Tonight was only marginally better than last Thursday’s effort against the Storm, and being brutally honest, the Devils didn’t do enough to warrant the 2 points.
The success of the PP, all 8 seconds of it, was the Devils players never stood still, so the Blaze struggled to track which player was where. When you review when the Devils had a hot PP, (which in fairness was a while ago), the passing was crisp, hard and flat and players kept moving and cycling the puck, drawing opposition defence players out of position and invariably freeing up the extra man at the back post to slam the puck into a gaping net. Recently the PP has been statuesque and so predictable - other teams have done their homework, and we’ve been slow or react.
I have no idea why BD thought it was a wise move to out Reid out in overtime, especially when the Blaze kept rotating their lines. BD shortened the bench in the third and just like last Thursday, lines 1&2 were knackered. SanFord is possibly the fastest skater in the Devils line up, and imho, I don’t think Waller is that far behind - Reid on the other hand is not at the top end when it comes to speed and he was massively exposed when overtaken for the OT Blaze winner. The devils have previously had good success when using all four lines, perhaps BD has some personality issues with some players, but he is surely being found out for his lack of game and player management at the moment.
I’m sure BD a nice enough man, but he’s still a rookie coach whose idea of plan B is “see plan A“ . This is simply not the appropriate appointment for a team that alleges to aspire to compete for titles and trophies. Changes needed and rapido!