Bruins Head to NJ on Lemaire Night

[00:00:05] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils, and you're listening to the Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils! Alright boys and girls, what is happening Devil Nation? Another preview video going out for tomorrow night's game against the Boston Bruins at The Rock and Puck Drop I believe is 7pm.

[00:00:32] Don't hold me to that because they're having a lot of pomp and circumstance and ceremony to induct Jacques Lemaire into the Devil's Ring of Honor, which we will discuss a little bit later in the video and just exactly who he was and what he meant to this franchise. For younger Devil fans that may not have been around for those quote-unquote glory days, but we got to deal with the business at hand first and that is the Boston Bruins.

[00:00:59] Like we talked about on the last show, the Devils are struggling. They cannot seem to find any offense whatsoever. There has been a couple of new lineups, line changes that were done in practice today. We'll just kind of go over those real quick, but let's start with who it is that we are dealing with in the Boston Bruins.

[00:01:18] Now, I think that a lot of people, myself included, thought that Boston was going to kind of fall off that cliff a couple of years ago and they ended up, you know, just being Boston and playing great hockey and making it to the playoffs. And yeah, not really doing a whole lot. They beat Toronto in the first round last year and that seven game overtime winner and a beautiful goal by Pasternak, but they really haven't done much. And this year it does seem like the wheels have fallen off. They don't have a whole lot of depth up the middle.

[00:01:44] And I think that that exposed them this year and that is why they're sitting at a 23, 19 and six record for fourth in the Atlantic. They're popping in and out of that wildcard spot, the third seed. Everybody in the Eastern Conference right now is fighting for every point and everybody seemingly feels like they are in this thing.

[00:02:02] Which makes the Devils kind of path out of this funk that they're in going to be a little bit more difficult because every team in the Eastern Conference, it's going to feel like a playoff game because every single team is fighting for every single point. And the Devils right now are like they're just they're ripe for the picking and teams are just plucking points off of them left and right. And they need to put the brakes on here and stop this skid and get back to playing the Devils hockey that we saw him play for the majority of this season.

[00:02:32] Boston is sitting at a 542 winning percentage. That's good for 19th in the league. Let's see how they stack up on the rest of the metrics. They have 133 goals for that's 20th in the NHL. They have 152 goals against that's 24th in the NHL. A goal differential of minus 19 and that's 26th in the NHL. Now if you haven't followed along, these numbers are not good.

[00:02:59] Power play 13.8%. That's 30th in the NHL. Their penalty kill is 24th in the league at 75.9% and team save percentage is 24th in the league as well with 889. This is not the Boston teams of years ago. They are a very fragile team right now. They already fired their coach Montgomery out Sacco in they went on a bit of a winning streak kind of fell down to earth a little bit.

[00:03:28] Last year, we played them three times. We got one win out of it and it was an overtime win and that was on December 13th. That was an overtime win 2-1 and then they beat us 5-2 on December 30th and they beat us in the 3-0 shutout on January 15th. Of course, you know that they're being led by their stars because they really don't have a whole lot else. David Posternak is a fantastic player.

[00:03:54] He's sitting at 22 goals, 31 assists for 53 points. Brad Marchand is sitting at 17 goals, 20 assists at 37 points. Pablo Zaka, our very own Pablo Zaka, is sitting on his 11 goals, 16 assists for 27 points. The rest of the guys, they kind of fall off a map a little bit there after those guys.

[00:04:19] They, you know, you guys have, let's see here, let's go down. You got Elias and Lindholm sitting on eight goals. You have Morgan Geeky with 11 and then everybody else, Brazo, the big Brazo. He's got 10, Charlie Coyle's got 12. But they're not a very dangerous team. And their last few games, they beat San Jose 6-3. That was their latest game.

[00:04:46] They lost to the Senators 5-6, which seems to be what everybody's doing nowadays, losing to the Senators. Jesus, they're playing some solid hockey. They beat the Lightning 6-2 and they also beat the Florida Panthers 4-3. So that was actually a fun game. They tied it up, Florida tied it up late in the game and then Boston won it in overtime. You know, my whole thing with Boston is, you know, they're another bigger team.

[00:05:15] They're another more defensively skilled team. But I think they have a lot of weaknesses. I think this could be a very good opponent for New Jersey to get out of this funk and at least start it. Jake, at least start getting out of the funk. You know it's going to be, everybody's had some rest. Rest, you know, Boston hasn't played since the San Jose game, which was Monday. So they got a couple of nights off. The Devils played on Sunday. They have an extra day off. So you know it's going to be Jacob Markstrom and Jeremy Swayman.

[00:05:42] Jacob Markstrom in 13 games against the Boston Bruins is 6-5-1 in his career. He has a 2-7-8 goals against average and a 9-0-7 save percentage. Jeremy Swayman, on the other hand, very small sample size. 2-0-1 in three games against New Jersey with a 1-3-1 goals against and a 9-58 save percentage. It's a very good save percentage. So it's going to be Markstrom against Swayman. Devils are struggling to score goals.

[00:06:10] They just cannot seem to, like I said, get out of their own way. They can't hit the net. They just, it's all a mess right now. Everything from our decor right up to our forward line. So much so that there's some changes in the lines that we saw at practice. It looks like this is what Sheldon Keefe is probably going to go with tomorrow against the Bruins. He had Hughes centering Andre Pallott and Nate Bastian. All right, just let that sink in for a second.

[00:06:40] Nate Bastian is playing wing on the first line of the New Jersey Devils. Shit is bad when Nate Bastian is playing wing on the first line of the New Jersey Devils. The second line is seeing he sure he is centering Stephen Nason and Jesper Bratt. I like that. Then on the third line, we have Cotter centering Meyer and Mercer. Is Cotter a center? I mean, I would think Mercer would center that line, but okay.

[00:07:07] Originally, I would have liked to have maybe seen Meyer up there with Pallott and Hughes and maybe Bastian on that third line with Cotter and Mercer. And then he had McDermott, Lazer and Tater on the fourth line. Okay. You know, there's Curtis Lazar on that fourth line. And now you took Nate Bastian off of it. And that fourth line is going to do jack shit now. And they've been our better line for the last couple of weeks or last couple of games rather. But McDermott, yeah, come on. I mean, he could throw a punch, but that's about it.

[00:07:37] And Thomas Tatar, I know he had a goal the other day, but he's not been playing very well. I don't know. Maybe it'll spark something. Me personally, and I know absolutely Sheldon Keefe has forgotten more hockey than I will ever know. So I have to trust him in this. But to me, a Pallott with Hughes in the middle and Meyer on the other wing, that kind of makes sense. I know that this Meyer Hughes thing hasn't worked out in the past, but like we talked about

[00:08:04] in the show, the last podcast that the Uncle Puckers did there, let's try it again. Let's just give it a shot. I mean, we know, right? Meyer was brought in here to play with them. Let's see if it can work. But there's another reason, not only because of the Devils' recent struggles, why this game is so important to win. It's a big game. They are putting Jacques Lemaire into the Devils' ring of honor, only the third member to ever

[00:08:32] get in the ring of honor with Dr. John McMullen, who brought the Devils over to New Jersey from Colorado and Sergey Breland, who was there for all three cups and just the mainstay of this team in their glory days and a fantastic player that the Devils could use right now. Jacques Lemaire is, it wasn't until he got here that the Devils really turned their fortunes over and became a very respectable winning team. And he brought that culture in.

[00:09:02] He changed him and Scott Stevens when Stevens came over from the Blues. It was another, those two guys together, I think, really changed the culture of New Jersey. So he was head coach for the Devils from 93 to 98, did come back for 2009-2011, but that 93-98 run is kind of his heyday. He's got 276 regular season wins as the head coach to New Jersey Devils.

[00:09:28] He has 35 postseason wins as the head coach of the Devils, won the Jack Adams in 94, brought the Devils to their first cup in 1995. He himself has 11 cups between playing for the Canadians and coaching an Olympic gold medalist. Yeah, an Olympic gold medalist as an assistant coach for Team Canada. And he went to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. This guy has done everything.

[00:09:56] And I'm sure 11 Stanley Cups, Olympic gold medal inducted into the Hall of Fame. I'm sure all of those pale in comparison as getting your nice little plaque up at the rock saying that you're in the ring of honor. I know I joke. It is a big honor for him. And a lot of the alumni are going to be there. This is going to be a big night. And we all remember what happened with the Devils last big night. And that was Sergey Breland.

[00:10:22] That was when Sarge was getting his name and number retired into the ring of honor. And the Devils went out and completely pissed down their leg in that game. I don't even remember what the score was. And I wasn't about to go find it because it was highly forgettable. Don't do that again. Don't embarrass yourself again in front of Jacques Lemaire and all those alum that are going to be there. It's going to be a very fun night.

[00:10:47] And I really hope that that gives the Devils that push to just go and take it over to Boston, right? Like we saw them in the Ottawa game. They came out flying in the first period. They didn't get anything in the net, but no goals to show for it. But they were flying. And they were generating, I guess, offense. I wouldn't say it was quality offense, but offense nonetheless. And Anton Fordsberg made some good saves. Jeremy Swayman is going to play good. He's a good goalie.

[00:11:17] Boston is in this thing. They're going to want points. The Devils are trying to get out of this thing. They're going to want points. I expect this to be a, I expect this to really be the start of the Devils turning it around. This is the team right now. Okay. And JT Miller isn't coming in to save us. There isn't a big name trade that's going to happen tomorrow. That's going to save this team. And there doesn't have to be, right? Because we've seen them play fantastic hockey.

[00:11:45] We've seen them go an NHL record of holding teams consecutively to under 20 shots on goal. This team knows what they're doing, but they're a little bit lost right now. And every team goes through this. And it's kind of hard though, you know, from a, from a 30,000 foot view, you can say, yeah, okay, this is, they're going to work out through this. And this isn't the end of the world, but when you're in the shit, right? You can't see the forest through the trees.

[00:12:12] It's all doomsday and something has to change and people have to be fired. And no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Devil fans, we all got to pump the brakes and let's see how they play this coming week. Because the schedule I think is a little bit favorable. But it has to start tomorrow night against Boston. Has to. Like I said, big game. You got some line changes that are, you know, going to be in the, you know, in the mix tomorrow.

[00:12:40] Let's see if that works, if that generates some offense. Because it's not like it was back when, even when they were winning, like we were saying, well, we got to do something to get Mercer going. Or we got to get something, do something to get, you know, Brack going. No, no, no, no. No, we have to do something to get this entire team going as far as offense goes. Everybody from Jack Hughes and Nico Heischer right on down to Thomas Tatar and Curtis Lazar. They've got to get something going.

[00:13:07] And when this team can, when this team does find the back of the net, it'll come in bunches. They have goal scorers. They have guys that know what they're doing. Yes, they can use a sniper here or there. There are some deficiencies on this team. But stock as is right now, this team is better than three quarters plus of the NHL. They just haven't been playing that way. This is the game. This is the game. You have a team in Boston fighting for a playoff spot.

[00:13:35] You are floundering right now, but you are pretty secure in that top three. Now, if this goes on much longer, well, then you're going to have to really start to, I would start to worry about that. But right now, that's not the issue. Right now, it's you're sitting in the spot. You're in the position of dominance. Boston is coming up. I know they've won three out of four. I don't give a shit. The Devils play their game. They can dominate Boston. Dominate. But the keys, in my opinion, they have got to score first and fast.

[00:14:04] I'm saying within the first five or six minutes of the first period, they've got to get one past Swayman. Because if we go through this whole 15, 20 shots on Swayman in the first period and nothing to show for it, I think then we might be screwed. Because then we know what's going to happen, right? Boston will score on their third or fourth shot. And the Devils will start getting down themselves. They'll start pressing. They'll give up the odd man rushes. Next thing you know, you're down two to nothing. Maybe you fight back. You get that goal.

[00:14:34] Late in the third. We pull Marky. They score an empty netter, right? We've seen this movie a million times. Score, I mean, sure, early and often would be fantastic. But let's be realistic. One within the first five or six minutes. And I think that the team can settle down. I think that building will settle down. And we can just hopefully watch the Devils play their game and take it to Boston. And if they do that, this should be a 4-2 win, 5-2 win for New Jersey.

[00:15:04] That's what it should be. Let's just hope that they don't start going backwards and get those bad thoughts into their heads and start, you know, like I said, they get 15 shots in the first period. Boston scores on their second shot like Ottawa did. And, you know, all of a sudden it's woe is me. We can't do anything right. And the mistakes start getting made. And they start pushing. And the pucks aren't crisp. The passes aren't crisp. The transition out of their zone isn't crisp. We know how it goes.

[00:15:33] And everything kind of falls apart. So tomorrow night, Jacques Lemaire night. Huge night. Going to be a lot of fun to watch. Swayman versus Markstrom. First game all season against the Boston Bruins, which used to be a great rivalry. And now they're both kind of good again. I expect a good game. I expect the Devils win. Maybe Nate Bastion is the key, right? Maybe Bastion is that cornerstone, that linchpin that's going to bring the Devils together.

[00:16:00] And maybe Bastion has, you know, a four-point night tomorrow night. Wouldn't that be awesome? Not going to happen, but it'd be awesome. Anyway, that's about it. We're going to do a show, most likely the Uncle Puckers, after the Bruins game, if everybody can get together. And we'll talk about that. Definitely tune in for the pregame stuff and the ceremony. Jacques Lemaire was a fantastic coach for the New Jersey Devils. And I just think without him, we do not have the history or the legacy that the Devils have now.

[00:16:31] I believe without him, we don't get the cup in 2000. Maybe Larry Robinson isn't here to bring that cup in. And then, you know, 2003 with Burns, who the hell knows what happens at that point? This was the man that put New Jersey on the map, brought them to respectability. And we have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to Jacques Lemaire and Lula Morella. But this is Jacques' night. So enjoy the pregame. I believe it starts at 6 or 6.30 on MSG. So definitely check that out.

[00:16:59] And for you younger fans, go back and watch some of Jacques' stuff, not just coaching and playing. The man was a fucking beast. But anyway, that's it for tonight. The Uncle Puckers will be back in full force. You can go and check the latest show we just did on Monday. That is up now anywhere that you get your podcast. Or you can go to the Uncle Puckers YouTube channel and watch it in its entirety. And if you do do that, a subscription, a like, a download, you know, guys, the whole shebang. We appreciate you guys.

[00:17:29] Really do appreciate this awesome community of Devil fans that we're growing here. Like I've said before, and I'll continue to say it. I understand the world around us is falling apart and everything is shitty. But if we can find some common ground and that little bit of common ground is New Jersey Devils hockey. And that's what brings us all together. Then let's do it because the world's better for it. And if you guys are at all interested in getting a Uncle Puckers sticker, our logo sticker,

[00:17:58] just go to theunclepuckers.com, fill out the contact info, and we will get those in the mail as soon as possible. And that's about it, boys and girls. We will see you soon. Let's go Devils. It's over, Johnny. It's over.