Vanecek gets the nod for tonight.

No Bastian on the ice for morning skate.
- vlongo4419

Lines in morning skate:

Tatar-Nico-Mercer
Meier-Jack-Bratt
Palat-Haula-Boqvist
Wood-McLeod-Lazar

Siegs-Dougie
Graves-Marino
Smith-Sevo

Bastian has an upper body injury.

Update on Timo since he hit the 5 game mark. His rank among Devils at 5v5:

Individual shots - 1st
Individual expected goals - 1st
Individual scoring chances - 1st
Hits - 2nd
Expected goals against - 5th(best)
Contributions per game(shot attempts and shot assists) - 2nd, only behind Jack.

He would be the first to admit that he hasn't been at his best yet, but it's scary to think how good this team is going to be when he gets fully acclimated considering how good he's already been. He won't shoot 5% forever, and the Devils won't shoot 3.5% when he's on the ice forever. Luck is a female dog sometimes lol. The flood gate is going to burst at some point, and I'm excited as hell he's part of this team(hopefully for a long long time).
- vlongo4419

FACTS🙌

Curtis Lazar will make his Devils debut tonight. He will be replacing Nathan Bastian, who is out with an upper body injury.

Oof, massive loss for the Canes with Svechnikov being done for the season and playoffs.

Oof, massive loss for the Canes with Svechnikov being done for the season and playoffs.
- vlongo4419

Hate seeing a guy in his prime go down with an injury like that, but boy does that make things a bit more interesting down the home stretch of the regular season....

Point wasnt even facing the shot, he pushed Tatar in the net, slightly, but still pushed. You can see Tatars skates hitting the breaks yet Point still pushed him.

Point wasnt even facing the shot, he pushed Tatar in the net, slightly, but still pushed. You can see Tatars skates hitting the breaks yet Point still pushed him.
- Leniwm1

The replay is clear as day. I'm not really sure what else Tatar can do there.

Gotta pull Vanecek. Back to back brutal goals. Make a (frank)ing save, holy poop.

Gotta pull Vanecek. Back to back brutal goals. Make a (frank)ing save, holy poop.
- vlongo4419

Would have loved to see him get at least one of those 2 on 1 breaks. Can't blame him on the first, but I thought he had a chance on the 2nd - right through his arm.

Thats 3 posts now?

Just brutal goaltending.

Would have loved to see him get at least one of those 2 on 1 breaks. Can't blame him on the first, but I thought he had a chance on the 2nd - right through his arm.

Thats 3 posts now?
- hockeybocc

All 3 goals that period need to be stopped, just completely unacceptable. Single handedly took this team out of this game.

I have zero confidence in him standing tall in the playoffs, and it's clear as day he's our weakness now.

Just brutal goaltending.
- Pomegrant

Agreed. On top of that I feel this game summarzies some of our negatives this season:

1. Let up a ton of super late period goals against
2. Have had close to 10 goals diasallowed this season? Its been a while, but there was a stretch when it was every other game. See Toronto loss back in November....

Have to think that VV gets yanked to start the 3rd and Ruff will sit some players to make a point.

All 3 goals that period need to be stopped, just completely unacceptable. Single handedly took this team out of this game.
- vlongo4419

I mean, they're all 2 on 1s and the first one Dougie over skated the guy he was covering leaving VV all alone w/ a guy in front. I can't fault him for that one....but the other 3? Absolutely.

I mean, they're all 2 on 1s and the first one Dougie over skated the guy he was covering leaving VV all alone w/ a guy in front. I can't fault him for that one....but the other 3? Absolutely.
- hockeybocc

Even on the 1st goal, he massively overcommited to the pass and went swimming. Took himself completely out of position and gave himself no shot at making a save.

We only gave up 7 shots on goal that period. I don't really think the team in front of Vanecek is the problem here.

We only gave up 7 shots on goal that period. I don't really think the team in front of Vanecek is the problem here.
- Pomegrant

Yeah it's not the team at all lol. They've actually played very well. Tampa has 4 goals on 0.9 expected goals

Even on the 1st goal, he massively overcommited to the pass and went swimming. Took himself completely out of position and gave himself no shot at making a save.
- vlongo4419

Fair point. As a goalie myself I tend to be a bit bias and give goalies a bit more slack. But, yeah, he mentally crumbled in the 2nd and it was apparent. Every shot against felt like it could potentially go in (and turned out to be a coin toss lol).

He made some nice saves in the 3rd, but it was just too late.

McDavid needs only 1,096 points to be second all time.
Unreal.

110pts for 10 yrs

Great article from Todd on the goaltending. Its flat out time to give Vitek a real nice break and try to let him reset. He played a career high 43rd game last night, and theres still a month left to go in the season.

Since February 20th(the beginning of the struggles), there have been 34 goalies to play atleast 300 minutes. Vanecek ranks 33rd in save % with a .862% and dead last at 34th in high danger save % with a .714%, even though he has faced the least amount of high danger shots per 60 of any goalie on the list.

In the same timeframe, expanded to 200+ minutes, out of 46 goalies Akira Schmid ranks 3rd in save % at .944% and 6th in high danger save % at .844%. Its time to ride the hot hand and let Vanecek rest. He should not have another back to back start for the rest of the month and possibly the rest of the regular season, especially if Blackwood is going to be back soon. See how long Schmid can keep this going.

Ruff says no update on Bastian or Wood. Both didnt practice today.

Ruff says no update on Bastian or Wood. Both didnt practice today.
- vlongo4419

Normally no wood is an issue. But not this time!

A fourth line of Sharagovich - McLeod - Lazar could have some legs so let's see what happens.

Who in goal tonight?

Who in goal tonight?
- FAZOOL

Probably won't know until Lindy speaks to media at 5pm