Screencap: @Sportsnet/Twitter
Fans bring energy and emotional impact to games, which fire up the team and leave them encouraged. It was quite the opposite Wednesday night at Prudential Center as the New Jersey Devils hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs. After three Devils goals were overturned, the home fans were losing it.
Devils fans began booing and throwing food, beverages, and other items onto the ice displeased that three goals were called off. They were down two goals nearly midway into the third period.
What's going through your mind when the fans start throwing stuff on the ice?
Sheldon Keefe smiles
"Take cover. That's really all you can do …"
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 24, 2022
New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff held up his hand to stop fans from throwing debris, but to no avail. The cleaning crew had to come out, and the Maple Leafs returned to the locker room.
After a third goal was called off, Devils fans began throwing garbage on the ice. The Leafs headed to the locker room while the debris was cleaned up. pic.twitter.com/SrK6HV9dxS
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 24, 2022
Devils center Eric Haula even skated around and shouted for fans to stop.
The Devils fans are NOT happy after the disallowed goal 👀
The Maple Leafs have headed to the locker room after fans littered the ice with items pic.twitter.com/MQXPxKx4X5
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 24, 2022
The Devils would lose 2-1 to Toronto, breaking their 13-game win streak.
By Della Young
Vitek was in net
Caps fans 2 years ago: VV sucks, gives up too many rebounds, will never be a #1 goalie
VV this year: Time for Ken Dryden impersonation
BTW, my criticism of Caps fans comes mostly from my impressions of them at another Caps blog. I had to abandon reading it, due to the extreme nausea
caused by reading their comments. CYA off.
I expect most fans to be typical fans. Fair weather, fickle, wild swings of support. But if not for all fans, no team could exist.
As for Vitek, as with any player, sometimes it takes a change of scenery to blossom. I think MCM may be another.
And Burakovsky….and Siegenthaler….and Forsberg (well, to be technical, FF never played here)….and Grubauer….and Stephenson….and….
yep. But that is not always a bad thing. For years as a kid I tried to raise tulips in Florida. It never worked and never would have worked — not the right environment. So I feel that some of those who thrived elsewhere would never have been a success here. Others would have and yes, we are poorer for it. I still lament Forsberg. I preferred Gruby. I liked Siggy and was ok with Bura. But no proof that they would have worked in the Caps system. Vrana and Sammy I feel would not have. Vitek I’m ambivalent on. Takes more than just skill, it does take the whole environment of coaches, GM, owner, teammates, city, family. Look at Jagr. Great before the Caps, great after the Caps, sucked here.
Sad that most of those players were lost to save money to play players who are now old and should have been traded. Gruby was let go to sign Holtby and 2 years later he was finished. Sig was traded for cap room and the Caps missed out on an outstanding D-man. They never could make up their mind where to play Stephenson so shipped him out to save salary. Forsberg was just a plain stupid and asinine trade and the GM should have been fired for that one! I understand Bura and Varna as they showed flashes but were not consistant and still arnt. Problem here is that management hangs unto players to long. Rather than trade them while they still have value for either young players and/or picks they want to keep everyone and then hope to find Gold in the trash heap. Imagine the salary cap space if this team had kept Gruby and traded Holtby after winning the Cup. And the same with Carlson, Kuzy and Oshie. Yes they were important cogs but then you get picks and young players to fill those rolls.
Change of scenery and change in coaching staff!
I’d love to see the NHL have to make video comments after the game (within 24 hours). Disputed goals automatic. Each HC would be able to request one to three such reviews of calls or non-calls within an hour after the game. League would have to explain why it was correct or admit it was incorrect. If incorrect, the ref would be given a black mark in his file. It’s transparency, it’s accountability.
I’m sure there was lots of chanting of “Ref, you suck!” by the fan base. I don’t recall hearing of any game where THREE goals were overturned on technicalities. Devils’ fans were probably believing in conspiracy theories about this
To a Devils fan, the only thing that could have been worse is if this took place in Game 7 of a playoff series against the New York Rangers as the Rangers are their most hated team.