Kipper : #Pens Lose to The Devils. Streak Ends & We Are Back To Watching Clasic Devils Obstruciton Hockey

Classic Devils hockey?
It's called "The Game Obstruction". the Devils have been masters of it since the 1990's. Teams like the Detroit Red Wings got pretty good at it themselves but when the New Jersey Devils are winning and holding teams to a low level amount of goals, it's not and never has been about Defense and Goaltending, it's been about finding ways to Obstruct.
Trap System? Check.
The Devils utilized a system for decades which basically squeezed all of the Offense out of opponents and frustrated far more talented and skilled teams into trying "too much" and capitalizing off of their mistakes. so many lesser talented Devils teams ended up doing much more than more talented teams based on that system they prefecture for years.
Clutch And Grab? Check.
This was classic Obstruction that the NHL did away with after the 04-05 Strike. Basically you take guys like Stevens and Niedermeyer and you teach them how to prevent guys from coming into the zone or winning puck battles on the boards by grabbing a hold of something. Garage League? Absolutely. For years the NHL allowed this and allowed mediocre to average teams like the devils to go deep into the Playoffs, make it to the Finals and win Stanley Cups. It wasn't a game of "Hockey", it was a game of "Holding".
Ironically this still goes on today but you have to be better at it to not get caught or have the Referees look the other way. Detroit became extremely proficient at this. They found ways to hold quick enough for the refs to not notice or for the Refs to believe it wasn't enough to warrant the whistle that it throws off the opposing teams forward who is expecting a whistle. The opposing teams are trying to make offensive plays and are thrown off just long enough to not make the play they wanted or were trying for. It's enough to give the team utilizing this type of Obstruction an advantage.
So, if the Devils are utilizing the Trap as they once did and aren't really clutching and Grabbing anymore, then what sort of Obstruction could they be getting away with?
Interference
I watched in this Pens loss to the Devils (and I only got the chance to watch the game from about 10:50 into the 2nd Period and on), at least 2 blatant Interference penalties against the Devils not called. Unfortunately the NHL has been doing the Devils the favor of ignoring Interference calls against them for years and years now. They probably figure that if the Devils stunk then even less people would go to their half empty arena and that wouldn't be good for a Franchise who like the rest of the NHL survives on Gate revenues and concessions.
161169056_slide.jpgThere were a few calls against the Pittsburgh Penguins that were very "iffy" called for Roughing/Boarding where I saw the Devils get away with the same calls. Even bob Errey was "screaming" for the penalties. A guy that in years past had been very "non-homer" has been more vocal about calls not going against the opponent this year than I've noticed. I saw 2 blatant calls not made on the Devils from when I started watching and I'm sure there were 1-2 others from the start of the game until 10:50 in the 2nd Period.
The bottom line is that the Pittsburgh Penguins engaged in a very tight checking, neutral zone type of game against the Devils. It's the type of game we've seen the Devils play over and over again. It's the type of game where certain fans who aren't as well versed about the sport as well as others will claim it to be "sloppy". it's not sloppy.
The Pittsburgh Penguins did what they had to do against the Devils for a majority of this game. They played patient. Unfortunately for the Pens, they aren't built to play a patient type of game. They are a team built on speed. Speed moving the puck. They aren't a team whose game and system revolves around sitting in the neutral zone, interfering and capitalization 60 minutes. That's the Devils game, so to see the Devils out-shoot the Pittsburgh Penguins 12-8 in the 2nd Period, is not a big deal. That's the Devils game. The Pens counter to it has always been the need to play "patient" and they did that until they found themselves needing to kill off too many penalties.
So, one would suggest that the Pens loss was based on their inability to stay out of the Penalty Box? Yes and No.
The Pens and Devils games are always controlled by 1 of 3 outcomes..
1. The Pens lose because they aren't patient enough.
2. The Pens win because the Devils just seem to have a completely off game (as we saw in the Pens win against the Devils earlier this season)
3. Special Teams decide the outcome.
It was that last one that was the deciding factor. if it is a tight patient game, special teams generally make the difference in these games, which is why it is important that the calls are even. If you give either team too many "more" advantages eventually they are going to capitalize because you've frustrated and demoralized one team by stacking the calls against them. This is what happened to the Pittsburgh Penguins this afternoon against the Devils. The referees started stacking the calls against the Pens. I'm not suggesting that the Penguins weren't guilty of most of these calls, just that, the Refs weren't calling penalties on the Devils when they were committing them. You think the players don't see and know when penalties are committed? They know. when they are on the bum side of receiving, it frustrates them. It happened to Evgeni Malkin who tends to get too emotionally involved when penalties are called on him. He eventually lost it and the Devils eventually scored the go ahead goal because of it. However at that point the Pens were playing too much of the game on the Penalty Kill. The demoralizing was already in full swing.
Would a more evenly called game had played in favor of the Pens? Absolutely. They wouldn't have gotten frustrated from the way the game appeared to be called one sided against them. It's all mental and psychological. When you have to play a very tight checking game against a team that desperately relies on obstruction and then you are getting penalized around every corner while the opponent is getting off "clean", it psychologically will wear you down. Make the calls more even and both teams are at the same frustration level and both teams have to kill an equally proportionate amount of penalties.
The pens lost their composure but not before the Referees decide to be a big part in the outcome of this hockey game

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