Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 4/21/26

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Mike & Jason look at the previous day in sports, plus they discuss an exciting night of NHL playoff action with Hall of Fame goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. 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.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Good morning, Vancouver. 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adon, good morning to you. Good morning. And Liddy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're open seven days a week and open late to help you.

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went right through it you did you got you got a trust that we understand how to get her on you understood nothing I saw what was going on it was chaos hour one of this program is brought to by North Star metal recycling Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on metal. North Star Metal recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Pall Street in

Vancouver. We're coming to you live from the Kintech Studios. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. And if you want to text into the show today, Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650 trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. Time now for the Duick Morning It's our guest list brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630. Greg Wischinski's going to join the program. Our ESPN, NHL Insider. What a night in the Stanley Cup playoffs last night.

Four games, including one wild overtime win for the Cains over the Sends in Carolina. People are already texting in about it. We'll get to all of it and what happened. We'll also look back on all of last night's action with wish at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Brendan Batchelor, Play-by-Play voice of the Vancouver Canucks right here on SportsNet 650. a lot of discussion right now as it pertains to the Canucks and their new GM hire who will it be

will they go for a rookie GM or hire someone with more experience we're going to talk about that today we'll talk about it with Batch as well probably around 7 o'clock when he comes on the show 7.30 our show gets infinitely more handsome Henrik Lundquist is going to join the program Hockey Hall of Fame goalie now

studio analyst for TNT Is he the most handsome person that's ever been on this show without question didn't even have to think about it. If you're, I believe he was named, you know how those, you know, prominent magazines do the most beautiful people. I think it's Times, 50 most beautiful people. Yeah. If you make that list.

Is it time or people? I don't think it's, I don't think it's time. Too low brow for time. Just the most beautiful people. National Geographic. Yes. That's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Atlantic's most beautiful people.

Henrik Lundquitz is going to join us at 730. He's also here on a serious note to raise awareness of a cardiovascular condition. It's the one he had, recurrent paracarditis. I watched a lot of the pit, so I know how to say that one without even having to look at it. Right. Yeah. So he's going to, it's called RP for short.

He's going to join us at 7.30 to talk about all that. 8 o'clock, Jack Michaels is going to join the program. Play-by-play voice to the Oilers on Sportsnet on call for last night. Edmonton's Wild series opening 4-3 win over the ducks. it was the first time all year, the Oilers won a game in which Connor McDavid did not score a point. They saved it for the right time. Well, good thing they got dry saddle back.

Yeah, he was a beast last night. Jack Michaels was going to join us at 8 o'clock. So we got a lot to get into on the program. Not going to run it in reverse. Laddie, without further ado, 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 it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies, events, and tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. Should we begin with Ottawa and Carolina? I think we have to. I feel like it's the most appropriate thing to do. That was the game of the night. There were some other good games, but that was, that one stood out. So we're going to try something here and walk you through with audio illustrations. everything that happened in the first overtime session

of what was an eventual Carolina 3-2 win over Ottawa. Okay. Late in the first overtime session with the game tied at two, it looked and sounded as though Mark Jankowski had scored to win to end the overtime. As a matter of fact, here's what it sounded like on the broadcast when Jankowski scored in the first overtime session. Jack Kelsky on the boards with it. Dots it up to Chatfield.

Jackfield, back for Jack Kelsky to Jarvis shot. Overs and Redolns scores. Jack Kovsky over. So here's the thing. So, I mean, yeah, the Canes win. Everyone's happy there. They go home. Why aren't the Sends leaving, why aren't they leaving the ice?

Don't they know the game? These idiots, they don't even know the game is over? Come on, you guys, you lost. I can't remember the Senators player who it was, but one of them, I think he was trying to block the. centering pass and was on his knees and then fell to his stomach as if like well we're cooked we're now down to do nothing

in the series and then you start to notice as you're watching the broadcast. Started to cry. Yeah and I'm like don't cry yet because it doesn't seem like anyone's actually leaving even though fans were flocking the arena. All of a sudden flocking out of the arena flying away. I don't know it doesn't work okay. Look just go with it

suddenly they're flapping their arms and flying away. We're getting on the broadcast and hold the phone we're getting a review for an offside challenge. Now, the other part of this is that Jankowski scored while there was a delayed penalty on the play. So while the announcers are trying to figure out exactly what's going on in real time

and they're taking the Zepruder film to the offside, we finally get the announcement for what's about to happen. Okay. Before the announcement, I was like, that looked onside to me. It's close, but I think, but if he had his back leg. I thought so too. And I definitely thought there wasn't enough in the video review to overturn what was called a good goal on the ice. But I didn't expect the whole control of the puck to come into play.

And I also quite frankly didn't understand what they were talking about when they were saying it. So we finally get the announcement from the lead official. And there's a wrinkle on this one. Here's what it sounded like, again, courtesy the broadcast. There it comes. Sounds like it's going to be no goal. After the review is determined that the play was offside. there is no role.

So, but as Dave Jackson called as the slashing still stands. For being found from behind on a breakaway. Now, I feel bad for the broadcasters in this instance because they didn't know what was coming and they didn't realize there was a however to add on. So what happened was on the delayed penalty, it turned out to be a hooking call,

believe it was on Warren Fogel on Jordan Marnukes. So the goal, the game winning goal in overtime is wiped out. but the sorry, the hurricanes go back to center ice. Martinuk is about to take a penalty shot. Here's what that sounded like with another chance to win the game. Jordan Martinuk one-on-one with Linus Almark. Again, back to the broadcast.

We go. Here comes Martin up. Into the slap. Great save, Allmark. Overtide continues. They get through the first overtime. They go to the second overtime. Absolute chaos.

Okay, hold on a sec. After he missed. the penalty shot, which came after Carolina had a goal wiped off. What were you thinking then? Because I was thinking, man, Sends better win this. I thought since the Sence absolutely had to win that game. Because first of all, that'd be hilarious. And also, what a kick in the teeth that would be for Carolina.

And with the series headed back to Ottawa tied one all, you might be like, oh my God, Ottawa could do this. because, listen, we've said many times, Ottawa is a good team. They played very well last night. And their underlying numbers are good. And they've got, like, they've got some, they got some guys that can make a difference out there, right?

Allmark was fantastic. And if Allmark, and if Allmark is the Allmark that was, you know, Vesna caliber Allmark, then the Sins are, I would say, much better than where they finished in the actual standings. But then it all came crumbling apart, 1353 of the second overtime. It was very fittingly, if you were writing the script, the guy that missed the penalty shot,

Jordan Martinuk with the game winner. And again, here's what it sounded like breaking Ottawa hearts in the process. Carolina wins three, two on this goal from Jordan Martinuk. Not to the point. Miller is got it. Miller hands off. Hewers and put my left. Scores.

Jordan, Martin. makes up for the penalty shot and now wins game two in double overtime. Now, I want to discuss something here with Laddie. So Laddie swears having read the rulebook, as he put it, hundreds of times. I did not say hundreds. You said hundreds of times. You read it every night, don't you? I read it more than I probably should have, but he didn't sleep last night.

All he did was just read the rulebook. Now, had Carolina. put the puck in its own net with the goalie pulled on the delayed penalty. And there was the penalty shot called. Explain to me what would have happened. As far as I've read, and I've put this out in the past, and I never thought this situation would never even come close to occurring. But from what I read, the goal would stand, the one that went into their own net.

And the penalty shot would still need to be taken. And it would be like a sudden death penalty shot. Yeah, you need to score. And then the game would continue in overtime with a new score if the penalty shot. if the penalty shot went in. So it didn't happen. Obviously, Carolina scored into the other net, but it came very close to my weird scenario happening.

So thereby it would mark the occasion where a goal would be scored in overtime and would not end the game. Correct. And you could have a parlay where you need the over of five and a half in a two, two game, and you'd still come out ahead, apparently. Okay, well, let's talk about something a little more likely. What? And something that actually did happen because we got a text in here said,

ridiculous that you can get a penalty shot on a play that was deemed to be offside because the play the infraction obviously came after the entry right there's a problem with that though if you allow the penalties to be wiped off the board during these weird moments after the offside

it would become purge rules you understand that you're smart you'd be like guys that was offside anything goes You can take somebody's head off and not the consequence for it. Okay, well, that was a terrific hockey game, but... I think that might be it for Ottawa, by the way. Yeah, that's a tough one. You probably have to go steal one,

and I know people will always say, you know, it's not over until you lose one at home. First of all, that's not always true. No, it's not at all. And second of all, put it this way. Do you think Ottawa can win four of five? That's how I always look at it. It's like it's great that you didn't lose at home.

Home ice doesn't seem to matter as much anymore. Well, in the case of the Pittsburgh Philadelphia series, which will get to 20 a second, it doesn't mean anything. But I feel like that matchup for Ottawa was probably the worst stylistically that they could have drawn because they don't play the exact same stuff, but they kind of, their strengths,

you know, sound defensive structure, shot suppression, Ottawa's, it just feels like Carolina does it, but does it better? That's how I look at it. I mean,

they kind of do everything that Ottawa does, but do it better. I think the, the best chance that Ottawa was going to have in that is that Carolina's goaltending wasn't good enough. And that goal that Freddie Anderson gave up to tie the game was certainly not a good one. And I know a lot of Leifes fans were watching that and be like, I recognize that guy. You know.

And anyway, let's move on. We'll do the other Canadian team because last night, the Oilers beat the Ducks four to three. But boy, that was just such an Oilers game. if that makes sense. Now, it wasn't in the case of Connor McDavid, who didn't have a point, but just the way it played out, you know, the Oilers were all over the ducks

in the first period and they and they got a two nothing lead. And then I actually, you know, like I wasn't watching that game because I was watching Ottawa and Carolina and how that finished. So I look at the scores and I'm like, oh, Anaheimps tied it up. Yep. Isn't that so typically

Edmonton? And I guess Anaheim actually took the lead at one point before the Oilers came back and won at 4.3, the winning goal, you know, a lot of people would be like, in Vancouver would be like, won a nice pass by Pod Colson to, was it Capitan who scored the winning goal? Two goals for Catsbury. And it was a nice pass by Pod Colson. Very nice from behind the net. Good vision, good execution. But for me, that whole thing was made when Drysidal went, all right.

I'm going to do something here because dry-sidle is the center on that line with Pod Colson and Capitin. That's the opportunity that Pod Colson has taken advantage of playing with a guy like Drysidl who did return from injury. A lot of people wondered if you'd be playing. But he essentially like he took on two Ducks players. It's like a one-man zone entry. Just goes and pulls his way to whatever he wants to do.

And just and it's like a, it's a combination of speed, strength or force or however want to do it, but also skill to get that puck in. And I think it probably just serves a play like that. You know, when you see a guy like Dryside'll play, you're just like, that's a good reminder

for the Canucks and their fans of like the type of player you need to acquire and the type of player that they don't even have, they don't even have close to one of those. It is unfair when you watch Edmonton, especially in the seven game series where the same opponent is getting,

you know, browbeaten by McDavid and Drysidal, just how difficult they are to handle. Despite how flawed that Edmonton team is, make no mistake, it's a flawed roster. It's not a perfect team. But when you have two singular talents like that, they can do I mean, I don't want to like go too

hyperbolic, but do things that other mortals have only a handful of guys that could do what Drysiddle did on that entry yesterday. He's, like, players like that just say like, screw it, I'm going to do it myself. So Capitin scores twice. The Oilers go up to nothing, go down 3-2, they rally

the 3-3 goal. Radku-Gutis might want to burn the tape on that one. I don't know if it was a sniper or some guy with a nasty catching of the edge or whatever it was. Some guy with a blow dart and the stands that got him in the neck. It happens. Yeah, just at the worst possible time for Goudis. And then later, people already don't

like me. And now I have fallen. It was embarrassing to begin with. And then they scored. And I'm going to be dead on. That thing should have been going to overtime because the shot that McKill, Granlin missed was seconds left on the clock. It was Granlin, if I'm not mistaken. A yawning cage with the ducks pressing and the oil are scrambling in their own zone.

But alas, it did not happen. I feel like the ducks might regret not stealing that game because they had a three two lead. And I think the biggest rarity, and I mentioned this in the intro, if you hold Connor McDavid off the sheet and it doesn't happen often, I think it only happened 14 times this year, that is a win for you and the Oilers never win

when Connor McDavid doesn't score but they did it last night. I pick on the Oilers a lot and you're right. They're not a perfect team. But of all the series that I thought, this could be a sweep. It was the Oilers Ducks one. The one I didn't expect could maybe be a sweep was Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Philly has gone into Pittsburgh. has gone into Pittsburgh and structured it up. Yeah, smothered the penguins. Against the penguins. Yeah, I mean, they are playing their coaches style to a T and the penguins just

cannot break down the structure and cannot get their shots on goal. And they're looking old. They're looking past their primes, especially a guy like Latang. The acquisition of Gerard on the back end is not looking like your great acquisition right now. Carlson had a nightmare last year.

Yeah. And it was awful. And meanwhile, you know, guys on Philly like Porter Martone scored again, young guy. And Owen Tippett is looking like, I don't know, he's looking like the type of player that dry cycle is right now. He's just like, I'm just going to do it all myself. A red-headed dry-siddle here. It's unbelievable. And the flyers are now up to nothing in. that series with Pittsburgh, you know, it is the seventh and the eighth seed in the east. So if Philly wins this, I mean, Philly's actually, you know, like, it's not, it's not a massive upset, but I think a lot of people thought like Pittsburgh, you know, the return to the playoffs, you've got these guys that are, they know that they don't have many more playoffs in all,

let alone together as a group. and they've done such a good job to overcome all the, all the, you know, the people said they're done and they, and they should break up the group. And they've just, yeah, they just haven't looked very, very good at all. Well, their offense is, it's so stagnant. Like, I understand the Phillies gone in and done a good job of, you know, shot suppression and keeping the penguins to the outside.

But the penguins yesterday, through the first 25 minutes of the game, had two shots on goal. Yeah, yeah. Like, you can't. But they had like 20 shot attempts. Yeah, but they can't get anything through. Or it was getting blocked and the flyers go into Pittsburgh and they win that 3-0. The final game, and I got to be honest, I didn't watch much of this.

That was my responsibility. It's okay. I watched it for both of us. The Dallas Stars tie their series and that was a must win for Dallas after drop in game one. They beat the Minnesota Wild 4 to 2. and I know a lot of people in this city and listening to this show want to hear about the empty net goal the Dallas Star scored?

Why do they want to hear about the empty net goals? I mean, I did it too on Twitter, so I'm as guilty as everybody else. But yeah, with Yesper Walsdet out and the Minnesota Wild Trailing 3-2, there was a clearance from Dallas. And it, so Quinn Hughes,

in retrieval trying to go back for the puck. And it looked like it was going to curl wide of the post. And if you watch, they got a great end zone camera angle on it. You can actually see Quinn Hughes let up or quit skating as he was. He thought the puck was going to go wide and

he was just going to be able to go back and retrieve it behind the net. And then as soon as he saw it curl back towards the net, you saw the panic strides from Quinn Hughes trying to make sure that it didn't go on the net. Alas it did. It was weird, actually. Someone on the Dallas bench said, hurry hard. Yeah. and the puck started curling right into that.

I don't know if he was going to get to that regardless, but it's... It was the look, right? It was a bad offer. He was like, oh, I should probably... I think he would have gotten there. He shouldn't have let up. Put the burners on, he would have gotten out.

I mean, I'll believe you just for the sake of the story. I think, you know what? Now that I think of it, Lattie, I think you would have got to that puck easily. And then he would have taken it the other way and scored in the other net. Yeah, and would have been the hero. But unless.

The butterfly effect going on here. So I know a lot of Vancouver fans were, like smirking and having a good time with that yesterday. Chorling is a good word. Yeah, there were, there were some chortles going on for sure. But the big story there is that Dallas bounces back from an awful game one performance down six one. And I think most importantly for them, Jake Ottinger bounced back after a really rough performance, which you'll remember game one was his first playoff appearance since the now infamous goalie pull against Edmonton that, you know, cost Peter DeVarro his job and left Ottinger to wonder like if

there's going to be any mental scarring going into the playoffs. He stops 28. His record after a loss in the playoffs now is 19 and 8 and he's got a 917 safe percentage in those games. So Ottinger's shown a really good ability to bounce back. I also got to say this about Minnesota. Quinn Hughes still does

Quinn Hughes things. He still looks amazing. There's certain plays he makes that again mere mortals can't. I think favors their best defenseman. Brock, not Chris, by the way. He was fantastic last night. Oh, he's their best defenseman last night.

He's been their best defenseman in this series. He was excellent in game one as well. And again, I think it, and it's not to sort of... That was the whole idea behind, not the whole idea behind getting Quinn Hughes, but when the deal happened, it was like, oh, boy, you can either put Faber and Hughes together, or you can have them on separate pairings. Like, I don't, I don't really care if what their center position looks like,

and it's not terrific. With the wingers that they've got with Boldie and Caprizo, that's a good team and they are a good team they can still win the series. Here's the thing with Minnesota last night they kind of got exposed as a one line team so in that first game Caprizov Boldi and Erick went nuke I think they had like four goals and nine points

in the 6-1 win last night Dallas had a way larger focus on trying to shut them out also playing way more physical and they limited them to two points were they together just that year and Caprizov though just that trio had that I'm just talking about that trio how collectively they scored in game one.

They did nothing in game two. Oh, okay. Because I thought they split them. I thought they had Caprizo on one line and boldly on the other. They've moved them around. They're on the same power play unit obviously. They made a lot of looks there. But the takeaway from game one was that those three led to charge offensive.

Because when you look at that forward group after those guys, it gets pretty thin, right? There's not. And you got to remember, Tyler Myers, who's made an impact both good and bad in this series. He was the one that took out Matt Zuccarello. And Zookarillo didn't play yesterday. And that was a guy that had three assists in the old. opener. Super underrated play. Yeah, and he's such a good playmaker. Really good, really good playmaker. See that hit on Yaakov, Yacov Trennan? Yeah, Colin Blackwell, a huge thunderous hit in that one.

That was, you know how sometimes there are big hits and you're like, you know, he only got 70% of him on that. It was a bit, it was a bit more of a glancing blow. That was a 100% force hit. And it, it, it, it, it was a bit, it, it was a bit more of a glancing blow. that was a 100% force hit. And it knocked Trennan backwards. It was like he was going for a first down and did not get it and they will not need to measure. So in football, it's when they say you hit through the body.

Right, right? And that's what he did there is he didn't hit the body. He hit through the body. That was big. So it was funny because I was flipping around. I had two screens on and I could hear the call of the hit. So I turned and looked. and to see the shape that Trennan was in in the aftermath,

I was like, oh, man, this must have been a huge collision. And it was. But the way that it rocked Trennan, it really kind of told you how physical that collision was. It was pretty impressive. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 732 on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford & Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Got debt? If you do, reach out. to Sands and Associates during regular business hours, and they'll get back to you within 20 minutes. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We're in hour two of the program at the midway point of the show. Henrik Lundquist is going to join us in just a moment here.

The highlight of our two. Hour two is brad to by Jason Homanoch at Jason. Dot mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. Dot mortgage. To the able auctions hotline we go, our next guest,

the Hockey Hall of Famer, now doing some analyst work for TNT. Henrik Lundquist joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Hendrick, how are you? Good morning, guys. How are you doing? We're great. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So the playoffs are well underway. We're into night four now tonight. But before we get to any of that, I did want to start with your current and most latest project. It's a focus raising awareness of a serious cardiovascular condition called recurrent paracarditis or RP.

I know you have a history with it and you're working on it now. So let our listeners know more about RP and what your current project entails. Yeah, you know what? The first time I heard about it, I wasn't sure what it was, to be honest. Short explanation, inflammation, inflammation around the heart. And it actually forced me to retire from hockey. That was my first experience with it and to understand how serious it can be if you're not in good hands. You need good guidance.

And for me, the key was really to educate myself, understand really what it was. So now I work with Kinnicksa and my goal is just to spread awareness about it and encourage people to talk to their doctors and educate themselves. There's a lot of people dealing with recurrent perkyitis in the United States. So I hope through this campaign, you know, you can go to Life Disrupted.com and find out more about it. But to me, over the last five years, you know, I've had setbacks in terms of flare-ups and, you know, you deal with a lot of pain and fatigue and stuff like that. So it's about just to get to know your body a little bit better. And, again, know a little bit more. And that will help you get back on track.

And it's been the case for me. I feel great right now, and again, knowledge for me has been key throughout this process. So thanks for giving me a couple of minutes to talk about that. Sorry, go ahead. How long did it take for you to get the diagnosis before they figured out why you were feeling these symptoms? So I was coming off of open heart surgery, if you remember that. And then I tried to get back to playing in the NHL. I would say from the day I felt the pain and got the diagnose, maybe three, four weeks,

but it was only a coincidence, to be honest. I had a follow-up, checkup from my surgery, and that's where they found the inflammation around the heart. And then I, you know, described the pain I had and the symptoms I had, being so tired and again, pain through my chest, out of my back. And the specific things you can look for when you're dealing with this. And at that point, I hope it was just a one-time thing, but it developed into recurrent parquetitis,

which means it keeps coming back here and there. And you just need to be aware of it and look for those signs and learn to adjust your lifestyle a little bit, which I have over the last few years. So I feel good and confident about my health, but I'm aware of, you know, potential setbacks at times. We're speaking to Hockey Hall of Fame and TNT analyst, Henrik Lundquist here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Okay, Henrik, let's turn our attention to these playoffs. And again, early days and everything. But has there been a particular team or storyline in the first one or two games of their respective series that's really caught your eye? Or maybe you and the guys on the TNT panel with four games a night and everything going on, What's one major storyline that's really caught your attention in the early days of these playoffs?

I have to say Philadelphia Flyers. They're up to nothing against Pittsburgh. And, you know, you look at all the series. You might think you know something here, but pretty wide open. You know, there's so many good teams. And that's the exciting part about these playoffs. There's so many teams that improved from last year. They're now in the playoffs.

And they have a good shot here of making. a good run. So many teams, but if you start with Philly, you know, the way they've been playing, great goal-tending to, yeah, who knows where that series is going now. They're going back to Philly feeling extremely good. So exciting for them.

If you look at other series, you know, my big favorite going into these playoffs, obviously, Colorado Avalanche, just the way they've been playing all season long. And you break it down the different areas of the

goaltending the back end forwards, it's just so elite right now so it's going to be hard to stop them but we'll see if LA can make a pusher in the second game I think we've all enjoyed the atmosphere in Buffalo after the Sabres made the return to the playoffs

I mean that's been incredible I've always said that MSG is you know top three, top five places to watch a NHL playoff game. I'm sure you agree, but what were some of the the visiting ranks that you really enjoyed the spectacle of Stanley Cup playoff hockey to plan? Well, I played up in Montreal twice

and I have to say, you know, to play play playoff hockey up there was pretty incredible. The intensity and just how much. much people care. Obviously, people care everywhere you go when it's the playoffs, but up in much, oh, it's just another level, how loud it was, and again, the intensity up there. So I really enjoy that.

But speaking of Buffalo, I do remember, you know, my early years in the league and playing Buffalo in the playoffs. It is a hockey town and really happy for the fans in Buffalo, because, you know, it's been a long time that we're in the playoffs. and also the way that game was played and the way they came back. I mean, they're on fire up there right now, that's for sure. Yeah, I think we're all, I think the whole hockey world, well, maybe not Boston, but the whole hockey world is pretty happy for Buffalo right now.

Hey, I got to ask you, Henrik, what's the state of the Rangers? The state of the Rangers? Well, of course, it was disappointing not to make the playoffs. and it was a turning point. You know, you're two points out around Winter Classic, and then both Shisterkin and Fox goes down with injuries, and that's really where things went the wrong way. I mean, two key players,

and they just mean so much to that team. It was just too hard for them to recover from there. And now I think the good thing with the Rangers, if you try to find some positives, had a lot of young players come up the last couple months, get some good minutes, and they're producing and playing well. That's a really good sign for them come next season. But obviously, they have some big decisions to make over the summer

and kind of go from there. But if I take away any good parts, it would be the young guys coming up the last couple months and get some good minutes. we're speaking to Hendrik Lundquist here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. We saw a pair of penalty shots in the Stanley Cup playoffs last night, one successful, or sorry, both unsuccessful, actually, that Jordan Martinuk won in overtime. And then, of course, Owen Tippett against the Penguins yesterday as well.

So going back to your playing days with the amount of penalty shots and shootouts that you faced, was there one particular guy that stood out as the toughest or most difficult shooter you ever had to face in those one-on-one situations? I remember Ilya Kovochuk really good of breakaways He had a long reach He could really shoot the puck

With a lot of accuracy And he could de-hear as well So I remember he was always Extremely challenging on a one-on-one But it's you know As a goalie when you're in a shootout Or a breakaway situation It's so much mental

You need to be patient You can't make the first move. You can't get ahead of yourself. You have probably a little bit information on some of the top guys and their tendencies, but at the same time, you want to stay in the moment. So it is exciting. That's for sure. Everything is on its edge when you're faced like that in one-on-one situation. And yeah, always a good challenge. Yeah, I've always wondered about

that because you know, you'll see it in soccer sometimes with certain goalies. They'll have the shooter's tendencies like printed out on their water bottle so they'll have an idea of where guys are going to go. And you see it more and more prevalent now, the amount of research that goes into it. So when you were playing, how do you balance that part of it, trying to get as much of a read on the guy's tendencies?

Because guys have moves that they do. What does this guy do? It's already in the net. But also, yeah, like you also have to kind of, you know, be in the moment. Like you said, how do you balance those two things? Yeah, I think it's a constant thing, right? We talked about that on air the other night on T&T that as a goal, you gather so

much information about the team you're playing, certain players, their special teams, how they like to shoot certain guys. So you use that, but at the same time, you can't get ahead of yourself. You can't cheat the game because players are too good. They're going to take advantage of it. So, yes, it's back of your mind and you keep it there. But at the same time, it's so crucial you play the situation that's happening in front of you. I think for me any goalie, if you're patient and you rely on all their other things.

But if you start making the first move because you try to predict what's going to happen, a lot of times you lose that battle. So for me, when I play the game and when I watch great goalies right now, the guys that are patient and reading, their timing is just much better. And they make it a lot harder for guys to score. Is there a goalie going right now that's your favorite to watch? maybe not necessarily who you would consider the best goalie in the NHL. I don't know if you have one identified,

but a guy that you really like watching maybe a little bit more than others. Well, there's so many good ones, and that's what I love about the playoffs. You see guys elevate their play. Freddie Anderson is very technical, very solid, always. I'm a big Vasilevsky fan, but I think you look at the last couple of seasons in the playoffs. He hasn't really reached his full potential, so we'll see if

he has a pushback here in game two. Well, I mean, Hart in Vegas, he had a really strong finish for them, and now in the playoffs it's going to be interesting to see him if he can carry it all the way for them. But it's almost like every team has a really

good and interesting goalies. And what I love about goaltending right now, there's a lot of different styles. Some guys are very aggressive. Some guys are sitting back. You have short goalies, taller goalies. You have a mix of everything. And that's what I love.

India, and it's about stopping the puck. But there's different ways of getting there. So it's good to see. It's not just one shape and form of goaltending right now. Well, we're going to get to see eight more of them tonight. There's four games on the slate. He's going to be another fantastic evening of playoff hockey. Hey, Hendrick, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today.

we really appreciate it. Remind it for everyone that's listening about R-P, the website is Life Disrupted, L-I-F-E-D-R-P-T-E-D-D-D-D-com. Go check it out. And hey, Hendrick, thanks again for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Have a good one.

You too, thanks. That's Hendrick Lundquist, Hockey Hall of Famer, TNT, analyst here on the Halford-I-Bruff show on SportsNet 6-50. You must have liked that. A little goalie talk with Henrik Lundquist. I'm going to start, if we ever get to a shootout, I'm going to start putting the shooter's tendencies on my water bottle,

because I've really been tracking what... This guy's tendency is to put the ball past me. Repeatedly. He's done it every time with regular. Did you have a strategy in penalties? I think he's going straight down the middle. I'm just going to stand here. Hopefully he's going straight down the middle because I ain't moving.

No, there was a couple of guys that I knew they had the same go-to. I remember playing against one guy in college. And he did the look away or the no look all the time. So he's... Oh, okay. So if he's looking left, he's going right? But he would look in the corner, the opposite corner, like, while he was shooting. He was skilled enough that he could do that.

Yeah. So he could do the... I just feel that's a bit risky, though, because, like... Your body will follow your eyes sometimes. He also wouldn't hit the shot that hard because I think he was worried about missing while not looking. It was more of a placement thing. So once I saw it once, and I realized that he was going to it every time, there was

like a book on that. but outside of that, no, there's not a real strategy to it. So in soccer, yeah, are penalties, does it seem like they're getting harder to score? To score. Yes. Yeah, like, why is that? The research is a lot more thorough and a lot more diligent.

Like the writing on the water bottle, it's proven to be not super, like, statistically effective, but there has been an uptick because a lot of shooters, when they find something that they're comfortable with, they'll just do it over and over again. Are the goalies bigger? Yeah. It looks like, it looks, back in the day, it was like, oh, this is easy.

Just a pretty big goal. Put it in there. And now it looks harder. And they've amended the rules so that it's more advantageous for shooters. Like you can't come off your line early. Your knowledge of step forward, right? If it's funny, if you go back to the sort of now famous, well, it's always been famous, but the Liverpool, Milan, Champions League Final, like two decades ago, Jersey Dudek and net for. Liverpool, if you go back and watch now,

like he is cheating. He's all over the place. And he's way off his line before the shots taken. He's going to like kick the ball away before it gets hit. When you watch it now, you're like, you have no chance of scoring. He's so far out in front of it. And so they've mitigated that part of it. Well, I think they've also done some studies on

the success rate is far lower when you go to penalties as opposed to a penalty in the middle of a game. Yes. It's a lot different. That's partly pressure, but it's also partly maybe you're running out of the guys

that are best to take it. It's the theater of the shootout though. You have to match with the guy before you did. In a game, if you were awarded a penalty during a match, it's like you step up and you finish the chance that got taken away from you. This one, it's like,

well, now I need to match what the shooter before is done. You know what I love is the long walk up to the ball? That's a part of it. Like, where do they keep the, They keep the teams essentially at half. Yeah, basically in the center circle. Okay. And then they're like, okay, Bob, you're up next. And he just has to take that long, slow walk.

I mean, that is, that's theater. And, you know, imagine that feeling. Well, it's good that you brought that up because that's one of the massive differences between a penalty in match and then the shootout is that in a match, you're just kind of standing there waiting. There's guys around you. usually there's VAR going on. There's a lot of things.

This one, you have the long walk. And you have to... And it's my design. You have to leave the clutches of your teammate. Yeah. They're like, good luck now, right? Yeah, don't screw it up. Sending the soldier off, yeah.

We're all depending on you. Right, you need to score this, but good luck. No pressure. Yeah, I found that fascinating. Okay, we did get a bunch of texts into the show about whether or not experience as a general manager is going to be an important factor for the Vancouver Canucks. Here's a text unsigned.

I personally feel like if there is ever a time to have a rookie GM, a rookie or rookie coach for that matter, it should be at the very beginning of a rebuild. If after a couple of years, a rookie GM slash coach shows that they aren't up to the task, you can change direction while your prospects and young players are still young enough or early enough in their careers so they can develop with the vision of the new GM coach.

Of course, the risk is that the GM coach does such a bad job that they ruined the development of said prospects or young players. I mean, I would argue, this is damned if you do. I would argue that the early stages of the rebuild are the most important because you're laying the foundation. So you really don't want to screw this up. Now, you never want to screw up any higher. It's not like you ever want to do any.

You want to make sure that everything you do is thorough and thoughtful and diligence. So you don't ever want to have like, oh, we'll just take a mulligan if it doesn't work. It doesn't work like that. Yeah. but I would very much push back on, well, this is a good time to let someone learn the ropes because it's kind of inferring that the stakes are lower. Yeah.

I would disagree with that. Like this pick that's coming up in the draft is fundamentally important to the future of the Vancouver Canucks. This draft is fundamentally important. They've got two high-end picks. They've got an opportunity to replenish what is a very diminished prospect covered. This is vitally important.

And all of the decisions are. because, you know, we talked about setting a culture for a team yesterday. I think the same can be said of a front office in an organization where if you take every decision with the utmost seriousness and, like, this is a crucial building block to our organization, more often than not, you'll feel good with the decision you reached. Like, even if it doesn't work, you'll say the process was right and the way we went about it was right. Does it feel weird for me to say that I'm somewhat re-energized when it comes to the Canucks? Because they came crashing down so hard and they are now moving forward with something else. And yes, there are going to be perhaps some holdovers from the old era. But I think for the most part, I just felt like this ain't it for so long.

And, you know, there was the the, the, the, the, the, one season a couple years ago where I was like, well, maybe I was wrong about these guys. But it so quickly came back to like, no, this ain't it. This group ain't it. And these guys need, the organization needs such a shock to the system to get them out of their old ways. Now, hopefully they are officially out of their old ways. I just feel like I know it's going to be hard. I know it's going to take a long time

and there's going to be a lot more losses to come. I'm just more curious about this new chapter. It feels like I'm starting a new book as opposed to like being forced... As opposed to being forced to read this book that I hate that, but I'm like, you know, like I'm three quarters of the way through it so I guess I'll finish it, right?

Yeah. My hesitation, like I'm kind of with you on it's new and it's invigorating and they've gone to the bottom and you've got to work your way back up. I really hope, and I haven't had a lot of signs yet, but I really hope that this organization, from ownership to executive,

is really going to truly embrace what happened last year and what a rebuild takes. And the biggest word that I hope, and the biggest thing that I hope they embrace is patience. Yeah. I really hope that they understand that this is a long haul. I did not like Rutherford talking about how next year, they're, you know, we might not be a

playoff team, but we're going to be competitive. I thought that was reckless, man. I thought just putting, saying like, we're going to have Lekker-Macki, Coots, and the new guy in the lineup. Are you still going to have that young defense and you're going to have these, like Lekormacky is, in my opinion, prove me wrong, not an NHL player and probably won't

be. There's, Coots needs time to develop and he needs to go and play at the world juniors and be one of the best players for Canada. And, you know, even the third overall pick, like, maybe, you know, if it's McKenna, I'm sure he's going to be in the lineup to sell tickets, but let's just, let's be patient in your words. I think there's a big difference between positivity and projection.

Like, I don't think that in mid-April, it's wise to go up there and start projecting what your lineup's going to look like in October. I think you're going to be positive about the young guys that you have. But when you do stuff like that, you kind of set an expectation. And I don't think that you should have any expectations right now other than we're going to try and stockpile talent and we're going to hope that our young guys get better. And then you just leave it at that.

Because if Coots doesn't make the team out of camp next year, someone, and it's going to be one of us, jackals in the media, is going to say, well, you know, in April, Jim Rutherford had you penciled in for a roster spot. Yeah, it seems like he's failing, right? Which is not. Jonathan Lachromackie needs to spend another year in Abbotsford. they're going to say, is this guy ever going to make it?

Lecker Mackey's a different story than Coots. Leckermackie should be ready to be in the line of up. You understand what I'm saying, right? But you don't think he's going to be an initial player? No. Really? No. He's too slow.

Not strong enough. But if he gets faster and stronger. I guess that would be good for him. Tushay, a dog. What does he get better at hockey? Yeah. I mean, yeah, if he gets much better at hockey, then I'll be like, huh. I was wrong.

I was wrong. Okay. It's time now for the smart decision brought to you by Crow. Laddie is not on the microphone, but he's back there, notting. You know what a smart decision was, Laddie? When the Blue Jay signed Dylan cease to a seven-year, $210 million contract this off-season, because he is the lone Blue Jay,

who has shown up and delivered this season yesterday, struck out 12 in five innings of work. Do you know how hard it is to strike out 12 guys in five innings of work? He also took 110 pitches to get 15 out. So it's a weird, you know, it's funny. A buddy of mine is a big Padres fan. and Cis was there before and he's like, this is the Dillon Cese experience. He's got unbelievable talent, but it comes in different weird shapes and sizes.

So like five innings, 110 pitches, 12 strikeouts. It was a workhorse performance. I think he's now second in Major League Baseball and strikeouts. So in what's been a pretty down year for the Blue Jays thus far, C's showed up big in a big moment, smart decision to get him aboard, although they paid a lot of money to do so. I know you got your read, but if you noticed like the Mariners aren't exactly killing it either. They had a bad game last night.

gave a bunch of solo shots to know, lost of the A's. I saw a lot of, is this the right manager discussion on Mariners social media? You know what else I saw? And I was like, I'm not interested in this.

I'm going to go back to hockey social media. I saw a lot of empty seats at Safeco. Well, it's early. Still, that was a team that was... Beautiful night, too. Yeah, I know. Like, could you not think of a better night to go to, like, the ballpark?

And I know it's early days and everything, but it's not like they're a bad team. They were a, you know, a playoff team last year. Obviously, that sort of unforgettable series against the Js. You're listening to the best. of Halford and Brough.