Halford & Brough in the Morning - Could The Oilers Do The Improbable?

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with The Hockey News Florida Panthers insider David Dwork after Florida lost game five (3:00), they hear from Elliotte Friedman on what's next for the Canucks signing-wise (15:00), plus they get the Edmonton side of things from Sports 1440's Jason Gregor (27:00), as the Oilers look to force a game seven. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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Four parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. David Dwork from the Hockey News of Florida is going to join us in just a moment here. Kickoff hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor without compromise. Get some at a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it's made.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider. Powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Let's go to Florida, shall we? And get engaged on the temperature down there. Joining us now, David Dwork here on the Halford & Brough Show

on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you? I'm doing well, gentlemen. Thank you for having me on. How's everybody feeling down there, David? Tired. Yeah. It's been a long couple weeks um you know i think a lot of us coming into this we're expecting the series to go long maybe after the way the first

few games shook out obviously uh didn't feel that way but no it's it's been nice to see the oilers kind of fighting back see a great offensive team a great defensive team and now they're both kind of flexing the muscles the other way so uh, you know, it should be fun heading back to Edmonton, minus the flights. Yeah, of course. Paul Maurice, we talked about him a lot in the first hour of this show, and that he's in an interesting spot

because he's got to try and, you know, gauge the temperature of his team, keep them cool, maybe not necessarily hide from the fact that the series has gone in a totally different direction, but also, you know, try and close this thing out because, as you mentioned, the Panthers do still have a 3-2 series lead. What did you take away from Paul Maurice's postgame media availability yesterday?

I think Paul, for the most part, has been pretty consistent with his message. I think the only time we've seen him really stray from his usual demeanor was after game two, and we weren't sure what the status of Sasha Barkov was after that hit from Leon Dreisaitl, and he was pretty sour after that. But on the most part, Paul Maurice and his coaching staff have been pretty confident that they know how to push the right buttons with this team and make the right tweaks to get them to play how they want them to play. I asked him about that after game four in Edmonton, if he'd be able to find a few things to get the to play how they want them to play. I asked him about that after game four in Edmonton, if he'd be able to find a few things to get the team back into play

the way he wanted them to. It seemed like in game five, Florida got off to a pretty good start in the first few minutes, but that shorthanded goal by Connor Brown really took the wind out of their sails, and it took them a while to recover from that. What they do heading into game six will be interesting, just because obviously it's going to be an insane building up there at Rogers

Place and all the momentum is now on the Oilers side. This is an area that Paul Maurice and his staff have excelled at getting their team snapped back into place during the season. So doing it on the biggest stage with the highest stakes, that would be the real test to see if they can continue to do that. What's going on with Florida's

power play? Edmondon's penalty kill has really done a good job of taking away a lot of their passing lanes. The fluidity that we've seen from Florida's power play during the season and into the playoffs isn't really there. It's also kind of applying to the 5-on-5 where I just feel like they're trying to make that perfect play every time that they get an opportunity in the offensive zone. And Edmonton is doing a good job of taking away those chances. Florida, one thing that Edmonton did early on in the series that I thought was smart was they just started throwing the puck on the net.

Florida might need to take a little page out of that book, start just trying to get pucks on Stewart's dinner because now his side-to-side game, he's making a lot of those saves that maybe he wasn't making in the beginning part of the series, and it's starting to show. Florida's goals are going down and Edmonton's goals are going way up. So, you know, we'll see how that plays out in Game 6. It really is incredible

how good Edmonton's PK has been throughout the playoffs. They didn't allow a single power play goal against LA. They held the Canucks in five games to no power play goals, although the Canucks did get three against them in the series, and that was like the high watermark for any team. No goals for the Dallas Stars on the power play,

and just one for the Florida Panthers. That being said, I think the big story is how do you, if not contain Connor McDavid, at least limit him? Well, they did a good job of it for a few games, but it seems like Mr. McDavid has really come to life over the last couple of games. And I mean, it's a simple question. How do you contain Connor McDavid?

As soon as anybody figures it out, I'm sure they'll be happy to let us all know. But no, it's a simple question. How do you contain Connor McDavid? As soon as anybody figures it out, I'm sure they'll be happy to let us all know. But no, it's really been pretty remarkable. You know, there was some talk that McDavid may have been battling an injury and perhaps looked a little bit hobbled or, you know, slowed from his perspective the first few games of the series. But yeah, he's really come alive, whether it's been special teams or five-on-five, and it's become a problem for the Panthers.

Early in the series, it was a lot of the secondary scoring for Edmonton that was making a difference. And you're like, wow, they're going to be able to keep up. Florida's up 3-0. But now all of a sudden, with David's misdaviding, Dreisaitl starting to show up, Zach Hyman, he got it all. See, Florida, they've got some adjustments that they may need to make. They've got two days here between games before they have to play Edmonton again

up in that crazy building up there. I'm just very, very curious to see what Paul Maurice and his staff do. Are they going to try to dump it a little bit more? Because their fluidity of the way that they've got their zone entries, it's just not there right now edmonton is kind of throwing for his game right back in their face they're taking away a lot of their time and space their gaps have been really tight and florida hasn't had the kind of answers that they had during much of the season so whether edmonton is able to keep that up or whether paul

maurice and his staff are able to find another way around it it's going to be what we got to keep an eye on heading into the next game here uh david what are you seeing from Bobrovsky, the difference between the first three games and the last two games? Really, it's not a big – I wouldn't fault Bob too much on a lot of the goals the last couple of games. I mean, Edmonton, their jobs – I mean, they're picking their corners right now. They're hitting – a lot of the times during the first few games, you saw Edmonton hitting a few posts, not hitting the net at all. Now, all of a sudden, they're starting to hit their shots.

I really don't fault Bob much at all. I mean, I think back to, I think it was the Ekholm goal in like game two or game three that snuck through him and that was a bad one. But a lot of the goals, a lot of the goals that Edmonton have been scoring have just been on really nice offensive plays where they're getting behind defense, the Panthers defense in Florida's end and solving Bob that way. So I don't think there's a big concern for Sergei Virovsky in terms of him giving up weak goals or anything like that.

I think the problem has been with Florida's defense, and they really need to shore it up. We're speaking to David Dwork from the Hockey News, Florida Panthers insider here on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Did you happen to catch the video of Bill Zito angrily slamming down his water bottle yesterday, David? I did. It was one of the last things I saw before going to bed last night.

Yeah. I mean, look, Bill Zito, I have nothing but respect and praise for Bill Zito and the job that he's done here with the Panthers and the way he's turned this team around. And I think it's a little disrespectful is the right word, but I don't think it's cool that he's been a finalist three of the four years he's been the Panthers GM for the Jim Nill Award,

and he's gotten kind of overlooked each time. Maybe a little bit of a popularity contest. I think the same two guys have won the last four years, but I digress. But I liked what I saw from Zito in it, because usually he's very calm, cool, and collected. Certainly a very nice man. But look, this is the Stanley Cup final, and they were up 3-0. Now they're going back to Edmonton, which I don't think anybody wanted to do.

I thought, you know, a lot of people that I spoke to kind of figured, all right, you give them one up there, but Florida will close it out in Game 5. And not only did they not close it out in Game 5, they fell behind 3-0. They were down by three goals twice in that game in their own building. So I think that there's maybe a little bit of concern, a little bit of piss and vinegar coming from the Panthers' front office right now because, look, this is a team that will now be going to their third chance of winning the Stanley Cup, and it's frustrating.

I mean, as you mentioned, the last thing you want to do is give a team like Edmonton with Conor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl any kind of momentum and confidence. And that's exactly what's frustrating. I mean, as you mentioned, the last thing you want to do is give a team like Edmonton with Conor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl any kind of momentum and confidence. And that's exactly what's happening. I mean, I love seeing that kind of anger out of Bill Zito. I would imagine that's going to be trickling down into the locker room, even though we didn't really hear much of it from Paul Maurice. But it's all going to come down to Game 6, because if that goes Edmonton's way and we get into a winner-take-all kind of Game 7,

Florida could be looking down the barrel of history in a very bad way. I bring it up because I mean, in a vacuum, it is what it is. Like he's frustrated and it was right after the Kachuk amazing empty net save and then McDavid puts in the goal. So I can get the frustration in the moment, but I was, you know, we just had Jeff Merrick on the show and I was with the 32 thoughts podcast. It was the most recent one. They were talking about that.

This might be the first real like crisis moment. I think crisis might not be the right word, but real moment of concern that the Panthers have had this playoff run. And then they kind of pointed it out. Like you go back, they handled Tampa Bay very easily in the first round, one, four,

one, they kind of positioned it that they weren't overly tested by the Bruins in round two, even though it was very physical, it was a four, two victory. and they kind of had it under control. Same with the Rangers. But now this is the first time where things have maybe gotten a little bit out of their control.

I'm just curious to get your thoughts on that assessment, because you followed this playoff run as closely as anybody. Well, you're seeing some uncharacteristic things from the Panthers right now. That's true, yeah. They hadn't lost more than two games in a row this entire playoff, and that only happened once to the Rangers, and those were two overtime games that were very tight and could have gone either way.

They hadn't given up more than three goals in back-to-back games this playoff. Now they've done it in three straight games to the Oilers, even though they did win one of those games. So it's a little bit against the norm from what we've seen from the Panthers throughout this entire playoff. So between the loss itself and the way that Florida has not been able to play their style, which has been their bread and butter throughout the season and the postseason, it's quite understandable the way that frustration is coming from.

Because all of a sudden, as you kind of just alluded to, after feeling basically in control of your destiny for much of this playoff run, which must be an amazing feeling, all of a sudden that feeling is getting taken away from you at the most crucial time. So absolutely understandable the frustration. And while you might not want to show that level of frustration, if you're Bill Zito, particularly knowing that there's cameras everywhere, I don't think really give a bleep at this point. It's the game,

it's the Stanley Cup final and you know, you're going to do what you're going to do. But I do see where that could maybe not be the best look, but I completely understand where it's coming from. It's just the playoffs have kind of turned on their head for the Panthers in a very real way. Given how much was made of the last time that the Panthers went to Edmonton, have they said how they're going to do their travel plans this time around? I believe they're going to fly out tomorrow, but I'm not totally sure.

I know that Mo is speaking with the media today, I think like 1230 East. So I don't know if they would travel at like one, two o'clock today. I really should have checked in last night, but I was a little out of it. Sure. But this time around, it'll be different because when they traveled to Edmonton last time, there was kind of this monsoon that just sat on top of South Florida for a few days and that wrecked almost everybody's flight plans. So that is not the case this week.

I know that throughout the year, Florida, the way that they've handled their travel is, whether it's home or away, they won't practice. They won't really skate the day after a game. And if they're traveling, they'll do it that afternoon. However, with the extra day off, they did wait before heading out to Edmonton after game two. So it'll either be today or tomorrow. I know they have a very strict rest recovery plan that they follow top to bottom. I mean, it's obviously for the players, but everybody kind of adheres to it.

And they listen to those sports science guys. So whatever they tell them is what the Panthers are going to do. But I don't foresee them having any issues or whatever. I think they'll just, you know, whatever their schedule is going to be is what they're going to be on thanks to the weather not being crazy this time around. David, thank you very much for doing this yet again. And enjoy Game 6 on Friday. As soon as I get to Edmonton, I'm sure I'll be lovely.

Good luck, buddy. Travel safe. Thanks for doing this. My pleasure, guys. Take care. David Dwork from the Hockey News, leaving Florida, heading to Edmonton, here on the Halpern and Brough

Show on Sportsnet 650. Red Wing Ted texts in, didn't Cam Neely have a beauty bottle toss? Yeah, he did in the 2019 Stanley Cup final.

It wasn't in game seven when the Bruins lost. I think game five when they lost. But yeah, he did. And then Red Wing Ted goes on to say, the bottle throw is great, showing some emotion.

I don't think having emotion is going to be a problem for anyone. No. In this series. The problem will be how do you harness that emotion in the right way? And that's going to be a challenge for everyone because you don't necessarily want to tamp down the emotions and and and pull it like we got to have some composure here because emotion if you harness it the right way can be a good thing right if your emotion is anger that you're in this position

go out there and show it the way i looked at it was that was more again we're reading a lot into a guy just getting pissed off in the he might have been like uh i had the best party planned and i and i had and i had to throw down a an unrefundable deposit on this party i i like i'm out 500 bucks i bet it was more than 500 bucks i like to think of it as he's like what are you doing e Ekman Larson? God! And they threw his water bottle. But that was bad. Keep our composure! We've gone too far! There's too much to lose! We've got to just keep our composure!

That's what I was thinking. That was Paul Marisa after the game last night. OEL, I mean, I know he thought the play was done for whatever reason. Either he thought the puck was in or the net was off its moorings, I guess. But, you know, there's this thing that the referees blow to stop play. I've never heard of this thing.

Okay, let's get into the Jake Gensel talk. We've got some audio from yesterday. So after the Heronic deal was signed, sealed, delivered, and announced, Sportsnet 650 was busy on the analysis front. BIC had Elliott Friedman on shortly after the news was announced, and they started looking forward to what comes next. And what comes next might be Jake Gensel. So here is about a minute and a half, two minutes,

of uninterrupted Elliott Friedman thoughts on what the Canucks might do, how they might do it, and why they might go after Jake Gensel. I think right now, Bic, we should all understand how the Canucks do business and at least under the Rutherford Alvin regime. And that is that if they want something, they will try to get something. And if they have to do other work around it, they will do other work around it.

So the way I look at this now is they get roenick in for a number they're very comfortable with they know what else they've got to do and in terms of cap room and you know what else they're interested in so like the way i look at it is let's just say like there's all the conversation about gansel let's just say like there's all the conversation about Gensel. Let's just say for argument's sake, they think they can get Gensel. My history with Jim Rutherford is if he, if he really feels that Gensel, A, he can get him and B, he makes that much of a difference, then he'll get them. And then he can go 10% over the cap in the summer and he'll deal with it

after. And that's kind of the way, or he'll deal with it after and that's kind of the way or he'll deal with it at the same time like i just think that's the way rutherford operates here's what i want here's what i think i can get now what do i need to do around it so like i think that like i said i think they've given up on lynn holm i just don't think they're going to be able to do that i think they're still i don't know like this adorav thing like i i don't it they're going to be able to do that. I think they're still, I don't know, like the Sadorov thing, it doesn't sound like they're incredibly far apart, but I really don't know which way this is going to go here. I keep hearing different things.

It's pretty funny. Like at this time of year, you hear a lot of crazy stuff. So you just got to be careful. What I'd say right now is that they're just not, they're not there and we'll see what happens. You know, Myers, I was optimistic. I had some people say to me today, maybe you're a little bit too optimistic.

I mean, this time of year, it's so crazy. The guy who knows the best is, the people who know the best, the people in the Vancouver front office. Okay. So my line of thinking now is I wonder if they've had a

priority list, like a to-do list, and it was very clear that first priority was get the Heronic deal done because we need to know what the rest of the summer is going to look like and nothing that can proceed this summer until we get that deal done they just made that the number one priority that got ticked off yesterday ticked off in a good way like tick the box two i wonder if number

two on that list is uh we go get canceled on july 1 and then we figure everything else out after that so you know what else i'm thinking is how How much, what are the Canucks saying to all the other pending UFAs? Some of which, some of whom they still hope to bring back. You're not the priority. Yeah. But do you remember we ran out of time? Do you remember Tyler Toffoli being like, well, I got to go. I remember we ran out of time, but I remember it almost being like this floundering thing where they didn't have a plan period if the plan is you guys are gonna have to take a seat because we've got two big things we

want to accomplish and one is haronic and two is genzel well they said they said that to chris taniff and he was like i just kept on getting told you know we got we'll get to you we'll get to you we'll get to you and then july 1st came around and he was like listen i gotta take this offer here that was a totally different management no i agree i really often yeah i really often known for its incompetence no no i know but the challenges are still there right it's it's a balancing act because you are telling these guys um we want you but we can't commit to you quite yet because we don't know where we're at the the difference i at the oh the difference i would say the difference i would say here is that it's certainly and elliot's pointed this out in multiple different

hits he talked about on the 32 thoughts pod there was another clip with bick he said there's one thing i've learned about jim rutherford and dealing with him from carolina to pittsburgh to here it's that if he wants something he's gonna go and accomplish it and then he'll figure out the secondary and tertiary parts later like the key is we make a list we know exactly what we want to do and then if there's other pieces that we have to deal with those can be dealt with later and i kind of remember when they finally orchestrated the phil kessel trade was it had been long been rumored before that they were going to try and go after phil kessel trade was it had long been rumored before that they were going to try and go after phil kessel and it was like rutherford made up his mind he's like we're

getting them yeah we'll figure out the rest later but we're getting them and i wonder if this is the sort of 2k version with genzel it's like you know what will you prioritize top end talent i mean and what if you know because the thing is with Hronik, it's like, yeah, this could have happened and that could have happened, but at the end of the day, we're keeping, we traded for him, we identified him, we want to make him Quinn Hughes' defensive partner, our number

two D-man for a long time. Bang, yesterday gets done. Yeah. Now I'm wondering if it's like, what's the other big hole we need to fill on this roster? We need to find a scoring winger that can play with Patterson. But I wonder if they've considered trading for Gensel's rights so they can get it

all done before July 1st. So that's important to note because Frege also threw that out there yesterday. Or sorry, Frank Cerelli threw it out on Daily Faceoff. Because it's also, there's the risk of you get to July 1st and you've let other guys sit around and wait and maybe consider other offers, and then Gensel goes to you,

I'm going to sign with someone else. And you're like, oh, we're really screwed then. Frank wrote yesterday, in addition to the advanced negotiating time that you're talking about, the Hurricanes have also let teams know they are willing to work out a sign-and-trade so the team could get a maximum eight-year term for Gensel and lower the cap it that's interesting in exchange for a mid-round pick I mean all the signals that the Canucks are sending out there like again Freed and Frank and

everyone else aren't getting these things out of thin air like these are happening these things are happening for a reason this is what we refer to as light tampering in the business you just you work around the edges and you find ways to put things out there so it's not tampering if you call up to carolina and say let's work on this together that's perfectly legal and it's a good strategy here's what i'm saying sometimes the most obvious solution is the one that everyone goes with we can and i know it's the off season and we walk ourselves down a bunch of different roads, and can they keep this guy, and would they like to keep this guy, and what offer was made to this guy.

But at the end of the day, it could be our number one priority was to re-sign Philip Roenick, who's our number two defenseman, and we did that. And then our other priority was to get a top six winger, a guy that can play with Petey, and we're going to do that. You have said, at the end of the day, a thousand times, when is this day coming? July 1st.

Although possibly earlier if they trade for his negotiating rights. You know, and then you get a deal in there with Carolina. Now, by the way, the number that Frank threw out was at least 65 million, and it could be seven times nine and a half for Gensel. And sticker shock would be a thing there. That's a lot of money. then pd's gonna be like i don't really like playing with gencil and then and the proof of concept is kind of there with gencil because the one question mark i would have had was is he going to be as productive

not riding shotgun with sydney crosby well he went to. It was great. He scored over a point per game. He had really good chemistry with Sebastian Ajo. I know a lot of people have said Ajo would be the Pedersen in this scenario, and they have similar games where they can set the table for the guy. I'll say this. If it happens, mentally prepare yourselves for a long-term deal on a guy that's inching closer to 30. Yeah. And a lot of money.

Mm-hmm. A lot of money. Well, they've already made their commitments. So when I look at this team right now, I'm like, yeah, go for it. Next couple of years, JT Miller's in his prime right now. He's playing really well. You got Demko and Hughes on really good contracts. You made the commitment to Petey.

Hopefully he comes back in just better shape mentally and physically next season. Let's see how it goes. Whether or not you think the team has the ability to win the Stanley Cup, this is the best they're going to look. This is it. So just go for it. They took Edmonton

to the dying moments of Game 7 of the third period right there they might not be all the way there but they're close yeah and then you hope some of the young players uh take a step next season and you just i know i'm saying the word hope a lot just like i'm saying what did i say at the end of the day at the end of the day at the end of the day you hope things work out we got a lot more to get to on the halford and breath show on sportsnet 650 uh we're gonna go to edmonton next we're gonna be joined by jason gregor from uh sports talk 1440 in edmonton so whatever sort of nervousness and trepidation we just heard from david dork out of florida i imagine we'll hear something

opposite i don't think a lot of people in edmonton thought this series was going back there on friday night but it is we'll talk to j to Jason Greger next about all that and more coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. Thank you. 7.32 on a Eurodance Wednesday here on Halpern Rep Show on Sportsnet 650 speaking of the Euros

avert your ears if you're Albanian, Croatian or just recording the match right now. I'm about to provide a spoiler. Croatia may have just salvaged this tournament. Kramaric, midway through the second half, evens things up 1-1 after the Croats had fallen behind 1-0 to the plucky Albanians. You'll remember Croatia was soundly beaten in its opener against Spain.

So they are now fighting for their tournament lives and survival. 1-1. This is the group of death, right? Italy, Spain, Croatia, and Albania? This is the group of death. Yeah. And Albania threw a bit of a scare into Italy in the opener. They scored 23 seconds into that one.

Oh, Croatia on the march again. Wow. The Croatians are really pushing here. Albania, Albania, you border on the Adriatic. It's a good clip. It's a deep cut. Early cheers. Early cheers.

Early cheers. Coach cheers. Coach was still alive. Yeah. Rest in peace, coach. We made that joke earlier, and we quickly realized that. We are old. Yeah.

A lot of our listeners are like, I don't know what he's doing. Jason Greger is going to join us in just a moment here on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It is hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. Get some at a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it's made.

Let's go to Edmonton. Jason Greger of Sports Talk 1440 in Edmonton joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Jason. How are you? I'm excellent, fellas. It's a sunny day in Edmonton. I can only imagine the vibes right now, but I want to go back.

Let's go back to last week. So it's Thursday, June 13th, six days ago. Edmonton loses 4-3 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. How little a chance did you give at that point, that exact moment, that this thing would be going back to Edmonton for a Game 6, which it will on Friday?

Well, it's funny. I went on my show afterwards because the Or orders had actually played quite well in two of those three games and lost. And so I said, I won't be surprised if they could extend it to six games. I said, if they get it to six, then anything can happen. Now, I didn't expect them to score 13 goals in the next two games, which is obvious. I think that's third most in a two game span in NHL history, right?

Like you gotta go way back to like the Ottawa senators when they gave up 20, I think it was, but, um, you know, Florida had been a very good defensive team. Obviously Bobrovsky had really been superhuman.

If you look at his numbers, he had like, I think Kevin Woodley told me it was plus 5.43 saves above expected in games one and three like um so obviously that's that wasn't sustainable and you know edmonton's a good team they're a pretty resilient group i know uh you know there's a lot of people doubting them and um you know the advantage they have is they got that 97 kid and yeah he's good when he just when he decides to to crank it up sometimes he's pretty good do you guys ever feel like you've been spoiled in Edmonton, having Connor McDavid?

I know there have been some tough times. I realize there have been some tough times. But the people in Edmonton, especially people who are in their 40s, 50s, 60s now, have seen arguably, I mean, some would say the two greatest players in hockey history. Oh yeah. I remind people that all the time. I remember there was lots of people who said they kind of took Gretzky for granted at the end. They kind of just expect them. Oh, you know what?

He's going to do stuff and away you go. And now how Gretzky dominated the game was very different than McDavid, right? Like Gretzky just saw the game and looked very different than anyone else he was kind of a step ahead of everybody and how he anticipated the play mcdavid is different because he can he can bring you out of your seat right and as we saw last night on the on the cory perry goal where there's you know if you freeze frame that shot when mcdavid is entering the zone and he's parally side by side where the

sports net logo is on the ice go freeze frame that shot it's like one on four and three seconds later he's through them and gives cory a perry basically you know a chip in goal like it's it's mind blowing the stuff that that he can do and um i know a lot of people say it's only mcdavid and i think that would be really misleading like they, they were up 3-1 against Florida, and McDavid really hadn't done anything in game four. And then he scores, you know, four points. Last night, Connor Brown, another shorthanded goal to open the game for the Orders.

You know, him and Yanmar could be not real on the penalty kill. Then McDavid, you know, the first assist on the Hyman goal, you know, it's just like nothing crazy. But after that, he really kind of took over the game. And that's what you need. Like, when you have the best player, that's always an advantage for any team. Like, it's not a surprise, you know, Crosby's. Well, that's why most of the greats of the greats eventually win,

just because if you surround them with enough good players, which Edmonton finally has done, then there's going to be nights where McDavid can dominate. If you look at the Vancouver series, they didn't win because of McDavid alone. He obviously was very good, but was there a game in that series where you look back and say,

wow, he dominated the game? In the first two rounds, after the first two rounds, people would have said Dreisaitl's probably the leader for the orders for the cons, and Bouchard might have been second. Now it's obviously McDavid, right, over the whole playoff. So, you know, they've got a deeper team than they've ever had before. And, you know, it's still going to be tough, though.

Like, they've only won two games, right? Like, as great as it is in Edmonton, they're coming home for game six. And I know a lot of people expect them to win game six. Well, a lot of people thought Florida was going to win game five, right? Like, remember, oh, well, Florida just kind of took their foot off the gas because they wanted to win at home which to me was the most idiotic take i've heard in a long time no team purposely loses in the stanley cup final like what kind of idiot would actually say those words and believe them like give me a break um you know but florida they finally you know matthew kachuk

showed up in the series for the first time last night like once he scored look how much better he was and so you know like that would be a big boost for florida so obviously the building is going to be bananas in edmonton the next few days we bananas but it's by far going to be a guarantee for me that they win game six or game seven like they still got a long ways to go to win yeah well i remember the the the stanley Cup final between the Bruins and the Blues. The Blues thought for sure that they were going to win the Stanley Cup in game six at home. The Bruins won, and then the Bruins

thought for sure that they were going to win the Stanley Cup at home in game seven, and then the Blues won. So, the home and away thing is significant, and it deserves to be mentioned, but it's by far it's not a guarantee that you're going to win i do have a question about the pk um where did this pk come from because i am looking

at the regular season stats and the penalty kill was not terrible but it wasn't great either yeah well because they were so excuse me they were so bad the first month of the year that because if you look from january on their penalty kill was really good um so mark stewart when when chris knoblock took on chris knoblock i don't think gets enough credit for a lot of the decisions he's made as a coach and so he comes in right they bring in paul coffee who a lot of people were kind of like oh what's he gonna do he knows nothing well obviously that was wrong um but what he did on the penalty kill was he put mark Stewart in charge.

And he said, he goes, you know what? I didn't really know Mark Stewart. I knew he'd never run a penalty kill, but as a head coach, you can't do everything. So he empowered him.

He goes, I thought he'd be good at it. He's been amazing. He, they, they've really instilled a connection with their four guys. They, they run the same guys basically on the penalty kill,

right? Like in duos, you have Nugent Hopkins and Ryan, although Ryan is out there to try to win the faceoff, then he gets off pretty quick. He doesn't kill a ton. Janmark and Brown kill a lot together. Then you have McLeod and Fogle. In your defense, it was

Ekholm and Deharnais. When Deharnais is out, then CeCe goes in there. Nurse, CeCe, Fogle, and McLeod haven't been on for one goal against the playoffs on the penalty kill. Now, granted, they've only given up four, so, you know, I guess that's not saying much. But, like, they're just, if you watch them,

they pressure all over the ice, and they pressure in unison, which I think is very important, because once one guy goes, they all go and they really, they read off each other incredibly well. And like right now, Yanmark and Brown, because not only are they killing penalties, like they're outscoring the other team,

right? Like that's back-to-back games. The orders penalty kill has opened up the scoring. They're in the playoffs now. They've scored three shorthand. Like, I think they're minus one on the entire playoff. Their net penalty kill is like

98.8%, which is really stupid, right? And McDavid isn't on the penalty kill. So there's another element where people will say, oh yeah, McDavid, McDavid, of course he deserves a lot of credit. Look at the numbers he's putting up. It's mind-blowing. But the rest of their team is pretty good, too. We're speaking to Jason

Greger from Sports 1440 in Edmonton here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What have you seen or maybe haven't seen from Sergei Bobrovsky over these last two games that you saw in the first three? Well, like I said earlier, the first three he was so good. It was just like the first eight periods. The first eight periods, guys, you stopped 79 of 81 shots. You had a 975 save percentage.

Like, it just wasn't good. And lots of them were high-danger chances. Now, the Oilers made some adjustments in how they attacked Bobrovsky. So if you look at Brown's breakaway, and then compare it to the Game 1 breakaways, on the Game 1 breakaway, they had three of them. They came in on Bobrovsky. A, they all went to his glove side.

And then B, they just tried to make glove side and then b they they tried like in they just tried to make a quick move Brown stretched him out and that's what you want to do with Bobrovsky is you want to try to stretch him out every goalie has a weakness right Kevin Woodley who obviously does an excellent job breaking out goalies was the one who said hey the pre-scouting is you got to extend Bobrovsky when you can and then the other thing is you want to shoot at times off the rush a little bit higher in the slot. And we saw that.

McDavid did it low blocker. Nurse went high blocker. And so that's helped. McDavid's goal last night, I know a lot of people are like, oh, that's a terrible goal by Bobrovsky. And he wasn't really set. I think he caught him napping a little bit. Yeah, the Hyman goal was actually going wide.

So sometimes you need a break. Bouchard's shot is going wide in the net. It hits Hyman's leg. It goes in. There's nothing Bobrovsky can do on that goal. There's nothing he can do on the Corey Perry goal. So the owners have – well, what they've done, guys, is they've scored off the rush, right? Like that's became a big difference for them.

I think seven goals in game four off the rush, and last night they had two of the goals with Bobrovsky and were off the rush. So I think that's where they've changed. So they, I think they've, they focused in those gut reports similar. If you go back to the Vancouver series, what they do in the last half of the, of the series,

they took long shots through traffic because that was the weakness on Sheila. I know that knob locks mentioned, I think a couple of times that, you know, if Evander Kane gets to a certain point health-wise, that he could return to the series. But there's no way that they're putting Kane back in now, right?

I could see them putting him in for Derek Ryan. Okay. Like Derek Ryan in the conference final and the Stanley Cup final, like 6-0, goals against goals four right so um kane's gonna have to show though like they have all these off-ice tests now guys they have like these um i don't know flex plates i think they're called where you can go and you have to exert a certain amount of power and they show your numbers right away like you can't say yeah coach i feel good without showing them that you feel good right and because of his injury um i know it's called people call it sports hernia

but that's actually it's not a sports hernia it's a athletic uh uh pugalia pugalia i think it is it's basically it's uh it's easier to say sports hernia i think after that it's true it is true but there's nothing protruding because when you think of a hernia it's protruding right right and this is like an infection around the pubic bone area and now it doesn't require surgery all the time you can have just rest obviously you need a lot of rest and so you know he's been out now a while knoblock was the one who said yeah he'd be back so obviously he was confident that his team was going to win number one and now whether it's friday or monday i don't know but i still think at a one game off like if i have derrick ryan or evander kane who do i think if kane is healthy enough to contribute then it's kane but that's going to be the question is he healthy enough and they'll go through all

those proper tests first what is friday night going to be like what is friday day going to be like in edmonton yeah you know You know what? It's fun. I remember 06. And Rexall Place, the old rink, it had better acoustics. It's going to be hard to be as loud because the new rinks, all of them are just so much bigger, right? Like, Rexall was smaller. So you had fewer people, but everything bounced around.

Yeah, it's like Chicago Stadium versus the place they got now. Exactly. And it's loud, but it's like chicago stadium versus uh the place they got now exactly and it's loud but it's not as loud but you know the if you're an employer i'm sure a lot of people will be getting you know half a day if they want to take it right like the game starts at 6 20 local time puck drop um now i know the nhl as far as i know i don't there's no concert planned right i think they do that because i can't guarantee that there's going to be five six or seven for everybody who's wondering why so but they'll you know what people would be downtown it's going to be an all-day fun event um you know there's some people i'll tell you right now guys the rookies they won't make it through the game

because they'll get too excited and they'll start drinking too early and then they'll be done right like they'll have to get sent home in a cab at the first period right so you don't want to be that guy or that girl so um but it's it'll obviously be a you know a huge day um and there's excitement like it's the last home game in edmonton win or lose so uh the place is going to be rocking no question about it and no it's uh it's interesting because the orders like they've already done now it's a small little stat but you know they've done something no team's ever done, down 3-0 to win game five on the road. So it's a small thing, but, you know, you push it to game seven,

and then it gets a chance to obviously put in what would arguably be maybe the greatest comeback in sports modern day history, when you think about it. Because when the Red Sox did it to the Yankees, it wasn't for the championship. Now they ended up winning the championship, but it wasn't in the championship finals. So, winning the championship but it wasn't in the championship final so you know what it's it's become an intriguing series where i think there's lots of people watching obviously older fans are rooting for them but there's a lot of other fans let's not kid ourselves that are watching

hoping that they eventually see the disappointment right because that's what other fans do i guarantee you there's canuck fans no really? Do you think there would be guys like that? They must be awful, petty, jealous people. Just terrible, terrible people that are probably damaged by their own team's failures and want to see other teams fail.

That's crazy, man. I would expect it. To me, I remember in 2004 when people were cheering for the Flames. I'm like, are you an idiot? How can you actually cheer for your biggest rival to win the Cup? It's the dumbest thing I've ever done. Now, you don't necessarily have to cheer against them.

You just cheer for the other team. So I could see Canucks fans cheering for the Florida Panthers. All of a sudden, they love Oliver Ekman-Larsen. Remember what a good player he was for us? Yeah, that's what they're going to tell themselves, right?

Because that's what you do in the playoffs. You convince yourself of a certain angle. So I'm on record here as a fan of just sports, regardless of

tribalism or whatever. We need a game seven. You have to. It would be unprecedented in North American

Championship Series that this would be going down. But then we'd also need the Oilers to lose. You didn't hear that, Jason. Yeah, we were going to wait until we hung out. Well, I did in Vancouver, man. No, people are pushing back in our text message inbox,

saying, like, you're an idiot, and you're turning your Canucks fan card. I'm like, I do not care. As a fan of sport, I need to see this in my lifetime. This is like a 16 beating a 1 in the NCAA tournament. You knew it was going to happen eventually, and you just needed time for it to happen. If it happens now with these two teams, so be it.

But the table's set. I want to see a Game 7 in this series, so I'll leave it at that. And with that, we're out of time now. So, Jason, thank you very much for joining us. Just know that we're extremely jealous. Yeah, jealousy knows no much for joining us. Just know that we're extremely jealous. Yeah, jealousy knows no bounds here in Vancouver. Thank you very much for doing this, and enjoy Game 6.

It should be a lot of fun on Friday. It should be a lot of fun. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. See you, Jason. Jason Greger, Sports 1440 in Edmonton here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. If the Oilers come back and win this series, will we have seen two of the most legendary choke jobs in a matter of weeks after Rory blew it at the US Open?

All due respect to what happened to Rory, I don't even think you could put it on the same plane as blowing a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final. Yeah. It's not even close. Yeah, he missed a couple short putts. Yeah, and he's won majors before. He won the U.S. Open before, right?

The only one he hasn't won is the Masters. That was a long time ago. Yeah, but this would be the first time that the Florida Panthers would ever win the Stanley Cup. Yeah. Imagine. I don't even know what it's like to get that close, being up 3-0 in a series, and then just having it all fall apart. It's so intriguing. It's so intriguing.

It's so intriguing. I understand that people aren't on board with it, and that's fine. Yeah. Some of them just don't want to feel the – they don't want to have the potential for the others to win this. I know. I get it. Yeah, yeah.

Andy's brought this up numerous times. The closer you get to a game seven, the closer you get to potentially winning the Stanley Cup. I'm aware of it.

You're playing with fire, my friend. Yeah, you're playing with fire. But playing with fire is the only way you get really badly burned. You know what? Remember that.

Playing with fire can be fun too. Yeah. It's thrilling. It's risky. In the back lane once in a while. Sure.

It's like I knew him back there. Brough just turned into Donald Sutherland from Backdraft. Yeah. I see the flames dancing. That's right. It was cool for a while. Then it got really creepy. Okay.

Let's do a quick. He's flicking a lighter on stream. Let's do a quick reset here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet. I like this text. If the Oilers win this series, you guys need to move to Edmonton. I hear they are hiring with the trades. Yeah. Alberta in general, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Calgary and Edmonton. It's Alberta in general, yeah. I'm sure there's other cities in Alberta. I don't know them. Numerous job openings at the mall right now. I'm looking at the listings. Always with the mall.

You know what? A lot of job openings. He went there on vacation one time and didn't hate it. I don't think you should disrespect West Edmonton. I'm not disrespecting it. You know, of all the people, you would love West Edmonton Mall. I have been there many times. I have been there many times.

I've probably played Edmonton like 30 times in my life. Have you gone to the water park? Yes. As a grown adult? Yes. Have you done the big slide? Yes. I did the big slide.

What about the roller coaster? I was a big boy. Did you do the roller coaster? I didn't do the roller coaster, no. How many malls in BC have an amusement park built right in? You know, Canada only has two... How many need them, though, Laddie? How many need them?

Canada only has two submarines, working submarines, and one of them is in West Edmonton Mall. It wasn't working when I was there. There was an out-of-order sign hanging on it, like an old vending machine at BC Ferry. Okay. Quick reset here. Eight o'clock hour.

Satyar Shah is kindly going to join us for 10 minutes before he gets off on his morning golf round. So thank you to Sat for that. He was on Canucks Central yesterday when the Philip Heronic news was announced. They had a lot of takeaways from that. I guess there was a slight wrinkle where they went down the road of, are some of the Canucks pending UFAs getting a little agitated or jumpy or nervous

or restless with the fact that their contract situations remain working? I really do wonder if they really want Gensel, if they're going to consider working with the Hurricanes. I think you'd have to. Just get it done. Yeah. And then you can take care of a lot of business before July 1st.

Because if you're waiting until July 1st to see the decision that Gensel makes, you're making it real tough on yourselves and the guys that you want to bring back to the team. So we'll talk about that with Sat coming up next on the half and a rough show. Just a reminder, get your, what we learned Zen.

We've been noticing a bit of a dip in what we learned production since we don't have anything to give away, which is fair enough. Uh, six 50, six 50 is the Dunbar lumber text line Dunbar lumber with three stores to serve you in Ladner on Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber Express at Ladner Center,

or our beauties in Vancouver, online at DunbarLumber.com. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about JanPro, the leaders in commercial cleaning and janitorial. If your workplace demands a clean environment, contact JanPro for a free, no obligation quote. Visit the JanPro.ca. You know what? Remember that.

Playing with fire can be fun, too. Yeah. It's thrilling. It's risky. You've done grand, laddie. Now you know what you have to do. Burn the house down. Burn them all!