It’s not hard to be a Bruce Springsteen fan. Millions of people around the world do it every day effortlessly, relishing the power, the glory, the promise, the majesty, the mystery, and the ministry of rock & roll as only Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen can deliver it. It’s much harder to fake being a Bruce Springsteen fan. And yet that’s somehow the situation Josh Gottheimer, a Democratic politician from — you’ll never believe this — New Jersey, has found himself in.

Gottheimer has represented Jersey’s 5th congressional district in the House since 2017, and he’s currently trying to secure the Democratic nomination for governor ahead of next year’s election. Over the years, Gottheimer, as one would expect from a New Jersey politician, has made plenty of hay about his love of Springsteen. As NJ.com notes, his campaign website describes a youth spent “catching a Springsteen show every chance he could get”; and when Gottheimer announced his gubernatorial bid lat month, he came out to “Glory Days” (a song famously about, uh, locking your longing gaze on the past because you’re unable to stare down your bleak, empty future).

Now, we’re not necessarily here to cast doubt on Gottheimer’s Bruce standom. What we are here to do, however, is mock him for faking his Spotify Wrapped to make it look like his Top 5 most listened to songs this past year were all Springsteen tracks. 

Last week, Gottheimer shared a screengrab of his alleged top songs of 2024, which boasted five great (albeit pretty basic) Springsteen classics: “Thunder Road,” “Because the Night” (not even Patti Smith’s version), “Glory Days,” “Badlands,” and “The Rising.” On X, Gottheimer wrote, “No surprises here… Fun fact: My first ever concert was at Meadowlands to see The Boss!”

As it turns out, there was one surprise. It was spotted by Terrence McDonald, editor of the New Jersey Monitor, who noted in the publication’s newsletter that the fonts and spacing on Gottheimer’s supposed Wrapped screengrab were “all wrong.” A side-by-side comparison between Gottheimer’s Wrapped and a real Spotify Wrapped confirmed the discrepancies, most clearly in the shapes of several numbers, as well as the typeface of the letter “g” in “songs.” 

Furthermore, a quick look at Gottheimer’s Wrapped looks noticeably fuzzier and lo-res than a normal screengrab — as if some poor campaign intern spent 45 minutes hastily concocting it in Photoshop. (We’re, of course, just speculating.)

Gottheimer eventually owned up to the fabrication — though if you thought, there’s no way it could possibly get any lamer than a politician fudging their Spotify Wrapped to look more relatable, Gottheimer managed to outdo himself. In a statement shared with NJ.com, the representative basically said he had to do it because of his meddling kids. 

“This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didn’t share my account with my 12- and 15-year-old kids,” Gottheimer said. “While it’s Springsteen all day for me — don’t get me wrong, I still love listening to Taylor Swift!” 

Oh, brother. Even Taylor Swift is catching strays in this mess. 

Here are some observations from the game:

• Palat said he’s been focused less on his own stats and more on creating space and scoring opportunities for his linemates Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes. Palat has done a lot of the dirty work for those two, so it was nice to see him be the beneficiary on a pretty play from Bratt.

Bratt entered the zone and drew the attention of three Leafs players. No one picked up Palat above the opposite circle. Bratt fed him a perfect pass and Palat finished on the shot. That was his first goal in 11 games.

• Timo Meier pulled off one of the best defensive plays of the season for a forward against Toronto. The Devils were on a power play when the Leafs generated a 2-on-1 shorthanded try. The two Leafs? Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, two of the most dangerous offensive threats in the NHL. Meier, as the lone man back, stayed in between the two, then jumped all over Marner’s pass attempt to intercept, negating a even a shot.

• Nathan Bastian returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering a broken jaw on Nov. 1. He missed the last 16 games with the injury and returned to game action with a full-face shield.

Bastian certainly was running on adrenaline early. On his first shift he threw a big check on Chris Tanev into the boards. He then stole a puck in the neutral zone on a backcheck that created a 2-on-1 scoring chance. Bastian kept the puck and tried to go high but couldn’t beat Stolarz. The same physicality and another great scoring chance followed on his second shift.

“I really liked his first period. He was a big part of our energy,” Keefe said. “His first shift he flies in on the forecheck and gets a good crack in on the defenseman. That was good. I liked his game today. it was a good first game and not an easy one to step back into.”

• The Devils had about as good of an opening period as they could have asked for. They dominated zone time. They dominated play. The were suffocating in the defensive zone and bottled up the Maple Leafs’ high-powered star talent. The Devils outshot the Leafs, 15-1. So, what else could they have asked for? A goal. Despite the dominance, the game was 0-0 after 20 minutes.

“That was our best first period of the season, and it’s noteven close,” Keefe said.

The Maple Leafs wouldn’t get their second shot of the game until the 5:46 mark of the second period.