Devils Vs Blaze - 09 Feb 19 - League

BostonBart22

Well-Known Member
#21
Ugly win , full credit to blaze though false position in the lge, hope we dont play them in the playoffs, our D went missing on at least 3 goals, lets hope our D are more organised tomorrow otherwise guildfords attack will run riot...
 

jimmy snels

Well-Known Member
#22
i thought we were very poor in defence tonight. we struggled to make straight forward passes and clearances from the zone when under very little in the way of pressure. we also seemed reluctant to show people the wide side and let people get shots from their strong sides. we also seemed reluctant to just clear the players from in front of bowns with only Louis showing that determination.
in attack we were actually pretty good once we sorted out our line combinations which were interesting.

in all it was a game that exploded to life in the 2nd after a dull first and the winner had me jumping out of my seat.
 

jenks33

Well-Known Member
#23
i thought we were very poor in defence tonight. we struggled to make straight forward passes and clearances from the zone when under very little in the way of pressure. we also seemed reluctant to show people the wide side and let people get shots from their strong sides. we also seemed reluctant to just clear the players from in front of bowns with only Louis showing that determination.
in attack we were actually pretty good once we sorted out our line combinations which were interesting.

in all it was a game that exploded to life in the 2nd after a dull first and the winner had me jumping out of my seat.
I agree we’ve been defensively poor the past two weeks. Got away with it last weekend against Sheffield and we found ourselves 1-3 down again tonight. Our passing at the back is ‘heart in the mouth’ stuff at the moment. I’m a big admirer of Batchy but his confidence is so low when he’s on the puck. We might get away with it against MK next weekend but probably not against Belfast
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#24
Well it was entertaining enough but there were so many lapses in concentration from the Devils at the back end. We’ll pay for those against a better team but just got away with it today. I couldn’t keep up with the line combinations tonight, seemed to be all over the place. Shout out to Hedden and one hell of a goal from Lake too, that was an absolute beauty. 2 points though and that’s the most important thing.
 

Hedd Wyn John

Well-Known Member
#25
Defensively the Devils were poor tonight. A lot of sloppy passing, lazy clearances & poor man marking. We dodged a bullet with Morrissette’s SHG at the end there. We definitely need to concentrate more in upcoming games as lapses like the 2nd & 3rd goals could easily throw away the game against stronger teams.
 

Diablo3

Well-Known Member
#26
Enjoyable game, yes we did get caught a few times at the back, but we found a way to win, and at this stage of the season, that's all we can ask. I thought the Blaze played well above their current league position, and Lake showed his quality. In the end, two points and happy bunny. Hopefully we get a tired Guildford tomorrow.
 

Ger-Devils

Well-Known Member
#27
Enjoyable game, yes we did get caught a few times at the back, but we found a way to win, and at this stage of the season, that's all we can ask. I thought the Blaze played well above their current league position, and Lake showed his quality. In the end, two points and happy bunny. Hopefully we get a tired Guildford tomorrow.
Lake playing for a contract perhaps in Cardiff?
 

Wagstaff

Well-Known Member
#32
I was just joking about but someone I’d sign.

Played great the week before in Belfast.
I’m pulling your leg, having had a quiet but reasonable Year last year, he signed again with us for this season and nobody really made any fuss but now he is our stand out player and we will be lucky to keep a hold of him.
Now he has played for GB, wait till the off season and count how many times you see “if he was classed as a Brit we’d have him but not worthy of an import slot around the forums, twitter etc” just like Liam Stewart has been since he was with us
 

Slartibartfast

Well-Known Member
#33
We were a bit sloppy defensively but the offence was very encouraging. Teams have learnt to crowd the slot and force us out wide but in this game we put bodies in front of the net and got scrappy goals or rebounds which have been lacking recently.
I was really impressed with Coventry particularly Lake. They are short of a few bodies but when back to full strength they could cause some trouble in the playoffs.
 
#34
Have donned my flack jacket, as I know this post could enrage a few, but it has been quite noticeable in recent home games, the number of times that Bowns leaves the net to clear a puck from behind the goal, but then opts to clear the puck to the side that invariably has two opponents lined up to regain possession - creating good set up options for the opposition.

Given his unique view of the game compared with defencemen skating back, I’m wondering what benefits this strategy is bringing to the team - it seems to create additional pressure in our defensive zone - created by our own actions.
 

Hedd Wyn John

Well-Known Member
#35
Have donned my flack jacket, as I know this post could enrage a few, but it has been quite noticeable in recent home games, the number of times that Bowns leaves the net to clear a puck from behind the goal, but then opts to clear the puck to the side that invariably has two opponents lined up to regain possession - creating good set up options for the opposition.

Given his unique view of the game compared with defencemen skating back, I’m wondering what benefits this strategy is bringing to the team - it seems to create additional pressure in our defensive zone - created by our own actions.
Bowns made a couple of questionable clearances last night, one straight to an oncoming Blaze player. Despite that he made a number of good saves, just put it down to human error, it happens sometimes.
 

jimmy snels

Well-Known Member
#36
if i was going to pick poor errors in passing in our own zone batchy had a horrifying night and reddick and gleason were nearly bad. didnt think bowns had anywhere near the level of defence you'd expect in front of him. but we still won. thats got to be a positive and it was a competitive night.

still miss noble playing up.
 
#37
The point made is more to do with “avoidable pressure” the Devils put themselves under - in an area of the pad where one might reasonably think it’s better to keep things simple and avoid doing anything thing that puts us under more pressure.
Point about poor passing in defensive zone at last night’s is acknowledged, but perhaps this was down to different line combinations.
Sometimes simple hockey is the most effective.
 
#40
The point made is more to do with “avoidable pressure” the Devils put themselves under - in an area of the pad where one might reasonably think it’s better to keep things simple and avoid doing anything thing that puts us under more pressure.
Point about poor passing in defensive zone at last night’s is acknowledged, but perhaps this was down to different line combinations.
Sometimes simple hockey is the most effective.
Donning my flak jacket I think if you’re talking about avoidable pressure there are a few in the queue in front of Bowns imho. Watching Lake last night go straight for gaols is a lesson Devils could do with learning. So many times they stop on gaining the blue line, so many times they go for the pass rather than the shot.
Numerous times recently players have made sloppy turnovers in both ends of the ice. Numerous times players pass the puck through the slot, don’t close the man down, don’t mark their man. All those things lead to ‘avoidable pressure’ and Bowns has saved the team’s bacon more than once in the last few games. Does he make mistakes, of course, he’s human. But so do ALL the players. As an outsider looking in I feel Devils don’t make it hard enough for opposition netminders and it leads to games being harder than they ought to be.
Yes last night the D had some howlers but forwards also made some bad decisions which led to some of those. I’m sure Ben wouldn’t be happy letting in 5 but I really don’t think you can say he’s solely responsible for ‘avoidable pressure’. Sometimes Devils need to revert to simple play.
That said still top of the league and pulled out a greasy win last night and a point tonight. Still in charge of their own destiny.
 
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