32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Mark Stoned

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

Evening things up! Jeff and Elliotte go through each of the first-round series as things begin to ramp up — Jets-Golden Knights (1:00), Kraken-Avalanche (10:45), Bolts-Maple Leafs (15:00), Rangers-Devils (23:00), Kings-Oilers (31:35), Wild-Stars (34:40), Panthers-Bruins (41:40) & Islanders-Canes (46:30).Elliotte also talks about the Dallas Green (City and Colour) and Ryan O’Reilly feature (27:50) that was shot at Massey Hall. We play a snippet from the chat between the musician and the Maple Leafs. You can watch the full feature HERE.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailOutro Music: Slim & The Beast - SolutionListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: KJR FM, KKGK, KKSE-FM, KTCK-AM, WCMC, WEPN-FM and Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

we'll put it in here. That's my Wayne's World impersonation. That's pretty good. Elliot, I have a new addiction. I'm going to tell you about it shortly. Welcome to 32 Thoughts. The Car Cast, we're back on the road, presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X.

Elliot, how was your night? It was excellent. Again, a night of great hockey, phenomenal games, great competition. But I wanted to start with first a thank you to our audience from last podcast, sending me DMs about the world's most dangerous game, which was the short story that we were referencing. dangerous game yes which was the short story that we were referencing and what i didn't know is that there's a movie version with rutger hauer who's a great actor and ice t who's another phenomenal talent and when i have some time i'm going to find this film and i'm going to watch it

that for you is going to be middle of july so you're making a vow on april 21st to watch it. That for you is going to be middle of July. So you're making a vow on April 21st to watch something in the middle of July. Bravo, Elliot. That's what I'll squeeze it into my schedule. We're lucky, Jeff. As you know, we have a great audience and I got a lot of DMs about

this information. I love stuff like that. So thank you to everyone who sent along those notes. I got a couple of them, probably not as many as you did, but nonetheless, thank you for sending all those notes. We appreciate and enjoy all the interaction, whether it's DMs, whether it's tweets, whatever, thought line, all the stuff, we dig it. You want to hear my new addiction? Yes. I'm going to come clean in front of everybody listening right now. Okay. I am addicted, like addicted.

Like I go back and watch them over and over and over again to watching Mark Stone goal celebrations. Yes. You know, we talk about how much we love watching Alexander Ovechkin celebrate goals. No, Mark Stone's the guy. Mark Stone is capital T, the guy when it comes to goal celebrations. Mark Stone!

Second on the night! It looked like the Vegas Golden Knights just couldn't find their way and then all of a sudden they found it. Coming off the bench is Mark Stone and William Carlson amongst four Winnipeg Jets ends up with the puck. And he lays it right out in front.

It goes off the stick, I believe. And Mark Stone has a couple of goals here in the third period to cement this thing. It's funny you say that because when he did the goal celebration after the late one in the Vegas game, I turned to Ron and Kevin and Jennifer and I said, now we know he's back because the full-out celebration is on. It's just so beautifully reckless. It's just limbs

everywhere and this big angry, beautiful smile. I don't know even how to describe it. I just think the whole thing is gorgeous. I don't know. It's just perfect to me. I just can't stop watching Mark Stone goal celebrations. Captain Caveman. That's, you know, that he is.

It's just fantastic. I agree with you. I'll get to Stone a bit more in a second, but I have to address something first in this Vegas game. The bike thing, as everybody knows, that wasn't as I thought it was. And to be honest, I really didn't want to make a big deal

out of it. I wanted it to be like kind of just a laugh, really like a tongue in cheek, lighthearted kind of thing, which was what my intention was. And it obviously didn't go that way. And it's been debunked. There was, you know, one bike that didn't work, but there were others that did. But the thing about it that bothered me the most is that there was innocent shrapnel here and the thing about me jeff is that when i say something on the podcast or i write something or say it on tv if anything goes wrong the only person i want to be affected is me like that's why when people say to me well who told you that i say i'm never going to tell you. One of the reasons is if you're going to be mad at somebody, I want you to be mad at me.

And unfortunately, in this particular case, I caused someone else some grief. Now, I'm not going to mention who it was because I don't want to give them any more grief. But I wanted to apologize to that specific person. And they know who they are because I sent them a note. That was the thing that bothered me the most about this is that it created grief or aggravation for one particular individual. And if I could go back in time and change it, I would change it specifically for that reason. Now on to Mark Stone. specifically for that reason. Now on to Mark Stone. Okay. Jeff, the first period I'm watching the Golden Knights and they don't get an even strength shot, I think for 13 minutes and they're

doing nothing five on five. And I'm like, when are they going to get going here? And I saw an article, I think it was in the athletic. I'm not sure, but it was just about how people were saying that maybe Mark Stone shouldn't be playing. And I'm like, what? And the article I should say was, I can't believe people are thinking that. And I'm the same way. Like this is a seven game series. It's going to take him a while to get going. Jeff, right at the start of the second period, he had a couple of good chances. And I thought when he really started to feel himself again the entire golden knight offense started revving up uh it really did and that was i mean that was a fascinating game early in the game the whole story was connor halibut um the glove save on

chandler stevenson getting the eichel shot in the face and getting cut over the left eye and a beautiful bit of television as you know you, you see he takes off the mask and you see the close-up and you see the scratch over his left eye. And right away, they cut to Morgan Barron on the bench in the birdcage and you can see the scar running down the side of his face from the skate in the face from Laurent Bassois in game one. His head here, they're going to try to stop the bleeding so it doesn't roll into his eyes while he's out there playing.

That was a really nice bit of television. But as John Bartlett mentioned, that slap shot from Jack Eichel was 95 miles an hour and caught him right in the face. Man, oh man, they've got matching band-aids. First Baron and now Hellebuck. You don't win in the playoffs unless yeah yeah you know blood sweat and tears and there's a reason for that you give every little bit you have and

waving to the referee and good on the referee to notice that then you see right away he sees the blood and he'll let hella but get to the get to the bench but this is the Stanley Cup playoffs, and Barrett already showed us there's no cut deep enough or long enough. It's going to keep you out of the game if you can get back in. Hellebuck. That was a 95-mile-an-hour shot that Hellebuck just took right off the cage. Early, the story was, well, a gorgeous tip by Adam Lowry,

but early the story was Connor Hellebuck. But you're right. Once they got really rolling here, and it was when Chandler Stevenson, he had a fantastic game, put Vegas up 3-2, and then Mark Stone scored his pair at the end, you could really see, okay, Vegas is rolling.

And I'll tell you, you know what's weird hearing on Thursday night? What's that? Jack Eichel's first career playoff goal. Jack Eichel got the stick on it, and Vegas takes the lead. Beautiful tip of the Alex Petrangelo shot, but it just, I don't know, Elliot.

I mean, it's an obvious one. It's like, yeah, dummy, he's never played in the playoffs. I don't know. It just sounded weird to me. It looked like just a huge relief off his shoulders too. Totally did. You know, it was not a relief for any of those players. 137 hits.

Yeah. In that game. 73 by the Jets, 64 by Vegas. That game, Elliot, every shift was for keeps. There was another game that was equally as good, I thought, too, and we'll get to that in a second, but I loved this game. Fantastic game. It was a phenomenal game, and I think the thing that really made us notice

is one of the best hitters in the league is Braden McNabb, and he had Nino Niederreiter lined up, and it looked like McNabb got the worst of it. And when McNabb is taking the worst of it, you know how tough a game it is. And you know how tough Niederreiter is. I just would like to mention Hellebuck. There was a trainer who sent me a note during the game. And they said that that's one of the worst places to get cut.

Because the blood gets in your eyes. You really have to manage it. Any other player but a goalie is leaving the bench right in that second and he said to me you really should give credit to the winnipeg trainer because to be able to even get a cut like that tight enough or sealed enough that hellebuck can play and he went back for treatment during the tv timeouts he said that's trainer of the year stuff because any other player you're taking off the bench, but you can't do that with your number one goalie. So let me borrow something from my pro wrestling past that I can share here and actually use for this experience.

Blading? Close. Hardway. So a lot of the old timers didn't believe in blading, and that is using the razor blade to cut yourself to get blood. What they did was called hard way. And hard way meant you took a punch that busted you open. So you got it done the hard way.

And the way that the wrestlers would always do it is they would punch down right above the eye because the belief was, and there's someone that's going to correct me if I'm wrong here, but the belief is or the understanding is that that bone right above your eye, Elliot, is the sharpest bone in your body. And so if you hit it right, it will split your head open. So as you're talking about this, talking about this trainer that's sending you a note, I'm thinking to myself, well, that makes sense because that's how pro wrestlers would cut themselves open before the

era of razor blades, which the old timers thought was the easy way out. So apparently, to your point, that is the sharpest bone in the body. And that's why it's particularly dangerous for goaltenders to get hit there. I didn't know all this, Dr. Merrick. Thank you, thank you. I just play one on podcasts. I'm not an actual doctor. Yeah, that's apparently the sharpest bone in the body. So when you get a shot there, it pierces the skin quickly

and efficiently, according to some. So Connor Hellebuck got cut hard way. Hard way. And I'm looking forward to the whiteout in game three. Series all tied up at once. The other game, and I want to get to Toronto-Tampa here, but I want to park a little bit of time and talk about Seattle-Colorado. Holy smokes, was that game fast.

Oh, my goodness. I could not catch your breath. Seattle goes up quick. Schultz and Tanev. Tanev with a shorthanded goal. Brandon Tanev, shorthanded bandit. And the Kraken go up 2-0. 6.33 left in the first period.

It's turbo time with a man down. Yanni Gord with the pressure. And he's able to get the puck to the tops of the circles. The Avs were slow on the back check. Tanev comes into scoring area. Blows a kiss to someone in the crowd, which is a really nice touch. Second period, you know that Bednar, I don't know if he peeled paint

or if you even have to peel paint for a Stanley Cup champion team, but Lekkonen and Nishushkin score 48 seconds apart. Devon Taves with the game winner. Turning, firing, save made. Rebound is in for Taves. He scores! It's a taser from taser!

And Devontae has his 10th career playoff goal, and the Avalanche have their first lead of the series. 3-2 with 7.01 to go in the third. Again, you win face-offs in the offensive zone. Great things can happen. it's a set play it comes up to the point high for sammy g three two is the final the series is all tied up at once and this one had some great hitting too like this one was speed speed speed but evan rodriguez catching vince dunn crunching jared mccann hitting samuel gerrard crunching yeah but overwhelmingly elliot that

game was played at such a pace and such a tempo it was hard to catch your breath even just watching that thing and after grubauer stole game one georgiev makes yes what could have been really a series saving stop on jordan eberle yeah his shot is. JT Comfer trying to get it centrally. It's ball by him. Oh my goodness. Two on one. No, a three on one the other way. Matty Beneers holding. Now it's Oleksiak back for Beneers. Nearside. Save made by Georgiev.

Incredible. Absolutely incredible stuff. Holy Georgie. JT Comfer. Full credit to Seattle, giving Colorado everything they can handle the four on four we got a track meet right now we sure do there's one member of our crew a producer who's a big avalanche guy and it was two nothing he was basically texting me and saying we're done like we can't handle them we're done and Colorado found a way. I just mentioned looking forward to the whiteout in game three in Winnipeg.

You know what that's going to look like? What do you think it's going to look like in Seattle on Saturday? It's going to be berserk. They are going to be stepping into a hostile, hostile environment. And I just think that Seattle has made it very clear that this is a series it's not a fluke that they're going home one one and you on some level they're probably saying publicly like okay yeah we got a split we're in a good place i'm sure there's some remorse that they are not do nothing oh yeah because they had it the one thing about this night jeff is i can't believe

how many goals are being scored off face off plays there was the one in vegas there were a couple in toronto two in this one the lackadon one and the game winner by taves you know derrick lalonde was saying as a coach nothing bothers you more because everybody's supposed to have their assignment. And you think you've got it nailed down. But, man, Seattle has shown that this is a series. This is not going to be an easy step on Colorado's attempt at a coronation. You know, you mentioned Derek Lallone. I thought he was great again on the panel on Thursday night.

The stuff about face-off plays and face-off goals was really salient. And there was one point, and we'll use this to transition to Tampa, Toronto, where in the first intermission, the panel was talking about John Cooper. And I think, was it Ron that asked Derek? Or maybe it was you or was it Kevin that asked Derek, you know, what's John Cooper saying right now? And he said, the next goal has to be ours

or we need to score the next goal. At that point, it was three nothing Toronto. And Ian Cole got that goal to make it three to one, just to allow Tampa a little bit of room to breathe. Tampa and Toronto. You talk about that producer texting you saying it's done. The avalanche are sunk.

My team is finished. That's what Maple Leafs fans have had to endure for about 48 hours before this game. The team is done. Trade everybody. Fire everybody. It's a disaster. 7-2 is the final score. It was 3-0 after the first period. Mitch Marner scores Firescores! It's 47 seconds in! Samsonov gets the start. We should mention, no Victor Hedman, no Eric Cernak. Hayden Fleury, Zach Bogosian draw in on this one. Matthew Nyes draws in for Michael Bunting,

who's sitting down in the three-game suspension. Morgan Rielly with four assists in this one. John Tavares with the hat trick. Cycles it back towards Tavares with the hat trick. This was the exact opposite of the game on Tuesday. This was the blowout, but in Toronto's favor. And it really does remind you just with how much firepower these two teams have, how quickly they can blow out one another. I have to say, Jeff, I agree with everything you said in that preamble.

The one thing I really felt was, and i said at the top of the show no headman no cernak no excuses and it's not only that they won but they didn't squeeze it out like they won convincingly and i think if you want to be a champion that's what you have to do in that case you have to show no mercy and they did and you know Marner who was their best player all year he was Toronto's MVP all year he set the tone right away and I thought that was important for him everything they did wrong in game one Samsonov was calm and goal he did never lost his net yeah they won the battle in the front of the net, constantly pushed the

lightning away. They pounded a depleted team. I thought it was really interesting that Cooper said that we didn't lose this game because we didn't have Victor Hedman. Listen, this had nothing to do with Victor Hedman being out of the game we've won games in this

league without victor headman i could sit here and go through a hundred years of cliches one team wins game one the other team gets the next team gets blown out game two which one do you want in the end did we play hard enough to win? Probably not. Was there a team that was a little bit more urgent? Just flip the screen. Just look at last year's series. It's the exact same.

Just flip it. And now we're going back to Tampa. But it's not because one guy was out. That that would be just a poor poor excuse i think he's trying to send a message to his players and say look i understand we lost but we can't lose like that i don't care who's not playing that's the message i think he's trying to send nice looked really good i don't want to pile on bunting here. It's already bad enough for him. Like, he got his punishment, and it's a stiff punishment. And my theory on that, until proven otherwise to me, is that they got some information that Cernak's going to be out a little bit.

I'll wait to see if that proves to be right or wrong. I just think that if that's the way Nize is going to play, it's going to be awfully tough to take him out of the lineup so they're going to have some interesting decisions to make down the road assuming they keep winning i just thought top to bottom they delivered the answer that they had to deliver after game one like that was the only acceptable outcome for toronto and they got it you know i know that john cooper wanted to downplay the absence of headman and cernak i get it but there is no denying that in their own zone specifically this team looks so different without

headman there like i'm watching this and i'm watching the Maple Leafs at times do whatever they want in the offensive zone. And that's a really talented offensive team. Like that's, you got to give them their due, like offensively, they can really confuse you. I get it.

But the absence of Victor headman was really noticeable. There are a lot of talented players on that team. There there's hall of famers on that team. Yes. But you take Victor Hedman out of the equation, holy smokes, does Tampa look like a different squad? I think anyone who watched that game would come to the same realization. Question for you, Andre Vasilevsky. So the team's getting blown out. It's 6-1 heading into the second intermission.

And we wonder, is Andre Vasilevsky going to come out for the third? Now he's gone 82 straight games, playing every single minute. There's a streak on the line, but it's 6-1. There's a bigger picture to consider here. But Vasilevsky comes out nonetheless, and the the streak is alive 7-2 is the final did you think that there was any way vasilevsky was coming out i actually did and then you know lalone kind of talked about it which is that they've gone to vasilevsky before and he doesn't like to leave yeah the only question that i i think about it, and I kind of thought about it after, was do you ever say as an organization, you know, we're making this call for you? That's the one thing I'm thinking.

Like, do you ever get to a point where you say, Vasty, like, we get it. We know how you feel. Nobody's going to feel differently. We're just going to take you out. And that's kind of the only thing I wondered. But I guess that's the pull he has there i'll tell you this the other thing i thought was interesting was so there was this question and answer it was the last question of the media availability with cooper

john the challenge for you how does it change when toronto goes three centers deep and has o'reilly in the 3c spot how does that change so how many centers deep are we let me ask you that well i'm just saying last game they they give me give me points really and paul all day against anybody in the league cooper is all about wiring his guys and firing up his guys. A lot of coaches are like that. Oh, yeah. He's going right to those centers and said, can you believe that question?

That's what they think of you. And I want to say this. I'm not making fun of the reporter because I'm not perfect. I've asked questions that haven't turned out the way that I wanted them to. I want to make that very clear. I'm not making. I've asked questions that haven't turned out the way that I wanted them to. I want to make that very clear. I'm not making fun of the reporter. Cooper, the moment he heard that, he was like, that's my motivational tactic, as if I needed another one for game three.

And he got right up and left. He was basically saying, I'm ending the media conference here. I've got something I can use the next 48 hours. Tactical by John Cooper. Also, Elliot, a big fight in this one. Luke Shen and Tanner Jeannot. Shen didn't want to do it off the draw,

but when Jeannot kept going at him, what are you going to do? The two Sasky boys throwing down. Also, really, when you talk about doozies of fights, the Rangers-New Jersey game, Braden Schneider and Michael McLeod. Let's get to the Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. Aside from the scrap, which was a really solid tilt,

Eric Holla kicks off the scoring. New Jersey Devils go up 1-0, but that was it. Tarasenko, a pair by Kreider on the power play. Came back down, low tip by Kreider, and he scores! Chris Kreider, power play goal again and it's three to one stop me if you've heard that one before oh yeah Patrick Kane and then Capocacco it's a 5-1 final they take two at the Prudential Center Vanacek is stung again the Rangers are up to nothing headed to MSG and man this is always awkward when it happens

because a number of New Jersey Devils fans, by the end, this was a blowout, had already left. At the end of the game, all the Rangers fans who were in attendance, and there was a lot of blue at the Prudential Center on Thursday night, stood up to give the team a standing ovation on the road with seven hughes surrounded by rangers fires a shot that's gloved down by shesturkin who lifts it back at the center ice and the rangers make another statement at newark back to back five one wins they'll go to madison square garden on saturday with a two nothing series lead ouch it was like that game in philly

yes that pissed off all the hardcore flyer fans yeah listen last podcast we talked about chris crider and power play goals and chris crider in front of the net and make all of it yeah well elliot there it was on display comma again at the rock you know number one is devils have to stop taking penalties like that that power play is just eating them alive yeah i mean you're going to take some but you you really have to be disciplined there's a few things that come out of this number one you know they made a couple of changes i kind of wondered if miles wood would come out simply because he committed a penalty and now I wonder what they're going to do now he's committed two

but I did not see the Siegenthaler scratch coming that one really threw me for a loop I was surprised and so now I'm sitting here and I'm wondering what are they going to do with their lineup including does Akira Schmidt get a start here? I wondered about that too,

because that's two tough outings now. I don't want to lay the whole thing on him at all. It's not all his fault. I know what you're saying. It's not all his fault. I do understand the idea of changing momentum. Because does that not seem like a desperation move going to akira schmidt at this point well you know what i thought taking siegenthaler out like to me that threw me because you know first of all

i think siegenthaler's a really good player you know obviously the guy who's brought up by the capitals but siegenthaler to me is a true find for the Devils. He's a player that they targeted. They said, this is a player who's a little bit undervalued. We're going to bring him in. We're going to sign him to a good contract. He's going to become a big part of who we are. And that's why it surprised me so much. Because, look, the coach has got to do what the coach thinks is right.

And you deal with the consequences right or wrong or you get the praise right or wrong sometimes though like i just look at who gets a longer leash i don't know if politics is the right word but i always wonder if organizations are more loyal to players who are kind of like their picks or their finds. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Like Devils fans will tell me maybe you're wrong about this one.

You deserve whatever. Just because like he's a Devils find. And I'll say this. Like I assume they put in Brandon Smith because they got pushed around a bit the other night. For sure. And they wanted the edge. I'm just surprised by the whole secret. So I'm sitting here now and I'm wondering, okay, you're down 2-0.

You're going into the maelstrom of Madison Square. You know that place is going to be bonkers. I'm curious to know what the Devils now think is their best lineup. And, Jeff, I'm really glad the game isn't back-to-back because that's a really long road trip for you from Newark to downtown Manhattan. That was the infamous range MSG Buffalo game. The,

the New York Buffalo excursion that talked about why they, why they played Levi where they did. For those of you who didn't see our pregame show for Game 2 Toronto Tampa on Thursday night, and shame on you if you missed it, you missed a phenomenal piece. An interview between Dallas Green of City in Color and Toronto Maple Leafs center Ryan O'Reilly, who as you probably know is an outstanding musician. One interesting note about this is I asked O'Reilly after he taped the interview if he played the guitar with Dallas Green at all during this interview.

And he said he couldn't because he was still rehabbing from his finger injury, so he couldn't do it. rehabbing from his finger injury, so he couldn't do it. Anyway, they sat down together in Massey Hall, which is one of the world's great older music venues, and it was a phenomenal conversation. Here's a snippet. A link to it on Sportsnet's YouTube page is available in the show notes. I feel like we can get caught up,

I don't know if you feel this way, but I think we get caught up in what we're doing that we forget the way people will perceive it. Maybe before you met me, before you know me, you think, oh, this guy's music means something to me, or he's this, you know, you look up to guys who play in bands, but then you meet them and you're like, oh, it's just a person. Yeah. Right, but then you can them and you're like, oh, it's just a person. Yeah.

But then you can see me interacting with Jerry Cantrell, who's literally the guy who made me want to play guitar. Yeah, and for me, to be able to see that, that was kind of like, it was crazy. Like, just looking back on it. Do you remember this? It's funny. Do you remember that night?

Your curfew was like 9.30, and chains went on at 9, and you were like, I'm going to watch a bit. And I'm like, okay. And then it's like 9.25, and we're on the side of the watch a bit. And I'm like, okay. And then it's like 9.25 and you're beside, we're on the side of the stage watching them and I'm like, you gotta go. And you're like, maybe I could stay for it. I'm like, you gotta go.

Like, you gotta go. You're in the Stanley Cup playoffs, you know? But you did go and you won. Music for me is a huge impact on, not just hockey, but life in general. It's such a part of my life that I enjoy so much. And having the luxury to be able to learn it and play music too, and be around people and meet musicians too that I admire,

it's something that I just find so special. It was that 2019 when Rye was kind of in that run to the Cup where we just connected a little bit on a deeper human level. I remember that run. It was cool because I was out on the road. We were really like connecting a lot during that run. And it was cool. I got to come see.

You came to what game? Came to. Game two in Boston? I think it was game two. Or no, it was game one. I think game one and we lost it. You did lose. I remember you lost and I was like, it's my fault. Or no, it was game one. I think game one and we lost it. You did lose. I remember you lost and I was like, it's my fault.

I just swore. Pardon me. But yeah, I remember there was a couple of times where I was thinking, should I be talking to him like during the run? Like where I was like, am I ruining it? You know? But then you won, man. It was nuts.

You know, obviously, you know, I'm a big Dallas fan, but I'm very eclectic though. I kind of, you know, with I'm very eclectic though. With my mom, she would drive me to hockey, it was always R&B, it was Marvin Gaye, it was the Gap Band, Earth, Wind & Fire, all those. And I was kind of like, my first love into music was that. And then with my brother, he was the one who introduced me to Dallas' music. And Save Your Scissors was kind of the first song that we kind of got hooked on, and

kind of came from there. Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Let's rewind to Wednesday here, Elliot. So 4-2, Edmonton draws even with the Los Angeles Kings heading to Los Angeles. A really good first period for the Edmonton Oilers. Score a couple of goals.

Leon Dreisaitl scores again. Connor McDavid gets his couple of goals. Leon Dreisaitl scores again. Connor McDavid gets his first points on the Leon Dreisaitl 2-0 goal. McDavid sliding it to Bouchard. He gets it back. A pass over. And a goal for Dreisaitl! It's a power play marker in his third of the playoffs.

The Oilers up by two. And Connor McDavid introducing himself to this series and a solid game one was kept off the score sheet. What a pass he makes to the right side. And here's the first chance by McDavid

right off the field. The first period, again, all Edmonton, 11-3 are the shots. And then the Los Angeles Kings re-enter the chat. The no scorers. The returning Gabe Velarde scorers.

But then Clem Koston, who has been one of the great stories in Edmonton, one of the great trades of the season coming in from St. Louis. Dmitry Samarukov goes the other way. He scores what turns out to be the game winner to make it 3-2. Evander Kane scores the insurance goal. 4-2 is your final score. How do you look at this one? Edmonton has pulled back.

They made it a series. They got the, LA technically got the split, but Edmonton salvaged the two-game stand here in Edmonton. Or do you look at this and say, well, that's the second game in a row that Edmonton squandered a two-goal lead? Well, I think for the most part, Edmonton has been the better team.

They were the better team for two periods in game one, and they fell apart in the third and lost the game. I thought they were the better team for a lot of game two. Some really bad decisions in the second period, and it cost them. And L.A. came back to tie it, but to their credit, they recovered. I think L.A. has to write, and it's good that they're going home to Hollywood, because L.A. has to write a new script. They can't keep falling behind 2-0 to these people.

It's not a winning hockey strategy. I think Corpus Salos bailed them out in both games. I think he's been really good. Velarde's back. There's some rumbling. Fiala's not far away. But I think the offense needs to start sooner for these guys. I got to say, I think the Kings, they've played for a lot of really smart hockey.

I don't think they have the firepower to match Edmonton. I mean, who does? So they play structured, they play disciplined, and they hope that you make mistakes. And that was enough to get them to split in Alberta. They got to start scoring earlier. They can't be chasing the game all the time. I think the other thing too is the 11 and seven, I thought that really helped the Oilers. To me, that's what I'm going with if I'm them. I'm riding the horse that is McDavid. And even though it's going to be home

and LA will have better control of the matchups, I'm throwing McDavid out there right away going 11-7 and saying, this is the best player in the world. You're going to have to deal with him. Minnesota and Dallas. The Dallas Stars pull even. 7-3 is the final score.

No Joe Pavelski in this one. He is in concussion protocol on the Minnesota side of things. No Ryan Hartman. So Sam Steele finds himself between Kaprizov and Zuccarello, Matthew Boldy, between Johansson and Foligno. But the story coming out of this one, Elliot, outside of, you know, Ruppe Hintz, who gets the power play goal, the shorthanded goal,

and the even strength goal, that's the hat trick. And now Ben. Haskinen, right circle. Robertson, in front, Hintz, scores! The hat trick for Ruppe Hintz! The Stars fans let him fly. No one's done that in the playoffs since Tyler Johnson back in 2015. The big story is Marc-Andre Fleury and allowing seven goals.

He himself calling his performance embarrassing. I don't think he was the only culprit on Wednesday night, but we all know Marc-Andre Fleury is his own worst critic. Your thoughts on this? By the way, Miro Haskinen with four assists, and he's been in those two games, the losing-causing game one and the winning-causing game two. Haskinen's been fantastic. Yeah, Haskinen's been unbelievable. He was very high on my Norris ballot. And as you can see in our two podcasts, I'm having a lot of Norris regrets. Like I talked about Burns the other day. Yeah, I know.

You know, Haston was very high on the ballot. And, you know, actually, I feel justified where I put him, to put it that way. But I really thought a lot about Minnesota, okay? And when I was on your radio show earlier on Thursday, I talked about that Dodgers raise world series. And if people forget the call, the story that year was, it was Blake Snell and this is a Cy Young award winner. And the raise took them out when they took them out in the game that the Dodgers

clinched, because that's what they always did. And Snell, you could see he was mad, and he got traded after that. He's like, I want to be left in the pitch. That's not Tampa. That's not Tampa. No, exactly. And I bet how you felt about this Minnesota decision this year is probably the same way you felt about that Blake Snell Tampa decision in that World Series like are you a process person or are you emotional in the moment feeling person

and the other thing too I was thinking about today Jeff is that you remember last year Minnesota had the Fleury Talbot situation, and they went with Flurry, and they changed to Talbot at the end. It's not like they alternated. So, like, a part of me sitting here thinking that Bill Guerin and Dean Evason, they know what they went through last

year, they planned for to alternate this year, and they're like, we don't like what happened last year because, you know a we lost and b it cost us our relationship with talbot so we're going to try a different approach and on a purely human level what's one thing that craig simpson always talks about the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again i respect what the wild were thinking here now my question is it's still very much a series it's one one are you going to stand with this like if gosselson

comes out in game three and he's terrible you know what it's an easier decision but if he comes out and has another great night what are you doing here so? So I've, like you, I've thought a lot about Minnesota in the last couple of days. And I've had the same internal dialogue. And my thinking is this. You stick with your process until you're forced to change. Right now, you go back to Gustafson

for game three. Even if he wins, you go back to Marc-Andre Fleury because you got what you wanted out of Dallas. You got the split. So you're good. You're good.

So you can still stick to process at a certain point though, at a certain point, you may have to make an uncomfortable decision. I don't disagree with your answer. It's not as terrible as some of your other answers, but it's bad ones. I wonder if that time has arrived. Already, hey?

That game was so many players out of position for you. And Ryan Hartman out. I get it. I don't know. I know that Joel Eriksson was also out for game one and they won. I know that John Klingberg was out for game one and they still won. But you got Boldy playing in a different spot. You got Steele playing in a different spot.

I don't know. I'm really having a hard time. I know Fleury is not having a hard time. He's pinning the whole thing on himself. I'm having a hard time pinning the whole thing on Fleury here. No, I don't pin the whole thing on Fleury. I don't. Because I think it's bigger than that. And the Wild took pains not to do it. pinning the whole thing on flurry here no i i don't pin the whole thing on flurry i don't because i think it's bigger than that and the wild took pains not to do it i'm just saying that i think that garen and evison have been around long enough to know that you have more margin to get these

decisions wrong i think at the beginning of a series than at the end. That's all I'm saying. Gotcha. The other thing I wanted to say in that series, I got to wonder if Minnesota's thinking about a Boldy, Zuccarello, Kaprizov super line. Oh, wow. Or Boldy and Kaprizov playing more together. Listen, you know how I feel about Matthew Boldy. So like I'm all about that. So yeah, bring it on.

Although when I'm playing against a team like the Dallas Stars who can hurt you in a lot of ways, part of me just says, you know what, try to spread it out a little bit. I get the idea of loading up on the super line, but man, you're playing the Dallas Stars. How many different ways can they? Oh, and by the way, can we just park a tiny little bit of time? And it might be like,

I don't know, just a matter of coincidence, but I thought the Tyler Sagan tip in front for his goal, that was really nice. I mean, I don't think it was a deliberate tribute or anything, but it was a really nice moment.

You know, Joe Pavelski's out, and that's a Joe Pavelski goal. And there's Sagan taking his spot in front of the net, essentially scoring his type of goal. it's a big special team start for Dallas. They had a power play goal and double their lead. I just looked at that and couldn't help but thinking, that's a Joe Pavelski goal.

And that's a beautiful thing in that game. I just wanted to make sure that got there. Very nice, Jeff. Okay. Couple more things and we'll let everyone get on with their day. The Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 6-3 as everybody like you predicted. Yes. To split the series heading back to sunrise.

Brandon Montour, by the way, who had a really nice season, also had a really nice game. Two goals. Yeah. One of them from significant distance. Alex Lyon, Paul Maurice goes back with him. 34 save performance. There were numerous Boston Bruins turnovers.

We're not really used to seeing that. And Sam Bennett returned and Sam Bennett, Elliot was awesome. He was the best player on the ice. And you know, the one thing about Kelly Rudy and Kelly's seen Sam Bennett a lot in Calgary. He just said, he'll be great as long as he keeps his composure. And he played hard and he kept the line and he was a difference maker. I love the split screen we did of Alex Lyon and Max Kerman of the Arkells. Yeah, really good. They really do look like brothers. You know, the thing I really love that about Lyon,

like this is a guy who's playing with house money. The answer to the trivia question was who of who was going to lead the Florida Panthers into the playoffs this year was not Alex Lyon. And he walks in and he's staring at the camera and he's making faces at it in the room. After giving up one really rough goal in game one, he's attacking it the way that if I was in his shoes, I would want to attack it i'm really impressed by him yeah looming large right now and i'm not one to really panic two games in the bergeron situation is looming large so that yep that's one and number two, that second line, that Krejci-Bertuzzi-Postenok line,

it has had a really, really tough time at even strength with the Panthers. And it's one thing for Bergeron to be out, but if Bergeron's out and that line isn't giving you much, then you're really in trouble. So they need, especially if Bergeron's not playing, they're going to need that line to step up and give them more. You know, there was a story that came out about Bergeron. You know, there's a lot of criticism about Bergeron

for playing in that last game in Montreal. And, you know, there's a longtime friend of the OHL, I guess we'll call him, longtime fan and media member, and you know him a little bit, Dominic Tiano, who wrote on Twitter, he kind of pieced together how Bergeron, his father, has battled cancer. You know, Bergeron held up the sign, I fight for, and, you know, he wanted his family to see him play in Montreal potentially one last time you know I saw that tweet from Dominic and it reminded me of of something else Jeff when we did the Bergeron interview I asked him about retiring and you know I missed it at the time

but I watched again later I watched again about a week ago and you know when i asked him about it it's the one time he doesn't keep eye contact he kind of looks away and i was kind of kicking myself because i missed it at the time and i know that i'm not foolish to think that you know there's a lot ahead but i'm trying to enjoy the now we talked about that earlier you know i think right now it's especially more at this stage of my career is like i need to enjoy every moment now will you make those decisions at this stage of my career is like, I need to enjoy every moment. Now, will you make those decisions at the end of every season or will you ever go

into a year and say, this is my last season? It's a good question. I think, um, I think it's going to come to me when, you know, it's the last one.

That hasn't happened yet. I assume. No, I mean, I, I, uh, once i know i think i'm gonna kind of express that i think i've uh i owe that to everyone involved and um you know when it's

time to know i'll let everyone know but with that situation in montreal where he played and and seeing dominic's tweet i I was kind of reminded about that, that he wanted to play that game for a reason. And I think we all understand that. And I'm glad there's more of an understanding of why he played that game, because it's bigger than just Bergeron wanting to play game number 82.

And like I said, I'm glad we have more clarity on why he was in that game. Absolutely. The last series we should mention here, the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders. Now, this is the series, as I mentioned to you on radio on Thursday, this is the series where nobody's happy. Nope. As a matter of fact, everybody's grumpy.

Everyone's grouchy. Everybody's miserable. Carolina's up 2-0. They're all upset. The Islanders are down 2-0. Obviously, they're all upset. The fans are upset. Rod Brendamore is upset. Tara Vinen has a broken hand

courtesy of a Jean-Gabriel Pazot slash. There's a lot of griping about power plays, a lot of talk about Mayfield and the high stick that wasn't called on Jordan Martinuk that led to the Jesper Fast OT winner. Mayfield is grabbing his face. He got hit with a high stick.

Now it's Burns back in Carolina. Across for Jesper Fost. He scores! Game over! Jesper Fost wins it in overtime! How do you see this series right now and all the, as we say across the pond, controversy that has followed it?

I'm going to start calling it the Grumpy Smurf series because you kind of suggested that. Everybody's just so grouchy. Everybody around. Everyone's grumpy. Everybody. Both sides. Everyone involved. Grumpy. Kind of like it. The moment I heard what Brynden Moore

had to say. Do you have any update on Tavo? He's out. 425 marker. he broke his hand. With the puck, takes the shot. The guy absolutely Tomahawk chops him. Absolutely. And I know we had all the power plays, so you're not going to make it a five on three.

Go take a look at the video. And he's out for the series. So there you go. And they're going to complain about all the power plays, but the tomahawk chop and we just watched it he has to have surgery tomorrow there you go so i'm a little pissed i'll be honest with you you know first of all obviously he's very unhappy he's lost another player that's three forwards down now right so i can understand why he's unhappy for sure but you know that bre know that Brendan Moore is one of the guys, especially from our interview with him, he thinks a lot about officiating and his ideas

for it. And I guarantee to you, he's thinking okay, we're up 2-0, we just won a game where the power plays were 6-0 and there was a missed call right before we scored the winning goal okay rod brindamore has run long enough that i think it was a preemptive strike he knows now that the islanders and quite rightfully so i i would be the same way if the islanders the islanders are furious about the penalty disparity they're furious about the missed call right before the winner they really didn't say anything publicly

like the league says if you've got a problem don't bitch publicly come to us so lane lambert didn't really say much the islanders did what the league asked them, and they're saying, you kind of owe us one. And I think what Bryn Amor was was like, hold on a second here. We're also in a grieve party. And Lambert kind of answered that on Thursday, but that was Bryn Amor's way of getting in there and saying, hang on a sec here. We're a victim too. We didn't get away unscathed.

Yeah, we didn't get away unscathed. You know what's funny? And Kelly Rudy noticed this, and I'm not saying that anyone's lying here. I know I've learned over the years not to question injuries. But when Tara Vainan takes the slash from Peugeot, he doesn't really react. But then on the ensuing face-off, he gets a stick from Mayfield just off a battle off the draw, and he really reacts. So I don't know if he was already hurt and it just got worse

or what happened, but it was interesting. Kelly, who played for 19 years, noticing the reaction was more on the next play than that one. I thought about that too, Elliot, and you know the conclusion I've come to. And again, I'm about that too, Elliot. And you know, the, uh, the conclusion I've come to, and again, I'm, I'm just speculating as well. He probably was in a lot of pain after the Paggio slash, but all these guys have been

slashed a million times all throughout hockey. And sometimes it hurts instantly and then it just goes away. I'm wondering if Tara Viner thought, okay, this is like any other slash. Yeah, it kills, but I have a history of just being able to suck it up and eventually it's going to go away. And then when he got

hit by Mayfield again, he realized, uh-oh, this thing's not going away. That's a good one. The initial instinct is just gut it out. It's going to go away. This pain is temporary. I'm going to be able to go on and then realize after the Mayfield hit that, yeah, this thing's not going away. That's kind of how I saw it.

That's fair. You know, for the Islanders, Horvat's got to get going. He's got to get going. I mean, the other thing too is, boy, just some weird goals in this series. Like that one that went in off the Islanders, Sebastian Ajo, like just strange stuff. But Horvat's got to get going. And power plays on Friday night,

Islanders 36, Hurricanes negative seven. We shall see. We'll all be watching and counting power plays for the New York Islanders on Friday. Can I just say one last thing? I know there are a lot of criticisms about the officials this week, and that's fine. Everybody's riled up.

I liked what they did at the end of some of these games, like Dallas-Minnesota Game 2, Toronto-Tampa Game 2, Rangers-Devils Game 2. If you want to tone down the temperature, just give everybody misconducts and get them out. Get rid of them, yep. But I would like to see fewer ticky-tack

penalties, like the cross-check from the Maple Leafs that was called when it was a 3-2 game, the Matthew Nyes one in game two, Adam Fox roughing call for the Rangers against New Jersey in game two. That was bizarre. Like Stephen Walken once said to me, who runs the officials, like, you know, one of the things we always try to do is, you know, just make sure it's a call. Like, don't assume that because of body position or where a stick is that it's going to be a call.

Make sure it's a call. You know, that's the one thing. I just think there's been too many ticky-tack ones. I think in the playoffs, you got to let people battle a bit. I just don't too many ticky-tack ones. I think in the playoffs, you've got to let people battle a bit. I just don't like the ticky-tack ones. We'll end the discussion with a discussion that will continue, and that is

penalties and officials. We do this every year, Elliot. Everybody does this every year. This is part of playoff hockey, griping about the calls. Taking us out, and thanks to everyone who listened to the podcast today. Hope you're enjoying the hockey. We suspect you are because it's been excellent.

Taking us out is a three-piece group that blends disco, funk, and soul for a more cosmic, psychedelic sound. Slim and the Beast have reimagined their style to more of an indie pop act with Bee Gees-esque vocals and modern production. Catchy hooks and vocal harmonies is their calling card, and with their 2021 single, Solution, here's Slim and the Beast on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

Lately these days seem to blend I call you back when I get Back, back to myself, cause I feel like hell, I can't put my finger on it, yesterday might well have been, picked up in taunts to the wind, I can't escape it. What's my solution? Am I losing my mind? How many times have I said Nothing was wrong and I left To reach for the shelf, pour on for myself

They said it would help I can't escape it What's my solution? Am I losing?