MB3

I know this will be met with a lot of "oh who the hell cares" but as someone who's been listening to Spittin Chiclets since episode 1, and listening to them rag on the Devils every year deservedly so for being a doormat... it's becoming a weekly segment on their show where Biz and Whit talk about how wrong they were and how dominant our team is. RA even compared us to last year's avalanche, saying "they won without tier-1 goaltending last year, who knows how far these Devils can go". They pump the tires of everyone, but spent a long segment talking about John Marino; they're astounded at how good this guy is. Biz also told a story about Lindy Ruff that's one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Biz was outside of a bar last year in Buffalo when Lindy came up to him and asked for a cigarette. Biz thought "oh this guy recognizes me from Spittin Chiclets!". Biz gives him a cigarette, Lindy takes a match from behind his ear, and while he's lighting it with his thumbnail he asks "hey, any chance you'd want to come on the podcast this offseason?" Lindy took a long drag of the cigarette and while he's blowing out the smoke he goes "what the fvck is a podcast?"

If the Devils win this game, I’m in. I’ll do the design pro bono. If the Devils lose this game I’m counting on you to purchase (1) chicken, name him “the purple bar” and massacre the thing on facebook live. huge stakes. pressure makes diamonds. let’s go.

if the Devils win tonight, the purple bar will become a GDT staple. if the Devils lose tonight, the purple bar will become the very thing we swear to destroy. a lot on the line for the purple bar tonight.

i woke up and chose violence

purple bar gang rise tf up

Since I always think it's fun to hear what other players think about the organization, here's (paraphrasing) what Matt Tkachuk said about the Devils on Spittin Chiclets last week: When asked "has any team really surprised you so far?" -- "The one team that hasn't really surprised me but has surprised everyone else is the Devils. Most players around the league could see that they're lightning fast and so skilled. They're going to be difficult to beat all season." Cool stuff.

Didn't they need the cap room in order to accommodate Tanger and Malkin's extensions? Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but Penguins fans were pretty thrilled about this move when it happened.

lmao i’m just joking i don’t know what that means either

Why would you bring that up man? She had no idea she’d be on national television when she said that thing. It could’ve happened to anyone.

I told my wife when we were dating I always wanted to join the mile club, and she said “unless my ass is in a private jet that’s gonna stay a fantasy”. fair play lol

i’m out of the loop…. who is that group of fans?

devils are -335 tonight. my cousin is a degenerate gambler and said it’s the first time since he’s been a serious gambler (in 2013) the Devils have been favored by that much. it appears that the bookies in vegas are buying in, too.

This is also true And I love you

Coyotes are red hot, too. I’ll be sad if the devils lose this game, but I won’t be furious.

you mean everything to me

Since this should probably turn into a “goalie injuries” thread, it appears Vanecek practiced today.

We agree that both 36.7 and 35.5 are closer to 40 than 30 though, right? I’d let you sleep with my wife.

ACKSHUALLY he was 36.7% up until his bad game in the dot against McDavid in Edmonton, so I would say he was closer to 40% until he briefly dipped below 35% before regaining his true form and being ever so slightly closer to 40%. also I love you

tbf if my first couple practices had PK Subban skating like a toddler on a learn-to-walk toy, Ty Smith slowly spinning in confused circles and Will Butcher repeatedly forgetting that he's a defenseman and not a men's-league right winger, I'd probably be like "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa I got family stuff haha see ya."

Since pedantry is built-in to our "will they won't they fvck eachother eventually" relationship, this sentence makes me smile.

Simple solution! Escort Boqvist to the nearest exit and push him forcefully though, and then let Holtz cook with Mercer and Haula.

Situationally -- like late in OT when you have a powerplay and every second counts -- faceoffs are important. I will never complain about Haula or McLeod being on the ice in those situations where you need a draw. Over the course of a game, a week of games, a month of games like we have so far, the positives of having Haula win 61% of the faceoffs does not outweigh the negatives of Haula whiffing on 4 grade-A chances per night. Just for fun: top line centers average ~10 faceoffs per game. On average, Haula will go 6-4 and Jack will go 4-6. Eric Haula, despite being fed like a fat kid at a birthday party, has 0 goals. Goose egg. That valuable ice time with our best passers and best playmakers shouldn't be given to an offensive black hole because over a 60 minute hockey game he'll win 2 more faceoffs.

Well yeah, but that’s situational like I talked about. The Devils have used McLeod like that before. “Go win the face off and then gtfo the ice”. Doesn’t matter if Haula wins 100% of his face offs if he can’t actually use his stone hands to put the puck in the net.

I want to know what the Devils are doing with Yegor Sharangovich. This guy has the best shot on the team but he’s given 7 minutes a game in a checking role. Mercer, too. I get it that the top two lines are sensational and the 4th line is borderline off to a legendary start, but I’d love to see Mercer and/or Sharangovich see Haula’s minutes.

Face-offs are hugely overrated as a whole in hockey, too. The random situational face offs — PP, PK, late-game, etc — are probably important. But there have been various studies that show that there isn’t a huge correlation to overall game FO% and productive hockey.