Devils v Blues Preview

Chris (00:01)
Hello there, Devil fans. This is Chris from the Uncle Pucker New Jersey Devil Podcast, and we are gonna shoot a brand new Uncle Pucker show out later on today, where we're gonna talk about Devil's huge, exciting win over the Nashville Predators last night, the captain showing up big time and getting the natural hat trick. We'll talk a little bit about Timo Meyer and his stupid cross-checking penalty, which now today is reportedly he is

having a hearing to see about a suspension I would guarantee pretty much guarantee a suspension on this so we're here to preview the St. Louis Blues game going on Wednesday night which I would say will probably be a Timo Meyer-less affair so we'll also talk about some other stuff going on around the NHL mainly this like

craziness about the New York Rangers and the fact that you know Here's a team that is sitting in a wild-card spot supposed to win a Stanley Cup. They haven't They haven't played very well You know look not 75 % of the NHL will take the Rangers standings and record and be happy with it so I understand though it's New York and you know everything but the craziness of we're gonna

We're trading, we're gonna try to trade Krider, we're gonna try and trade Truba, we're gonna, you know, who knows what's gonna happen with Shasturkin and, you know, all this other crap. Well, if you don't have Shasturkin, this team is sitting on the bottom of the Metropolitan. They are battling with the Penguins, the Flyers, and the Blue Jackets for the last place in this division. This guy has kept them in every single game, especially recently. So we're gonna discuss a whole bunch of stuff.

We are most definitely gonna give the flowers to the Devils and you know three game winning streak Talking about their last group of games even with a few losses dunked in there They are playing some high quality opponents and they are playing really good hockey and they're winning a lot of games And it's all kind of starting to click. I've said it a gazillion times. I'll probably say that gazillion more this year I love this team. I love their makeup. I love how they're put together. I love their

play style. I love everything about this team right now and I am super excited to go along on this ride this year because I think and I think most Devils fans think this could be a special ride. Again, only one team wins the cup. It's not only about the cup, but it's about a playoff and it's about a long run. It's about playing deep into the spring and early summer and

And basically just having so much more Devil's Hockey to watch after April, which is, I'll take it. So, that's months down the road. Right now, we're in a very good spot. Like I said, huge win last night at home against the Preds. Which I said in the earlier preview I did on that game, they are by far the most disappointing team in the NHL, which now leads us to the St. Louis Blues.

which might be the most, I don't know, blah team in the NHL? Like I, Bobby and I had long discussions. We were putting teams together. We're putting our rankings together over the summer. Who's landing where, division-wise, conference-wise, all of it. And Bobby actually forgot to put the St. Louis Blues in the Central because he's like, I completely forgot that they were even a team because that's how forgettable they are.

I they do nothing for me. I so this is not going to be like a really in-depth kind of Preview because other than last night and I flipped back and forth through the Rangers and Blues game last night during commercials of the Devils game Which was just awesome because every time I flipped over the Blues were winning by more and more but anyway They did come out with a 5-2 win over the Rangers last night and so the Blues have had some

I some, I guess turmoil or turnover, because they just fired Dave Bannister after, what was it, 19, I'm sorry, I'm like I can't even, 22 games. So he was 9, 12, and one day higher, Jim Montgomery, who just fired on Tuesday from the Boston Bruins. So the dudes fired from Boston on Tuesday, he's hired on Sunday to be the coach of the Blues.

So he's not even off the market for a week. Again, maybe we'll discuss this a little bit tonight on the show, just how much I absolutely hate the coaching carousel that goes around in the NHL. It happens in every sport, but the NHL, it's like running for Congress, right? Like if you get that seat, right? You get that job, you got it forever. You you got it forever. You can just sit back, kick back, put your feet up.

And okay, with the NHL, you might not have that job with the same team, but you're in the league, okay? If you make it to the 32-only exclusive boys club, you're probably never gonna leave. And I don't dislike Jim Montgomery. I think he's a fine coach. He did okay with the Knights. He had a hell of a team handed to him in Boston. And then...

you know, what's that, two years later, however, now he's fired from there and he's coming over to the Blues. So, the Blues record is 10, 12 and 1. They have 21 points. They are sitting at fifth in the central division with a 4.57 winning percentage. Like I said last night, big win up at Madison Square Garden, 5-2 over the Rangers.

New Jersey has had some struggles with St. Louis over the course of years. So last year, St. Louis won 4-1 and then we split with them. We won the second game 4-1. So two games 4-1 split. St. Louis won both our games the year prior. That would be the 22-23 season. It was a 5-3 St. Louis win and a 4-2 St. Louis win.

and then the 21-22 season which was the record-breaking 112-point Devil season. Devils did beat them 7-4 and then they beat them in overtime 3-2. Both New Jersey, like I said, both Devil wins. I was under the impression though that over the course of last couple years that Devils had a lot of struggles against the Blues and I guess not. I didn't go any further than three years.

I do remember when Jack had his shoulder injury, was that last year that kept him out for a while. It was in St. Louis that he went against the board. So maybe it's just like some small PTSD that bad shit happens when the Devils play the blues that that's in my head. But regardless, they fared pretty well over the last three years. We went over the goal, the coaching.

They're led by Jordan Cairo. He says 19 points, 7 and 12 for 19. And Pavel Bucznaiewicz, who's got 6 and 8 for 14. you know, again, Craig Barube made Jordan Cairo cry. So, you know, whatever. Whatever. Goals for, they're 58, 24th in the league. Goals against, they have 76, 26th in the league with a goal differential of minus 19.

Their power play is 27th in the league, clicking at 15.7%. Their penalty kill is 23rd in the league, working at 77%. They average a little under 27 shots per game. That's 28th in the league. Their team save percentage is an 887. That's good for 23rd in the league. They are bottom.

on every statistical category. Okay, they are not above 24th, 23rd in their team save percentage in any major statistical category. The Devils have them beaten on every single category and stat on paper, but we know the game is not played on paper.

Jordan Binnington, their number one goalie. He's 6'9 and one this year. He's got an 891 save percentage and a 304 goals against. And Joel Hofer, or Hoffer, however you pronounce it, number two, he's 3'3 and he has an 899 save percentage and a 323 goals against average.

So, New Jersey, 15-7-2, 32 points. First in the Metro, playing an extremely high level of hockey right now. This team, like I said, right, it's this, they did it again last night, right? First period, it's a feeling out process. All right, what do these guys do well? What do they not do well? What can we exploit out of them? What do we need to watch our asses to make sure we don't get burned?

on our end. Okay, we got all that stuff. We figured it out because we got the skill and we got the talent. We got the tools. We got the talent. It's Milla time. So anyway, second period, they go in and just, okay, here's our game plan. Let's lay it out and then let's execute it to perfection and get that lead. And then the third period, we're going to just buckle it down. And I have to say for anybody that was at that Nashville Devils game last night, please.

We would love to hear what it was like in that building because it sounded, it just seemed like one of the best games to be at. You know, you get Nico Heischer's hat trick, followed by that five minute kill. It was just, what an absolute beautiful executed penalty kill on a huge major off a stupid penalty. You're up by two and you're, you just giving a team basically the rest of the third period. I think there was like six or seven minutes left.

to go out there and score as much as they want with the man. And we didn't give them anything, gave them one shot. Kudos to the Devil's penalty kill and the Devils all around. Now, I don't feel like the Devils are right now in that mold where they're going to start to, you know, trap games or whatever. Like, I just don't see it right now. There's not too many chinks in the armor. Like, they just feel very business-like and I still

don't think that they're they've even touched how good this team can be I still think there's a nice little I think that I think there's a lot a lot more that they can get to I think there's a whole different level and hopefully we'll see that but man just allow yourself as a devil fan just a brief minute to remember this time last year okay

Alright, we've all heard the old adage, right? If you're not in the playoffs by American Thanksgiving, which I just have to say, we call Thanksgiving. So let's just stop that. If you're not in the playoffs by Thanksgiving, it's very hard to get there. We weren't last year, and that adage proved correct because we didn't make it. And not only are we, you know, sitting in a spot right now, we are sitting in first place in the Metro. And I don't want to hear the haters.

we have games in hand on you and you're winning all winning percentage is better did it did none of that matters devils just have to keep winning they're going to keep doing that and you know the metro division that would be that would be amazing but again doesn't matter make it to the playoffs and again april sorry i digress saint louis blues it's a game the devil should win

It's in your barn, it's against an inferior team, and the only thing that I'm gonna give the St. Louis Blues on this is their little goalie bump, goalie, Jesus Christ, their coach bump, okay, because they fire Banister, Montgomery's in. I mean, look, Montgomery wasn't a reason they beat the Rangers yesterday, you know? He didn't come in on two days and implement an entire system that's gonna beat the Rangers. They played better than the Rangers and they won, so, yeah, mean, were they...

I don't know, like they got, they had Barube fired last year, Bannister fired this year, so we'll see what happens with Montgomery, but that doesn't scare me. This team doesn't scare me. Devils lose this game, it's off of probably just boneheaded mistakes and shit like that. Not so much that, you know, the Blues just outplayed us. There's not many games that the Devils aren't showing up for. We saw that a lot last year, but we're not seeing that this year. They're not just coming in and going through the motions. When they are on the ice,

They are on the ice with a deliberate purpose and that is to win the game by any means necessary. And again, you want to play physical, fine. You know, you want to, you know, that's kind of where Nashville, like I was shocked at Nashville last night. Like I didn't watch them a ton, but I was very surprised with just how, don't fucking slow, I guess, you know, they, they just had, they had nothing.

So that was a lot of fun to watch. I'm not sure how our speed will team up with, like I said, St. Louis. It's a Western Conference team that I give zero shits about. So I know not much about this team, but doesn't change the fact that they're feeling good. They have a new head coach. They have some good players on that team that you got to watch out for. And they're going to plan on ending their little, you know, break and go back home for Thanksgiving with, two big wins over

to pretty decent teams in New Jersey and the Rangers. Let's not make that happen, right? We're rolling, three in a row. Let's get that fourth and let's feel really good moving into because listen, boys and girls, this is the appetizer, okay? This is this game, the game's over the weekend, which I don't even know what the schedule is right now because I haven't looked at it, but this is the appetizer, right? This is the antipasta salad that grandma puts on the table before the turkey and everything else because the turkey.

is Monday against the Rangers. That's our Thanksgiving. That is the game that I think every Devil fan is looking forward to. We know we are a better team this year than we were last year. I'm not saying we are a better team than the Rangers, but we are. Anyway, I'm not, we are. But regardless, it's a huge game. It's a rivalry game. After what those guys did to us last year, payback is most definitely in the cards and I am so excited.

to go into MSG and hopefully beat the Rangers next week. So, you know, fine tune. Let's just make sure that no injuries first and foremost, no bad habits develop and that they go in tomorrow night or, you know, whenever it is against the Blues. Blues come in, we beat them, take care of what we have to do over the weekend. And we set ourselves up for a nice big fat W on Monday in Madison Square Garden.

I listen I'm gonna wrap this thing up I'm babbling for 15 minutes see that boys and girls that is an official Uncle Pucker New Jersey Devil podcast sticker which you can get all you have to do is go to UnclePuckers.com fill out the contact me info and we will get this thing into the mail for you free of charge they're super fun give them to a ranger fan or flyer fan blues fan I don't care put it on your car put it on your sister's car put on your brother's car put on any car you want

computer, water bottle, whatever. It's yours. Do whatever the hell you want with it. Burn in effigy. Anyway, I'm Chris, part of the Uncle Pucker New Jersey Double Podcast. We will be dropping a brand new full show later on tonight. Thank you so much for checking out this recap. Drop us a comment, not recap, preview, preview. A comment, whatever, let us know what you guys think about the upcoming game. Love to hear from you guys about the game last night against the Preds. Thanks for checking us out, man. We'll see you. Peace.