Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - The Montreal Canadiens Have TAKEN OVER This Series 🔥 w/TSN's Darren Dreger | BB Clips

Episode Date: May 16, 2026

Boomer and Rhett are joined by TSN’s Darren Dreger as they break down the Montreal Canadiens taking a 3-2 series lead over the Buffalo Sabres and putting themselves one win away from the Eastern Conference Final. The guys dive into why Montreal suddenly looks like the better team in the series, from their speed and confidence to the way they’ve taken control offensively. With the series now heading back to the Bell Centre for Game 6, the conversation turns to whether the Canadiens can finish the job on home ice—or if Buffalo has one more push left to force a Game 7 back at home.Video Link: https://youtu.be/0NGnAZEI6M0#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #montrealcanadiens #buffalosabres CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

we were just kind of talking about it that noodles was on on Wednesday and he says I wonder with this series Montreal's been good and buffalo's right there I just with Dobish I wonder if he's maybe due for a bit of a down game he's been so good regardless of being a rookie or whatever you just can't you're like a dude 950 975 save percentage and there it was it was the game where dobish had an off night and you had kind of said Marty Seleuille last night at 3-0 makes the decision not to make the decision to pull in doing nothing that's a conscious decision to not make. By doing nothing it feels like that might be one of the biggest part of this series if it goes the way it looks like it may well go.

Yeah, I mean look I'm reminded of a saying that often presents the general managers sometimes the best decisions are the ones that you don't make right? And I guess that would apply to this instance as well. But, you know, I appreciate what Marty Sennel, we had to say post game where he just said, you know, and he said it before. Goaltending is not my level of expertise here. I don't have a feel for it.

You know, you can have a gut feel for it. Like, if you look in front of you and you look down at your bench after the goal and you see guys are sagging, heads are hanging, and there's just almost a palpable momentum shift, Well, that's different. Coaches do that all the time. You pull the goal, he just had a spark. We saw the reaction from Jakobobus,

and the body language wasn't good. And then, you know, the isolation camera on San Luis, where he was looking at Trevor Lutowski. What a shot, right? What a great shot. Yeah. But I love again, San Luis, pulling the curtain back and just admitting, all right, yeah, I had a quick consult with Lutowski.

He buzzed up to the goalie coach. The goalie coach said, no, let's give him. another one. Let's give him a bit more time. Decision made, everybody moves on. And then furthermore, you guys probably heard the sound. Aside from the goaltending capabilities of this 24-year-old kid who, by the way, is playing elite-level goaltending, he's so young that he's allowing themselves to be honest. You know, he's not, he doesn't have a PR guy in his ear or, you know, a guy who's been around the league for 15 you're saying, you're talking too much.

You're giving them way too much information here. But he openly said, look, I got into the dressing room, and either somebody told him or he's self-corrected. He realized that his body language wasn't good. And he needed to step up and block out all of that. And he did in a huge way. I mean, they leave him in there, and he makes that save on Tage Thompson. And that's probably a game-turning sequence.

Because if Thompson's, and I heard you guys talk about Tompon, and likely being injured. It definitely has that aroma to it. Just the way, not that he isn't producing, you know, on a regular basis, just the way he's handling the puck and certain elements like that.

It does not look himself at all. He doesn't. He looks like a guy that's fighting at big time. He's looking past every time he gets it. For a guy that can shoot it like that, he's looking past first. Where am I moving it? It's,

yeah, we did see him try and shoot it once early in the game. And it's funny, because, you know, I'm watching with noodles and Frankie Corrado, and we all kind of acknowledged the same point. Geez, we haven't seen them try that in a while, right? Because your point is well made.

But Dolbisch makes a save there, and it was almost like, okay, whatever demons that I had that had crept into this game, game five, I'm putting them behind me. I'm good to go. The confidence meter is now peeking out in the red. So there was just, but then conversely, and you guys correct me if I'm wrong,

this is what I saw. then there was another isolation shot of the Buffalo bench. And you see Tage sitting beside Alex Tuck. And they're looking like they're staring into the headlights. Like, you know, we don't have an answer for what is going on here. And we know that this best of three is slipping away. And I don't think the building was as electric. Now, if Thompson scores on that play, the roof probably comes off.

And it's a ridiculous conversation to have. but now you're looking at game six and Buffalo is good on the road. But doesn't it feel to you guys that if Alex Tuck doesn't introduce himself offensively to this series, yeah, they're not going to win because I don't think Montreal is going to allow that to happen. So there's a lot of pressure on guys in Buffalo. Obviously, I'm pulling for my old squad, but to me it seems like when Montreal's been pushed, going back last series, this series, when they need to step up, when they need to accomplish something,

they're the team that doesn't, right? When they need to make something happen, typically they make it happen. Do they need the save? They get to save. It looks more like a team that's in the moments is making things happen. It doesn't look like that for the Sabres to me.

They're goaltending. I mean, we're talking about they're going to pull Dolbush. Ouka Puka gets yanked. They didn't look great and he should have been yanked. But now you've got, I know, they've gone back. forth all year and lion has played well but they've got more question marks in net they've got thompson montreal just looks like the team that is it's not destiny because i think you're

going to get s rolled by uh carolina but they look like a better team against against buffalo yeah and all the the the markings of that are there you know again there was a lot made in the montreal market about cole coffield you know initially in the series wasn't producing sure the power play It wasn't horrible. They had one for seven in one game. He had five on five goal, and that's a big goal. That's a big goal for him, but that's a big goal for the team. You know, the depth is there, and Josh Anderson and Jake Evans and Texier find a way.

And Demidoff, who has been pretty good in this series, I thought that was his most dominant dynamic game, game five. You know, he finds a way to score a big goal. Lane Hudson was all over the place in that game last night. But so that sounds like a laundry list of ingredients as to why Montreal is going to end this series tomorrow night. As electric as that building is going to be, that city, that downtown area is going to be chaotic. It is going to be fun. But this is a young Montreal Canadiens team. And that moment and the possibility of ending the series isn't going to be a small one.

So how are they going to manage that? We don't know. We know that in game four and game six against Tampa Bay, when they get in that series in game six, they didn't do it. They allowed Tampa Bay to force a game seven. You know, you get into that scenario. And now for me, the momentum does shift back to Buffalo.

Well, Buffalo's been better on the road than it. Yeah, they have. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, another name in there quietly last night is Slavkovsky at three helpers. Yeah. It's a nice luxury when you have that many contributors. a couple guys can maybe have an off night and somebody else picks up the slack.

I just want to go back and look because Tuck and we're saying as well, Tage and Tuck both last night minus two, Tuck zero points, like you say, introduce himself to the series. In round one against Tampa, Kutrov had six points in the seven games but had nothing in games five, six and seven. Are we paying enough attention to what the habs are doing defensively to take the key contributors out because they did it to, they did it to Kooch?

and they're doing it again here to the top two guys for the savers. And those two guys are what, minus eight and minus nine? Yeah. I think, right? I mean, those are ugly numbers. Let's just call it the way it is. But I think your point is well made in giving some praise to the Montreal defense. You know, it's funny.

I remember having a conversation in Toronto prior to the start of Leif's training camp with Craig Barubian. It was coming out of the rookie tournament. And actually it might have been out of an exhibition because it more or less would have been, in the regular season roster. And Craig Barraubay acknowledging that defensively as a team, he thought Montreal was going to be underrated going into the year. He wondered about the physicality on defense and whether they're smallish defense

and we're going to be able to box out and do some of the things you have to be able to do. They've, they've, they're so far beyond that now, right? But I think it's because of how they defend at the speed they defend and as they defend as a unit. not just as the defense, right? And when you've got the elite level of goaltending that they're getting, and the other thing, Buffalo has kind of come online.

I don't remember what the boomer, maybe you can check quick what the face-off percentages were last night. Sure. But in the first three games of the series, I mean, Montreal manhandled the Buffalo Sabres at Center Ice. And then in game four in Montreal, I think Buffalo kind of fought back in that regard. So, you know, the defensive players, the attention of that detail, I think, is absorbed.

And there's a commitment by everybody. And they're doing it at full speed. So that can be dangerous. That's how torts. Marty was there when they beat us in 0304, and that's how torts had all this top guys. They played D as a unit. It's interesting, and not to belabor that were talking about it even. You bring up a ruby and the scramble.

Boomer was talking about the scrambles in front of the net, how wild they've been. but it's kind of like you said, like their D is really good, but can they handle the, it's been a struggle. Now the puck has stayed out and they've battled their asses off, but it's weird how Chief could see that.

Yeah. Well, that makes sense because it gets wild around the net in Montreal. But I can guarantee you if you asked him now, and I asked a few other divisional rival coaches, what they're seeing in Montreal, they just think that it's a team that is built to win. I mean, they're not saying they're going to win the conference or get to the Stanley Cup final or win a Stanley Cup. But it was early in the series when I checked in with a few of these guys, divisional coaches.

And, you know, they basically amplified what I said, you know, in terms of how this group has grown together. And you can see the value in that. Sure, you sprinkle as a general manager with a piece here or there just to build on what you have. But start of the year, and you've got to get a little bit lucky, too. There's nobody at the start of the year that said the Montreal Canadiens were going to go potentially the Eastern Conference final with Jakob Dobish and Jacob Fowler. No chance. You know, I mean, to have Sam Montable on the scrap heap in Montreal is incredible. But if you want to look through the history books, you kind of need that missing ingredient, the intangibles, every once in a while to bolster what you've slow grown in a process of the rebuild.

and that's what Montreal has done. I can't recall, sorry. Oh, it's good. I can't recall. Did they make a move at the deadline? Well, the move they made was kind of pre-deadline when they brought Philippe Dano back. I was going to say last night it was 56% in the dot for the Habs.

Dono was 78%. And he's on the ice against tuck, especially at home on home ice, which is where they're headed. Tuck and Thompson, those guys are on, usually, Deno. Well, to further what you're just saying, they've grown together and they've come together. They didn't make any. Sometimes the big trade isn't the move that you need to do.

No, and I remember it was I guess it was last year when they brought in Kerry from Nashville. And that at the time was a, that's interesting. Harris going back the other way. I wonder why Nashville is doing this. But it was a sneaky good ad by Ken Hughes because he had a relatively inexperienced blue line. And it helped take some of the heat off. But, you know, Phil Dono went from an environment loss. where he felt like a misfit or misused.

Yeah, spare part almost too, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and maybe it's just home. He's comfortable in that world, that community, that environment. When Demadoff scored, I think it was Phil to know who was the first on that bench to give that kid a hug. And you can imagine with the conversations from some of those veteran players with the Von Demand had been to that point because he's a young inexperienced player who believes that it's his job to produce offense and he wasn't. And in the post game he talked about his confidence was fine.

There's never an issue with his confidence. But I just, I like seeing those interactions. They're probably nothing. But it does show signs of a team that's come together and work together and is willing to continue to go through the battle together. And look, you know, we've got enough time and respect for Buffalo. they could send this to a game seven, no problem. Oh, yeah. Like I said, I think they've played better on the road.

It's odd. We were kind of like that here in Calgary with an old 304. You'd have good games, but never ended up winning at home. And I wonder if, yeah, it's not pressure, maybe almost excitement. I think they'll play better on the road. Well, and look, I mean, you know, whether it's a Bell Center or before that, you know, the fabled Montreal Forum, I mean, Red, you played in that world and that, again, in that energy. The opposition can feed off that too, right?

Oh, for sure. You're in there. You know, you're in a mecca of hockey. Like, you know that. Like, your juices are flowing and your heart is pumping. And, you know, yeah, Lindy always talks about, and he has the games that they've won in in Montreal where we took, you know, you score early, you take the crowd out of it early. Yes and no.

I mean, you kind of do, but you. kind of don't. You know, because that building is always vibrating. Yeah, you want to take the crowd out of it. You better get three or four and have a four goal lead, not one. Yeah. And it's interesting to bring up because my kids were asking me about it the other day and I said, well, in Montreal, you're always excited to play.

Tuesday and November, Wednesday, like, it doesn't matter what night. It's Montreal. Like, it's awesome. Yeah, we've showed clips throughout the year on a Tuesday or Wednesday where the goal horn goes for 20 seconds and the grass leaves in their mind. you know, three, it was going to get to it. I don't know why it was kind of lost on me. You talk about Lane Hudson.

And we know he's a great defenseman. And he's, he is. He deserves to be when we start talking about, well, you've got the, what's Quinn Hughes going to sign for? Because he's elite and Zach Wrenski and Norris. And he's got 12 points and 12 games. And I guess his contract, he signed the eight year, 8.85.

Oh, my goodness. signing and I mean it's still lots of money in this and that what a value if he was to sign at the end of this year next yeah does he not I love the fact that he shows up in a suit yeah me too because because to me that it's it's like marty st louis it's like all the greats in Montreal yeah first class individuals do you know what I mean and I he's not that in oh and he's he's openly talked about it just doesn't feel right I don't you know When I get to the rink, it's all business. I'm here to do my job to the highest level I can do it. And it wouldn't be different than prepping your sticks or any of the routine that you would go through before puck drop.

If something is off, I mean, it does disrupt the psyche a little bit. So, yeah, I mean, good on them. I mean, it's a bit refreshing because we're used to watching, you know, William Nealander with his t-shirt and his gold chains and his hair. chest and you know sleeveless shirts and you know as i always said i said wearing these suits is stupid because you have it on for five in your vehicle or on the bus and then it doesn't make sense but then you know it's like eh i'm a hip-d well when you're winning stuff works whatever you're doing is why it's the best thing about it's like sit it's it's the class of the you know what i mean and this kid hudson seems to have a little bit of that he definitely does yeah

And hey, you know what? We can talk about his contract. I understood at the time why he accepted the deal that he... I mean, we don't know personally what family situations are or any of that. It's not our business. Somebody puts 70 million in front of you at that age. Like, I mean, come on. I know.

I mean, sure... Yeah, 70 million dollars. Yeah, it could have been a hundred, but it's... still 70. Yeah. Yeah. It was kind of like when Caprizov turned down that first offer from Bill Garan, whatever hundred and some, I was like, yeah, it takes some kind of balls. Yeah. It didn't literally happen, but does it go slide a contract across the table? Here's a hundred and some million. I'm good for now. Thanks. Yeah. Oh my. There's a 98% chance. Another one's coming back with more on it. But wow.