Game Thread: Devils @ Blues

[Nasty_Magician]

Rematch, brutal stretch coming up. No Merrill, no Camm, no Havlat.

Including tonight’s game, which wraps up a home-and-home set with the Blues, the Devils play 15 of their next 20 on the road. They don’t play consecutive home games again until their final four games leading up to the three-day Christmas holiday break.

 

[CalamityX11]

 

[rp2five]

Henrique out.
Replaced by Mike Sislo.

 

[rp2five]

I wouldn't recommend betting on the Devils tonight, but then again, these are the types of games this team seems to surprise me with.

 

[MadCaptain]

Atleast he's better than Sestito....
This group of forwards looks worse than the coach MaClean stretch.

I don't think I'm gonna watch tonight. The last few put me to sleep and its almost guaranteed this one will.

 

[CalamityX11]

I wonder why Matteau hasn't been called up in the POST Kovy era...

 

[Nasty_Magician]

I wonder why Matteau hasn't been called up in the POST Kovy era...

It's a good question. During his time up here he wasn't a game changer but he certainly didn't seem out of place.

 

[DevilishWon]

It's a good question. During his time up here he wasn't a game changer but he certainly didn't seem out of place.

I would have liked to see him up instead of Bernier

 

[CalamityX11]

It's a good question. During his time up here he wasn't a game changer but he certainly didn't seem out of place.

I mean this guy costs us a high draft pick, so show me why... you know?

He, as a reader, nearly vanished from this team and I cant recall any turmoil or discord with coaches... (I know he was in training camp)...

just very odd.

we treat our youth very odd here in this franchise unless you're a D-man.

 

[CalamityX11]

It's a good question. During his time up here he wasn't a game changer but he certainly didn't seem out of place.

also he was a good hustler, energy, strong kid too IIRC... nothing crazy in terms of skillset but someone with a chip....

 

[MadCaptain]

I'm going to guess its because of the system DeBoer plays. The forwards have tons of responsibility and the young guys always make tons of mistakes.

I'm fine with Sislo. I think he is the most appropriate callup. This issue should have been resolved in the off-season though. They had really bad depth at forward last year and brought in 2 guys that get injured often. I had thought Gomez was around for injury insurance but instead its back to guys like Sestito, Sislo, Pelley, and other Zajacs.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Tarasenko with another ridiculous goal. Seriously, couldn't hold him off for another 4 seconds? Hate ending a period that way. Need to find a way to score, try to draw penalties, whatever they need to do.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Oof, Elias goalless in 11 games. If St. Louis top D pairing is going to shut down the top 2 lines we need somebody on the 3rd/4th line to step up.

 

[nj_cup]

Well didn't take long for this team to get bit by injuries they dodged them last year knew it would get them this year.


Jägr picked the wrong time to show his true age.

Elias no goals since opening night?

 

[Nasty_Magician]

They go scoreless for 8 periods and then score 3 in 3 minutes. Where was that when we could have used it?

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Also Clowe got hut. Curious to see what kind of injury. Is there anybody else in the league that goes off the ice with an injury and people instantly think "he might be done for good"?

 

[nj_cup]

he will never retire though. no way is he giving up that contract money just like pronger. once the contract is up he will retire.


he sucks anyway

 

[CalamityX11]

I think we're seeing what we are vs the youthful energetic teams.... not trying to overreact here but this is a mess.

Jagr, at his age n play, cant be our first line guy... Zajac needs some help... Jagr can help but the guy moves like his age now, he can still pass but his shot isn't there, he really is losing on the breakaway element and right now is a setup guy only, he doesn't impact on the defensive end.... I could go on n on but at the first line, he can't be there anymore IMO....

not pinning the loss on him, but our first line is absolutely weak vs the competitive teams...

 

[Nasty_Magician]

I knew they were injury prone but was hoping they wouldn't be hurt this early and at the same time, we need Camm and Havlat in the lineup. Henrique being out didn't help. For a team that doesn't have a ton of skill losing those 3 is big.

Also, losing A-Train, Fayne and no longer having Stevens behind the bench took our PK from first to last, brutal.

Given St. Louis' biggest strength goes directly against our biggest weakness so it made us look way worse than we probably are, but guys need to produce. Jagr, Elias and Zajac all need to be better. We need some sort of production out of our 3rd/4th lines, they can't just float around out there. I understand our top line isn't a true top line but there's no reason our 3rd/4th lines should be losing out to other teams.

 

[CalamityX11]

Yea there's still Camm, hopefully his return will do something for the team...

I would like to experiment a Havlat-Elias-Jagr line as the 2nd line.... like to see where that goes.

First line, Camm-Zajac-Ryder... maybe premature-ish to move Ryder that high but i'd like to see it... or insert Zubrus instead.