This Ain't Last Years Devils

Chris (00:02)
Welcome to the Uncle Pucker New Jersey Devil Podcast. I am Chris with Bob and Tone today. What's up boys? How's everybody doing? So, yeah, I bet. So, should we just dive right in? Devils go into Madison Square Garden last night for the first of four meetings against the Rangers who are struggling. They were one and five in their last six and the one game they did win was a game that

Bobby (00:11)
I've in a good mood today. Real good.

Tony (00:11)
How you doing,

Bobby (00:18)
That's the best way to do it.

Chris (00:32)
They probably, I don't want to say should have, but definitely could have lost against Montreal. Took power plays and won five on three for the Rangers to get the job done against what's probably the worst team in the NHL. So Devils go in and just absolutely routed them. So just thoughts in general. We got a lot to talk about with this game and a couple of other things that I want to get to with you guys. know, Tone, go ahead, man.

Tony (01:04)
I was a great game. thought we would like you said, I we dominated him. was like exact. didn't I didn't expect it to go as great as it went. Actually, I thought we could definitely win that game, but it just devils were in control. A star, you know, Jackie Hughes was being Jackie Hughes against them. I saw I was I saw something today on the Internet. We'll see here. I actually saved it here. Yeah, the interwebs here that I was going to mention on the show. So I mentioned Jackie Hughes's numbers against the Rangers, which is, you know, these guys.

Bobby (01:24)
the interwebs.

Tony (01:33)
So he's played 14 games against them, eight goals, seven assists for 15 points. And that is, that's the play, including the playoffs also. That's what it says, that's 14, 14 games of saying 15 points. Or maybe.

Chris (01:40)
I don't know if that's right. I thought he had more than that actually. He had 20 games, this is before yesterday, 20 games against the Rangers, 11 goals, 9 assists, 20 points in 20 games. And then yesterday he added...

Tony (01:56)
it's this career road stats. You're right, Chris. This is on the road. This is all. Yeah. So I didn't read that top part, but yeah, that's as always. Yeah. My bad.

Chris (01:58)
okay, okay. That's just at Madison Square Garden. Okay, I gotcha, I gotcha. Yeah, he's phenomenal against the Rangers and loves playing at MSG.

Bobby (02:06)
Yeah.

Just dominates the man did socials were so funny last night with some of the you posts that were going out various ways like Jackson and name his first kid Madison how he owns Madison Square garbage how we are owns Susha Sturkin I mean I'm with you Tony that is just fun total domination I expected to be a little different to not that I didn't think the Devils were a better team It's just that you know with the Rangers I figured if any if ever

there be a game for them to get up for this would be it you know so just thought it'd be a little tighter but right from the jump we got behind their D like constantly Markstrom I mean my god man Markstrom he just played like I can't wait to be part of this rivalry and he showed man I thought he did absolutely awesome Tim's recent piece he wrote up on the on the post game talks about how it's time for us to give him his due you know and and we should as fans as podcasters you know occasionally yeah I'll let in that leaky goal but

Tony (02:49)
I saved.

Bobby (03:07)
the Tim's point what goal he isn't really you know what mean and then he stands tall when he has to we wouldn't be in the position we're at this year without him for sure the 15 straight wins when leading after two that's part Markstrom to just not letting it get out of hand there no matter what you know the goals were during the beginning of the game so I mean as a Devils fan you just can't be happier with the performance that they had it it still speaks a little bit to the bipolar of

of devils right you know it's a game you get up for their complete dominating some of other games you think they win maybe they didn't but overall i mean you can't not be excited about where the same as words going like they're legit

Chris (03:42)
I don't have a ton of complaints about this team for all year, know, throughout the season. mean, yeah, they played crummy against Washington and maybe were a little bit hard on them when they do have those clunkers from time and time again because we haven't really seen that this year. And the thing that I love most about this team, and in case I haven't said it in a while, I really love this team, is the fact that they don't...

We talked about it a million times, right? The four losses and we kind of said after they kind of got out of that, they weren't going to get into that again and they haven't. They lose and they fix their mistakes and they come back and they play a really strong game. And Bobby, that was one of the things that I was so nervous about going into this game. The one of the things that I was definitely on edge about was Shusterkin was this fact that he could steal a game. mean, regardless of

Jack owns him or whatever. Igor Sircerkin is a very good goaltender and he can steal a game for the Rangers. But you just said it like, this shows that the Rangers problems are extremely deep. If you couldn't get up for that game, even down to nothing, you know, and they just, I know they pushed and everything, but they didn't have a ton of great scoring chances. And we beat them physically.

We beat them on every level of the ice. was just, it was a lot like what they did to us last year. And it was, there was no fighting them. Even like a couple of the scrums in front of Markstrom, you know, I just see some of these guys after the whistle blows and they just have their head down. They're not, they're the Rangers. mean, they're not like, you know, scratching and crawling. They're not pushing, shoving. There's no fighting them. They just put their head down. They skate away.

It was a bad look for the Rangers and a fantastic look for the Devils.

Tony (05:42)
actually was watch the game. So wait, one of my buddies who records our records actually, he was good leaving for Italy today and he got he only had one day since when I was in town to hang out. So he called me and he's like, Hey, you and your wife want to go out with me and my wife and my bass player and his wife went to this restaurant. And of course, it was the reservation was 645. So I'm like, man, I'm like, I was talking to Chris earlier that day. And I was like, I don't know if I'm get the whole game in before till I get home. So I know these guys so well and are such good friends that I was like, Listen, guys, I know we're at this restaurant.

On my phone, I put the game and had it at the table. I'm watching, know, me and my wife are watching the game. You know, we're all, they're all hockey fans. So was cool, but that was a game I didn't want to miss. You if that was just a regular game and it was like, I was like, man, I got to see the first matchup between these two teams. and I, know, like I said, it went great, but I couldn't miss it. When it was live, I was like, dude, how do you not watch this?

Chris (06:32)
I was, you know, you absolutely have to watch it live. We'll do a quick breakdown. We didn't even go over this. you know, just we'll do the quick box or this. We don't do it for every game. We do it for the games that matter. first period, Jesper Brad, even strength goal from Palat and Kovac, Savage Palat played a very good game. I was very down on him. I, we all were, I thought he played a good game, but the guy that I thought had the game of the best game as a devil is Kovac Savage last night.

Bobby (06:33)
course.

Chris (07:02)
He was a dominant force on that puck. mean, any time that the puck came near him, he was taking it away from Rangers. He was making the right decisions. Everything about his game last night, loved. Dawson Mercer makes it two-nothing Devils. Yeah, go ahead.

Bobby (07:16)
Yeah, Koba said that I just got to step in there for a second. Yeah, like that guy, like he already knows what it's like to have a true hated rivalry. I mean that Habs Bruins rivalry is just as intense as ours. Little geographically further, of course, but they hate each other. They always have and they used to always be good games. So think he just stepped right in and just kind of kept that going.

Chris (07:33)
I mean, he played a fantastic game. Mercer makes it two-nothing Devils on another even strength goal from Luke Hughes. Then the second period was all Devils, which it has been all year. This team, we've said it. First period, is that feeling out? Okay, we see what you do good, what we maybe need to do a little bit better. And all right, we'll keep it close, maybe even down a goal. Second period, we make the adjustments we have to make and we attack, attack, attack. And the third period.

They kind of lock it down and this has been their formula since day one this year and they did it again last year. This game yesterday, mean, second period, Dougie Hamilton. What a beautiful shot. I mean, I know it was supposed to go to Nason that pass across the middle, Nason in the bumper position and he misses it and it gets right to Hamilton who just sniped a shot that Shastrkin had zero chance on. That was a power play goal from Jack and Bratt. You know, to see.

Jack and Brad is gonna become a theme throughout the course of this box score makes it three, not the New Jersey. And then Jack Hughes even strength goal from his brother and Jesper Brad makes it four to one, four to nothing. And then on the power play, Chris Crider picked up a little bit of garbage, got it past Markstrom. That was from Panarin and Zabaniad. That was four one. Even that goal when they scored it, kinda they were like, who gives a shit? There was no.

Excitement, there was no nothing, they knew it was over. And then Jack finishes it off with a ridiculous wrist shot on the power play from Dougie and Jesper Bratt, had four points in this game, makes it five-one. These are a couple of the quicks. So the Rangers had us on shots. They were 39 to 28 in favor of the Rangers. Hits were 25, 24 in favor of the Rangers.

Faceoffs one were 36-25 in favor of the Rangers. Rangers were one for four on their power play. We were two for four. And this is the stat that I thought may, this stat kind of personified how the Devils played last night. The Rangers had 14 blocked shots. The Devils had 27. They, especially on that power play in the first period, I actually cheered like I was at that game.

and I wanted to go run to the store and buy a Brett Pesci jersey after that. What a ridiculous penalty kill.

Bobby (10:00)
Yeah, that was so epic, dude. That was so epic. Their energy, their just will and determination. That was a step above for a penalty kill. That was a thing of beauty to watch. This whole team, that's what they're doing. It is a buy-in. A lot of this has to go to the coach, You mentioned the second period too. It's the period of the long change. Is there some advantage? we owe Keith some kudos here for figuring that out better than any other team maybe? Or is this just happenstance?

You know it's a tough period usually usually it's one of those periods that you're either the goat you know or or the hero and that was the hero.

Chris (10:38)
You look.

Tony (10:39)
You mentioned Keith, saw something today where they were saying that he, they had a skate this morning. You know, they did their morning skate and I guess he was already, you know, they get a big win like that, but he's still on them. Cause I heard he was like pissed off cause they felt like they were dogging it during the skate this morning or something like that. So Keith, know, he's got something going on with that team, with that lineup. Yeah.

Bobby (10:55)
Whatever he's doing, it's working.

Chris (10:56)
Yeah, Keith does definitely has a pulse on this team right now. They're all buying in. It's led by Nico Heescher and it just trickles down. look, the Devils just straight up wanted this game a hell of a lot more than the Rangers did. And it showed. So I mean, I can't be happier. we can sit here and nitpick certain things about this game. They gave up way too many shots to the Rangers. They got hemmed in in their own zone.

too many times, but are we really going, we just beat the Rangers by four goals in their building. Are we really going to go and nitpick? this is.

Bobby (11:33)
Yeah, we didn't win 4-3 or 5-4 and that happened, we still won 5-1. I mean, it's just an ass-kicking.

Chris (11:37)
Yeah, there's no doubt. So yeah, I could not be happier. There are a couple things I do want to get into, but any other things that you guys want to touch on about this game?

Bobby (11:51)
Well, yeah, I gotta bring something up here. know, for those of us... we're gonna get the Valorant? Okay. Yeah.

Chris (11:53)
We're gonna get to, we're gonna get to Steve Valiquette. We'll talk, yeah, we're definitely, well, look, Steve Valiquette has gotten a lot of shit today from the national media for what he said yesterday. So, like, we're not gonna sit here and pile on the guy. Yes, we are. We are totally gonna pile on the guy. So, but first, let's get some commercials out of the way really quick, and then I have a...

Bobby (12:05)
Yes.

Yes we are!

Chris (12:21)
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Bobby (13:47)
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Chris (13:55)
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Bobby (14:15)
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Chris (15:24)
It's game time.

Bobby (15:26)
game time.

Chris (15:28)
guys want to, I'm going to go through the Art Ross Trophy race right now in the NHL, okay? And we all know the Art Ross is for the most points in the league. So number one is Kirill Kaprizov. There's a lot of, you know, lot of the same names that always pop up there right every year. Kirill Kaprizov, 15 goals, 23 assists for 38 points. leads the NHL. Followed by, this is a bit of a surprise, Marty Nacius.

Carolina with 12 goals 25 assists for 37 points Number three is Jack Eichel He's sitting at eight goals and 28 assists for 36 points and he's tied with Nathan McKinnon who has seven goals and 29 assists for 36 points and coming in at number five in the Art Ross Trophy race is Jesper Bratt with 12 goals 23 assists and 35

Bobby (16:24)
Yes.

Chris (16:27)
points. Jesper Bratt goes at this rate. He has a chance to compete for the Art Ross Trophy and we always kind of assumed that it would be Jack Hughes who was going to be the New Jersey Devils first ever 100 point scorer. Could it be Jesper Bratt this year? Is it going to be Jesper Bratt?

Bobby (16:48)
Sure could. It's on pace for what, 103? Actually, it was 103 before yesterday's game, right? So a little four point outburst had to move that up to at least like 104. What would be interesting is if the two of them drag it all the way up and they both do it.

Chris (17:02)
It's definitely possible that that line is on fire. I mean when they are skating and they're they're Sinking up. I mean they're there's dangerous as they come

Tony (17:03)
That'd be fun.

Bobby (17:12)
Well, let's I mean Jack Hughes is in fact just two points behind Jesper Brett sitting at 10th. You mentioned there's a few ties in here actually because there's two people with 36. There's three people with four people with 34. So for all intents and purposes, Jack's fifth or sixth in the league as well. So Jeffers fifth, Jack sixth. Pretty impressive stuff right there.

Chris (17:34)
two 100 point scores.

Tony (17:38)
That would be a be a fun season, wouldn't it?

Chris (17:41)
What did I didn't hear you? I am from it. I'm having trouble hearing you Tony. I'm sorry.

Tony (17:47)
It might be the microphone. Let me see here.

Chris (17:49)
about what did you just say?

Bobby (17:55)
He was basically saying how that would be nice, you know?

Tony (17:56)
I my microphone might have been, I don't know, messing up. yeah, no, mean, yeah, that would be fun, you know? mean, besides how good the team is already, imagine having a Yuz and Brad putting up 100 each.

Chris (17:56)
yeah.

That's

I just love the way this team is built right now. I think that they can legitimately compete for a Stanley Cup this year. If they stay healthy, that's me knocking on wood. I think that they can definitely compete for a Stanley Cup. It has just been such a fun season so far and it kind of sucks that we don't play again until Friday night.

Bobby (18:33)
Yeah, hey let's just for fun let's talk about some of the people you didn't mention from the top of that list to show where they're sitting above. They're sitting above Mitch Marner Leon dry saddle kale mccarr Connor McDavid do I even need to go on I mean they're above those guys right now I'm not saying Connor's not gonna wind up the top where he always does but damn we're not we're not three games in we're we're a healthy chunk into this season.

Chris (18:50)
Boston Matthews.

yeah. And this is why I honestly think I think I texted it to you, Bobby, last night. The Rangers are not making the playoffs. I don't think they make the playoffs this year. They, they, that you look at that bottom of the Metro, you look at those wild card spots right there, right? Philadelphia is right there. Columbus is right there. Pittsburgh is coming on. They've won, think three or four in a row now. so the Rangers are going to have to get their shit together really quick. And you look at Columbus, right?

Bobby (19:05)
It's gonna be tough.

Chris (19:23)
Columbus can score goals. Maybe not the best defensively, but they can score, man. They can hang in there with most teams on most nights. Then you look at Philadelphia. Philadelphia has, they're very young, but if you watch Philly play, and I watched them play the Rangers, and they came out to a quick start and they ended up winning that game, but Philly does a lot of the little things right, right? They block a ton of shots. They skate their asses off. They're accountable. You know, they get, meh.

Goaltending and Mitch Kopp, I think is going to be a superstar. And then Pittsburgh, you know, you're talking about Pittsburgh, you're talking about Sidney Crosby and Malkin. These guys know how to scratch and claw their way into the playoffs. And I think the Rangers are in big trouble. And I think that it's all about to fall apart on them. I think their window is not closing. I think that window has slammed shut.

Bobby (20:19)
Yeah, I'm just happy that we can just keep playing the way we're playing and stay away from that mess down for those wild card spots. I'm glad we're looking like a team that's going to be fighting for those top three because that is going to be messy down there. That is going to be just like last year. That's going to move on to the last day of the season. And that's just too much.

Chris (20:34)
and it's going to be Gatotone.

Tony (20:39)
I hope you're right, Chris. I guess I think last episode, I think they weasel their way in, but I hope it will be fun. It would be awesome if you were right. That would be, just love to see those fans. Because last year they were strutting around pretty proud at the end of that year, last year. Our arena too. Yeah. Yeah. And it never gets you much.

Chris (20:50)
Sure were.

Bobby (20:53)
Regular season champs, Regular season champs, banner and all.

Chris (20:56)
But look, you you look at the teams that they're battling with, those teams are hungrier than the Rangers are. Those teams seem to want it more. They do the little things. you know, I don't have the numbers, but apparently, like Peter Labule, from year one to year two, his winning percentage plummets in the second year. Now, I don't know if that's just...

Usually it takes three or four years, at least for a team to get tired of listening to the coach. Is that what's happening? Is it just that? I don't know. I really don't know what's happening with the Rangers.

Bobby (21:37)
That is super interesting that it's year two and like you said not three or four and he's one of those retreads We always talk about how many teams has he coached?

Chris (21:43)
I think all of them.

Bobby (21:46)
Yeah, right. mean, five or six is my guess and that's just on the surface. But yeah, that is incredible if it fall off that fast. the Rangers, like you said, like some of these other teams, they don't know success right now and they really want it. And the Rangers have maybe thought their success was greater than it really was. I mean, I just joked about their stupid championship, regular season championship banner, but it is that it's stupid. didn't, you didn't get the job done. You didn't do anything.

Tony (21:50)
even the ones that are no longer around.

Bobby (22:13)
You had the most points going into the playoffs. You have no Stanley Cup to show for it. You have no Stanley Cup since 1994. It's all Sam fucking Rosen's fault. I'm really glad he said it, saying this one will last a lifetime. I don't know why we don't dive into that call more. It's literally the worst call that's ever been made in professional sports. He literally jinxed the team. He might as come out and say, hey, let's not get another one for 85 years. Like, what a douche.

Chris (22:33)
I just think that they're helping Sam out this year by giving him an extra early retirement. It's like you don't have to wait until the first or second round of the playoffs. You can go home in the beginning of April and you could pack yourself up and go away and you could just sit in your house on your rocking chair, yelling at the TV. It's a power play goal. No, it's not Sam. So Peter Lavalletta has coached the Islanders, the Hurricanes, the Flyers, the Predators and the Capitals. So

Bobby (22:40)
Yeah.

That's six.

Chris (23:04)
I mean...

Tony (23:06)
When she started giving up some of those goals, was thinking, was like, I bet you Stan's typing right now.

Chris (23:09)
he wrote some shit. Stan went nuts again. It wasn't as bad, but he, what did he write? Let me see. have it somewhere. Give me one second to pop this up. So he wrote, let's face it. The New York Rangers were lucky to beat the worst NHL team, the Habs. The Devils provided a test and the blue shirts made a mess. He's a, he's a poet now.

Bobby (23:10)
yeah.

Chris (23:35)
Couple more like this and you have to wonder how the coach and GM can last Doubtful that Rempey can come in to rescue maybe healthy Barad Which I did like Barad a little bit that I saw him then he wrote the Rangers first mistake last night was starting its backup goalie Igor Shisterkin Versus a good team like the Devils the second error was leaving him in as a result piggy Iggy may have lost a few bargaining power pennies

Bobby (23:35)
Yes.

Tony (23:55)
You

Chris (24:03)
maybe down now to 8.5 million max Markstrom equals aces. That's what Fischler wrote.

Bobby (24:09)
I love it. We did one of our first reels ever on our new Instagram was a clip. It was just me and you on the show, Chris. And we're talking about basically how Shastrkin can never let in six goals ever if you want to get paid. He turned out at that point, it was the 11 million for eight years. And it's just a short little clip. I had to repost it on the Instagram today with a bunch of clips from all of our friends over at Blue Sky, all the stuff that was being said last night, you five past Shastrkin over and over again, that kind of stuff. And it's just.

Like it's serious because you he went from a position of power like you're not doing yourself any favors now you're not I mean if someone's gonna give you 13 million now I wrote I just wrote it down he gave up on six once five three times and a few fours in the light like just since October is not on top of his game and I mean I don't know the only thing to give that kind of money that has to be the Rangers.

Chris (24:56)
Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, we thought on this podcast that him asking for anything like $11, $12, $13 million was ridiculous. We made the case that this guy should not get a nickel more than Connor Hollebuck. And now I am thinking he doesn't deserve what Connor Hollebuck has gotten. Look, he's a great goalie. And I think he will end up in a good situation. I don't think it's going to be in New York. I think if this team keeps playing the way that they're playing, he's not going to want to stay there.

Now they're going to start trading pieces off. hear all these ranger fans going, we need a second line center. We need a, you know, a number one defenseman. That's great. Where are you getting that? Where, who is giving up a second line center to you? Who are you getting a top line, top flight defenseman from? Like you're not going to get these guys and Kreider is a, I like Chris Kreider. think he's a hell of a player. I'd love to have him on the Devils.

I really would. think he's a fantastic power play. You know, goal scorer. I like everything about him. Jacob Truba, you might get a bag of pucks for him. What are you getting for these guys? You have a horrible, you have aging guys on aging old contracts that you gave everyone no trade clauses. And now you have your biggest, your best player in Igor Svastokhin is now your biggest problem because he don't have to do shit.

He just has to finish out this year and he can walk any... There'll be half of the league ready to pay this guy $9, $10, $11 million next year.

Bobby (26:36)
You've mentioned before you could see him like say on Colorado for an example. And that would, mean, now you're talking now he's back to being, you know, the best in the league on a great team. they, you know, that would increase their Stanley cup odds, you know, tremendously.

Chris (26:38)
That's where I think he's gonna end up.

I think if Igor Shusterkin goes to the Colorado Avalanche, he will win a cup with them. I absolutely believe that. With Nate McKinnon and Kyle McCarr, they're going to sign Miko Ratan and they're not going to let him walk at the end of this year. And if you look at Colorado and watch any of their games and we get to see them on Sunday here, goaltending is their problem. I mean, they just made a trade with Nashville to get Scott Wedgwood in. mean, Scott Wedgwood's a good goalie, but he's not going to win you a Stanley Cup.

Bobby (26:56)
Yeah, I would have to agree with that.

Chris (27:18)
you know, so they have big time goal. They are a lot like the devils last year. And the fact that they have a lot of pieces there, but they just can't get a save. And, you know, I think that's just, Erkin is looking over there going, what am I doing here? You know, these guys don't care. I'm with a team that just doesn't give a shit.

Bobby (27:37)
mean, he would have legitimate chances to win a Stanley Cup. Whereas on the Rangers, mean, if you even said they had a legitimate chance, you know, they're still on the wrong side of all their ages. he would definitely have a better rest of his career over in Colorado. I mean, most people would quite frankly, you know.

Tony (27:55)
yeah, definitely.

Chris (27:56)
So, Steve Valakett, I think we gotta dive into this. Now, for anybody that doesn't know, and I doubt there's anybody that doesn't know by now, Steve Valakett during the, and we'll play his audio, but just in context, he's discussing the breakaway attempt that Jack Hughes had on Schusterken in the first period, where he went for that, you know, Peter Forsberg one-handed, you know, just kinda deke it into the side.

It was a, it's it's a play that a lot of guys do. and Jack tried it and no, nobody but Steve Valakett thought anything about this. It was a breakaway attempt that Shastrkin made a nice save on. That's where it started and that's where it should have ended. But Steve Valakett for some reason decided to pull the pearl clutching

Bobby (28:32)
And it's a skill.

Chris (28:49)
my goodness, how could he do such a thing to Mr. Igor? And we'll play his audio now, and then we're going to discuss it on the other end.

Bobby, go ahead.

Bobby (29:31)
This makes me so angry. is the most ludicrous shit I've ever heard in my life. Number one, who are you to ever say which way I'm allowed to try to score a goal? Whether I come in slow, hot, use one hand, use two. Who gives a shit? It's my right to try to score on you. Embarrass the goalie. Right, and your job. Embarrass the goalie. That is just the most ridiculous shit I've ever heard. And then you're calling for his head, basically, for trying to score on your goalie. And then don't get me started on like the game's getting away kind of shit like ...

Chris (29:35)
You

It's your job.

Bobby (30:01)
Jack wanted that goal. It's only two nothing at this point. It's against the Rangers and I don't even buy into that let up shit to begin with unless it's like really severe. There's a code right like my kids hockey team just had that where it was like 10 to 5 and I the coach yelling just to the blue line. Dump it in play defense short of trying to get the fifth graders the puck to score like the main guys were trying to snipe the net. I get that and I've seen hockey games where yeah, you don't have to go full 100 % when the games at a line, but I've also seen.

plenty of professional games in many sports where they started pulling back the reins way too fucking early and wound up losing it. I've seen him baseball with a 13 run lead. don't run up the score. Don't steal. Don't do all this shit. And the team came back and beat him like 14 to 13. So I don't buy into that. There's a time and place where it's hey, okay, you know, ease up a little bit. That was definitely not it. So I don't know where he was coming from. But to actually call for violence on a guy on a breakaway merely trying to do his job is asinine.

I'm not allowed to do my job bad and keep it. Don't know why he can.

Tony (31:02)
Dude's definitely an ass clown and he you know Bobby what you were I was gonna say the same thing before you said it actually I've never in the pros I get it in the kids I get in a little league I get it in all that but in the pros I don't think you should ever let up because you never know I've seen where like people get pissed off because you know Baseball like you were talking about baseball where they start running up the score But I've also seen it just like you said where they blow that lead, so I don't believe in ever letting up This he sounds like a ranger fan to me this guy

This is pretty much what I got from it. mean, it's all over the place. It blew up fast though. I saw it, know, just, yeah. I I think I even seen like, I think I saw Andy Strickland tweeting about it. I everybody's talking about it. So it's a thing.

Bobby (31:36)
Because it's moronic.

Chris (31:44)
Now, has he said anything today? Has he doubled down? Has he said, know what, I let my emotions get to me, I watched it again? Nothing, right? He's just been quiet. Now, Steve Valakett's not a stupid guy, but that was the most, not only was that the dumbest take, just straight up fucking dumb, that you you watch, like I said, when you watch that play, nobody thought anything of it except Steve Valakett.

Bobby (31:54)
Not that I heard, you know.

Tony (31:55)
Not that I heard, yeah.

Chris (32:12)
The thing that makes it such an irresponsible comment is exactly what you said, Bobby, to say, in my day, Colton Orr would have gotten over to Ben... Okay, so somebody needs to go and take care of Jack Hughes because he tried to score on a breakaway. Again, it's two-nothing. It's the first period. You are trying to win a hockey game. There's nothing else to it. And when Jack was asked about it, he just basically said, what does that mean? I don't know what that means.

Bobby (32:40)
Exactly.

Tony (32:41)
Yeah, dude, guys do it all the time, you know.

Chris (32:42)
Right. was just this guy for that take alone. Yeah, you're right. He should. I will never listen to this man again. I will never take anything he says seriously again. He's a fucking joke, just like the rest of that franchise is right now. It is just I was so shocked when I heard it. Like you are not some like we're idiots, right? We can say and we wouldn't say shit like that. And we're idiots. This guy is supposed to be a professional at what he does.

The dumbest thing I've ever... and every... Go ahead.

Bobby (33:13)
I'd love to actually ask Colton Orr if you saw that would you go jump the guy? I don't believe he would say yes. yeah, Jack deserves it there. Like are you kidding me?

Chris (33:17)
Yeah.

Yeah, try to try to embarrass him. Try to know he got him.

Tony (33:25)
I mean, how many guys did Mariola Mew embarrass back in the day, or these other guys, and nobody jumped on top of them, pounded their heads?

Bobby (33:29)
Yeah but how do you even try to embarrass a goalie like what what type of shots are the embarrassing one so a slap shot okay a rich shot from the slots okay but something from the from a bad angle is that embarrassing the goalie or those wraparound goals but it's on the stick with the cross style is that embarrassing goalie.

Tony (33:38)
Yeah.

Chris (33:41)
We live in a world, right? Well, that's what I was going to say. We live in a world now where the Michigan goals are all the rage, where guys are trying. These guys are so skilled. They're trying. Yeah, they're trying everything that they can to try and score. They're so much more skilled than these guys were when when Valakett was playing. So that's disrespectful. When Trevor Ziegres pulls a Michigan and throws it, that's disrespectful. No, that's a beautiful goal. And you know, you don't want to be quote unquote disrespected.

Tony (33:48)
It's a ridiculous statement.

Bobby (33:51)
between the legs? Whoa, get your head checked off.

Chris (34:11)
stop the fucking goal.

Bobby (34:13)
I like your point too in the beginning.

Tony (34:14)
I think he would like to take that comment back now. I think I'm sure if you asked him today if he would like to take it back, he may pull that back.

Bobby (34:17)
I don't know, he seems like an asshat, I doubt it.

Chris (34:19)
Nah, he seems like the type of dude that'll double down on that.

Bobby (34:22)
But I like Chris's comment that he started this whole conversation about shot, good save, should have ended there. We're not even talking about a goal that went in. He didn't even have anything on the shot, quite frankly. It was saved. This should have never come up.

Chris (34:31)
Right?

No, no, it just goes to show that everything is in disarray in New York, even their analysts and commentators. It's all in disarray. When you have, when, yeah, I mean that, that was just the most asinine thing that I've ever heard. This guy should definitely be, I don't know. I mean, I don't want to say a guy should be fired because he said something stupid. Of course not, but he should never be taken seriously again.

Bobby (34:57)
No, of course not.

I was so angry that I even had to listen to the Rangers broadcast because it is just terrible right That was NHL because you know on my package it you know I couldn't get it because it was the NHL game and they just decide which Announcers are gonna call it when they do it I was hoping it was gonna be the Devils wasn't so I had to listen that crap Which I didn't want to but now I'm glad because now I know like exactly What I don't need to hear anyway like this this guy that whole broadcast

Chris (35:06)
you had that all night?

Bobby (35:29)
I Sam Rosen, I said, just can't stand his voice anymore. Yeah, I just can't stand the Rangers, dude. I'm just angry.

Chris (35:35)
And Rose Rosen now he's getting at a point. I've watched quite a few Ranger games throughout this year and you know, he's in his, I think he's 80 now. I mean, he's, he doesn't call a game that well anymore. makes constant mistakes. He's mispronouncing guys names, getting numbers wrong, everything like that. Like, all right, dude, it's time to.

Bobby (35:54)
He's actually too complimentary of the devils too. Like back it up man, get tougher again, it sounds like a friendly game here.

Chris (35:56)
You

I think Sam Rosen is a very well respected play-by-play guy. Probably, I would say, the longest running play-by-play guy in the NHL now, right? mean, he's been around, seen it all. I can't stand his voice. I do not want to listen to him call a game anymore, but I'm sure going into this year, he really thought, is the year to retire because they're going to make a run. I'm going to get to call these games. And I know that after the first round, all the games go on to

Bobby (36:08)
I would think so.

Chris (36:30)
onto the national broadcast but their local guys still call them and they're still you know you can listen to it on the radio or whatever and they they still call the games i'm sure this guy wanted to be there you know for the second cup in 30 40 years whatever the hell it was it ain't gonna happen though ain't gonna happen this year

Bobby (36:32)
You're right.

No, you know on that too. I kind of wish they at least let the locals go another round You know what mean go at least two rounds I know why they do it because they're making these deals with like ABC and all that but you know some of these guys are They're really good at what they do. They don't deserve to like be shut out when the team's finally going somewhere, you know

Tony (36:51)
Nive.

Chris (37:08)
All I know is that if the devils win a Stanley Cup, I want Bill Spalding calling that. I want to hear Spalding call it. I don't want to hear, you know, John Butchagross or Steve Levy call my team winning a cup. They're terrible. I like Spalding. was, what was that?

Tony (37:24)
Hexdol and not Ron. Or Hexdol and not Ron.

Chris (37:28)
Leah. Yeah.

Bobby (37:28)
my god, yes. Well, we were spoiled a little bit, right? Because even if we didn't have Doc and then Doc went to the national, we would still get Doc. You know, we'd go from our games to him. Yeah.

Chris (37:35)
Right, we'd always get Doc. We'd always get Doc. I love Doc Emmerich. mean, he was just the best, but no. But I tell you, Bill Spalding is very good at what he does and so much better than Steve Cangelosi.

Tony (37:36)
Yeah. Yep.

Bobby (37:40)
Doc's the best. There's nothing better.

Yeah, and his energy is genuine and true and like we joked about like being this young kid right is all excited about everything but he is kind of like everything he's going through the first time for him. You know and the way the teams play now like of course that's ultra exciting what was his epic call the other day about was it was Patrick maybe was it or I forget what. The five on three the five on three penalty kill the other game like when they killed that off like the way he closed out that call was.

Chris (37:59)
Bye.

the kill. Yeah. Yep.

Bobby (38:19)
Perfectly you wouldn't know he's just a couple years in.

Chris (38:21)
Sheldon Keefe even said that he played that for the guys when they watched it back so they can hear the excitement in Spaulding's voice, the excitement in the building and everything. And it's funny because we asked on the show, if anybody was at that game against the Predators, please let us know what it was like. And we actually did get a nice message from Garrett, Garrett Redon, who's

written to us, Bunchy's a friend of the show, he wrote,

With each goal, the crowd got wilder and wilder. The hats went flying pretty much immediately after his third and the crowd was keyed up. Hats were flying for minutes. Even as they cleared them, new waves of hats kept hitting the ice. It was incredible. The third period was a wild one. Nashville clawed a goal while the Devils were sleeping on a line change. Then there were a ton of Nashville power plays.

Then as far as the crowd was concerned, the Devils scored a goal. looked like Wedgwood never actually had the puck in his glove and the Devils clawed the puck in from underneath him and I guess the refs had blown the whistle so the crowd was super pissed at that point. That was that codder play that should have, yeah, they blew the whistle too quick. Then the Timo penalty.

Bobby (40:35)
doesn't say that.

Tony (40:38)
Mine's still going too.

Okay, so what's up? Yeah, so mine's still rolling. And there goes Chris.

Bobby (40:45)
I know when he was talking about that, you know, we didn't talk about one thing about that Timo penalty. When he was doing that first cross-check, that was kind of a gentle one. The second one that he got called for, they hit him in face. Timo had his eyes closed. I think it was just kind of like a scrum. You know what I mean? He was just kind of like, he was covering his own eyes. Yeah, it was in the moment, but I think he meant to hit him in the face is what I mean.

Tony (40:57)
Yeah.

I think it was in the moment, man. don't, you he kind of said that, isn't that what he said to his statement was pretty much like this was in the moment thing that happened. And we are rejoined by Chris, I think. There you are. What's up, dude? You hear us now? Yes. Welcome back. Welcome back, Cotter. Jesus, we're talking about Cotter.

Bobby (41:08)
Yeah. Yeah.

Here he is.

Tony (41:25)
Twilight Zone.

Bobby (41:31)
Yeah, finish up.

Tony (41:32)
Yeah.

Bobby (41:58)
Terrific.

Awesome.

Yeah, he writes us sometimes live when he's at the games to have some quick chats with him. It really helps out the show. Good stuff. This is a fun team guys. This is this is really exceptional stuff we're seeing right here.

Tony (42:07)
last one.

You know, Keith has that circled.

Bobby (42:51)
Yeah, and rightfully so, but from an entertainment perspective, these next set of games look really fun. mean, you got the Kraken, which for me is always fun because they're still new. I kind of dig them too. So I like to see them play them. Then you got the Avalanche, then you got the Leafs, then you got the Kings. Like those are all, those all should be pretty good games. And then, you you got Chicago, which, you know, hopefully is a winnable game, but at least we get to see Vidar again. He's always fun. So yeah, what a week all at home.

It's every other day. That's a nice cadence for them. Yeah

sure.

Tony (44:08)
Go ahead, shoot.

Amen. you know, I've had a such a miserable football season, but I respect your Vikings dude. I've told it. We're not done till after this weekend. No, no, man. I always I told you

Bobby (44:20)
Take the raider hat off. Come on, dude.

Tony (44:27)
I you beginning of the year, I think the Vikings are damn good. I, you know, I've, you and you know that I've told you from week one, probably week two and week three, I was like, damn man. I was like, this, this team is good. So I don't get it. I don't, I don't see the disrespect so much. just don't see them getting the respect. So I don't even not so much the disrespect, but I don't see them getting the respect they should get. should say, I don't like, no one's like, the Vikings are like blah.

Bobby (44:50)
So as an outsider on this right I can tell you that I noticed them of course because of your allegiance and I've always liked them there's somewhere my pecking order of like five six something like that right but yeah just as a casual observer of football I looked up the other day I saw they were 10 and 2 and I realized I haven't heard dick about how good they're playing like nothing.

Tony (45:29)
That's good though. That's good, bro. That's good. That's how you wind up getting in there and winning, you know.

Bobby (45:34)
Yo maybe it's because like the Minnesota Wilds have just taken over the NHL and that's all they can focus on right now is one Minnesota team. I did not see that coming by the way. I think you were bullish on them having a pretty good year but I didn't see them sitting on top of the league man. No. 16 and 4? And 4 overtime losses. mean, Jesus.

Tony (45:51)
Yeah.

I'm excited to have my wife go to her first NFL game this Sunday. or lose, it's gonna be a good time. Yeah, we got tickets before the season and it's her first game. She watches the Raiders with me. She does always ask me like, why can't you pick a team that, know, because it's pretty bad usually, but she's excited. know, she's, it'll be her first NFL game. We'll just kill her. And it's a nice stadium too. Raymond James is nice.

Bobby (46:14)
Should be.

football's fun and football I gotta tell you like goes fast football's one of those events live that goes fast you know what mean like it's a way quicker game than when you're sitting at home for three hours watching on TV like you don't even realize it is quite frankly it's more entertaining live I think you just you get to see more of the big picture for a guy like me anyway that doesn't know how to break down plays and nickel defenses and all that kind of crap just to see it from up top way up top like way way to fuck up top you know it looks really good

Tony (46:44)
Well, five years ago, I actually traveled and followed the Raiders around. So I went to New Orleans. played with Jacksonville, Tampa. They went and they won all these games. They went for like crazy run car was like on fire. You know, it Del Rio was the coach and dude, it was a blast man because the Raiders and I know this about this game coming up too. On Sunday, the Raiders draw hard, even when they suck. Like there's still a lot of Raider fans that come out and it's like a big, it's a big thing. You know, it's like a, we went to those games.

I think it was New Orleans first, then we went to Jacksonville, whatever the order was, but there was a group of these fans and it was such a passionate fan base. Being a Raider fan is hard. It's a hard gig. I think we might have lost Chris again, but he made it.

Bobby (47:25)
Alright, well we lost Chris during a football talk, so that's gonna drive him nuts.

Tony (47:28)
And you're a MetFan, Bobby. So you had, you know, we all know disappointment. I know disappointing my Yankee fan. It's, you know, dude, I mean, it's, it's, it's been a rough, know, we know it a hundred percent, but in Chris's team's defense, they are damn good. I've watched them this year. you know, they, they could be, they're a team that I would actually, like I was telling Chris, I would be glad that people aren't blowing them up so much. Cause that's usually when a team snaps in there.

Bobby (47:31)
I know disappointment. Jesus.

Tony (47:56)
We got some audio issues, okay.

Bobby (47:56)
Chrissy broke his thingy. All right. All right, cool. We gotta go. for everything. Bye bye.

Tony (48:03)
Peace.