Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Ryan Pike (FULL INTERVIEW)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Intrepid reporter. And the blurry one, Ryan Pike. Hello, Pike. The lobby. Hey, boys. How are you doing? We're great.

Starting point is 00:00:09 How are we? It's been a hectic morning. I'm running around. Well, let me just wipe off my screen so I can be, I can at least pretend to be professional. Ah, we're good. It's all right. We understand.

Starting point is 00:00:22 You're out, you're out and about. So game day for the flames. It's New Jersey. Tell us about your day so far. I mean, just, you know, straight shot from Manhattan into Scenic Newark on New Jersey Transit. There's a few claims fans on the trip. You know, I know there's a lot of fans that like making a week of it. There's been, there's a few on my flight in.

Starting point is 00:00:46 I suspect there be a few of my flight out. And, you know, we saw a bunch of them in New York. I suspect I'll see a lot of them in New Jersey. We'll see probably a bunch of them on Long Island, too. So, yeah, and then just sort of getting the lay-to-land caught up a bit with our dear friends. And Greg was intrigued. You know, everyone knows him from Puck Daddy and the SPN. He appears on the sheet once a week with their pal Graf, Greg Merrick, or Jeff Merrick.

Starting point is 00:01:08 They're basically one person because they've worked together so much and so long. But that's a good morning. It's always nice to see some familiar faces in unfamiliar places for us. So what's that like to go hotel to New Jersey? Because when you live in Western Canada, you assume that every franchise is, you know, four to 600 kilometers apart, but not so over there. No, no, I mean, you know, it's, you know, Manhattan, you can, you know, take a train to Long Island in about 30-ish minutes. You can take a train the other direction to New Jersey in 30-ish minutes.

Starting point is 00:01:40 And, you know, the ranks are all relatively close to transit. So it's not too bad. Wolf and the starters net, you broke that news this morning from Skate. Any surprise there? It is Ladar coming off the win two nights ago. Well, I mean, historically, they do the goalie alternation on back-to-backs. And I think, especially, you know, if the first game is Wolf and the plan was probably, based on how the last road trip went, they had six games, each guy got three. I think each guy played pretty well.

Starting point is 00:02:12 So I think, you know, on paper, I would suspect we see Wolf this evening and then on Saturday afternoon, maybe we see Dan Bulldar again. That's sort of how they typically would lay it out. But you never know, I wouldn't rule out seeing Wolf again against the Islanders, depending on how this track goes. I mean, you know, Dan Bulldar was very good when he needed to be. He did not need to be great very often against the Rangers. And I think, you know, the big thing the flames have been saying is, you know, even on nights, you know, I asked Ryan Haska sort of about Wolf's ability to bounce back from, you know, bad outings. You know, he sort of, you know, I misspoke.

Starting point is 00:02:51 I did not mean to say the phrase bad, but bad by, Justin Wolf standards is still a pretty good out of grandmother else, but he's been really good at bouncing back from bad outings. And I think, you know, generally speaking, the flames have been, you know, on nights where their goalies don't have a great night. You can usually look at the guys in the head of them and go, yeah, what kind of chances they face?

Starting point is 00:03:13 So I think the flames feel like, you know, probably the skaters in front of them feel like they owe him one or how messy Toronto got. And I think, you know, if you put Wolf in a situation like Danville Dark got on, on Tuesday, that kind of an outing where he didn't need to be amazing much of the night. I think that's a much more sustainable way to win. So that's a long way of saying I'm not really all that surprised,

Starting point is 00:03:36 but it sort of maps out to how they typically have done it. Hard to know with this team. I guess it's not really the right way to put it. They generally give you a pretty good effort. Did not see the Toronto one coming where they just kind of laid an egg? And maybe that's Toronto and there's guys from there. I don't know, but then really responded against the Rangers, and maybe it's the Rangers that needed to look in the mirror.

Starting point is 00:04:01 How do you, I mean, how do you try and forecast what Flames team shows up tonight? Because we've seen two very different teams through two games on this trip. Yeah, and, you know, they saw two very different opponents on this trip. I mean, the Leafs were pretty good. And then they got their power play just took over the game in the second period. But the flames also took, you know, to be blunt, a few dumb penalties in the second. period and let the game get away from them and you know the flames probably could have scored more than they did against the leaps but they just sort of it's what's the old cliche sometimes you find

Starting point is 00:04:34 ways to lose and sometimes you find ways to win you know the flames you know your circuit was very good on tuesday but they they did a good job to you know keep peppering i mean there's probably you know a few dust and chances that could have gone in and they managed to get enough but you know i think the challenge to the flames is you know can they impose their will on a game because you know when the flames we use the frame the term flamesy i think uh jonathan uberto's phrase was that's the flames way finding ways to sort of keep gains tight checking low scoring and sort of turn them into a bit of a muck and a grine uh you know if you let the leaf skate they'll hurt you and the flames unfortunately gave the leaps enough space to skate and they hurt them uh the devils i think you're

Starting point is 00:05:21 pretty similar to the leaps in that way where if you don't sort of force them to play the game your way and play through you you're it might be in for a long night so i boom i wish i had to have to have you because you know it's been the kind of thing where you know that i think the nice thing for the flames is they have that identity they know how they need to play to be successful and to be blunt i think it's kind of it's kind of an onerous way to play a game because you have to sort of be on your game and on your your checks and you don't really have a margin for error. And some nights, if you make a mistake, the game can spiral on you. And for the Rangers, the flames didn't make too many mistakes outside of that turnover and the blown tire by Weger in the first period.

Starting point is 00:06:05 And when the few other mistakes they made, Lugar bailed them out, you know, I think the flames are hoping for another game somewhat similar to the Rangers game where they just play it nice and simple and keep it at five on five and then just sort of roll their guys because that's what they were able to do against the Rangers. They were very successful playing that style. Thoughts on the new look, top six. You got Morgan Frost with Huberto and Coronado. That's an interesting trio.

Starting point is 00:06:29 And then they've got the youngsters, Zarian Pospisal, back with Cadry, where we saw their baptism in the NHL last fall, two falls ago. Cadry and the kids, back together again. I think if we're being honest here, I think the flames put the six guys that have it going together. You know, Coronado has been more than more consistent. and offensive players all year. So is Jonathan Buberdo.

Starting point is 00:06:52 Morgan Frost has been a really nice, quiet player, but he's been doing a lot of good things. Like, he's not noticeable because he's always doing good things, you know, and that top line, I mean, there's a reason why they put them together in the first place. You know, you have Zari's speed, you have possible physicality, and you have Codry's ability to just move and shoot the puck.

Starting point is 00:07:13 I think that's a good combination, you guys. I think the big challenge of them is, you know, once you get past that top six, then you sort of hit some guys that don't really have, you know, really clear roles. The third line is sort of the leftovers, for lack of better term, all due respect to the players. But, you know, Sharon Govich ain't having the year that he would like to have had. I think that's no secret here. You know, Coleman is a really reliable player.

Starting point is 00:07:36 And I think, you know, he's sort of possibly being asked to be the defensive conscience on that line. You know, allowing sure, hopefully allowing Sharon Govich get a little bit more going offensively, Farabee's been rock solid, but, you know, he's been, his offense has been sporadic. So I think, you know, if you're the flames, you know, you're hoping that your bottom six guys can sort of saw off and even against the other team's best players. And you're hoping that that top six didn't keep producing because, I don't know, again, I feel like we're punching down on the Rangers of it. But I guess the Rangers, those top two lines did a lot of really good things. They're creative. They, you know, both lines, you know, I think combined, you know, Coronado and Hoover

Starting point is 00:08:13 had 10 shots. So just that trio alone, probably. outshot the Rangers. And if you have a line that outchurched your opponents, you're probably doing okay. Were you there for the devil's skate? I'm just curious, not that you're going to pick up the vibe of an entire franchise at a morning skate, but it's got a stink where you're one of the favorites coming into the season as far as betting is concerned. People expect you to be a strong team. And then you lose your top player and your top defenseman. You're without the goaltender that you traded for, the kingpin goalie for a stretch of time as well. The injury bug has been brutal for the

Starting point is 00:08:49 devils, but you still have to play games. And they're still very good in spite of it. They're going to make the playoffs. They're going to play probably Carolina in round number one, but it would have to stink to see Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton go down

Starting point is 00:09:04 within about a week of each other. Yeah, and I think they're also without Seagenthaler, who, you know, sort of a really, really good player. He keeps up a lot of minutes. I missed the Rangers Skate. I came in right after the Rangers escape from from Manhattan. It sounds like we'll get Markstrom tonight.

Starting point is 00:09:21 And there, you know, I think, I think the best company you can pay as devils is that, you know, we talk about sort of the standard of play and culture and all those things about the flames and Ryan Huska. I think Shelton Keyfitts had a really nice job in New Jersey this season, sort of laying that foundation for the baseline expectation of how the team needs to look. And so when they don't get that, they shuffle the deck. And, you know, they've lost, what, one out of the last five. They, you know, they've been playing a lot of close games like the flames.

Starting point is 00:09:46 they had one game that really got away from them. But the rest of the time, you know, if they can make, again, if they can make you play their game, if they get skating and they're able to use, even the guys they, you know, quote unquote, have left over on the blue line are still pretty good. They've done a good job sort of filling in with guys from Utica, filling in with guys from throughout their system.

Starting point is 00:10:05 And, you know, they're a team that does a lot of things that can frustrate. And, you know, very quietly, they've been one of the best special teams teams in the national hockey. Again, you know, we talked about how, you know, if you're the flames, you're just hoping like, oh, man, you can give it a five-on-five, you're pretty happy. If you're the devils, you're hoping you sort of turn every game into a special team battle because, you know, five-on-five, they're pretty decent. But once you get that advantage they have on special teams, you know, the penalty kill is really good. Their power play is very, very good. Even with the guys they have missing, I think they can still be dangerous with both those units.

Starting point is 00:10:37 And, you know, you basically are forced to sort of play a game that, you know, doesn't take too many physical risks. against them because they could hurt you in a lot of different ways. Have you had a chance? I guess we were talking earlier. People are going to want to know about what you've been eating, what you've been doing last night in Manhattan. Give us the Ryan Pike in NYC update. A lot of bagels so far.

Starting point is 00:11:01 We haven't had a lot of street meets, but a lot of bagels did shake track already. You know, it's a lot of running around. We did, I think we went to a Broadway show last night. We're doing another Broadway show on Friday. So it's basically a multivore. on games and Broadway shows. So, you know, you guys have better halves.

Starting point is 00:11:17 You know, you know, it's all about the balancing act, keeping all the stakeholders happy. What did you go see? We saw Moonlawn Rouge over on the west side. So, you're good. And I think we got Book of Mormon tomorrow. Oh, very funny. It's tremendous.

Starting point is 00:11:34 It's tremendous. Yeah. Is that not the South Park guys that wrote that one? It is. Yeah. Amazing. Not in Tray Parker, yeah. It's very funny.

Starting point is 00:11:41 You'll enjoy it. You'll enjoy it. You'll enjoy it. Thanks, Pike. Thanks, Pike. Hey, guys, thanks for watching. Be sure to check out more of our content right here on the Flames Nation YouTube page. We had a bunch great long-form interviews.

Starting point is 00:11:55 You can check out some videos we've done as well outside of the studio. And of course, if you want more writing or merchandise stuff, flamesnation.ca or nationgear.ca. Appreciate you watching.

Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Ryan Pike (FULL INTERVIEW)

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