Devils - Black Hawks Preview

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[00:00:30] All right there. Hello there, Devil fans.

[00:00:34] This is Chris from the Uncle Puckers New Jersey Devil Podcast.

[00:00:37] Going to do a quick preview tonight of the Devils upcoming game against the high flying Chicago Blackhawks.

[00:00:46] I say that with tongue firmly implanted in cheek.

[00:00:50] But, you know, Devs are coming off a awesome game against the Kings.

[00:00:54] That had everything that you wanted to see. The Devils.

[00:00:58] I just... we're going to do a podcast later on Saturday evening.

[00:01:02] We're going to talk a lot about that game.

[00:01:04] We'll also talk about the conclusion of this Blackhawk game and see how that goes.

[00:01:09] But, man, what can you say about that game against the Kings, right?

[00:01:14] Guys, Devil fans, every game you watch, just enjoy the fact that we have Jack Hughes.

[00:01:23] Because that kid is just a phenomenal player who just basically said,

[00:01:29] Hey, man, we're playing great. We're not getting the puck luck.

[00:01:34] So I'm just going to go and do it myself.

[00:01:36] And he did. And it was glorious. And I love him.

[00:01:40] And another great thing about that game, I just have to say, was I will be the first to admit when I'm wrong about something.

[00:01:48] And it looks like my attitude towards Andre Pallott was a bit premature.

[00:01:57] Because he has been playing really good.

[00:01:59] It was great to see him score the snipe against Toronto.

[00:02:03] And even better to see him, you know, do what he should be doing.

[00:02:06] Getting in front of the net and trying to score some greasy, dirty goals.

[00:02:11] And that's exactly what he did.

[00:02:13] So big old thumbs up to you, Mr. Pallott.

[00:02:16] But you might become a devil after all.

[00:02:20] So let's talk about the Chicago Blackhawks, shall we?

[00:02:23] They are coming to town for a 1 p.m. start.

[00:02:26] The dreaded afternoon start.

[00:02:29] The Chicago Blackhawks have played 29 games this season.

[00:02:33] They have nine wins.

[00:02:36] Nine times they've won.

[00:02:38] Nine times? Yes.

[00:02:39] Nine times.

[00:02:41] That's good for 31st in the league.

[00:02:43] They have 18 losses.

[00:02:45] That's good for 32nd in the league.

[00:02:47] And two overtime losses.

[00:02:49] They are sitting at 20 points.

[00:02:51] That is dead last.

[00:02:52] That's 32 out of 32.

[00:02:54] Their winning percentage is 345.

[00:02:58] Again, 32 out of 32.

[00:03:01] They have 71 goals that they have scored.

[00:03:06] That's 30th.

[00:03:07] So a little tick above where they are, where they were, right?

[00:03:10] Goals against 92.

[00:03:11] That's 18th.

[00:03:12] Their goal differential is minus 21.

[00:03:15] That is 27th.

[00:03:18] Let's talk about their special teams.

[00:03:20] Well, first we'll compare that with where the Devils are, right?

[00:03:23] So the 20 points for Chicago Blackhawks.

[00:03:28] Devils have 41.

[00:03:29] They're fourth.

[00:03:31] Devils winning percentage is 641 right now.

[00:03:34] That's seventh in the league.

[00:03:35] Devils are fourth in goals for with 106.

[00:03:39] They're 13th in goals against with 85.

[00:03:42] Their goal differential is fifth in the league.

[00:03:44] They are a plus 21 goal differential.

[00:03:48] Chicago's power play is actually not terrible.

[00:03:52] It's 24%.

[00:03:54] It's 11th in the league.

[00:03:55] I mean, juxtapose that to our 39 30.

[00:03:59] 9%, which is good for a first in the league.

[00:04:03] Penalty kill for yield Blackhawks.

[00:04:06] Again, not bad, right?

[00:04:07] Even better than ours, better percentage than ours.

[00:04:09] They're 83.1%.

[00:04:11] That's good for fifth.

[00:04:12] We're going to kind of take those second, those second and third numbers and flip them.

[00:04:16] We're 81.3% and ninth in the league.

[00:04:20] They get about 25.93 shots on goal per game.

[00:04:25] That puts them right back down the 30th and the Devils get about 30.41.

[00:04:31] That's seventh team save percentage for the Blackhawks are 894.

[00:04:35] That's 16th and the Devils are ninth in team save percentage at 899.

[00:04:40] All right.

[00:04:41] So the Chicago Blackhawks, as I just demonstrated with these statistics suck.

[00:04:49] They are the worst team in the league.

[00:04:52] Now that doesn't mean that they can't come into your barn and beat you if you are not playing the type of hockey the Devils need to play.

[00:04:59] But I assure you, that's not going to happen.

[00:05:02] The Devils aren't going to pull a New York Rangers and blow this game to the Chicago Blackhawks.

[00:05:07] It's just not going to happen.

[00:05:08] Not the way they played against Toronto and then come back after a loss, right?

[00:05:12] That could be deflating.

[00:05:13] You could go in the locker room like Jesus Christ, like what do we have to fucking do?

[00:05:18] We did everything right and we still didn't get the two points.

[00:05:21] They didn't let that bring them down.

[00:05:22] They said we did everything right.

[00:05:24] So next time we're going to go and do it again and we're going to get the results that we deserved against Toronto.

[00:05:29] And that's exactly what they did.

[00:05:30] So big old rah-rah, hooray for Sheldon Keefe and the Devils.

[00:05:37] And the Chicago did just come off and beat the Rangers about a week or so ago, which is absolutely hysterical.

[00:05:46] So Chicago's last four games.

[00:05:48] All right.

[00:05:49] We'll start with the fourth game.

[00:05:51] We'll go up to the most recent game, right?

[00:05:53] They lost to Boston two to four.

[00:05:55] That was in Chicago.

[00:05:57] And then they did the exact same thing in Chicago against the Jets, a two for loss.

[00:06:03] And then the big win, right?

[00:06:05] The two one win against the New York Rangers in MSG.

[00:06:08] And then last night, which was Thursday night, they lost five to four on the island against the Islanders who had a five one lead and almost let that thing slip away.

[00:06:19] So, you know, Chicago is just one of those teams.

[00:06:22] They're supposed to be young and upcoming.

[00:06:25] And I kind of expected a much bigger stride toward that this year.

[00:06:31] It hasn't happened.

[00:06:33] But we know they got some guys, right?

[00:06:36] Conor Bedard, he's got 24 points this year at six and 18.

[00:06:40] Ryan Donato, 16 points at 10 and six.

[00:06:43] Tyler Bertuzzi, 13 at eight and five.

[00:06:46] And Nick Foligno has 12 at seven and five.

[00:06:50] So Conor Bedard's their leading point getter.

[00:06:54] And he's a sniper.

[00:06:56] I mean, he's not really doing it this year with the goals, but it's his second year in the league.

[00:07:00] I like the kid.

[00:07:01] I enjoy watching him play.

[00:07:03] But if we remember last year's game, right?

[00:07:06] When Mr. Brendan Smith welcomed him to the NHL with a jaw shattering, literally hit at center ice.

[00:07:15] They're goaltenders.

[00:07:16] Peter Mrazek has played 20 games for Chicago.

[00:07:19] He has seven wins, 11 losses and one overtime loss for a 9.06 save percentage and a 2.83 goals against.

[00:07:27] They give up a ton of chances.

[00:07:28] And these goalies are being hung out to dry a lot.

[00:07:32] Their save percentages for both these guys are good because they are good goalies on bad teams.

[00:07:38] Soderbloom has played 10 games.

[00:07:40] He's 2.7 and one.

[00:07:41] He has a 9.08 save percentage and a 2.74 goals against average.

[00:07:49] Against the Blackhawks all time, the New Jersey Devils are 48, 46, 21 and six.

[00:07:55] We actually have a winning record against an original six team.

[00:07:57] I thought that was kind of cool.

[00:07:59] Jacob Markstrom all time against Chicago is 10, four and four.

[00:08:03] He's played 19 games and he's sitting at a 2.57 GAA and a 9.17 save percentage career against the Blackhawks.

[00:08:11] Now I'm on record as saying, give Markstrom the afternoon off, you know, let him just kick back, put his feet up and enjoy the game because I would put in Isaac Poulter.

[00:08:23] It's against the Blackhawks.

[00:08:25] Blackhawks.

[00:08:26] Let's see what the kid can do.

[00:08:28] Unless for some miracle Jake Allen is ready to go, then I'm sure he probably would get the start.

[00:08:33] But I don't think that's even a factor right now.

[00:08:36] Hopefully, Dawson Mercer is okay.

[00:08:38] He got banged up pretty good in that Kings game, took a puck to the mush.

[00:08:42] Hopefully, he'll be back for this game and feeling good because he played a really good game against the Hawks.

[00:08:49] I mean, against the Hawks, against the Kings.

[00:08:51] I thought that Timo Meier line, Nico Heischer and Mercer, they were just Timo Meier was a freaking animal in that game.

[00:08:59] Like it kind of feels right a little bit, Devil fans.

[00:09:02] Like he's right there, just a little bit right there.

[00:09:04] And all of a sudden, he's going to pop like a balloon and start putting him in night after night.

[00:09:10] You always want a good solid shot prop bet.

[00:09:13] It's Timo Meier on the over and the shot props.

[00:09:16] It's usually a winner.

[00:09:18] So anyway, I would start Poulter.

[00:09:20] Whether or not Sheldon Keefe does, it doesn't matter if it's Marky.

[00:09:24] That's fine too.

[00:09:26] So I already talked about Pala, talked about Meier.

[00:09:29] Let's talk about what we did against Chicago last season.

[00:09:32] We played him twice, both were Devil wins, 4-2 in both games.

[00:09:36] Talked about the Brendan Smith hit.

[00:09:39] This is a pretty simple game, right?

[00:09:43] Like the Blackhawks, they just fired Luke Richardson.

[00:09:49] Anders Sorensen is now their new coach.

[00:09:52] The first, I believe, I believe the first Swedish goalie, I believe, or a coach in the league.

[00:09:58] So he's 1-2-0.

[00:10:00] It doesn't seem like they're getting that new coach bump that everybody loves to talk about.

[00:10:06] So, yeah, I don't think it's going to mean much.

[00:10:09] It's again, this is a simple game plan, right?

[00:10:13] You just take what you did against the Kings, wash, rinse, repeat.

[00:10:18] The Blackhawks will have no answers for the Devils if they play that type of game.

[00:10:25] If they have the afternoon doldrums and they come in and they skate like shit and they're not taking it seriously.

[00:10:33] And the first period, they're down a goal and then, you know, have to turn it on later.

[00:10:39] It could be just a long, frustrating night.

[00:10:41] I really don't want to see that.

[00:10:43] And I think Devil fans don't want to see that.

[00:10:45] Like, just keep your foot on the gas, right?

[00:10:47] And run these fucking dudes over.

[00:10:49] They're a bad team.

[00:10:50] They're last in the league.

[00:10:52] You are a true Stanley Cup contender.

[00:10:54] I expect the Devils to play like a true Stanley Cup contender against the Blackhawks.

[00:11:00] So, bury them.

[00:11:01] I want to see this team go.

[00:11:03] It looks like they're really does after those last two games look like they can start to get that consistency.

[00:11:09] We talked about start racking up some wins and putting some distance between you and that bottom half of the Metropolitan Division that can't seem to get out of each other's way.

[00:11:20] You know, you just want to sit up top, whether it's second, first, third.

[00:11:24] It doesn't matter.

[00:11:25] Just get in that playoff position.

[00:11:27] Play good, solid, disciplined hockey all the way to the end and they're going to be okay.

[00:11:34] Like I said, we're going to do a show Saturday night.

[00:11:37] It will be dropping that will discuss the King game and it'll discuss the Blackhawk game and whatever else we feel like it.

[00:11:45] Devil fans, if you are interested in this awesome Uncle Pucker sticker that I'm holding up here, it's super duper cool.

[00:11:53] Your friends will be jealous.

[00:11:54] Your girlfriend or boyfriend, they'll want one and they'll probably fight you for it, but they won't have to.

[00:12:00] They won't have to because all you have to do is go to unclepuckers.com, click on the contact info and we will send them out to you.

[00:12:08] Just put a couple in the mail today.

[00:12:10] So we really love it.

[00:12:11] When you get them, slap them on your car, your water bottle, your computer, take a little picture, throw it up on social and tag us because we would love to see our stickers out there and you guys supporting the program.

[00:12:25] Really do appreciate the hell out of each and every one of you guys.

[00:12:28] Any things you want to talk about, drop us always a line, uncle puckers at gmail.com.

[00:12:33] You can find us on blue sky.

[00:12:35] We're not so much on X anymore.

[00:12:37] We're kind of like the blue sky gang now, but we are still on X and we will, of course, answer any questions if you want to reach us that way.

[00:12:46] Otherwise, man, enjoy the game.

[00:12:48] This is going to be a fun one, a nice afternoon tilt at the rock.

[00:12:52] And hopefully the devils can put another one in the win column.

[00:12:56] The homestand ends tomorrow right now.

[00:12:59] They're two, one and one.

[00:13:00] Let's let's end it in the right way.

[00:13:03] And this thing three, one and one nice successful road trip before we head out for a couple of games on the road.

[00:13:08] So that's about it, guys.

[00:13:10] Thank you so much for checking out the video and let's go devils.

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