The guys discuss the Devils 4-1 win over Florida
Chris (00:01)
and we are recording. Welcome to the Uncle Pucker's New Jersey Devil Podcast. I'm Chris along with Bobby and who's that? Is that Tony? That's Tony!
Bobby (00:10)
Looks like Tony. It is Tony. What's up, Tony?
Tony Anderson (00:13)
What's up guys? Back in the States for the first time in like three years.
Chris (00:16)
That's awesome. We're glad you're here. Hopefully when you guys are listening to this, it sounds okay because we are having a little bit of audio issues with Tony. for some reason, sounds so much clearer and better when he's recording in Lithuania, but when you're in Tampa, we can't hear you.
Bobby (00:35)
That's right.
So don't stay long, but...
Chris (00:39)
But it is good that you're back telling how was your trip, how's everything so far?
Tony Anderson (00:45)
Good man, you know, couple good weather so far, but we might have a hurricane coming next week, so that kind of sucks. My wife's like, you she's never really been inside one before, had it dealt with one, so they're talking about that. How about some possibility now? Wednesday, the hurricane in Florida. Yeah, real one, but I'm going to the Devil's Game on Saturday against the Lightning, so we'll, you know, I'll...
Chris (00:56)
Well that's Monday, right? We're playing the Hurricanes?
real hurricane. Sorry.
Tony Anderson (01:10)
get some clips for Bobby for the social media for from the game and stuff.
Chris (01:14)
Big redemption game, right? I mean, they gotta go into Tampa and just spank them. Just beat them like a redheaded stepchild. Nothing against redheads. So let's say a rented goalie. You gotta just beat them like an e-bug, is what I'm saying.
But I think we need to jump into a little bit of last night's game.
Tony Anderson (01:34)
you too.
Bobby (01:38)
Absolutely.
Tony Anderson (01:38)
Yeah, nice.
Chris (01:39)
Boys, I want all your thoughts of this game. I mean, I don't know where to start. Do we start with the fight, the pass, the five on three penalty kill? I personally have nothing bad I can say about this game. So I'm going to let you guys start. Bobby, go for it.
Tony Anderson (01:50)
different.
Bobby (01:52)
it.
Bad, okay, let's just get the bad out of the way because I'm fishing to even find something bad. was literally midway through the game. At one point, the shot attempts were 48 Florida, 19 devils. That's about the worst thing that was going on in this game. They were, the Panthers were taking it to us a little bit, but we were leading where it counted in the goals going in. Fantastic game from Markstrom, the game we.
had to have this this game is exactly why I wasn't worried about the San Jose I really felt that was the blip. I don't know what else you could say about Dylan stepping up and getting everything going like you mentioned that that first pass from Brad to Hughes. I mean if that's not one of the best passes you've ever seen then you maybe watched a million times more hockey than me because that was just phenomenal almost in a no look capacity. Devils really needed to get that going I thought Mercer
Had a great game, like great vision throughout. Just, you know, really, his stamp was on that game a lot. And basically everybody's just just stepped up and played the type of hockey that this team can play. So that's awesome. And now I, you know, I think I originally said I'll give it to the champs to, you know, learn from this game and they'll they'll fine tune and beat us on the second game. I'm taking that back now. Let's let's roll with this. They looked really good.
Chris (03:21)
Well, it's like the Nature Boy says, To be the man in the greatest sport in the world, you gotta beat the man. To be the man. You've got to beat the man. To be the man. All right, we can just get Rick saying that over and over again. But yeah, that's it. To be the man, you gotta beat the man. And we beat the man last night. Tell them, what do you think? I'm sorry, Bobby, you got something else? Yeah.
Bobby (03:48)
just, got to finish up with one other thing too. Of course when Dylan took his penalty, but with the helmet, you hate it because you know, they're going down five on three. But I was so glad that he took it once they killed it because it was the same kind of shitty thing that Brady Kachuk would do. And he did it to Brady and we killed it off and got momentum from it. And that was just awesome. Like it couldn't happen to a better player. And we got away with it.
So that was perfect as far as I'm concerned he could do that every now and then and will risk the goal going in because that kind of getting under the opponent's skin like that Literally throwing Florida's game in their face was just perfect
Chris (04:26)
That's the nail on the head right there. I want to touch on what you just said there, but go ahead, Tom. What's your impressions of the game?
Tony Anderson (04:33)
I'm piggyback off Bobby a little bit man, Markstrom first of all, huge game. Luke Hughes made some killer plays last night. Cotter, I I don't know, he's one of my favorite Devils this year. Jack Hughes is, yes.
Chris (04:45)
He deserved that goal. After the game he had, he deserved it.
Tony Anderson (04:50)
Yeah, and you know, Florida, we know they're tough and I was, it was, know, I mean, the score was a little misleading at the end of the day when you actually look at what the game was like against Florida. But it's the Florida's only fourth loss this year. You know, can we beat them again this week? I hope so. It's going to be tough, man. You know, but we were even hitting Kachuk. Dylan, I mean, he stepped up like Bobby said, and he had a great post game interview too. don't if you guys saw that.
Chris (05:13)
Yeah, I saw it.
Bobby (05:15)
yeah.
Tony Anderson (05:15)
Yeah, he was great, a lot of punches thrown too. That was like an old school fight right there.
Chris (05:20)
That was the best devil's fight I've seen in like 20 years.
Tony Anderson (05:25)
I was good and you know, Nico, mean, me and Bobby were talking about this before the show, man, what kind of player Nico is now for this team. And you could just see it. He looks mature out there on the ice. You know, you even see his, I hate to say his expressions, but even, you know, he's plus he's sporting the stash now too.
So, you know, I'm excited about this year, man. think last night we beat a tough team and it was two of the top teams. I think I don't know what broadcast I was watching. It's quite the Florida broadcast I had on because it wasn't the Devils. I if it was like ESPN or something, but the guy was saying, he goes, are two of the top teams facing each other. And you can see that, you know, and I think that says a lot since where we came from last year, you know, with the problems that we had and people are starting to see how good the Devils really can be, you know, and I don't know. It's exciting, man. Like, I agree with everything.
everything Bobby said, there was a lot of positives last night and not a lot of negatives.
Chris (06:12)
I mean yeah, there's really, there's not. mean even Dougie I thought had a great game. He handled himself very good defensive zone and was pushing the offense like you mentioned Luke used. What a game for Luke. I mean there was that play that there was a guy coming in, Panther coming in the right side. He got into the offensive zone and there was not a defenseman near him and Luke closed on that guy so fast and got him over to the boards and took him completely out of the play.
And that's not shit that, you know, a normal defenseman can do. he would, his game has completely stepped up. And then you go and talk about like, you know, the newer guys, right? Like we hung with that team physically, speed wise, goaltending, everything, and not only hung with them outplayed them. Like Brady, mean, Matthew Kachuk was a non-entity in that game. And I thought that the,
The Cotter-Nason line did amazing on his line. I thought that the Barcov line was held in check from Nico's line. And Bratt and Hughes were able to do what they wanted to do. And they had some great offensive opportunities. It was such a good game that it's just the one thing I took away, my biggest takeaway that game is when the playoffs start, the Devils are going to be able to, they're healthy. They can hang with anybody. Any team in the East, they can hang with.
Tony Anderson (07:32)
And dude, gotta say, Nason, man, I'm so glad to have him back on this team. I he is, I liked him when he was here the first time and just seeing him back, just fits. Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about that last night during the game. He's just perfect in the devil's uniform.
Chris (07:36)
Absolutely.
Bobby (07:49)
Here's the thing about nason. He absolutely plays up to who he is and nothing more and nothing less. He knows his role. He knows how to do it almost to perfection. He's not going to go try to break out of character for one moment and risk anything. He's just so solid in what he does, so secure in the type of player that he is and he's exactly what this team needed. I'm, I'm in love with this guy right now.
Chris (08:14)
You know, if you remember the last show when, put your pants on Bobby. The last show we did when we were talking about, when I had, we were talking about like our predictions for this coming road trip down in Florida. And I said, because I really don't know what the devils are yet because we really, I don't know where to classify them. I think they're a good team, but what kind of team are they? Like, I think I had a good idea after that game of what kind of team this is. This is a team that will capitalize offensively.
Bobby (08:20)
You
Chris (08:43)
on any mistake you make. If you are not a Florida Panther type team and you play the Devils the way they played last night, you're going to get lit up for six or seven. Defensively, they are phenomenal. I mean, you look at the last handful of games, we gave up eight in Tampa. We gave up after that four spot to Detroit where we played really good, but we still lost the game. And one of them, think, was an empty netter.
And we gave up a four spot against the Islanders in the following game that we also lost that we ended up tying up and losing in overtime. So essentially three goals, you know. and then you go from there. We played, I think the ducks were we allowed to Edmonton none Calgary too. I got mixed up Vancouver none, but Vancouver and Edmonton, got switched San Jose one and Florida one.
Like look at that last handful of games. You didn't let up more than one goal in any of those games except for Calgary. And that's, I mean, that's impressive. The goaltending is these guys are playing very good. I mean, you can't ask for anything more than what you're getting from Mark Sturm and Allen, but this is a really good team and watching them play Florida who took that game very seriously. we, Bobby, you said it, right? We took their game and threw it in their face.
They couldn't beat, they, do you want to be physical? We're going to be more physical. You want to get under our skin? We're going to get under your skin more. and it was, it was, it was an awesome game to watch because they didn't remind me of the Devils last year, which never would have come close in that game. Even the Devils two years ago when they were all offense and stuff, like this might've been a five, six win or a five, six loss one way or the other. This game is, this team right now is playing so structured.
They are all buying into what Sheldon Keefe is selling and it's working. you know, Brendan Dillon just dropping the fucking mitts and having that bout and you took saw, right? Like after that fight, Florida had nothing. They had no answers for the Devils after that fight.
Bobby (10:51)
game.
Tony Anderson (10:53)
And it seems genuine too, like the last night when the devils were feisty, you know, in front of the net, especially towards the end of the game, you started seeing it, it was natural. They were pissed off and it was just, you it was something we were missing, or something we were missing the last three fucking years. But I mean, truthfully, like you just felt like it was, it just felt.
Chris (11:01)
Mm-hmm.
Tony Anderson (11:11)
Like a team that construct, starting to a little grit to it now, you know, you, that's the way they have to be, especially to handle a team like Florida. Like you said it perfect Chris, like Kachuk wasn't in that game last night. It's hard to keep him out of that game. You know, what they did, they kept him not, not a factor. And, know, I mean, I know. It was impressive. And like I said, it felt genuine.
Chris (11:21)
Yeah?
I will make a, I do have a complaint, but it's not at all about the devils. So I was listening to the power play on NHL network today with Steve Coolius and Martin Baran. I absolutely love Marty Baran. think he's just a fantastic dude and knows.
Bobby (11:47)
I love when you do the podcast as Barney Baran.
Chris (11:49)
I do enjoy it and he's fan. I'll do, I'll say what I was going to say. I'll say it in Marty and Marty as Marty and, Steve Coolio. So I also really like, think Nick, there's not many guys that have a grasp on the history and the sport the way he does. And they go over every game and they w they hit our game. And it wasn't what I expected, which was, you know, let's talk about how great of a game it was. Let's talk about how great the devil's looked and let's talk about our goal-tending. Let's talk about all this stuff.
Bobby (11:55)
As a bro? Okay.
Chris (12:19)
It was you know, the Devils they went down to Florida. There was no you know, they they didn't have they didn't have Bobrovsky in that they didn't have Sam Bennett and You know, there was a big spot there when Barkov had the puck in the middle of the slot there and a high stick came up and he hit him in the chin he was bleeding and there was no call and I just think that you know, that's something that's missed there, know when Barkov gets hit like that, you got to call the penalty I Get all that
But at the same time, are you trying to fucking tell me they had a fucking almost two minute five on three? They didn't score. So one missed penalty and there were a couple of missed penalties on both sides last night. They the refs, think, really did swallow their whistles for that game. They did not. They were they let the boys play.
Bobby (13:05)
They did their part to kind of give it that playoff feel, right? It already had it, and then they kind of played with that as far as the refs.
Chris (13:08)
Yeah.
Alright, so was a missed maybe a four-minute double minor that was on Barkov, but like did Spencer Knight lose them that game? Like absolutely not. Spencer Knight played fucking really good and Sam Bennett, okay, he was out of the game, but we were also missing Curtis Lazar and Nate Bastion. Like, you know, those guys are important parts of our fourth line that aren't, and I know Sam Bennett doesn't play fourth line, he plays second, but still they're important guys that both teams didn't have. And that just kind of annoyed me.
Like they did. It was in today on the NHL network. was all Pittsburgh. Let's just talk about Pittsburgh all the time and what's going wrong there and who gives a shit about a team that's not going to make the fucking playoffs. I understand everybody wants to know if they're going to start selling off pieces and this and that, but you know, unless Sydney Crosby is coming to New Jersey, I don't give a shit.
Bobby (13:43)
Yeah, I hear you.
Tony Anderson (14:02)
They should be talking about Winnipeg. and Bobby were talking about Winnipeg before. They're in Tampa. Actually, they're actually in Tampa, I guess, today and they're playing tomorrow. But that team is gnarly.
Chris (14:05)
Dude.
Dude, they're good. They're scary good. They're like better than Boston two years ago good. They just seem like they're really pissed off that they got their asses whupped by Colorado in the playoffs last year and they're not putting up with it. But man, mm-mm.
Bobby (14:13)
for sure.
Tony Anderson (14:14)
Yeah.
Bobby (14:26)
Yeah, they're not getting over that. That's for sure. They're just going keep rolling.
Tony Anderson (14:27)
One loss, I mean that's insane.
Chris (14:29)
and they rolled the Rangers last night.
Bobby (14:33)
That always looks good.
Chris (14:34)
When you can take the champs and knock them out in the same night that the Rangers get blown out in their building, it's a very fun day. It's a good night.
Bobby (14:46)
It is, we're just seeing more and more games with a lot of crooked numbers up against the Sturken man. Like I'm just saying, I still say he's right now, no Hellebuck's the best in the league right now, but otherwise I've always said, you know, Sturken, call it one, one A, whatever you want. But man, he's not having a good year.
Chris (14:55)
Yes.
I mean if you watch the Rangers, it's just circuits getting destroyed I mean he's getting no help at all the team in front of him is for a team made up of quote-unquote Superstars all over the lineup, right? They're very lazy They are a lazy fucking team and they believe that we can just show up and we got the best goalie in the in the back there and we've looked we've seen the Devils play games like this when they had bro door
where they just took nights off and Brodor gets, you know, shelled and has to try and keep him in the game. You can't do that every night. The Devils didn't do it every night. It was very, it was infrequent, but they're doing it almost every night now that they just, know, Zabaniad has been MIA all season. I think he has two goals or something. and, know, Keandre Miller's playing terrible. Truba's playing terrible. Like you can't, you know, Panarin's fantastic, but like they finally seem to have the
Everyone always said like if they can just get their bottom six put together and their superstars will take over they can be a Stanley Cup winning team. Well, they have the bottom six, but their superstars are just old. Let's just call it what it is. They they.
Bobby (16:11)
Yeah, it's amazing how fast the Mystique falls off too. Last year, they just had that it factor. No matter what they did, they were it. They were winning. It was one of those magical years. It wasn't going to end until it ends in the playoffs. This year, it just feels like they're not going to find that. They may. They really may at some point during the season, but not like last year. I think they're aging fast, like you said, and they're not getting a lot of help.
Chris (16:29)
wow.
Toronto just tied it up. It's 3-3 now. What do you make of the Washington Capitals, Tone?
Bobby (16:34)
It did? That's good.
Tony Anderson (16:39)
Yeah, I was just thinking about I was about to just say that before I thought they one point over the Rangers right now.
Chris (16:43)
I think so. think the Rangers are in the first wild card spot right now at the playoffs where to start.
Tony Anderson (16:49)
I'm not, you know, I mean, I'm not an OV fan. I'm not a capital fan, I mean, I'm impressed with what, you know, it's still, I mean, I guess it's not that late, you know, we're not, we're only basically in the first quarter of the season, but you know, I'm glad they're over the Rangers, I guess, but you guys think OV is going to hit the mark this year?
Chris (17:07)
What does he need? 41 to beat it?
Tony Anderson (17:11)
that yeah.
Chris (17:12)
I say, let me see, I just wanna check this.
Tony Anderson (17:15)
He's on pace, they were saying to do it this year. And then McKinnon, McKinnon's got 30 points already this year. That's, mean, yeah.
Bobby (17:22)
That guy's amazing.
Chris (17:26)
Who McKinnon? Yeah, he is great. That's who they're talking about a little bit that if Sydney goes anywhere, is it going to be Colorado? So he is right now. I don't know if this is right. Yeah, he's 63. So 73, 83. He's, what is it? 30, 29 goals off.
Tony Anderson (17:27)
Yeah, 30 points already.
Bobby (17:27)
Yeah.
All right.
What you have now does he already have like 10 on the year.
Chris (17:55)
he has eight I don't know what he has right now this year but I think according to this it's 894 and is is Gretzky's record he has 863 so if did my math quickly that's 29 right
Tony Anderson (18:07)
He's gonna do it, there's no doubt. Yeah, he's gonna do it.
Bobby (18:07)
Yeah, I think he's going to do it this year.
Chris (18:08)
No, it's 30-31, I'm sorry. He's 31 off the pace. I say he ends with 30 more goals and he has to play all next year just to get one goal. Because look, as soon as he breaks that record, I think he's gone. I think he's back at Russia, he's playing out there. I do not think he's sticking around.
Tony Anderson (18:29)
Yeah, I mean, I think he'll die. I see him doing it next year like you said, I mean, but he's going to do it and they're going to make sure he does. He does it. You know, I mean, that's for them. mean, they'll be a statue of him outside that arena one day. Yeah.
Chris (18:36)
I think he's gonna do it this year.
There should be. mean, he's going to go down as the greatest goal scorer of all time. You know, as much as we don't like him, he's a fantastic hockey player. And, you know, I would still take Sidney Crosby over Ovechkin any day. I just, I like the way Sid plays a lot more, but it, Ovechkin's fantastic. I think what Washington's doing, I think is sustainable. I do. I think that they have a lot of good young players on that team and that's a scary team. And in
Bobby (18:43)
Yeah.
Tony Anderson (18:47)
Yeah.
Bobby (19:10)
They just got stronger too right that trade with Pittsburgh they got stronger down the middle now, so you know yeah
Chris (19:11)
Yeah, they just picked Lars Eller, yeah. mean, which do you guys think that should have been somebody maybe Fitz looked into? And I don't know if he did or not, but just with Lazar being out and having a guy, because I was thinking, I was watching some hockey the other day or yesterday and they were showing, I was watching some of the Columbus game and Kevin LeBanc is on Columbus now.
We brought him in for the PTO and he did very well But it just wasn't enough spots for him and he ended up going and that's the one guy I'm watching and I'm like there's our fucking Lazar replacement right now like if he would have stuck around like that would have really helped our fourth line and I mean Tim had mentioned how like the top three lines now are playing a lot more ice time because with McDermott and Dowling in there. They're just not getting the ice time that Lazar and Basin were getting so the teams kind of
Bobby (19:49)
Yeah.
Chris (20:06)
stressed stressing themselves a little bit then in that top nine so yeah i like him would have been great to have right now
Bobby (20:15)
Yeah, well, thankfully, you know, was ours not all year, right? And got some depth and I think he probably Fitzgerald probably wants to keep our little bit of reserve for maybe something a little bigger on the fine tuning edge come playoff time if he feels we need it. I was just a couple more points to close out the whole Florida game. And if you've got something different, we can do that. I just wanted to mention number one early in the game, you see that one play where.
Chris (20:29)
I you enjoyed this video.
Bobby (20:43)
Timo Meyer was racing with the puck in the offensive zone and he had four Panthers follow him, completely opening up the ice like for everybody else. That's the Timo Meyer effect that we need to see more of. I not all the time is the team going to have four of their guys on the ice chase after you, but that kind of presence and being on the second line, on the other line, not with Jack, that's something we're going to see more. So I think Timo's doing good too. His point pace is just fine, but I think we're going to start to see soon.
Chris (21:03)
Right.
Bobby (21:13)
The team of my pace that we saw at end of last year, you know, which would have put him on like a 41 goal pace. I think if he had performed all year, I think I think that's what we're going to get. He's got three goals in four games as of the Florida game, right? Something like that. So just just a thought on that because he really still does bring an element that we really do need. I think we're just still learning how to actually use that with him.
Chris (21:15)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Tony Anderson (21:30)
HIP
You put
Chris (21:35)
I completely agree.
Tony Anderson (21:36)
He puts the body on the truck last night too, He hit the truck over by the bench, I believe, in the third period last night.
Chris (21:41)
Yeah.
Bobby (21:42)
Yeah. And he needs to do that more. He's a big boy. He's a power forward. Like, you know, go ahead and stir some shit up on your own too.
Chris (21:47)
I think that was the most surprising thing is how quiet some of their big guys were. Like I know like Reinhardt I thought had a pretty decent game. You're not going to hold him down. But like you said, Kachuk was invisible. mean, Cotter and, and Nason line did such a great job with them and they got under his skin and pissed them off. And you notice like last year when we played them, right. And if any, he took so many liberties, especially on Nico and
That was, he wouldn't even skate and pass Nico. Now don't know how much time they were actually on the ice together, but regardless, like you know now, like Tony said, the grit's there. Like, you know, remember the third period when somebody, one of the Panthers pushed Kovacevich into Markstrom. Dude, everybody got, and there was fist flying, they didn't give a shit. And I think that's the shit we didn't, never saw, we never fucking saw that last year. And.
Tony Anderson (22:29)
Farther than that, yeah.
Chris (22:39)
Yeah, this is it really is looking like they're starting to gel like Tony said, like they're looking like a team and this team I think could be really dangerous man.
Bobby (22:50)
And we talked about it earlier in this early season we're like when is that really gonna start to happen we're not seeing enough stick and then all the sudden it just one play than the next and now that quickly it's actually become part of their game. Part of their team mentality i've got a quote here from. I think it will look at later i wanna run over those two guys but i wanna do one more thing here just cuz you'd mentioned the goaltending.
Chris like the tandem and how they're doing and every now and then I run across these advanced metrics that I always tell you I'm not smart enough to to do on my own. But I want to read this one off this one is to give all credit this is from Daniel and Moa he's the guy who started the devil's report on Instagram so he's in the industry like reporter journalist type guy has always has incredible stuff to offer and he says.
Chris (23:35)
Mm-hmm.
Bobby (23:41)
That in 2023 24 the Devils averaged negative 0.19 goals saved above expected per game their point percentage was 494. This season they're basically saving what is expected and nothing more this is before the Florida game by the way with a plus 0.01 goals saved against per game.
Chris (24:01)
Okay.
Bobby (24:09)
Above expected so basically even. Their point percentage is 611 he goes on to say now imagine if they had good or great goaltending all argue they have good goaltending as it is but more importantly right now as of game 18 before we played Florida we were at a 611 winning percentage at an 82 game schedule that's 50 wins. And that's. Just take that little bit of change.
Chris (24:33)
Okay.
Bobby (24:39)
And it's already a hundred point season. Other things included of course can can change that but it kind of gives you a really good understanding of what average or better goaltending can do I feel like we've been getting. Maybe slightly above average up until the last few days. And now I feel like both marks from an hour coming into their own Markstrom specifically I think we kind of nailed it with Alan with his usage I think he can be about where he is.
Chris (24:41)
That's right.
Bobby (25:08)
But Marksroom had room for improvement. definitely did, but he showed last night what he can do when it really, really matters. And I'm pretty excited about it. He don't need to be a top five, but he needs to be above that mid-grade somewhere in the top 10, and we're going to be golden.
Chris (25:17)
No.
and win the team? No, go ahead.
Tony Anderson (25:23)
think yesterday he's, sorry, go ahead Chris. I was just saying yesterday, like last time I'm watching the game, I actually thought of this. said, this is a couple saves, there was some saves he was making that we wouldn't have got last year from other guys. That's a big difference.
Chris (25:32)
absolutely.
Absolutely, and and you know, they're playing well in front of them and you know There's a lot of communication on that back end which I like that when Mark's from is out there He plays the puck a lot He's eating get a lot of time to really play the puck against Florida because they were on top of them, you know a lot But he talks to the guys. They're constantly in communication you can tell that that's only going to develop more throughout the year and get a lot better and you know for
You know we said that they might come off to a little bit of a slow start just with the new people the new system and everything and I don't know if they they I mean they got off to a very good start they're having a very good season and I know like being first place in the metropolitan division right now everybody goes up you go by point percentage but doesn't matter if you're in first right now all you got to do is just worry about your own shit just win your games and let everybody catch you try to catch you and that's it you don't have to worry about and they're look Colorado I mean Carolina is damn good the Rangers are gonna be fine.
Washington is a team to watch out for but if the Devils just win at a normal clip, they're gonna be fine
Bobby (26:39)
Yeah, it's very normal to fall back on looking at games played and say these teams have games in hand and you start to do that kind of math. The more critical way to look at this is basically at this point last year, like through 19 games, we were nine, nine and one with 19 points. This year we're 11, six and two with 24 points, two more wins, one more point from the overtime loss. That's five more points through 19 games. So you multiply that out by four. It's 20 more points this year. Just stay on your pace is the point.
Chris (27:05)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
Bobby (27:09)
Like you said, stay on your pace and you're going to be fine.
Chris (27:11)
Absolutely, absolutely. And the game is over. Toronto came back with a three goal, come back from a two goal lead, a two goal deficit and they just, they tied it up and they just won it in overtime. So Washington took an L.
Tony Anderson (27:24)
Nice. There you go. So what do you guys, what do you think next week it goes what? would go Allen next and then Tampa would be March from, right?
Chris (27:33)
I I guess you have to play Markstrom one of these games, right? Alan, I meant? So yeah, so maybe Alan tomorrow and then Markstrom for Tampa, or I would just run Markstrom for all three.
Tony Anderson (27:37)
What do you do, march from Indiana against Florida? Yeah.
Bobby (27:40)
You Alan? Yeah.
Well, yeah, Chris, you said last show you would do all three. And then we got into that conversation. We had this exact same argument why we would put Alan in for one.
Tony Anderson (27:55)
In the 90s they would.
Chris (27:57)
What's that Tony?
Tony Anderson (27:58)
In the 90s they would put them in all for all three. It's going to be a question.
Chris (28:00)
yeah, absolutely.
Bobby (28:01)
Right, but...
I'm now with Chris's original thought that I right now would run Markstrom. If he runs into problems on Thursday's game, then I would think about what happens for Tampa. I'm not going to throw in Allen just to throw in Allen so that we can play Markstrom on Saturday. I would go with him again. That's a hot goalie right now. It was a great game. He deserves the next game.
Chris (28:25)
Well, then I'll ask you this, because we play Saturday and then Wednesday Carolina game. so we're off from Saturday to Thursday. Then I absolutely would play Markstrom. My whole thing was, you want, you know, you're to want to get Allen in at some point and maybe they that'll probably be what they do. They'll probably put Allen in tomorrow just because, you know, try to get them that one start a week if you can. But I think building off of what this team did.
Bobby (28:30)
So that's a Thursday.
Yep.
Chris (28:51)
Yet last night, I think that's the way to go and Markstrom and that but Alan's been fantastic What do you what do you think Tony?
Tony Anderson (28:59)
I would go I like the whole go with Markstrom, but again, I you know, as I said a couple minutes ago I like the back of the day when Marty would go four or five games in a row even if you lose a game You know you through face they would still go because they were the day where your top goaltender man That's what they were there for you know, so I mean I shit I guess I guess Florida I think I would go Markstrom just because I if they beat them twice in a row would be you know, that would be such a Morale for this team would they be flying out of there into Tampa?
Chris (29:26)
Well, let me throw this by you. know, Alan got lit up by Tampa. Bad. Do you run marks from tomorrow and make and give Alan Tampa and say go get him? You do you go? You know, this is not the same team we were two weeks ago. Go you go and show them that you're not the guy that gave up fucking eight. Do you know? Maybe.
Tony Anderson (29:45)
You could, mean you could beat Tampa, Tampa's what five victories I think this year, but I mean they're still Tampa. But I mean, I don't know, I would go with Markstrom all three, man. I don't know.
Bobby (29:55)
Yeah, I think it's fluid. think you go with Markstrom on the next game and you make your decision after that based on that game.
Tony Anderson (30:02)
But they won't though, I'm sure we're gonna see Alan in one of these games.
Chris (30:04)
i wouldn't be surprised but i i agree i i think i would if i was gonna put out in any of these games i think i put in tampa just is just to kind of get his mojo back and you know that it wasn't that was not a that was a fluke i'm sorry and put me past one of our golds and is a fucking fluke and you got a show
Bobby (30:06)
Not yet.
It was. It was. And you're talking about competing against and already beating the Stanley Cup champs. You want to do it twice. If we're a playoff matchup, Marksman's playing this next game. I just think you need to go with that mentality. This is critical game. He is the de facto ace, right? You give him the game.
Chris (30:31)
right?
Alright, let's do some commercials and then we'll jump into some other shit. Alright, let's see. So we all love Black Friday and Cyber Monday, right? Because we all get great deals on whatever it is we want to buy and it's like, man, those are the only two days I can get this awesome deal on this, you know, Samsung TV. Yeah, it is for us. What?
Tony Anderson (30:43)
Indeed.
Bobby (30:46)
Yippee!
Tony Anderson (31:04)
some good fights in the lines, some good brawls at the stores in the lines.
Chris (31:08)
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Tony Anderson (32:01)
I'm using some right now.
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Bobby (32:21)
All noise cancellation.
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Bobby (33:39)
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Tony Anderson (33:59)
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Tony Anderson (36:48)
as soon as you guys got this weekend, your bikes.
Chris (36:51)
We are playing the Tennessee Titans. The Will Levis led Tennessee Titans. And hopefully Sam Darnold can throw more balls to guys in purple than to guys in whatever fucking color they'll be wearing.
Tony Anderson (37:06)
So he was on the news yesterday, because I guess he was linked to that Hock Tooie girl. I guess, yes, Sam Darnold was. was something on like some news thing yesterday. I guess she denied it. But I guess they had went out once or some shit like that. But yeah, I thought I thought of you right away. Actually, you know, yeah, I mean, I guess he's who knows if it's true, but that's what they say. But yeah, but your Vikes, though, I was watching like what? So you guys were rolling, right? And, know, my team has been awful all year, so I have.
Chris (37:11)
Sam Darnold was?
Sam you dirty dog.
Tony Anderson (37:36)
no room to say anything. But I'm like, how crazy it was that the Vikes lose that one game and they lose two. I mean, this team was rolling.
Chris (37:43)
Yeah, well, you you played Detroit, their phenomenal team and...
Tony Anderson (37:48)
And you suspected, you told me, hey, I'm worried about Detroit. You said that to me.
Chris (37:51)
And we should have won that game. They had the ball. They could have run the clock out with the lead. They didn't get the first down. They had to punt it over to Detroit. And all Detroit had to do was get in the field goal range. You lose by two. You had a one point lead. All right. And then the Rams game was only three days later, four days later. They played on Thursday and they dropped that one. So going five and and then being five and two in a matter of four days or whatever, that was a little rough, but they
They came back, they played not a great game against the Colts, but they ended up winning it. And then again, Jacksonville, they did not score a touchdown, but our defense is fucking sick. And they were great and we won that game. I do think next week, Sunday against Tennessee, I expect our offense to be clicking again. I don't expect these same mistakes from Darnold. I expect at least two to three interceptions from Levis and Minnesota wins by 10 or more. That's my pick.
Tony Anderson (38:50)
Did you see any, I mean, the Raiders, Kansas City game, I'm gonna, obviously we lost that game, but dude, I'm telling you, Raiders could have beat them three different ways that game. That was a game, the Raiders really, I mean, this season's been a nightmare, but I know if you watched any of that game, but we had such opportunities to snatch that game away from them. I'm so tired of, I mean, they're great team, I know what you always say, you like watching greatness, but they're not that great this year, they just keep on fucking winning. And somehow they pull off.
Chris (39:03)
Yeah, I know. I did.
They do.
Tony Anderson (39:18)
And that's what great teams do, I guess, actually, in a way, is they find a way to win anyway. goddamn do I hate them. I'm so tired of seeing them win every weekend. I even I was even rooting for Denver and I hate the Jackasses. That's why I call it the Broncos.
Chris (39:30)
I'll tell you, I see what you're saying. And if they were in my division, I feel the exact same way because I mean, look, the refs give Patrick Mahomes every call. They really do. They did the same thing. All right, Bobby, we'll be done in a minute and we'll get back to hockey. And then, you know, they used to do it all the time with Brady and stuff. And I get it. You know, they're there, your franchise, they're the NFL, you know, they market everything around Patrick Mahomes. They don't want the guy going out for a season ending injury. So they're going to fucking treat them with kid gloves.
Tony Anderson (39:36)
God.
Hahaha!
Chris (39:59)
fine with that. I'll say this, because there's so much hate about Kansas City. You go to that Denver game, right? They had no business winning that. It's a chip shot field goal, Denver wins. And then it gets blocked, something that never happens. But if I listen to an interview with the guy that blocked it, and before one of their other either kickoffs or whatchamacallit, field goals or extra points,
He went up to the special teams coach and he said, I can roll my guy. Like I have no problem that the guy that's trying to block me cannot block me. I will block something like that's good coaching and good players. Like I know everyone hates them cause they win, but they win because they have players like that on their team and they're coached well. So I get it, but you know, it, it is kind of annoying. I want to see them go undefeated and lose to the Vikings in the Superbowl. That's what, that's what I want.
Tony Anderson (40:46)
through them.
I think everyone's getting tired of them now. It becomes that. We saw it with the Patriots, you you always saw it with the Yankees, the Cowboys. I think it's becoming that because I'm starting to even see people all around being like, okay, we've had enough. Like they always find a way to pull it off. it's like, makes me, when the Raiders, yeah, I'm gonna say this.
Chris (40:56)
tour.
How great is it gonna be when the devils are the team everyone hates? All they do is win.
Tony Anderson (41:13)
The Raiders will be Kansas City. We will be their first loss this year because we are one of the worst teams in football and the worst teams in football are usually the teams that take down the big Lions or whatever. Yes, and we beat them last year on Christmas. It was awesome. And we're going to beat them. I'm hoping. I that could sound like a real jackass in two weeks. hey, Raiders are going to be their first loss.
Chris (41:22)
especially divisional games.
Bobby (41:25)
Hmm
Chris (41:35)
I like it. I like it. And when I do my pick-ems, I will pick them to win that game.
Bobby (41:41)
And you need something to get you through this miserable season. So go ahead. You can look forward to that. That's great. Hey, listen, I got nothing against football. I'm just thinking after 17 minutes of commercials, we come back with hockey and then maybe blend into football later because that's what people are waiting for. know, the new guy did it.
Tony Anderson (41:41)
not.
Chris (41:51)
The new guy did it.
Tony Anderson (41:53)
It was all about Hot Teh Wee, man. It all about Hot Teh Wee.
Chris (41:57)
Alright, so let's talk hockey, because we do have a huge game tomorrow, which is just so weird that we're playing them in their barn again, you know, like, okay, home and home is one thing, but I don't remember the last time I saw a regular season playing two games in a row against the same team in their building. But anyway.
Tony Anderson (42:15)
Which is kinda shitty if you're the devils when you see it on the schedule at beginning of the season, like, we gotta play these guys twice in a row?
Chris (42:20)
There's nothing about the schedule that the Devils looked at and they were happy about this year so far. mean, the fact that, you know, Saturday to Thursday, that's nice, and we're going to have a few weeks coming up. they banked a lot of points during a rough patch of their schedule that I, that's awesome because now they can actually get practices in. They talked about that ad nauseum on the broadcast last night on ESPN. These guys had like two practices since the season started. Like, that's insane.
and they're still playing this well.
Bobby (42:52)
Yeah, I would normally not like four straight days of no games, but I think this particular break's coming at the right time to focus on a few more things. We do have a lot of games played against most other teams in the league. So it'll also help just kind of clear up, know, most of those teams are going to play two games while we're sitting there. So it's going to kind of bring everything back level. And then you have a really good look at where we truly are and where we can go, because I think we're only scratching the surface of how good they're getting. Like I think.
We're just starting to propel to how good we're going to be.
Chris (43:24)
I agree. And if you look at this team right now, they start getting practices and they start getting some rest. They can sit and start watching some other teams. The schedule gets, you know, like we haven't played Pittsburgh yet. We haven't played Columbus yet. We haven't played, well, we did play Buffalo. We did play, I think one game against Detroit, but there are some like worst teams. We haven't played the Flyers yet. Like there's some teams there, some games coming up that, you know, we should have.
You know, really good. Like I'm looking forward to seeing us play Winnipeg because I want to see how we play against them. Looking forward to us playing the Rangers. Yeah. Yes. This month is brutal.
Bobby (43:58)
But to your point we gotta get through this month first right so after Carolina which. Socks are hard to play against surprising Washington Capitals Nashville Predators. We got the blues and we got the wings and we're back to the capitals that closes out the month so we're not we're still not getting any of those teams you're talking about for another couple weeks.
Chris (44:20)
Okay.
Tony Anderson (44:21)
Who is the worst team this year you guys think so far if you had to say like who is the whole league who would be the worst? Is it Columbus this year?
Chris (44:26)
the worst team? No, no. Columbus plays with some heart. There's, okay, so you're saying like, who do I think is like a bad team or who's like really
Tony Anderson (44:37)
Yeah, who's the worst who's the worst team this year like team that's gonna probably finish with like, know, maybe 20 wins
Chris (44:43)
I would say Anaheim or San Jose, I think San Jose can, I mean, if they were to win 20 games, that would be huge for them. mean, I don't even know what they won last year. I think they had like 30 something points. Do you?
Bobby (44:58)
I don't know that we're going to have one of those historically bad teams again this year. I think the bottom are all going to be more level. mean, like right now, the last place team, at least in a statistical tie with the Ducks, Columbus, and the Canadians, are the Predators. And we've kind of busted their balls lot lately. But I don't think they're going to sustain this type of losing. I think they're going to at least become a respectable club this year.
Chris (45:04)
Yeah.
But what is that? But what is a respectable club for Nashville? They're not making the playoffs.
Bobby (45:27)
Over 500 and not making the playoffs, I guess. I'm not saying it's right.
Chris (45:29)
You spent that kind of fucking money you brought in all these no no i'm just saying like like and then and to because it's over you're not you're they're not going to do what i'm intended last year and go on some ridiculous run where they only lose three or four games the rest of the year so the plans are out now there.
Bobby (45:46)
Well, OK, but they are there five, nine and two. So a four game winning streak or six out of eight brings them back to five hundred. They're not that far off the mark.
Chris (45:49)
Yeah.
Right. Right. And then what does that do for everyone else in the division? They're going to go and lose six games in a row, everybody above them. Like it's just, you know how this works. When you're in a position like this where you have to chase now against some really good teams in a tough division and teams that I think are legitimately better than them, that even haven't been playing well, like Colorado has not been playing great, but I think they're a lot better than Nashville is when they're both healthy and playing their game. Nashville just doesn't,
Bobby (46:05)
Sure, good point.
Chris (46:24)
They're not meshing. can't blame Andrew Burnett. I feel bad for him. Like he obviously knows what he's doing. This guy coached Florida to a president's trophy. He took a team last year that was out of the playoff hunt and went on like an 18 game. We're not winning streak. I think it was like 16 and two in 18 games or something that they ended up getting points out of a straight 18 and they made it into the playoffs. I don't. So he knows what he's doing. This is in. This is a locker room problem. Like this is something's not right with them.
Bobby (46:52)
Yeah.
Chris (46:53)
I don't know what the fuck it is, but I...
Bobby (46:56)
Well then let's go back to the original question then right if. Are you suggesting it could be Nashville could be the bottom of OK wow.
Chris (46:59)
I'll say Nashville. I'll say Nashville. Nashville is the worst team in the league right now because I can make excuses of why other teams maybe aren't that great. Like you look at Columbus, like yeah, they're not good and they're going to lose a shitload of games. But look what that fucking team has been through in the last year. Like any win for them, I'm happy to see. Like I root for them now because of everything they went through.
Tony Anderson (47:24)
And I'll be honest, there's, was just probably yesterday, I was talking to my wife about this. There's times where I'm like, man, I can't believe Johnny Gujra was gone. I actually just still to this, you you still be driving down the road and like, damn man, I can't believe that Gujra was gone. Like, I don't know.
Chris (47:34)
That's awful.
I think about him every time I'm watching a Blue Jacket game. Like, you know, how would he be affecting this game right now, you know? You know, it sucks. But like, you take some of those other bottom feeders, you know, like, you're gonna say that San Jose is actually a bad team? And I said this on the last podcast, they're not a bad team. They're a young team, they're an inexperienced team. They're not bad. They just beat us. They shut us out. Now I understand that was Mackenzie Blackwood's Super Bowl.
Tony Anderson (47:43)
Even the flames, think, you know.
Chris (48:04)
Daytona 500 and World Series Stanley Cup Final all rolled up into one like that was it. He peaked dude. You're done now, know, you know, that's all he wanted. What was that?
Tony Anderson (48:11)
Didn't they beat us last year though? Didn't they beat us last year though when we, yeah, there was a certain period where they beat us too, where we were having the same conversation about that, that, you it was just like, we thought, you kind of think it's an easy win. You go in there and they take you out.
Chris (48:15)
Yes.
Bobby (48:16)
Yes.
Chris (48:21)
Who would?
But last year, I would say they were bad. Like this year, I think they are so much better and they play better than their goaltending has been better. But like, do you remember who beat us in that game last year? Who the goalie was? Yeah, Kapo Kokanen. Who was just picked up off waivers?
Bobby (48:36)
Kaku, Kakerin, Yeah.
Tony Anderson (48:37)
in
And actually, Chris, picked, I think it's last year you picked San Jose to only have like 12 wins or some shit like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris (48:45)
Yeah, well they started like 0 and 10 or something terrible and this year they started like 0 and 7.
Bobby (48:52)
The other difference, quite frankly, is our team this year versus last year is completely different. They played a good game. They should have won that game. They just didn't win that game and that shit happens.
Chris (48:55)
Yeah.
Yeah. Look, any other... I mean, any other goalie, you devils are at least scoring two or three in that game. know, Blackwood was not... You know, sometimes you get goalied. Like, we got fucking goalied. Exactly.
Tony Anderson (49:00)
Yeah. And it's not surprising. I mean, we're glad.
Bobby (49:11)
It's one of those stories. Yeah, it just happens.
Tony Anderson (49:14)
And you know he was pumped up for that game, man. That's him, that's like the Super Bowl in a way, know, beat the Devils.
Chris (49:17)
Yeah, so I'm I'm I so I but I don't consider them a bad team. I can throw a bunch of teams in that category Montreal I mean they make Montreal's problem too is like they just they have they have school scores and Cole Caulfield is leading or tied for league lead in goal so I mean they have great players they're just again young the structure is not there and and if you look at like kind of what Montreal
Bobby (49:18)
Yeah.
Chris (49:42)
hasn't done like they haven't brought that big name veteran in that I know of to really kind of help these guys are kind of all figuring it out on their own where Anaheim has brought in like the Rocco Gudis is and and you had San Jose bringing in to Foley and stuff like that and I like that to give the veterans you know to have these young guys show help showing the way but I don't think they're bad teams I think they're young now I'll say like I think the Red Wings right now are bad
I think I don't even know if they won they were playing it beat in Pittsburgh. I don't know if they won I think Pittsburgh right now is really bad I think Nashville right now is really bad But just because they're not in the bottom of the points It doesn't mean to me that they're a bad team like to me Pittsburgh is a lot worse than fucking San Jose right now you have Sydney Crosby and and of getting Malkin and Chris LaTang on your team and you cannot fucking win like I'm sorry, that's just
Bobby (50:36)
Yeah, actually. Yeah, 3-2, Red Wings. Yeah. Just to finish up my final thought there because of what you're claiming for Nashville, I'm going to go so far as to say they're going to push it all the way up to somewhere like around 25, 26 in the league. They won't be dead last. The Montreals, Columbus will fall down.
Tony Anderson (50:37)
Detroit won over time tonight against Pittsburgh, by the way. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris (50:40)
They did one.
Eh. I don't think they'll be dead last, but they'll be the biggest disappointment.
Bobby (51:02)
100 %
Chris (51:02)
Who do you think, Tone?
Tony Anderson (51:04)
I'm gonna pick Columbus, the worst record this year. If they have him Montreal, would go with Columbus.
Chris (51:09)
Okay, worst record, that was different. The worst record I'd probably, if I'm right now, I'm gonna give that one to Montreal.
Bobby (51:18)
Yeah, it's looking that way.
Chris (51:19)
So yeah, but.
Tony Anderson (51:20)
That would be my two picks. My toss up is Montreal and Columbus.
Chris (51:23)
Now, what do you think about Nashville?
Tony Anderson (51:28)
I don't know, I kind of agree with what you said about it, man. I really haven't thought much about Nashville this year, to be honest. And I think that, I mean, how much do they want of spending this off season?
Chris (51:38)
I think $17 billion.
Bobby (51:41)
Something like that.
Tony Anderson (51:41)
Yeah. Yes.
Chris (51:42)
It was more than the presidential campaigns combined.
Bobby (51:46)
Yeah.
Tony Anderson (51:46)
my God, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I think they would, I think, I national bangs out like 22 this year, maybe 23.
Chris (51:48)
Are they signed? Go ahead.
Bobby (51:49)
So night.
No, but now you got me scared, right? Because like we did just lose to San Jose, even though we played a good game, we beat the champs, we're gonna have Tampa and then we get Nashville. Like again, that should be a win, right? And so they're probably gonna beat us.
Chris (52:03)
Yep.
Tony Anderson (52:03)
That's the one you lose though. That's the one you lose.
Chris (52:05)
Well, okay, so the schedule coming up, right? Florida's tomorrow. Florida, after how we played them last night, they don't scare me. We can hang with them. I would be very surprised if we get our doors blown off. I mean, I can see a 4-1 win the other way tomorrow night. I can see them doing this, but we know we can hang with them. And in a seven game series, it'd be a lot of fun to kind of see which way that goes. But we know we can hang with them. Tampa does not scare me.
They, that was a fucking fluke, they're not doing it again. And we're gonna go into their barn and beat them on Saturday. I'm confident of that. Devils have that game circled. And Tony will have a wonderful night because he's gonna be one of few Devil fans there that are gonna enjoy themselves.
Tony Anderson (52:42)
I'll be there. I'll be there.
Bobby (52:51)
Calling it now, 5-1 win for you, Tone.
Tony Anderson (52:53)
I'm hoping man there's gonna be I you I talked to a couple of them from the Devils all day all night they're already down here getting ready for the game they're actually doing a photo outside of the arena at five o'clock for all the Devil fans you know they do it every year yeah I was in it a couple years ago Danico came down who was in it with us all yeah so they're gonna do that out there at five
Chris (52:57)
Mhm.
You gonna be in it?
Awesome!
Tony Anderson (53:13)
I know that and there's a lot of be a lot of devil fans. There's actually my my two daughters are going so my one daughter my oldest daughter has been to two Devils games in Jersey. She went to Pittsburgh and she went to Ottawa and then this will be her first Tampa game at seeing the Devils my my youngest daughter. is her first Devils game ever. She's been to a bunch of hockey games over in Europe and stuff like that, but this will actually be her first Devils game. They got their jerseys there already. So I'm pretty excited man. Either way, you know, it's going to be a I see Bobby with his kid at the games and you know, he knows you know Chris.
Chris (53:36)
That's awesome.
Tony Anderson (53:43)
It's gonna be like a proud moment watching my kids up against the glass door in the opening this pregame skates and stuff like that, you know, so I'm pretty stoked man
Chris (53:48)
Sure.
Bobby (53:49)
Yeah.
Chris (53:51)
Not only am I guaranteeing a win Saturday for U-Tone, Devils are gonna do something they haven't done all year so far, and Tampa fucking did it to us first time we played. The Devils, a Devil player will have a hat trick on Saturday. That's my reckless prediction.
Tony Anderson (54:05)
There you go. Pilat, Pilatwa, Pilat, Pilatwa, let's go. And he had a good game last game. Hey, last game was a good game with Pilat against Florida. Yeah.
Bobby (54:07)
Who and who would the devil be?
Chris (54:10)
that would be nice.
Bobby (54:13)
If Pilat gets the hat trick, I... It was. It was. Pilat has been playing very well. If he gets the hat trick, I will personally lead the apologetic parade for... I'll give him for two weeks. I'm not sold on the entire year, but I will give it two weeks of an apologetic parade.
Chris (54:16)
Yes it was.
I'll
Tony Anderson (54:26)
Yeah.
Chris (54:32)
I have big balls, but they're not that big. So I'll say that Jack Hughes gets the hat trick and Pilat gets a point on each of it. How's that?
Tony Anderson (54:33)
It'd be a nice story, wouldn't it?
Ha ha.
Bobby (54:37)
laughs
Tony Anderson (54:44)
There you go.
Bobby (54:44)
Okay, I like that. Now bonus points for a natural or is that just too much?
Chris (54:48)
No bonus points. No bonus points for a natural. Bonus points for a natural. Now natural, that means three in a row in one period. That's what we're going with, right?
Bobby (54:59)
Three in a row period. doesn't have to be within a period. Just no goals in between.
Chris (55:02)
Was it back in the day it had to be in the same period and now they just there's no goals in between? I'm pretty okay. Yeah. All right. So but but Tampa doesn't scare me because I think we're going to beat them. All right. Carolina scares me a little. You know, they're really good team and I'm so curious to see how the Devils this. What? I hear you. Yes, they are. All right. So.
Bobby (55:06)
I know. I'm only 24, dude, I don't know.
Tony Anderson (55:10)
24.
Always tough, always tough.
that are always tough. Carolina's always tough for the devils.
Chris (55:31)
that's gonna be a game I'm a little bit nervous about.
Bobby (55:35)
The team that team beat us 4 to 2 last time we're not that team anymore they're probably still the same team that we played but we are much better team I expected but if I recall that game wasn't lopsided. just lost that game so. Yeah it was 3 to yeah. So I expect a very fair competition that I mean I don't know that we're going to win it because they are that good but I am not scared of that game I think we come away.
Chris (55:40)
That's right.
No. No. Yes. I think it was an empty netter. I think we were down by one. We pulled the goal. Yeah.
Bobby (56:05)
from that looking good.
Chris (56:06)
That game makes me a little nervous because I'm just more curious is exactly what you said I want to see how this devil team playing the way that they've been playing the last few nights or less Probably five six games. How are they gonna be against Carolina now after that is Washington and Washington doesn't scare me either I mean I was just pumping their tires about how good they are, but we did beat them and it took them over time to beat us When we play so we already played him twice and we have we we got three out of four points out of it They got two so I'll handle that and the who's after Washington
Bobby (56:38)
That's the Predators on Monday.
Chris (56:40)
They don't... Yeah, I'm not gonna just say everything I said and say they scare me. We'll roll them.
Tony Anderson (56:44)
You
Bobby (56:44)
Right. And then the blues. All right. And they do. Then we have the back to back with the Red Wings and the Capitals. Close out the month. We're done with Washington. Yeah. You know.
Chris (56:47)
won't beat them even though they always give us fits and that was where
Tony Anderson (56:51)
Yep.
Chris (56:54)
And then we're done with Washington. So we're done with Washington after another two weeks.
Tony Anderson (57:00)
I will say Oveskin's always a pain in the ass for the devils though. No, no, Oveskin's always a pain in the ass for the devils.
Chris (57:03)
Nashville Nashville and the Blues. Yeah, yeah, he has but you know Nashville and the St. Louis Blues always get the devil's fits And I just think that this team this team has a whole different vibe that I've just you know kind of saw it in the beginning of the year a little bit and then you know when they were figuring things out kind of that a couple of weeks there that we're like what's going on with the four in a row losing and stuff but since that four in a row losing streak they kind of have been a different team
And you know, this is a team like I can't remember the last time I've seen a devil team play this good defense and goaltending like this is bringing back some memories like this is a team that can do something. What? Yeah.
Tony Anderson (57:43)
Exciting. That's exciting.
Bobby (57:48)
Yeah, not to rehash what I've said before, but I mean, Pesci and Luke are really just getting started. Luke is literally getting better every day and Pesci is just getting healthier every day. I mean, Luke, forget about the injury. Like this is just that year where like he just seems like he's progressing every single day. I mean, the sky's the limit for this kid. Did you see the way he was backpedaling in the zone, skating back? Like you see it all the time in hockey, but if
Chris (57:56)
I know.
Bobby (58:16)
For as many games as I've watched in my life, for me to see that 10 seconds of acceleration backwards and for it to stick out to me like holy shit most people can't do that, I mean that's gotta mean something, you know what I mean?
Chris (58:29)
He is one of the most amazing skaters I've ever seen. I mean, he really is. like you said, it's tip of the iceberg shit with Luke and there's going to be so much like he's bound. He's bound to get one. Like he's got to get one on this road trip. Like he's been so close. He's generating offense and he's been so and having has not been sacrificing the defense at all for that offense. He's got to get a goal.
Bobby (58:39)
He's so young.
I'm gonna make a suggestion. I'm gonna make a suggestion. Last year before Dougie got hurt. I said why is Luke on PP1? I don't feel like he's earned it yet. Not that he wasn't capable, but I just felt like that was how, do remember that early in the year when Luke was actually getting PP1? Hamilton's not exactly lighting a lamp. He's playing all right. Tim will tell us too, right? He's all in the Hamilton train. But I'm just saying, maybe give Luke a shot a little bit longer on that this year. I mean, why not?
Chris (59:02)
Yes, I do. Yeah.
I'd be fine with that.
Bobby (59:18)
You know it's the same element when Dougie's on there's nobody better to win you you know a power play goal from the point but right now he's not on so let's let's let Luke try.
Chris (59:24)
Yeah, but Luke can do it. Yeah.
What do think, Tom?
Tony Anderson (59:32)
So I'm pretty sure guys are cutting out on me.
Chris (59:32)
okay. Well, we're gonna wrap it up anyway. So let's try and... you got something else,
Bobby (59:38)
I do have one thing I really wanted to get out, just about two of our new guys. Pretty quick here, I wanted to just focus in on Cotter and Nason specifically and what they've been doing for this team. In the points race for the team, Cotter has 12, that's tied for fifth. Nason has 14, that's fourth. They both have seven goals, which is tied for third on the team. Cotter's a plus two. Nason is an even rating.
Chris (59:40)
No, go ahead. Just Tony's. We're losing Tony a little.
Bobby (1:00:07)
Cotter has 52 hits, which is first on the team. Nason has 48, which is second on the team. Cotter's 52 are actually ninth in the NHL. And Nason's 48 or 12. I believe that's for, no, that was in the NHL, not just for forwards. And then they both have two game winning goals, which is tied with also Jack Hughes, who has two game winning goals. Cotter specifically, he's got his seven goals in
the 19 games that we've played. had seven last year in 76 games and Nason who had a career year last year. I didn't find where he was at this time in the year, but he's got seven and had 14 all of last year. He's got 63 more games to eclipse what he did all of last year. Right. And then just to finalize kind of where we've been and what we've been talking about today with
Chris (1:00:40)
Yeah.
for A-Coles.
Bobby (1:01:05)
with the culture of the team and the way it's working. There was a quote from Cotter just probably last week. I've been sitting on this for a while. He goes, those D know that every time they go back for a puck, one of us is coming to crush them.
Chris (1:01:20)
Why do call them dicks?
Bobby (1:01:22)
He didn't. D for defenseman. Dicks. There was an additional quote that Amanda Stein put out around the same time regarding the chippiness after the whistles. And Cotter said, if you mess with one of our guys, we're all bringing it, especially our captain, Dry Cytle slash Niko. Our whole bench was barking at him. So this is a little old, but the point is
Tony Anderson (1:01:23)
you
Chris (1:01:25)
my bad.
Ugh.
Yeah.
Bobby (1:01:49)
That culture change that we talked about is effectively happening and it's it's these two guys. Not not single handedly because we can get into the Dylan argument to what he's doing on the defensive side but as a forward unit what they're bringing is just incredible I mean some of their stats. They're not the guys you think you're going to be up there I know it's only nineteen games but they're really proven their worth and they're really the types of guys that I think.
Again your captain's going to take you out of prolonged losing streaks. Jack Hughes is going to do that. Timo Meyer is going to get hot. Brad's going to do his thing and get hot. But in the grind of the season, it's these two guys. It's guys like this that are just not going to let you sink into these long losing streaks.
Chris (1:02:31)
You're so right.
Tony Anderson (1:02:31)
Who's the most important guy that you think we bought on this? Out of all the guys we bought on new to this team, what do think is the most important guy in the lineup? Yeah, I was gonna say Cotter too. New additions. Yeah.
Chris (1:02:37)
Cotter.
Eh,
Bobby (1:02:41)
Yeah, I just, love this guy's game.
Chris (1:02:44)
When he gets the puck and he did it in this game against Florida, he doesn't fucking give it up. Nobody, you know, protects the puck like on this team like he does and he did one play in the game against Florida. He had the puck in the own defensive zone and he skated it up into Florida's own and I think it was on a penalty kill and he took the puck all the way out around and back in and then threw the puck all the way down. Like he basically did a lap around the rink with the puck.
Bobby (1:03:12)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris (1:03:13)
Nobody touched him and then he cleared the thing like it was if I'm and I think it was on a penalty kill But I mean he he's fantastic. You see him. He does not give the puck up. He's physical gets under people's skin He's got silky ass hands. I mean that pass and that goal last night for his he sure to him was beautiful I like everything that nascent brings I like everything Dylan brings and marks from all those guys, but Cotter I I see as being just a he seems like an old-school devil to me
and he's very Randy McKay-ish to me and just something about him I like.
Bobby (1:03:47)
It's funny you mentioned that because we've talked before about how my first named Devil's Jersey ever was the Hughes from the watching McCall game, the outdoor game stadium series. And part of that was we only had three choices, right? It was him, Meyer and Heesher and you could have went with any of them, but that's the first name I've ever gotten because I don't like the business side of sports where people get traded. Now, some of our legends that have retired Devilsons surely I can buy them now, of course, Brodors and all that. And even my favorite McKay.
Chris (1:03:57)
Stadium series,
Bobby (1:04:17)
But like, as far as if I were to actually do another name Jersey, like I'm already thinking Dylan, like I just love the way this dude plays the game. And that's what I base my favorite players on, like their style of play, you know, not the best, you know, just the way they play.
Chris (1:04:23)
Dylan, huh?
and
I like what Dylan's brought. I like what Dylan's brought a lot. mean, I think he's kind of, I think yesterday was like his coming out party, right? Like he felt yesterday like, this dude is part of this team, you know, and I liked that. And I thought that Dylan played a great game, but for me it's Cotter, but I love everybody that he's brought on. How about you, Tone?
Bobby (1:04:53)
Jesus I'm sorry. I Connor. I'm saying I meant Connor I'm just selling the whole damn thing. I just talked about Connor. I mentioned all the stats Jesus Worked all day. It's 11 o'clock at night. God damn
Chris (1:04:54)
you meant Cotter. Okay, that makes sense.
Tony Anderson (1:05:01)
I was like, damn, I was like, that was a quick switch. like, nah, I'm going to go Cotter, man. I'm also glad, like I said earlier in the show, I'm glad to have Mason back. I, when I was watching Mason in the playoffs with Carolina and he was one of the better players I thought, man, watched him in the playoffs. I always liked him. So he's another one. glad, but I kind of picture him as he's already been here once. So I'm going to go with Cotter as the, I just, a force on the ice that I feel like changes that. Yeah. Yeah. And he, you know, just changes.
Chris (1:05:03)
Fair enough.
and they have a very similar style.
Tony Anderson (1:05:30)
Having him on the ice cutter just changes it up a little bit. You can feel it's a different dynamic out there for the devs.
Chris (1:05:35)
I'll say one thing before we wrap this up and it's about these guys too. Having a mediocre team that has one or two high flying goal scorers, that's kind fun to watch. Maybe you don't make the playoffs, if you do you're maybe quicken out. sometimes it's a decent team with two guys that can score that might be fun to watch. Or a boring team that plays defense or whatever. The way that this team has been playing.
the physicalness, grittiness, all those things, that's what brings teams together. It's not all the goals, it's not, but nothing makes a team become a tighter unit than knowing that every guy on the ice with you has your fucking back. And you'll start seeing, you know, I believe the offensive guys really start to turn it up because they're gonna feel a lot more comfortable being able to do shit because they know nobody's gonna take a run at me, not with Dylan or McDermott or Cotter or Mason or Timo, like.
It's just not going to happen anymore. And I think that's an element that, you know, dare I say it, teams win Stanley Cups that have all that put together. Devils are looking like they're on their way to being a really good team for a really long time in the Eastern Conference. We've got the tools, we've got the talent. It's Milla time. All right, time to go. We're going to wrap this thing up. Thanks for listening to us and everybody send all your Tony
Tony Anderson (1:06:48)
Got the tools.
Bobby (1:06:56)
Time to go.
Chris (1:07:01)
Love to uncle puckers at gmail.com and just because he's here he sounded like an angel a very quiet angel
Tony Anderson (1:07:10)
change up the mic.
Bobby (1:07:11)
very distant angel, like way up in the heavens.
Chris (1:07:15)
If I can fix this the way that I think I can, the listeners won't know what the hell we're talking about because you'll sound fine, but...
Tony Anderson (1:07:15)
I gotta... I gotta pick up a new mic.
If not, I'm like a mumble rapper, you know? I have these mumble rappers these days. You can advertise me as that.
Chris (1:07:26)
Yes, I have hit so many mumble rappers to mumble about the hockey. The hockey. I got. God, I got to go to the bed. All right, boys. This was fun and we're out. We'll see you when we see you.
Tony Anderson (1:07:32)
Dada.
Bobby (1:07:32)
I like the hockey. I like to hockey. Yes.
Tony Anderson (1:07:37)
the best.
face.
Bobby (1:07:41)
Bye-bye.
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