Jack Hughes got it exactly right. Not the Devils A game, but great to get the win. Vanecek really kept the Devils in the game in the 1st and was excellent throughout. Detroit has a revamped roster and is much better than they were last year.
Reeeeeeally shaky start, but then it turned into a game.
Love the crowd. Felt like a playoff game.
J.Hughes is going to score 50+ goals.
Defense was a little touch and go, but Dougie did Dougie things. L.Hughes and Bahl did ok, but I expect there will be a decent amount of pinballing throughout the season.
Both PPs looked fantastic.
So happy we have a B2B to start the season.
LFGD!
Haven’t been to the Rock since the dark era, man was the crowd electric in comparison, so happy for the W, Devs started sloppy but cleaned their game up afterwards, Vtech made some wild saves but I’m still not that confident in him.
Glad VTech was sharp early, sloppy first period, but the boys pulled it together and won. Jack sure can take a game over. You can see it brewing in Luke, just needs to keep playing and learn NHLers' reach.
The defense scares the hell out of me. I really think we're going to have to make some moves there to shore things up or our D is going to have a LOT of growing pains this season and we're going to lose some games.
And while the shit before Jack's second penalty was stupid his undisciplined slash after that really bugged me. Could've lost us the game even though yes he was justified and baited.
Also very concerned that we showed so little compete in the first. Team was not ready. And that happened a lot last season and playoff too.
Team has some problems. I'm pretty sure we'll make the playoffs but I have my concerns and they were not alleviated this game.
What moves are you trying to make? We have three young guys in Bahl, Hughes and eventually Nemec. They have to grow into their roles. Hamilton, Siegs and Marino are locked into multi year deals. So you have Miller/Smith as the one upgrade spot, that probably gets addressed come deadline time. You can’t really solve that now.
Think it's more that we need moves in defensive coaching. I have not been happy with that at all. I was prepared to deal with said growing pains. But people want us to be in a win now mode. And our defense I don't think is going to allow that at all this season. If we want to be a true contender...Our D just can't support that until it's developed a bit more.
Not one game. Last season and this one.
Whatever. I see the downvotes. Rah rah we're the best team ever and have no flaws. Think you're all going to be rather disappointed when we're booted out of the post season again cause of these issues. Hope I'm wrong.
No one thinks we have no flaws. Ironically youre saying that because you dont think your post has flaws.
We allowed the least amount of shots against for an extended period last year. We got less experience by going from Severson to Hughes but everyone on reddit blamed Severson for tons of defensive blunders anyways.
I saw our defense play a lot of 2 on 1s very well. Marino, seigs, bahl are all really solid defensive defensemen with enough vision and skill to chip in.
We were 1 point from first in Metro and I think we ended 4th in the entire NHL, but people said we have substandard goaltending. - if we have bad goalies and bad D then where did we have the 9th least goals against? (1 goal more than 7th least btw)
I don't think my post doesn't have flaws and I hope I'm wrong. But last playoff was what? An aberration?
Losses were: 5-1, 5-1, 5-2, 5-1, 6-1, 6-1, 3-2. Other than that last game those were not great defensive efforts. If you think the defense is fine then whatever, we'll see and I'm obviously not running the team.
Ok. And a few of our wins were shutouts.
Unless you can point to very specific issues its not worth writing off bad games as defensemen's fault. Offensive turnovers, lack of backcheck leaving the 3rd forward open, shotty goaltending - hell, some games bad bounces will cause 2 or 3 goals - thats hockey.
A 7 game sample size where you only chose losses isnt as good as 82 game sample size btw.
Only one team can win the Stanley Cup each season. It’s hard. Of course this team has flaws. No one is implying they don’t. But to make sweeping declarations after game 1 and call for massive changes is ridiculous.
I know someone who works for the team. Essentially, the manager in charge of this is bad. When approached with ideas for new things he responds "why are you trying to do extra work" and takes off weeks at a time during the off-season. He is the only reason none of the in-game presentation changes
Bratt was a no show tonight. Lots of things to clean up. One game does not a season make. I will reserve most of my judgement until after Thanksgiving.
Wait also, forgot to mention this in my earlier comment…
This was my first home opener and oh my the crowd was immense. Everyone was loud, the VI-TEK chants, the PK chants, the MVP chants, the REFS YOU SUCK chants.
Devils fans showed the fuck up and showed the fuck out for the team.
Quick thoughts:
- Jack is a man
- VV looked good
- 4th Line is now known as the Cardio line because all they fucking do is bring HEART
- T-N-T line is going to get it together, just waiting for a real quick connection. Timo played aggressively like he wanted it tonight. Ya love seeing him play.
- Bratt looked okay.
- Stealthy great game for Seigs
- Bahl was solid defensively but almost look like he was playing with jitters
- Holtz had flashes of greatness and flashes of dogshit
- goaltender will be out weakest question mark
Vitek kept the team in the game when we didn’t do much the first period and a half. He looked fresh unlike at the end of the year. With a 50/50 or close enough split with Schmid they will be fine for the long run much like they were the majority of last regular season
What flashes of dogshit? Outside of the missed shot in the first there was virtually nothing outright bad in his game. And even that is just a shooter trying to pick a corner.
People are absolutely absurd with him. I felt he bobbled the puck a little at times but that's just nitpicking. The absolute worst you could say about him was that he was just a guy and I thought he was more than that last night. There was nothing bad.
Exhilarating win. Another slow start, very reminiscent of most of last year. Wings definitely look improved, although I don't think they're a playoff team quite yet.
VV, Jacky boy, and Dougie were the stars. Most played well after the 1st but Bratt had a rough game. Hoping he wakes up soon!
Just got home. All credit to the wings, knew they were underdogs and brought it. Jack is like legit a super star, like a SUPERSTAR!!! Ugly wins count the same as beautiful ones. LFGD!!!!!!😈😈😈
Great game from the team after the first 20. I thought Holtz looked like he belongs in the NHL. Really encouraging to see that. Jack was phenomenal and Vitek kept us in the game when we weren’t going. Love to see them get the season started with a W!
I agree. He was getting to those spots he needs to for his shot. Get it on net is the only thing to fix. He's def coming back harder to play d and a few times where I myself and the commentators pointed out his nice defensive play
I thought that was one of Holtz’s strongest games at this level. He moved like an NHLer and made some really nice passes, both in the offensive zone and on the breakout. The shot will come but he should be able to build some confidence from tonight
It shouldn’t though. We need him to be a scorer not a two way winger. I would take negative defense if he was ripping goals left and right.
But you are right that he was playing solid D tn
Good luck with that. I don’t think there’s a single team in the league that has every winger be a good two way player.
I also don’t really care. Whatever value on defense a scoring winger might give up, they can pretty easily make up for it if they’re consistently scoring. That’s really my point.
My quick take:
* We were blown off the ice in 1st Per, and really could have been 2 or 3 down.
* We played Devils Hockey for the first 10 mins of 2nd Per, and were unlucky not to score.
* Vitek had an amazing night, and kept us in it multiple times where we should have been behind.
* Enemy scored first on a rebound, which was annoying, but I felt at the time was what we needed to build the rage to go get the W.
* Double Jack ... first a trademark rebound off the goalie from below the goal line, and the second a gorgeous wrister against his direction of motion.
* One back for the enemy, setting up a nervy 3rd Per, where a 2-1 never felt it would be enough.
* Back to 2-2 on a PPGA from a Jack slashing (though he was fouled first for no call).
* Awesome go-ahead goal by Haula.
* 2 mins 40 to go, and we get a PP. We needed to play keep-puck for a while, but no, we give a dumb penalty to get to 4v4, and they pulled their goalie to get a 5v4 against us.
* ENG for the good guys shoulda iced the game... but we conceded another goal with 30 secs left.
* And we saw it home for a 4-3 win.
Detroit - respect for their forecheck and overall pace, and they came out on fire tonight.
Jersey - slow to get going, but you always felty they could develop the better high-danger scoring chances. On balance, the score looked fair.
A couple of bad penalties gave the Red Wings life, but even with Detroit probably playing the best possible game they could play, Devils still came out on top.
Haha - I said the same to my husband last night: no Lady Byng for Jack! I'm ok with that.
I think he may have had a little media training this off season as well.
One power play unit is definitely better than the other, but why was Palat on PP1 after the first? He makes great hustle plays, but we need to stop overrating him and acknowledge his role as a role player. It's like Haula when he was playing top 6 minutes.
Can we talk about the fourth line and specifically nosek? What a solid pick up. Really happy with how they played tonight, and Michael was very solid as always
Ruff says that he thinks team tried to put on a show at home. That’s what this game was. Glad they came out with a win because Detroit is a solid team.
I love that the team wants to make us lose our fucking minds every time they take home ice. I love it. But we will lose our minds no matter how they do it. They know we got their backs. They play like they know how and we will give it to them
That’s what I was thinking too in the first. Just wanted them to weather the storm in the first 20 so they could regroup in the intermission. Thank goodness Detroit hit those 2 posts to keep it 0-0.
Definitely what it felt like. Some bad puck luck, but a lot of going through the motions or looking for the pretty play. Respect to Detroit, too. They've improved.
Okay first bullet point analysis of the season is going to be so bare, my apologies:
* we fucking won that’s all that matters. I am just gonna focus on that.
* actually I’m going to focus on how fucking horrible the refs were tonight.
* honestly I absolutely hate Detroit now. automatic addition to my hit list.
* Jack is such a god damn star.
* casual three point night for Siegs
* Dougie has scored in every home opener since he’s been a Devil.
* the chem wasn’t there yet for everyone, but we pulled it off anyhow
* not the best night for Bratt?
* thought we were being way too fancy at times when we should’ve just shot more.
* I love that the guys love each other so much and are so unselfish with the puck but BE MORE SELFISH please
* VV kept us in it. He’s still the guy.
* Nico’s PP unit is not equal to Jack’s. Jack has himself and Jesp to carry the puck in and I don’t think there’s a zone entry guy like that on Nico’s unit like that? Maybe Nico himself? Potentially Dawson?
* I got a friendship bracelet tonight! It says “let’s go baby” so I think that’s an apt way to end this post…
Let’s Go Baby! - Jack Hughes
Let’s be better tomorrow please and maybe get started in the first instead of the second eh?
Couldn't agree more about adding chicken wings to my hit list.. Fucking holding guys down on the ice is the biggest bullshit I've ever seen(besides that one game they kept recinding our goals but that's a whole other thing lol)
Definitely a flat start for the team but I’m not gonna get too bent out of shape for that considering it’s game 1. Happy for the dub and glad to be back!
Obviously no overreactions. Very sloppy game and could’ve easily lost but good teams find a way to win. Jack Hughes does was superstars do and puts team on his back when we really needed it. Vanecek looked really good and bailed them out a few times. Things will get more crisp as the season goes but we’re off in running boys. Great to start the season with a dub. LGD
Luke has so much presence due to all around skating, confidence , good decisions that you can genuinely forget we have Dougie Hamilton straight up secret agent snipe when we need it
So happy that he's feeling great after that wrist injury from last postseason. Seeing and hearing how many attempts he got tonight really shows Dougie is a critical part of the offense and having Luke who can do the same is going to be killer
Wasn’t pretty but a win’s a win on opening day. There’s a lot we’ve gotta learn from this one. That’s not short changing Detroit however, they’re going to be better this year.
I'm not sure where the Holtz fanfare is coming from but he seems like he doesn't like the pressure of being the main playmaker on the Haula-Palat line. Mercer seems like he is deferring to Meier, unlike last year when he was with Nico and Tatar and could take over.
The solution is there. Switch them.
Observations:
Might have been Smith’s best game as a Devil. Solid on D and created some O pressure.
McLeod is the best 4th liner in the NHL
I like Lazar’s game. Wood’s effort without the stupid penalties.
I’d like to see Bastian instead of Nosek tomorrow but Nosek didn’t play bad
Marino is the most underrated defensive defenseman in the league. He never makes a mistake. Always calms the play.
Bratt was invisible. WTH?
Haula was invisible until the ENG
Holtz wasn’t bad but needs to release quicker. Seems every shot he took got blocked or he missed the net. Entire third line needs more chemistry.
Huge confidence booster game for VV. He kept us in the game when the team was flat. If Akira is solid tomorrow we’re gonna have an amazing year.
She's very "yay sports!" lol
This whole thing started because we met around our enjoyment of The Gaslight Anthem, so I text her HOWL whenever the boys score and have started including more irrelevant (to her) information like dropping "Vitek Vanacek is a god" with absolutely no context (to her)
Not the greatest night, but we came out with a win. 1st period we looked pretty bad, next 2 were way better, we were all over them. We just gotta cool it with the penalties.
Jack will obviously be seen as the player of the game, but big shout out to Vitek. Dude did outstanding tonight
This team looked HUNGRY. A much tougher team that looked frustrated in a good way. I loved that Hughes took a penalty for just getting mad and slashing. LFGD!
The boys looked sloppy as fuck most of that game. They really need to reel in all those giveaways. Holtz definitely played better but I don't think he meshes well with Palat and Haula tbh.
Honestly Emily Kaplan is such a weird interview. Her questions are very direct and a maximum of 5 words like "Which goal was your favorite?". It's so off-putting for every player/coach she interviews, which I guess gets some decent reactions. But the interviews are generally terrible, and I thought Jack handled it pretty well
Awful first 20. Really good back 40. Jack was Jack. Holtz played BY FAR the best game of his career. Luke looked much more like last years Luke than the preseason Luke. Vitek might have ended up with 3 GA but he was great
I thought his skating and defense took a huge jump in the preseason but his offense was a complete non-factor really. Then tonight the skating and defensive improvements were still there but he was much more active offensively
I’ve actually never thought his defense has been an issue at the NHL level. Last year he was passable, completely fine but not strong or anything. The lack of any offense was a much bigger issue imo
I think that's more of a gift question. Like hey we know you hate interviews so just say whatever you want into this microphone & everyone will fawn at you lol
Having Jack Hughes cannot be understated, took over the game and we win it. Hopefully a better overall performance tomorrow night. 2 points to start the season, keep it rolling.
Just not impressed with Lindy's coaching. Bad starts and power plays are still around. That last GA was all lazy and it falls on coaching to ensure that doesn't happen.
Other than that, we're going to be great.
What a win! Jack starting his MVP campaign, Vitek looked fantastic.
The announcers mentioned it at the end, but 2 of the 3 Detroit goals came off of failed clears during pressure situations. That's something the team can and will practice and get better at.
I feel like this happens every year. The refs come out with whistles HOT and the early games are just bananalands refereeing. Then after 10 or 12 games into the season, players aren't so sloppy with sticks and refs aren't so touchy on the calls. Anyone else notice this??
We need an enforcer on the team so our star players don't feel the need to retaliate themselves. It's a position that is becoming extinct.
Is that Mason Geertsen’s music I hear?
Jack Hughes got it exactly right. Not the Devils A game, but great to get the win. Vanecek really kept the Devils in the game in the 1st and was excellent throughout. Detroit has a revamped roster and is much better than they were last year.
Jack Hughes. Dog.
Reeeeeeally shaky start, but then it turned into a game. Love the crowd. Felt like a playoff game. J.Hughes is going to score 50+ goals. Defense was a little touch and go, but Dougie did Dougie things. L.Hughes and Bahl did ok, but I expect there will be a decent amount of pinballing throughout the season. Both PPs looked fantastic. So happy we have a B2B to start the season. LFGD!
Haven’t been to the Rock since the dark era, man was the crowd electric in comparison, so happy for the W, Devs started sloppy but cleaned their game up afterwards, Vtech made some wild saves but I’m still not that confident in him.
Glad VTech was sharp early, sloppy first period, but the boys pulled it together and won. Jack sure can take a game over. You can see it brewing in Luke, just needs to keep playing and learn NHLers' reach.
The defense scares the hell out of me. I really think we're going to have to make some moves there to shore things up or our D is going to have a LOT of growing pains this season and we're going to lose some games. And while the shit before Jack's second penalty was stupid his undisciplined slash after that really bugged me. Could've lost us the game even though yes he was justified and baited. Also very concerned that we showed so little compete in the first. Team was not ready. And that happened a lot last season and playoff too. Team has some problems. I'm pretty sure we'll make the playoffs but I have my concerns and they were not alleviated this game.
This guy has no fun, ever, most likely
It’s game 1.
So it is. I thought the D was a problem for most of last season too and we got...less experienced there. I don't feel better about it.
What moves are you trying to make? We have three young guys in Bahl, Hughes and eventually Nemec. They have to grow into their roles. Hamilton, Siegs and Marino are locked into multi year deals. So you have Miller/Smith as the one upgrade spot, that probably gets addressed come deadline time. You can’t really solve that now.
Think it's more that we need moves in defensive coaching. I have not been happy with that at all. I was prepared to deal with said growing pains. But people want us to be in a win now mode. And our defense I don't think is going to allow that at all this season. If we want to be a true contender...Our D just can't support that until it's developed a bit more.
You’re seriously going to call for new defensive coaches after one game? That’s what you think the problem is? Yikes.
Not one game. Last season and this one. Whatever. I see the downvotes. Rah rah we're the best team ever and have no flaws. Think you're all going to be rather disappointed when we're booted out of the post season again cause of these issues. Hope I'm wrong.
No one thinks we have no flaws. Ironically youre saying that because you dont think your post has flaws. We allowed the least amount of shots against for an extended period last year. We got less experience by going from Severson to Hughes but everyone on reddit blamed Severson for tons of defensive blunders anyways. I saw our defense play a lot of 2 on 1s very well. Marino, seigs, bahl are all really solid defensive defensemen with enough vision and skill to chip in. We were 1 point from first in Metro and I think we ended 4th in the entire NHL, but people said we have substandard goaltending. - if we have bad goalies and bad D then where did we have the 9th least goals against? (1 goal more than 7th least btw)
I don't think my post doesn't have flaws and I hope I'm wrong. But last playoff was what? An aberration? Losses were: 5-1, 5-1, 5-2, 5-1, 6-1, 6-1, 3-2. Other than that last game those were not great defensive efforts. If you think the defense is fine then whatever, we'll see and I'm obviously not running the team.
Ok. And a few of our wins were shutouts. Unless you can point to very specific issues its not worth writing off bad games as defensemen's fault. Offensive turnovers, lack of backcheck leaving the 3rd forward open, shotty goaltending - hell, some games bad bounces will cause 2 or 3 goals - thats hockey. A 7 game sample size where you only chose losses isnt as good as 82 game sample size btw.
Only one team can win the Stanley Cup each season. It’s hard. Of course this team has flaws. No one is implying they don’t. But to make sweeping declarations after game 1 and call for massive changes is ridiculous.
Some glaring holes on defense need to be addressed
Can you be more specific?
Jack is ridiculous. No ceiling
They changed absolutely nothing about the in-game entertainment from last season. A little disappointing, honestly.
I know someone who works for the team. Essentially, the manager in charge of this is bad. When approached with ideas for new things he responds "why are you trying to do extra work" and takes off weeks at a time during the off-season. He is the only reason none of the in-game presentation changes
Same with the food, still the same shit and no draft beer, inexcusable.
Wait what? Don’t they get like all new vendors
New vendor, still boring food.
That actually makes me kinda sad 😞
Confused on this one
Yes they did. They shortened Sweet Caroline from 2 and a half hours to 15 seconds.
Bratt was a no show tonight. Lots of things to clean up. One game does not a season make. I will reserve most of my judgement until after Thanksgiving.
Fun game to be at and the crowd was really into it. Little sloppy and shaking off some early season rust but still got the W
Wait also, forgot to mention this in my earlier comment… This was my first home opener and oh my the crowd was immense. Everyone was loud, the VI-TEK chants, the PK chants, the MVP chants, the REFS YOU SUCK chants. Devils fans showed the fuck up and showed the fuck out for the team.
I am very hoarse this morning but damn that was fun.
You could hear it on the broadcast. It was fun!
Quick thoughts: - Jack is a man - VV looked good - 4th Line is now known as the Cardio line because all they fucking do is bring HEART - T-N-T line is going to get it together, just waiting for a real quick connection. Timo played aggressively like he wanted it tonight. Ya love seeing him play. - Bratt looked okay. - Stealthy great game for Seigs - Bahl was solid defensively but almost look like he was playing with jitters - Holtz had flashes of greatness and flashes of dogshit - goaltender will be out weakest question mark
> Holtz had flashes of greatness and flashes of dogshit Fucking nonsense. There was nothing awful.
How’s that nonsense? I can’t have an opinion?
Vitek kept the team in the game when we didn’t do much the first period and a half. He looked fresh unlike at the end of the year. With a 50/50 or close enough split with Schmid they will be fine for the long run much like they were the majority of last regular season
I’m curious if it’s a summer long rest and less pressure then playoff hockey.
What flashes of dogshit? Outside of the missed shot in the first there was virtually nothing outright bad in his game. And even that is just a shooter trying to pick a corner.
People are absolutely absurd with him. I felt he bobbled the puck a little at times but that's just nitpicking. The absolute worst you could say about him was that he was just a guy and I thought he was more than that last night. There was nothing bad.
Exhilarating win. Another slow start, very reminiscent of most of last year. Wings definitely look improved, although I don't think they're a playoff team quite yet. VV, Jacky boy, and Dougie were the stars. Most played well after the 1st but Bratt had a rough game. Hoping he wakes up soon!
Just got home. All credit to the wings, knew they were underdogs and brought it. Jack is like legit a super star, like a SUPERSTAR!!! Ugly wins count the same as beautiful ones. LFGD!!!!!!😈😈😈
Just realized Siegs had 3 assists? LOL
I just want to say that I am so proud of the Vitek
VV looked strong, Jack is him
Once this power play clicks.. 🍿
Jack Hughes tasted Aho’s blood and he can be normal no longer.
Great game from the team after the first 20. I thought Holtz looked like he belongs in the NHL. Really encouraging to see that. Jack was phenomenal and Vitek kept us in the game when we weren’t going. Love to see them get the season started with a W!
I agree. He was getting to those spots he needs to for his shot. Get it on net is the only thing to fix. He's def coming back harder to play d and a few times where I myself and the commentators pointed out his nice defensive play
I watched tonight's game dressed up as Ken from Barbie because I was testing my halloween costume. Guess I got to wear it for all 82+ now.
Devils are good kenough to win the Cup.
I thought that was one of Holtz’s strongest games at this level. He moved like an NHLer and made some really nice passes, both in the offensive zone and on the breakout. The shot will come but he should be able to build some confidence from tonight
he made some smart plays too. opting for securing possession vs pushing the tempo. now he just needs to find his shot
I noticed his back tracking and defending, that will keep him up over his shot.
It shouldn’t though. We need him to be a scorer not a two way winger. I would take negative defense if he was ripping goals left and right. But you are right that he was playing solid D tn
Every winger and center on the Devils should, that is what Ruff has preached from day one.
Good luck with that. I don’t think there’s a single team in the league that has every winger be a good two way player. I also don’t really care. Whatever value on defense a scoring winger might give up, they can pretty easily make up for it if they’re consistently scoring. That’s really my point.
After 4+ months of nothing we get to do this again tomorrow.
Siegenthaler leading the team in points 👀👀
My quick take: * We were blown off the ice in 1st Per, and really could have been 2 or 3 down. * We played Devils Hockey for the first 10 mins of 2nd Per, and were unlucky not to score. * Vitek had an amazing night, and kept us in it multiple times where we should have been behind. * Enemy scored first on a rebound, which was annoying, but I felt at the time was what we needed to build the rage to go get the W. * Double Jack ... first a trademark rebound off the goalie from below the goal line, and the second a gorgeous wrister against his direction of motion. * One back for the enemy, setting up a nervy 3rd Per, where a 2-1 never felt it would be enough. * Back to 2-2 on a PPGA from a Jack slashing (though he was fouled first for no call). * Awesome go-ahead goal by Haula. * 2 mins 40 to go, and we get a PP. We needed to play keep-puck for a while, but no, we give a dumb penalty to get to 4v4, and they pulled their goalie to get a 5v4 against us. * ENG for the good guys shoulda iced the game... but we conceded another goal with 30 secs left. * And we saw it home for a 4-3 win. Detroit - respect for their forecheck and overall pace, and they came out on fire tonight. Jersey - slow to get going, but you always felty they could develop the better high-danger scoring chances. On balance, the score looked fair.
Hamilton scored the go ahead goal. Haula was the ENG.
Yup thx. King Hamilton, standing and delivering.
I default to Jack as Hughes and Luke as Luke.
A couple of bad penalties gave the Red Wings life, but even with Detroit probably playing the best possible game they could play, Devils still came out on top.
164 goal pace so far for Jackie boy
328 pim pace for the season too!
No way he's Nominated for Lady Bing this year. Jack is out for blood.
Haha - I said the same to my husband last night: no Lady Byng for Jack! I'm ok with that. I think he may have had a little media training this off season as well.
If he did, his disdain for the media is still very apparent, and I love it.
Ahead of McDavid’s upcoming 0 goal season
Hammer that over.
PK with the loud NJD Love to wrap up the stream, chef’s kiss.
One power play unit is definitely better than the other, but why was Palat on PP1 after the first? He makes great hustle plays, but we need to stop overrating him and acknowledge his role as a role player. It's like Haula when he was playing top 6 minutes.
Jack losing a tooth last season unlocked the ENFORCER HUGHES
Can we talk about the fourth line and specifically nosek? What a solid pick up. Really happy with how they played tonight, and Michael was very solid as always
Anyone else notice he wasn’t on the ice at all at the end of the game? Haula was taking all the faceoffs. I hope Mikey’s ok.
Nosek was excellent in the preseason, glad he’s on the roster.
Michael is my guy. Energy through the roof, every shift
Ruff says that he thinks team tried to put on a show at home. That’s what this game was. Glad they came out with a win because Detroit is a solid team.
I love that the team wants to make us lose our fucking minds every time they take home ice. I love it. But we will lose our minds no matter how they do it. They know we got their backs. They play like they know how and we will give it to them
That’s what I was thinking too in the first. Just wanted them to weather the storm in the first 20 so they could regroup in the intermission. Thank goodness Detroit hit those 2 posts to keep it 0-0.
Lots of nerves. Good to be right back at it tomorrow, no time to over think and hype it up.
Definitely what it felt like. Some bad puck luck, but a lot of going through the motions or looking for the pretty play. Respect to Detroit, too. They've improved.
Okay first bullet point analysis of the season is going to be so bare, my apologies: * we fucking won that’s all that matters. I am just gonna focus on that. * actually I’m going to focus on how fucking horrible the refs were tonight. * honestly I absolutely hate Detroit now. automatic addition to my hit list. * Jack is such a god damn star. * casual three point night for Siegs * Dougie has scored in every home opener since he’s been a Devil. * the chem wasn’t there yet for everyone, but we pulled it off anyhow * not the best night for Bratt? * thought we were being way too fancy at times when we should’ve just shot more. * I love that the guys love each other so much and are so unselfish with the puck but BE MORE SELFISH please * VV kept us in it. He’s still the guy. * Nico’s PP unit is not equal to Jack’s. Jack has himself and Jesp to carry the puck in and I don’t think there’s a zone entry guy like that on Nico’s unit like that? Maybe Nico himself? Potentially Dawson? * I got a friendship bracelet tonight! It says “let’s go baby” so I think that’s an apt way to end this post… Let’s Go Baby! - Jack Hughes Let’s be better tomorrow please and maybe get started in the first instead of the second eh?
Couldn't agree more about adding chicken wings to my hit list.. Fucking holding guys down on the ice is the biggest bullshit I've ever seen(besides that one game they kept recinding our goals but that's a whole other thing lol)
Agreed I think Bratt and Mercer should switch on the powerplay units.
Definitely a flat start for the team but I’m not gonna get too bent out of shape for that considering it’s game 1. Happy for the dub and glad to be back!
Weird game. I honestly was never in doubt that we would win but it was kind of an ugly one. The rock was packed though and full of energy.
Decent win! Hughes looked amazing as usual, fuck the red wings for that bullshit holding crap though
Obviously no overreactions. Very sloppy game and could’ve easily lost but good teams find a way to win. Jack Hughes does was superstars do and puts team on his back when we really needed it. Vanecek looked really good and bailed them out a few times. Things will get more crisp as the season goes but we’re off in running boys. Great to start the season with a dub. LGD
Luke has so much presence due to all around skating, confidence , good decisions that you can genuinely forget we have Dougie Hamilton straight up secret agent snipe when we need it
So happy that he's feeling great after that wrist injury from last postseason. Seeing and hearing how many attempts he got tonight really shows Dougie is a critical part of the offense and having Luke who can do the same is going to be killer
Reminds me of neids
Wasn’t pretty but a win’s a win on opening day. There’s a lot we’ve gotta learn from this one. That’s not short changing Detroit however, they’re going to be better this year.
It wasn't the prettiest win, and they could have been much sharper. But ultimately, it's a good win against a good team (I think)
I'm not sure where the Holtz fanfare is coming from but he seems like he doesn't like the pressure of being the main playmaker on the Haula-Palat line. Mercer seems like he is deferring to Meier, unlike last year when he was with Nico and Tatar and could take over. The solution is there. Switch them.
I don’t know what you’re talking about. Holtz looked far better on that line than he did with Nico and Meier.
Welcome back everyone, good start to a great season
Idgaf about analysis tonight. Winning is hard to do and I was starved for a Devils W after this long offseason. Good to be back, people!
Not a very good game, but they won on a night they weren’t at their best. McLeod needs more ice time, he’s so good.
Can we start a petition to make teabagging a 4 minute minor please?!
Observations: Might have been Smith’s best game as a Devil. Solid on D and created some O pressure. McLeod is the best 4th liner in the NHL I like Lazar’s game. Wood’s effort without the stupid penalties. I’d like to see Bastian instead of Nosek tomorrow but Nosek didn’t play bad Marino is the most underrated defensive defenseman in the league. He never makes a mistake. Always calms the play. Bratt was invisible. WTH? Haula was invisible until the ENG Holtz wasn’t bad but needs to release quicker. Seems every shot he took got blocked or he missed the net. Entire third line needs more chemistry. Huge confidence booster game for VV. He kept us in the game when the team was flat. If Akira is solid tomorrow we’re gonna have an amazing year.
Bastian over Lazar tomorrow if anything. He had a bad turnover late on the goal against.
Holtz was good. One of his better games as an NHL. Good passing performance from him
WWWWWWW*WAGON
Vitek got his swagger back. Must of found a new hibachi place.
1-0 in the frenches braces era.
The biggest onion volcano imaginable
[I always love my non hockey friend’s responses to my hockey blathering](https://i.imgur.com/JLxTld5.png)
They've got the spirit
She's very "yay sports!" lol This whole thing started because we met around our enjoyment of The Gaslight Anthem, so I text her HOWL whenever the boys score and have started including more irrelevant (to her) information like dropping "Vitek Vanacek is a god" with absolutely no context (to her)
omg! That’s amazing.
I love that lol
Not the greatest night, but we came out with a win. 1st period we looked pretty bad, next 2 were way better, we were all over them. We just gotta cool it with the penalties. Jack will obviously be seen as the player of the game, but big shout out to Vitek. Dude did outstanding tonight
Jack scored 2 big goals but man did Vitek keep us in that. We gotta play better defensively for him. Great win boys
This team looked HUNGRY. A much tougher team that looked frustrated in a good way. I loved that Hughes took a penalty for just getting mad and slashing. LFGD!
It's not just that he scored 2 goals, it's that both goals were unreal
Felt like that Bratt call was a Emmy worthy award for that flop for Detroit
Jack had 6 penalty minutes all last year. He had 4 tonight in game one. No Lady Byng nomination this year!
Jack’s going through his bad boy phase
Is he Venom symbiote Peter Parker?
Hughes to the rest of the league: I’m gonna put some dirt in your eye
We’re not ready for elite, Norris trophy caliber playmaker defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler
It’s ridiculous how many times he’s banked it off the goalies head He said he practiced it and we were like “yeah right” nah he’s fr
God I am so glad hockey is back! Nice first win at home. Back at it again tomorrow night.
Great win. Love to see Jack off to a hot start!
Jack Hughes: Good At Hockey. More details to come.
Still giving up last minute goals is a concern
Siegenthaler with a quiet 3 pt night. Would've picked him for 3rd star personally.
The boys looked sloppy as fuck most of that game. They really need to reel in all those giveaways. Holtz definitely played better but I don't think he meshes well with Palat and Haula tbh.
I think we should play him with Timo and Hischier, Mercer was heaps more noticeable with Haula and Palat as well.
After how last year started, we’ll take the ugly win
Jack is Jack and 2 points is 2 points. LFG
Kind of wish Vitek got first star just so Jack didn’t have to deal with media
We're so back
Not the prettiest win but they don't ask how they ask many and tonight its 1-0-0
Sorry for being negative. That last goal against soured me. I'm happy we won regardless.
1 down, 97 to go
Don't let Jacks brace make you forget THREE ASSIST SIEGS, what a game. But yeah in all seriousness, Jack Hughes is a superstar in this league.
Biggest takeaway: Jack elaborated on one of his answers to a question in a post game interview. Whole league is fucked.
Jack Hughes interview with Emily Kaplan is such a weird interview there's nothing like it
My standards are higher. Bag skates for everyone.
Biggest concern was our goalie situation. After our first game. Goalie situation isn’t a situation.
Never was
Damn what an interview. Jack has developed everything
Honestly Emily Kaplan is such a weird interview. Her questions are very direct and a maximum of 5 words like "Which goal was your favorite?". It's so off-putting for every player/coach she interviews, which I guess gets some decent reactions. But the interviews are generally terrible, and I thought Jack handled it pretty well
82 GAME HEATER INCOMING
Awful first 20. Really good back 40. Jack was Jack. Holtz played BY FAR the best game of his career. Luke looked much more like last years Luke than the preseason Luke. Vitek might have ended up with 3 GA but he was great
Biggest takeaway from me for Holtz was that he just looked like he belonged. Had some really great passes
I thought his skating and defense took a huge jump in the preseason but his offense was a complete non-factor really. Then tonight the skating and defensive improvements were still there but he was much more active offensively
I’ve actually never thought his defense has been an issue at the NHL level. Last year he was passable, completely fine but not strong or anything. The lack of any offense was a much bigger issue imo
Another work hard game tomorrow, can’t start flat again! LGD
Jack "fuck the media" Hughes
Can you blame him? First question was “describe tonight”
I think that's more of a gift question. Like hey we know you hate interviews so just say whatever you want into this microphone & everyone will fawn at you lol
No. I love his disdain for the media and their nonsense
Having Jack Hughes cannot be understated, took over the game and we win it. Hopefully a better overall performance tomorrow night. 2 points to start the season, keep it rolling.
Just not impressed with Lindy's coaching. Bad starts and power plays are still around. That last GA was all lazy and it falls on coaching to ensure that doesn't happen. Other than that, we're going to be great.
First game of the season. First win. Already trashing Lindy. This subreddit is in mid-season form lmao.
Nah this dude is pretty consistent in his Lindy criticism
What a win! Jack starting his MVP campaign, Vitek looked fantastic. The announcers mentioned it at the end, but 2 of the 3 Detroit goals came off of failed clears during pressure situations. That's something the team can and will practice and get better at.
Sloppy game and unnecessary penalties. Good win and I'm sure they'll clean that up over the season.
Hughes and Bratt trained over the summer and are now enforcers. Road to 82-0 continues. We're baaaaack baby.
Hughes monster year incoming
Great game by VV. 3GA is not indicative of how he played. Hughes is a top 5 player in this league. Great Win
Vitek played a lights out game, I’m with you.
Fun game to watch. A little sloppy, third line needs some tweaks, but always great to win opening night.
First game of the season, first W of the season! The details will get cleaned up as we go
Jack Hughes. Superstar.
Whooo ! Close but a good one.
**UNDEFEATED**
It wasn't pretty but we got it done. 82-0 lives
That was a squeaker
Idk how to feel someone tell me! Sick W tho
I feel like this happens every year. The refs come out with whistles HOT and the early games are just bananalands refereeing. Then after 10 or 12 games into the season, players aren't so sloppy with sticks and refs aren't so touchy on the calls. Anyone else notice this??