Empty Netters Podcast - 40. Eichel Undertaker

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

Stanley Cup Final game 2 recap. The Knights absolutely smack the panthers to take a 2-0 series lead. The Cats may be without Gudas. Jack Eichel survives the biggest hit of the playoffs.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, we're coming at you live for game two recap Stanley Cup final here in Vegas at the beautiful MGM. And this podcast is brought to you by BetMGM, the absolute best way to gamble responsibly on live sporting events all across the globe. No matter what you're looking for, bet MGM has you covered. If you're betting on the Stanley Cup final, if you're betting on the NBA finals, if you're betting on the first half under of a high school softball game, it don't matter. Bet MGM is the place to do it. You're going to find it right there on that amazing app with the best interface going. Guys, if you were a sports fan, if you like rolling the dice, gambling. Bet MGM is the no-brainer.

Download the app right now. You're going to get some free bets when you sign up. Get after it. That was a drubbing. An abs. Would you call it red, a donkey slapping? I don't remember. I think that's what he called it.

It was an absolute donkey slap from Vegas tonight. Guys, we're going late. It's late right now. It's after midnight. After a great game. Great environment again on a Monday night here in Las Vegas. 7-2 shit-kicking by the Golden Knights. One of these games where you kind of thought, okay, Florida got slapped in the mouth.

Maddie Kachuk gets tossed from the game at the end there. We talked about it. I personally didn't really love that energy from the Panthers, but expected a response. I picked Vegas to win. You picked Florida to win. I picked Florida. Actually, that's a good place to start.

We've had a lovely day. We were welcomed back on the NHL megacast. Yep. And shout out Johnny and Alexa, unbelievable team. Shout out Matt over at NHL, just the best guys. It's just so much fun.

It's so good at their job. It makes it so easy for us. It's an easy, breezy time. We get to shoot the shit for 10 minutes, and it's tox and puck, and I love it. I love to being on with them. and they asked for a prediction and I had 3-1 cats.

I was on Vegas puckline and the over game one and I hit him. And tonight, I just thought the cats were 3-0 in game two so far this playoff. And Chuck hadn't been scoreless two games in a row and I know he did score. But just felt like I was like, oh, Maddie's going to get going Bob mostly. I was like Bob didn't play bad in game one, but he didn't play great. And I was like, I think Bob just locks in and he gives up one, maybe two. and Florida evens this thing up. Yeah, for me, I thought Florida was going to tighten up a little bit and respond,

but I still think that Vegas just had such a grasp on that first game and on that home ice. I was like, they're going to get this win. So I got that part right, but I never could have expected it would be that serious. And listen, man, the power play, you know, it was two for seven in game one. But again, some of those penalties at the end didn't really count, in my opinion. Two for four in the power play tonight for Vegas. Oh, for four for Florida. The power play was crucial early.

Yeah, early. Exactly right. Bad penalty by Florida. I don't think it was a bad call. I think it was just a tough penalty to take. Immediately Jonathan Marshall So makes you pay with Jack Eichl on the assist as well as Chandler Stevenson. Then you get the Martinez goal in the first period. You know, you're up two oh.

There are a couple good shots. That's the thing. I think it was 11 to 9 shots in the first period. Florida had their chances. Huge breakaway save by Aiden Hill. I mean, Aiden was locked in in that game, made a couple of monster, monster stops. And you just, you saw them go into that second period with a two-goal lead. And I don't know, man.

For me, it was, it was over in after the first period. What was the score after one? 2.0. Yeah. Well, it felt you were, we were talking as a pan. the fans at the rink and they're like we're fine we're fine and i don't know if you are fine like you're fine like you've got to get a few past hill and this will get lost but the and we'll talk about this in a second but right before the ikel hit hill made two insane insane that i haven't seen a single replay

for it because every replay was just the hit you know it's funny after his insane paddle save in game one twitter kept showing all of these clips of a i forget what the drill they call it but it's in warm ups there's about four nights players standing around the crease and they're all just passing the puck and shooting it and Hill is sprawling everywhere. It's a drill they do of him, his recovery work, getting back in the crease, making crazy saves. And people were saying that Hill loves the drill so much, and that his teammates are actually kind of like, we hate to drill because he saved so much of it.

And we're like, we've got to fucking finish warmups. Let us get out of here. And it's funny, we could get a clip, honestly, I'll probably get Brian on it. You can get a clip of that warm up and compare it to the sprawling saves he was doing right before that Ikel hit. The guy is just so good at getting back in position or at least getting part of his body back in the net to make some of these saves. And yeah, man, he was doing it all game. Kept him kept the score line unfair for Florida all game long. And God, he looks as New York. Florida outshot him in the second period, I think, and just nothing to show for it.

But that Chris goes into what you said, man. This Vegas team all playoffs long has done such a good job. We saw it in the Dallas game. The game three. Dallas, Vegas game where Vegas just you know whack the shit out of them like a misbehaving stepchild and

you see these games where Vegas gets up and then they coast and I don't mean coast in a bad way I mean coast in a they control the puck they don't gas themselves they don't empty the tank

where they don't need to they stay out of the nonsense and they finish these games and they totally did that tonight it was that second period they get out, Waa gets on the board, Houdon gets on the most beautiful goal ever. That play, we'll talk about that in a second.

By Mark Stone. That play by Mark Stone, he's in the neutral zone, breaks his stick, stays in the play, goes and gets a new twig, stays up with the rush, walks the blue line, gets the puck, slides the puck over to Houghton. Houdon has a Bobby Orr-esque,

cut across the net, tuck it in, gets tripped, goes flying. You're up for nothing at that point. We were looking at each other, and we were like, this game is fucking dude a forehand back in here we go

here we go how are you how you've been flying through the ice on Bob places going ballistic what a moment for the kid

yeah to go back to Mark because we'll just talk about it now dude he not only did he do

everything you just said but also he what did you say we were talking about I was oh we were doing

J runs this shit and you were like he is a captain. Yes, he sure is. That was the most fucking captain play I have seen in a long time because he did everything he just said, but also he crashed the blue line to block that shot and I forget if it was Monty or whoever he hit, but he finished his check. Like he literally comes through no stick, tries to block it and like, you know, either gets a piece of it or misses it or whatever and then just two hand shoves a defenseman

Yeah, down onto the ice. And then is all, which, which dude, so few people do. Everyone's going to curl and by him there, whatever, try to fucking put the block and then turn, puck watch, puck watch. No, dude. Finishes the job straight through Montor and then as soon as he gets up from that, he's spinning off already on the way to the bench for a new twig. Like he is fucking eight steps ahead of everyone on the ice doing every single inch of his job.

Every single inch of his job. That hit on Montor led to the turnover. It was just such a complete play. And the reason Monta wasn't back in the play is because he's getting up from being run over. And huge shoutouts to TNT. and the NHL for that that clip is circulating because that is one of those plays that just like sometimes doesn't obviously he has the primary assist on the play but sometimes the stuff beforehand

doesn't get the shine that it deserves. That was just such a gritty hard work play and seeing it directly directly translate to a goal with a primary assist was just so badass. It's fucking awesome. I want to talk about the physicality of this game. Okay. Florida had almost double the amount of hits that Vegas did. Yeah. Something that I was seeing in the first period, man, they came out in Florida was physical, as they always are. They're getting chippy after the whistle, as they always are. I said last episode, I did not think they're after the whistle shit was working for them. I think they are trying to get under Vegas's skin. But what it looks like, and these scorelines help this take, it looks like they're trying to get under Vegas's skin and Vegas is laughing at their little brother, that they're, you know, they're, you know, they're. They've got the shack head on the head while Florida is swinging and just missing their body. Yeah.

And it's working in the opposite. And to me, I saw a lot of physicality from Florida, a lot of overt finishing the checks that was actually getting them behind the play, leading to odd man rushes, leading to transitions that were not in their favor. And then you see it to the tune of four nothing after two. and you actually have a play in this game. Radco Gudis came into this game. Oh, dude. Banged up a little bit. Florida started 7D men tonight if people didn't notice that. And Ivan Barbershev bundled. Radco, Guz.

Bundled him and knocked him out of the game. And we do not root for injuries here. Goudis, the man at Media Day with us. So we're wishing him a quick, speedy recovery. But that was a huge statement hit. And it just, it wasn't. going Florida's way at all. There was something to me that felt like,

do you remember in the Rangers series when they, those first few games that they were winning, it was like, the shots were like 15 to 16 for the whole game. And it felt like the Rangers were trying to play this game. They were like, the devils are faster and more offensive than us. So let's not play a shootout against them because we will lose.

So let's play this super muddled down, neutral zone heavy game where no one shoots. and I remember saying to you, and they had won, so it's like, maybe they're right, but I remember thinking, like, I don't know if I'm, just play your game, dude. I don't know what you're doing here. And Florida, not that I think anyone's blueprint, I don't think Paul Maurice is like, hey, it was sick when we were getting 17 shots to the hurricane's 40, and we were sustaining eight minutes of constant pressure, and then we just score. I don't think that was his game plan, but I will say, they, I said this after game one, they are peppering, like, their game is looks so different against Vegas. They're finishing these games with 40 shots, high 30 shots, hitting like crazy. And I'm like, I don't know.

Florida feels like they're playing a different game to me. And again, I'm not saying don't shoot. It just, I almost think there's, they were better almost like it's a soccer team that is built to counter. They were better like sustaining pressure, jumping on the break, getting up on the play from the blue line, and being chippier. Not like, and they're not goons. I know the misconducts everywhere, but they feel like they're skewing more towards a goon game and more towards. are like we got to throw the kitchen sink and eight and he'll get team yeah and i'm like i don't know why you're doing this you did you were you were 11 and one doing something else and now you're

doing this yeah it's been an interesting shift in this and you know we talked a lot about when we had pete blackburn on we talked a lot about Vegas's depth and it's just it's weird to see these two games so far because florida seems so taken out of their game and it's didn't really happen until the third period, game one. You had a two-two game for a good chunk there in game one. Yeah. And third period, you seem to see the screws loosen a little bit. And then this game, it just felt like it from the very start.

Like, they took that penalty in the first period, and it almost felt like a collective lean forward in your seats in that arena. Everyone knew they were scoring. Vegas gave the fans what they wanted early. in this game much better than they did. It just felt like

they were scoring and they did and yeah man it's just this is the first time we've seen Florida

seemingly flailing and that's interesting to say because Boston had a sloppy game in game one but a win they won

but it was sloppy really sloppy in game two they lost and then in my opinion, pretty commanding wins in games three and four. Yeah, it felt like that. Certainly game four.

Yeah. And even those games, it didn't really look like Florida was flailing. It felt like they were like, ah, yeah, you got beat. You got beat by the greatest regular season team all the time. This game was just a mess, a mess from the start. And before we get into the third period when all the nonsense really went down, we got to talk about this, Ikel hit. Okay, yeah, sure. Well, just on your Florida point there before we go to Eichol,

we discussed this, but they had the luxury of not feeling like they were flailing down through one to Boston because they were the eight seat, in my opinion. Definitely. So they were like, dude, whatever. Like, to your point, you just said it, we're losing to the best regal season team of all time. Like, this is house money. We're in Vegas. This is house money we're playing with. You in the cup now. Yeah, you in the cup now.

You in the cup now. And it's like there's no more, like, you don't get, you don't get the better. Yeah, exactly. You don't get the, like, oh, it's such a funny story. It's fun story. Cinderella, who cares if they're down? It's like, dude, no, win. This is it.

Like, you beat one, two, and four in the east. You vanquished everyone good. You're good. Everyone thinks you're good. People, experts are picking you. You're not this massive Cinderella dog anymore. Yeah. The fucking line, we were looking with Vin.

The line was like, or I was looking with Armand, actually, at work. And he was like, they're an eight seed, right? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, I'm going to hammer that dog. And like, the line was nothing. It's even. And I was like, he's like, what the fuck? And I was like, they're good, dude.

Everyone thinks they're good now. So yeah, that's gone. And they, that might be tightening. They might be tightening a little bit. Yeah, it's funny, Chris. You get to the, you have this, you have this big dick energy. Yeah. Walking through the first three rounds because you're like, we're, dude, we're the second wild car.

You've got wild car dick energy. You've got wild dick energy. Wild dick energy. That's what it is. And you come in with that wild dick. It's like a fire hose. Yeah. It's fucking everything, dude.

You beat the Bruins. Yep. Then you go up against the Leafs. First time out of the first round in 20 years. You beat the shit out of them. As in easily, I agree. That thing's flailing. Things flailing.

Then you whack the hurricanes. Four straight times. Sweat them for the 50th time in their history. But yeah, now you're, Wild Dick is gone. It isn't, well, maybe it's, they still have it, but there's just like another wild dick, too. No, but I think it's to your point, it's like, you were, once you become the Eastern Conference champions, yeah, you're not a wild dick anymore. You're a tamed dick.

Yeah. You're what? Your boyfriend dick. Your boyfriend dick. You've been, you've been, because it's sustained. You've been given a trophy. Yep. Trophy dick.

What are those relationship rings called? Promise ring. You've been given a hardware. You're locked down now. You're locked down as the conference champion. So you can't be a wild dick anymore. Those were the days, though. Yeah.

So now here they are. And it's like, dude, you are one of the two best teams in the league. You're one of the two best teams in the playoffs. And everyone in that locker comes like this, we're here, dude, we're at the cup. We have to win. And the whole world at home is like, they show us your dick. Yeah, you ain't playing with house money. any. Show us your dick right now. And they

have been used to for the last three weeks pulling their pants down and showing a wild. Oh, it's out of control. Dick. And now it's got the clothes on it. It's like it was wearing the day before. Now they're seeing something. The world is seeing something that they aren't used to showing. Yeah, they're in a press suit. And they're tightening. Yeah.

That's something to think about. It's tough. So let's talk about the cycle. Yeah. End of the second period. Yep. As Chris said earlier, Aiden Hill had just made two. astounding saves. And the game felt very in control. It felt, not over, but I was like, Vegas gonna win, and Aiden Hill's never gonna get scored on again,

and we're good here. Puck squirts out to the top of the D-Zone to Jack Eichl, and he starts skating up straight through the middle. And you could see it from a mile away, dude. I know. Jack was like... Everyone could accept Jack. No, that's the thing, dude.

Watch the clip. He's looking right at it. But I felt that way about Timo, too. Like, everyone was like, that when Truba... Timo. When Tio, sorry, when Drewa Tilt, Druba drilled Timo Meyer. And in the replay, it looks like he's looking right at it. He must be looking around him or something, but it looks like he's looking right at.

Well, Jack clearly was because he dodged it. Last second for sure, saw him. I think Jack picked the puck up, looked up, but was already off his feet. He was like weirdly falling. And because you can see it. He's taking the strangest strides ever. His stick is in a weird position too. and Maddie Kachuk,

pissed off Maddie Kachuk, is just ripping through the zone and last second Jack sees it and just like toe picks his left skate kind of turtles and curls his shoulder and gets blown

to smithereens by Matthew Kachuk. Live, as Dan said, we don't root for injuries on this show. And all injuries are equal. I don't want anyone to get hurt but certainly not Jack. Certainly not Jack. And I gasped.

when we all did. I was like, I literally felt like I was his mother. No! It was that upset. It was terrifying. And it's, you know,

not just because it's Jack, it's just extra because it's Jack. Dude, it is a miracle that that boy did not slap his head against the A. His helmet popped off

like a cartoon. Yeah. His helmet came off. It was one of those things where here's Jack's helmet. Here it is. Matthew Kuchuk comes through

and makes contact with him. Jack's body moved this way in the helmet Yeah, right where it was And I mean Thank goodness As always, with any hit in any injury situation

He was not injured But he went right off the And he was like shaking red You were like Jesus He looks concussed and he did Because he was like doing weird shit With his head Okay

But it looks like He just He must have just got a stinger Like crazy or popped his shoulder out Or something But he immediately popped up Like a badass goes right to the bench, right down the tunnel, and we're like, good, no, God knows if he comes back.

And then boom, third period starts. He comes out, first shift, picks up the puck with one hand on the stick. The shoulder that just got sent into this next dimension. Yep. Fights off a defender, picks up the puck, slides a crisp one over to Marshallstow, boom, goal. Right back on the score sheet. That was an off the floor and on the board moment. Yeah, dude, me and Red went to the bathroom at the end of, or to start the third, and in the, they pump the audio in and we're leaving

the bathroom and it's like and I call back out there and I look at red and I was like I told you because I said to you guys I was like he'll be back this game and it was more wishful thinking than anything but I was like did you hear that and then we came around and we duck our heads through the curtain to watch because I just want to see his shift as he's peeling it off the wall center goal and I'm like

dude are you kidding me jack live I wasn't as sold on concussion as you guys only because usually obviously this was extreme one but usually it's more slave that like Jack wasn't doing concussion walk. Red was the one who thought. I didn't think concussion at all. He was doing a weird walk though.

That was one of the weirdest walks I've ever seen. I think it was mostly because he was dealing with what was he wasn't. He was like, what are you doing? I think what he was just doing was going, oh, fuck me. That's what was happening. So then I, my fear was, and you said this right away, was broken collarbone. Yeah. Because I was like, oh, that's like eight weeks and you're done.

There's nothing we can do about it, and it's fucked. Nez texted me, and he was like, dude, Jack got, didn't get the fusion in his spine, like Buffalo wanted, and he got this crazy surgery that's like this fucking metal disc in his fucking neck. And he was like, dude, that is scary, because like, maybe that popped fucking loose. And someone look for a loose washer on the ice because his metal disc might be floating around. I was like, oh, my God. And then you or some one of us said Stinger and my hope, and then I said my hope was that it was his shoulder had popped out.

And I was like, oh, he's just like, fuck, because that hurts like a motherfucker. And they just went to the locker room and they popped that shit back in and you come right back out. I don't know if he'll ever say to the media. I'll say I'll tell people and we'll probably find out one way. I bet Jack has an off day tomorrow. Yeah. But if it was honestly, if it was shoulder dislocated or Stinger, he's like completely fine. It just sucks a lot in the moment.

Oh, it hurts like hell. There's a chance. It's worse. But I think just because of the fact that he came back out there, we dodged conk or. collarbone. I think because I could just, I don't think you can play with broken collarbone and I think concussion

there's got to be some kind of testing protocol where they're like, hey dude. But yeah, Dan, it felt like a miracle that the turn, he caught a little, a little face still because he was like falling forward so hard. But in the, and you obviously it's a little whiplash.

Cachuck? Yeah, like a Cachuck shoulder caught him in the tiny bit just because he was like literally sticking his head out. But the turn kind of saved him because you're right. He mostly took the brunt of it on his side, or maybe it was this side, whatever,

and then in the spin landed on his side without snapping his head back on the eye. Like, somehow that was like... It was really impressive. I think you're okay. At the end of the day, when you look at it, like, someone, someone's, or we're talking to Johnny,

and he was like, he shouldn't have bailed out of the hit. Yeah. He should have just taken it. And I disagree because clearly the turn allowed him to, like, roll. Yeah. And hit the ice and not hit his head. And I know,

We are not saying that, but anyone that is on Kachuk at all for not clean hit. That was a very clean hit. And in fact, I think he let up a little bit. Like, I think he, I mean, he did he popped him. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he babied him. But he could have killed him. I agree.

Completely. I thought it was such a fantastically clean hit. And I agree. I'm not sure that he pulled up. But to me, what that looked like was a guy who saw someone he could bury and buried him but didn't go, I'm going to kill you. Yeah, right. And I do think Sam Bennett was like, I'm going to kill Jacob Stathen.

And I'm not, that's not a criticism. I just think it's, if anything, it speaks to Maddie Kachuk. I think he was just like, I'm going to make a good clean hockey play here. And by the way, I think Maddie saw Jack and he, we're not going to get into this debate again, but I think he, Maddie did get low. Like in terms of, he's like, I know Jack skating. I'm going to crouch. I'm going to hit him in the shoulder.

I think Matt did everything right. And I think even Matt was like, I'm going to give him a very hard body check here. and then Ikel tow picked and went like flying forward. And I was like, God damn. You, dude, what are you doing? I agree. So that was pretty unlucky. But I am so happy he's back.

I'm fucking heroic play to get that assist. Did he have two points again tonight? Jack? Yeah. Dude, so heroic to come back and I'm just mostly, honestly, win or lose. The cats could win the next four. I just hope Jack gets to play. Like I, I am mostly happy.

I think he will. He looked so after the game celebrating with Aiden Hill. He looked so fine. Yeah, good. That I'm like, I think he'll be okay. To finish up, going into third period, there's a couple things I want to touch on here. Right off the bat, really unlucky for Aden Hill, but Lundell fires a shot that's going way wide, deflects off Martinez goes in. Shout out Alec Martinez, by the way, first goal of the playoffs.

Oh, yeah, nice, Ellie, too. That was nice. Two goals. That gets Florida on the board, but that if you're Vegas, that feels like, yeah, it's, fucking lucky, whatever. I want to give a quick shout out to this guy, Sean. Unbelievable Panthers fan.

Huge fan of the pod. Huge fan of the Panthers. Huge fan of the Panthers. Hit us up on the IG, said he was coming to the game, said he would try to find us. He did. Great dude. They're losing down 2-0, I think, when he saw us.

It might be 4-0. No, it was after the first period. And he was like, oh, you know, we're down 2-0. It's going to be fine, though. I'm prepared. And he lifts up his jersey, and he's got a rubber, rat. And I was like, fuck yeah, dude, good for you. So he's got his rat. It is

5 to 1, I believe. 6. Maybe 6 1. 6.1. 6.1. And there's two things I have to say about this. Matthew Kuchuk scores a goal. And fucking good for him for just being a factor still. You know, that was a blowout game. Absolutely. Yeah, go on. But yes. Yeah. 6.1.

Matthew Kachshk scores a goal. Also, that was the weirdest moment. This is what I'm about to talk about. To be fair to the Panthers. and the fans, the Panthers fans in the arena. The goal light didn't go on. However, everyone in the ice stopped playing. So every player seemingly knew it was a goal.

Yep. Buck goes in, Aiden Hill was like, ah, fuck and kind of turned around. Knights players kind of stood up. Panthers players kind of meandered over towards the bench. The game is over, dude. I get it. There was roughly seven minutes.

Yeah. 18, 16 seconds left in the game. But dude, just the deflated lack of anything from the Panthers, I didn't really love. Yeah, Redmond was like, what did you say? You were like, never seen 20,000 people at silent. Yeah. Like, the fans were like, what the fuck just? Like, truly everyone was like, what happened?

Everyone in the arena was like, was that a goal? What's going on? And like the refs went to center ice and then all of a sudden the scoreboard changed. And everyone was like, oh, there's a goal. And while we were sitting there being like, dude, this is pretty weak from the Panthers. Like, yeah, I get it. You're losing six to. But like, go down the fucking.

Yeah. Stap up your teammates. It's only game two. While we're having that thought, a lone solo rubber rat comes screaming over the glass onto the ice. Incredible. And we were sitting there in that moment. And I was like, is that Sean's rat? Yeah, it has to be.

And then after the game, we get a DM. It's a Twitter link. It was like, lull, one lone rat gets on the ice. And Sean, Sean, it was from. Sean and he was like this, my presence has been felt, dude. And it's like, I heard, dude. I will not go quiet. Great job, Sean.

He got the rat out there. I hope he's got more for the home games. Me too. He's here for a sick soccer convention, too, so he's on an absolute heater. Me too. But, you know, after that, we get into the nonsense of just, God damn it, dude, it felt like every fucking whistle. So, Amelia, a million injections.

This is one of the last two things I want to talk about. One, Kachuk has three 10-minute misconducts across two games in this series. That is insane. And the second one he got was the rest were just annoyed with him. But to your earlier point, you're kind of stepping over the line here, dude, like, they need you on the ice. That's like, you know, 20-something minutes of penalties today. I forget what he had in game one, but I'm like, you need to play, dude. Like, you were the best player on the team or one of the best players on the team.

You need to be on the ice. I literally don't know, and we should look this up, but I literally don't know if there's repercussions on that. Like, is there a certain amount of 10-minute misconducts you can get in the fucking series before you're actually suspended? Because if there is, he should fucking cool it. But my bigger question... Can I just read this to you, please?

Yeah. At the end of this game, we have less than, you know, seven minutes left in the game. Matthew Conchuk, misconduct, Casey Fitzgerald, misconduct, Kegan Colossar, misconduct, Anthony Duclair, cross-checking against Ivan Barbashev, served by Carter Verhaghy, Anthony Duclair, misconduct, Eric Stahl, Abusive Officials, Nick Cousins misconduct, Zach White Cloud misconduct, Sam Reinhardardt, misconduct, Riley Smith, misconduct, Riley Smith, cross-checking against Brandon Montor, served by Jonathan Marshall, so, Brett Howden, misconduct.

And the Brett Howden, and I'm not being a vagus apologist, but the Brett, Brett Howden, Riley Smith, and Zach White Cloud misconducts, and even Colossar. to an extent. We're just like the game's over. Yeah. There's bullshit going on and the rest are just like this. You're gone, you're gone. On the one hand, I think you're right.

We need to look into if this is like soccer, where it's like if you have a certain amount of red yellow cards, you're out. I don't think it will have any repercussions, but we'll look into that. The bigger thing on the one hand, part of me feels like it's the refs being like, cut this shit out dude stop doing this or we're gonna fucking toss you the other part of me is like

is the game over and these guys just don't give a shit they're trying to send a message and then the last thing i feel and we talked about this last episode and you were just touching on it is in my opinion florida your schick isn't working dude like you are not in these guys heads nick haig at the end of game one is getting socked in the mouth by matthew chuck and he's laughing we go to dinner after the game and we see Nick Hague sitting right next to us and he couldn't look less faced couldn't look less face

loose tie, sick shirt, look like a million bucks. Yeah, it's just like, dude, I just don't think it's sending this tough message. Like I talked about the last episode so I'm not going to do it again, but like, yeah, okay,

because I actually want to talk, just a shit show. I want to talk about the ref side of it because it looks, it's a clown show out there right now. Yes. To a degree. And I can't tell,

I genuinely can't tell what I feel like, is it the refs are doing what they got to do to get control of this shit? Yeah. Because otherwise it's going to fucking spin off this planet or are they over policing it? And it's kind of like, yo, it was a fucking cross check, cross check. Like this fucking, it's the final. Yeah.

Like let them, you know. And part of me that Eric Stahl, abusive official is I'm sure that's exactly what he's saying. Yeah. He's like, yo, what the fuck are you guys doing? You can't kick off everyone on the fucking team. Jesus Christ. And like all things, it's probably somewhere in the middle. but I'm kind of skewing so far to chill out refs.

Like, I think they're over-policing this a little bit here. And I know they don't want it to turn into an actual clown show. Yeah. Because Maddie and the boys are being a little feisty out there. And I think the Duclair one, it was a good call. Like, that was a ridiculous shot after the initial cross-check. And it's like, go sit down, dude. But some of these, I'm like, bro.

Yeah. I think the love of the game in me agrees with you. I'm like, dude, If any time a refs feels like they're involved, I'm like, fuck off. Yeah. The one thing I will say, though, is there have been times in both of these games on the Florida side. I'm not picking on Florida. I love this Panthers team.

There have been times that cross check in particular where it feels like they're being fuchs. They're being little fuckos out there. And if I'm a ref and I'm looking at a six, seven two game and someone on the losing team, two hands someone after, face washes someone a little too hard, and boom, we've got an injury that knocks someone out of the game. I'm like, God damn it, dude. So I do get it.

When you see a bunch of guys who are pissed off, they're getting tallywacked, and they're doing this shit. Part of me is, like, if I were a ref, I'd be like this, go fucking sit down in the locker room and take a cold shower. So I do get it. But ultimately, I'm with you. Don't get out of control here, refs.

but at the same time I get it you're trying to stay emotionally invested you're trying to keep the boys fired up but like I don't know man as a as a as a as a true and I'm being very real genuine fan of both of these teams

it has been so fun watching and covering both of these teams I really do like all of the guys on both of these squads so I believe I'm objective here they look embarrassing that is

It looks embarrassing. And we posted on the story, I was like, dude, you just got shit pumped for a second game. Florida, you are in big, big trouble. And our DMs are flooded with what I assumed was going to be hate speech. But it's tons of awesome Panthers fans going, dude, for real. Like, I do not feel good. That was a poor showing. And I do not like the way we responded.

I think that's something to keep an eye on, the refs. And Florida's play and Vegas is response to it. But I think the refs, I think maybe I'd live with two. like two ministers like hey roughing roughing matching go fucking sit down for a second I guess I wasn't watching but my boy shout out Scotty Martin my boy texting me and said the TNT broadcast was like the hot water is going to be

gone in the Panthers locker by the time the rest the game ends because all the boys are in there already show half the teams already show I was generally thinking about I think it's like D2 or something maybe it's D3 I don't remember yeah but it's one of the Mighty Ducks movies and Dean Portman gets tossed out of the game

and he's fucking losing his shit in the locker him like breaking stuff. And I think Julie the cat gets like tossed too. And she comes in the locker room and sees him like breaking everything. And he's like, hey, what's up? Yeah. And I was like, this is what Matthew Chuck feels like. Like he's in there probably taking a shower.

And then all of a sudden all the boys start rolling. Yeah. He's like, yo. He's like, whoa. Also, uh, Vegas fans went into a hard we want the cup chant. Yeah, they did. And they do. I know they do, but I don't know about that chant right now.

The Bruins fans launched into one of those against the same. hats and it went hard the other way. So I might reel that in if I'm Vegas a little bit. All the shame is they want it. Yeah, but I'm just saying, just be quiet. We don't talk about it. We don't talk closer than Boston. Yeah, okay, easy.

Hey, dude. We don't talk about a heater. We're friends here. Why would you say that? We don't talk about a heater when we're on a heater. I said that they lost right after the Bruins lost. Chris chirped it. He did, actually.

And then, oh, I want to say this. Bob got pulled. Oh, yeah. Bob did get yanked and he looked sad. He looked super sad. Remember I kept saying Otter was looking really sad on the bench. Bob was looking so sad to me

and Bob is had such an interesting career. He's obviously extremely talented when he's at the top of his game. And I'm sure it's sad as an athlete when he kind of just gets the big contract. He's not having the game he wants to play and seeing this resurgence, like it's hard because I want to root for all these guys

but it was just cool like watching him loving being in this moment and like seeing him on it literally looks like he's about to cry. Yeah, it was awful. I was like, oh, God. So that really sucked. But protects our goalies. We saved his knees. Yeah, I expect Bobby back.

And then lastly, I just wanted to say we met an awesome dude tonight. Michael Sully Sullivan works a lot with players in the league. And what a time we had with him after the game. Yeah, had a phenomenal dinner. Shout out, Sully. You're one of the great beauties. I have truly ever met in my life. Fact.

Unbelievable guy. So huge shout out there. That's all I got. Same. Guys, this has been an unbelievable first leg in Vegas. We are absolutely shot. You can probably hear it in my voice. I feel like I'm dying.

But this has been nonstop fun and action. So we hit the road tomorrow, headed down to Florida. We'll see if the Panthers can pull it together. But until then, Skyehard.