Wow…so many people hitting the panic button already. Haven’t we been here before? No, wait, actually last season was worse because we walked away from the first two games without a point., this year we at least have one point.
OK, so it appeared after the game against the Stars that the Devils are suffering from the same issues as last season, which is not playing a full 60 minutes, making stupid mistakes and coughing up a win. If you go back and read the analysis from a lot of the games last season, you’ll see that I mention the full 60 minute thing A LOT but honestly, I know it happens, I just hope MacLean can minimize the amount of times it does. I was annoyed at the mistakes made Friday night but at least they got a point out of the game.
Saturday is a completely different story. Lets start with the end of the game. If Leblond (PLx3) is going to conduct himself like he did and shorthand the team, please tell us now. Instigating a fight in the final 5 minutes of a blowout is NEVER a good idea. Then, not to have any regrets about what had happened on the ice when he knew the rules and knew a suspension is likely….COME ON!!
So, on to the Caps game. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect a win. It was the second night of hockey and they were playing a Caps team that lost the night before. It was the Caps home opener and lets be honest, the Caps are a VERY good hockey team. While the thrashing that the Devils received was an downer and left a bad feeling inside, there is a bigger issue to discuss. I’m not really touching on the Kovalchuk fighting thing because we all know how bad an idea that is.
The 20-man roster isn’t going to work. I never thought it would but I didn’t think it would take 2 games into the season to prove that. We know PLx3 is suspended for this afternoon’s game but the we don’t know if Vochenkov and Rolston will be available. If they aren’t we are left with 15 skaters.. REALLY?? That is NOT going to work. Injuries happen, stupid penalties resulting in suspensions happen, its part of the game. You can’t expect to play an entire season with a 20 man roster. Moves need to happen, they need to happen NOW so just make them and allow the team to create chemistry. It’s October, its a LONG season but the sooner this happens, the better.
I am certainly not hitting the panic button. 2 games, 1 point and 1 pounding. You can’t put too much emphasis on games played in October. Like I said, last season it was 2 games and no points and the Devils went on to have a decent season. Same can be said about Marty, you can’t get on him too much about what happened over the weekend. If anything, this weekend says to me that Lou has to fix the cap issues for good. Players will get injured and there has to be room to deal with that. Lou, like the rest of the team has some work to do.
I will say this, Jason Arnott was THE shining poing of the weekend. 2 games and 2 goals, that is exactly what we traded for. Kovalchuk on the other hand….pick it up Kovy!!
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