Halford & Brough in the Morning - Stanley Cup Finals Controversy Has Arrived

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, including a dominant Game 3 win for the Florida Panthers (3:00), plus they discuss the latest NHL news and notes with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (25:38).   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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- Scores! Top shelf with the Panthers take a 4-1 lead! What a shift for playoff Sam! The calls and whatnot, obviously some of them are frustrating. They seem to get away with it more than we do. Perhaps you have a beanie on your butt. Marko is at minus 4 and he doesn't have any points in the finals. Are you worried at all about this play? Retraded. Good morning Vancouver! 6 o'clock on a Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday everybody, it's Halford and his bruv in his Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintec studios, beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and bruv of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal reduces 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. We're right at the start of the show. 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 We are coming to you live from the kin tech studio kin tech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step We got a lot to get into on a Tuesday show. I have a lot to get into in the rundown here It's a lengthy. It's a girthy rundown. It begins at 630 this morning Greg was Shinske our NHL insider from ESPN is gonna join the program

He's in Florida for the Stanley Cup final. He was there for last night's penalty filled affair with the Panthers 1-6-1 in a rout over the Edmonton Oilers. Greg tweeted out with his article this morning, the Edmonton Oilers swear that the Florida Panthers didn't get under their skin or in their heads during games three. Their actions said otherwise. So we'll talk to Greg about all that at six 30 seven o'clock.

We're going to talk to Owen Newkirk out of Dallas stars podcast host pre and post game show host on D L L S sports in Dallas. The last time we talked to Owen, it was ahead of game four of the Western conference final. Dallas stars were very much alive, taken on the Edmonton Oilers. Much has changed since then. Peter DeBoer out as head coach. Jason Robertson in the middle of every trade room around the internet. And now Jim Neal has a bunch of big decisions to make for the stars this off season. We'll talk to Owen about that at seven seven 30. Speaking of GM's needing to make big decisions this summer. James Myrtle is

going to join the program senior writer from the athletic and the NHL. He spent a good chunk of time in Buffalo, poor guy, recently for the annual NHL draft combine. And he wrote an article titled, the nine most intriguing teams of NHL free agency. What I heard from a buzzy draft combine. So we'll talk to James about everything that happened at the combine, what he's hearing about the start of free agency and trades to happen this June. Eight o'clock Ryan Rigmaiden is going to join the program. General manager of the BC Lions will look back at kickoff weekend, talk about the Snoop concert and the 31 to 14 win over the Elks on Saturday. No rest for the Lions though. They're on a short week here. Quick

turnaround Thursday night. They're in Winnipeg will be the home and No rest for the Lions though. They're on a short week here. Quick turnaround. Thursday night, they're in Winnipeg. Will be the home and season opener for the Bombers. And Buck Pierce's return to Winnipeg after five years as the team's offensive coordinator. We are giving away tickets to the gold cup match. It's a week today. 730 BC place, June 17th against Honduras.

It's Canada looking to win this year's gold cup It was in studio with us yesterday. We're taking calls at 805. We went out for dinner Don't you go you didn't take me? No, no, no, it was just me in the gold cup We just I respect it We had a connection to be a third wheel over cut me out of the gold cup dinner 805 and 815 this morning Jason's date the gold cup and its tickets will be up for grabs We're giving away a four-pack not once but twice phone number is 604 280 0650 number again 604 280 0650 Caller number five at 805 and 815 will win a four-pack of tickets. Finally

Finally, I need to remind you about the Jays Care 5050 presented by Sportsnet 650 for Challenger Baseball supported by Tile Town proudly Canadian owned and operated since 1971 visit them at mytiltown.ca our goal is to raise $100,000 and the winner takes half buy your tickets now at JaysCareGolf.RaffleNexus.com when we hit 15,000 we still got a long way to go here before we hit 100K. At 15,000, we're gonna give away a signed Quinn Hughes jersey. You heard it here first on Sportsnet 650.

So buy your tickets now, jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. Get your tickets, support a good cause, win the 50-50, and maybe a Queen Hughes signed Jersey. Okay. That is everything that's happening on the program today. I'm not even going to run it down in reverse without further ado. 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? Missed that? What happened?

What happened is Bratz, you're behind the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best tools or resources in safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. What a one-sided affair in Florida last night. Bobrovsky, 32 saves. Bennett, another goal. The Panthers smoked the Oilers 6-1 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. in Florida last night. Bobrovsky 32 saves. Bennett, another goal. The Panthers smoked the Oilers 6-1 in game three of the Stanley Cup final to take a 2-1 series lead.

And maybe, just maybe, unglued the Oilers in the process. So the series has gone, penalties in the first period every game. Like a ton of penalties. Now games one and two played out differently because they were good hockey games. gone penalties in the first period, every game. Like a ton of penalties. Now games one and two played out differently because they were good hockey games and they both went to overtime. But it was a similar story unfolding in the

first period yesterday. I want to play, I want to get to the audio right away because this series just got a little bit controversial and the narratives are starting to be written right now. And from the Edmonton perspective, it's Florida is getting away with a lot of stuff and we are not. Let's begin with Evander Kane. Though he chose his words carefully in his post-game media scrum, he made it very clear what Jason was alluding to. The Edmonton Oilers are on the wrong side of too many calls and the Florida Panthers are not Here's a Vander Kane on the refereeing following a 6-1 loss to the Panthers on Monday night

You know you look at some of their The calls and whatnot obviously some of them are frustrating You know there they seem to get away with it more than we do. Why are they frustrated? They seem to get away with it more than we do. I mean, you know, it's, it's tough to find the line. It's, it's, you know, they're doing just as much stuff as we are. You know, it's four, four at the end of it and then it gets out of hand and, you know, there seems to be a little bit more attention in our group. The Oilers were guilty for 21 penalties on the night

for 85 total minutes in penalty time. The Florida Panthers went to the power play 11 times in game three, but as Kane mentioned, it probably should be the focus here. When the game was still hanging in the balance, specifically the first period, yeah, there were a lot of penalties, but it was dead even for a piece for the Oilers and the Panthers. His first penalty and the Oilers first penalty when he cross checked Forsling in front of the net. Yeah.

That was a little bit soft. I have to admit. And I think if I was an Oilers fan, which I'm not, but if I was an Oilers fan, I'd be like, okay, first of all, that was a pretty soft penalty. And remember last game when the refs missed the too many men on the ice, which was pretty obvious in overtime. And Bobrowski flopped on the goalie interference call. I can't remember who got called on it.

Uh, and, uh, there was another, Oh, who was the Lundell flopped twice. Um, now some of it is, you know, sometimes a flop is, it's a flop, but it's kind of like, Hey, this, this guy's cross checking me in the back. It was nurse. And he kept on cross checking and cross checking. And he's like, okay, I'm going to go down and see if I get a call. And he went down and he got a call. I mean, it was ridiculous when Jake Wallman then give him a little poke in the face. And he went down like Mike Tyson had hit him. I mean, I understand. I understand why the Oilers are frustrated, but this is what I always bring up. And God, I'm getting flashbacks to 2011.

I'm like, this is the way it always is. It's a Stanley Cup final. Sometimes it's random with the referees, but don't be a sucker. You know, like don't be stupid. Yeah. Don't, don't give the other team an opportunity to flop. And you know, if something goes against you and there are going to be lots

of things that go against you, Pull yourself together and handle it. So, uh, Chris Knobloch also spoke on the refereeing yesterday and it was a little bit more subtle and quite frankly, a little bit more clever than a Vander Keynes. Uh, he wanted to make a point of bringing up that the errors weren't just in game three. And a matter of fact, he didn't bring up the errors in game three at all praising the referees for their work in game three while alluding to the missed call that Jason was talking about in game three. And a matter of fact, he didn't bring up the errors in game three at all, praising the referees for their work in game

three while alluding to the missed call that Jason was talking about in game two. Here's what Chris Knobloch had to say about the officiating following a 6-1 loss to Florida in game three. Can you win a game like this where there's so much special teams and so much chippiness is, are you getting kind of too far along into the way that the Panthers want to play?

No, I don't, I don't think so. We got some guys maybe would love to drop them gloves a little more and get at her a little much but I'd like worth more big physical team like we do have some skilled guys and I don't see her Skilled guys getting distracted and getting into that The guys who like it are getting into it. So, you know, and just following up with the penalties. Like the referees, I think they did an outstanding job tonight. And they're even caught the too many men penalty

in the first period, which was too many men. They caught us there. I just wish they had been calling the game in game two and overtime That's what the most interesting thing Chris now blocks ever said and it wasn't even that interesting but it was mildly Mildly cause that was really smart though Like if you're gonna play the refs mm-hmm and also it like suck up to the refs a little bit But also criticize that's pretty funny officer You're doing a great job

And I was speeding but you missed five other speeders that went right past me like the other cop in your car other cop yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's criticizing the last game. He's criticized I mean the bottom line is they're criticizing the efficient officiating through the series is just doing a voice case So you mentioned the first period penalties they had eight yesterday, so that brings us to a grand total through three games of 24 first period penalties. Now I have time for the argument that the officiating has been so spotty in the openings of these games. It has dictated, I don't think last night

it dictated it as much, but there becomes a sense with this league and the way that it's officiated that there's always gotta be an evening up. They add the ECB, ECB, blood penalty on nurse. The trip wasn't even up. That's exactly what it was, is they had sent the oilers to the box three consecutive times. And as you pointed out, they're looking to make a call.

ECB got his skate right in behind nurse. It was a little bit of a nudge nurse did the flail and went down, boom, penalty. They even it up first period, not coincidentally, ends up four penalties for the Florida Panthers, four penalties for the Edmonton Oilers. Where it sucked was it gave the game no flow whatsoever. We talked about the first two games of this series

being a borderline masterpiece in terms of the hockey being played and how it had everything. It had great flow. There was dynamic scoring chances both ways. There was energy. There was scoring chances. There was goaltending. It just felt like the first period was start, stop, start, stop. And then by the time that the penalties started piling up, everyone was looking to draw one. Okay. So we got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650, 650 unsigned. Rough stuff is one thing, but so much hooking in the center-ized zone.

They showed one play where Sam Bennett was hooking dry sidle and no call back to 90s interference favors Florida. Yeah. I'm so shocked. Like this happens in the playoffs every year. And we're not back to 90s interference. Go watch a game from the 80s or the 90s.

I mean, you could just, you could do whatever you wanted. And if the guy went down, you might get a penalty, but if you didn't, you were fine. Um, but the standard changes in the playoffs. It, it does. And so you can either complain about it, or you can build your team so that you can take advantage of it, or you can just play through it, or you can be the one.

You know what's an interesting question to ask? And I think it, and there's no right answer to this, by the way, there's no right answer. What is more of a turnoff for you? Dirty play or flopping? Do you know what I mean? Like what, what, what is a more of a turnoff? It was like a team that tries to get away with like dirty stuff or will punch

you in the face, you know, when the referee isn't watching, or you're a team that like kind of plays the victim. Do you know what I mean referee isn't watching, or you're a team that like kind of plays the victim. Do you know what I mean? By, by flopping around. It's funny because the Florida Panthers did both yesterday, right? You know, they're, they, they are not, they're not a likable bunch. No. And the thing is they don't care. One man's, one man's flopping is another man's trying to draw attention

to the dirty play that is being inflicted upon me. I mean, this is why soccer gets such a bad rap, is that there's been countless times where simulation, as it's called in the European football and South American football, the simulation becomes part of the game. And that's where you cross over from, you know, you're trying to bring attention to what is dirty play on the other side, to you're trying to make the game about drawing penalties.

And in this particular instance, trying to go on the power play at any given moment, right? And you're taking soft plays or soft calls and trying to turn them into something. So remember we were talking about the Lindell flop, right? And he, and he flopped twice. After Darnell nurse has cross-checked you a few times in the back, is it, is it bad to go down like, or is it, you know, like, should you just take it? Or did he do the right thing there and just be like, well,

I'm going to cross check in the back here. I'm going to I'm going to answer your question. Well, the president's been set and there's been 24 first period penalties. And this is going down. You absolutely are trying to draw another one. Why would you not at that point? Right. It's the referees dictate where this stuff goes. Like I put the majority of this on the officials because the officials decided the onset of a game.

Hey, boys, this is the way we're going to play tonight. That's either going to be ticky tack or we're going to let you play through it. But I think what Kane is saying, and I don't entirely disagree with him, is like we can't find the line. That's exactly what you know, like his his cross check on Forsling to start the game. And I know I know the Oilers were on the power play and he was net front presence. So it's kind of like, well, that could have

been a huge advantage if you're just allowed to Todd Bertuzzi a guy away. I'm not talking about Steve Moore. I'm talking about like, um, Bertuzzi used to get called for that all the time. He'd be in front of the net, he'd push off a guy and it'd be an interference slash cross checking, whatever.

Yep. Um, I can see why the referees called that, but I can also see that call going uncalled even in like the preseason, you know, when they're trying to set the standard. And so if I'm him, I'm like, listen, it's my job to go out there and find the line of, because that's the way I play. Right.

That's, that's an, and like, and I get called for that early on in the game. Like this is, this is going to be hard for me because you know, you say the referees set the standard and I agree in theory, but I don't think they set a very good standard yesterday because players were confused about where the line was. Well, they set a poor standard. They made it. It was, you, you said it yourself that, you know, it was probably a soft call on Kane,

at the very least, to start a game. At the onset of a game where you understand what the stakes are, it's 1-1 in the Stanley Cup final, the series is shifted back to Florida, there's gonna be extra added energy and juice in the building. You would think that they would err on the side of, recklessness here, like let the guys play because you there was no reason to have eight penalties in the first period of that game, which wasn't any

necessarily nastier than any games that we've seen this year got nasty near the end and I think that was because frustrations boiled over. There's a couple other things here the texter mentioned about the hooking and grabbing on Leon Dresaddle through the neutral zone. I think we should discuss one thing, which is going to be prevalent here and we will get into it with Greg Wyshinski coming up at six 30, the increased physicality as the series has gone on on two guys in particular, Drysaddle and McDavid.

And there was a big hit yesterday by an Aaron Echblad on Connor McDavid, staggered him on contact. He briefly went down the tunnel, came back. I think he missed maybe one shift, but then played with regularity for the rest of it. McDavid and dry side were largely neutralized. I kind of wonder if there was one takeaway from game three. It's the physicality of the Florida Panthers. And I think you're going to give the Panthers the bigger nod

in the physical department over the Oilers. I mean, that just from my view view through three games, I think that Florida is the more physical team, not by an overwhelming margin. But I don't think Edmonton's a team that can't deal with it. No, but I think Edmonton got pushed around a little bit last night when the game got away from them. And then the overabundance of pushback was a little bit had to do with the fact that we got our, pardon my French, we got our asses kicked physically and on the scoreboard and we got

to do something about it in the end. I mean, there was no surprise that the first guy they went after, when the game got out of hand, it was a four goal game in the third period and the others weren't going to come back. You knew something was going to kick off. And I wasn't at all surprised that the first guy they went after was Sam Bennett because they want to send a message

about what he's been doing to Stuart Skinner and Sam Bennett it's like okay yeah I know that was the biggest impact I'm gonna have on this series thank you so much for fighting me yeah I thought Darnell Nurse looked a little too happy after that, you know, it's like, you hung in there in a fight, you're getting killed on the scoreboard, but I mean, it's easy for me to say I wasn't in the fight. I just think that one went perfectly for Florida,

because you're talking about the physical play of against guys like McDavid and dry saddle. Uh, yeah. I kind of laugh sometimes. I'm like, what do you think is they're going to try and do give them the neutral zone? Yeah.

Hey, feel free to just build up your speed through the neutral zone. We're not going to do anything to you. Uh, could the referees call some interference on that? Yep. But I think the Panthers are gonna kind of risk it, right? They know that they're not gonna call it every time. And like you can interfere enough and some of it's just check, it's called checking,

you know, and, and taking your own, take it, you know, like I have the right to this space as well. Um, and you're not going to let, or you're going to try not to let Connor McDavid and Dry Settle create speed through the neutral zone and be able to attack you at full speed. Yeah.

Like that's just, that's just smart hockey and thethers are, again, and if we want to bring it back to the Canucks, there's a reason why I keep saying, Canucks got to get bigger. They got to get bigger up front. They got to get tougher and they got to get faster. There's a lot of guys that use their speed defensively, like Gustav Forsling. The Panthers are built for this. And there's a reason why they've been to three straight Stanley Cup finals. So you can either spend your time complaining about the officiating and the way things are called

or you can try and, you know, play like that. Because that's what succeeds. You can like it or not, but that's what does succeed for the most part. Jay writes into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. By the way, get your texts in.

We'll be reading them throughout the day and we're gonna be doing what we learned at 8.30 this morning. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650650, hashtag it WWL, and let us know what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Jay writes in, how did you guys feel about the third period? Honestly, Jay, I thought it was way, way, way overdone from the Oilers.

I understand wanting to get your pound of flesh and I understand frustrations boiling over, but it felt like a temper tantrum that lasted about 35 minutes. You know when you see a kid in the mall freaking out and they're on the ground and they're throwing their stuff around? It's so predictable.

They've either had too much sugar or not enough sugar. I don't know which one. Have to speak all the time. Right. So I was watching the game with the boy or the end of the game and I was like You know old man lessons. I was like son watch Corey Perry here. He's gonna do something And like it's so predictable. Mm-hmm And he did it like I was like, ah, Corey Perry's on the ice No block sent him out there or he probably said, like, put me on the ice.

And he went out there with the intent of sending a message for the next game. And I got really nothing. I got no problem with it. That's what like Corey Perry is a future hall of famer. This is, this is what he does and this is the way he's wired. Now, you know, in a lot of those cases though, um, you just end up looking like a very frustrated team and the Panthers laugh at

you, you know, like you, you might think, Oh, I'm going to send a message, but the Panthers have already sent the biggest message. They pumped you six one. Yeah. Okay. We've got a lot more to get into on the program this morning. Coming up on the other side, Greg Wyshinski is going to join us from Florida. We'll try and unpack a very messy game three, a six one win as mentioned for the Florida Panthers just penalty filled in the third period. And we will ask the question, is it going to impact the oilers moving forward? Did they hit a breaking point? Did they become unglued? And if they did,

how are they going to put it all back together? Then we're going to get into a bunch of off season news from around the National Hockey League. We're gonna focus in on the one NHL team that does not have a head coach right now, the Dallas Stars and what lies ahead for the Stars. Owen Newkirk's gonna join us at seven. James Myrtle is gonna join us at 7.30

from all of the news and notes and the buzz that he heard from the NHL draft combine in Buffalo. Eight o'clock we're gonna talk a little BC Lions with Ryan Ruggmaiden, the general manager of the BC Lions. And speaking of those BC Lions, schools out and summers here. Kick it off with the BC Lions summer camp game Saturday, June 21st at 4pm. For details and tickets, visit bclions.com. You're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650.

Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 631 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford and Brev, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brev of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first entrusted choice for NetHelp with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com.

We are in hour one of the program. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN Live from Sunrise, Florida 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, the Power West Industries hotline. Greg Wyshinski joins us now in the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Wysh?

Hi, everybody. How's it going? Pretty, one last night, how totally, totally very much like the first two games in the series. Well, the first periods were similar with all the penalties. I mean, that's true. I mean, that's a good point. Maybe there's a theme we're sensing here where the winning team may want that in the consecutive victory if they've posted in the series. I want to read the lead from your gamer yesterday because we talked a lot about that in the consecutive victory if they posted in this series. I wanna read the lead from your gamer yesterday because we talked a lot about this in the opening segment.

It goes, the Edmonton Oilers were blown out by the Florida Panthers 6-1 in game three of the Stanley Cup final. They took 21 penalties for 85 penalty minutes, pulled their starting goalie, had a near line brawl in the third period, and one of their players was irritated enough to squirt a stream from his water bottle at the Florida bench. But despite all of this, the Oilers swore that the Panthers, considered to be the NHL's most agitating team, didn't get under their skin or in their heads.

And then you did a drill tweet on Twitter as well, so you managed to capture it all. Are you of the belief right now that the Florida Panthers have gotten to the Edmonton Oilers? You know, occasionally my New Jersey born and bred cynicism comes through in my writing. I it was just so painful to like be in that that Florida via Edmonton rather media availability after the game and just see them swear up and down that they didn't come on hinged. Like Jake Wallman standing there and being like, hey man it's a

Stanley Cup final, emotions run high. And that's why I decided to become a fire hose from my own bench of my water bottle because AJ Greer took my gloves. I mean it was just like all this talk for the last week or even longer than that of it's different this time, we're mentally tough, you know, we've been through it, we know how to handle things. Like maybe they'll all prove that with a game four performance that's so emphatically in the favor of the Ebbington Oilers that I'll need a neck brace for the whiplash I'll experience. But as of right now, like they took the bait, they swallowed the bait,

they played right into the Panthers hands and they just got embarrassed in game three. I mean, it is one of those losses where you're just like, how do you pull yourself off the mat after it? What was the most glaring example of what you're talking about? The VanderKane. The VanderKane had more penalty minutes last night than he had in 17 previous games in

the postseason combined. And then the VanderKane and his media availability after the game said, they get away with things that we don't get away with. So that's a tacit admission of two things. One that you're doing the, I'm whining about the refs business and I'm sure that at some point will manifest in a Gregory Campbell is the assistant general manager of the Florida Panthers bit that I'm sure the people of Vancouver will appreciate. Yeah, we've sent them notes already. You left the research on the desk so they can continue your work.

And then the other thing it illustrates is that they tried to play the Panthers game last night. They're not that team. And they're especially not that team without Zach Hyman in the lineup, which is one of the few guys that can maybe match the physicality of the Florida Panthers without crossing the line. So that was a real, you know, slap the forehead moment last night, as the kind of like soft-whining about the refs, even Chris Knobloch was doing it after the game where he, you know, sort of congratulated the referees on being able to identify a too many men penalty in this game that they couldn't identify in double overtime. But then also just the admission that they became

unhinged and they became unhinged because they tried to do what the Panthers do. And I think as we're seeing once again in this series, no one can do what the Panthers do. What have you thought of the officiating overall? Because we're up to, I think the count is 24 first period penalties through three games now. And what's amazing is that we should be at like 44.

That's just the way this series is played. And so I don't know. I mean, I wondered the right approach to this because there was a moment after like the fourth or fifth penalty in the first period where it felt like Macaulay and his partner just decided to let him play prison rules for a while. like you know Dry Cytle is getting tackled and nobody's getting getting a call and and maybe that's just how they have to approach things because honestly if you listen to the Oilers they're they're

kind of like upset that they played these games on special teams and they didn't get a chance to really get in their flow to which I'd say aren't you the team with McDavid Dry Cytle Bouchard on your power play? Would you want to be on the power play more often? I don't know. It's a conundrum because it's not just simply the Florida Panthers doing things and not getting caught or not getting their comeuppance. It's the Edmonton Oilers responding in kind. Unless you want the entirety of the first period played on the power play, you can't call everything.

The Panthers are a unique bunch because they're a combination of bullies and floppers. Like normally you're either the bully or the flopper. The Panthers are both. I mean there was a classic Bobrowski moment last night. Oh yeah. Oh my god. Where Arvison gets the goalie interference penalty and you're, you're looking to see where the laser

sight is on Bob's body as he hopples to the ground. Well, I thought his skates were going to hit the video board at the, like he just went so, so like he just went like on his head. I mean, it was, he nearly did a back flip. I do think it's a measure of maturity though, that he no longer just throws his laundry around in the crease after he gets bumped.

He used to do that a lot too. No, I mean, but that's it. What that all adds up to, like the sum total of what you just said is the word agitation. And it's not simply just Marshan's mouth or Bennett falling on goalies or all of the other things that the Panthers are good at doing better than anybody in this league.

It's also their ability to draw penalties. And, you know, that's it. We've talked about, I'm sure we've talked about diving before on this show, like as nefarious and as unfortunate as it is as a part of our game, like it's definitely a talent. It's definitely a skill to be able to do some of the things that the Panthers do. Yeah, Lundell did it twice in the corner. Yeah. Oh my God. Both of those times when he,

I mean, he got popped in the face pretty good, but the one before that was, you know, the minute he felt the stick on his back, he's digging a hole. And he didn't get popped in the face that good. No, but he still got popped in the face. But the point being is that they're really good at that too. And so the sum total of all of that is that these are all of the ways that they infuriate

you and you can either get into the trenches with them and try to do the same thing as them and come off as a pale imitation, or there's another suggested path, rely on the two best players in the world to carry you through game three and maybe do it that way instead of having Leon Dreisle have no-shot attempts for only the second time in 93 playoff games. That's probably not the path I'd choose is to go in that direction. Well, the Eulers fans were probably retort with, well, how can Dry Settle get going when he's being tackled through the neutral zone every time? I don't know, man.

I feel like when they were on the power play, he wasn't getting tackled. I feel like one might say that he's pretty good at standing in that spot. And by the way, this is the other problem for Edmonton right now, is that for all of the talk about the agitation and the reaction and the referees and all of this stuff, they're getting, they've been getting outplayed since the middle of game too. And, you know, but Ravsky is on his game. Uh, the mobile puck moving defense that we thought was going to be a, a difference maker in this series in a way that the more stationary, and I'm using that term loosely, uh,

Carolina defense couldn't handle the Panthers for check. We thought that Edmonton could, they can't, they've been absolutely crumbling under the pressure of that four-check. And now and now now that Reinhardt's going, like the Panthers now have three lines that you got to worry about. And with the line matching that they got in Sunrise last night with Barkov and the Forslund-Eckblad pairing being out there almost every time McDavid's on the ice, McDavid and Drysidle go scoreless in the same game for just the 13th time in their history together. Like it is on top of all of the other concerns about losing your mind and squirting the bench

and breaking your stick on Sam Bennett, they're also now getting outplayed by a pretty significant margin in the series. Well, it's funny you mentioned that the Panthers have three lines now. Halford and I made a comparison that I never thought we'd make and that was Phil Kessel to Brad Marchand. Two very different personalities, but when Pittsburgh got Kessel and they had the HBK line rolling, it was pick your poison, you got

Sid on one line, Gino on the other and then that Kessel line, it's kind of the same in Florida with Brad Marshon, who just continues to score. It seems like he's, him and Lindell have been playing together forever and Lestrade. And I want to talk about, I know this series isn't over, but I want to talk about the future of Brad Marshon.

If Florida can't afford to keep him, do you think there's a legit chance that Toronto makes a big run at him? Oh, of course. Yeah. Of course. So here, here's what I've, I've kind of learned being on the ground here with covering the Panthers now for two rounds.

This is my best guess. My best guess is that Becklad's gone. Um, my best guess is that Becklad's gone. My best guess is that they will do everything they can within financial reason to keep Bennett and I think he kind of wants to stay from what I gather. So we'll see where that goes. And by the way, for all the talk about like the third line, the intrinsic advantage the Panthers have over almost every team in this league is that up the gut they have Barkov, Bennett and Lundell. Like that is palpable. That is something you can't match in this league. So I

think he's the priority and I would lean towards him staying. And the Marchand thing's real interesting because I know that he likes it here and I know that they like him but from what I gather, this is a guy who knows he was underpaid for a long time in Boston and he was underpaid because that's what they do in Boston. They take their nod from Bergeron and they don't take Max money and they kind of fold within the context of the team. Well, this is his absolute last kick at the can on a contract. And at this point,

someone is going to offer him a gigantic sum of money because one he's Brad Marchand and two, he still has something left in the tank. And three, he's doing what he's doing in these, in these playoffs. And four, he might have two rings at the end of it, which is something that, you know, teams are going to value. So I think Marchand is going to go wherever the biggest money money offer is. I really do. And, and, and he tipped his hand a little bit the other day when he said, you know, contending teams in this league is a tricky subject because you don't know who they're going to be year in and year out.

And a team, you know, that's around the bubble could easily become a real contender. And so I think his options are wide open and I think he's going to really consider staying, but I just don't think they're going to be able to match the money he's going to get on the open market from teams like Toronto. Tell us the story on Aaron Echblad. Oh, I just think that he's going to get priced out. I mean, they've got other priorities. Keep in mind, like there was a lot of discussion about potentially trading Ekblad like two years ago, ahead of him becoming an unrestricted free agent. Look I mean there's always a chance he could stay. I get the sense he's not and I get the

sense that when you think about this league right now and the priorities put on top pairing defenseman he's gonna get a really large offer and and then it becomes the thing of how Bill Zito and his incredibly smart front office approaches replacing talent. Because here's a thing. I mean, Echblad's really good. He did some things in game three that were outstanding, but they also have Forsling there as kind of like the foundation for that pairing. And I think you could find someone to give you what Eklat gives you to pair with Forsling.

And the other thing that's happened to them too, which is kind of remarkable is that their second pairing is maybe better than their first pairing right now with Seth Jones and Nico Mikola. Like the way that they've played these playoffs is insane. So they could, I think they can replace Eklat if he gets a big money offer and leaves, and I think he probably will. Does anyone talk about why the Panthers use two defensemen on their first unit power play? Yeah, we talk about it in the sense of like it's 2025 and no one can understand why they

do it. Yeah. Because I mean, because their second unit's not that. I mean, their second unit has- No, second unit's better. Their second unit is better. Like Schmidt back there and Verhee is kind of the floater. Yeah, I, I truly don't understand why they do it, but uh, you know, maybe, maybe it's to mitigate chances the other way.

Who knows? But it's, it doesn't really make any sense to me. We're speaking to Greg Wyshanski from ESPN live from Florida, from Stanley Cup final here on the Haliford and Brough show on sports net six 50. I know this kind of got buried in your article here, but it is there. And maybe it's anecdotal or otherwise, but Nal Block did say after the game that he hasn't made a decision on his goalie for game four. Do you think there's any way, any way possible that it's not Stuart Skinner in game four?

I don't. I mean, he also kind of indicated that he didn't think a lot of the goals or Skinner's fault, which I mean, that might be true in some, like there might be like three aren't his fault but two are totally his fault, which still means that two are totally his fault. The Marchand one to start the game, which really is what kind of started the avalanche of bad things for the Oilers, if you watch the replay, Skinner is diving for a puck that's no longer there when Marchand scores. It's pretty bad. And then on the fifth goal, he takes a delayed game penalty that then leads to the goal where he's pulled.

So I mean, there were some really bad moments for him in that game, but I don't think they pull him. I actually think that, and I wrote about Skinner the other day for ESPN.com, that his ability to kind of pull himself off the mat and try to get back on track is sort of an inspiring thing for his teammates. And I think that Knoblock will give him the space to try to do that. But if they go down 3-1, I think Pickard plays game five without question. Is the John Klingberg feel good story over? I actually think, I think the Skinner, the worst Skinner goal was the third one.

Uh, the Reinhardt goal, because the Oilers had just scored and you know, they had some life and then, uh, the Panthers go down there like, look, Klingberg's got the puck, get him. And, uh, they're clearly targeting him and for good reason, and then Klingberg ran into the ref, I think, but it turned over and Reinhard made a good quick shot, but it's maybe one that, as you say, Skinner would like to have back.

Yeah. Anything from that long comment to strike you? Do you mean in the sense that it's hard to get a nice big free agent contract if you've been ground into dust by your opponent in the Stanley Cup final? Like it's bad. I mean, you're right. I mean, for a while it looked like they found a real diamond in the rough. They actually, it almost looked like they did what the Panthers do, which is to, you

know, buy low on somebody and then put them in the system and then he works out really nicely. They're going to have to make some changes in the back end without question. Like I said earlier, one of the real trouble signs in this series right now is the idea that that defense that they thought could relieve some of the pressure of the Panthers four check has done none of that, at least in the last two games,

maybe even three games now. And they're gonna have to rethink things on the back end. So in light of everything that we've said so far, were you surprised that last night happened, that we got this very one-sided, lopsided game and final score after the opening two games of the series in which everyone was saying it's the most compelling, most competitive best hockey

we've ever seen, both games go to overtime. I think up until yesterday, this series was played either tied or the one goal advantage for all but 77 seconds of it. And then last night happened. And for me, when I came in this morning, the first thing I thought about was I did not see it going that way. But you suggested that maybe there were some signs there

because Florida had sort of tilted things in game two. Yeah, there were some signs that they were they were going to be good in this game. I thought they were going to win game three. But I certainly didn't think it was going to go this way. Now this is the worst case scenario for Edmonton. It's the worst case scenario in the sense that a lot of the things that you put your faith in usually from Connor and Leon to Stuart Skinner all failed at the same time in that game. And it's the worst case scenario in the sense that, again, like I said this before the series,

that the Panthers are built to be the perfect countermeasure to the Oilers. And one of those things that makes them unique in their adversarial nature with the Oilers is the sense that they're not going to be fazed by the things the Oilers do well, like Dallas was and Vegas was and how LA lost their minds when the Oilers came back in that series. That's just not how the Panthers are. And so, they take an overtime loss in game one, they go to double overtime in game two, and they win. And now it's one-one, and now they come home, and now they have the utmost confidence again that they're going to be all right. And meanwhile you have an Edmonton team that has yet to show that they can take a punch.

Let's be honest, they've had a really easy run outside of the first two games against LA in these playoffs. Even the Dallas loss, they could look at that and say that was an anomaly because who's going to get three power plays and three power play goals in the third period again. And now they took a punch in the mouth, not only in game two, but in game three. And I don't know if they know how to react to it. And that was always going to be one of the questions they were going to have to answer in these playoffs.

And you look at what happened in game three, they have not answered it at all. Hey, Wish, I know you're busy with the Stanley Cup final, but I also know at the Stanley Cup final, there's all sorts of gossip. And I'm wondering what people are saying about the Pete DeBoer firing in Dallas and what the stars are going to do going forward. Just, I mean, the thing that I've heard like time and time out, it's, you know, Jim Nill was not speaking out of turn by saying that the Ottinger thing was part of a larger issue and not the offending incident for the decision to fire DeBoer.

And, you know, everything else that added up to it was the exit interviews. Like there were some pretty, from what I understand, heinous exit interviews there as far as like players explaining what was happening behind the scenes and their feelings on things. And I think that's kind of what led him to make a pretty difficult decision. I mean, keep in mind, this is, this is a guy with one year left on his contract and a guy who has taken his team to the conference final three consecutive seasons and had his best point

point percentage as a coach in the regular season with Dallas over his time there. I mean, this is a remarkable amount of success and a remarkable amount of playoff revenue that you're putting at risk by firing this guy. The thing that I keep coming back to and I've talked to some people about this too is the idea that Jim Nill talked about the need for a new voice and then he retained the entirety of the assistant coaching staff, right? And so what that tells you is that they like what they're doing, they want to And then he retained the entirety of the assistant coaching staff. Right? And so what that tells you is that they like what they're doing, they want to keep doing it, they just don't want Pete DeBoer to be the guy that does it.

And so you look at Neil Graham, their AHL coach, you look at Misha Donskoff, one of their assistant coaches who was part of Team Canada, like it kind of feels that this might be an internal promotion type situation is ultimately where they land on this. Because if you look around the coaching pool, there's nobody that really excites you all that much right now, and maybe it's just a case of, let's get the man you all don't like out of here and just keep doing what we do.

Wish, this was great as always, Bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy game four. You have to wait all the way till Thursday for that one. We'll do this again next week. Yeah Two days off man. We'll see what happens. Thank you Thanks, don't get into any trouble Greg Wyshinski from Florida here on the Haliford and Brough show on sportsnet 650 Was all the Edmonton media out and baking in the Sun? Gene was We gave it away yeah, I was a

Gene Prince of a likes the Sun it's pretty obvious like Loves the Sun loves the Sun and a cherub like I have you should start wearing more gold chains Just lean right into it totally yeah, that'd be awesome Jason and I it was the draft that we were at in Florida, right? Yeah, June and. The everything in Florida is great, very nice accommodations. The hotel is very picturesque and they've got a big rooftop pool where they were at. And it was the collection of the whitest,

palest people when the NHL draft rolled through. All the hockey writers were like, let's go poolside and get some sun. It is a different animal in Sunrise, Florida, that sun, because you get burnt in like 11 minutes. The sun was like, I'm gonna mess some of you up. I am. Kicking ass and taking names. So the sun were the Panthers,

and the journalists are the Oilers. Yeah, pretty much. And they got worked over. All right. We got a lot more to get to in the Halpern and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Very astutely, we finished our interview with Greg Wyshinski talking about the Dallas Stars because that's going to dovetail into the second hour. Owen Newkirk, host of the Dallas Stars podcast, pre and post game shows on DLLS. Sports is going to join us.

There's only one team in the national hockey league right now that is without a head coach. It is the Dallas stars. It's been a very tumultuous last couple of weeks. We'll talk to Owen about all that and what Jim Nill needs to get done over the next few weeks as free agency and the draft and the coaching search rolls on in Dallas. We got a lot more to get to our two is on the horizon. You're listening to the Halford and rough show on sports net six 50.