32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Puck Face

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

The Oilers PP is deadly! Jeff and Elliotte discuss each series starting with Kings-Oilers (00:00), Islanders-Canes (9:30), Wild-Stars (14:10), Bolts-Leafs (28:00), Jets-Golden Knights (34:00), Kraken-Avs (36:40), Rangers-Devils (41:45) and Panthers-Bruins (46:00).They also get into the arena deal in Calgary (49:00), Ducks hire Matt McIlvane as their AHL coach (51:20), Marc Bergevin in Pittsburgh (53:30?) and an update on Philadelphia’s president search (54:40).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailOutro Music: Glamour Hammer - Stay With MeListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: CHED, ESPN, KFAN 100.3 FM, KJR FM, Sportsnet, TBS, WCMC and WFAN AM.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.

My video's off. Thankfully, Elliot. Welcome once again to 32 Thoughts, the CarCast, presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X. Elliot in his vehicle, and Amal and I in our comfy, warm homes. Elliot driving back from the studio where he just worked at Hockey Night in Canada. Most specifically, the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers Game 5. 6-3 is the final, and this was

a complete team effort by the Edmonton Oilers. I know you probably want to talk about Stuart Skinner. We've got a lot to get into with this one, but just your wide brush thoughts on what we saw with the Oilers. 6-3 is the final, and by the way, as I tweeted out, I am

convinced that Zach Hyman has crocodile skin. I know rhinoceros skin is really tough too, but there's no tougher skin around the world, anywhere on the globe, than crocodile skin. That's what Zach Hyman has. Eight goals in the regular season taken away on reviews. Look at this. Off the side, finds its way in the back of the net.

And he comes down the celebration line first which is a great sign it's almost a grazing blow but boy oh boy the blast from bouchard doesn't get all of it you can see it kind of gets underneath it a little bit goes up high i thought he had a granite face that was my answer when i saw the best part about that goal was him going and doing the bench high five while holding his face with the other hand holding his chin it was hilarious doing the train he's holding his chin it's incredible when i look at this jeff this series now edmonton's supporting players are starting to come out. Bukestad had a couple of goals. Hyman obviously had the big goal.

I think some of their depth players are starting to play a little bit better. Brett Kulak. Here's Fogle to McLeod. Backdoor tap-in. What a finish. Brett Kulak activating and burying it from the left circle. 3-1 Edmonton on Kulak activating and bearing it from the left circle. 3-1 Edmonton on Kulak's first goal in his postseason career. Obviously, McDavid wasn't going to stay, I don't know, shackled at even strength,

if you want to even use that phrase. You take a look at this, I think we are all kind of wondering you know does momentum carry over from game to game there's a lot of coaches who don't believe it does in the playoffs but there was something like la had that unbelievable loss in game four like really backbreaking defeat and you can't tell me it didn't affect them. The Oilers are surging. Kelly said postgame that there's no way the Kings will be that bad in game six. I completely agree with this. But early in the series, LA's depth was outplaying Edmonton's depth.

Now it's the other way around. And I don't think Copley did enough to take the net away from Corpus Allo, just like I didn't feel that Skinner had lost the job. But Skinner was obviously shaky in the first period of game number five, and he sorted himself out. He reestablished it as his net. Corpus Allo has to reestablish himself a little bit here too because I generally think he's been very good this series,

but he's had a few rough periods in a row. And I mentioned it during the game, Jeff, and you know him better than I do. Brent Clark got knocked out of the OHL playoffs. He's coming off an unbelievable season. 83 points in 43 games. I completely forgot that he played, I think, 15 games in the American Hockey League this year.

I'm wondering if we see him in game six. I'd be really curious. That's one of the things that I think we'll all be following in the next 24 hours. Where is Brant Clark? Where is Brant Clark headed as his very Colts lost to the North Bay Battalion in the OHL? Something like that. I think they need a jolt. Well,alion in the, in the OHL. Something like that.

I think they need a jolt. Well, he hasn't played in the NHL going back to November though. Yeah. I know he's played in the American league and I always played in juniors and the world juniors. And I know he's played in the OHL, but NHL is a different beast.

Um, we'll see. Stuart Skinner was outstanding. Uh, even though the first period I thought, you know, at the intermission, be XXA wondering if by the end we're going to see Copley and Campbell because it did have that vibe. We did see Copley, but we didn't see Campbell.

I think your point's the right one. Stuart Skinner really calmed himself down in this one. Can I just get a couple of thoughts from you about Zach Hyman? Sure. couple of thoughts from you from about Zach Hyman sure you know as this series goes on and we all know what happened in game four the undisciplined penalty against Mikey Anderson the team had played so disciplined was so good was staying away from anything questionable so they wouldn't get sat down in the penalty box he takes that goofy slash on Anderson he sits down and then scores the overtime winner and I thought today I mean sure there was the shot off the face and that's going to get all the headlines but this guy it's so obvious that this is what this player was built for these moments these games the checking is tighter everything is just more intense the thing

about hyman too though which i just love is he does it all and he has this like smirk on his face the whole time i just love it like he's he's enjoying you know we talk about players always say hey you know when i look back on my career i wish i would have enjoyed it more i would have allowed myself to enjoy it more even though it's an intense moment don't you really get the sense that a hyman is both intense and enjoying it at the same time like that smirk to me is outstanding and it's always on his face did your life flash before

you arrived on that first one? it happened too quick to be honest luckily Boosh didn't get all of it but if he got all of it he probably wouldn't have gone where it went so take that one take that trade off any day for a goal. You've had about, what, how many call back and then they're going in like this tonight?

Well, you got to get to that area, right? So you get to that spot, pucks hit you, you find rebounds, score dirty goals. And, you know, that's the way you score in playoffs. You know, it's, you know, you get a pretty goal here and there, but a lot of it is going to those tough areas and finding loose change, or I guess that it hitting you and, you know, going with the face and went in and good bounce for us. You know, the Oilers had the reputation for a while of being like a soft skill team.

I think Hyman and Kane, in particular, began the transformation a little bit away from that, right? You know, Hyman is a guy who can score who's really edgy, and Kane is obviously a guy who can score who's really edgy. And, you know, what you talked about there and Hyman scoring off his face, well, look at what Kane's playing through. I think he's got – Oh, he's hurt, man.

He's got at least two injuries. He's got, I think think a lower and an upper body injury i think there's something on his leg that's bothering him i think there's something up higher that's bothering him a little bit like he's playing through a ton of stuff and i just think that what those two players have done is they've helped change the reputation of the Oilers as a team that's a soft-skilled team to something that's much harder than that. How much of that? I am curious, too, because how much of what we're seeing now with various Edmonton Oilers players do we look at and say, everybody on this team saw what Leon Dreisaitl went through last year.

Yeah. Everybody on this team saw what Leon Dreisaitl went through last year. Yeah. And the majority of them saw him coming back to the bench, grimacing in pain, saying, I don't even think this guy could walk to the locker room if he wanted to. And he'd get out there on the ice and seemingly score at will. It's going to be really tough to complain about bumps and bruises and scrapes and soreness when you saw what Leon Dreisaitl did last year

against these Los Angeles Kings. Do you think that's a factor at all? Absolutely. I absolutely think it does. You know, Dreisaitl's amazing. Like, you look at the numbers with him. He's incredible. He's now points per game.

He's second all-time in the playoffs. He's passed Mario Lemieux, which is amazing feat among it in itself and and this year he set a record as far back that like the sports net stats people checked it for us as far back as you can find these things the first goal edmonton scored in game number five was their 15th of the playoffs and it was their number two power play unit it's the first one that they've scored without dry saddle on the ice the previous record was was 12 paul korea and shell samuelson that one caught us by surprise a little bit but think about how amazing that is that the first 14 goals you score as a team in the playoffs he's on the ice for them. It's a really incredible accomplishment.

I just think that you look at the Oilers where they were two or three years ago and you look at them now and you start with McDavid, you start with Dreisaitl, but you just view them as a whole. You view them very differently. There's been a transformation

there, both in how they play and how they're perceived truth okay so elsewhere around the uh the nhl on tuesday night uh the new york islanders live to play another day they go into hostile territory uh they beat the carolina hurricanes 3-2 is the final score zach hyman was not the only player to take a shot to the They go into hostile territory. They beat the Carolina Hurricanes. 3-2 is the final score. Zach Hyman was not the only player to take a shot to the face. Sebastian Ajo catches one. Brock Nelson says, thank you very much.

I'll tap this in. That was the 2-0 goal. Stassi scored to make it 2-1. Barzell. Barzell left wing over the Carolina line with Horvat. Matt Jukes. He scores! Barzee with a four-on-four goal!

And the Islanders have the two-goal cushion back. It's 3-1 New York. 3-1. And then Sebastian Aho himself scores a goal to make it 3-2. That game started out very much like a Carolina-New York Islanders game in that style of game that we're accustomed to, which is pretty low event and really tight checking. Much like a Carolina New York Islanders game. And that style of game that we're accustomed to. Which is pretty low event. And really tight checking.

And let's just wait for turnovers. Let's try to minimize our mistakes. But then about I don't know. Be halfway through the third period. Maybe a little before that. It started to open up. And it got really good. And some of the skill took over. And the guys played a little more free.

And a little more desperate as well. Nonetheless, the Islanders win 3-2. They're headed back to UBS. I don't want to say that Carolina's in trouble, but anytime you allow a team off the mat like Carolina just allowed the Islanders off the mat, I gotta wonder because the Islanders are now

going back home. I wouldn't say Carolina's in trouble, but there's water in the basement jeff i'm gonna go with you on this one i'm giving you water in the basement teddy atlas baby i just think beating carolina three times in a row is a really difficult challenge but it's a game you don't want to play right yeah and it's the kind of game that even if you win, like a team that is as beaten up as Carolina is, you know you're going to go in on Long Island. They're going to take something out of you.

So that's the other thing here. You lose a couple days of rest and relaxation. First of all, Ajo, like just incredible. They ruined his face, and he still came back and scored along the boards for Jarvis Jarvis will get to it behind the net Jarvis stops stepping right out Sebastian it's a 3-2 game Brock Nelson too like think about what Brock Nelson did on that goal. The shot gets taken, it hits him in the face, and you

still bat it out of the air. Great skill play. The big sweet in the slot shoots and that's deflected wide rebound. They score! Islanders make it 2-0. Brock Nelson knocks it home from the right of the crease

and it's a two-goal lead it's a pretty incredible play the thing that was interesting to me was horvat they took him off the first line for a while they demoted him at the end of the game he was back on the first line but lane lambert sending bull Horvat a message in your elimination game. Like that's a ballsy move by a head coach in that moment. There are a lot of coaches who might not do that, and he did. But, you know, again, like I just think that you're looking at two teams here. They don't give a lot of room. It's hard to find ice when these two teams play.

I'm not surprised that we're going to a sixth and maybe a seventh game here. This is exactly what I expected. But the one thing, again, I'll say this again. If you're the Hurricanes, these are those games you regret when you're trying to win a Stanley Cup because you're sitting there and you think we could have had a few extra days of rest and now we're going to go into another really hostile environment and they're going to be looking to take pieces out of us that's why I was mentioning yeah are the Carolina

Hurricanes in trouble because along the way you know this like along the way if you're going to do anything significant in the playoffs you kind of need to win one in either four or five games yeah that's generally the rule you need at least one so you can't just you just go six games seven games seven games seven games man that is too hard the way that hockey's played i just i just wonder if you know well again we'll we'll see you in uh in in the next game but i just wonder if this was, this turns out to be the one that got away that really cost the Carolina Hurricanes. Okay, Minnesota-Dallas. Yeah. So, you know where I'm going to go here. What did you think of the call on Foligno? I'm going to get there.

I think you have to start there. I think you have to start there. I'm getting there. Here are the goal scorers. Sagan, Robertson, Marchment, Delandria. 4-0 is the final. It did not go as planned tonight for Minnesota. As they drop game five, 4-0. Shutout for the first time in this series. The series stars have won back-to-back games, and the Wild will head home facing elimination

with a do-or-die game six Friday night in St. Paul. Jake Ottinger with the shadow, but you're right. The flashpoint moment. Marcus Foligno, five for kneeing, game misconduct on Radek Foksa. Well, here comes Foligno. Boy, I got that look,onesy he never moves i i don't think his right leg ever moves when he goes to make the hit now can't tell on that look does he lead with his knee that's a different story but i don't think he ever that the first replay we saw from behind

it looked like he never changed his path to take the hit on foxa thankfully foxa was okay but what that was it was a protein shake for conspiracy theorists okay who think that he was taken out of the game the five stood up and he got the game as conduct because he groused about the two calls against him previously okay that's the conspiracy theory okay do you believe that no i don't and you know it's interesting too because on the broadcast elliot uh they had brad meyer um former nhl referee on commenting about it and you know there's talk about you know did he lead with his knee did he move his knee? What was moving?

And the point that he was making was essentially the call that happened, which was you look at where contact was made and you make your call accordingly. And it was the knee and he got the five and he got the game misconduct. So I don't think that there is anything very specific about those officials saying, aha, we have Foligno. Now you want to embarrass us publicly. We're going to give you five in the game. See you later. there was anything very specific about those officials saying, aha, we have Foligno now. You want to embarrass us publicly?

We're going to give you five in the game. See you later. Get to the warm towels. I don't believe that conspiracy theory at all. All I'm saying is that was some red meat for them. Well, okay. Do you think it was a major? It didn't feel like a major because I don't think he was targeting his knee.

Did he hit the knee? Yeah. But to me in that scenario, that to me is a minor penalty. Elliot, that feels like a minor penalty to me. Yeah. Again, I'm not an official in the NHL. I think five in a game is a lot for that incident. I have some theories here.

Not tinfoil hat Alex Jones conspiracy theories like you're coming up with that's not mine i'm just saying what's out there no no it's yours you're you're using the old people say to cover up what's going on in that tinfoil head of yours okay people say that's code for i said it's like what someone says will this happen to a friend of mine no it happened to you we know it okay all right carry on her cure Poirot so this is what I think here okay the first thing I always look at and I remember was Healy Healy always said he thought a knee on knee was really dirty and I this has always been my rule if you can notice that the player who's doing the hitting, who's committing the violation, their legs really move.

He always said if the legs stay straight on the track, then he doesn't think it's necessarily dirty. He says if the legs move to go with the other player moving, then that's the one he doesn't like. He thinks that's dirty. Foligno's legs didn't move. So that was initially the first thing that I thought of is that it's not dirty. It's a minor, but I will say that some of the people I worked with tonight, they didn't agree with me, but that's fine. Like people can disagree disagree when i saw that call stay as a game misconduct

number one you have to remember here that's the one call when it goes to video review that the referees make the call for offside review and for goaltender interference the situation room makes the ultimate call for that one a five minute major down to either keeping it the same making it a two or eliminating the referees on the ice have the final say i have two thoughts here one to do with felino and one not the one to do with felino is i just think right now the officials think he's out to hurt people. Rightly or wrongly, that's the way they think. Those two penalties in Game 4, I didn't think those were penalties. I think he was right.

I think the officials right now, rightly or wrongly, in the playoffs, see Foligno as someone who causes damage. playoffs see felino as someone who causes damage and when he hits someone especially when he's going full speed he hurts people and that's why they called those two penalties the other night even though i didn't think they were penalties they're just like felino contact hurts people that's what we assume now rightly or wrongly that's where they are right now and that's something that the wild and felino have to deal with hang on you think that's a name bar penalty then yes yes i do okay and here's the second thing what happened monday night What happened Monday night? Kel McCarr. Jared McCann. Hits McCann. But now he can.

Jared McCann, shorthanded, stopped by Georgiev. And McCann throttled into the boards after the puck had left the ice. And McCann is shaken up. They drop it to a two. McCann's hurt. And McCarr gets suspended. Huge hit in the corner. Following that two. McCann's hurt, and McCarr gets suspended. Huge hit in the corner following that chance from McCann. He finds himself in alone, shorthanded.

It's a quick shot off, and as the puck goes into the netting and out of play, there's a huge collision in the corner from that man right there, McCarr. And still, McCann has not gotten to his feet. Those officials, they see that. Fox is hurt. He's out of the game. They don't know he's going to be able to come back. And they're saying, we saw this happen in Seattle last night.

This is not happening on our watch. He's out. We saw this happen in Seattle last night. This is not happening on our watch. He's out. I think if Foxa is not hurt in the moment, because he did come back, if he stays in the game, I don't think Foligno gets tossed. But because of what happened with McCann the night before,

I think Foligno gets tossed. That's interesting. I wanted to get to Kael McCarr here at a certain point in the podcast, but did you think that the Department of Players' safety embarrassed those officials by reducing it to two? I don't think like that. But hang on a sec, because I was shocked they dropped it down to two.

I was surprised, too. I was stunned. Like, there was a fan catching the puck as McCann was getting hit. That's really tough to justify that hit when there's a fan catching the puck as mccann was getting hit that's really tough to justify that hit when there's a fan catching the puck i don't look at it that way look like in my eyes what player safety is supposed to do is to think about everything overnight and then make a ruling the officials on the ice have to make that decision relatively quickly do i disagree with the call they made in that moment?

Yeah, I do. Do I think they should be embarrassed? No, I don't. They have to get the call made and move on, and player safety is supposed to provide the sober second thought. I know why people say that. I don't feel that way in this particular case. Okay.

I disagree with their call though in that one. Okay. So the Dallas stars now grab a three, two series lead. And this was another installment of a really good series. Like I know the score is, is for nothing in the first two goals. Like say again,

scores on that, you know, Foligno penalty and, you know, Jacob Middleton sits down and, and, and Robertson scores on that penalty. And there's two power play goals and boom, boom, we're off to the races.

And underscoring all of this, man, I don't know if it's too much of a stretch or too much expectation, but the more I watch Jake Ottinger and see how he's taken over the series and see how his development went from getting drafted to playing in the American League to coming up in the starring role. I hate to do this, but here I go. I think we're looking at the next Carey Price in the NHL. When I see Jake Ottinger, man, I see the next Carey Price here.

He is just fantastic. He's taking over the series. How many times has Minnesota not scored on a breakaway in this series? Oh, the previous game, first period was all breakaway. I ran out of fingers. Well, they had one early in this one. I'm not as good a coach as Peter DeBoer, but I'm going to give him some advice.

Tell your guys to stop giving out breakaways. You might just want to cut this out. Ottinger's got you. You're solid. Give him up. Cheat the other way. Ottinger's got you. You're solid. Give them up. Cheat the other way. Ottinger's got this. No problem.

Well, and now the other thing, you're probably sitting here and if you're Minnesota, is there any chance you're going back to Fleury in game six? I mean, probably not, but. Nah, this is Philip Gustafson. You know, I would think so,

but Ottinger's taking over the series. And the other thing too is Kaprizov has been blanketed. Yeah. I think he's got one point in the series. Like, he's the engine that makes them go. Like, all of a sudden, when I look at Carolina and the Islanders going to game six, we just talked about it. I don't see two teams with a lot of problems.

I see two teams that have some issues, but generally you kind of know where you are. I look at Minnesota right now and I see a team that, you know, there's a lot of questions there all of a sudden, like in the middle of a series, how can we get Caprizov going? Are we thinking about anything in goal? Now you've got this Folign felino question it's so much of your identity and you're looking here and you're saying how do we sort this out so this guy can

play his game without getting us into trouble that we we can't get out of like dallas had their big problems earlier they lost pavelski and you're okay, how are we going to fix this? They've calmed down, and they're going now. All of a sudden, if you're Dean Everson, you've got a lot of things you've got to deal with. The other thing I want to say about this series is one of my buddies today, he was sending me some tweets. He's like, check out this stuff. These fan bases, the Wild and the Stars, they absolutely despise each other. You know in the playoffs it's like this,

the fan bases go at each other. I saw some of those. He sent me some of the stuff going back and forth between the Stars fans and the Wild fans, and I was like, holy smokes. This is the nasty of the nasty. You know, those teams don't like each other. The fans are even worse.

Yeah, but do you not think, though, that part of that is rooted in, I mean, listen, there's a history, of course, like the North Stars went to Dallas. You know what, honestly, I never even thought of it. Like, I can't help but thinking if the Winnipeg Jets and the Arizona Coyotes ever got good at the same time and met in the playoffs, how nasty that would be.

That's good. You know, Jeff, I'll give you that one. That's good. I think this one is rooted in some history, too. But I think part of it as well is it's just been a flat-out nasty series. Yeah, really nasty. And it started out with the Joe Pavelski hit and has gone on since. But I think

this one is rooted in some history here. Hey, Jeff. Hey, Elliot. Hey, Amal. First off, I just want to say I love the show. Thanks for all you guys do for sport hockey. But this is for Jeff. Just listen to the latest podcast here, and you're going on your discussion about the referees. The best referees in the world are in the NHL, and know, the best referees in the world are in the NHL,

and they are the best referees in the world in the best league. And it's funny you say that because, you know, I play Canadian University of Hockey, U Sports, you know, the highest level of hockey university level in Canada, and our team, we would always complain about the referees all the time, and our coach who played in the NHL would always say, you guys don't have NHL reps because you aren't in the NHL. The best are in the NHL.

The best are there, and there is a reason why the best are not here. So you're going to get youth sports level officiating. So I just wanted to say that, Jeff. I love that little tangent that you went on. And, yeah, thanks, guys. Love the show. Have a good day. Bye.

Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, so a couple of things since we last did a podcast and this involves games from Monday night. And we'll start with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

They grab a 3-1 series lead, as everybody predicted after that first game. The Maple Leafs would rattle off three straight wins. It's a tall order when you say it. Can the Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning four times in a row? Tall order, but here we are. The Maple Leafs have a chance to do that.

Overtime it took. 5-4 is the final Kerfoot was the hero in this one on Thursday night. Boy, the faces tell it all, don't they? The shock at one bench as the Lightning, with the three-goal lead going into the third, can't hold on. And Kerfoot, who's been up and down offensively all year long, gets himself in good position, right in front of Vasilevsky, and then gets that tap back as Vasilevsky moves to his right.

Now there's a decision to make with Michael Bunting whose suspension is over. Austin Matthews was fantastic in that game for... The defenseman doesn't realize that Matthews is coming from behind. So he's up too high. Matthews gets lost behind. And then how about this timing in hand-eye? About two and a half feet in the air. Just a little tip-off of a hard shot to the net

and man this building's different maple leaf square erupts we got ourselves a one goal game his signature moment in a maple leaf uniform until now it was 60 goals or beating rick five's record yeah you know that was nice this was his biggest moment at Toronto Uniform. Did the Stamkos fight wake him up? Well, he played better after that. That's what I'm saying. Like, ever since then, he's been on fire. Whatever it was, just the deadpan nature, like, come on, let's go.

And I loved him in the postgame. The one thing about the media around the Maple Leafs that makes me kind of shake my head a little bit, and, you know, I'm around the Maple Leafs that makes me kind of shake my head a little bit. And, you know, I'm around the Maple Leafs too, is that, you know, after they won game three, there was like, oh, this is different. They don't win games like that in the past. And, you know, now they're up three to one. Everyone's like, oh, these Leafs are different.

And I love Matthews just coming out and saying, you know. Yeah. I mean, like I said, the fourth one's obviously the toughest one. And, you know, we know who we're up against and the group and, you know, what they've accomplished, especially in the last couple of years. So, like I said, I mean, this is one to enjoy for the night. And, you know, it's, you know, come tomorrow, the next day. I've got a couple of days here to kind of recharge and rest and get ready to refocus because we know they're going to be ready to come game five.

The fourth has been the hardest one to win. I remember when the Leafs led Boston three games to two that one year and had a chance to clinch in game six at home on the Sunday afternoon. Everyone was like, this is their year. They're different, and they lost. When they had that big comeback against Columbus in the bubble to force the deciding game, oh, that comeback, that's going to propel them, and they lost.

When they're up 3-1 to Montreal, I remember, finally the Maple Leafs are playing the way Brendan Shanahan wants them to play, and they lost. Last year, they're up, yes, it's to play and they lost you know last year they're up yes it's different and they lost like I think we have to stop proclaiming that Toronto is different until they do it that's why I loved Matthews just he didn't want any part of it he said we he basically said we have proven that the fourth one is the toughest to win now i'm looking at the contributions of the o'reillies and the shens and the acharis and and some of these players who've been brought

in to help the kids are making greater contributions than any previous veterans ever have. So I think it could be the time, but until you get to that number four, I think everybody here needs to be careful. You know, I have to say it. I'm stunned. They're up three to one. I think Samsonov has been excellent. I think a lot of their players have been really good. I think they've shown great resilience. Their depth is better than Tampa. They've their depth has taken advantage of Tampa's depth. And I think it's shocking to watch Vasilevsky. Derek Lalone said it. There's something there that teams see him like this whole thing, like Derek Lalone giving giving away secrets look like you don't think these other teams see the same data do you think that Toronto scored these goals because they

didn't know that that was something they should be trying and targeting come on like all those shots from the point all those floaters from the point were just accidents. Just a coincidence, Elliot. It's all just a coincidence. They had no idea. They have done what they have needed to do. And they've been really impressive. But you got to get that fourth one. The thing is, I've said this before. The best thing about the last decade was a lot of longtime fans got rewarded.

The Kings fans, the Blues fans, the Capitals fans, the Blackhawks fans. A lot of longtime hardcore fans got rewarded. I like to see hardcore fans get rewarded. I would like to see the Maple Leafs fans get rewarded, but don't count your chickens before they've hatched. It is, let's all say it together, it is the fool who bets against the Tampa Bay Lightning. But, man, they are right on the edge here.

And here's a final thing for you on this one, unless you have something else about Tampa. What do you do with Michael Bunting here? The suspension is up. There's no way Nize is coming out. He's been too good. Where's the spot? I'm putting him in. I think there is a spot to put him

on the fourth line. I still think he's one of your 12 best forwards, Jeff. I'm finding a spot for him. Vegas Golden Knights have the Winnipeg Jets on the brink of elimination. They win 4-2 as the final on Monday night. Mark Scheifele exits the game. So that adds to the injury woes for the Winnipeg Jets,

which includes Morrissey, which includes Ehlers, etc. Well, the Vegas Golden Knights are going to come in to this whiteout crowd and win both games here in Winnipeg. As Dubois throws this across to Connor. And the whiff of the puck right there by Schmidt off the wall. It is just maybe a chance to stop it. There was still a lot of time left. And Howden, who missed that wide open net from Stone last time,

wasn't going to miss that one. And he lays it into the net. Vegas with a stranglehold here, looking to eliminate the Winnipeg Jets. How do you read the Winnipeg situation right now? Well, I mean, look, it's just such a tall order, Jeff. I mean, injuries are part of the playoffs, and I don't think any less of Vegas that they've taken advantage of this. For a lot of this season, from January on, there were a lot

of questions about the Jets, and were they really together? Were they really a team? You know, what was going on there? I think this series has shown a lot of competitive fire. Morrissey tried to play, couldn't play. Shifley tried to play, couldn't play. And now he's going to try to play game five. You don't do that if you don't care. And their players that got to double overtime in the one game. And it was a one goal game in game four with the empty netter.

Like they are competing. They are giving everything they've got. You just can't be this good of Vegas team with what they've got. Like their only way to do it is if Hellebuck completely steals the series. The one thing I will say is Dubois has got to stay out of the penalty box. He's taken a couple of bad ones there. They need Dubois on the ice. I can't fault the Jets here.

They're giving it everything they've got. There's no passengers there. Wheeler has given them some offense when they need it. They just don't have enough. Like you look at the lineups, unless the goalie beats Vegas and you get opportunistic offense and they've gotten that there's really no other recipe right now. Seattle.

It took overtime and we're going to get to kale McCarran, Jeremy can here in a second. Yeah. It took overtime. Jordan Eberle to get to Cale McCarran and Jared McCann here in a second. It took overtime. Jordan Eberle, who has just a history of scoring humongous goals at key times. Here's another chapter in that storybook for Jordan Eberle. 3-2 is the final. The series is all tied up at twos. Your goal scorers for Seattle, Will Borgen, Jordan Eberle, and I can't think of who the other guy was that found the back of the net for Seattle. Will Borgen, Jordan Eberle, and I can't think of who the other guy

was that found the back of the net for Seattle and played just a shade over 10 minutes. I'm sure it'll come to me at some point in this conversation, Elliot. To the left side, Sprong walks in. Wrist shot! Scores! Ding dong!

Daniel Sprong! Off the post and in! And the Seattle Kraken As a matter of fact, Jeff, I think the goal was removed from him due to excessive social media celebration. That's right. Too many victory laps for Daniel Sprong. Anyway, that's good for him. Good for him and good for the Seattle Kraken too. They're not just here for a little bit of playing time. Hey, look at us.

We're in the playoffs. They're going for it. They've got the defending Stanley Cup champions into this series, which is now best two out of three. You know what I see there, Jeff, is I see a team that has now gone from we're going to give them everything they can handle to now we believe we can win the series.

On your radio show on Tuesday, and I've thought about it even more, I compared it to the Minnesota series against Colorado that was Patrick Waugh's last playoff series. And I think that even more now. That was a loaded Colorado team that had Hall of last playoff series. Yep. And I, and I think that even more now, like that was a loaded Colorado team that had hall of famers on it against, uh, you know,

Jacques Lemaire's expansion rejects that had a structure and knew how to play. And Andrew Burnett scored the overtime winner and knocked them out. You know, there's a lot of similarities there. I think, you know, Colorado has elite talent. Some guys were going to the Hall of Fame before it's all done.

And, you know, Seattle is the expansion not wanted, right? Who don't have the same elite talent, but they know how to play and are beginning to believe. And suddenly, too, you're looking at Colorado's lineup and,, you know, Makar's suspended for game five. Lannisgaard's not playing. Nechushkin's not playing, and I don't think we're going to see him anytime soon. Seattle's got to be looking at this like, you know what? We should be able to go into Colorado and win,

and then we're going to have two shots to win a game. If I'm Dave Haxtell and I'm the crack in leadership, I'm pushing that going into game five. Why can't we win here? As good as Colorado is, why can't we beat that roster? Good on Seattle, man. They're giving Colorado all they want in this series. And you touched on Kale McCart earlier.

Let me get your thoughts on this one. So it's a one game suspension. I don't think this was going to be a three gamer like Michael Bunting on Eric Cernak. I thought it might be too. You know, you did a, cause Bunting was actually two penalties and it was worse.

It was worse. And that's why I didn't think he was going to get three because that's, you know, check to the head and interference. This one isn't two infractions it's just one i thought it would be a two i thought two also when it was announced as one i got a text from someone who's been involved in the game for many decades who just wrote to me superstar discount one game what do you think of a one-gamer here? I know that we look at multipliers for the playoffs

and maybe regular season, that's two. But I don't know. How do you feel about one game for Kael McCarr? Also, someone said to me tonight they thought deeper in a series. Sometimes that factors into it also. People have compared it to Dale Hunter. Oh, no. I don't see this the same.

Dale Hunter went in to kill Pierre Turgeon and crushed him from behind. If you watch this, even though I disagree with it, McCart, he went to his shoulder. He waited. Just take out the lateness for a second, because that's why he was suspended, because it was late.

The hit itself was shoulder to shoulder. He wasn't going in there to take him out from behind. He waited until he was in a position where he, in theory, itself was shoulder to shoulder he wasn't going in there to take him out from behind he waited till he was in a position where he in theory could have hit mccann but the bottom line is it was late it was really late the puck wasn't there and it was late and uh i think macar is very fortunate he didn't get two games if it was, that's what he would have got. Okay. The New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers. The series is all tied up at twos.

Neither of these two teams have any idea how to win at home. This has been the road series for both. For the New Jersey Devils, it's been a combination of Akira Schmid as the new number one and the emergence and what a regular season it was and what a playoffs it's been for Jack Hughes. Your thoughts on this series so far? I mean, Gerard Galland is saying, like, look, game four,

the goaltender was good, the kid line was good, but after that, we need more. Your thoughts on this series? Well, I think it's going to be interesting to see how these guys respond to that.'ve been challenged openly challenged and and how how do you respond one of the things that uh a couple guys said to me was new jersey has really done a decent job slowing the transition game of the rangers, especially when Fox is not out there. That they've found ways to kind of make it harder for them to transition the puck.

The same guy said to me that the Rangers could probably solve a lot of their problems by actually just hitting the net. Like some of those guys are just missing the net ridiculously. But again, Schmidt has calmed them down. I mean, what a story that is. Hughes has played great. And the tough thing for me is, and you should probably talk more, it's a hard series for me to watch because it's on at the same time as Toronto.

And that's the game I have to be focused on. But he said the biggest difference to me is that so much of their offense comes from some transition in Fox and things like that. And they said the Devils have done a really nice job of disrupting that and causing problems with that. To me, there's two players that need to get going. And if they don't, this is going to go the way of the New Jersey Devils.

Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. Yeah. Those are the two that are, for the New York Rangers, deathly silent. Kreider's got his goals. I think Adam Fox has played. I think Igor Shcherkin's played really well, too, as Gerard Galand

said he liked the kid line but we talk about big dogs getting going if Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin aren't there for this team it's going to be over and it's going to be the New Jersey Devils because what you're seeing I think with New Jersey as these games go on because listen I'll be honest with you after game two in my head I'm thinking to myself,

okay, the Rangers are showing this fresh-faced, brand-new squeaky toy in the playoffs, first time in, what it's really like to play playoff hockey. Because those first two games, I mean, the rink was tilted. Rangers did whatever they wanted to the New Jersey Devils. And this was, I thought it was going to be the classic case of, okay, the Devils got there. They know what a regular season feels like, a full 82 games. And games 83 and 84, it went really poorly for them.

And this is going to be the lesson. This is going to be their playoff lesson. But instead, the Rangers have let them back in. And as this goes on, do you not get the sense that, and a lot of it is fueled by the new net minor, I get it, but the confidence is growing. And it's not just Jack Hughes, but it's the whole

Devils team. And if they don't snuff this out with guys like Panarin and Zibanejad, this series is going to be over. And it's going to be a shock for the New York Rangers. There's a lot on the line for the Rangers here. I mean, again, remember this year when it wasn't going well,

it was okay, is Mount Dolan going to erupt here? And there were some weeks there where we kind of wondered about, we were kind of wondering about, is he going to take this out on the coach? And the Rangers really righted the ship. They really did. And I thought Gallant. And the Rangers really righted the ship. They really did. And I thought Gallant really had the Rangers in a good place to start this series. And they looked excellent to start this series.

But it's just the pure unpredictability of the owner if the Rangers don't win this series. Okay, Elliot, before we get to some news from around the league on Tuesday night, the Boston Bruins will face off against the Florida Panthers. Do we see a handshake alley? We'll see. The Bruins are up 3-1.

And don't look now, but finally, Patrice Bergeron reenters the chat for the Boston Bruins. Their top dog, the guy they'll rename the Sulky Trophy after one year, is back in the Bruins' mix. Good. Feeling good. Yeah. Felt good on the ice today.

Do you feel like you can go tomorrow night? Yeah. I mean, today's a good day, and we'll see tomorrow, I feel. Hopefully, I'm not anticipating any setbacks. So, so far, so good. How frustrating. First of all, it's great to see him. I think we're all excited to know that Bergeron is going to be able to play

and make his playoff debut this year. Actually, I'll tell you this. I know who's not happy to see him, and that's the Panthers. Everybody there. The one guy I'm looking at in this series is Barkov. Everybody respects Barkov. I think they all realize what a good player he is. But I've had more than one player

say to me watching these playoffs that he's someone who needs more hate in this game. Kachok's really brought the hate to Florida this year, and boy, has he ever. Allmark wanted to fight him the other day, but they feel that Markov needs a bit more of that too. They feel that Barkov needs a bit more of that too. I just think if Florida goes down and Barkov goes down quietly, I think for the first time you're going to see him under more of a microscope. Like we need you to get to a greater level. Like it's probably similar to the way that the Toronto guys get talked about on some level

Jeff is that he's just needs to be in a situation where he elevates during the postseason and I don't think anyone feels him to be incapable he just hasn't done it yet and I see that coming his way I I hear those whispers coming louder and being talked about louder like we just want to see more Barkov in the postseason sometimes for some people it's hard to flip the switch but I can see the Panthers saying to him we just need a bigger change in what you do in the postseason. You don't have to put anyone into the hospital, but you've got to be a bit tougher to play against. One of the best two-way players in the league.

Brad, we've talked about this before. Where do you need to get to for the postseason? And he's got, as we record this podcast, two points in four games for the Florida Panthers. And he's your top guy. He had been Matthew Kachuk and Aaron Ekblad. We should throw him into the mix as well. These are the guys that you need this time of year.

News from around the NHL. Congratulations to Calgary Flames fans and the city of Calgary, and I suppose the NHL. Now it's not just the Ottawa Senators that are waiting for a new rink. It's not just the Arizona Coyotes who are waiting for a new rink, but also now the Calgary Flames will be waiting for their new rink. Calgary finally gets the rink done also now the calgary flames will be waiting for their new rink calgary finally gets the rink done elliot yeah i mean kelly lives in calgary he was very excited about it um you know so i would tip my hat to him look they need a new rink i don't think anybody's arguing about that

i know people have differing feelings on uh government funds being used for rinks there's no question the negotiations for this were probably a lot harder than they needed to be the last time they fell apart and there was clearly some bad feelings between the city and the team there's no question at the end the provincial government money was the final hurdle to getting this done i'm not interested in the politics of all this jeff you know my feelings about politicians yeah i know the bottom line is if you ask anybody with half a brain does calgary need a new rink absolutely they need a new rink so i'm happy they're getting it you know the other rank that they had in the previous negotiation it wasn't as big a footprint as this is so they end up getting a better facility than they would have gotten two years ago but it's clear that without

mackenzie wieger demanding a new rank at exit day this never would have happened so mackenzie wieger is the most powerful person in alberta take that daniel smith there's a new premier in town it's mackenzie wieger he gets things done ladies and gentlemen we haven't even yes the master negotiator uh negotiating from afar uh mackenzie wieger we'll do more on the the rank situation uh in Calgary, Ottawa, and we'll see what happens in Tempe on another podcast, but this is a good day for the Calgary Flames organization

and their fans. We talked about this on the radio show on Tuesday as well. A little bit more time with it right now, and we've mentioned his name. Well, you brought up his name a few weeks ago as a coach of interest or someone to pay attention to for the Anaheim Ducks. And that's Matt McIlvain, who takes over as the new head coach

of the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League, the minor league affiliate for the Anaheim Ducks. Pat Verbeek gets his guy. You know, Verbeek really likes him. But someone to me said that he called Matt Mc maclevain pat verbeek's 2020 john cooper they think that's basically what he said you know i spoke to one person who knows maclevain and he said that this is a guy who's a real passion for coaching when his career ended you know he started in the federal league and he was you know basically hustling

around chicago creating camps to find players this was a guy who started trying to find players and and making his break at the one of the lower levels in a way that you really had to scrap and claw to find people like setting up camps to find players yeah and right from there he said that this was someone who had the passion for it he said he's a like a 21st century kind of coach and one of the toughest things now is being demanding while figuring out how to make players want to play for you. And he just told me that this guy has the ability at it. It's not always so easy. And, you know, he was overseas,

and they're starting him in the American Hockey League. There's no question that Verbeek sees this guy one day, potentially, as his future NHL coach. Now, we all plan things you plan god laughs so he's got to get from the a to the n someday but he's had another step and he's getting closer but you know ultimately now maclevain's got to prove he can do the job. But this is someone who Verbeek clearly really likes. Marc Bergevin is a name we haven't heard much recently. Currently, he's a senior advisor to the general manager of the Los Angeles Kings. That is, of course, Rob Blake. What is happening with the former GM of the Montreal Canadiens, Elliot? Well, I'm just wondering if he's going to be one

of the guys on Pittsburgh's radar. Pittsburgh, I think, is going to look for somebody with experience and some new, fresher, younger people. You know, obviously, I think a few teams and Pittsburgh will be one of them. We'll wait and see how this all shakes out with Kyle Dubas in Toronto. But if it's not Dubas, I think they're going to look for other people with experienced. And I could see Bergevin being one of the guys potentially on their radar to be one of those people,

not saying it will be him, but I could see him being a person of interest in, in their search. Former Pittsburgh penguin himself. Does that matter in all of this you think elliot i you know i didn't even think about it to be perfectly honest jeff you've come up with a few things in this podcast that i haven't thought about i mean it can't hurt right like it yeah it can't hurt you know philly like i don't think philly's like deep deep deep into their search yet I think they're

talking to some people I think Philly's gonna try to winnow their group to a smaller group and then kind of go from there I still think they've got a big list a bigger list that they're considering you know we'll see where that one goes but you know this whole dubious thing if toronto closes this out it's going to be really fascinating to see where this all goes but like i said i i think some teams will wait to make sure i'm not sure that philly is going to be one of them i i could see philly maybe moving this along a little bit quicker all right we'll uh we'll watch for the teams in the Keystone State. Meanwhile, and thanks so much for listening to this podcast,

taking us out is a Swedish-based producer, songwriter, and vocalist who creates music that's infused with hints of jazz, disco, and pop from his home studio. Adam Jansson, stage name Glamour Hammer. Holy smokes, that's a great name. name, Glamour Hammer. Holy smokes, that's a great name. Elliot, Glamour Hammer. Come on. Glamour Hammer is always searching for inspiration while maintaining a tongue-in-cheek attitude.

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