And the Flyers player got away with a free unnecessary cross check. Skated out of his way to hit Smith
- devils2929

Well trouba got 5k for a light saber slash to the head so smith should get 10 games

Why does it seem like the refs/NHL are intentionally being stupid?

Dougie Hamilton is being placed on IR and Simon Nemec is being called up, per Ryan Novozinsky.

Dougie Hamilton is being placed on IR and Simon Nemec is being called up, per Ryan Novozinsky.
- vlongo4419

Anyone know what happened to him?

Brendan Smith has been suspended for 2 games for his slash on Konecny.(Konecny was fined $5k for his cross check)

Brendan Smith has been suspended for 2 games for his slash on Konecny.(Konecny was fined $5k for his cross check)
- vlongo4419

Was smiths slash worse than troubas?

Guess nemec is making his debut tonight

The hit itself was clean, kept his elbow down and didnt leave his feet. The issue was it was a clear icing and the ref waited until the players were at the goal line to actually blow the whistle, and Luke let up expecting the whistle to come sooner. The icing rule was specifically changed so those kinds of hits dont happen anymore, but the ref was sleeping. Cant really blame Hathaway for the hit because the whistle was so late, so its moreso on the ref being trash.
- vlongo4419

Thanks for explaining.

Dougie Hamilton is being placed on IR and Simon Nemec is being called up, per Ryan Novozinsky.
- vlongo4419

Adding to this, Dougie had surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle and Tomas Nosek had surgery on his foot after re-aggravating the injury. Both will be out indefinitely.

Do we see Fitz make a move for a defenseman now with Dougie likely out for a while(and maybe the rest of the season)?

Updates from Ruff:

-Timo will return tonight!

-Nemec will indeed make his NHL debut tonight.

-Haula remains out but will travel with the team out west.

Adding to this, Dougie had surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle and Tomas Nosek had surgery on his foot after re-aggravating the injury. Both will be out indefinitely.

Do we see Fitz make a move for a defenseman now with Dougie likely out for a while(and maybe the rest of the season)?
- vlongo4419

No need for a Dman, because Nemec and Luke gonna light it up!

Was smiths slash worse than troubas?

Guess nemec is making his debut tonight
- dmarsden2988

Troubas was towards the guys head.

What are the line combos for tonight?

Lineup tonight:

Palat-Nico-Bratt
Toffoli-Jack-Mercer
Timo-McLeod-Holtz
Laberge-Lazar-Bastian

Siegs-Nemec
Bahl-Marino
Luke-Miller

Schmid in net again

Lineup tonight:

Palat-Nico-Bratt
Toffoli-Jack-Mercer
Timo-McLeod-Holtz
Laberge-Lazar-Bastian

Siegs-Nemec
Bahl-Marino
Luke-Miller

Schmid in net again
- vlongo4419

Damn, throwing Nemec in the deep end to start off, I like it.

Someone should tell the Hughes Brothers they are in the black jerseys. Responsible for two goals

Glad their goalie can make a damn save

Are these the same refs from the Philly game?

Great decision to start Schmid back to back after facing 47 shots last night lmao.

Time for a change. Start the fire lindy chants
This is embarrassing

Great decision to start Schmid back to back after facing 47 shots last night lmao.
- vlongo4419

Wouldn’t have mattered. Too many defensive breakdowns.

Wouldn’t have mattered. Too many defensive breakdowns.
- RubberBiscuitz

We gave up 8 high danger chances all game, 6 ended up being shots on goal. Schmid only made 2 saves. Enough with blaming the defense. Make a (frank)ing save. Its all on the goalie. Kahkonen made 11 saves on 13 high danger shots.

Shot attempts were 103-39
Shots were 47-18
Scoring chances were 61-17
High danger chances were 20-8

Why are people constantly trying to give our goalies a pass for getting scored on because of "bad defense" or "too many turnovers"? This is hockey. Breakdowns happen every single game by every single team. At some point(like Ruff said tonight) you just need your goalie to actually make a save.

Devils dominated the game, Schmid lost it for them.

It's simple for Fitz imo, pay up to fix the goaltending or we're missing the playoffs. He can try to upgrade the D all he wants, but it won't matter when our goalies just continue to get beat on any and every breakdown.

We all had hopes this team would be a playoff team which could advance

Only to be outplayed and lose at home to the worst team where our D and goalies show they aren't up to the task for playoffs

Time for a change. Start the fire lindy chants
This is embarrassing
- devils2929

I was at the game last night sitting first row right behind coach. Dude is lifeless behind the bench, no emotion whatsoever.

Just doing some digging, and lets put to bed the 'defense is an issue' notion thats out there. Everybody says the defense was good last year, so lets compare 5v5 stats.

Shot attempts against: 15th last year, 5th this year
Shot attempts against/60: 7th last year, 3rd this year

xGA: 9th last year, 7th this year
xGA/60: 10th last year, 8th this year

Scoring chances against: 8th last year, 3rd this year
Scoring chances against/60: 4th last year, 2nd this year

High danger chances against: 3rd last year, 11th this year
High danger chances against/60: 1st last year, 12 this year

Odd-man rushes against: 8th last year, 5th this year

So overall, our defense has been essentially the same or slightly better than last season. The only thing we've been worse at this year is that we're giving up 0.64 more high danger chances per 60 than last year. Our mistakes and breakdowns are just being amplified this year because our goaltenders are getting scored on at a much higher clip than last year, thats the real difference(our goaltending has already given up 12 goals above expected, which is the equivalent of costing us ~4 wins). If we were getting the same goaltending we got last season, nobody would be saying anything about the defense. Fitz needs to pay up to acquire an actual goalie upgrade or this season is toast.

Just doing some digging, and lets put to bed the 'defense is an issue' notion thats out there. Everybody says the defense was good last year, so lets compare 5v5 stats.

Shot attempts against: 15th last year, 5th this year
Shot attempts against/60: 7th last year, 3rd this year

xGA: 9th last year, 7th this year
xGA/60: 10th last year, 8th this year

Scoring chances against: 8th last year, 3rd this year
Scoring chances against/60: 4th last year, 2nd this year

High danger chances against: 3rd last year, 11th this year
High danger chances against/60: 1st last year, 12 this year

Odd-man rushes against: 8th last year, 5th this year

So overall, our defense has been essentially the same or slightly better than last season. The only thing we've been worse at this year is that we're giving up 0.64 more high danger chances per 60 than last year. Our mistakes and breakdowns are just being amplified this year because our goaltenders are getting scored on at a much higher clip than last year, thats the real difference(our goaltending has already given up 12 goals above expected, which is the equivalent of costing us ~4 wins). If we were getting the same goaltending we got last season, nobody would be saying anything about the defense. Fitz needs to pay up to acquire an actual goalie upgrade or this season is toast.
- vlongo4419

Defense looks so much worse because when they let a guy get behind them, which happens to every team, that guy scores. When you G can't make anything more than the expected saves your D is going to look awful. These aren't Conner McDavid caliber players that are beating NJ's goalies one on one, these are the Anthony Duclair's of the world, and less.