck as hard as he otherwise could or when Ilya wishes to goalhang a little bit.)
He usually makes that pass because A) he doesn’t really have a lane, B) the defenseman’s cutting off the middle, and C) Kovalchuk’s skilled enough to make that pass. But that’s just me.
Devils in my heart! Devils in my mind! Devils in my eyes! Devils until I die!
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by John Fischer on Oct 28, 2011 7:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, but typically, if you remember Kovalchuk when hes on, he usually would just force himself into the slot and shoot it on net. It’s much better than bombing a pass to palmieri, who is someone who can’t catch those hard passes all that well.
And Kovalchuk speeds away, great moves, busting through, DID YOU SEE THAT?
Yep I’ve made a few posts recently about how I wish Zharkov could get a chance in Palmieri’s place. You hit the nail on the head with him and Parise being able to alleviate some of Kovy’s defensive responsibilities. But other areas I think Zharkov could improve that line are 1) his speed and being able to keep up with the style of play that Kovy/Parise have, and 2) his reputation as an antonym for “natural goal scorer” puts him in a prime position to be a playmaker on that line. If he always thinks pass first he’s skilled enough to allow Parise/Kovy to get open and then hit them with passes. This will ensure that these two big guns are still able to put up the heavy shot totals that they normally enjoyed accumulating prior to joining the same line.
Hahah. I wasn’t trying to say that Mihail, and for all we know maybe you’re right. But think about it for a second, this is a pass that is incredibly difficult to make because it is has to make it through so many people, often seems forced/not completely necessary, and to top it all off has yet to even be handled properly by any of the recipients.
The sheer irresponsibility of continually trying to make this pass is why I have a hard time believing the Devils coaching staff is actively encouraging it. I’d also like to think that if it was something they practiced, Palmieri would be more comfortable receiving it by now.
But as John said, Kovalchuk is actually one of the rare few who can complete this pass. And to his credit I’ve only noticed one of them get picked off by the D in the past few games.
One more thing I forgot to mention is the risk/reward of this pass. The reason it seems so unnecessary is because the pass is so difficult/risky and there’s no obvious reward for it. Kovy’s never sending it to someone who has an empty net or clear lane for a breakaway. He’s making this risky pass to someone that even if it gets through and is received, still isn’t guaranteeing any type of quality scoring scenario at all.
No obvious reward? He’s passing it to a teammate to change the point of attack. It’s a far safer move than trying to go 1-on-2 or 1-on-3 (or even 1-on-1) at defenders to force his way to the middle.
Devils in my heart! Devils in my mind! Devils in my eyes! Devils until I die!
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by John Fischer on Oct 29, 2011 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Devils laid a great big one in the third. You can’t give up those two quick ones in the third period of a tie game. You just can’t. With that said, no argument from me on the Yotes first goal; the rule as it is written was interpreted correctly, in my opinion. It was a technicality that happened to go against the Devils (you can make the case it “violates the spirit of the rule”, but the Devils have been on the wrong side of that argument before).
Carter had a nice first game and I think he strengthens that 4th line immensely.
Clarkson/Henrique/Tedenby looks delicious offensively with odd man rushes and puck possession, but must improve defensively.
by rtrstevec on Oct 28, 2011 12:05 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Whoops, game wasn’t tied in the third. Editing fail.
by rtrstevec on Oct 28, 2011 12:18 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
NJ Devils fan + geek = spreadsheets
as of today:
Wins: 4
Points: 9
Games Played: 8
Games Remaining: 74
% of Season Done 9.8%
Max Points: 156
At Pace To (Points): 92
Wins/Games: 0.50
At Pace to (Wins): 41
let me know what else should i track :)
by Devils_from_Seattle on Oct 28, 2011 1:14 PM EDT reply actions
I must be a super geek, because I thought of the same thing last night after the game, sans spreadsheet.
Go Devils
Go Jets
Need to lose weight?
Sad display of hockey
No heart in our team last night.
The Devils have won more titles than all Philly pro sports teams combined in the last 25 years
by Real Big Devils Fan on Oct 28, 2011 2:22 PM EDT reply actions
Larsson
I only saw the 3rd period, but from what I saw, Larsson finally looked like a rookie out there… Not stepping up at the blue line and making horrible passes that were intercepted by Phoenix.
"You're next" - Scott Stevens
Jannsen
I’m not sure anyone noticed this and all you can see on the highlights is a white Jersey moving south to north on the screen for a split second. But on the Coyotes 1st goal. The kicked goal. Jannsen made two runs at players. One in the neutral zone (which I was worried drew a call for interference because it was a slightly late hit) luckily nothing was called.
The second was in the D-zone which he skated completely from one side of the ice to the other to check someone. I mean he made a stupid 75’ run from one side to the other just to make a hit. Putting himself way out of position.
There is no way to know how this may have played out if he stayed on his side in his lane. May not of mattered. I didn’t see anyone comment on this. So not sure anyone noticed it. If someone still has this DVR’d could go watch it and tell me what you think.
I just remember seeing him skating way north on the screen thinking…“Where the hell are you going Jannsen” …and then the puck goes it.
…obviously I am not a Jannsen fan. His play was reckless and stupid.
Obviously Lou still sees a need for Enforcers. If you ask me their time has passed in this League. I understand some Fans still go to games to see fights. I even still enjoy a worth while fight from time to time. But with the rules against hits and that make it so you can’t come off the bench to initiate a fight(which leads to most fights just being staged). There is no need for a guy whose best skill is fighting.
Just Note
Watch the replay of the game today and on the ‘Yotes goal near the end of the 2nd period – Devils were on a delayed call. I don’t know if they brought in a 6th man on the goal and it help them score (I don’t think so).
They should track these becuase I don’t know who it was and on who.
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
by Matthew Ventolo on Oct 28, 2011 8:10 PM EDT reply actions
Getting the ‘Yotes feed, they did remark about the extra skater, but I don’t remember if they said who it was. However, timeonice does: Yandle, Pyatt, Doan Langkow, Aucoin, and Torres
Go Devils
Go Jets
Need to lose weight?
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