Devils Skid Hits 3

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[00:00:36] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils.

[00:00:42] And you're listening to the Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils!

[00:00:51] So we can't win four in a row, but can we lose four in a row? That's the question.

[00:00:58] This is the first time all year the Devils have dropped three in a row in regulation.

[00:01:03] Peaks and valleys, boys, peaks and valleys.

[00:01:05] This is most definitely a valley.

[00:01:08] So we just watched them get shut out for the sixth time of the year against the Los Angeles Kings.

[00:01:15] Now dropping three in a row on the road to the Hurricanes, the Mighty Ducks, and now the Los Angeles Kings.

[00:01:23] Happy New Year, guys. How's everybody?

[00:01:26] Hey, happy New Year. Welcome to 2025.

[00:01:28] Yay!

[00:01:29] That sucks.

[00:01:30] Fuck this place.

[00:01:32] 2025.

[00:01:32] Oh, a stupid year.

[00:01:34] Well, I mean, one day in, if the Devils had won, it would be slightly better, I have to say.

[00:01:42] But it doesn't change the fact that if my Vikings win on Sunday, they are legitimately two home wins away from going to the Super Bowl.

[00:01:51] So as much as I'm bummed about the Devils right now, my focus is much more on the Vikings.

[00:01:58] But since this isn't a Viking podcast, I guess we've got to talk Devils.

[00:02:02] And I'll say this.

[00:02:03] We could talk a lot about what's been going wrong with this team, and a lot of it is undisciplined.

[00:02:08] They're just not playing their style of game, taking stupid penalties.

[00:02:12] But this is what happens.

[00:02:16] This is the consequence when you do not have depth scoring.

[00:02:22] Sure.

[00:02:23] Yeah.

[00:02:24] And this is another game with nary a point from anybody in the bottom six today, of course.

[00:02:30] Nobody.

[00:02:31] Even some of our top guys, you know, like Brad and Nico haven't scored a goal in a while.

[00:02:38] I mean, Brad had a pretty rough whiff in the first, although I think Dougie kind of fucking fired up.

[00:02:44] Kind of in his skates a little bit, right?

[00:02:46] Yeah.

[00:02:46] And Dougie gave him a pretty – that was a shit pass.

[00:02:49] Dougie's got to shoot that.

[00:02:50] Dougie hasn't scored.

[00:02:51] He's shooting – I don't know.

[00:02:52] There's a lot going wrong.

[00:02:53] We could go on and on about it.

[00:02:55] But you're right.

[00:02:56] It's – everybody take a deep breath.

[00:02:59] It'll be okay.

[00:03:00] It's going to be okay.

[00:03:01] We're still a very good team.

[00:03:03] Yes.

[00:03:08] Like, it's that simple.

[00:03:10] He's going to go a bunch of games, going to get a bunch of goals, and then he's going to go forever without him.

[00:03:15] But if he's contributing on the assists and stuff like he's been, you can kind of, okay, cover up for that.

[00:03:22] Nico, I would say, would probably have more offensive opportunities if he wasn't up against the freaking best players on the opposing team every single night.

[00:03:31] But, again, last two games, Palat – Palat – Andre Palat whiffed on two beautiful chances that maybe could have changed the game.

[00:03:43] The bottom six.

[00:03:44] I thought that the third line played a good first period this game.

[00:03:49] And then I – Cotter took that stupid penalty late.

[00:03:53] You know, and I have a question just because this game's fresh in my head.

[00:03:58] But –

[00:03:58] So, you get the double minor on L.A., right?

[00:04:02] So, we pulled a goalie.

[00:04:03] Basically, two and a half minutes left.

[00:04:04] We have a six on four for the rest of it.

[00:04:07] Why on the second leg of that was Nate Bastian, Eric Holla, who else was out there on the forwards?

[00:04:17] Mercer and –

[00:04:18] Tatar, maybe?

[00:04:20] Tatar.

[00:04:20] Why were those our – what?

[00:04:25] I think that's a message.

[00:04:27] That's a message.

[00:04:27] That's got to be.

[00:04:29] You know –

[00:04:29] Yeah, that's a good point.

[00:04:30] You can power play one, two.

[00:04:31] Isn't getting it done.

[00:04:32] We're going to give these guys a shot.

[00:04:34] Probably thought the game wasn't reachable anyway.

[00:04:36] So, put them out there, give them a shot, and wake up the other guys.

[00:04:40] But maybe you get a goal and you can at least feel a little bit better about yourself going into the game against the Sharks coming up.

[00:04:47] Which, a team that shut you out last time you played them.

[00:04:50] And now we're going to go and play.

[00:04:52] I mean, at least Blackwood's not there.

[00:04:55] Yeah.

[00:04:55] But, yeah, like I just – I'm watching that last minute, like 45 seconds, a minute or whatever, and I'm – why are these guys out there?

[00:05:03] Yeah.

[00:05:04] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:05:06] I'm a firm believer, yeah, try to win the game.

[00:05:09] You know, they have both – we've been pretty rough recently with the goalie pulled too.

[00:05:14] Like, we went through a pretty good stretch at the start of the season where we weren't giving up any goals.

[00:05:21] You know, six on five, five on six.

[00:05:23] So, I don't know.

[00:05:25] It's just – yeah, this is – it's been pretty frustrating.

[00:05:28] You know, I send you guys that chart.

[00:05:30] Our finishing has just absolutely fallen off cliff.

[00:05:32] Yeah.

[00:05:33] And just number it's – you know, they expect the goals for versus our actual goals for.

[00:05:37] It's just – you know, we're probably one of the worst finishing teams in the league now, you know, just from a metrics perspective that, you know, checks out with the eye test.

[00:05:46] You know, I don't know what's going on with it.

[00:05:48] And, you know, just this last power play, you know, small little brain dead stuff.

[00:05:56] You know, like Nico steps in, takes a slap shot from the left circle, but he shoots it wide.

[00:06:02] Right.

[00:06:03] And it goes up completely down the ice.

[00:06:06] And then comes back out.

[00:06:07] Like, hit the goalie at least, you know.

[00:06:10] Yeah.

[00:06:10] Pumper didn't exactly make any massive saves, I don't think.

[00:06:13] He was flopping around a little bit.

[00:06:15] But he didn't, like, make any Tim Bell glove saves or rob anybody necessarily.

[00:06:19] We're just not getting good chances.

[00:06:21] Yeah.

[00:06:22] And for anybody, you know, talk about that chart.

[00:06:24] When Tim says that our finishing fell off a cliff, like literally this line chart that he sent,

[00:06:30] it was just kind of like, you know, little peaks and stuff going across for a couple months.

[00:06:34] And then it looks as if somebody drew a line straight on the cliff.

[00:06:38] This is like 1929 stock market fucking shit right there.

[00:06:41] Yeah.

[00:06:42] It's terrible.

[00:06:43] We got brokers jumping out of thirds.

[00:06:45] Yeah.

[00:06:46] I just posted it on Twitter too.

[00:06:48] And I'll throw it around some of the Facebook groups and everything as well.

[00:06:50] But it's not looking good that way.

[00:06:54] But look, it's only three games in a row.

[00:06:57] You know, that happens sometimes in a season.

[00:06:59] We're still very well positioned.

[00:07:01] I haven't looked exactly to see what that did to our standings yet.

[00:07:04] But yeah, go ahead.

[00:07:06] You know, I mean, yeah, you're right.

[00:07:07] I mean, every team loses games.

[00:07:09] And we knew that going in that, you know, this team, though, up until this point,

[00:07:14] were just so good at taking that L and coming back the next game and kind of fixing the things

[00:07:20] that were L-ing you and getting back on track.

[00:07:23] And they haven't been able to do that.

[00:07:25] I thought in this game, like, I need somebody to explain to me how that's goalie interference.

[00:07:32] I know that that's been something that's been going on all year with every team.

[00:07:36] But for fuck's sakes, man, like, Kemper had more than enough time, not even to mention

[00:07:42] that after the bump where Mason was pushed into him, he got back into position and then

[00:07:48] kind of bumped into, had his stick kind of up.

[00:07:51] Mason was not in the paint.

[00:07:53] He had his stick there.

[00:07:54] Like, you had plenty of time to get your stick back.

[00:07:56] And he chose not to.

[00:07:58] It was not because Mason was impeding him in any way, shape, or form.

[00:08:02] I just cannot figure out this randomness to goaltender interference.

[00:08:08] Like, if we can't, if the refereeing committees and everybody else that are fucking much smarter

[00:08:14] than us, they need to figure out this is goaltender interference.

[00:08:18] This is not goaltender interference.

[00:08:19] We can't just keep having goals being taken off the board or rewarded to teams when there's

[00:08:25] just no consistency to it.

[00:08:28] And I don't know how that is goaltender interference.

[00:08:32] Yeah, it's a real tough one when you watch it over and over again in slow motion.

[00:08:37] I mean, he was pushed in.

[00:08:39] You got Kemper doing a lot of the touching between the two, right?

[00:08:44] Really kind of pushing out on him.

[00:08:45] Even the, we had the Kings announcers for anyone who had the NHL broadcast.

[00:08:50] And even the Kings announcer at one point were like, you know, Mason's probably like, I didn't

[00:08:54] tell him to put his stick there.

[00:08:55] You know what I mean?

[00:08:56] Like, he got pushed in.

[00:08:57] His stick was there.

[00:08:58] He did try to get out of the way.

[00:08:59] He got out of the way.

[00:09:00] He got out of the paint.

[00:09:01] Kevin Weeks on intermission said he's seen worse ones let go.

[00:09:07] And again, I guess kind of reiterating your point, like what the hell is goaltending interference?

[00:09:11] I don't really know anymore.

[00:09:12] I just know that this never seems to happen when the team is scoring five goals a night.

[00:09:18] This shit happens when our offense goes dry and that's when they take that goal away.

[00:09:22] It's amazing how that always works out.

[00:09:24] So the NHL PR, they always put out a statement, basically, you know, what happened.

[00:09:28] It's almost kind of a reiteration of the rule.

[00:09:30] So this is what it says.

[00:09:33] Video review determined that New Jersey's Stephan Nason impaired Darcy Kemper's ability to play

[00:09:38] his position in the crease prior to Timo Meier's goal.

[00:09:41] According to Rule 69.3, quote, if an attacking player initiates contact with a goalkeeper,

[00:09:47] incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease and a goal is scored,

[00:09:52] the goal will be disallowed.

[00:09:53] All right.

[00:09:54] So that's kind of the technical definition of it.

[00:09:57] That's what we all know the rule to be.

[00:09:59] That's the rule.

[00:10:00] So Nason is sitting on top of the crease, maybe a little bit in the crease.

[00:10:05] The initial bump is in the crease.

[00:10:07] He gets bumped into him by the defenseman.

[00:10:10] That's when he makes contact with Kemper.

[00:10:12] Then he separates and there's plenty of time to separation.

[00:10:15] And I think this is a little trick that goalies do now.

[00:10:17] Like what you were just saying, Kemper entangles his stick on purpose almost in Nason's legs

[00:10:23] to make it look like he's impaired.

[00:10:25] So like he won't be able to get that.

[00:10:27] But this leaves no room for the amount of time between the contact and when the goal goes in.

[00:10:33] And that's what kind of bugs me about it is it wasn't like the puck was coming when the contact happened.

[00:10:38] It happened far after.

[00:10:40] And the puck had already gone out after a rebound.

[00:10:43] And then Timo swung around and shot it back.

[00:10:46] Like there was no – the contact was well before this happened.

[00:10:50] There's no timing on this.

[00:10:51] By this rule, like a guy could step in the crease in the first period and then the goalies would be immune from goals against

[00:10:58] because he could be like, yeah, he was in my crease.

[00:11:02] He was in my crease in the first period.

[00:11:03] So if I was – yeah.

[00:11:06] No, it's just –

[00:11:07] Like that's where the rule to me gets – it needs to be fine-tuned or at least explained in a way that everybody can easily understand it.

[00:11:17] But exactly that.

[00:11:18] It was not a bang, bang.

[00:11:21] Puck was on the way.

[00:11:22] The contact happened.

[00:11:23] Puck went past Kemper.

[00:11:25] He had plenty of time to reset.

[00:11:27] And he chose not to because of exactly what you said.

[00:11:30] We've seen this before.

[00:11:31] Goalies know what the hell is going on.

[00:11:33] They're not stupid.

[00:11:34] So every advantage that they're going to get – they're going to try to get, they're going to take it.

[00:11:39] So Kemper did not rush to get back into position.

[00:11:42] You know, and he – but I thought he was in position other than his stick, which like you said, he could have just pulled back in.

[00:11:49] He kept it up by Nays and skates.

[00:11:52] Like that's –

[00:11:52] Even after that, when the puck finally came through the crease to be scored, at least on one review that I saw, he's not even looking in the direction of the puck to make the save.

[00:12:03] He's looking off to the side, meaning he wasn't going to save that anyway because, you know, he's not even looking that way.

[00:12:11] So it just doesn't make sense.

[00:12:12] They took all little bits and pieces of it into their decision and just went the wrong way.

[00:12:17] Yeah, I mean, I didn't watch the L.A. version.

[00:12:21] I had the MSG version.

[00:12:23] And all like Bill and Sal and Kenny were saying where it's just – I can't see how he didn't have time to reset.

[00:12:30] Like that's all they said.

[00:12:31] Like he had plenty of time.

[00:12:32] But the rules are the rules, I guess, and they just moved on.

[00:12:36] Yeah, the rules leave – particularly with this because there are things that happen within the rules where if they try to make them too specific, there are always unintended consequences.

[00:12:45] So they always leave it to be a little bit open for interpretation by the referee that's on set.

[00:12:51] I think Toronto goes over it.

[00:12:53] I don't know who makes the final judgment.

[00:12:55] I'm pretty certain it's the referee on the ice.

[00:12:57] No, I don't think so.

[00:12:58] I think it's Toronto.

[00:13:00] I don't know.

[00:13:02] I thought it was Toronto.

[00:13:03] I think it's the final – I think Toronto makes a recommendation in the referee on the ice.

[00:13:06] Oh, okay.

[00:13:07] Okay.

[00:13:07] But I could be wrong.

[00:13:08] I could be wrong.

[00:13:08] But anyway, regardless of who makes the final call, Gary Bettman's not in there with his headset like being like, yeah, fuck over the devils.

[00:13:16] Like people need to stop thinking there's like some sort of bias against teams that just doesn't fucking happen.

[00:13:21] Oh, no.

[00:13:22] I just – I'm saying that we've seen it all year where exactly what Bobby said before where there were some egregious goaltender interferences that they've allowed goals.

[00:13:31] And then there was ticky-tack bullshit like tonight where they disallow it.

[00:13:36] And to me, you have to have some type of conformity on this whole thing because it's – okay, this is game whatever, 41 for the devils in two weeks' time.

[00:13:47] No one's going to remember this game in L.A.

[00:13:49] But if that's game six, game seven, game four, any game of a playoff series, whatever, like that's important.

[00:13:55] You've got to get shit right.

[00:13:57] And the NFL has a very similar problem when it comes to the quarterback slides.

[00:14:03] Now, when a quarterback takes off to run, they – once they begin their slide, they are not to be touched.

[00:14:11] So every defender basically has to jump over them and do fucking gymnastics just to not touch him.

[00:14:17] But so many times you see these quarterbacks running and they fake a slide and a defenseman leaves – you know, lets up and then they'll take off and run right past them for some big yardage or a touchdown.

[00:14:27] That shouldn't be allowed either.

[00:14:29] Like if you're going to – like once you start your slide, you should be able to slide.

[00:14:34] And, you know, you should have to slide because you can't have guys not playing their position because they're worried about getting a penalty.

[00:14:42] And it's the same thing with trying to score a goal.

[00:14:45] Like you – eventually you're just going to have guys not crashing the net.

[00:14:48] Like you're going to have guys just shooting everything from the outside because you can't go near the fucking paint.

[00:14:53] If you're four inches above the paint, you're still going to get called for it.

[00:14:56] There has to be some type of consistency.

[00:14:58] I know I'm being dramatic about it, but it needs to be more –

[00:15:01] Yeah, I get it.

[00:15:02] But like I was saying before, like they are also – they don't want to get into a situation where it's so specific that unintended things happen.

[00:15:10] And they probably game those things out a little bit and that's why it may be a little bit vague.

[00:15:15] But honestly, man, like that goal probably swayed the momentum a little bit.

[00:15:19] But this team has not been the same team since the break.

[00:15:23] You know, the first Carolina game, you know, they kind of held on for dear life.

[00:15:28] You know, the second one was a bad game.

[00:15:30] The game yesterday was even worse.

[00:15:32] Like they had no business losing to the Ducks.

[00:15:35] Like that was just a fucking awful game front to back.

[00:15:38] You know, they barely got back into the game.

[00:15:41] You know, it just wasn't a good game.

[00:15:43] You know, Dougie and Dylan, like I've seen less two-on-ones than a fucking – on U-Porn.

[00:15:50] Like this is – it's the amount of fucking two-on-ones they give up are out of control.

[00:15:55] Like Dylan pinches like a maniac and leaving Dougie back there to be the guy that's taking the two-on-one.

[00:16:01] Like probably not the best guy to be leaving back there to take on a two-on-one.

[00:16:06] You know, Pesci and Luke have been leaking chances.

[00:16:09] You know, Pesci was responsible for two of the goals against tonight.

[00:16:12] Yet he had a pretty rough outing against Anaheim as well.

[00:16:15] So his gap control has been pretty rough.

[00:16:17] So we need to just get back to that play.

[00:16:21] And I'm hoping that this is just a blip.

[00:16:24] But I do feel like they kind of just suddenly were out in Los Angeles and had to play two games, bang, bang.

[00:16:30] You know, the schedule guy again.

[00:16:31] Fuck you, you motherfucker.

[00:16:32] I hate you.

[00:16:33] I'm going to find you and I'm going to murder you and your family.

[00:16:35] Yeah, but now they get a couple of days off now.

[00:16:38] They're going into San Jose.

[00:16:40] They are a better team than the Sharks.

[00:16:41] Yeah, I completely with you that, you know, it's just going to take them getting back to their structure

[00:16:46] and playing mindful hockey.

[00:16:49] The problem is that they are still very young in a lot of ways and they're still learning how to win.

[00:16:56] And when they get down a couple, we've seen this before, they kind of abandoned everything that got them there.

[00:17:02] And a lot of times this is what happens and they're just like, OK, we got to score.

[00:17:07] And then you saw it in Anaheim, right?

[00:17:09] And they gave up so many odd man rushes.

[00:17:12] Just stick with your structure.

[00:17:13] Your structure and the way that this team plays, that's what creates the offense.

[00:17:18] You know, if you just stay within your system and play, you know, exactly the way you played against the Rangers

[00:17:25] and Pittsburgh and, you know, those few shutouts and stuff.

[00:17:29] The whole I'll say seven, eight games before this three game streak.

[00:17:32] Like that's the devil's style.

[00:17:33] And I think that they're good.

[00:17:35] I think they'll get bad.

[00:17:35] I mean, I'm not worried at all.

[00:17:37] It's just frustrating when you know how good this team is and you see them do what they did.

[00:17:42] And look, L.A. is a good team.

[00:17:44] And Kemper, like you said, I mean, he made the saves he had to make where I thought the style plays fantastic yesterday.

[00:17:50] I love that kid.

[00:17:51] I think he's going to be an amazing goalie.

[00:17:53] He's a good goalie.

[00:17:54] He's only 24, I think.

[00:17:56] What a find.

[00:17:58] Yeah.

[00:17:58] So, I mean, they're going to get back to it.

[00:18:00] But I am worried about the depth scoring.

[00:18:04] I mean, Eric Holla has got to start doing something on this team because, I mean, he's just now a fucking body taking up space.

[00:18:13] Mm-hmm.

[00:18:14] And even yesterday, he wasn't even winning faceoffs, which was like his last redeeming quality.

[00:18:20] Right.

[00:18:20] I mean, he did fine tonight.

[00:18:22] I think he was like 40 or 60 or 70 percent.

[00:18:27] And he was our best player.

[00:18:29] I was just kind of glancing at Money Puck.

[00:18:31] He was our best player in terms of like expected goals.

[00:18:33] So, you know, expected goals are funny because, you know, you can kind of spam shots a little bit and that sort of accumulates.

[00:18:41] And, you know, you get more zone time.

[00:18:43] It kind of, you know, that accumulates your course and everything like that.

[00:18:45] But I really don't see him generating anything like all that dangerous.

[00:18:51] Like I haven't seen anything where it's like, oh, man, Holla was robbed.

[00:18:55] Like I haven't seen that happen since he got robbed point blank like, I don't know, two months ago.

[00:19:00] That was against – no, that was the Chicago game.

[00:19:02] Was that the Chicago game?

[00:19:04] Yeah, that was the Chicago game in the second period.

[00:19:06] And he had it wide open in front of the net.

[00:19:08] And he missed the shot.

[00:19:10] And luckily the Devils were able to put on their fucking Superman outfit late in the third to win that one.

[00:19:18] But, you know, this was kind of going on even then.

[00:19:20] And they were just finding ways to win certain games.

[00:19:23] And, you know, just that kind of magic now is taken away.

[00:19:28] They have to get back to the basics.

[00:19:30] And hopefully –

[00:19:32] Remember what I was saying earlier today?

[00:19:35] I did a little bit of a math project.

[00:19:36] I did a little bit of a math project this morning.

[00:19:39] Yes, your beautiful mind math project.

[00:19:41] Yes, because this is what happens when you have a touch of the tism.

[00:19:49] So I was looking at – you know, we were talking about depth scoring.

[00:19:52] I was like, all right, well, do we really have a depth scoring problem?

[00:19:55] Like how bad is it?

[00:19:56] Like relative to the rest of the league.

[00:19:58] You know, I realize some guys or something, some guys aren't scoring.

[00:20:01] But, you know, looking at the full season since October 24th, which was that Detroit game since November 1st and since December 1st.

[00:20:13] So kind of different stages throughout the season.

[00:20:16] I looked at the top 14 teams from last year.

[00:20:19] You know, the Rangers through Vegas, basically all the good teams.

[00:20:22] The 15th team was the Islanders.

[00:20:23] So I was like, they're not the 15th best team.

[00:20:26] So, like, I stopped at a 14th.

[00:20:30] So basically, you know, and I looked at the team total goals, you know, and there's a pretty decent range.

[00:20:37] It's 254 total goals for the Kings, and then 302 is the most for Colorado.

[00:20:43] You know, and it's 278, 294.

[00:20:45] There are a variety of numbers in there.

[00:20:46] This is last year.

[00:20:47] This is last year, total season.

[00:20:50] So I looked at the top 10 goal scorers on each of those teams.

[00:20:53] So the top five goal scorers on each of those teams, what percent of the goals did those guys score and what percent of the goals did the top 10 guys score?

[00:21:03] And compare that to how we're doing so far this season.

[00:21:06] And then I compared that in those kind of increments that I was talking about before.

[00:21:10] This is all very impressive.

[00:21:12] You with me so far on this?

[00:21:14] We're with you.

[00:21:14] We're with you.

[00:21:15] What did you come up with?

[00:21:16] What did your data tell you?

[00:21:19] Basically, the percent that the top five goal scorers for the top 14 teams last year scored is a pretty normalized range.

[00:21:28] The lowest was 43%.

[00:21:30] The highest was 60%.

[00:21:31] And I don't think you'd be surprised to find out who the highest was.

[00:21:35] It was the Rangers.

[00:21:36] Their top five goal scorers were responsible for 60% of their goals.

[00:21:41] The lowest was the Kings.

[00:21:43] And then everything else is kind of in the 50s and 50s.

[00:21:45] So, like, basically every team, about five guys account for half their goals.

[00:21:50] Top 10, it's about 75% to 85%.

[00:21:55] So, really, like, that's really kind of where people's goals come from, really is their top 10 goals scoring.

[00:22:03] Now, us this season, actually only 58% of our goals have come from the top five guys.

[00:22:10] And 85% have come from the top 10.

[00:22:12] So, that does tell me that after those top 10, there is a pretty significant drop-off.

[00:22:19] There's a pretty significant drop-off in the top five.

[00:22:22] It's 55%.

[00:22:23] But, like, I'm talking relative to the other guys.

[00:22:27] 55% is basically, 58% is kind of right in the range for all the other top teams.

[00:22:33] That's why I wanted to do it on a comparative basis.

[00:22:37] But, since October 24th, that top five has been 62%.

[00:22:41] And then, from November 1st, it was 62%.

[00:22:43] And then, from December 1st, it was 63%.

[00:22:47] However, Dougie is included in some of those totals.

[00:22:52] So, I wound up looking at forwards only because that's kind of what we're complaining about here is that we have lax forward scoring depth.

[00:22:58] And that number has actually gone up pretty significantly.

[00:23:01] 70% of our forward goals since October 24th have come from five guys.

[00:23:07] And then, at November 1st, it's been 73%.

[00:23:10] And then, from December 1st, it's been 77%.

[00:23:12] So, the data proves that we've seen a fall off in our forwards.

[00:23:17] And we already had a disproportionate amount of our top five guys scoring most of our goals.

[00:23:22] So, yeah.

[00:23:24] So, I basically proved what everybody sees using math.

[00:23:29] Now, there are a couple guys in that bottom range that I'm not worried about.

[00:23:35] Although, I would like to see them scoring more now.

[00:23:38] Like, I don't worry about Paul Cotter come playoff time.

[00:23:40] Like, I think he's going to be a guy that does give you the offense that you need.

[00:23:46] Especially in clutch time.

[00:23:47] I would like to see him kind of get out of his own head and get a little bit more comfortable.

[00:23:51] Because he's taking stupid penalties now.

[00:23:54] You can tell they're all stemming from frustration and stuff like that.

[00:23:57] So, I would like him to just calm the F down a little bit and get back to playing Paul Cotter's game.

[00:24:02] But I'm not so much worried about him.

[00:24:05] But, like, to me, I don't know if you're going to get that from Lazar come playoff time or during the year.

[00:24:13] Bastion, you can't depend on anything.

[00:24:15] But the biggest one for me is Eric Holla.

[00:24:18] Like, you have a predominant slot.

[00:24:21] You are our third-line centerman.

[00:24:23] You are supposed to be a nice mix of offense and defense.

[00:24:28] That third line should be able to play in pretty much any situation.

[00:24:33] On good teams, I'm saying.

[00:24:34] Their third line should play any situation and be able to be serviceable in any situation.

[00:24:38] And I just feel like our third line is just, like I said, I thought they were pretty dominant in the first period this year.

[00:24:47] This game.

[00:24:48] But then nothing.

[00:24:49] And then for the last two, three weeks before that, nothing.

[00:24:52] Tim, you've written about this many times.

[00:24:54] About our third line.

[00:24:55] I've been on Holla's ass since, you know, for about a month.

[00:25:00] And it just – he's a good-looking fella.

[00:25:04] He just – like, he hasn't scored in 16 games.

[00:25:08] He hasn't put in a point.

[00:25:09] I don't think that's what I say.

[00:25:10] In 16 games.

[00:25:12] And looking at the kind of structure of that third line, the Mercer, Cotter, Holla line, if you actually look at, like, their metrics and, like, Mercer and Cotter without Holla, their metrics go through the roof.

[00:25:26] Mercer and Holla without Cotter is kind of average.

[00:25:29] Cotter and Holla without Mercer is fucking awful.

[00:25:32] So really kind of what that tells me is that Holla is the consistent problem here.

[00:25:37] It's the anchor.

[00:25:38] Yeah, and what you were just saying, like, the third line center is an extraordinarily important position in hockey, particularly during the playoffs.

[00:25:47] Because what you – I think what you want to do traditionally is have that guy be your matchup guy.

[00:25:52] Yeah.

[00:25:53] You know, and if that has to fall to Nico, then that really hurts the rest of our scoring.

[00:25:57] You know, it's not – it's not, like, rocket science that that's happening.

[00:26:00] So I think really what that shows me is that that's a position that needs to be upgraded.

[00:26:04] We move Holla down, send Bastion to the moon, move Lazaro to the wing.

[00:26:08] I think you move Cotter down to the fourth line, even though he and Holla aren't working well together.

[00:26:14] But I just don't think it's working.

[00:26:16] It's currently constructed.

[00:26:18] Sorry, Bobby.

[00:26:19] You're just looking at me.

[00:26:20] I just took up so much air.

[00:26:21] I apologize.

[00:26:21] No, dude.

[00:26:22] You've nailed it from the math.

[00:26:25] You've nailed it from the eye test.

[00:26:26] It's very disappointing, and it's hard to understand.

[00:26:29] I wrote about it before the season started about the strength of our third line and how that was going to help us.

[00:26:35] Essentially, that's what championship teams need.

[00:26:37] So it is very frustrating to see what's happening.

[00:26:40] And I – Chris, same thing.

[00:26:42] I've got in my notes here, I thought that the third line had a very strong first period, especially towards the end,

[00:26:47] and a really great long shift pinning them in.

[00:26:49] They did that again in the second.

[00:26:51] But I still kept sitting there going, okay, but can we get a point to show for it?

[00:26:55] Like something.

[00:26:56] You know, having a nice couple hard shifts is great, but something isn't working, and it's really unfortunate.

[00:27:02] And I agree with both of you.

[00:27:04] I mean, that's the key upgrade right now.

[00:27:08] Holla, he's counted on for a much bigger role.

[00:27:10] So it's got to happen.

[00:27:12] And I think what we're seeing overall here with everything we've talked about on this episode

[00:27:18] is basically how, you know, a funk starts, right?

[00:27:21] It's everything that we're seeing.

[00:27:23] We saw the huge defensive laps against Anaheim.

[00:27:26] We're seeing our finishing fall off, case in point, on that awesome graph that you've put on.

[00:27:32] We've actually got our goalies making tremendous saves right now,

[00:27:34] but we can't have everything work together all the time, right?

[00:27:37] We had a bottom six that was doing what it's supposed to do,

[00:27:40] and arguably more in the beginning of the year,

[00:27:42] while our first two lines were still learning how to work with each other.

[00:27:46] And now, as Tim pointed out, our first two lines are doing all the heavy lifting

[00:27:50] with almost nothing else happening.

[00:27:51] We just can't get it all to work together.

[00:27:54] But I think everyone would agree, at least to this point,

[00:27:57] for the most part, you're going to leave the top two alone still, right?

[00:28:00] So we do have to figure out what's going on with the bottom,

[00:28:03] with the exception of the fact that Palat, right, who has been playing great.

[00:28:09] Chris, you saw it yourself.

[00:28:11] He's kind of reverting back a little bit, but it's only two games,

[00:28:14] so I'm not going to get back on that train right now.

[00:28:16] I think you leave the top two alone.

[00:28:18] We've got to figure out.

[00:28:19] It's got to be mixed up, maybe a move.

[00:28:21] Something's going to happen at the bottom.

[00:28:22] I mean, nothing's going to happen now.

[00:28:26] Nothing's going to happen before the San Jose game.

[00:28:29] So why would you guys maybe take Kahala

[00:28:33] and throw him down on the fourth line for the game against the Sharks,

[00:28:36] move Lazar up to be your third-line center,

[00:28:39] put him with Cotter and Mercer, or no?

[00:28:41] Dude, I'd sit him for a game.

[00:28:44] I would literally send that kind of message.

[00:28:47] I mean, you're not even winning the face-offs now.

[00:28:49] Like, he's actually a liability right now.

[00:28:52] So I would actually sit.

[00:28:54] You sit a veteran like that and say, look, we just got to switch something up.

[00:28:58] Okay.

[00:28:59] Honestly, like, I do exactly what Bobby said.

[00:29:03] Lazar's not the answer either.

[00:29:04] Like, I don't think he's really pulling his weight as a fourth-line center.

[00:29:08] He's fine.

[00:29:08] But at the same time, are you willing to say he just came back from the injury

[00:29:13] and he still needs some more games to get?

[00:29:15] Like, I'm kind of looking at it that way.

[00:29:16] Like, no, he hasn't been.

[00:29:18] But so I'm just thinking, like, you know, if I didn't think about benching,

[00:29:22] you know, benching Hala, which I would not be against.

[00:29:25] I like that move.

[00:29:26] But go ahead, Tim.

[00:29:26] What were you going to say?

[00:29:27] Yeah.

[00:29:28] It's just, you know, I think you said Hala put Dowling in third-line center.

[00:29:32] Like, I think, you know, give him that shot.

[00:29:35] He's on the roster.

[00:29:36] You don't need to bring anybody in.

[00:29:37] And he was actually playing pretty well.

[00:29:39] I think Dowling actually was playing better than Lazar was.

[00:29:43] You know, Lazar coming back from injury, you can kind of hide him on the fourth line.

[00:29:48] Tim, can you –

[00:29:48] Sorry, go ahead.

[00:29:50] No, I was just going to ask you, can you get Dowling's face-off numbers

[00:29:55] as opposed to Hala's face-off numbers?

[00:29:58] I'm just curious.

[00:29:59] I didn't even think about that.

[00:30:01] Yeah, and now that that's kind of in my brain, I'm thinking that's a really – I like that.

[00:30:06] I like to give Dowling that shot because I can see him and Mercer and Cotter, you know, generating some offense.

[00:30:13] I mean, Dowling was doing it with, you know, nobody.

[00:30:16] Every time when he was on that fourth line, they were – no, they weren't getting the points,

[00:30:20] but they were controlling play.

[00:30:22] They were keeping the puck in the offensive zone.

[00:30:24] They were doing a lot of really good things.

[00:30:26] And he could skate his ass off.

[00:30:27] I like the kid.

[00:30:29] He's not a kid.

[00:30:29] He's like fucking 52 years old.

[00:30:31] But you know what I mean.

[00:30:34] Yeah.

[00:30:35] While he's looking it up, I'll just say something too that – off of what Tim said, like about hiding Lazar.

[00:30:41] That's exactly something we would never want to do.

[00:30:44] I think that was just in reference maybe to him, you know, still being a little rusty coming in because –

[00:30:49] That's exactly what I meant.

[00:30:51] That's exactly what it's supposed to be.

[00:30:53] We need Lazar being the presence that he always was, right?

[00:30:57] And that's going to be a strength of this team.

[00:30:59] Eventually, I think it'll come back, that bottom six, somehow, some way.

[00:31:04] We'll start to do what they're supposed to do, and then we can take off again.

[00:31:09] His dialing was 46.6.

[00:31:12] Lazar's 50.8, actually.

[00:31:13] So Lazar's a little better than that.

[00:31:14] What about Holla?

[00:31:17] Holla's 55.

[00:31:18] So Holla's still good.

[00:31:19] His overall season numbers are still good.

[00:31:21] I don't – you know, face-offs are – I don't know how –

[00:31:26] if you look at the top face-off percentage teams, like over the past couple years,

[00:31:31] like it's a real mixed bag of who – it's not like a direct correlation between teams that are good at face-offs mean they win.

[00:31:38] You know, and face-offs, you know, how they're tracked and who wins, you know,

[00:31:42] very rarely these days you see a guy just snap the puck back cleanly.

[00:31:45] You know, it's always a bit of a battle, and maybe if it goes back but the other team wins it or something like that,

[00:31:51] you know, it depends on how it's tracked.

[00:31:54] But from play style, I think Dowling was actually pretty effective

[00:31:59] and just started to kind of feel like he could try things offensively

[00:32:04] and figure out that he could actually do some things.

[00:32:08] There were a couple plays he made the last game he played where I thought he was actually pretty effective.

[00:32:12] But to your point, Chris, about maybe we get to reunite that first fourth line that we had,

[00:32:17] that we had a fucking nickname in T-shirts for and shit like that, you know,

[00:32:20] like the Cotter-Lazar-Bastion line.

[00:32:23] I don't know.

[00:32:24] Just fucking change something, man.

[00:32:27] It's like we complained about Lindy doing this shit.

[00:32:29] Now we're screaming from the rooftops to change something.

[00:32:31] I'm also going to say, I mean, the third line with Palat's role on it still works better for me,

[00:32:41] regardless of what he's doing up top.

[00:32:43] Like I just feel like if everybody were doing their job and pulling their weight,

[00:32:48] I think that, you know, Bratt and Jack,

[00:32:51] they're the two that you can throw a lot of different guys on that next wing with them

[00:32:55] and put Palat back down on a more, you know,

[00:32:59] figure out what that third line's supposed to be.

[00:33:00] Figure out that third line's identity.

[00:33:03] Yeah.

[00:33:03] Yeah.

[00:33:04] And like if it was Palat, X new player and Mercer,

[00:33:08] I feel like that would be a fucking A plus third line.

[00:33:13] Palat, Dowling and Mercer.

[00:33:16] Palat, yeah, Palat, Dowling, Mercer.

[00:33:18] Yeah.

[00:33:19] For my little experiment next year.

[00:33:20] But I mean,

[00:33:21] I think that that experiment is something that should be done.

[00:33:24] I really do.

[00:33:25] Something has to change.

[00:33:26] You've lost three in a row.

[00:33:27] I don't see, you know,

[00:33:29] this isn't anything that's going to be fucking long-term unless it is something that becomes long-term,

[00:33:34] but you know,

[00:33:35] who gives a shit about Eric Hollis feelings?

[00:33:37] I'd send them.

[00:33:38] I was thinking about possibly, you know,

[00:33:40] throwing them down the fourth line,

[00:33:41] but after you guys just laid that out there,

[00:33:44] Justin Dowling should get the call to be in the next game and he should take,

[00:33:49] Eric Hollis spot.

[00:33:51] And I think we should just try it.

[00:33:52] As far as Palat moving back down there,

[00:33:54] I have no problem with that.

[00:33:56] I have no problem with that.

[00:33:57] As long as it's, you know,

[00:33:58] you get somebody in to play with Jack and Luke.

[00:34:01] I mean,

[00:34:01] Jack and Brett.

[00:34:02] I think that having a Alex Tuck type of player,

[00:34:06] like we've talked about a million times playing with Jack Hughes and Jesper Brett,

[00:34:10] I think that would make that line so much more dynamic than Palat being up there.

[00:34:15] So if you're looking for your third line to be,

[00:34:18] you know,

[00:34:19] able to go against teams,

[00:34:21] best lines and Justin Dowling,

[00:34:23] Timo,

[00:34:24] Timo,

[00:34:24] I mean,

[00:34:25] with Mercer and Palat,

[00:34:28] that can be a line that can shut down the,

[00:34:30] you know,

[00:34:31] offensive lines.

[00:34:32] They can score some goals.

[00:34:34] I'm not against that.

[00:34:35] And then it puts Cotter back down to the fourth line.

[00:34:38] I'm not saying he's a fourth liner his whole career.

[00:34:40] I think he's probably better served up,

[00:34:41] but on this team right now,

[00:34:43] having him back down the fourth line,

[00:34:45] a little bit of less pressure doing offensive wise,

[00:34:48] which might actually put him back on the board.

[00:34:50] You know,

[00:34:51] he's not out there to score goals.

[00:34:53] It's kind of a secondary thing he's doing.

[00:34:55] And it just,

[00:34:56] it was working before they just got to try something.

[00:34:58] Cause we're not talking about one guy.

[00:34:59] We're talking about six dudes with like almost no production.

[00:35:04] Right.

[00:35:05] So this is a problem.

[00:35:06] There's,

[00:35:06] there's a mixed problem.

[00:35:07] There's just a big problem.

[00:35:09] Yeah,

[00:35:10] I agree.

[00:35:11] And like,

[00:35:12] honestly,

[00:35:13] it's,

[00:35:13] it's not the worst problem to have still right now.

[00:35:15] We're still top.

[00:35:16] I mean,

[00:35:17] we've fallen off a little bit.

[00:35:18] We're top 10.

[00:35:19] We're 10th now in points percentage.

[00:35:21] So they need to really pick this back up pretty quickly because,

[00:35:24] you know,

[00:35:24] this could slip away,

[00:35:25] slip away a little fast.

[00:35:26] I'm not going to like be a doomer or anything and say that's going to

[00:35:28] happen.

[00:35:29] No,

[00:35:29] because you know what,

[00:35:30] you know what can happen just so quickly,

[00:35:31] you know,

[00:35:32] not saying it will because we just lost three in a row,

[00:35:34] but if we go in there and we take care of the sharks and you beat the

[00:35:37] crack and then we're back to the Rangers and we'd be,

[00:35:39] let's say we win the next three,

[00:35:40] right?

[00:35:40] Then we went on a pretty tough road trip and we played 500.

[00:35:44] And then in retrospect,

[00:35:44] you're going,

[00:35:45] all right,

[00:35:45] you know what?

[00:35:46] They were away.

[00:35:46] It was over the holidays.

[00:35:47] It was West coast.

[00:35:48] It was some hard competition with Carolina and the Rangers coming back

[00:35:51] Rangers.

[00:35:52] I mean,

[00:35:52] notwithstanding how good they are right now,

[00:35:54] but just the way,

[00:35:55] you know,

[00:35:55] that matchup is for us.

[00:35:57] So if you come out of this on the back end,

[00:35:59] going 500,

[00:35:59] you can live with it.

[00:36:00] It's a long season and you go,

[00:36:02] all right,

[00:36:02] blip.

[00:36:02] It happened.

[00:36:03] And let's start to get the momentum back again.

[00:36:06] Absolutely.

[00:36:06] Absolutely.

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[00:38:24] That doesn't happen everywhere.

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[00:39:34] What time is it?

[00:39:35] It's game time.

[00:39:38] Ooh, that was a good one.

[00:39:39] Wasn't it?

[00:39:40] I hate that part.

[00:39:41] I like that one.

[00:39:42] Hate that part.

[00:39:43] I know you do.

[00:39:43] Let me read it.

[00:39:44] Like, I don't want to...

[00:39:46] You know what a real pro does?

[00:39:47] They power through it, and they finish it strong.

[00:39:50] So, you calling me a real pro?

[00:39:52] We're calling you a real pro.

[00:39:53] I got a little secret for you.

[00:39:54] You weren't here in the beginning, but, you know, a little secret.

[00:39:57] I never want to be a podcaster.

[00:40:00] So, I hope it's coming off well.

[00:40:05] It's not.

[00:40:06] I just froze, I think, right in the middle of your little spiel there.

[00:40:09] Damn it.

[00:40:11] That's all right.

[00:40:11] You can listen to it back.

[00:40:12] It's just Bobby complaining about how he doesn't want to be here.

[00:40:15] He'd rather be anywhere else.

[00:40:16] I don't feel like it's a major skill of mine.

[00:40:19] He's basically saying that he would rather spend tomorrow with a fucking tube up his ass

[00:40:25] and a camera instead of being on this show.

[00:40:29] Speaking of which, men, when you hit the age of 45, please get your colon checked.

[00:40:33] Yes.

[00:40:34] Don't forget to get that colonoscopy that the doctors keep telling you about.

[00:40:37] Bob, you want to tell us about your colonoscopy?

[00:40:39] Well, I have nothing to tell yet other than I had my last meal at 8 o'clock,

[00:40:44] and it'll be about 2 hours.

[00:40:44] What was your last meal?

[00:40:45] Yeah, what'd you go?

[00:40:46] I just scrambled up three eggs.

[00:40:49] That was your last meal?

[00:40:51] Well, I mean, I had a light pot.

[00:40:53] Listen, all day I've been eating clean, you know, because I'm allowed to eat today, not tomorrow.

[00:40:58] So just like rice and chicken and pasta, like nothing heavy, nothing greasy, no red meats,

[00:41:05] no fats, stuff like that, just kind of clean.

[00:41:07] So I've already been hungry all day.

[00:41:09] So I had had my pasta dinner and it was like 8 o'clock.

[00:41:12] I'm like, let me just scramble up a couple eggs just to get something.

[00:41:14] But yeah, I won't eat again for approximately 42 hours.

[00:41:17] So all night tonight, tomorrow's a liquid diet.

[00:41:19] Friday, go in, 9.30 or something.

[00:41:23] Procedure's over, probably around 11 or 12.

[00:41:26] And then you got to come out of anesthesia, get home.

[00:41:29] So yeah, it's going to be quite a long time before I eat anything.

[00:41:34] That sounds so terrible.

[00:41:36] It really sounds so terrible.

[00:41:38] Well, it's not going to be the worst part.

[00:41:39] The worst part is going to be the pressure.

[00:41:42] Did I ever tell you guys the story?

[00:41:46] This is, so my father is maybe about, I don't know, my mother was still alive.

[00:41:52] So I'm going to say, my kids weren't even born yet.

[00:41:54] So let's say 20 years ago, okay?

[00:41:57] My mother calls me up one day and she tells me that my father's in a really bad way.

[00:42:03] Like he, and my dad's a big guy.

[00:42:04] He's always, you know, not heavy, just tall.

[00:42:07] He's always lifted.

[00:42:08] He's, you know, and I, my mom's just telling me like he's bleeding a lot.

[00:42:13] So she's not expanding on this.

[00:42:15] So I'm like bleeding a lot, like bleeding.

[00:42:17] Yeah.

[00:42:17] Bleeding like from his asshole.

[00:42:19] So I go and I see him and he's pale fucking white.

[00:42:23] Right?

[00:42:24] Like, I mean, he looks, he looks like he's dying.

[00:42:27] So I'm like, all right, we're going to the hospital right now.

[00:42:31] So he's arguing with me.

[00:42:32] He doesn't want to go to, he's fine.

[00:42:33] He's fine.

[00:42:33] He's fine.

[00:42:34] Right.

[00:42:34] I said, we're going to the hospital right now.

[00:42:36] He talks me into taking him to his doctor instead.

[00:42:39] So we go to the doctor.

[00:42:41] The doctor takes one look at him and says, calls the hospital, tells me to get him to the

[00:42:46] hospital immediately.

[00:42:48] He lost so much blood.

[00:42:50] The doctor was shocked that he didn't have a cardiac arrest and dropped dead with the amount

[00:42:53] of blood he lost.

[00:42:54] So we get him in the hospital.

[00:42:55] They get him on, you know, blood transfusions.

[00:42:58] I think he had four blood transfusions the first day.

[00:43:01] So finally, like after a couple of days, he gets his strength back up a little bit.

[00:43:05] Of course, they want to do a colonoscopy.

[00:43:07] What's going on?

[00:43:08] You know, why is he bleeding like this?

[00:43:11] So I take him to the doctor.

[00:43:13] He's still in the hospital.

[00:43:14] So the next day or whatever, a couple of days later when he got it, felt a little better,

[00:43:18] they did the procedure.

[00:43:19] So I call my mother.

[00:43:21] She's up in the room with him.

[00:43:22] She's like, he just got back in the room.

[00:43:24] Come on up.

[00:43:25] Just waking up now.

[00:43:27] So I walk in the room and I see him and he's laying in the bed and he looks at me and I

[00:43:33] said, well, well, what'd they say?

[00:43:35] And he goes, it's stage four.

[00:43:38] I said, are you fucking?

[00:43:39] He goes, it's stage four colon cancer.

[00:43:42] I walk out of the fucking hospital room.

[00:43:45] I'm crying my eyes out.

[00:43:46] I hear him go, Chris, no, I'm fucking with you.

[00:43:49] I go back in.

[00:43:51] I said, what the fuck are you talking about?

[00:43:54] He goes, yeah, it's diverticulitis.

[00:43:56] It'll be fine.

[00:43:57] I just have to change my diet.

[00:43:58] I'm like, you motherfucker.

[00:44:00] Who does that to their son?

[00:44:02] Who tells their fucking kid that they have stage four ass cancer and instead you just

[00:44:08] need to eat a little bit more fucking romaine lettuce?

[00:44:10] Like, seriously?

[00:44:11] This is.

[00:44:13] So, yeah, that's my story was taking a real dark turn.

[00:44:17] Yeah.

[00:44:17] I was like, I've known you a long time.

[00:44:19] You never told me this.

[00:44:22] Jesus Christ.

[00:44:23] What are you fucking ass?

[00:44:25] Can you do the ass cancer South Park boys?

[00:44:28] That boy has cancer of his ass.

[00:44:31] Yeah.

[00:44:32] That's exactly it.

[00:44:33] He fucking tells me his stage four cancer.

[00:44:35] Like I'm walking out of there thinking my dad's got like six months to live and who

[00:44:39] knows what else is going on.

[00:44:40] No, he's messing with me.

[00:44:42] Cause that seemed appropriate at the time.

[00:44:44] You know, weird twisted way though.

[00:44:46] The way you told me that story, like you had my heart dropping down, dude.

[00:44:49] I got all scared.

[00:44:50] I'm like, Oh no.

[00:44:52] That was just 20 years ago.

[00:44:54] Yeah.

[00:44:54] Hey Bobby.

[00:44:55] Meanwhile, I hope you're okay tomorrow.

[00:44:56] Yeah.

[00:44:57] By the way.

[00:44:57] I'm not.

[00:44:57] And don't pull that shit.

[00:44:59] Yeah.

[00:45:00] Don't pull it on the show.

[00:45:02] Now he's got a fucking.

[00:45:04] I'm not going to pull the shit.

[00:45:05] In the hopper.

[00:45:05] Jesus.

[00:45:07] But my God.

[00:45:08] Yeah.

[00:45:08] I mean, I told him like, this is like the little boy who cried wolf on the upteens level.

[00:45:12] Like next.

[00:45:13] That is brutal.

[00:45:13] If you really do get cancer, like no one's going to believe you.

[00:45:17] I'm not.

[00:45:17] Right.

[00:45:18] Yeah.

[00:45:19] You show that tumor to me right now.

[00:45:22] I don't fucking believe you.

[00:45:24] But yeah, this is quite the view, you know.

[00:45:27] Speaking of anyway, speaking of ass play, took a slap shot in the ass a couple of days ago.

[00:45:32] That's what you call it now.

[00:45:33] Yeah.

[00:45:35] Weren't you wearing the pants?

[00:45:37] I was.

[00:45:39] However, the kid that hit me was wearing a Penn State helmet and he didn't look a day over 25.

[00:45:46] So he clearly does not belong in the league that I'm playing in.

[00:45:50] And I'm not blocking shots on purpose.

[00:45:52] As you can tell, I was going the other way to try and get out of the way.

[00:45:56] And that's when I got hit in the ass.

[00:45:57] So I really haven't been able to sit down for two days.

[00:45:59] So I kind of sympathize with the ass cancer.

[00:46:01] Man, that sucks.

[00:46:03] Yeah.

[00:46:03] It's like right.

[00:46:04] And like I wear like I don't wear actual.

[00:46:08] Like like player pants anymore.

[00:46:10] I wear like linesman gear, like linesman shells.

[00:46:13] Right.

[00:46:14] Girl underneath.

[00:46:15] This is just lighter and easier and it's barely nobody gives a fuck.

[00:46:18] So like I have no business being in front of shots.

[00:46:20] But this guy, it was like a cartoon when he hit me.

[00:46:23] I just went down like I got shot.

[00:46:26] Now you're old.

[00:46:27] That shit hurts.

[00:46:28] Yeah.

[00:46:28] What's your what's your worst hockey injury?

[00:46:33] I've broken this collarbone.

[00:46:35] I've separated this shoulder twice and I've separated this shoulder once.

[00:46:38] Really?

[00:46:39] Yeah.

[00:46:39] I had a rough junior season in high school because I broke this collarbone.

[00:46:45] And then my first game back, I separated this shoulder.

[00:46:48] Second game back after that separated shoulder, I separated this shoulder.

[00:46:52] And then the next season.

[00:46:55] Actually.

[00:46:57] Oh, yeah.

[00:46:58] I was I was drunk at spring break and then I separated.

[00:47:00] Hold on.

[00:47:00] Just give me a minute.

[00:47:01] I just got to sign my kid up for soccer.

[00:47:07] Yep.

[00:47:09] Yeah.

[00:47:09] One of the worst injuries I saw wasn't me.

[00:47:12] Bobby, you remember Costa from the diner?

[00:47:16] Yeah, of course.

[00:47:16] So this dude, he was older than us and he ran the diner down the road from us.

[00:47:22] So we would go there every single night and, you know, hang out.

[00:47:25] And he was a big devil fan.

[00:47:26] So we always be talking hockey and stuff.

[00:47:28] So we were playing in some pickup game men's league.

[00:47:32] Me and a buddy of mine, Eddie, went and he wanted to play with us.

[00:47:36] So we pick him up and we go to the rink.

[00:47:38] So we're skating around and stuff.

[00:47:41] And after the game, the three of us were the only ones on the ice.

[00:47:45] So we're just dicking around, you know, shooting the puck and passing and stuff.

[00:47:49] So those two idiots like go into the corner for a loose puck.

[00:47:52] And they're like fucking playing around, scrumming for it and this and that.

[00:47:56] And somehow Costa's fucking leg man got tangled up in Eddie's skate.

[00:48:00] He went down and he twisted and the ankle stayed exactly stationary and just snapped.

[00:48:08] I mean, you heard it.

[00:48:10] The Zamboni driver was like about to come out and he was like, what the hell was that?

[00:48:14] And he's screaming on the ice.

[00:48:16] They had to come out with the pussy sled.

[00:48:18] We had to take him to the hospital.

[00:48:19] They cut his skate off, snapped it right in two.

[00:48:22] I was like, the pussy sled?

[00:48:24] The pussy sled.

[00:48:25] But what?

[00:48:27] The what?

[00:48:27] The who?

[00:48:28] The pussy sled.

[00:48:29] The what now?

[00:48:29] The pussy what?

[00:48:30] The pussy sled.

[00:48:31] Did they take you out in the pussy sled?

[00:48:33] Or were you okay?

[00:48:34] I was okay.

[00:48:36] I was okay.

[00:48:36] The guys on the bench were giving me fucking so much shit.

[00:48:39] But you have a couple beers in the locker room and you're fine.

[00:48:42] Speaking of shit, does it hurt when you're taking the one?

[00:48:46] I mean, I would think like sitting on the toilet would be very painful.

[00:48:50] I have my biggest, the most pain was driving home when I have a stick shift.

[00:48:55] So like I'm up on like one cheek.

[00:48:58] I don't really need to get too into the weeds on this.

[00:49:01] We want to hear it.

[00:49:02] Just my tailbone in my ass hurts a little bit.

[00:49:05] I'm just thinking of all the really cool ways that we can isolate some of these clips.

[00:49:13] So the new intro video is hot.

[00:49:17] So Igor is on IR, huh?

[00:49:20] Yeah.

[00:49:21] Yeah.

[00:49:21] Too bad.

[00:49:22] The tank-a-thon is on.

[00:49:24] It's a December to remember for them.

[00:49:27] I don't want them to be this bad.

[00:49:30] Like I don't like, I think the top five guys in this upcoming draft are all pretty good.

[00:49:35] Like James Higgins, who's projection number one.

[00:49:38] He's an Island, he's a Long Island kid.

[00:49:40] Worst thing in the world could be like that kid being awesome.

[00:49:43] But also because he's a US kid, like I kind of want him to be good.

[00:49:47] So I don't want him to be on the Rangers because I want the Rangers to ruin whatever prospect they have.

[00:49:53] So I want them to just kind of toil in mediocrity for a little while.

[00:49:57] Just buried under all these bad contracts.

[00:49:59] Well, I know that we love to talk about the Rangers on this show.

[00:50:03] And, you know, because it's fun.

[00:50:05] But I can't see them staying where they are all year.

[00:50:09] Like they're not that bad.

[00:50:11] Like I know they're playing that way.

[00:50:12] So I think you will get your wish.

[00:50:14] They are going to crawl out of the cellar of the Metro at some point.

[00:50:17] I still don't think they're making the playoffs.

[00:50:19] And maybe they'll be where we were last year where they have a top 10 pick.

[00:50:23] I don't necessarily know if there'll be a lottery guy in the top five or whatever.

[00:50:27] So I can't see them staying this bad.

[00:50:31] But at the same time, when all these reports are coming out, like that they've quit on La Vulet, they've quit on Chris Drury.

[00:50:39] If this was the devils, I would be on this show every fucking podcast talking about how weak and pathetic this group of crybabies are.

[00:50:50] Like you are getting paid a boatload of money to play hockey in the biggest American market in the world.

[00:50:58] And because you don't like the way they treated Barkley Goudreau or you don't like that they traded away Truba or that they said they were looking to trade away Crider or whatever.

[00:51:09] Like this is the stuff we know about.

[00:51:10] There might be other bullshit that goes on that we don't know about.

[00:51:13] But if you just take the information that was laid out in front of us because of the way Chris Drury, who is an idiot, absolutely handled some of these things.

[00:51:24] Now the whole team decides they don't want to play for him anymore.

[00:51:28] And they don't want to play for La Vulet anymore because the Rangers treat their players badly.

[00:51:32] Like are you freaking kidding me?

[00:51:34] Like this is seriously what this team is built of?

[00:51:37] This is the men that they have in this lineup?

[00:51:41] There's some other weird shit that came out about MSG employees getting bounced out.

[00:51:47] And they don't even have like a social media team that can travel with them because of a quote unquote incident.

[00:51:52] So I don't know.

[00:51:54] It just sounds like such a bad toxic environment over there.

[00:51:56] Besides like, you know, having to go to work and like step over all the homeless guys, you know, showing you the dick and like taking a shit on the sidewalk.

[00:52:04] I have a buddy who sells advertising for MSG networks.

[00:52:08] You should probably check in on his mental health.

[00:52:10] I mean, I did read that too, where like nobody is in the management or like you said, the social media department or any of the other departments are allowed to fraternize with any of the players.

[00:52:24] Like you can't be friends with them.

[00:52:26] You can't talk with them.

[00:52:27] They're not allowed to travel with them anymore.

[00:52:28] Like it does seem extremely toxic.

[00:52:31] And but those are times that I find that a lot of times teams can kind of get together and say, look, we know how fucked up everything outside of this dressing room is.

[00:52:43] And that's all shit we can't control.

[00:52:45] What we can control is what we do in this room and out on the ice.

[00:52:49] And we made, you know, won the president's trophy last year.

[00:52:52] We made it to the third round of the playoffs last year.

[00:52:54] We're a good freaking team.

[00:52:56] Let's go out there and show who gives a shit about everything.

[00:52:58] That's the mentality a winning team has.

[00:53:01] That's a mentality I think most teams would have.

[00:53:04] But this just crawling up into a ball because they don't like the way things are.

[00:53:09] I just can't wrap my head around it.

[00:53:12] I really can't.

[00:53:14] You know, you have just I get dysfunctional organizations and stuff, but that team is way too good to be playing like this.

[00:53:22] So I chalk it all up to them just being soft as F.

[00:53:30] That's it?

[00:53:31] Nobody wants to expand?

[00:53:32] I was I've been taking up a lot of air.

[00:53:34] So I was I was going to let Bob go in.

[00:53:36] Now, listen, it makes sense.

[00:53:37] And we've talked enough about the Rangers.

[00:53:39] I don't get it either.

[00:53:40] I'm with you, Chris.

[00:53:41] I can't see them at this pace all year.

[00:53:43] They're too good of a team.

[00:53:44] They're going to come out of it somewhat.

[00:53:45] Protect that first round pick.

[00:53:46] But, you know, I just when I look at a group of guys that played hockey like their whole lives and their competitive people, your whole lives like ultra competitive.

[00:53:55] You know, you really got it.

[00:53:56] I mean, just to make it to the NHL.

[00:53:58] Let's face it.

[00:53:58] Like it's it's got to be your life, the training, everything that goes into it.

[00:54:02] And for it to just fall off a cliff, it's just so unnatural, like as a group to just let it happen this way.

[00:54:09] We talked about it last time about the difference with the Devils last year.

[00:54:12] Right.

[00:54:13] Like just we had bad players in big spots and and a lot of injuries.

[00:54:18] And there were legitimately more reasons.

[00:54:20] But I didn't feel like the team ever quit.

[00:54:22] These guys look like they quit.

[00:54:24] And that is really surprising to me when you spent your whole life wanting to be the best, like to a man.

[00:54:30] Each of them at one point in their lives probably want to be the best hockey player on the planet.

[00:54:34] And then to just kind of let it all kind of fade away is just really bizarre.

[00:54:38] You know, especially like every major market.

[00:54:43] Every major sportsbook, every major publication, whatever, had the Rangers as a Stanley Cup favorite.

[00:54:50] Like they were going into this season with them and and Florida with probably the best odds going in to in the Eastern Conference.

[00:54:58] And OK, your first half sucked and you're just willing to fold it in like this.

[00:55:03] Just fold it up and go home.

[00:55:05] You know, good riddance.

[00:55:06] I love seeing us at first in the division.

[00:55:09] I know we're not right now, but us first on the division and seeing them dead.

[00:55:12] Dead last in the division.

[00:55:13] I love that.

[00:55:14] But, you know, hockey is a lot more fun when the Rangers and Devils are both good at the same time.

[00:55:20] That's all.

[00:55:21] Yeah, that's true.

[00:55:22] Like that that playoff series like I, you know, two years ago, I was going to have a heart attack.

[00:55:26] But it was just.

[00:55:28] I didn't sit down for any of the games.

[00:55:30] I stood up staring at my TV, pacing around my living room like a seriously like a crazy person.

[00:55:36] I could not relax.

[00:55:37] I could not settle.

[00:55:39] That was so stressful and so much fun all at the same time.

[00:55:44] Like I would love that again, but it's probably not going to happen this year.

[00:55:49] It'll be Carolina.

[00:55:50] Fucking hate those guys.

[00:55:51] Oh, by the way, did you see Alex Turcotte?

[00:55:53] He's sloop footed Luke or kicked his kicked his legs out against L.A.

[00:56:00] Yeah.

[00:56:00] Yeah.

[00:56:01] And did you see how Luke got off the ice pretty quickly and didn't lie around and flop around like a giant fucking pussy?

[00:56:08] Yeah.

[00:56:09] I think also the the this Cotter penalty, I guess it was the second one right before the power play that we shouldn't have been awarded to for a trip.

[00:56:20] He was tangled up with one of the dudes who went up on top of him.

[00:56:22] He just got a roughing.

[00:56:24] And remember, that was just Cotter got the roughing.

[00:56:26] Yeah, he didn't.

[00:56:28] Yeah, that's right.

[00:56:28] What I wrote, like, what's up with the officiating today?

[00:56:31] Anyway, I think Cotter was mouthing something like you diver or something like that, because he also kind of came up off the ice like his head.

[00:56:38] He was all beat like he was all hurt.

[00:56:40] And then, you know, Cotter just gets the two by itself, which I thought was stupid.

[00:56:43] I thought if anything matching or just let it go.

[00:56:45] And then it was totally a makeup call for the trip that then got us to cancel that penalty kill later.

[00:56:51] And it's just officiating overall.

[00:56:53] That's why I wrote to you guys.

[00:56:54] I don't get it right now.

[00:56:55] I don't understand what's happening.

[00:56:56] It just looks so awful.

[00:56:57] And there's no consistency across the board.

[00:57:00] Yeah, we've been on the tough end of officiating.

[00:57:03] It tends to, you know, kind of work stuff out.

[00:57:05] Like, you know, that penalty against Byfield tonight where he took Pesci after he got himself hauled down.

[00:57:11] Like, yeah, it should have been a penalty.

[00:57:13] Oh, yeah.

[00:57:14] I mean, I'm not even complaining about it.

[00:57:16] I know you're not.

[00:57:17] I know you're not.

[00:57:17] You're saying league-wide it seems to be a problem.

[00:57:19] Just really quick to kind of recap back on the goalie interference one.

[00:57:23] When I get these kind of calls that are really kind of like two-sided, right?

[00:57:28] One thing I like to ask is what would I do if it were reversed?

[00:57:31] If that call, if it was a devil's goalie, I'm pretty sure I'd be sitting here on this podcast telling you, yeah, that is goaltender interference.

[00:57:40] Because I would look at it through a different biased lens.

[00:57:43] But that kind of is the problem that we're discussing in a nutshell.

[00:57:49] I don't even know what it is.

[00:57:51] So I'm either going to be a fan emotionally supporting it or not supporting it based on what it does for my team.

[00:57:56] Because it's just not clear.

[00:57:59] Yeah, I'm 100% with you.

[00:58:01] I try to think that I'm relatively unbiased.

[00:58:04] Although someone that I was texting with, Mike Ruff, if you're listening to this, you're still fucking wrong, said there's definitely goalie interference.

[00:58:13] And I told him to go fuck himself and stop being a Debbie Downer.

[00:58:16] Was that Mike Rupp you said that too?

[00:58:18] No, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:58:19] That different guy.

[00:58:21] Yeah, me and Ruffer, we go way back.

[00:58:23] I didn't tell you.

[00:58:24] I was like, wow, how come he's not on the show?

[00:58:26] He said no.

[00:58:28] The devilish poet, he said no.

[00:58:30] Respect you, buddy.

[00:58:31] Respect your anonymity.

[00:58:32] It's all good.

[00:58:34] He did.

[00:58:35] Oh, did he really?

[00:58:35] You said he didn't want to come on the show?

[00:58:38] In his own poetic way, yes.

[00:58:40] He said, I'd like to keep mine anonymity.

[00:58:45] Dude, I like this guy even more now.

[00:58:47] Yeah, exactly.

[00:58:48] I think that's awesome.

[00:58:50] Yes.

[00:58:51] No one should know who you are.

[00:58:53] I mean, I'll fuck a stranger and just call him Mr. Poe.

[00:58:56] Exactly.

[00:58:57] Well, we even said it.

[00:58:58] We're not sure if it is.

[00:58:59] Is it really?

[00:58:59] We don't know if it's a guy.

[00:59:00] I don't know.

[00:59:01] We don't know.

[00:59:02] We're making assumptions about it.

[00:59:04] Yeah, I love it.

[00:59:05] He's like a fucking mystery.

[00:59:07] It's like a mystery.

[00:59:08] Whoever it is.

[00:59:10] I think it's fantastic.

[00:59:12] Yeah, I don't really have much else.

[00:59:14] You know, we need a little bit more of our guys.

[00:59:16] We need to get back to kind of getting all the pieces together.

[00:59:21] I think we know what the problems are.

[00:59:24] The offense was cooking to start the season while the defense was coming together.

[00:59:27] The defense came together.

[00:59:29] The offense went a little cold.

[00:59:30] Now the goalies are hot.

[00:59:31] So we needed it all come together.

[00:59:33] And hopefully that happens by the time the playoffs roll around.

[00:59:36] Because when this team does have all the pieces together, nobody can fucking beat us.

[00:59:40] Like nobody can.

[00:59:42] And I truly believe that.

[00:59:43] I'm not just blowing smoke.

[00:59:44] Like I really, really believe that.

[00:59:47] Well, you know, since we're not going to do a show tomorrow or Friday, we should do the garbage goalie of the week now.

[00:59:55] Wow.

[00:59:56] So what do you guys think?

[00:59:58] So I'm just going over last week's stats.

[01:00:02] Now, who did you have again, Tim?

[01:00:04] You took Merzlikens, right?

[01:00:07] Yeah.

[01:00:07] But he didn't play.

[01:00:08] I have Igor, but this thing is rigged.

[01:00:10] So, you know.

[01:00:11] So who did – the Montreal game is the only one I don't have.

[01:00:17] I think because I have Shesterkin.

[01:00:19] I texted it to me, you, and the four of us.

[01:00:23] Okay.

[01:00:24] Let me just check then.

[01:00:26] Sorry, was – I was – okay.

[01:00:35] So, yeah, you're right.

[01:00:40] Let me just check and see.

[01:00:42] You sent it to all three of us?

[01:00:43] I thought so.

[01:00:47] Okay.

[01:00:48] I can't see it.

[01:00:49] I see the one that I sent to all of you guys.

[01:00:55] Why don't I just waste some air while we look through our text messages?

[01:00:59] Yeah, see if you can find it because I think you might have sent it to me on just me, you, and Bobby, not all four of us.

[01:01:07] I remember I was walking with my dog out in the woods.

[01:01:10] Yeah.

[01:01:10] Just give us all one second.

[01:01:12] There's a lot of text here.

[01:01:14] I have to go through.

[01:01:15] I say a lot.

[01:01:16] We're like a bunch of fucking girls here.

[01:01:19] Bobby, take over the show for a minute, will you?

[01:01:22] Well, I know –

[01:01:23] Chris, let me tell you about the tube that's going up my asshole.

[01:01:29] That would be good.

[01:01:30] Well, Chris, you had just certain.

[01:01:31] I'm Merzlinkas.

[01:01:33] Yeah, but I'm trying to get the goals against – I mean, the same percentage for whoever played last week for you.

[01:01:39] Yeah.

[01:01:41] That's what I'm trying to figure out.

[01:01:44] So, I'm almost there.

[01:01:46] You guys just talk for another second.

[01:01:47] No, wait.

[01:01:48] You know what?

[01:01:48] I can just fucking do this.

[01:01:50] Yeah.

[01:01:51] So, Shester at 615.

[01:01:52] Jared 848.

[01:01:54] Sorokin had 880.

[01:01:56] Yeah.

[01:01:56] And then your guy.

[01:01:58] Merzlincons.

[01:01:58] I think he had like a 915 or something.

[01:02:01] I thought he was in the eights, whoever it was.

[01:02:03] But that's all right.

[01:02:04] We're going to find out real quick.

[01:02:05] I'm pretty certain I came in last.

[01:02:08] What was – what was last Saturday's date?

[01:02:14] The 21st?

[01:02:17] Yeah.

[01:02:18] Was that it?

[01:02:18] Well, there's a lot of questions today.

[01:02:20] I know.

[01:02:22] Yeah.

[01:02:25] I think it was –

[01:02:27] Merzlincons.

[01:02:28] No.

[01:02:28] It was Brezzo started.

[01:02:30] It was against the Bruins 1228, right?

[01:02:33] Oh, was that one?

[01:02:34] Okay.

[01:02:34] Okay.

[01:02:35] So, do you have it?

[01:02:37] Tarasov.

[01:02:38] 857.

[01:02:40] 857.

[01:02:40] Thank you, Tim.

[01:02:41] It was Tarasov.

[01:02:42] Okay.

[01:02:43] So, now that we just, you know, wasted five minutes of fucking time and bored the hell out

[01:02:49] of whoever's still listening.

[01:02:51] Again, we can edit that out.

[01:02:53] We want to make sure that everyone took a second to stick a finger in their ass and check

[01:02:57] it.

[01:02:58] Yes.

[01:02:58] Don't forget.

[01:02:59] We'll just throw some commercials in there.

[01:03:02] If you're over 45, get your asshole checked.

[01:03:05] And Bobby will give us the play-by-play and maybe we can even get the video of it and

[01:03:10] put it up on the YouTube channel.

[01:03:11] Yeah.

[01:03:11] This will be our first Uncle Pucker's live stream.

[01:03:15] So, hi.

[01:03:17] We've had some polyps.

[01:03:17] Here they are.

[01:03:19] For those who don't know, the Uncle Pucker garbage goalie of the week is the only place

[01:03:25] where you will find a celebration of poor goalie played throughout the NHL.

[01:03:29] So, what we do every week is we pick a goalie that is going to play on Saturday.

[01:03:33] That goalie can only be picked once.

[01:03:36] If that goalie doesn't play, you are automatically awarded the backup.

[01:03:39] If you already chose the backup, you are automatically rewarded the league average.

[01:03:45] And the lowest save percentage wins.

[01:03:48] So, last week, Bobby won.

[01:03:50] He took Igor Shosturkin against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

[01:03:54] Igor had a 615 save percentage.

[01:04:00] I don't know if any of us are ever going to get any lower than that this year.

[01:04:04] But Bobby might have won just the whole game right here with 615.

[01:04:11] In second place, Dan came in with Tristan Jari against the Islanders.

[01:04:15] He pitched in 848.

[01:04:18] And then Tim with the guy who we just said, we don't know who he is, against Boston for

[01:04:25] Columbus or Montreal, rather.

[01:04:27] No, Columbus.

[01:04:28] I keep on going to Montreal.

[01:04:29] I keep on thinking of Montembeau.

[01:04:31] 857.

[01:04:32] We all did pretty good this week.

[01:04:33] I took Ilya Sorokin against Pittsburgh, and he got an 880.

[01:04:38] So, I will choose last.

[01:04:39] Dan will send us his...

[01:04:42] Well, actually, Dan will choose last, because I asked him before to give us a couple goalies,

[01:04:45] and he didn't.

[01:04:46] So, Bobby, you pick first.

[01:04:49] Who is your garbage goalie of the week for round four?

[01:04:53] So, I'm thinking that Cam Talbot will start for the Red Wings.

[01:04:58] They're going up against the Jets.

[01:04:59] So, I'm going to go with them.

[01:05:00] The Jets are lighting it up lately, I think.

[01:05:02] So, you're going to take Talbot with Detroit against the Winnipeg Jets.

[01:05:10] All right.

[01:05:12] So, then Dan goes next, but he's not here.

[01:05:14] So, then we go to Timmy.

[01:05:18] Hang on.

[01:05:21] Hmm.

[01:05:22] Hang on.

[01:05:23] Hang on.

[01:05:24] Hang on.

[01:05:25] It didn't do the schedule in a nice format for me.

[01:05:30] Want me to rattle them off for you?

[01:05:32] No.

[01:05:33] I'm just looking.

[01:05:35] I'm trying to make an informed decision here.

[01:05:40] There we go.

[01:05:41] Okay.

[01:05:41] That's the way I wanted to look at it.

[01:05:47] Hmm.

[01:05:48] Hmm.

[01:05:51] Hmm.

[01:05:51] Good wing Jet one, Bobby.

[01:05:53] I do like that one.

[01:05:55] That's a good pick.

[01:05:58] All right.

[01:05:59] All right.

[01:06:00] I am going to go with...

[01:06:03] I'm going to go with Montembeau.

[01:06:06] Sam Montembeau.

[01:06:08] Who is Montreal playing?

[01:06:10] The Avalanche.

[01:06:13] Against the Avs.

[01:06:15] All right.

[01:06:15] I am going to take Uka Pekalukunen for the Buffalo Sabres against the Vegas Golden

[01:06:23] Knights.

[01:06:24] That's a good one, too.

[01:06:26] That's mine.

[01:06:27] So that's our garbage goalies of the week.

[01:06:29] And as soon as we get Dan's, we will put it up on the social media machines and see what

[01:06:35] you guys think.

[01:06:36] I didn't even see those games.

[01:06:38] I didn't scroll all the way down.

[01:06:39] I'm still happy with my pick, but I was like, oh, look, that's all the games they have.

[01:06:43] Oh, you didn't hit view more?

[01:06:47] The last game I saw was Montreal and Avalanche.

[01:06:50] I missed the Utah and Stars, Tampa Bay Kings.

[01:06:53] Nashville Flames and Buffalo Knights and Oilers cracking.

[01:06:56] I didn't even see those games.

[01:06:57] Detroit is a freaking disaster right now.

[01:07:00] Winnipeg is one of the best teams in the league.

[01:07:02] And Cam Talbot is 72 years old.

[01:07:05] So I think you're in good shape.

[01:07:07] So anything else that you guys want to discuss this evening before we wrap it up?

[01:07:12] I'm hungry.

[01:07:13] Yeah, I bet you are, bud.

[01:07:15] I bet you are.

[01:07:16] Good luck, buddy.

[01:07:16] You'll be fine.

[01:07:18] Good luck.

[01:07:19] I mean, that just sucks.

[01:07:20] It's just like a Friday night in college.

[01:07:22] Just goes in and out.

[01:07:24] So how many colleges did you go to?

[01:07:26] One right near yours, pal.

[01:07:28] So Friday, you are indisposed.

[01:07:32] And then Saturday night, hopefully we can get back on and do something Saturday night.

[01:07:38] Dan said he was available.

[01:07:40] So we'll go from there.

[01:07:41] Saturday, the Devils are taking on the Sharks.

[01:07:43] It is 4 o'clock Eastern start.

[01:07:45] So quick, are we pulling out of this thing on Saturday, guys?

[01:07:49] Or is this thing going to become a four-game?

[01:07:52] Oh, boy, we're having a problem here.

[01:07:54] 100%.

[01:07:54] I almost took the Sharks goalie.

[01:07:56] That's how confident I am.

[01:07:57] The Devils are going to come out mad.

[01:08:00] Okay.

[01:08:01] All right.

[01:08:01] It's going to be a whooping.

[01:08:02] We owe them one.

[01:08:03] It's going to be something in the five-goal range.

[01:08:05] All right.

[01:08:05] Guess what Saturday is?

[01:08:07] Yes.

[01:08:07] Your boy, Tim, turns 40-something.

[01:08:11] Yeah, your birthday is Saturday, huh?

[01:08:12] Yeah, it is.

[01:08:13] It is.

[01:08:13] How old are you going to be?

[01:08:15] 41.

[01:08:16] Yeah, don't be a bitch.

[01:08:16] What's your fucking birthday?

[01:08:18] Jesus Christ.

[01:08:19] I'd like giving out all my personal information on this.

[01:08:21] Do you want my social?

[01:08:22] I'm 40-something.

[01:08:23] Nobody – you never ask a girl how old she is.

[01:08:26] How old are you?

[01:08:28] 47.

[01:08:29] 47.

[01:08:29] Are you going to be 47?

[01:08:31] I'm going to be 47.

[01:08:32] Okay.

[01:08:33] He's the baby of the group.

[01:08:37] He's the baby of the group.

[01:08:38] So, do that in math.

[01:08:39] I haven't done one yet.

[01:08:41] So, you know.

[01:08:42] Neither have I.

[01:08:43] I'm of the opinion if I don't ask, that won't ever happen.

[01:08:47] Well, I'm also – I'm this way.

[01:08:49] So, I was always told when you don't go for your colonoscopy, like, start when you're 50, right?

[01:08:53] And then, like, when I turned, like, 45 or 46, my doctor was like, no, it's 45 now.

[01:08:58] And I'm like, well, it's always been 50.

[01:09:00] She's like, yeah, but now they want you to get checked at 45.

[01:09:02] I'm like, no, I have five more years.

[01:09:06] So, not until I'm 50 am I getting checked.

[01:09:08] So, that's kind of where I was, dude.

[01:09:10] It's funny you say that because, like, legitimately, I was somewhere in between the 45 and the 50.

[01:09:15] Maybe around 48.

[01:09:16] I'm like, shit, they did change it.

[01:09:18] And it just literally took me two and a half years to schedule.

[01:09:21] Okay.

[01:09:21] So, this is your first one.

[01:09:22] That's what I was going to say.

[01:09:23] This is my first one at 50.

[01:09:24] Tim goes every other weekend.

[01:09:27] He likes to go.

[01:09:28] But that's just at the club in downtown Baltimore.

[01:09:33] And on that note.

[01:09:35] Perfect.

[01:09:35] All right.

[01:09:36] Wherever you're listening to us, like a five-star review, a positive comment, download a subscription.

[01:09:39] Helps a little podcast that could.

[01:09:41] Let us know in the comments section or wherever the hell you want.

[01:09:44] Email us at unclepuckers at gmail.com what you think about this team.

[01:09:48] What do you think about the third line?

[01:09:50] Should we shake things up a little bit?

[01:09:52] And should we just focus all of our rage and disappointment to Eric Halla and Eric Halla only?

[01:09:59] I say yes.

[01:10:00] But, you know, that's up for debate.

[01:10:03] For Timmy and Bob, I'm Chris.

[01:10:04] We're the Uncle Puckers.

[01:10:05] We'll see you when we see you.

[01:10:07] Bye-bye.

[01:10:08] Check your assholes, Ellicott.

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