Panthers Vs Devils - Wed 26 Sept - League

[RedDevil17]

Firstly genuine question, what does Batch do that makes him so much better than Reddick?
And secondly, I never said Martin had a lacklustre season last year.

Mistake on my part with Martin, however Batch is so much better than Reddick defensively. Yes Reddick is a better skater but Batch is stronger along the boards, tougher, better hitter and is very versatile. Batch is far better defensively than Reddick. You must be watching a different Batch to me then because I think he’s been outstanding all season so far

 

[The_Puck]

I

He’s strong on the boards, he can cope with the physicality of power forwards bearing down on him, he can clear the net, positionally he’s far more defensively sound and responsible. That’s for starters anyway. I think he’s been great so far this year.
I admire Reddick’s heart and effort but he’s a frustrated forward. Put him on the wing on the 4th line and let his speed cause problems down the other end of the ice.

I will admit Batch is very strong physically on the boards and clearing the net, he is also much faster this year aswell. But he must turn over the puck 5-10 times a game by waiting for opponents to close him down and the clear the puck or by fanning the puck. Reddick however has the speed and endurance to last a solid minute or 2 for one shift. He also surprisingly wins a lot of board battle giving his size.

 

[The_Puck]

Mistake on my part with Martin, however Batch is so much better than Reddick defensively. Yes Reddick is a better skater but Batch is stronger along the boards, tougher, better hitter and is very versatile. Batch is far better defensively than Reddick. You must be watching a different Batch to me then because I think he’s been outstanding all season so far

Batch has played much better than last season but he still isn’t good enough on D imo.

 

[Rob Batch]

First period Josh had two good shots on goal then after the subsequent F/O had yet another shot which Haddad scored from. What game were you watching?

 

[august04]

I

I will admit Batch is very strong physically on the boards and clearing the net, he is also much faster this year aswell. But he must turn over the puck 5-10 times a game by waiting for opponents to close him down and the clear the puck or by fanning the puck. Reddick however has the speed and endurance to last a solid minute or 2 for one shift. He also surprisingly wins a lot of board battle giving his size.

I think we’ll agree to disagree. You’re watching different players to me.

 

[The_Puck]

I think we’ll agree to disagree. You’re watching different players to me.

That’s fine with me, on a more positive note that was a fantastic advert for British hockey.

 

[Slartibartfast]

When we were 2-0 up I thought my God how many mistakes have we made in our own D. If we win this match it will be down to Bownsy. How many times did he save us after D zone turnovers. Luckily Panthers looked really poor so I thought we would win it due to that.
But then Panthers stepped it up and dominated the match. How many times did we just throw the puck back to them. If you give a good team that much puck possession they are going to win.
Sadly for Bownsy he let another soft one in from the left wing. This seems to be his weak point this year. Other than that one mistake he had a brilliant game.
Im a neutral on Reddick but his gap control was bad on that goal. Had that have been Blood he would have come out with the puck.
I agree with what someone said on Linglet. He had a stinker. Im really disappointed as he has looked like he was about to hit form but he lost the puck so many times tonight.
That was a very poor performance. Believe it or not, I was going to say that even if we won.
However I still think we have a better team than the Panthers and I also think we will win the league, just as long as we don't play like that.

 

[Rob Batch]

I'm looking forward to the pushback !!

 

[Rob Batch]

Come on U Devils, lets get Schwifty !!!!!

 

[kettdevil1]

Always interesting how people see games differently.... for me that was the highest quality game I have seen for some time. Two excellent teams swinging and hitting for the full 60 minutes, both sets of fans were buzzing afterwards. The tactical battle was fascinating with each coach adjusting things almost every shift. Strange the focus seems to be on mistakes but I saw it as almost every mistake was forced by a smart play. Haddad was a menace all night whilst Joey Martin’s positional play off the puck was as good as you will ever see, he created so much space. Gutting to lose so deep into the game but I would be very surprised if these two teams did not slug it out for top spot all season.

 

[Rich Best]

Always interesting how people see games differently.... for me that was the highest quality game I have seen for some time. Two excellent teams swinging and hitting for the full 60 minutes, both sets of fans were buzzing afterwards. The tactical battle was fascinating with each coach adjusting things almost every shift. Strange the focus seems to be on mistakes but I saw it as almost every mistake was forced by a smart play. Haddad was a menace all night whilst Joey Martin’s positional play off the puck was as good as you will ever see, he created so much space. Gutting to lose so deep into the game but I would be very surprised if these two teams did not slug it out for top spot all season.

I agree, that is how I saw it.

 

[kettdevil1]

Clean hit everyday of the week, that's as clean of a hit open ice as you're going to get

I would like to see it again as it is always difficult to be certain first time round but my initial reaction was that it was a magnificent play by the D Man, Hedden looked to be clean through

 

[shoes_off]

A great spectacle for tv I thought!! Very close, tense game that had everything. It was the sort of game that made me think 'if you don't like this, you don't like hockey'. I hope the season is full of close games like this this season.

 

[Gazza272]

Always interesting how people see games differently.... for me that was the highest quality game I have seen for some time. Two excellent teams swinging and hitting for the full 60 minutes, both sets of fans were buzzing afterwards. The tactical battle was fascinating with each coach adjusting things almost every shift. Strange the focus seems to be on mistakes but I saw it as almost every mistake was forced by a smart play. Haddad was a menace all night whilst Joey Martin’s positional play off the puck was as good as you will ever see, he created so much space. Gutting to lose so deep into the game but I would be very surprised if these two teams did not slug it out for top spot all season.

I'd agree with this, this was high octane chess for the most part.

This also showed what home advantage is, that crowd got into it big time in the third and you could feel the mood change, sometimes it's one of those intangible things in sport. If Martin puts that penalty shot away, the air goes out of the Arena and we ease our way to 2 points.

Cracking game of what will be a cracking series.

 

[fried egg]

Some outrageous comments on this thread. We lost an excellent game of hockey,it happens.

 

[mweller]

First of all, well played Panthers for doing to us what we did to them in our place. Expect this will be the nature of the season between these two teams.

Good to see the "we need more toughness" brigade back out, they must have been getting frustrated with all that winning malarkey.

It's true we're not as physical as Panthers, but they're all about 8 foot tall. We'd have to change our roster to compete on that front, and do you want to get rid of Martin, Mo, Benti, etc? For me we lost the game psychologically more than physically. We always knew they'd come out fast in the 3rd when 2-0 down. We were rocking but pulled ourselves back into it - we built some offense, which led to the PP, which led to the goal. If there was a problem it was that the adage about being vulnerable when you score came to haunt us. Having survived the early onslaught and pulled it back to a 2 goal lead, there was a sense of relief. We needed to play smart and ugly hockey for 4-5 minutes just to frustrate them - tie it up on the boards, dump and chase, whatever. When they got one back immediately the confidence and strength drained from the Devils and there was only one winner from there. This is not a criticism of the players, it's just the way it goes, and I expect Lord will be saying similar. They'll learn from that, which is something Lord excels at.

Can't understand some of the criticisms on here: Batch is having a really good season, I think he got 2nd assist on first two goals, and was a solid unit in D; Bowns looked confident and assured all night until that closing period which was symptomatic of the whole team really; Haddad was brilliant, particularly in the first period, working hard and driving forward.

Excellent game, going to be ding dong between these two all season.

 

[James]

If we're going to lose games this season and every team does, I'd rather lose them in a close game that goes down to the wire than being blown out 4-0 in the first 10 minutes. Really enjoyed the game last night.

 

[Mooney#16]

Devils really contained the Panthers well in the first two periods especially in the defensive zone where panthers really were not getting in to the slot. However I felt Devils fell into their CHL trap in the third of completely forgetting how to give an outlet pass to the defence and it was chip plays out or for the most part not getting out at all. I don’t know what happened in the forwards but the wheels stopped turning and they weren’t giving the outlets. Hence the D looked at sea in the 3rd as it was fairly constant pressure. I fail to see how anyone can single out individuals. That full team dropped there compete level in the face of an inevitable push back from panthers and the momentum got into there minds. You could see Panthers scoring on collective will alone. Credit to them they are clearly going to be a far better animal than under Corey.

This looks like it’s going to be the title battle for most of the year so whilst frustrating to not get an opening blow in on the road you have to hold your hands up to Panthers grit. As long as Devils win all the home games with Panthers my money would still be on Devils having better consistency throughout the year.

 

[Milky]

Yes I’m gutted we lost but If we put things into perspective here, we lost away by one goal right at the death (somewhere we don’t have the greatest of records) against what I think will be the team pushing us for the title.

Nottingham are a good team.

 

[ASHIPP]

Panthers deserved the win - their physicality, discipline and accurate finishing killed the Devils in p3.

Was not really expecting a good result from such a difficult place to play. One loss is not the end of the world BUT it does highlight clearly how improved the Panthers are, and that the Devils are going to have to work very hard and perform clinically for 60 minutes to get results this season. Going into the weekend, Lord and the Team must not take Clan or Flames for granted either....these are very strong teams who have already put down markers in the last couple of weeks.

Linglet's tripping call changed the momentum of the game. Once the Panthers were back to a goal behind, with the crowd behind them, they knew they could change the result. Panthers simply drained the Devils' energy and took full advantage of mistakes and penalty calls. With our two strongest defencemen in the bin at the close of p3, Devils were never going to win.

I look back to last season and just how effective our penalty kill was. They never seemed phased even in a 5 on 3 situation. And we are missing the contribution of Strachan and Hotham. Strachan brought vast experience and a disciplined, cool strength that could shut down key opposition players before they could get to their offensive zone.....and clear out any that got anywhere near Bownsey. And Hotham was simply a brilliant, maverick talisman who could change very tight games (like last night) by doing something special at the right time.

The Devils need that other import defenceman quickly now....and maybe/hopefully some decent cover for Faryna if Justin is out for some time.