maplesyrup
New member
Damn. Saturday night. Gotta work... Might not be all that productive of a shift. 8)
The whole shootin' match: Kings vs Devils
- Thread starter maplesyrup
- Start date
Aside form the obvious result, I think the Devils played their best game. But I also think they were a bit lucky. Three unconverted breakaways and 2 goal posts given up.
LA was a bit flat - not really hitting like they have been.
The Devils seemed to attempt to play the Kings game in terms of pinching dmen. What they don't do as well is have their forwards cover the point when the dmen pinch. That's a risky business that is likely to burn them if they don't cover up and it nearly did last night. But those pinches helped sustain pressure on LA in the LA zone and seemed to be the most significant difference in the Devils play.
I suspect Sutter will have plans to deal with that on Saturday as the Kings dangerous flaw has been outlet passes up the middle of the ice.
LA was a bit flat - not really hitting like they have been.
The Devils seemed to attempt to play the Kings game in terms of pinching dmen. What they don't do as well is have their forwards cover the point when the dmen pinch. That's a risky business that is likely to burn them if they don't cover up and it nearly did last night. But those pinches helped sustain pressure on LA in the LA zone and seemed to be the most significant difference in the Devils play.
I suspect Sutter will have plans to deal with that on Saturday as the Kings dangerous flaw has been outlet passes up the middle of the ice.
hockeyfan1
New member
cw said:
Two factors in New Jersey's favour in this win -- 1) They were able to produce goals on the rush (Henrique's goal was a prime example on a pass from Clarkson, taking advantage of a L.A. defensive miscue... and....
2) They didn't panic after L.A.'s tying goal.
Also, Brodeur, for once in this series, outshined, (for want of a better word), Quick. Brodeur was his vintage self (with a little help from the posts).
One thing I've noticed throughout these playoffs observing L.A.'s netminder Jonathan Quick, as have others, is his ability to, while down on his pads, keep a keen sense of the play and position himself accordingly. Good positional play, call it what you will, this Quick guy is definitely on a path to a stellar career if he continues his consistency in net. Call him 'young Brodeur' but with a different style.
Did you notice that when Henrique scored it was a high shot rather than those low ones the Devils have been trying to get past Quick? Difficult to stop on the blocker side, considering Henrique's shot was a quick release. Leave it to Henrique to score those!
hockeyfan1 said:
I thought that was a tougher stop than Cherry maintained. In my opinion, Henrique's goal was a stop goalies would not make more often than not. If a player goes high from 18', it's tough to get the blocker up quickly enough because he's too close for the goalie to have time to react and move. And Quick was coming across laterally from the other side so there's no way one could expect his positioning to be right on or for him to be more erect where his blocker wouldn't have as far to move.
When they changed the rules in 2006, I thought goalies who were more athletic with a good glove would rise and those who were more reliant on positioning and being as big as they could be with equipment would slip. Giguere defied that. Maybe Osgood & Roloson too. Quick is closer to the type of goalie I would have expected to do well.
bustaheims
Active member
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Because it's an illegal play, goal or no goal. Well, at least, in this case, it is. Also, having players be able to swing their sticks at pucks that high legally is asking for trouble in terms of sticks to the face, head, etc.
bustaheims
Active member
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
It's still a potential safety issue, especially with the increased scrutiny on head shots. If someone swings at a puck hard enough and catches someone else in the head, we could be looking at more concussions. With the new sticks that break so easily, there's also potential for sharp debris lodging in the wrong area. Players' necks/throats aren't particularly well protected either. It's a can of worms the league is better off not opening.
bustaheims
Active member
So, 6 games then? 7? Epic collapse by LA? I just want it to be over already.