Devils Take Down Flyers In Game #1

[00:00:06] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils and you're listening to the The Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils! Alright boys and girls, the season has started. We are the Uncle Puckers. Devils have just taken Game 1 of their new 84-game schedule in this 26-27 season

[00:00:32] by downing the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in overtime. I'm Tim. I'm Chris. He's Tim. I'm excited. What a fun game. I don't know where I am either, man. It's awesome that Devils Hockey is back. This was a fun game. A lot to talk about. We're going to talk about that. I'm just going to throw one little message out there. Quinn, wouldn't it have been fun if you can join in on the fun tonight?

[00:01:00] It wouldn't have been like 7-2 if Quinn was there. It wouldn't even have been that fun for him. We don't need Quinn. Fuck him. Declan Chisholm is the next Quinn. Chisholm played a great game. Played a great game. Yeah. Let's start the show first. Do you want to wait until Bobby comes on? Do we do our little shout out? Well, we'll wait until Bobby comes on. We'll let Bobby go. That's fucking classic. I love it.

[00:01:24] Before we get into the game, because Matt B had put up the bubble wrap and plastic cutlery comment that this ding dong asked Jack Hughes in the first intermission break. Was it AJ Malesko? AJ Malesko, yeah. And if anybody who hadn't seen it, it's the on ice interview and she starts it by or maybe ended it. I don't know. I just saw the highlights. I don't watch intermission.

[00:01:52] And she says to Jack, like, so you're just going to put yourself in bubble wrap and avoid, you know, just use plastic cutlery this year, which of course was a knock to the injuries. And last year, the Chicago incident, Jack, I have to say, first of all, do she ask question? Like there should have been a fucking filter going off in your head saying maybe I shouldn't ask this. But she did. And I thought Jack handled it perfectly. Classy. Just said that's a weird question. Have a good game. Good question. Mid-game. Stay away.

[00:02:22] Fuck off, lady. Fuck off, lady, is essentially what he said. You're right. Yeah. He handled it pretty well. I mean, and those period, like those interviews, like they have kind of general plans in their head of, like they ask kind of the real time-ish questions first. But, like, oftentimes, like the last kind of kicker of a question is something they have pre-planned. So she thought about that. She was like, if I interview Jack, I'm going to ask him this or make this joke.

[00:02:52] Like, you know, if you just cannot do that in the middle of a game. I don't even think she has the credibility with Jack to ask him that after a game. Maybe someone like Amanda Stein who would never fucking do something like that. Right. But it's fucking embarrassing. So anyway, whatever. Jack with a great answer. Like, what a weird question. Fuck off. Yeah. And as he was skating away and she was like, oh, you can't take a joke. That was the thing that kind of got me the most.

[00:03:19] Like, you just tone deaf, you know, dummy. Like, really? Yeah. He's the one that can't take a joke. This dude has been dealing and hearing nothing, but he can't stay healthy, blah, blah, blah. And his first game of the season, you're going to hit him with that. I thought it was funny. And what's funny is she's actually of the two, like between her and Bouchergross. Bouchergross fucking sucks, man. He is just an awful announcer. It's like, oh, let's put the biscuit in the basket. Top show for mom. I'd say hooky. Shut up, you fucking loser.

[00:03:46] Why don't you go send another shirtless picture to an ESPN intern, you fucking sex offender? So I think she's actually usually a pretty good color commentator. That was just out of the bill. Anyway, what a fucking game. You know, we're still I'm still kind of in preseason mode in terms of my emotional stability. So that was a bit of a roller coaster. And it was kind of I'm trying hard. I was trying so hard not to be like, oh, here we fucking go again with like not being able to score a fucking goal.

[00:04:14] And to like the first period, right? Like you dominate puck possession. Most of your shots are coming from the outside. You're not getting great scoring chances, but you're dominating time of possession. And then they come back and they score a ball. That was like last year's script to a T in the first period. So it definitely felt a little bit like that. I was with you on that. Yeah. I mean, between basically Mercer missing three point blank shots and the power play going what they go over for over five. Oh, for four. Not good. Yeah.

[00:04:42] Mike Ruff was like, Mike Ruff was like, we're going to lose. Fuck these guys. Keep doing it, dude. Keep doing it. Actually, yeah. Keep doing it. You just shit on everyone. That's awesome, Sean. So I'm process wise. Let's talk about that. And look, the Flyers got the shit kicked out of them last night. And by all ways you can look at this, except the scoreboard, and I hate to be that guy, but the scoreboard worked in our favor so we can.

[00:05:11] We kicked the shit out of this team. We didn't have a single player. I'm looking at natural stat trick right now. We didn't have a single player under 50% course before. So basically, every single guy on our team was on the positive side of the ledger in terms of shot attempts. And we only had two guys under 50% for expected goals. That was Timo and Steph Nason. And Timo was like 48%. Fucking crazy, man. Brat, Luke, Jack, even Mantha. Mantha was far more noticeable than he has been in preseason. I think he'll kind of get into it.

[00:05:41] When that clicks, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. And look, he's going to be doing things that may be a little more subtle that you don't necessarily notice. You know, like he happened to be standing right in front of Joseph Wohl on Dougie's goal. You know, like he's a big fucking motherfucker. And if he's throwing screens in front, that's what we want for him. You know, that's the type of shit that everybody said Palat was doing when he wasn't fucking doing it. You know, if he starts finishing, he can stand in front of that net.

[00:06:11] You know, he's also had a couple better shots. He actually had some better puck touches, I thought. But he's a little drifty in the D zone. But he had a nice play towards the end of regulation where he shut down. I forget who it was. The Flyers had a three-on-two coming the other way. And Mantha skated hard, caught up to the guy and forced to dump it. Yeah, nice backtrack. The one guy that I'm really, really encouraged about. Sorry. I just like cranked him out too.

[00:06:38] Because I got to do this and then write the recap for a little joke. We won't keep you all night. Because everyone's going to go on Ace's show and stuff anyway. Yeah, it's fine. I know he's coming on soon. Luke Hughes had a fucking incredible game. He looked great tonight. I thought he looked great. Except for the fucking drop pass on the PowerPoint. Oh, yeah. We've talked about that. We've talked about that. We've talked about that. I think that's something that he needs to work on. But it's just like, come on, man. You've got to know. You've got to know about that. And then that play in overtime.

[00:07:08] I actually don't blame Luke for it. I blame Gritzup for it. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't matter. We won the game. All in all, I think Luke played a really good game. I was really. I thought defensively, all six of our dudes played really well tonight. I was really impressed with Chisholm. Like, he is just a dynamic skater. Like, now I can see why Sonny liked him. In the first, he had a great little slip pass to Manta, who had a good shot. Got a good shot off. He was firing the puck up quickly.

[00:07:37] So that's something I noticed that they were just doing, like, process-wise. And, like, play style-wise. And, again, it was something I was screaming about all last season. Move the puck up quicker. Just move it up quicker. And in particular, in the neutral zone, they were shutting plays down in the neutral zone. And then turning around in that short ice and getting kind of quick odd-man rushes, quick rush plays back the other way. Really, really liked that game. The neutral zone is a really under-talked-about zone. And it's probably more important than the O zone and the D zone, to be perfectly honest.

[00:08:07] I agree. In terms of transition. So, strong game all around. Was really, really impressed with that effort. Thank God they got the win. But we had the best three-on-three player in the fucking world. And he proved it again. I mean, what a goal. Just what a pass for him. He did the stick toss into the crowd, too. So this is the second home opener that he has scored the game winner in overtime, right? He did it against Chicago when he first threw the stick in. So I hope that becomes a thing for home openers, that when Jack scores the overtime goal, the stick goes in the stands.

[00:08:37] Yeah, by the way, Dougie, anytime goal. Sorry I didn't tweak this out, but Dougie, anytime goal in home openers. It's like free money. Hey, I did it again. And, you know, the thing I liked about this game was, as well as the Devils played, as connected as they were, you can still pull things from this game and work on and get better. You know, and that's what I like. You were 0 for 4 in the power play. That shouldn't happen. You know, you got to get better there.

[00:09:06] And that's what I like, because you know this team is going to get better. They have these things to work on. This is probably, you know, the most disconnected they're probably going to look if everybody stays healthy. And it was pretty impressive tonight. Yeah, you know, like we collapsed in the third period. And I'm just looking at some of our numbers overall. You know, like shots were pretty consistent period to period to period. You know, the ratios were pretty consistent period to period to period.

[00:09:33] Our first was just absolutely fucking dominant period. Like, you know, that was just like a pinball stupid goal. You know, I do think I would have loved to see Jonas slide across and pick up whoever did that at Ristol Line. And I would have loved to see him slide across and pick up his stick in front. So like you said, it's like things to work on. Watch the video. You know, like if they had a perfect game in the first game, that probably would have been a little bit more problematic than having things to work on. I agree.

[00:10:01] I think you look at Pittsburgh and you're like, okay, that was a perfect game. What do we have to work on? Like they completely dismantled Philadelphia. Now you can say, hey, you know, you can pull it. It took us to overtime. They did this. Is it, but Sean or devil. So was it Johnny devil? We lose this game last year. I agree. That's kind of what I was just saying is they just kind of, they get that second goal scored on them and they just fold. Yep.

[00:10:28] And that evangelista pass to Luke's for Luke's goal. What a fucking pass. Just, I mean, the knowing where Luke is now, you know, and just that nice little chip pass right to him. Luke having all that empty space and it just a beautiful goal. That was awesome to see. You know, we need him. We've said it all summer long and first game looked great. Yeah. Yeah. Luke the Luke goal. Yeah. So, yeah, just, just play style wise.

[00:10:56] Like that's something that, that like just, it's hard to teach and it's not really teachable and it's something. And he doesn't have like blazing speed. So it's something that guys that he's extremely crafty. So being able to peel off on the boards, feel all that pressure. Three guys basically collapse on him. And then for Luke Hughes to kind of read him being able to kind of just slip that through. And it's, it's kind of the two different, two different skill sets that work so well together.

[00:11:23] His, his patience and IQ to be able to pull up, draw guys to him. And then also have the talent to be able to just slide that, slide that through three guys to, to Luke Hughes. But all day, dude, when he walked in, when Luke Hughes walked in, I was like, he's going to fucking shoot it over the net, isn't he? Yeah. I think a lot of us thought that. I was like, there's no fucking chance he's hitting the net on this one. Uh, Evangelista impressed me the most. Yeah. I, I like his game a lot. Do you know who I fucking loved? And Johnny just said it here.

[00:11:53] E-Rod was great game. Fucking awesome. And, and, um, he was the faceoff getoff guy in overtime. Like we don't score, we don't score that goal without him just absolutely fucking cooking whoever he did on, um, on the faceoff. Yeah. All the new guys look good. You know, like Lombardi did what he, what he could in his, in his minutes. Like, I don't think he was particularly noticeable, but you know, that's kind of what you want from your fourth line. And they won their, they won their minutes. Like we talked about that.

[00:12:19] Like last year, Cotter and whatever the fuck, Glenn Denning get absolutely body bagged in their minutes. And then the rest of the team would have to spend their time fucking making up those, making up those, that lost ground. So. And Connor Brown is a much better skater than Stefan Nason. So, you know, when Brown comes back, hopefully that will unlock Lombardi a little bit more. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Nason was solid, if not on, you know, unspectacular, did his job, you know, he's a game, you know, yeah. Yeah. Four checked hard.

[00:12:47] There's one moment where the puck was kind of floated into space and he was chasing after and he was just so slow footed where he, you know, Connor Brown gets that puck and he just didn't. But whatever, nothing happened out of it. I'm trying to think what else kind of went on. Jonas and Dougie, like after the first, I was like, woof, these guys fucking stink. Dougie was particular having a real rough go of it on the puck. Yeah, he was. The puck just kept bouncing over his stick and just getting through him at the blue line. But he kind of pulled it together.

[00:13:17] I, like I said, I thought all six guys, you know, the first period, you know, throw it away. It's first period of the first game, you know, nerves, all that other stuff. I thought from that point on, everybody played really well. It was a really, really good game. And, and it was weird because there was that bit of PTSD was like, we're going to blow this. But there was also in the back of my head, like, there's no way we're losing this. Like, they're going to find a way because they were just playing that good the whole game. And I'm glad I was, I was right about that.

[00:13:46] But just, I, I tell you, Philadelphia doesn't have Joseph Wall in there. This game's not even close. Yeah. And if we don't have Dawson Mercer, this game's not even close. This is true too. He missed a couple of the opportunities. He is fine. Look, he, he, he got his chances and, you know, it's tough luck. Brat too. Jesus Christ. Like, I can't believe. I was so glad that didn't come back up by this in the ass. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, just, he's, I, I just have no idea what happened to that guy's scoring ability. It's crazy.

[00:14:17] But, you know, I, I, I could see a world where Mercer kind of slowly works himself out of the lineup. He did get a little bit more PK minutes. I was actually going to look at that. Well, I mean, how many penalties did we take? He was actually a leading four in the PK. Yeah. Although there's only, I think there's only one, one, one penalty against. Was it one or two? Oh, no, we took two. They scored on a, they scored on the extra value. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:14:47] The other penalty, that, that Evangelista trip, that was bullshit. Um, eh, the boarding, the boarding on Lombardi was fucking crazy. I was like, I'll take it. But I don't know what the hell they were saying. Reps were still in preseason on this one. Like, that was, yeah. And that, that border goal was like, that's, that was a terrible call. Yeah, it was. Um, but, I mean, yeah, it just, he stepped on the stick. I get it. But they're going to call that all the time. It's stupid. I agree. Whatever. I agree.

[00:15:17] This game would be a lot better without refs. Wow. I've said this before. This is like ultimate, like stoner, like thoughts. It's like the concept of like a grown adult needing to like be on the ice to like tell the other grown adults that like you did something bad and you have to go sit in a box and like think about it. It's fucking hilarious. I tell you, it is the best sport where you just get singled out and then have to go spend two minutes thinking about it.

[00:15:45] And then the ref, and then the, then the grown adult who's in charge goes and tells 40 or 16,000 people that it was you, what you did, and you have to go sit by yourself. It's fucking funny. Everybody, it would be great if it'd be like a number four, two minutes for tripping, everybody point and laugh to him. And then they replay it again and again and again. You're like, yeah, yeah, look, that was me. I did that. My bad. You're right.

[00:16:11] So the other, I think some of the concerns that we've had about the decor, I mean, being able to move the puck, I didn't think it was all that bad. Dylan had a rough, rough night with the puck tonight. And just, he just absolutely fucking chops wood out there with that stick, man. Like it's, it was a tough, it was a tough showing for him. Yeah, I know. I mean, he's getting up there. We don't have him on this team for his, you know, I think his, his stellar play.

[00:16:41] He's on this team because of everything else he brings it. But yeah, I don't want him to become a liability. I like Dylan a lot. He did have a little bit of a rough game. Let's just see how it goes. He's the liability on the ice. Great leader. Good guy. Liability. Apparently Moosecock too, according to every single guy on the team. But maybe that's why he's so slow. Plugging that fucking thing around. Jesus Christ. He's just going to fucking toss it over his shoulder. Exactly. Can I tuck this in ref or no?

[00:17:11] Oh, holy shit, man. ESPN fucking stinks at this. Their intermissions stink. It's just like, it's like, let's just do news around the league. Like, it's like, no, I would like to hear analysis. Like, that's what I like about what TNT does is they actually do analysis of the game that is on. ESPN is just like, let's whip it around the league. We have this fancy new studio and it's fucking stupid. I can't stand Butcher Grouse calling games. He's so bad. Not a fan. And now, AJ Malesko, you are on my shit list forever. Oh, my God.

[00:17:41] I'm curious. She was great. I thought I was like, yes, you know, she's actually good at this. A lot of women in these roles aren't very good at their jobs. She is on my shit list now. I'm kind of curious to see how the internet reacts to this whole thing tomorrow. A lot of people were not thrilled. Yeah? I saw people coming out of the woodwork that are usually pretty, that would be like, oh, look at this, look at this.

[00:18:04] And then, obviously, it's like everyone that just pounced on it who's of that opinion of like, women shouldn't be around there. Blah, blah, blah. That's not the case. And then, of course, the other side of that, everybody's like, oh, Jack doesn't find this joke that funny. You know, all the people, it's like, shut the fuck up. Yeah. ESPN's going to ask Deli about his penis next game.

[00:18:28] She's just going to be like, you know, because we hear, so this season for you to get through, I mean, do you have to take a few inches off of your giant donkey dick? Yeah. Heard you got a fucking sledgehammer, Brendan. Weird question. Have a good game. Yeah. Yeah. That's a weird question, mid-game. What the fuck? What else? Jake Allen, 950 save percentage. He was good. He made some really, really good saves. Third period. Third period. There's one in particular.

[00:18:56] It's kind of a longer shot, but he kind of had to slide over and make the save. A couple of interesting deflections on him. Yeah. Like people who hate Jack Hughes are going to love the question and people who like Jack Hughes are going to hate the question. It's just, you know, it's our world these days. It's like, you know, you've already predetermined your side and you're going to side with every side you're on. This is true. But I kind of hope I'm curious more of the national media, if they're going to bring it up and talk about it. I've seen some people.

[00:19:25] I saw Pete Blackburn from What Chaos brought it up. I'll see if like Merrick brings it up or if like if it even comes up on like 32 Thoughts or something like that. Yeah. Because it's very disrespectful, you know, and maybe you were trying to come in as a joke. I mean, of course she was. But like it's just like you said, too. It's not the time or the place. Like the middle of a fucking game, man. Time and a place. Yeah. And if you don't have credibility with Jack Hughes to be able to fuck with him and joke with him like that.

[00:19:53] Like people are like, if Biz asked him this question, you know, he'd probably laugh. Yeah, probably. Probably. Yeah. Because like he probably, I don't know, Jack's just an awkward little autistic kid who's really good at hockey. So. Yeah. And does not like the media at all. And you know what? We're allowed to make those jokes. Not you, AJ Malesko. We are. This is true. This is true. We don't. But we would also. Yeah. We've made him many times. But we've also, if he was on this show, we wouldn't lead with that question. You know what I mean?

[00:20:22] Like that's not, it's not a joke. Like, yeah. We look at this as a, you know, we have to, we talk about this team. This team is. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody on it is up for grabs. And we, I'll tell you, we go easy on Jack because there's not a lot to complain about. Other than the injuries, there's nothing to complain about. Yeah. I mean, and he didn't have any of his sort of Jack turnovers where he tries to overhandle the puck.

[00:20:48] I was actually surprised the biggest issue with the power play tonight wasn't even like their zone entries. Like they were getting in the zone pretty clean. What kind of was happening, if you remember back to like the sort of diagrams that I put out there, they weren't getting into their preferred sets where Jack is on that left line. They only did, I think, on one or two of the power plays. Hang on one second. Yep. Do what you got to do. I think Tim's having dog issues. I don't know. What's, what you doing over there?

[00:21:18] Yeah. My, uh, cause I closed this door just so like Sleeping Beauty upstairs doesn't get mad. But, um, my dog is blind and he's like, doesn't understand like closed door. So. Right. Well, how could he? He's blind. Say hi to Jack. Jack. Say hi. Hi, Jack. What's up, buddy? You can't see me, but I'm saying hello. Can't see shit. Can't hear you. He's a cutie. Yeah. He's a good boy. Yeah. Power play was never set up right tonight.

[00:21:44] I, you know, Philadelphia did a really good job collapsing in the middle and not giving anybody any space. Um, you know, that's how they play. They're an annoying team. They're a pain in the ass, but they're not all that skilled. So, yeah. And I, and I, I missed the Pittsburgh game. I'd be curious to go back and watch that and see how, see if a lot of that was Lodar or if a lot of that was Pittsburgh. Cause they like, they have a really good ability to find kind of open ice and find openings.

[00:22:14] And I saw a, a kind of ozone play where, uh, Dan Muse was talking over it and he was talking a lot about, um, puck support and then getting the puck to the open ice and then puck support and getting the puck to the open ice. And it's kind of creating these, you know, these sort of three on twos, two on twos to, to kind of support the puck. And then once you win those battles, you get that to a guy who's in open ice. And so it's kind of like those, that three man game.

[00:22:40] The, the, what I, I watched most of that game and Lodar was bad. I'm not excusing him at all, but the whole Philly team was like, they just, they were, they weren't on any loose pucks. They weren't fighting for any board battles. They were just backing off of Pittsburgh penguin players constantly allowing them to skate wherever the hell they wanted. It was a really passive game by Philadelphia. So you kind of knew coming into this that they were going to play more Philadelphia style, which is what we saw tonight.

[00:23:10] This is how they're going to play. It's got to be good goaltending. They've got to try and just weather the storm, capitalize on chances when they can. And there are a lot like, you know, quite a few teams that are, or the Islanders, you know, the Rangers actually lit it up tonight. I think they scored six, but you know, kind of what's going, you know, these are teams that if you can't score a lot of goals, that's how you have to win. The problem with Philadelphia is other than like, I don't think they have two goaltenders that can do it.

[00:23:38] And Joseph Wall looked good, but I don't think Wadar is the answer. I think that extension is going to look really bad in a few months. And I don't think he's at all the answer. Yeah. And Wall has always been a good goalie. He just hasn't been able to stay healthy. So I think that's kind of his, the thing with him, you know, it's just kind of goes back to what Sonny said is just don't invest a lot of money in goalies.

[00:24:03] Just fucking keep rolling the dice and roll the dice about, you know, with, with keeping the trying. And you have Jake Allen as a sort of backbone where you kind of search for search for the other option. I'm curious. Oh yeah. So these guys are talking about it. I thought Timo had a really good game. He was a lot more aggressive than I thought he was. He had one shift where he's just an absolute fucking menace.

[00:24:29] Um, oh, it was an overtime, um, where he just absolutely body bagged that guy on the boards, stole the puck back, got it to Nico for a one timer. Yeah. I thought that Timo looked good. Um, I thought Luke Evangelista, like I said, looked really good. It's not a lot of guys on this team. Like they rolled four lines a lot of it. Like I liked what I saw. I just, I was, I want to see more. Anything bad is kind of nitpicky.

[00:24:56] You know, it's like you said, it's like little things to improve on. Mm-hmm. And so far, so around the league, we got the Devils, of course, winning in overtime three to two. The Blue Jackets absolutely destroying Buffalo and doubling them up six to three. This one surprised me. Rangers five to one over Tampa Bay. So, um, we talked about this a little bit. Um, oh, the Wilder beating Nashville. Good job. Wilder up three to one right now.

[00:25:25] They've gotten goals from, it looks like, Foligno, um, Krill, Kaprizov, and Pickles. Pickles scored a goal. Good for him. Mm-hmm. So we talked about this a little bit. With the shortened preseason, I think there may be, uh, some sloppiness coming out of the gate across, across the board. You know, and we may see some pretty lopsided scores like that. You know, I was actually a little surprised at how tight this was and, and how relatively well played it was, to be honest.

[00:25:55] Like, like, I didn't think it was like a sloppy game necessarily. There were some bad bounces here and there and some kind of misconnections. But generally, it was a pretty well played hockey game. It was kind of great pace. It was fucking back and forth. Well, it was more. I got to interrupt you. I'm sorry. Very sorry. I have to bring, I have to bring them on. Live from New Jersey. Post game. It's Drunk Bob. Drunk Bob.

[00:26:24] Live from Edison, please. I got, I got earphones. Can you hear us? Good. Yeah, I can hear us. So give it, you were, you know, you were there. Give us the feel, the experience. Come on. Okay. You know what? It was good. It wasn't great. I got to tell you, the atmosphere was kind of weird. The fact that we couldn't really chill on Edison abs was a little weird. Then they started like letting people come out with cups with little stickers on it. Things were good.

[00:26:54] But inside, dude, it got weird, man. We're worried about losing to the Flyers. That's just the honest truth, right? And Jack does his thing and all is good. But fuck it, man. We should have blew them up. We did, dude. We were like, you know, we were speed bagging them all night. Just a matter of time. Yeah. Yeah. And while, while we're, yeah, while we're at it. Should have won the game. Did win the game. That's good.

[00:27:23] Bob, do you want to shout out your boy now? Ralph? Yeah. I thought his name was George. Yeah, Ralph's the man, dude. Nah, it's fucking Ralph. I'm just sitting there like I'm trying to buy a banner for my kid. I don't know. Like, they don't have shit here to buy. So I'm just sitting there. He's like, are you Bobby? I'm like, who the fuck are you? He's like, no, I'm from Yoga Bunkers. I'm like, yeah. He's like, I love your show, man. Keep doing good. I'm like, ah, sweet.

[00:27:52] Let's go. And he's like, yo, can we get a pic? My son will take it. I'm like, you fucking kidding me? This is great. So, yeah. We did that. So, he wanted to take a picture with you. Fuck yeah. Ralph. Ralph, thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you, Ralph. Ralph, you're here. Email us the picture at unclepuckers at gmail.com. Yes. I want that fucking pic. I want that fucking pic. I've never been approached like that before.

[00:28:18] I'm just like, listen, I came to buy a hat, right? I didn't bring a hat. Because if I have a hat, I won't buy a hat. Okay. I get your logic. I can't possibly carry two hats. That would be insane. So, then I go to buy a hat. Hats I like. I'll do a hat. And then he's Ralph. He's like, what's up, Bobby? I'm like, fuck.

[00:28:48] It's a great time. How many deep are you right now? What? So, how many beers have you had tonight so far? You can't hear me? I think we lost his bandwidth here. Nine. Okay. I'm good. I'm good. Are you staying the night? Which is a definite step down. Oh, yeah.

[00:29:19] Okay. Good. What, do you think he's going to drive back to Philadelphia if you're looking like this? With his hat? I'm maturing. There's a hat. He had a hat. He'd be wearing it. I didn't buy a hat because. Listen. Yeah. We're listening. A couple years ago, I go to Red's. I get three big beers. I put 60 bucks on a bar. Boom. Three beers. Tip. We're good. Today, I get two big beers. Fucking tab. It's $58.

[00:29:47] I'm like, what the fuck is going on here? So, yeah. I didn't buy myself a hat because I'm not selfish. God damn it, Obama. Yeah. Thanks, Obama. Gotta help my family. Did you. Do they have special beers? Do they have like stick beers or any kind of fun? They need to get like devil horn beers. That'd be cool. Pitchfork beer. They got the same shit. You'll see. You'll see Tom's over stick beer. That fucking, you know, lager they produce or whatever.

[00:30:16] But they got good beers on tap. The problem is, the atmosphere is different. They shut down the road. Kind of fucked everybody up. They were offering the cups with like a sticker on it. So, like you could take it out. But not right in front of their business. But like go across the street. So, I'm all confused. As to who can and can't drink outside. We just didn't. We just fucking stayed inside. But, I had the Cody Cordon Bleu.

[00:30:44] Oh, how was the Cody Cordon Bleu? Cody Cordon Bleu. It was very good. It's not the laser anymore. I had the Cody Cordon Bleu. Very good sandwich. Yeah. So, the bartender was telling us. He was like, this is fucked up. He's like, it's the same food with different like devil names. So, when you're ordering by the devil name, they're like, what the fuck are you talking about? You're like, oh, sorry. Just give me the chicken cordon bleu. And then they're like, okay, got it. Yeah. Yeah. But it's a different feel, dude. Like, it's a different feel.

[00:31:14] Like, the bar for some reason. Like, no bathroom line all night. Yet, the outside wasn't open. So, how do you go from last year where you've got like all this going on, the bars packed, the roads packed, to this year where it's like, I actually have room to move. It's kind of weird.

[00:32:02] Yeah. And then, once from now, the devils are in the Stanley Cup final. Yes. You're seriously telling me you can't close this two-block section of fucking Edison down to have a good time. What about when they win the Stanley Cup? They can't even have a parade now. They can't shut the road. Can't hear you. I said, when they win the Cup, they can't even have a parade now. Forget it. Yes. It's over. It's over. They've got to figure that out.

[00:32:32] That's right. All right. Bobby, we're going to let you go. Go back and enjoy your night. You can get a whiskey and some food. Yeah. Find your kid, maybe. I don't know. Be safe. Is your kid drinking tall beers? No, his kid's not with him. He went with just our buddy John. Oh, all right. Nice. Nice. Yeah. So that was Drunk Bobby, everybody, and Ralph. And Ralph. Thank you, Ralph. Thank you for watching and listening, buddy. And please, Ralph, unclepuckers at gmail.com. Send us that picture, please. We need the picture. We need it.

[00:33:02] Absolutely. All right. So, Tim, anything else you want to talk about? I know you have to go and do your writing. I got to go write the game recap. No. Want to know? Let's fucking go Devils, huh? Saturday night, we have the Islanders. We do. We do. In Long Island. And I'm free after the game. If you are, Tim, I would be. Yeah, sure. I believe I am, yeah. So, maybe we could do a little bit longer. Yeah. A little deeper dive in on Saturday.

[00:33:30] We'll see if Bob and Tony's going to be hard. Because it's. It'll be a little more in the morning for him. I know. It sucks. Wait, Saturday the 3rd, right? Yes. Oh, shit. No, I'm working until 9. All right. Well, the game will be over around 9.30. So, we can discuss. Well, I'll be. It takes me an hour to get home. Oh, that's right. You're working until 9. I just think like you're going to be home at 9. All right. Well, we'll text. We'll figure out what the next show will be.

[00:33:59] It'll definitely be this weekend. So, either late Saturday, early Sunday, maybe. We'll figure it out. So. Beer League has not been going great, Sean. I actually have skipped the first game. I did a little damage to one of my feet in a really dumb kind of way. You ever get like. For some reason, mosquitoes have been really bad of late around here. For like the past, I don't know, three weeks or so.

[00:34:26] And because we live in an old farmhouse, they just fucking get into the house everywhere. So, my feet and legs and ankles have just been getting absolutely shredded. I like hose myself down with off every night. But I was itching my foot so much. But I was doing the thing where you rub one foot on the other. And I just fucking ripped skin off the top of my foot. I was rubbing it so hard. So, I haven't had skin on the top of my foot. So, I have not been able to put it in a skate. That's a stupid injury. I have a stupid injury too. It's pretty fucking stupid.

[00:34:56] I have one. It's kind of like. What did he do? What? I was walking inside my house the other day. I had just gotten off work. So, like, of course, I'm carrying all my work shit. And, like, I have some other stuff. I stopped at the store or whatever. So, I have my laptop. And I'm going to open the door. The laptop starts to slip. And it's about to go crashing onto my, like, you know, the porch. And it's going down. And I do, like, my quick, like, hacky sack kind of move. You can catch it with my foot.

[00:35:24] But the corner, like, the pointy corner end of the laptop came down right on my big toe. And, I mean, luckily, the laptop didn't break. I saved it. My fucking toe is so bruised and swollen right now. I'm like, motherfucker. I'm yelling. I, like, open the door. My dogs are all happy to see me. They go running away scared. My wife's like, what the fuck's wrong with you? I'm like, just leave me the fuck alone. I was so pissed. My toe is killing me. You probably don't do this because you're actually, like, a cook. But I do that in the kitchen all the time with knives.

[00:35:52] Like, if I'm cutting something and I actually drop the knife, I'll, like, go to kick with my foot. And I'm going to miss. And, like, huh, that was really dumb. I absolutely not. I learned that the hard way. It didn't happen to me. Years ago, a guy I was working with, it was weird. He dropped a knife and it was, he was standing on the rubber mats. And he kind of went to put his foot out to stop the knife. But then he missed it. And the knife hit the rubber mat and then bounced up and sliced it to, like, the back of his leg. Bad.

[00:36:21] Like, he had to get, like, 18 stitches in there and shit. And I was, yeah, always two things, two rules. Something falls, let it fall in the kitchen. And always assume whatever you are about to touch is scalding hot because it just might be. Those two rules will save you a lot of injuries in a kitchen. Yeah, exactly. Like, Dougie does a puck. That's right. I grabbed it out of midair and then kicked it with my foot and it hurt like hell. That was a beautiful goal from Dougie. That was such a nice goal.

[00:36:51] Way to just stay on the play and finish it. It was nice. Yeah, honestly, just like the way he, you know, because he had gotten a shot off right before that, I think, got blocked. And it kind of popped up. And he stayed with it. Knocked it down. And just another thing that I noticed that this team did a lot of is I noticed the D were just pinching so much and just coming down the boards, like, super hard. So, I really liked that. Really liked what I saw from this team. I'm glad they pulled it off because I just would not have been able to deal with a moral victory tonight.

[00:37:20] No, I'm with you. And they're going to go up against a tough Islander team on Saturday. It plays a lot like this team does, you know. So, you're going to have good goaltending. You're going to have to find a way to battle through their tight checking. And I think the Devils say, play this way. You'll be all right. Yeah, I agree. So, looking forward to it, guys. Best defense is a good offense. Well, it's very true. Guys, thanks so much for hanging out with us.

[00:37:45] I know it's a little bit shorter tonight, but I know there's a lot of other Devil content guys that are out there wanting to do their show. So, we bow out a little early. Look for Tim's blog on All About the Jersey. Hit subscribe, like, the alert bells. If you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple, please, five-star review and a positive comment. Helps a little podcast that could. For Tim, Ralph, and Bobby, I'm Chris. We're the Uncle Puckers. And we'll see you when we see it. You're the man, Ralph. That's right.

[00:38:15] You got anything to say to Mr. Valaket? Suck it, Valaket. Drunk Bobby's your hero. Oh, he's the best. He's the best. You only get him a...