Halford & Brough in the Morning - Round One Of The NHL Playoffs Have Delivered

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports including a wild weekend of NHL playoff action (3:00), plus they talk the Leafs Sens series with Fan 590 Toronto's Sam McKee (27:13). 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.

Good morning, Vancouver. It's 601 on a Monday and you are listening to the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. I'm your cohost, Mike Haliford, along with our other cohost, Jason Bruff and our producers, Andy and Greg, as per usual. What isn't usual, however, and obviously is the way we are starting today's show.

Yeah, we didn't want to start in the usual way because it wouldn't feel right after what happened in Vancouver this weekend. And what happened was a tragedy. Eleven people are dead, ages five to 65, many more are injured. It goes without saying that our hearts go out to everyone affected by this tragedy in the Filipino community and beyond. There's a lot of grief and a lot of anger right now. The loss of life and the injuries, obviously they stand alone as tragic.

I can't imagine what those families and their friends are going through right now. The tragedy I think is only deepened by the manner in which it happened. People from our city were gathering on a beautiful day, enjoying each other's company. It was a street festival where people laugh and eat good food.

They were talking to each other. They were doing the sort of things we all know we need to do more of. They weren't being angry online or complaining about the state of the country or the state of the world. They weren't doom scrolling alone. They were enjoying the simple things in life.

It was a beautiful spring day. Again, there was good food and there was good company. It's hard to beat that combination. And I hope this tragedy doesn't lead to less of that sort of thing because maybe we're scared of it happening again. We need to be together, physically together even more. We need more community, not less. But for now, our thoughts are simply with those who are hurting. I hope this city

comes together to show its love and support and I think it will. At this time, I'd also like to acknowledge the work done over the weekend by our neighbours across the hall at City News and 1130 News Radio. Uh, they did a really, really remarkable job in keeping our community informed during a period of crisis, both the on air and the web staff worked throughout the night and around the clock

throughout the weekend to cover the horrible, horrible events that took place. And they were all equally driven by their dedication to deliver critical news and information to people that were looking for help and answers during one of the darkest moments in the history of this city. Our deepest appreciation goes out to News 1130, News Director Terry Shintz and his entire crew for what they did for the city this past weekend. We will now pivot over to the business at hand and that is the Halford and Brough show. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you

by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. We will lay out the remainder of the show in short order here. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. So the guest list today, we are going to do

around the country. Look at as many of the Canadian teams and markets still alive in these Stanley Cup playoffs as we can. That's going to begin at six 30 Sam McKee from real Kipper and born on fan five 90 is going to join us. The Leafs lead the battle of Ontario 3-1 over the Sens,

but Ottawa does have the slightest bit of momentum after Saturday's big OT win in Game 4. So we'll talk to Sam about that at 6.30. We are trying to get a Montreal Canadiens guest for the seven o'clock hour. We'll keep you posted on that. 7.30 we're going to go to Winnipeg, Jim Toth host of Jets at noon and the Jim Toth show on 680 CJOB and Winnipeg is going to join us. We'll try and answer the question or get Jim to answer what's going on with Connor Hellebuck. That series is now tied 2-2 heading back to Winnipeg after the Jets squandered a 2-0 lead. At 8 o'clock Tyler Yeremchuk from Oilers Nation and Daily Face Off is going to

join the show. He has tweeted out that his voice is completely shredded after what happened in the game with the Edmonton Oilers and the LA Kings last night. And really what's happened in this entire series, another dramatic comeback for the Oilers and what's been an absolute roller coaster of a series so far. So working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock it's Tyler Uremchuk, 7.30 it's Jim Toth, 6.30 it's Sam McKee and we'll try and get someone from Montreal on as well. Let's, okay, that is what's gonna be happening

on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Okay, so there is still no word on Rick Tauket's future

in Vancouver, but breaking news out of Pittsburgh, the Penguins and head coach Mike Sullivan have agreed to part ways. It was just announced by Kyle Dubas, who's the president of hockey ops and general manager. Kyle Dubas, obviously there's a big statement about how much Mike Sullivan meant to the city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He won back to back cups and now all of a sudden. Wow. Let the speculation run rampant because Rick Taka, a lot of speculation about him not returning to the Canucks and maybe going to the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers. And do you think Jim Rutherford has Mike Sullivan's phone number? Do you think that they have a relationship? Oh my that is okay so I did not expect this. I you know we're still about what two weeks out from the

regular season ending and then you saw the I think it was Black Monday this year where a bunch of guys got, or it was over the weekend actually where Greg Cronin got dismissed, Peter Lavielette got dismissed. I think there was three dismissals in total. And the Penguins took a little while before they went and made this decision.

The most immediate thing that came to my mind was, are we gonna see some weird pseudo coaching swap? Not unlike what we saw back in 2014, if I'm not mistaken, with AV and Torch going from the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks flipping places essentially. And maybe it's because I was so, I mean, that was a, that was a bad season when the Canucks

hired Torch and everyone recognized it because Torch was gone after one year. And I think in hindsight, a lot of people said that Torz shouldn't have taken the Vancouver job because his heart wasn't really in it. And he kind of jumped at the first opportunity that he got to return to a coaching gig. And maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse

here, we don't even know if the Canucks are interested in Mike Sullivan. We might have news in five minutes that Rick Tocket has resigned with the Vancouver Canucks, but Mike Sullivan has been with the Pittsburgh Penguins as an organization for a long time now, and in some ways I'd be wary of hiring him. I think he's a really good coach.

In fact, he was towards his right-hand man in Vancouver, so he knows the place pretty well. But I'd be wary of a guy who has just had such a long run in one place to come to a place like Vancouver, which let's face it, there are significant challenges. It's not like the Canucks are locked and loaded for a cup run and they just need the right guy

to get them over the hump. Um, they need a guy that's going to come in and well, there's a lot of things that a new head coach in Vancouver would need to take on. So. It's a long-term thing, not an immediate turnaround. At the time of dismissal, meaning about six

minutes ago, Mike Sullivan was the NHL's second-longest tenured coach. That's 10 years on the job. So aside from being 10 years in one place, it's also 10 years of consecutive work, which is a lifetime for an NHL coach. Usually over a 10 year span, a guy will at least get one or two sabbaticals in there.

And these last couple of years cannot have been easy. No. Um, I think he would be a much sought after candidate. I don't really think there's any question about that. He's got tremendous pedigree and he's really well regarded, including within that Penguins organization. This is kind of blowing my mind right now. I'm going to be dead honest because when we came in this morning, we were going to lead the sports part of the show anyway with, hey, we have no contract certainty on Rick Tauke. We still don't know what's going on. Another

weekend has passed and we still have no idea. And then I started compiling news and notes from around the league about what the coaching market looks like in general. So Kevin Kurz from the Athletic in Philadelphia wrote about the Flyers opening. And he said that there's obvious connections there with Rick Tauket. He also noted that there's a couple of hiccups there, including the fact that his contract doesn't expire until June 30th. Also over the weekend, there was a wrinkle with the vacant Chicago Blackhawks job because David Karl, the very much

in-demand collegiate coach withdrew his consideration from that job. So that one's back open again, what a lot of people thought. He said a thanks but no thanks to the Chicago Blackhawks. Which I kind of says something. And I don't know exactly what, cause I haven't had an opportunity to dive into it too deep, but it definitely says something when there's an NHL job

in an original six market and the opportunity to coach Connor Bedard, and they come after you hot and heavy, and you don't take it. I don't know exactly what that says. I don't think Chicago comes out looking great in the aftermath, but as it pivots back to the talk it situation, that's another job that's still up for grabs.

And it moves that coaching market in a very dynamic way because vacancies and candidates are what it's all about. And right now there's David Karl, who's obviously a sought after candidate. If Rick Talkett shakes free, he's gonna be a sought after candidate. Now, in case you missed it, about five minutes ago,

six minutes ago, the Pittsburgh Peng was part away with Mike Sullivan after 10 years in charge as their head coach. So there is still no word on Rick Tuckett's future. And I know there's a process that needs to play out in this negotiation, but it can't go on for much longer. Management said that they expected an answer

by the end of last week. Well, three days later now, if we're going to have a big argument about when the week ends, because Jamie Dodd put that in our brains. But, you know, I think we all expected Friday would be the decision one way or the other. There are a bunch of other teams looking for a new coach right now. And if the Canucks need to look for one too, they need to get going as soon as possible because there's a lot of other stuff they need to do this off season as well. I did not see any updates or reports over the weekend, so I don't know where things stand.

I texted a few people and they said, yeah, I don't know what's going on there. In other local news, just a couple of local stories and good stories too, the Abbotsford Canucks advanced to the division semi-finals of the Calder Cup playoffs. They took care of Tucson. It was a dominant five nothing win over Tucson. Are they called the Roadrunners? They are called the Roadrunners, Jason.

Meep, meep. Okay. They should be called the Tucson Toros, old PCL team. Oh yeah. Archer's Seelofs needed just 21 saves to record his first career Calder Cup playoff shutout. Um, Abbotsford outshot Tucson 39 to 21. They were dominant, dominant game from.

And by the way, it looked like a really good atmosphere in Abbotsford. So, uh, I'm sure we'll talk more about the Abbotsford Canucks and their Calder Cup run. Um, speaking of making a run, the Whitecaps. That's good. Man, they stayed hot. They went into Minnesota. They went into Minnesota and got a big three one win.

Alfred, you probably watched the game. They went into Minnesota with their B team, Jason. Nine changes from the team that beat Inter Miami on Thursday, including a first MLS start for the 19 year old local kids, Surrey product, Jeevan Badwal, and they won 3-1. It was another remarkable performance from the Whitecaps. After a kind of meh first half, Sebastian Berhalter was subbed on in the second half, scored immediately,

and then Pedro Vite scored twice in the span of four minutes, I want to say. Yeah. And the goals, I don't know if you saw any of them, brilliant goals. Bear Halters was a rocket of a shot and the Vitae goals were just great team goals. Excellent buildup and work down the line, the cutbacks. It was crazy. Crazy. They were able to do this with a squad that had like random bits of parts put into it. Like one of the center backs, Oovik's barely played this year. One of the outside backs, Bovalina's barely played this year. It feels like they have such a clarity of what they want to do and how they

want to play under the new manager, Jesper Sorensen. They're the leading scoring team in MLS. You have 20 goals in MLS competition right now. They're in first place by a mile. Do you want to hear the. In their division. The craziest stat of them all, I think is Portland, Austin, and Minnesota are second, third, and fourth behind the Whitecaps in the west.

The Whitecaps have beat them all, and they beat them all by a combined 12 to three score. I don't think Austin's in second place with a negative goal differential, so I don't know what's going on there. Well, they got beat 5-1 by the Caps. That's what set them back big time. Okay. It was a wild weekend in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I watched a lot of hockey. Um, last night's game between the Kings and the Oilers might've been the best of them all. And man, if you're an Edmonton Oilers fan, you're feeling pretty happy right now and maybe also a bit relieved. And if you're an LA Kings fan, you are ready to tear your head out. Yep.

Because if you thought Jim Hiller's decision to challenge the goal in game three was a mistake, you did not get a load of what Byfield did with about 30 seconds left. Um, last night in Edmonton, I think that mistake was worse than Hiller's because Hiller, even if he hadn't challenged it's a tie game, they still could have lost the game. If Byfield gets that puck out, the Kings are

winning that game. Uh, I, I think LA has to have major, major crises of confidence right now across the board, because this is starts with the coach on Friday night, right? The Yield Values challenge that goes AWOL on them. You're also talking about now it's a couple of blown third period leads. You mentioned the byfield mistakes. You've got mistakes from the guys executing on the ice. You've got mistakes behind the bench.

You're leaking goals now. And whatever momentum you had after those first two games has kind of evaporated. And you've also done it. And I think I was talking to Laddy about this before the show. You've done this against an Oilers team that kind of hasn't been very good for what?

75 to 80% of this series. I mean, they were incredible for the last part of that game, but that's because the Kings had a three, one lead and, you know, and then you can blame the Kings for a little bit because they were badly outplaying the Oilers for the first half of that game. And then they got the two goal lead and the

Oilers just came at them. You chase Stuart Skinner from this series. You force the Oilers to rely on Calvin Pickard. That should work in your favor. Yet Calvin Pickard has come in and kind of not unlike what he did against the Kinox, he stabilized the series, although I don't think they're going back to Skinner

in any way, shape or form. Now, I think this is Pickard's net until, I don't know how long this is gonna go, because again, I think the Kings have been the better team in this series, but it's two, two after four. Yeah, apparently Jim Hiller was not in a very good mood last night, uh, when he was asked about the

way that the, uh, Kings defended the lead. How do you change your approach in the third period to better close out games? How do I change it? Next question, please. We're that far away on the empty net. Qchip's that one out, Bichard makes a good play. We're not even talking about this.

Yeah. So, I mean, it is true. They nearly hit the empty net on, well, an icing. I guess that's the way they do it now. They just ice the puck. They go for the net. In my day, you never ice the puck with an empty net. But look, this series has been incredible.

And the Kings, I think it's worth noting that the previous time that the Kings have been beaten, they weren't all like last season. Last season, the Oilers just beat them, right? Again, we went back to a few years ago, it was a game that I happened to be at down in LA. The Kings had a 2-1 series lead and then a three nothing lead in the game.

They blew that lead and lost in overtime and then they didn't win a game in the series and they lost in six. After three, after being up three nothing in that game, that game four, they're up two one. They should have been up three one in the series. And they might've found a way to close that series out. If they come back and they lose this series,

if Edmonton goes down to LA and steals a game, because Edmonton is going to have to win at least one game in LA, the Kings are going to look back at all the times that they had the Oilers on the ropes. Yep. one game in LA, the Kings are going to look back and all the times that they had the Oilers on the ropes and they let them off the ropes and just be like, what do we, what is it us? Is it, is it a franchise thing or is it the fact that the Oilers have a guy like Conor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl and those guys are

just so tough to defend even when you've got them against the ropes. I think it's in LA's head, the inability to close this thing out. I don't, that's the only logical explanation I can come up with because they've been the better team. They've got the better goalie.

I think, you know, overall in terms of team depth, yeah, they don't have McDavid and Dreisaitl, but they've got a lot more depth than a lot of different positions. This series has been almost exclusively about Edmonton rallying, remember in game one, it was a four nothing lead that the Kings managed to squander. And I will say this, if they could make this series go like

nine or best of nine or best of 11, I would be all for it because this has been an unbelievable series so far. Four games in and it's been an absolute roller coaster. I think the highs and lows have been amazing. The playoffs are always about the big mistakes at the wrong time. Sure. But I know that Marten Saint-Louis, the head

coach of the Montreal Canadiens was pretty upset about the officiating in that game and he was complaining about that. And some of the players were complaining about the massive hit that Tom Wilson put on Carrier. Yeah. Although I thought that was a great hit. That's keep your head up through the middle of the ice,

especially when you know you got Tom Wilson on the other team. But why did he pull the goalie so early? I was watching that game with the boy. The boy is nine years old. He's like, why is he pulling the goalie so early? Why is the goalie out when there's like three minutes left and there's an offensive zone faceoff?

Why not wait till you have clean possession? Now they did win the faceoff and Hudson turned the puck over and Hudson was very upset with himself, but for me, that's a bad decision to have the goalie out. I'm not, I'm not against the early goalie pull, but you have to have clean possession. Yeah.

And the Habs never got it because they won the faceoff, it went back to Hudson and the Capitals pressured the point and it worked out for the Caps and it was an immediate two on one. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, that was a deflating moment for the Bell Centre. Now, unlucky for the Habs that they didn't have Montebeau in there.

Maybe Montebeau sees that shot by Manjie Pani, but man, like I just, you know, there were some mistakes by Patrick Laine earlier in the series when he was still in the series. And look, it was probably unlikely that Montreal was going to score six on five, but they never even gave themselves a chance because in my opinion, they pulled the

goalie way too early. Now that series is, has been awesome and it's been great to see playoff hockey back in the Bell Centre and it was terrific to watch and the Caps are a better team than Montreal. So that series is probably rightly three to one for Washington. The series that a lot of people might be texting in and saying, hey, bro, I thought you said the series was over.

I said the same thing. St. Louis has fought back to make it a two, two series with Winnipeg. Now my point still stands because I said after Winnipeg won the first two games, I find it hard to believe that St. Louis is going to win four of five against the Jets. And in a way I still do because they have to win one in Winnipeg, but. But. Connor Hellebuck, what's going on there? Okay, so Hellebuck has now allowed at least four goals

in 10 of his last 13 playoff appearance. Connor Hellebuck has also been pulled in consecutive games for just the second time in his career. That's regular season or playoffs. Laddie, what have the St. Louis Blues done in terms of scouting to get an upper hand on Connor Hellebuyck? Well, I'll steal it straight from Mike McKenna

because he laid it out perfectly in a tweet and said the three main things that they scouted and looked at were number one, his passive hands. Hellebuyck, if you watch, he's got kind of lower hands than most goalies have. He's huge, so he can get away with it most of the time. Okay. But when you're up against top shooters and top teams

in the playoffs, they can pick on stuff like that. The second, his lack of backwards flow. He's not a guy with a lot of movement in his game. If you watch Hella Buck, he kind of just takes up a lot of space, right? Not a lot of movement left and right. He tries to, yeah. That's what makes you a great goalie.

Little different reasons for Hella Buck. I don't have backwards or forwards flow. And then the third thing was his puck handling. He's had a few issues playing the puck behind the net. They're really keying in on getting him out of the net, forcing him to play the puck. It's all working and you gotta hand it to the Blues, I think.

It's not really Hella Buck's fault. These are his flaws. They've just exposed them. They've done a really good job exposing them and the Jets are just letting them. So here's a question. Do you entertain at all the idea of making a switch to Comrie?

No. Because we've seen it in other series. No, no, no, no, no. Especially not going home. Not going home. You're talking about the heart trophy. Like you're not gonna take that guy out of your lineup.

I know, but he's also allowing goals at a rapid pace. You're living there, you're dying with him. So we'll talk more about the Jets with Jim Toeth later in the show, and we'll talk about the Leafs Send series, which we haven't touched on with Sam McKee coming up next. Um, if you are just joining us, Mike Sullivan has been the way they put it. They parted ways. They parted ways.

He's been fired. Mike Sullivan, uh, the, the penguins are moving on from Mike Sullivan. Now, obviously this is going to be big news in Vancouver because of the Pittsburgh connection with the management and the fact that Rick Tocket is still on side. A couple of things I want to point out, just scrolling social media, everyone else is thinking

the same thing. Boston is like, hmm, there's been rumors about Boston and Mike Sullivan. He's already been there, done that. Yeah, no, I know. Old hat. I know, but. Technically he's already been to the Canucks too. Yeah, exactly.

Older hat. He wasn't Mike Sullivan with two Stanley Cup wins then, though, when he was with Boston. Philly is going to be all over him. I saw someone from Chicago being like, go get him, Kyle Davidson. So Sullivan's going to be. New York Rangers for Sullivan's the big one.

Yeah. If the cats don't figure out Taka though, like Sullivan's coming here, right? Like. No, no. I would not say that because here's another thing, here's another thing. Okay.

Hey doc. Here's another thing. He is. If money is a problem with Rick Taka, like they don't want to pay him what he wants and they'll only pay so much for a head coach. Does that change for Mike Sullivan? Because Mike Sullivan's going to be more expensive

than Rick Tocca because Mike Sullivan has a much deeper resume. He can say, listen, I've won two Stanley Cups as a head coach. And especially if you're coming to Vancouver, I'd be like, yeah, I was the head coach of the culture that Sydney Crosby built. Rick Taka was there.

He was playing poker with Phil Kessel, but I was there and I ran it for a long, long time. If Taka wants this, I want more. So are the Canucks going to be willing to pay that? Sam McKee is going to join us next on the Halford and Bruff show. We'll talk about the Leafs Send series and maybe we'll ask Sam a little bit for his thoughts on Mike Sullivan.

We will talk to Sam for about 15 minutes and then we can check in with the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. We do want to hear from you, the listeners on everything that was going on in the wild weekend of sports. You're listening to the Halford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6pm weekdays and on demand

through your favorite podcast app. Climbing on his backhand, off the shoulder. That was a pretty good shot. Off the shoulder of Stolarz, comes to the shoulder, that was a pretty good shot. Off the shoulder of Stolarz, comes to the line, not out, watch, he scores! Jake Sanderson! A bit of a seeing eye shot from the point. And we will have a Game 5 in Toronto! So you're saying there's a chance! 6.32 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal produces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Sam McKeep from Fan 590 in Toronto is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. You hear him on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show on Fan 590. Sam McKee joins us now on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up Sam? How are you bud? Good morning gentlemen. Doing well. How are you guys doing? Good. Any nerves? Any nerves at all? Or you guys got this in the bag? You know, I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind a couple times over the last few days. I know it really sucks for Lee fans and it's great

for everyone who isn't Lee fans. It's this extra day to just, you know, shove the ghosts and the curse and the choke and like whatever, whatever else you want to say like it would just been so nice for them to play tonight, get it over with. We got to do a full show today. Another full show of no game talk and just pure narrative ghost talk. So that part sucks, but I think I'm feeling okay. I think I'm feeling okay. Is there any worry in, if you look at the numbers, the analytics that the Sens have been the better five on five team. Is there, is there any worry there? I mean, three games have gone to overtime,

the Leafs have got two of them and the Cends have won. Um, of course the first game was a blowout for the Leafs. So maybe people, uh, kind of gave the Leafs the benefit of the doubt out for that first game. I honestly, like the way the Leafs have played all year is just kind of pack it in and kind of hope for your break a little bit here.

Like it looks so similar to what they've played during the regular season. And in a lot of years past with Sheldon Keith, that was a bad thing because it's sort of a wide open style of hockey. But with Barube, like they really do pack it in. And I do, you know, the Sens have had some sustained chances or whatever, but like the high danger stuff,

there's not a ton there. Like they really, really get in front of the net and they clog the lanes and like in game two and game three, both games, the first shot of the third period entered the net. So like the Leafs are doing a very good job of limiting the sends it's just when you play in these tight games and you're playing this super duper defensive hockey you know it doesn't take much for one bounce to end up in your net or one sort of softy goal like that Brady Kachuk scored on Stolarz in game three to tie it, the margins are thin. But yeah, there's definitely an argument that the Sens have had some sustained pressure

at times throughout it. But I think the Leafs have just been such a good defensive team that it's hard to recognize them so it's just a little bit different than it has been in years past, in that way at least. Does Barube's composure and his experience, the fact that he's won a Stanley Cup as a head coach with the St. Louis Blues, does that make you feel better about the situation? Honestly, like I'm not, this isn't even, it's going to sound like extreme shade at Sheldon Keefe, but I don't mean it as that, but it's just not Sheldon Keefe back there. Where these guys have, they're looking back there and they're seeing the same guy that

they've gone through all these heartbreaks with. Having it be Craig Brubbe, who throughout his tenure here, I've never seen a more consistent message coach like in any sport that I've covered for the 10 or 11 years that I've worked doing this. It's just never too high, never too low. Always the same sort of message. We're looking for battle. We're looking for battle. Like we do kippers clippers on real kipper up more.

He murdered that segment. This was the most boring thing ever. Cause he just, he never really said anything interesting, just very consistent. So yeah, I, I do, I don't even think it's the cup experience or any of that. I just think it's his calmness and consistency that's really kind of put a different feel over this. Like, can his calmness and consistency override

hundreds of years of ghosts we're about to find out over the next four days? But I do think that his sort of presence has made a difference. Is this now Matthew Niza's team? Oh my God. I gotta tell you boys, he is a pleasure to watch and he's definitely got the young and dumb thing

going on where he's just, you know, he's just a big, you know, handsome mutant out there. He doesn't really, he doesn't really overthink things. He just goes to net. He's a good skater. I think that goal he scores on Saturday night is all world chips. It goes in, puts it in the roof of the net over Omar's shoulder. You know, the fun thing is that in the salary cap world, we all get to talk about how much he gets paid now and like, is this the next guy that the least you're going to have to overpay and like all this stuff. But right now, he's the guy I have the most confidence in on that line. And the other two guys are supposed to be two of the best players in the league. So, you know, that's, that's a bit of

a concern, but he is a real pleasure to watch. I, he just, his improvement over this season has been unbelievable. And then into this playoff series, like he has been just physical heavy goes to the front of the net. Like this, goes to the front of the net. Like this guy goes to the front of the net. It's like trying to move a cinder block. Nobody could move him. They're just hacking and whacking at him and he just stands there looking at him.

So I've been impressed with him. Is this not sort of part of the recipe that everyone felt the Leafs needed to put together to get over and exercise the playoff demons? The big one for me is that they're getting timely and multiple goals from the non-core four guys. I'm looking at it like Simon Benoit, OEL, Matthew Nyes, Max Domi. It just feels like when you start ticking the boxes of all the wrongs the Leafs needed

to write to start winning in the playoffs, it feels like that's maybe the biggest one. I know the Borubé factor is huge, but to me, that's the big one. No, you're definitely right about that, but to me that's the big one. No, like you're definitely right about that. But at the same time, you know, Matthews is, I think he has two goals his last 14 playoff games boys. Marner scored, Marner scored once in this play. And like they've had a ton of assists

and they've done really well in the power play in this series, which has been a nice change. But you know, in a game four, where it's within, it's within one, the whole game, they a game four, where it's within it's within one the whole game, they fight their way back into it, they get into overtime, you know, you'd love to see the all world goal scorer like the all world, they push one over the line. And they've been really good in early in a lot of these series fellows over this era. And you guys have probably, you know, loved the, the, that chart that's out there of Marner and Matthews in, you know, games five,

six and seven, how much their production falls off. Yeah. Great in one through four. I thought, yeah. And listen, they had a lot of great moments through game one, but this elimination thing, it's a thing fellas. Yeah.

Like there's no doubt about it. And that's why the puck hits the knob of Omar's stick in overtime with all of Reckland-Larsen filtering once at the point. It also hits the post at one point in overtime. The more games you have to play where you're facing where sports that's going to put up that godforsaken number where there are two for 12 or one for 12 in elimination. The more of these that build up the more yips that they kind of build up in their mind like these guys in these elimination games have been no good and they've been good in the series leading up to game four but game four i thought they looked a lot of like what i've seen

from other sort of series so i'm really hoping you said, that they can get some support from lowering the lineup and that they could just kind of push one over the line here and then head to the next series with a little bit more freedom. But yeah, I mean, it's been great to see Ben why, like almost from the exact same spot on the ice is Corey Cross scored his back in the day. Like it's been a pretty fun first round for having sort of let down the lineup contributors. But at some point they need these guys to shoot a few in the day like it's been a pretty fun first round for having sort of let down the lineup contributors but at some point they need these guys to shoot a few in the net and I'm hoping it's in game five at home.

What do you think about the Leafs defense? Are you happy with it? I mean it's I was looking at the Oilers defense yesterday. Oh my god. And like the Oilers defense is like I don't know who you would have the most trust in, but the Leif's defense, you don't have a lot of flash. Let's be honest with you. It's not like, and there isn't, with all due respect to Morgan Riley, there isn't a Norris trophy candidate there, but it seems like a much more trustworthy defense. Yeah.

I mean, it's the best it's ever been in the Matthews era. Like, I mean, you guys, Vancouver, can we all just have a Chris Tanev gush fest here boys? Like. Oh, I mean, the, the, the criticism that I would have of, of you guys is that, you know, the Leafs didn't make that trade sooner. He, honestly, he, I, I can't tell you what a

difference having him on your team just in general makes. Like it's just the calming influence. Like going from watching TJ Brody play in the top pair where he's playing with like a shovel in his own zone to going with Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe, who are a legit top shutdown pair left, right matchup, just be able to put the puck behind the net, off the boards out, little slip slip passes taking huge hits over and over to make plays I mean he really kind of just he filters throughout the

the whole D-Corp everybody block shot everybody is just you know defense first and they haven't had that years past like the Carlo pickup was great all Rekman Larson has been a really really nice signing for them Benoit has emerged if you're right it's not like the flashiest decor and Morgan Raleigh's, you know, he's had his moments through the first four games. I didn't think he was particularly good in game four, but he's been better than he was in the regular season. So you're right, I have the most confidence in this decor that I've had, but like, you know, we have all these conversations, but ultimately it's just

gonna come down to, you know, the big boys shooting to the net, but ultimately it's just going to come down to the big boys shooting to the net. It does feel better that they can actually limit another team and deny the middle of the ice against another team in a playoff series. It could be a different story if they make it to the second round and they have to play that Florida team. It's going to be a completely different Ked and LaFiche, but for right now, I've got a lot of confidence in this D-Corp.

It is the Battle of Ontario, Sam. Before we let you go, one question about Ottawa. What have or I guess maybe haven't you seen enough of from the senators so far? I can't get a save, boys. Yeah. They can't get a save. I mean, Al Mark, I can't tell you how many times the puck has like hit the mesh

before he's realized where the puck is. It's like the one visual where Matthews, who is one of the best shooters on earth, is shooting it like in mid shot and Olmork is looking literally the other way. He's got his hand turned and he's looking to the other side. The one on Saturday night where Tavares tips it in, I mean, I got to tell you, like, you put one or meter you there you could tip it into the net like the net is wide open and then over time I think he made 31 or 32 saves I can tell you a more shaky 31 32 save performance that

I've seen from McCoy. Pucks are barely touching him, hitting the knob of his stick like they're not getting saves I don't think they're the most threatening offensive team like outside of Stutzla, outside of Brady Kachak, there's not a ton there. But I really do feel like this is what the Leafs look like back when they started against the Caps, right? They're supposed to not really have the experience and they're supposed to kind of learn the lessons here. I do think there's a core of a really, really great team. Like that's Sanderson boys. Holy. Can he skate? Can he shoot it? He's a beautiful hockey player. So I just think there's a bit of inexperience. They're not getting any saves and their top end offense isn't

great. But boy, they play hard. They're plucky. They're well coached. Like, they've been really close games. And so I will see what happens on Tuesday night. But I've got respect for the Sends the way they've been playing. I just wish Stutsel would dive less. God. Yeah. There's a lot of that going on. A lot. I mean, he, like, listen, guys try to sell and make, like, get penalties, I understand it. But I bet you in the games over those four games, he's tried to dive, I would say, at least six, seven times. Like it's just every game there's one or two where you're like, man, just

keeps skating and he's a really great player and he flies up and down the, the ice, he's carries the puck, he can fire it. It's just stop with the embellishment. He drives me crazy. That's my least, I'm in a series that has Ridley, Greg and Kachak and Perron and all these guys, you know, Stoots was my least favorite. I can't stand it. But all the talent in the world, you don't have to do that. Crazy.

It is the Sends and it is the Leafs. Tomorrow night, that's Tuesday night, four o'clock puck drop, our time. Lisa looked to close it out yet again. Hey Sam, thanks for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the show today. Enjoy the show tomorrow. Sorry? Yeah, my pleasure, boys. We'll see. We'll try to avoid the show today. Enjoy the show tomorrow. Sorry. Yeah, my pleasure boys We'll see what we'll try to avoid the ghost talk But I said on least talk after they went up three zips that this really would be the coup de gras That's the real the real cherry on the craft Sunday if they found a way to blow this one, so we'll see boys

We'll see thanks, buddy. Appreciate this. All right, Sam McKee from Fan 590 in Toronto here on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. So, we've mentioned all the Canadian teams and talked about them. Tonight, just two games in the NHL, Tampa Bay at Florida, Colorado at Dallas. On Tampa Bay, Florida, all the road teams have won. And I was feeling like an idiot for thinking

that the Lightning had a chance to beat Florida after they went into Tampa and won the first two games, but then, you know, it's like the old cliche, never count out the Tampa Bay Lightning. And they went in and got a big win against Florida. That was a big statement victory for the Bolts. Yeah. Doing what they did, the way that they did it. Couple big, victory for the Bolts. Yeah. Doing what they did, the way that they did it.

Couple big, slightly controversial hits in that series. I haven't watched it as closely as I'd wanted to, just because I've been watching the Canadian teams mostly. There's been a lot of hockey. I did, however, make a point to watch and I've had made a point to watch all of the Colorado

and Dallas series. watch and I've had, made a point to watch all of the Colorado and Dallas series. And that moment when Landis Gogh scored was absolutely incredible. Yeah, it's been a very good series. I know that series is tied to two. Uh, and I know that Dallas has home ice advantage, but I still feel like it's weird to

say this, but it's definitely like Colorado is the favorite in that one. Well, Dallas is barely led during regulation. I think it's less, I'm not joking. I think it's less than a minute. Like it's- They led it all? Yeah, but it like barely at all.

And you got to remember the two overtime wins that they got have been bookended by four goal losses. They lost five-one in the opener and then four-nothing in the most recent game. So you look at, there's some crooked numbers being put up there in terms of goal differential. And then you look at the, if you want to say the overtime games are technically a coin flip,

like yeah, Dallas got the results. Don't get me wrong, Dallas won them and they needed to win them. Especially that game two, where they were on an eight game losing streak. But I would say kind of not unlike another two, two series, LA and Edmonton. Um, I think LA has been the significantly better

team and probably deserves to be up and not even in the series. I think Colorado has been significantly better team and deserves to be up and not tied in the series. Laddie is Mackenzie Blackwood. If Canada had to play a game right now, would Blackwood be your starting goalie?

Oh yeah, we should do a. Like Thompson's up there too. Yeah. It's funny cause it's two guys that warn out the four nations. Yeah, I know, I know. Who was the third one? But I'm feeling better about Canada's

goaltending situation than it was a year ago. Yeah, there's players starting to emerge, I think, rather than just a whole bunch of, you know, middling guys. Yeah, yeah. There's a few guys like Blackwood, like you mentioned, that's players starting to emerge, I think, rather than just a whole bunch of middling guys. Yeah, yeah. There's a few guys like Blackwood, like you mentioned, that's starting to boost their value a little bit. Thompson's been good.

What a fricking boost. Very nice. Didn't mean to boost myself. I'm afraid I boosted myself. The other two series, New Jersey, Carolina, Freddie Anderson was putting up really good numbers. Yep. But now believe it or not, Freddie Anderson has suffered an injury and Timo Maior meant to do that.

Like I know he was pushed in a little bit. He did not help himself at all to not run over Freddie Anderson. So did you see how the sequence went during the game? I actually, there was the first game that I watched from that series in detail. And thankfully I tuned in because what happened was Timo Meyer, as you pointed out, crashed the crease, made no attempt not to hit Freddy Anderson. Give him a pretty good jolt, I would say. But I didn't think it was anything that severe until you watched Anderson

try and compose himself and get back up. Anderson exits the game. Meyer is tagged. I didn't even know you could do this. They got a five minute major for goalie interference. I didn't even know you could get a five minute major for goalie interference. Yeah, the ref really likes the goalie.

Right. That's fine. Gives a little wink on the way out. He's like, don't worry, I'll take care of Timo Meyer. But they rescinded the major upon review. Rod must've been happy with that. Rod Brynmore was not happy. So aside from losing his gold. How red was he in a scale of one to 10?

As red as the Carolina Hurricanes jersey. He brought the bench press back to the behind the bench. It was just knocking out 200 pound benches. You know what I like? So he doesn't have. I know that's not much for all the people that are texting in. He doesn't. He did a lot of reps. Rod doesn't do the lengthy

extrapolated rant. He just barks really loud and he gets the super intense look and then he snaps it shut. That's it. So he freaked out, closed it down and then he just stared. Yeah. While this is going on, Kocetkov is getting ready to go in. So he comes in cold. Right away one of the first plays that he has to deal with is a sort of like half shot half fling half hope. I know that's too many halves from the half boards that goes between his legs and into the net. You know who shot the puck? Timo Meyer. So right there I'm thinking, okay, this is meltdown time for the hurricanes. It's now three, two. They've

got Kochev letting in a bad goal early, but kudos and credit to the Canes. They kept their composure. They kept it together and they took care of the devils and I'm at that series should be over in short order. Yeah. But if Freddie Anderson's out long-term that. It's not good.

That's not good for the Canes and Rod Brendan-Morra after the game was basically like, I'm not going to tell you what I really think. Cause I don't want to get fined. You saw it during the game. basically like, I'm not going to tell you what I really think because I don't want to get fined. You saw it during the game. He was furious. And I guess last but not least, Vegas and Minnesota. Vegas was on- I didn't pay attention to this series.

Vegas was on the ropes there. Yeah. But they got a big overtime win to even that series 2-2 and that heads back to Vegas. I think it just goes to show what can happen if you just steal one of the first two games. If you're the underdog, go in there and just steal a game, get a game somehow on the road. Now, you don't always have to do that. St. Louis didn't do that in Winnipeg and they came back and won two straight at home, but mathematically it

gives you a better chance, obviously, if you steal a game, but I also think it just gives you belief heading back home. And then the crowd is like, oh my God, we got a chance here. We got a chance here. And the crowd in Minnesota was pretty good. And Kaprizov and Boldy are very, very dangerous

players and they've been very good in this series. Vegas has still got a fight on its hands here. So it's funny, like I was watching some of the highlights and they were doing an interview with John Hines, the Minnesota Wild Head coach after the game and all he was talking about was how happy he was and how he felt like they were in a really good spot and how, even though they had

lost home ice advantage that they stole away in that game, he still felt like he was really happy with where his team was at. And I think I actually believed him. Like, I don't think it was just coach speak because they've really defied expectations in this series. And they got back to being the team that they were,

not totally, like they were 18, four and four to start the year. They were a wagon. But they've gotten back to the team that was that dangerous in and 4 to start the year. They were a wagon. Yeah. They've gone back to the team that was that dangerous in the early parts of the year. And the emergence of Boldy this season and these playoffs has been huge. Mm-hmm.

Right? Like I still think that- The Connaughts could have drafted him, couldn't they? They could have, Jason. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. There was conversation about that, right?

There was some conversation about that, Jason. Yeah. I'm just checking, just checking. Yeah. And he's been very good. I just want to get the self-loathing out of the way in this segment. Yes. So yeah, that series, honestly, I need to pay more attention to that series.

I've only kind of keep like the 3000 foot view of it. I haven't watched a ton of the games. It is difficult to keep up with the first round of the playoffs in depth. Well, it's going to be even harder on Tuesday because it's going to go up at the same time as Euler's Kings. And I think we can all agree from an entertainment perspective, although there are some strong candidates. Oilers Kings has been the most entertaining series.

Torgy just texted in and he said, I'm still mad at Byfield. Get the puck off the boards and it should be three one for the LA Kings. Yeah just some massive mistakes by the Kings. The coaching challenge by Jim Hiller. Like I see what he was doing there. I don't. I mean a Vander Kane I think before the puck went in his skates kicked the goalie's pads a little bit, but that's still a bad challenge. Does there not have to be some risk assessment at some point?

Yeah, totally. You're four- Totally. Here's the thing- That's the perfect way to put it, risk assessment. Is it worth whatever you're going to get out of this? If the goal stands and you don't challenge, you just leave it alone- You're tied.

It's four-four in a series where you're up two to nothing and you've done a pretty good job of scoring goals. The Kings have had no problem scoring in this series. So getting another one is not out of the question. Not only are you taking the risk of putting the Oilers on the power play, you're putting this particular power play out there. Like, isn't just any other run of the mill power play. With the momentum going,

like they've just tied up the game. I didn't understand it at all. I thought it was a novice mistake. They threw to the panel afterwards and Derek Lalonde, who's doing the Sportsnet panel, of course. He's great. I like him a lot. He said, the only way we challenge is if we're 100% sure. And the unspoken part was no one there felt like they were 100% sure. And even Hiller explaining afterwards, he's like, we thought we had a good shot at it. That to me is, that's a cardinal sin for a coach. Did he explain why he thought he had a good shot at it? They just wouldn't go into the details. He got pressed a couple times on it and he just said,

I mean, he offered the blanket statements, I thought it was goalie interference. Right. And then. That's always a good argument. Well, touche. Yeah. It wasn't though.

I tip my cap to you, Jim Hiller. Yeah. Yeah, that really has been an incredible series. And by the way, Evan Bouchard is an experienced man. Yeah, he's the roller coaster within the roller coaster. Do the Oilers have any trustworthy defensemen? Like did you see that? I forgot Klingberg was out there until he was out there.

Put that puck right in front of the Oilers goal. And you know like- Oh, it's Skinner's fault guys, it's Skinner's fault. No, but like it's like you've got, I don't think Jake Wallman is particularly trustworthy. Grading his way to success. Darnell Nurse has been-

Stop grating, you can cover that guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Darnell Nurse has been not great. He's been out there for a lot of goals against. Evan Bouchard, we all know. Mm-hmm. It's like, ah, Kulak. I can always depend on you. Okay.

Who we got up next? We got a, we got a sub in. Yeah. Mark Antoine Godin from radio Canada is going to join us from Montreal as we look in a little bit deeper to the Habs capital series. Uh, and then we have the rest of Canada to attend to a 7 30 Jim Toth out of Winnipeg, eight o'clock Tyler Yerimchuk out of Edmonton. It's an all Canada show today as we check in across the country for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet at 6.50. We regret to announce the following layoffs, which I will read in alphabetical order. Sullivan, Michael. That is all.