Empty Netters Podcast - It’s 1967 All Over Again For The Maple Leafs l LIVE.EP 5

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

The boys go live for their fifth episode of puckline news, breaking down all the action from last night's NHL Playoffs NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY! PRESENTED by BetMGM. Download the BETMGM app and use code “NETTERS” and enjoy up to $1500 in bonus bets if you lose your first wager! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome, welcome back. We are live with Empty Netters, puck line playoff news coverage, brought to you by BetMGM. Another insane night in the NHL. I don't even know how to start all this shit, but we are off the rails. Yeah.

Few of the drunkest games you will ever see in your life last night, but we've got a lot of next round playoff matchup set. We've got some teams still fighting for their life. lives. We've got betrayal going on in Colorado, but we need to jump into these games asap. And the one we're going to start with is the Leafs sends. And we are so utterly delighted to be joined for this segment by our good friend Hockey Illuminati. He's been preaching all season that it's the Leafs year. It's 1967 all over again. There are all of the signs. But we're going to let him get into that. So let's bring him in. Frankie Boy, how you doing? How you feel? Look at that cup

over your shoulder. Gentlemen, it's an absolute pleasure to get a little playing time with yourselves and the fine viewers of empty netters. What other better way to join the program than the day after I witnessed what was probably the biggest empty netter I've ever seen in Leaf history. The biggest empty netter, I thought of you guys when Willie Nealander put that in, okay? And we were on tilt yesterday here in Toronto. Leaf Nation, the dark cloud was hovering, but I woke up yesterday morning and I said, you know what, today is Willie Neelander's 29th birthday. as in yesterday. Okay.

Willie Nealander was born in 1996. 1996 minus 29 gives you in 1967. And I told my audience, I said, guys, I said, Willie is going to have a big game tonight and we are going to ride him to victory.

And here we are. The biggest, the biggest collective sigh of relief breathed out in Toronto today. No question about it. I mean, you just said it. That's got to be the most important

empty net goal in the Matthews, Marner, Nealander era. There's no question about it. Oh my God, it has to be. Because, dude, when you, I saw you post before the game and you said, and I thought this was a beautiful sentiment that there was leafiness at the beginning of the season that had to be massaged out.

And then there's, and then it resets in playoffs. And there's leafiness in the playoffs that has to be massaged out. And when you guys went up to nothing, I said, I said, hockey Illuminati is 100% right. It's been massaged out. And then Peron scores off Solar's back and it's two, two. And I thought to myself, we might need another rub down. So how were you, how were you feeling in that moment? that was about as close to a near-death experience as I've ever had.

Okay? So Stoller's awful goal, awful goal, okay? And we don't see too many of those from the carpenter, Stolley the goalie. He lets a terrible goal in, and my ears started ringing, and I started seeing the white light. And I thought that was going to be it. And I tell you right now, fellas, it would have been apocalypse now if the Leafs lost last night, because they probably would not have won game seven at home on a Saturday night. you know all the narrative the demons so last night really the real leaf fans knew that last night

was it was kind of the real game seven and how poetic for the Leafs to bounce back right away it's not like they dragged it out minutes later Max Petruetti you know wearing number 67 yes uh you know who by the way he scored the first goal of the year for Toronto this season this season the first goal of the Leafs regular season was scored by for the first time in history a player wearing number 67. So science, fellas, it's written in the stars. Dude, Frank, it's actually insane. And I'm, I'm curious, have you ever seen the movie the number 23 starring Jim Carrey? Yes, of course I have. Yeah, we love that. That is literally your life now. Like, I'm just living in this world where the number 67 is the only thing that you see. I'm

picturing that your vision is just the matrix, but it's all sixes and sevens. And you're just slowly losing your mind. But you're so right, man. It's funny. We talked about it on the pod. And I was like, you know what? I actually think this is going to game seven, but I think the Leafs do take care of business. But then last night watching that game, when the Sends tied it up to two, two, I was like,

I actually don't think they'll win it. Like if they let this get to Game 7 this way, this might be too devastating to come back from. And yeah, man, listen, that was as monster as it gets. Like that goal from number 67, Max Patcheretti, was so much better than we've ever seen the Leafs in this era. Like that was responding to pressure like we've never seen.

It's another good sign. Yes, that's all I was going to ask you, Frank, is that that exact response. Even before he scored, I forget who it was, but there was a really good chance there. It was kind of like a little two on one. And that whole shift was a ton of pressure. And the broadcast was saying during that shift, they were like, we're really going to have to see how the Leafs respond here after that gut punch to go down to make it two, too, too. And that response, that answer is something I haven't seen from you guys in a decade.

Yeah. And that's one of the reasons why we fell in love with this team. in terms of it feeling different. We've been saying that for a long time. It feels different. It's different this year. One of the reasons we fell in love with this team was because, you know, almost without fail, every time the Leafs would play a really crappy game,

go on a two-game slide, they turn it around right away. They never let things get out of hand. They never let things get out of hand. And they responded in a big way last night. And don't forget, like, you know, the Leafs hit four or five post last night. Okay? It was a close game, but it could have been out of reach. you know, halfway through the game, there was a number of posts that they, that they hit.

Leifes played really good. You know, Ottawa battled hard. Their season was on the line. Obviously, they were buzzing in Kachuk and Stutzel. I mean, those guys are something else watching them play. But, you know, the Leif's defense really lock things down and they deserve a ton of credit for this series victory. Yeah, no, no doubt about it. And how important do you think that Matthew's goal was?

Because I do think, you know, we, we'd seen Matthews on the score sheet already in the first three games. But then you get game four, game five, those closeout games. and they can't get it done and all that fear starts creeping in, him to get on the board early was that on a peeper on a peeper too. Yep, that's what did you say? That was the first time Matthews has scored in a game six. A power play goal in a game five, six or seven ever. Like these are,

if you take off the Illuminati hat for a second and just look at it as an objective hockey fan hat, is that something you see and you're like, no, this is different. I know everyone says it every year, but it actually does feel different. You know, Austin Matthews, I can't tell if he's incredibly unlucky or if he's actually not clutch.

I don't know. I don't know. It might be a bit of both. There's certainly, like he's hit a lot of posts in this series. Okay. He had a chance to end it in game four and overtime off the iron. He's definitely still playing injured.

Not that that's an excuse. It's playoff time. Everyone's playing hurt. But symbolically, that was massive for our captain who has looked pretty mediocre in the playoffs so far, along with Mitch Marner, very mediocre, both of them. which is concerning going into the second round here. But to see him do that on the power play,

and I don't know if it was a shot attempt or if it was a pass to nize who maybe got, you know, went the wrong way. Either way, it was beautiful and much needed. So yeah, the boys look great. You know, we're buzzing here. We're fired up. I think that's, yeah.

It honestly doesn't matter how it went in, Frank. It's almost better that it just, you see one sneak in. Because I thought the same thing. We were on a live bingo for the first period. And it was like, I was like, I swear that was that he was looking for Nye's tip. And then Nyes just gave him the flamingo, but it went in. He was like, oh, that works too.

Doesn't matter. Pucks on that. But you're so right, dude, because I would say that was kind of the narrative at four nations, too, as USA fans being like, oh, where's Matthews? Oh, he had his chances in overtime, couldn't get it done. So it's, it's the famous cliche, they don't ask how they ask how many, just to see one go in. I guarantee does wonders for the kid, just for the confidence level moving into the next round.

massive. And the thing with Matthews, too, you know, he's, he's been a beast in the face off dot, utterly dominating the dot. And, you know, a lot of knights in this series, world class defensively. Okay. So although he's not scoring the same way that we've seen him score in previous years, that patented Matthew shot, it's just not there this year. Again, something's going on with an injury, mystery injury. We don't know. But he's, he's finding a way to make a difference in other areas of ice. Dude, incredible point, by the way, on the face off dot, because our boy, Pinto has had the job of going up against that Matthews line all series, even when they're not in Ottawa and they can't get the matchups they want. They're finding ways to get him on the ice.

Matthews rinsed him at the dot last night, dude. Like literally, I think he won first five or six draws every single time. Big draws too. Power play, ozone draw, D zone draw, snap it back, rinsed him at the dot. So great call by you. I thought he's been tremendous in those areas. Yeah, big time. Between him and Tavares, the Leafs might have the best one to punch when it comes to just purely winning draws. Yeah. Okay. So dude, I'm going to to be honest, boys, I think Maddie Nyes has been the biggest player in this series. I think he is so clearly the most noticeably different element of this Leafs team. Yeah, I hear that.

I think everything about his game, how gritty he is. He also seemingly, maybe he's too young and dumb to have any of the nerves of the fear. But like, he's just out there and he's like, I don't fucking care. I'm going to be a big body. I'm going to be annoying. And I'm going to get in people's faces. I'm going to get in that front. I'm going to bang bodies.

That's what he's doing all series. And every game, I feel like he's the one I notice. Mattie Nyes was one of the only guys, I think, showing passion and heart consistently throughout the course of the six game series. And, you know, MK Ultra, we like to refer to him here in Toronto. You know, he is more solid than the earth's crust, Maddie Nyes. And, you know, I think that he was definitely one of the more valuable guys. But when I look at who the most valuable player in this series was, I, there's a part

Part of me that wants to say it was the Leaf 6th defenseman, Simone Benoit. I love that. I love that. And that's the difference with this year's Leaf team is that, you know, one through six, the D-Corps, we're confident rolling all six guys out. And that's never been the case in Toronto. There's always been one or two squeaky wheels on the shopping cart. But this year, our 6D man, Simon Ball, he stepped up and Submite 2 is our best defensemen. So between him, Brandon Carlo, Tanev, you know, Ekman Larson, like, man, the Leafs, D-Cfeb.

I'd put them up against a lot of decores in the league in terms of how stout they can be when it comes to shutting down. Yeah. Yeah. That's been an issue where even a couple of years ago. Do you say, yeah, go ahead and then just started talking. And you looked at me, I thought. They've made some big moves in the years past on the blue line to try to get that. And I don't think they ever quite did it.

And then all of a sudden this year, they almost created it by accident. Yeah, exactly. And you couple that with the fact that they have an elite goaltender, and Stollers. You know, the last time we had a real, a real X factor, a real weapon in between the pipes was Curtis Joseph. You know,

that's how long it's been since we could look at our crease and be like, that right there is a game-changing goaltender. And it was interesting how he lets the softie in to make it too too late. And the boys picked them up. You know, just the same way he's been doing that all year for us.

Stollors and Joseph Wall too. Our goaltending has built us out so many nights this year. and it was so nice to see, you know, a veteran guy who hasn't scored a goal in fucking months, literally since December, he hasn't scored. Pick the boys up. And in a way, we go to the second round. You're talking about goal-tending against you're going to be a perfect transition. I did want to quickly just chime and say how I'm glad that a friend that I care about can enjoy Brandon Carlo.

And I'm also glad that now you can, it's nice having other fan bases get to experience how subtly great he is. So I'm happy for you there. But let's talk about goaltending. We've got our round two matchup. You're playing the former champs, playing the cats. It looks like Stoli the goalie is going to be between the pipes. What a storyline it would be if Bob's backup beats him. Yeah, big time.

How about that? Yeah, it's wild. And just really quickly to wrap up your Carlo point, he has improved the play of Morgan Riley significantly. Morgan Riley has not had a good year, okay? Not a good year at all. And the second he got paired with Carlo, it was a lot easier to watch him. So yes, Brandon Carlo, we love him here in Toronto.

And we got some term on him as well. Yeah, Stoller's going up against his mentor, kind of. Stephen Lorenz, Ekman Larson, former Panthers as well. Leaves got a little insider trading on this team. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Leaves got a little insider trading on this team. Listen, I don't know how the hell the Leafs are going to beat Florida. I don't.

Okay. I don't. I mean, I can theorize about it. I know what they, in theory, would have to do to beat them. But let's not pretend that Florida isn't the best team in the league. And they're the defending champs for a reason. And they're still in pretty peak Stanley Cup form. So, you know, the Leafs are going to need to have some puck luck, okay?

Which Florida's been getting a lot of the last couple of years. You don't win the Stanley Cup without some puck luck. So we got to hope that that finally runs out. The Leafs, I would grade their overall performance. I would give them a B in the first year. round. They get a B overall. So they still have a lot more to give. Okay. And we just got to hold our belief and believe in the magic of the universe that maybe these curse busters are making sense. And, you know, there might be a mystic element to the Leafs this year that you just can't

explain with X's and O's in terms of how they're going to beat Florida. But I believe they will. I believe they will win in seven. I believe they will win in seven. All right. Leafs in seven. I don't hate it. Hey, but Frankie, what are what are you doing on your end to help reverse the mojo of, you know, last time, the one time you guys made the second round, you ran into this very team and lost in five. So what are you doing on your end? What kind of, you know, Illuminati hat stuff is going on in the back end to help get this to a Leafston 7?

Yeah. I mean, we're doing it. We've got to do everything we can here, right? Yeah. Because there is still a curse floating around and the demons are still there. We're trying to fight those fucking demons, okay? So first round, I sprayed holy water in the locker room. Right.

I'm LSC wasn't too happy about that, but too bad. We're trying to win a Stanley Cup here. Exactly. This round, I think, I think, we're going to hold a group prayer session outside Scotia Bank that I'm going to lead. And we're going to gather as many fans as we can and just hold a group prayer session and visualize them in a handshake line with Florida with smiles on their faces. So I don't know.

Yeah, there's going to be some Illuminati tactics in the air. I haven't quite forgotten about yet. But we got to do all the camp. A little snap, snap mouse traps around the rink. You know, maybe when you're at Scotia Bank. That is a good seance. Put a couple rat traps right around the rink. Oh, that's a great idea, buddy.

You're going to see me doing that. You will see me doing that and you get credit for that idea. That's outstanding. There we go, dude. We're going to put some rat traps outside Scotia Bank. That's huge. We've got the prediction. Leif's in seven.

Yeah. Frank, before we let you go, do you have any voodoo, any magic right now that's already in the head for this series? You know, there's a lot of busters out there this year. Like, you know, if and when the Leaves swim in the Stanley Cup, I'm going to put out a curse busting Bible. And there's going to be, there's literally hundreds of them. I could tell you anything right now.

But I will give you one that just came across the radar as the Leafs were winning last night. So literally moments before the game started, Savard on Montreal announced his retirement. Oh, I know, dude. Okay. Love around the league. Okay. Now, wouldn't you know that for the first time now in NHL history, we do not have someone

who's last name is Savard playing in the league. Okay? You know when the last time that happened was? No. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Say it. My bros, my bros, you already know.

The last time there wasn't someone in the NHL with the last name, Sevard playing was 1967. Okay. And moments before that was announced, Max Patch Ready, a former hob, wearing 67, gets the clincher. Come on now, boys. It's got to be our year.

Dude, you know what's so funny, man, is last year the Rangers had all the 94 bullshit going, but it was all made up, dude. This feels undeniable. Hey, thank you. Our boy, I want to just show some love to the chat quickly. Our boy, Jack, in the chat says, can you ask Frankie if he's rocking with last night's lines for game one, round two? Big time.

Big time. I mean, they don't really have any other choice. And I think it was great to see Patcheretti get moved up to the second line. They took Holmberg off of that second line, which they had to do. you know what we did see last night is the third line which was uh domi mcman and um and holmberg get moved down to fourth line minutes okay so the lines are staying the same but they're just giving more time so the fourth line has now become the third line the fourth line being lawton and lorence are now are now getting more playing time and they did the same thing with riley and carlo you know

riley played the least minutes last night of any defenseman i believe so uh the lines are good they can't get any better than that we just got to stay healthy it's fucking unbelievable stuff all right so we got the rat traps cooking we love the lines yeah leaps in seven there is no one better to talk lees hockey with than frank from hockey luminati guys if you aren't following him yet give him a follow on iG frank what else you got cooking what do you need the people to know before we let you go um yeah so i'll end with this a couple of years ago you know it wasn't that long ago that florida was in a series with boston where no one gave them a shot to win.

Nobody gave, no one gave Florida a hope in fucking hell to beat the Bruins, okay? And they did, and it catapulted them to this unbelievable run. Bit of a similar situation here. I mean, nobody really is giving the Leafs a shot to win the series outside of, you know, some of the diehards and, you know, folks inside Leaf Nation like myself. And I just look at this series and say, this is the East Final. Carolina or Washington do not scare me. And if the Leafs can find a way to get past the cats,

the Stanley Cup, it's going to be a pubic hair away. It'll be a pubic air away if they can find a way to get past Florida in the second round. And we're hoping and praying and believe they will. Fucking love it. I'm fired up right now, dude. There you go. All of a sudden, am I rooting for the Leaf?

Why, you are? Let's go. Yeah. All right, Frank, we absolutely love it when you join. We've got to have you back on as this series cooks on. Yeah. But you're the best for popping on, dude. We'll talk to you soon. Awesome.

Love you guys. Love the fans and followers. Thanks for having me on. Go Leafs going. Remember, it's our year. Our year, baby. Look at that. Incredible.

Good stuff. See you, fellas. Later, brother. Okay. That was Hockey Illamani. Our good boy, Frank. Again, if you're not following him, give him a follow on Instagram.

He's given out all of the hairbrain schemes for the Leafs. And it's genius. And it's genius. I won't lie. That did get me fired up. Yep. That did get me fired up. Absolutely genius.

All right. Well, we do. I want to show a little bit of love to the sentence, dude. Good battle. Good battle. Brady stepped up. Everybody I imagine now has seen Brady's post game where he's near tears, just talking about what it meant to him, what it meant to the room, what it meant to the city.

It's awesome. I love him. I love watching him play. I love that he played well. I think he had four goals in the series. And we, actually, I think you did pick the sentence just for the... I did. I picked the sentence for the story.

But I was going to say, like, I'll, I'll hang my head on my pick, dude. I was wrong for sure, but, um, you know, I picked it for the story. But the Leafs, the Leafs are better. You know, they're a better team and they, and they, and they played too nearly, I would say, their potential in the playoffs for the first time in a long time. Dude, and I'm like, they fucking played well. I mean, yeah, those two games are a little hairy, but, you know, like we said,

Matthews is his score and Marner looks good. Willie's all, I feel like really always looks good. But the goaltending and the D I think is where I'm like, yeah, dude, they are a little bit different. I don't know if they're different enough. And I'm also not going to have Frank on here and then go into our predictions and sewer them right up the bat. So I'll wait for our episode next week to do that. But I, you know, it's a tough matchup. And, you know, we did just get some breaking news today.

This always happens as teams are eliminated. Victor had been played with a broken leg that entire playoff series against the Panthers. So that certainly doesn't help. But you just saw this Panthers team tally whack Tampa in five. It's a tough matchup for Toronto. Very tough matchup. But, you know, who knows? I think I think the senators played so passionately that that fight is almost what the

least needed. You know, like I think a leaf sweep of the senators doesn't help them going into the Panthers, but that Panthers team showed a lot of a lot of, we refuse to give up in any single game. Yeah. And like Frank was saying, the puck bounces a different way. How many games went to overtime and they're in the middle there? Like two, at least, if not three. So it's like the puck bounces a different way.

Maybe the senators are up in that series. So the senators deserve all the credit in the world, but the Leafs are getting some of those bounces now finally and then move. For sure. All right, we're going to kick it off to the next series. Let's get into Vegas Wild game six and the Wilder done. Wilder done. So let's go into this, not self-tire pumps or anything like that.

But I picked Vegas in five. Yeah, I said, Vegas in four. I feel like whenever you're within one win or one, excuse me, one game of the prediction, you're like, yeah, and you got the team right. You're like, yeah, I was around the right area. I couldn't feel less validated. Yeah, yeah,

I picked Vegas in five, they won and six. A lot of people would be like this. Yeah, pretty good. Pretty good. You almost had it. And I'm like,

well, it doesn't feel that way. And I think I, this is the series for me that is the most, I feel like wild fans should feel proud. And then at the same time, I'm like, but you lost in the first round in six again.

Yeah. So I'm sure wild fans are fucking losing their mind. Oh, dude. And you know what I was saying is funny in the play? us five and six the difference between five and six is so funny to me because you went in four you went in five I go yeah yeah you pounded them you win in six you win in seven I go good series five to six is one game but it feels like such a beat down versus wow that was a really tough series yeah so the wild there's a I saw a million stats flying around today and I'm sure they're in misery about

this but it's like last time they were they've never had a three one seriously remember last time they were up to one, not only did they not get the three one lead, they lost in six. That happened again. The wild are the only team that has gone, made the playoffs eight out of 10 years and never got out of the first round, including the Leafs. So I'm sure all the misery is there where they're like, God damn it. But I'll tell you, dude, if you're a wild fan, you made playoffs this year. After such a promising start, you made playoffs this year when dealing with a shit load of injuries. Like you have. obscene amount of injuries where your top,

your plan, the roster you built played together like 10 games or something. Insane. All that dead cap. This wasn't even a playoff year for them, in my opinion. What they showed is insane, insane future prospects, assuming they manage that money right, making playoffs this year and playing that team, which I've said this whole time,

it's why I picked them in four, is better than you. You're playing a team that is better than you and is built for the playoffs more than you are and has the playoff experience more than you do, and going toe to toe with them in six games. I, dude, throw all those shit stats out the window. I hold my head high today.

Yeah, it's tough. I mean, like, I think same, but it's also when you start off so hot, you're so good. In Regos, you see me? Yeah. And then you get hurt, you fall to where you fall to,

then you get into this series, and all of a sudden you're healthy, and you clap back hard in games two and three. that's when the, no, we are that team sets in. And I'll say this, everything is different next year. And you're right. You said that with the dead cat, you're going to res. I think there was always that fear.

Is Carill going to come back? And I just think this project, how fucking sick the X is, how sick the team is around him. You got Zeeve now, Fabers, a stud, all these other guys. Erickson, Ross, I don't need to go through. Boldie. Like, this is a team you want to be a part of it. That's a community, a fan base. an arena you want to be a part of.

Krill ain't going nowhere. So that's sick. But you're competitors and you're a hockey town and you're a good team in the playoffs and you get up to one. You want to win. So like, yeah, hold your head high,

but I am here to say wild fans, I feel you. Like if right now you're sad and you're pissed, I'm like, fuck yeah, dude, I get it. Yeah.

I would be too. And I will say this, dude, this Vegas team is last year we saw them losing in the first round. And this year, you know, they go down. And I raised that question. I was like, if they lose this series, are we, do we have to start what, frankly, we're doing to Tampa right now.

Yeah. Do we have to start being like, yeah, maybe we need to be a little less fearful of you. But then to win this in six, I think that win is a big like, fuck me, you know, they're buzzing. Like, it's the team that we're afraid of. It's the team that won the cup. It's a team that went to the cup. It's the team that was a threat every single year. And what did we call out?

Two guys that had been quiet, Jack Eichael Markstone. Yep. Jack Eichael Markstone get on the score sheet in game six and they move on to the next round. I want to bring this up, Dan, because it's a great point. Alex on our chat, Alex Norwood says once Son and Eichael woke up, it was over from Minnesota, which I agree with. But then Alex, you also said that Heinz got out coached on a crazy level because he didn't try the top line against Vegas bottom six.

They were mostly out there against 71, 9 and 61. I think you're right about that, Alex, but I would argue. up until the last two games, that's why 71-9 and 61 were so quiet. So it was kind of a double-edged sword there, right? Like you want to take your top line and not playing against their top line, but you've been shutting down their top line that way. So I don't totally hate that move.

Obviously, the boys woke up at the end there, but that's kind of how it was going. I'm so sorry, brother. And you are... Boldie, where are you, dude? Are you on the lake again? I just, I'm curious if we're doing a sorrowful kayak session today. I don't want him on the water right now. Yeah, you're right. It's dangerous.

Boldie Glazer, if you're on the water right now, get, get off, dude. We need you to just stay safe, stay dry today. Like, don't, don't do anything rash. Here's the thing. I, I, we talked to some friends with the Knights and they, they were all very complimentary of this while. They were like, Jesus fucking Christ, that was a tough series, dude. And they were, dude, what do we say in game one that they lost? We were like, this team is fucking buzzed, dude. They're slant. am in bodies it's wwee in there i said after game one vegas win that my Vegas in four pick was wrong yeah yeah yeah i was a big and then after literally the first game i was like there's literally no way this is a sweep that's 100% my bad yeah uh someone just

leo in the chat just said the goal called back uh for the overtime loss in game five was the end of the series and i feel you dude i am going to say that was offside yeah but those always suck leo like that that that is a no-brainer whenever a goal gets called back especially one that would have won a game you want to die yeah um to Vegas this feels really good really good yeah you're now going up against the oilers bold he's working on a roof dude dude don't jump somebody laser you're a fucking beast multitasking machine dude uh if you're Vegas you feel really good because you know again you're you're off to play the oilers again who you have beaten the past you have a good record against. I think a good matchup, frankly. And this is a team that in the last two games for me

showed their steal of the Stanley Cup winning team. Jack, buzzing, Stone, getting big clutch goals and Hill. Hill was huge for me. I thought Hill and the defense has looked really good in the last two games. Dude, they, they're such a funny team because they said, we, I mean, we joke. Like, we talked to a lot of those boys at Four Nations and they were like, if you guys were allowed to gamble. You should put a future on us. I was like, yeah, that's gas, dude. But they, they have been waiting for playoffs. They're that team, you know. And the one thing that I think is funny about the waiting for playoff thing is every now and then it takes you a second to get into playoff mode. You think you can literally flip a pitch when the calendar changes, but sometimes it

actually takes a couple games. And I thought games four and five were a full step above Vegas play. Like that is the team. I was like, That's who I was betting on. That's who I was like, oh, that team's going to roll. Big time. And that,

if you're, well, we can do a matchup when we get to the others, but like, that's a little bit scary if you're anyone in Vegas's path. Because I thought they've been,

that was the best two, that's the best 120 minutes they've played. Hondo P. I feel like for me, the, the big question was, is this, is this team going to be at their full force?

And yeah, I think we talked to a lot of wild fan friends. Shout out Kason. And, those last two games, I feel like, you know what, man, gonna give some flowers and some love to little double-rister, quick spit in the palm to wild fans. Yeah. They're so realistic. I know, dude. It's like Minnesota culture. You could call it pessimistic. That's the Minnesota culture. But anytime it looks like tides are turning, wild fans are so quick to be like, yeah,

I don't think this is going our way. Yeah. And all of our wild fan friends in those two games were like, dude, this Vegas team is definitely finding their footing and they look really fucking strong. And they totally are. So if you're Vegas right now and we're going to get into in a couple, a couple segments here, the boogeyman that is the Edmonton Oilers, I feel like you do feel pretty confident right now. Like this is a strong team that you're like, we can go to the cup. No doubt. Yeah.

Some people saying that they didn't, I think it's Curtis. They didn't, Vegas didn't inspire enough confidence to beat the oilers. I actually disagree, Curtis, only because I want you to credit the wild. I think Vegas playing someone else, you might be like, oh, they were playing great. I think this wild team showed so much fight that it's like, I feel so bad for the Minnesota fans in the chat here because they're getting crushed, but it's like, I'm telling you guys, like somebody said, I can't find it again, but it was like, oh, Boldie and Carrell didn't keep their cons my thron.

I guess they did. Like, I know they didn't score in that game, but you have nothing to worry about with those guys. playoff is going to do wonders for that moving forward. Yeah, all right. Let's get into that as we close out here and chat. Keep buzzing because all these questions are so good. This is years and years and years now of first round loss. Yeah, you're the least now.

Yeah. Yes, we said like, do you feel good? Yeah, you do. Yep. But this blows. They have a chance to be, here's what thing. Right. Actually, you are the least now, period.

You are the least now. but I think the wild have a very good chance of breaking that curse next year. Now, the Leafs have had awesome teams every year and then continue to blow it in the first round. I'm not saying just because the Wild will get her next year that they'll get out of the first round. They might not. And currently, you are the Leafs. But I'm very hopeful about their future. Before we can't leave this segment without doing some a few minutes here on Flurry.

Mark Andre Fleury is going to retire. The camera cut to him many times, especially after Hartman. made it three two and like you could see flurry like looking up at the jumbotron being like i just don't want this to be over i know um not only as a competitor on the wild then doesn't want their season to be over but just as a human being and a hockey player saying i don't want my career to be over um i dude i could barely watch that game or that those moments for him and my god am i so gutted we said this last lie but i'm so gutted that the wild couldn't get that win when he came on in relief even if they had still lost the series

it would have brought me such great joy to see him get that last taste to playoff action and steal a win just by standing on his head one last. And he played pretty good honestly. He played pretty good. But just to see him standing on his head one last time would have been incredible. But I can't say enough good things about flour. And the privilege it's been to watch him play for 21 years or whatever it is. Man, he's as good as it gets.

He's one of the great professionals you've ever seen, one of the great men you've ever seen. we're going to get him on the show 100%. It's getting dusty in here this season. Yeah. That final Blackhawks game seeing Maroon and Martinez hugging it out, just talking about being a couple of Midwest boys, great careers, multiple Stanley Cups between them. That was, I was crying.

Yo, yes. And in that bloodbath of a game, we're trying to get empty netters out here and watching Flower doing what he was doing. I was like, I can't see this right now. It's a guy you don't want to see your tire. Yes. So, dude, we joked like he, many of these guys just can't have a hard time walking away from the game

because it's the intangibles. It's the room. It's all that stuff. This one, that is going to hit Flower even harder than most guys, I think, because of the dude he is in the room. We are lucky enough to know a lot of guys personally that have,

that know him and have played with him. Yeah. And he is the first name that comes up. I swear to God, every time we talk to a player that's played with Flower. And we're like, Hey, dude, who are some of your favorite teammates? Flower comes up first every time, dude.

The way he interacts with the guys, teammates and opponents, by the way. Just the personality he has, the pranks he does, the whole thing. The game lost a little bit of magic, got a little less funny when Mark Andre Fleury is going to hang up his skates. No question about it. So love to the wild. I think right now the only thing that matters is krill. Get krill back, resign krill, and then, and you are the Leafs. You are the Leafs, but that also means you have a great core.

Yeah. And you do have a great core. You've got a great core in Krill, which you're going to resign. Now, that needs to happen stat, because then you resign Krill and we're cooking now. You're getting free agents. You're getting good. You got a great goalie. You got Krill.

You've got Boldy. You've got Rossi. You've got Faber. You've got Boyham. You've got Erickson. Like, come on. The list goes on. So wild.

It sucks. You lost in the first round again, but things look good. Now, Vegas, our final thoughts on you guys, cup or bust. Yeah, cup or bust. You got past this team who was way tougher than a lot of people suspected, and you did it in six. Now, in my opinion, we'll get into it. Edmonton can never be counted out.

But I think if you're the Vegas Golden Knights, you have to feel like you have a favorable matchup against them. I agree. So it's cup or bust. Some people saying in the chat that flower was Mike Duff, up and also someone had a link to the handshake line or sorry not a link but someone because they cut away from our handshake line to go to the king's game that's right yeah yeah I really wanted to do that if anyone any of the Minnesota crew in the chat if you guys have links to the flower miced up

or the full handshake line uh put that in the chat because I am dying yeah that would be awesome so please send moving on in the discussions we're getting now into the central blood bath the some are calling Western conference final essentially the return turn of Landy, the betrayal of Rampan, and the series that finally gave us a Game 7 last night. It's a Shakespearean saga, Dan. Never in my fucking life have I seen bigger drug addicts all in one place. Never have I seen a more foul and despicable,

disgusting use of hard drugs and binge drinking in my life. This game was drunk. It was blackout drunk. It was ripping the black tar heroin. It was dust in rails left and right. What the hell happened last night? Dude, I had no choice but to join him. I was like, I'm going to have a sober night here.

Try to get healthy. Sick as a dog. And then, dude, that game starts boozing right in front of me. What choice do I have? Dude, we were driving to the airport to pick up our mother and father. Chris is in the passenger seat next to me. He pulls out an eight ball of Coke. That's not true.

Dumps his face right into it. Pulls out a 12 pack of beer, starts shot. gunning every one of them. And I was like, where did you even get this stuff? But it turns out he got it from the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avenue. The emergency flask had to come out. Good God Almighty this year. Dude, the finally, dude, and I said this to you live, finally did a fucking home team with their backs against the wall come out and play a first period like they were

supposed to play a first period in a playoff game. There are some teams in these playoffs that could learn a fucking lesson from how Colorado not, not pointing any fingers, Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings. But when you are facing elimination, this is what you do. And I don't get why these playoffs we've watched, teams just feel so bashful to shoot. It's not like they're getting hemmed in. I mean, watching this game isn't the one to talk shit about it because they did it. But we've watched so many teams just make the extra pass, getting too cute, afraid to shoot.

What the flying fuck are you doing? Pucks on net. Pucks on net. Pucks in deep. Just spray shrapnel at the first. fucking net. Dude, somebody said, I think it was, fuck, I forget who was doing the call, but the Leafs the Sends got that late peeper. And then, and then

Perron scored like right after it, but they get that late paper. And then remember, they're like this nervous power play from the senders here. Afraid to get pucks to the cage, waiting for the perfect shot. And I'm like, agree. Like, this is, this is playoff hockey, dude. Get funnel fucking everything to the goal. Shoot! It has to go in the goal to count as a goal. And then those goals get added up and whoever has more wins. So fucking do that. That would be awesome. Shoot the puck. And it's so funny.

you say that because we got a game and I sent out a out-dair tweet about Nico Ratna. You get a game for a micro-old is a game, 4.3, yeah. Four points in a period and what gave them the go-ahead goal at the time, all of that happens and Colorado still wins this year. the absolute snack on this team, on this Colorado team to force this game, seven, that is going on?

Dude, you've got two judas is on this team. You've got Dushain and you've got Randall. Oh my God. D'Shea and the heartbreaker celly out here. Like, these guys are just, they're the villains. They don't give a shit about you.

And you've got that going on, that emotional turmoil going on, and then Ranton and Savvy's best game since the trade. Without a doubt. On either. Yeah. He had two teams to do it. This is his best game on either team.

And he has that period. That could have killed him. That could have snatched your skull out of your body. But what is this thing to do? Fire a shot. Just pepper in the goal. Good goal. Oh, my God.

One of the best. One of our best. But dude, you know, Dan, you know the, I think it's South Park where the dad just had like the big stack. Like they're dragging their massive. You see. It's on a wheelbair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is actually, Randy Marsh, dude.

I actually thought that this was a wheelbarrow race, both teams with their sacks for wheelbarrow. Because if you were the stars and you go, listen, we won game five at home, we're in Colorado, tough place to play. We've lost many times this year. I'm kind of thinking, yeah, we'd love to close enough, but the abs are, the abs to win this. And then we still feel he'll home to death.

And I made this fucking record last time with the tennis thing when you just talked to that. dude when the abs take 180 shots in the first period and you're down to nothing i go like this monday literally and no problem so happy with that get the get the barbecue grills going dude get the smoker hot because i need the baby backs on the grill for game seven fine no issue with me but dude they came out and punched back so hard in that second period that their sack grew dude it's like the grinch's heart both sacks were just growing so fast yeah that i didn't know one was going to weigh more at the end of the night.

And it happened to be Colorado, but I give Dallas a lot of credit for that, dude. A lot of credit for dealing with a bigger sack. Yeah. They're like, I have the biggest balls I've ever seen, but those fucking watermelons are crazy, bro. I can't get over in a series like this. I always, I always love when, first of all, game sevens are just so, so choice. Yeah. Getting a game seven is like Christmas morning.

Uh, hold on. Someone just asked what's happening with the audio. Diamond the dev. Wait, what happened, Wags? Nice, okay. All right, audio's back. Wags is in his bag, dude. Wags bag, Wags Duffles.

Sorry about that. Chat. I love Game Sevens. It's like Christmas morning. It's like Christmas morning every day when there's a game seven. And when you are just an objective hockey fan, certainly when you were like us doing what we're doing, it is the best to see.

Yep. I have no fucking clear. what is going to happen in this series. And I can't remember the last time I felt this way. And don't get me wrong. There are plenty of Game 7s that I've gone into that I've been like, I think this team's going to take it and it goes the other way. Yeah.

There are plenty that I've been like, I think this team's going to take it. And then that's exactly how it goes. This one, I have no fucking idea. This is the most coin flip of a series I have seen in a long time. And that gets me so fucking turned on. I can't even begin to say it. I might watch this game seven in a silk robe with oils, candles, chocolates. I TV balancing precariously over the back.

A glass of wine. You're telling me that I'm getting this game seven on a Saturday. And dude, it's what we wanted, right? Like we all said Dallas abs. I was like, oh my God, that's got to go seven. And it's, it didn't, it's kind of gone in such a wacky way. Like, I can't believe this is how we got to seven. Quickly want to say, chat just said, just nicked it.

I kind of feel like that's a euphemism. But just Nick that says, DeBore's 8-0 in Game 7. Dude, yes, somebody, I think it was Tyler. Somebody hit me with that stat in a previous live. And I was like, what? That's no way that's true, but it is a fact. And dude, we said, and I said when Dallas won last show,

I said they've now, when they won game 5, they've now locked in the only way they can lose. The only way they can lose the series is if they lose, and Debor loses in the game 7 for the first time ever. So that's what we're up against now. And, dude, I genuinely don't know. You said you can't decide what to do, neither can I.

And I just want to enjoy this game. Same. And I actually hope, even though I'm going to bet on an empty netter, because as always, we're betting on the empty netters, but I hope this goes to overtime because can you imagine? But I don't even know which fucking team feels better. On the one hand, I'm like, yeah, Dallas is going home where they feel great. They beat him in the regular season.

They beat them in the regular season. They beat them twice this playoffs. Like, they're good, dude. They fought for home ice all year and now they got it. But on the other hand, on the aves, and I go, one game one game they don't have Miro they don't have Robo one game I'm not I can't beat them I saw a photo of Miro practicing again yeah you want him in she's just smirking he looks good he looks fresh as lettuce what I can't get over is that this Dallas team is doing what they're doing without their best defenseman objectively no offense Harley you're a beast no offense we'll be a beast

will be a beast will be a beast and without Robo, probably their best forward. Is Rico Rantanin maybe more talented? Sure, but who has been the horse for this team, it's Robo. Yeah. If this team wins and they get those guys back and you are, I don't

give a fuck between Jets and Blues, you're like, we're going to lose in four. The fact that this Dallas team is doing what they're doing without those two guys is wrinkling my fucking brain, dude. Rinkling it. It's like a crumpled up piece of tinfoil. I don't get it.

I can't, God, imagine. If Mira comes back for Game 7, I can imagine it will be fucking insane. Oh my God. Who said that? Tyler, Tyler, if that will be Paul Pierce coming out on a wheelchair. Yeah. If Miro Heskin in suits up and he plays in this game 7. Yeah, that would be insane.

Dude, the rub for this game is, because God, God, this, I feel like it's usually, usually just an unsung hero out of fucking nowhere for game sevens. But the scary thing is NACIS finally got. his goal. Kale finally got his goal. Dude, remember? Remember the fucking BEDMGM odds thing? But it was like, who will be the leading goal score in that series? And I was like, we need to put Kail last. He's a fucking defenseman. And you were like, I bet he's pretty high. And then he was, you were right. He was the highest. He was the best odds. Over multiple forwards. Oh, over Rupahans. And I'm like,

dude, what are we talking about? Dude, Kale finally got one in a fucking empty netter. Thank you. Got an empty netter. But if you're the stars, you're like, fuck, I didn't need to see Nate just get on the board. I didn't need to see kale get on the board because Nate's been going and Nate's a fucking fiery psychopath animal. He's going to be there. He's going to be ready for game seven. But now you got a little bit more juice than some of those other guys. You're like, Honda P. Hyundai. I do want to call. I'm not going to call out by name, but we had someone in our DMs last night. Obviously going through a little bit of a crash out. The abs were losing four, three at the time. And in the chat, this person goes, hot take, but the right take. Bench Kale

and put in Eric Johnson. And I was like, brother, you have lost your damn mind. And he was like, he doubled down. He was like, have I, dude? Kale is a fucking liability. And I was just like, you are literally saying to put the best defenseman on planet Earth on this spinning globe. If we played the aliens, if the aliens came down and said,

we're from an ice planet and we're sick at hockey and we were going to ether your planet unless you put five guys to play us in a pond hockey game, Kale would be first pick. Yeah, I was like, and you want him on the bench and gave up. Dale is one of the top two picks and you were like this bench. Like, holy shit, dude. This, so this series, man, I mean, it's just been as unbelievable as it gets.

I think this is the most appointment television so far. Yeah, it's the biggest game of last. If L.A. Edmonton had gone to Game 7, it might have been that for the store. Actually, Toronto Sands game 7 would have been there. Oh, Numbies. This is the most appointment television of the playoffs so far. We deserve this. We deserve this.

We deserve this. We deserved this game seven. And I just have to give so much, so many stick taps to the abs for battling back with all of that, the emotional baggage that we discussed. But the fact that they peppered shots on net, Nate just got going finally. I mean, dude, I'm actually kind of, and I want to say Granny got going to. Granny got his because he was such a good pick up. And that was a really big goal. I don't want to ignore that.

The Finns were, I mean, Rupé, Rantan, Granny, the Finns were firing on that game. Isn't it unbelievable that there's just a massive. of Finnish population in Dallas, Texas now. It's actually so dope. Fantastic. I want to say, I'm kind of surprised. You seem to have, your takeaway from that game really seems to be Colorado's fight back after going down when rant in his four points in a period.

Mental fortitude. Yeah. And mine, my takeaway was truly the Dallas mental fortitude. The fact that that was even a game when you were getting so heavily outshot and outplayed in long stretches by Colorado. The fact that they found themselves up in that game. And by the way, lost on like ricochets, like puckshays. like pucks Dallas are shooting pucks off their own players into the net.

Like I found the stars, I go, dude, that took a fucking Christmas miracle to beat us. That's the spin zone. And I'm not saying that they're wrong, but that is the spin zone. You've got to find every mental edge you can. You've got to find every not grasping at straws excuse that you can. And that is what Dallas can cling to. Because like I said, appointment television, guys, this is the series to watch this weekend. We're all going to get oiled up.

We're going to get a glass of wine. Smell the, smell the notes. We're going to get a little, get some, maybe some oysters, get some aphrodisiacs going on because this is going to be a sensual experience. Torque City.

Fully torqued. And I do want to just say, before you go into the chat, if you are both teams, if you are fans of either team, you feel great. And that is the recipe for a, just sexual experience.

Okay, a couple things. Someone says Wyatt Johnson hat trick in game seven. I love that. A lot of people saying, Kail has a broken hand. We'll keep eyes on that. Love that inside scoop. Mandy, where did this go?

Mandy just said that her bracket is 100% so far. Get the hell out of here. And Mandy, Mandy, one bingo. Mandy, Bingo winner last night. Mandy, you've got a perfect bracket? I need a screenshot of that bracket, Mandy, but she needs apps. She needs apps to keep the 100% clip gone.

And then a lot of people saying, can you imagine Landy O.T. winner Game 7. If you're a star spent, I think you couldn't even be mad. I think if Landis Gogg pops into overtime and scores a game winner after this comeback, that's a special moment. I, that is genuinely, I, I can't even begin to process what that moment would be. Oh my God. I can't believe I haven't thought of that.

Would say that person again? It was a couple people, but I got to, I don't know if I could find it. Well, chat, whoever said that in the chat, that is, I mean, guys, that is, that's special stuff. special stuff. Before we move on to our last game, folks in the chat, if you are Florida Panthers fans, oh, it was Mandy did. It was Mandy scored no T-can-you-imagined. It's fucking buzzing. Christ, Mandy. All right, if you were in the chat, if you were a Florida Panthers fan, we got a special gift for you right now on the empty netters store. We've got our Aaron Eckblad Elbow-room T-shirt. Wow. 30% off right now with promo code Elbo 30, E-L-B-O-30.

30% off for 24 hours on that elbow room tea. Even if you're not a Panthers fan, it's just such a funny t-shirt. You should buy it right now. So elbow, ELBO 30 for 30% off on that tea for the next 24 hours. And then also, guys, go to our Instagram, click the link, grab into our, or pop into our online store. We got great shit. We got this tea. Bang.

Check me out. We got this unbelievable stuff. We got crew necks. We got long sleeves. We got teas. We got our unbelievable war road stuff. It's amazing shit. You guys love us. We love you. Grab some merch.

Swat yourself out to sign. All Panthers fans in this chat. Go get that shirt right now. It's going to be your ride or die the rest of the playoffs. And even if you don't, if you're not a Panthers fan, but you know one, send them the link, elbow 30, all time shirt. And it's going to be, it's going to be, I'm telling you, there's always a piece of apparel that gets me through the playoffs. Like when the bees are on a run, it's like some dumb ass hat I'm wearing every time or something like that. So this is good.

If you're a Panthers fan and you want to ride it all the way to the cup, this is it. Wags, can you put the merch store? link in the chat. Some people asking. Link to the merch store coming in the chat. Elbow 30, 30% off. Love it. All right. Let's pop in and we'll finally discuss the biggest nightmare in LA Kings history, maybe. Dude, I, I'm having a hard time processing this series. We both picked Kings and and the thought of the Kings losing in six after the first two games is so unthinkable to me. Truly, dude, on every level that I just can't believe this is the reality.

Yes. I don't know where to begin. Me neither. So guys, we're talking Kings. Oilers right now on the live. Oilers bounce the Kings out of the playoffs in the first round for the fourth straight year. they do it in six games. I can't, only Oilers fans, truly, only Oilish fans could have predicted this in six. And all the credit in the world to you. After two games, after one game, frankly, no one predicted this. Yep. No one predicted this. And we have a lot to discuss here. But I think

first and foremost, this is devastating for the Kings players. Yes. I feel awful for the Kings players, Darcy Kemper, Darcy Kemper, almost first and foremost. Yep. But you also look at guys like Copey and Dewey who are getting older up there. This is a nightmare for them. Like you're entering the back nine, truly maybe the last couple of holes. I was going to say, we're not entering the back now. Yeah, yeah.

We're coming down, coming up 18 Fairway. And the last four years, you have been bounced from the playoffs in the first round against the same fucking team. That is the shit that haunts you at night. this game we talked about the ass yep Dallas when your backs against the fucking wall what do you got to do pepper fucking shots on net especially when this team's technical backup goalie is in the net and has been for the last three fucking games this guy is you can't beat them correct you can't beat their backup goalie and they get on this they get on the sheet first and that's great

QB gets a huge goal, gets them up 1-0, but this fucking Oilers team, man, especially in that arena, immediate goal. Then Clarkie gets them the lead again for the Kings. Immediate goal. And I said to you, I said on our show, if you are the Kings in this game 6, unfortunately for Kemper,

who had been a monster for them in games 4 and 5, what you can't do is give up more than two goals in this game. Yeah. Just how it was, dude. I hate to say it, but that's just how it was. And they gave up three in the first period. Dude, you said it. And Kemper is so hard done by in this series.

I genuinely think he played. He did everything you needed him to do. I actually believe that, even though you look at the goal numbers. And you're like, that's too high. That's not good enough. I'd actually love to check out his playoff stats when it's all said and done. But man, you were. spot on. You said three goals all game, I think.

Like, if you're like, if they score, or you even said two to me before the game started, if they give up two goals, they're going to lose. Literally, I was like, Kemper needs to give up one goal, frankly. If two, I could see it being a win, but it cannot be more than two. Yeah, like, do what sucks is he finishes with an 8, 8, 9, say, percentage,

and a 374 goals against when his regular season, his VESNA nomination, regular season was 921, say percentage, 202 goals against five shutouts. So I guess maybe I got to check myself where I'm like, that's not an 8, 8,89, 374 isn't good enough. But when you watch, you know, I feel like such a fucking idiot where you're like,

but just watch the game. It's different. The numbers don't tell the whole story. The numbers always tell the story, Dan. But it's like, he didn't seem to be the problem to me in that game. But yes, dude, three goals going in the first period. I'm like, we're done here, dude. Yeah, it sucks.

You've got a, I wanted to bring this up. And Oilers fans in the chat, hopefully there's tons of you. We had a great day yesterday on Twitter with after the, the death threats, the Oilers fans. My beautiful mother who's here. Who's here? After the death threats from Oilers fans, a lot of Oilers fans got really nice yesterday,

and I love that. We're going to get into how good the Oilers are. But I want to say this, the L.A. Kings in this series, a Vezna nominated goalie, top power play in the playoffs, home ice advantage. They led for most of the series,

second most goals in the playoffs, had young players stepping up, and Edmonton still wins. This one hurts more than any of the last four. No doubt about it. And we had a couple of great oilish fans who are telling us, we needed to wear the clown noses for this one. And as you know, we wore clown noses our last episode

when Florida crushed Tampa. I refuse in this because I stand by, we were not wrong. We were not wrong. Obviously, we were wrong in picking the Kings to win. but if you remember, I begrudgingly picked the Kings to win, or I shouldn't say begrudgingly, I frighteningly picked the Kings to win in seven. And I said if they will lose a single game at home, it's over.

Yep. And they lost a game at home. And I was like, boom, that's it. Talking to so many people. And obviously, it goes out saying, I love so many of the boys on that team. That's why we show them love all the time. And the Kings, one of if not the best organization in the NHL, as far as how they treat their fans, how they treat people.

Love them. But I said after that game five loss, I was like, it's done. Like if you lose this game, it's over and six. They needed to win that to four. And I was like, and it'll probably still go seven, even if they win game five. But they lost at home and with a bad performance. And I was like, this is done. We're done here.

Yeah, dude, this is people, a lot of Kings fans in the chat are really upset. And it's some of the guy, some of the guys, some of the elder statesman on the team that I think the rapid reaction here is like extreme blow up like blow everything up in L.A. This is a nightmare. And I don't, I don't, I'm not even going to knock you on that take, especially right now when you've had no time to breathe. Um, this, some of the guys on the Kings, old and young, but some of the guys in the Kings look slow. You're playing a very fast team, but some of the guys in the Kings looked very slow. Yeah. And didn't have the, um, the fight back that we just said Dallas had.

Right, where you're like, oh my God, we're on our heels. We're getting outshot 1,000 to 1. Yeah. And then Dallas goes, calm down. We're fucking fine. I never saw that from the Kings. Like, I never got that response. And that sucks to see, especially like what you said, where you go, you've had this thing where you're like, oh, we're playing noise.

We're getting worse and worse. Remember, we argued year two, the six game loss was even more encouraging than the seven game loss. Yeah. There was a spin zone here. Then you get dusted in five. And then this year, the six game loss is less encouraging than the five game loss last year. 100%. You know what I mean? Like that's so fucked up, but that's actually how I feel. 100%. Now, I posted a video last night and I don't need to stroke myself off any more than I already do. But I feel like sometimes we throw in some hot takes. Dr. Locke's just walked in. We're talking Kings. He's got to get up on the sticks for a second here too. Get in here, Locke. But I think sometimes we see things. We see things in the stars. What's up, Locke? We see things in the stars. And that fucking happened.

Obviously, we throw shit on the IG, we throw shit on Twitter all the time. People call us out, you're being reactionary. Guys, that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm saying stuff in real time. When I tweeted, before the power play goal went in in game three, Jim Hiller just cost this team the series. It was still 4 to 4 when I tweeted that. And I then immediately tweeted, is this,

are we going to look back at this as the worst coachish challenge in NHL playoffs history? guess what fucking happened folks four straight losses four straight losses and the kings are dead look this was this was my take kings went out with a bang you know they they

really down the stretch there they made things interesting kings died they set the tone game one when the oilers tied it up 5 5 in the final moments pulling the goalie look the kings throughout the entire series played with their food

every time the oilers pulled their goalie at the end of the game that's when shit would truly hit the fan that's when you would see dry sidle and you know make jesus come to life it just felt like it was a ticking time bomb with this la king's team and uh it's a shame we're not getting the game seven but i will say i think we're sniffing a game seven tonight jats blue the blues getting the job done the blues getting the job done tonight we don't want it we need it we need it we need We need blues tonight. We need it. For everything.

Friday night. We only have one game seven currently. We need another. We saw four game sixes that could have been pushed the game seven last night. Three of them get closed out. Statistically, analytically, we're due for one more game seven. We got to have it. He's absolutely right there in St. Louis.

In St. Louis. Give me a fucking break. One of the best teams since the nations, four nations, however you want to put it, put it in the pipe and smoke it. Give us the blues tonight. and I love looking at these next series too. I'm balls deep on the ice right now. And I have a few hot takes, but I think the Leafs are dead.

When we got, when we got CJS, CJSter, we're going to do our second round preview. Yes, the second round, as of right now, is scheduled to start Monday night. So our Monday morning live, we are going to do our full second round predictions. And you should jump on and join that and you'll give the hot takes.

But real quick, Lox, two things. One, are you telling the chat to smash Blues money line tonight? I already did. So maybe that's good or bad. I'm not sure. Take it as you will. But it has to be Blues. And then give the chat a Nerfie for today.

Oh, dude, it's May. It's May. It's May. Nerfis are dead. They fuck this all of April. We're going Yerfee in May. So we're going, you're ready to hear this. I'm so confident.

Is it a Yerfee? Yes, run? I'm so confident in two games tonight going Nerfie that I'm taking the Yerfee. That being the game in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. Okay. Pittsburgh between the pirates and the Padres and the game out in Anaheim between the tigers and angels. Both those games are Nerfis, so we're taking the Yerfee.

We got to get a parlay of those two Yerfys and the Blues tonight. No, just take the Blues. Just the Blues. Fuck the Yerfee's. The Blues. Get the job done tonight. I love it. All right.

We're hammering the blues. Lox. Shifley out, by the way. Shifley out. Shifley out. Got absolutely popped. Dude. Thanks for popping in.

Boys are buzzing on a Friday. Hell of a show, fellas. And I love these next round matchups. I cannot wait for the chaps, Panthers. Delicious. I mean, I just think that the fact that the leaves had to go game six with the senators. The senators, it's not a great look. I think the show is over for the leaves.

Yeah, I think I tend to agree. We'll get into it on Monday. And the nights, dude. Busing. Yeah. The knights might slap the oilers. Ooh. Okay.

The nights might slap you. Perfect transition because we got to get into the oilers. All right, Loxy just said, playing with their food, that is how we have to get into this Oilers team. I cannot get over. We're not going to hammer Jim Hiller. Jim Hiller had his presser today. He's just doubling down. He's so snippy.

And I don't blame him. I'm sure he's sick of answering all these questions. But we talked a lot about you have to discuss not playing their young guys, Spence getting fucking scratched. And then boom, he comes out and scores. I think Clark was only on the ice for like two or three goals against that entire series and they're afraid to play them. There's a lot of shit to talk about. But the big one here is it is so clear that if you give this Oilers team any life at all,

if you give them any semblance of fear, I did my Bruce impression from finding Nemo. But that's the truth, dude. And it shows when you go to the 131, when you sit back on your heels, that Oilers team knows what is our best feature. It's our offensive firepower. And this team is clearly afraid of it right now. That's when they capitalize. You just need to play this team straight up.

But at the end of the day, dude, at the end of the fucking day, this Oilers team can never be counted out. And even though I stand by, I don't think they're as strong as last year. I really don't. But as long as you have those two fucking guys on your team and you have this group and they have that mentality, I have a hard time picking against them ever again. Dude, dry sidle had an interesting post game where he, said, he was with Leah or Cap, I think he was with Leah. I can't remember who was doing that game.

And he was like, she said, you know, you're getting production up and down the lineup. And he was like, yeah, at 100% that's how you win hockey games this time of year. And I know deep down what he's actually thinking is it's fucking amazing that we just dusted the Kings and Six. And Connor and I didn't do jack shit. Wait till we get going and then watch what happens in the next couple rounds because you know they are going to get going. There's no such thing as an entire playoff run where they play badly. Well, I guess there is, but they will lose immediately. You know what I'm saying? So I think if you're an always fan, you feel great about getting by the Kings.

I have two things I want to say about this, dude. And I'm not trying to fucking, I've been wrong about a million things. I picked the Kings and Seven, so I was wrong about this. But I said building up to the playoffs, this Oilers team could give less of a fuck about this Kings team. Dude, like I don't care. And buddy, you are so fucking spot on with that. Why don't care? Who has, everybody's like the Oilers are trying to catch the Kings for Home Ice.

Kings haven't lost at home all year. That's why they got to stay ahead of the Oilers in that two, three. The Oilers could not care less where they're playing. They could not care less how many goals you're down in a game. They could not care less how many games they're down in a series. There was literally zero shreds of doubt in that Oilers locker room that they were going to beat this Kings team. And that can make a difference in a playoff series. No doubt about it.

I was talking to our boy, DJ Bean last night who has become an honorary Oilers fans for the last year or so. And he's dialed. He watches all the games. And he was saying the same thing. He was like, dude, the lineup is shaky. I don't know what's going on, but there's something about them. They can just find their rhythm. And I mean, if you're the Vegas Golden Knights right now,

you don't hate anyone on earth more than you hate a Los Angeles Kings. Because the Kings have just let this team find their rhythm in the biggest fucking way. And yeah, man, like I said, you can never fucking count them out. And shame on me and shame on you for thinking that this King's team was going to take care of business, was going to get in their heads. and it's almost like this series for the last four years is their tune-up series. It's like the Oilers play this fucking team and they go, yeah, we have some kinks, we have some issues.

And you just figure it out against this king's team. And then you go on a fucking run, dude. And I think my biggest thing was how fucking good in these games, particularly the last four, are guys like Yanmark, guys like Connor Brown, guys like Avander Kane. it is devastating how they have won these four games. And frankly, save for the OT goal, Connor and Leon weren't really even doing it that much. You're getting goals from R&H.

This lineup, we talked about the depth. And we were like, the king's depth feels a little better. Well, on paper, sure, it is. It didn't fucking look that way in these last four games. And it was the Oilers depth that just showed up and showed out in such a big way. fucking drove a stake through the king's heart, dude. Put a sword in their fucking back for the fourth time and destroyed this fucking franchise. And dude, a lot of people in the chat.

And this is so fair. Good debate. But people are being like, dude, they have a shitload of points. Connor is 11 points leading the playoffs. You're all right. We're more talking about goals. I think someone brought up the staff. But there's nine goals in the last two games. Those guys didn't have either of them. So it's just, yes, they're buzzing. And they are, I don't mean to imply that they're not doing shit because 11 points leading the playoffs is doing shit. Absolutely. but when those guys aren't lighting the lamp yet. And I think Leon maybe has three. So to be fair to the chat, you're right.

Leon does have three. But I'm telling you those guys have another gear that they weren't even in in this series. And if you don't think that, then you've never seen them play before because they are disgusting and can go nuclear at any moment. I also want to say, Dan, I don't love the, I don't love the coach challenge narrative as much as you and some other people. Only because it's just. that was a horrible challenge and lost you that game. 1,000% and I'm clearly wrong because everything went to hell since that challenge. So like you guys, everyone's saying it is probably right.

Not probably right, is right. But to me, I'm like, that is such small brain pussy excuse shit that you're like, oh, this one challenge in game three really fucked my entire series. Well, that's exactly what it is. Yeah. It is, I mean, it's grasping at straws a little bit. And I'm happy to admit, like I don't, I don't. I don't really feel like that 100% did it.

The one part that I do actually believe in, because like we said, it's like, does one thing lose a series? No. And ultimately, let's be real, dude, game four, Q has the puck on a stick with an easy flip out with 30 seconds left. Now, I have gone to bat for Q in the DMs, in the Instagram comments and on Twitter,

and I fucking will right now. He was a fucking dog, all series. He was fantastic, scored that first goal in game six. Quentin Byfield is a star in this league, and he's a big part of the future of the LA Kings. He's the fucking man. I love you, Q. I love you as a player as much as a person. Yeah.

And anyone giving him shit for that one play, shame on you because he had a great fucking series and you know it. And frankly, his rocket shit. Olivia loves a challenge. It's why she lifts heavy weights and likes complicated recipes. But for booking her trip to Paris, Olivia chose the easy way with Expedia. She bundled her flight with a hotel to save more. Of course, she still climbed all 674 steps to the top of the Eiffel town. You were made to take the easy route.

We were made to easily package your trip. Expedia, made to travel. End of the season is why you had home ice, a huge part of why. So there are other, I bring that up as to say there are moments. The one part that I do logically cling to, not cling to for the point of entertainment, I think it did show fear. Yeah. And that's fair.

Dude, it was a bad challenge. That's the thing. It's not like it was a good, like, dude, this is a toss up. That was a terrible challenge.

And I don't know if your video guy has to, has to fucking answer for it or if that was straight up here. But if I am Luke Robitai, if I am Rod Blake, if you still have a job, I am, those guys are two of the first people I'm fucking talking to being like, what happened there after that game?

Because that was an objectively bad challenge. Like we talked about, people in the hockey. We were up all night. I was up at three in the morning talking to Colby Armstrong, being like, what the fuck was that child? What did he see? Army said that on the stream. He was like, what is he seeing that's making him so adamant about challenging this? That's why I don't like it because it was a bad challenge and your team was tied in a pivotal moment of a third period. And you go, I'm challenging this. And if we lose it, I'm going to give this Edmonton Oilers team a power play.

Dude, it just, it felt so scared. And that for me was why it was so bad. you had that shaky game one, but you still managed to get it done. You were like, okay, and then you beat the shit out of them in game two. You have the advantage. You have the mental advantage. That was the only moment where this King's team was like, we're not afraid of you. And even here, and like that wasn't a big lead. You had a one goal leap going into this.

And like, you know, they tie it, but it's like, okay, we've been here before. But when you challenge it, to me, that was the sign that showed the Oilers like, we are afraid. We are afraid of losing this game to you. And that is why it was unforgivable. Not exactly the same because it was a difference in score, but you saw last night, Vegas gives up that goal to make it three, two by Hartman.

And there was a little hit, there's a whiff of goal interference in there, he'll trying to get to the post, a lot of sticks in between his pads. And it's like, does Vegas challenge that? And they go, obviously not because if we lose that challenge

and then we give Minnesota a power play a chance to tie the game. Again, not exactly the same because it was up. They were still up a goal. But that's what I'm trying to talk about. You have to think about the repercussions of what might come from the challenge, not just the moment. Ignore it, dude.

it's done. Pucks in your net, fucking reset. The challenge feels like such a, dude, even when teams are right about an offside challenge, sometimes I feel like that's such a fucking bailout move because you're like, dude, you got scored on and just move on and just start playing better starting now. Instead of being like, wait, wait, was he offside? I'm like, shut the fuck up. I know. So, yeah, I'm so with you on that.

All right, a couple seconds on the, what the kings do from here, how they're feeling. And then I want to, I want to spend the rest of our time here stroking off this Oilers team, because they deserve it and their fans deserve it. Yep. Kings, dude, there's some big changes coming, I think. I don't know how massive, whether that's front office style, that's roster side. But I think you've officially, unfortunately, by the way, reached a point where you're doing the insanity thing, where it's like, oh, we've built this team and they retooled on the fly.

They really did. Kind of moving out of that Stanley Cup 20-teens, well, whatever, not dynasty, but like two-cup run era, into like keeping these guys adding some young talent and staying very, very relevant, very relevant. And I give the front office a ton of credit for that. But now you're like, well, we have a problem. And is it unfair that I play the always every fucking year in the first round? Yeah, sure.

Playoff format blows. But this, you can't win like this. So something has to change. Yeah. I agree. I do think unfortunately big changes are going to happen. There were some people in, in, I, understand right after a loss, you're a little angry. Some comments were talking shit about

Dowdy and Copatar. And I cannot stand that. Don't forget, Dowdy obliterated his ankle this year and came back and still played and was playing over 25 minutes a game. Copi is for the majority of your season, was your leading goal score. I think the problem is they're being asked to do too much. It's a, it's a failure in lineup and roster management that you have Kopey still being your number one center, being asked to do, going in this series having to go up against Leon and Connor all the time. Do we having to be the one to stand up against them all the time. So I think that is something that needs to be fixed. I think those guys are still great. But there are definitely big changes coming because this one, like we talked about, it's not last year.

When they lost last year, we were like, this Edmonton team's fantastic. Like, you know, I was an idiot and I was like, the Kings could do it. But like that Edmonton team had it. This one was yours to lose. You had home ice and you were the better team on paper. No fucking doubt about it. So changes are coming. Now, getting into the Oilers here as we finish off this episode, I feel like all of the, for me personally, all of the, I don't want to say the word doubts,

but all of the questions I had about this roster. They lose guys like Fogel. Eckholm's not playing. It also sounds like Elliott Friedman announced that Ekholm won't be back for round two either, which is devastating. you lose Broberg and Holloway. You bring in Ardinson, Skinner. They're not really doing it like you would want.

But I think all of the questions I had about this Oilers team feel like they were kind of answered in a positive way in these last four games. So I think going into the next series, you've got to feel not blindly good, but pretty strong about your chances against Vegas. I think so too. I think like you said, whatever this is for them, the tune up, whatever you want to call it, I thought similar to Vegas at the end of the Minnesota series, the Oilers are playing their best hockey now.

The way they came out in Game 5 and in L.A. was, that was, I was like, oh, shit. You made this joke a while ago, but it's like the Max Bear thing in Cinderella, man, when he just flying out of the corner. And everyone's like, oh, my God. Now he's awake now. The Oilers woke the fuck up in game five of this series.

And now, all of a sudden, I was clowning people that took them, not to beat the Kings, but to go to the Cup. People were being like, I like, I like, I like Edmonton to run it back this year. And I was like, are you fucking high, dude? Look at the team. teams in the West. Look how much worse Edmonton is this year. You must be insane. And now watching them

play the last two games, I'm like, that team has juice, dude. That team has the jump that could literally make another cup run. And who, I'm not saying I'm picking them to win it yet, but I am telling you that all of a sudden I'm seeing it too. And now I can see through the fucking trees. And I can see Connor and Leon and their eyes in the dark, their yellow eyes lighting up, staring back at me. It's fucking scaring me again. I'm getting those fears again. So here come the Oilers. And I, if you're anyone they have to play, that doesn't look good. No, no fucking way. And, you know, I, I love how we've got a series here where I think we're seeing it in the chat.

We're seeing it in the comments. We're seeing it on Twitter. Vegas fans are like, nights and fucking five, nights and six. And Oilers fans are being like Oilers and Six, bitch. Like, you guys fucking stink. So I love that we have a series here. I mean, listen, we talked about after L.A. was up to O. we were like, damn,

like, Kings Knights would be really fun. Now I'm like, Oilers Knights is going to be a fucking blast. I mean, you've got, we talk about all the time. I think Jack Eichl is a top five player in the league,

him going up against Connor and Leon again. Connor and Leon, like I said, being quiet per their standards in that round one and still getting by in six games. Now you get to have them come in here. Like maybe they unlock. Like,

are we about to see the Oilers rocket ship straight to the final again? it's definitely fucking possible. Do you think how many, what would have to happen to Pickard to go back to Skinner? Oh man. Like a Vegas lights him up in game one. A game one loss doesn't do it.

A game one loss with more than five goals, maybe does do it. And then you start Skinner game two. Yeah, I would maybe be like give it a shot. But I could see them being like, whatever. Play game two. But Skinner did this last year. Remember he missed a bunch of time in the Vancouver series

and then he was like, takes the job back. I actually think, I actually think the Oilers finish this. I'm calling this right now. The Oilers finish this playoff series, either lifting the cup or getting eliminated with Stuart Skinner and that.

Damn. I kind of love that. All right. You got any final thoughts? Chat, any final thoughts before we bounce out of here? We've got some incredibly juicy second round matchups. I'm fucking thrilled. We really do.

As much as I want to get into him, chat, you know the drill. Podcast episodes come out Tuesday, Thursday. Make sure that you pop on those. Give us a five-star rating on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast. Make sure you are subscribed to the YouTube, babes. Come on.

Subscribe to that YouTube. Follow us on all our channels. Over the weekend, we're going to be buzzing with you guys on our Instagram, on our Twitter talking about all the games. We will be back in this format on Monday, 9 a.m. Pacific, 12 noon Eastern, talking about all of the matchups

because round two starts on that Monday night. So for all of our previews, tune in Monday in this same format. Stephen says he's pissed. We didn't take Big Buff in the players versus the guerrilla match. I think Stephen DMed us. And I was like, I said active players. Yeah, dude, because someone chirped me too.

They were like, how do you not take Charra? And I was like, I was going to take Charra, but Dan said active players. So there was plenty of guys, there was plenty of guys we left out. But they're right. I did start dabbling in the non-active. So we should have taken Big Buff. He would be a very valuable act. Very valuable.

Very valuable. All right, folks, that's going to be it for us on this episode of Empty Netters, puck line news, covering all the games. getting into all the nitty gritty. We've got an electric weekend coming up. Like I said, must watch television. At least one game seven already. Oh, yeah.

We got at least one. Let's check if we get another in the Jets Blues game tonight. We can't wait to dial in with you guys on Monday. Make sure you follow us. Florida fans, Elbow 30, ELBO 30, 30% off on that album room T. Guys, check out all of our other merch. It's amazing shit. We love you guys so much.

Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for tuning in. we will see you next time and we'll talk to you all weekend on our channels. And remember while we watch hockey this weekend, skate hard.