Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Take On Arturs Silovs' Pittsburgh Penguins

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason set up tonight's Canucks matchup at the Pens with 'Nucks radio commentator Brendan Batchelor (1:48), plus the boys look elsewhere around the NHL, and also chat last night's big Seahawks win (27:00). 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.

It's his friend and Bachelor, Bachelor, Bachelor, Bachelor, Life from Rogers Arena, Collin' Canucks Games. It is Brendan Bachelor, Bachelor, Bachelor. 7.03 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford and Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is bratsby Sands and Associates. score a debt freedom hat trick one no more interest two

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No, he doesn't care. He's feeling okay. He doesn't care. Yeah, that guy loves to celebrate. He is high energy. Just like old Alford over here. High Energy, Alfred. Hello.

We are in hour two of the program. Brendan Batchel is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to by Jason hominike at Jason. Dot Mortgage. If you love, give him the banks more of your money. then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.orgia. It is a Canucks game day here on SportsNet 650.

Our next guest is the play-by-play voice of those of Vancouver Canucks. He will be calling tonight's game 4 o'clock. Pittsburgh, Vancouver from Pittsburgh. Brandon Batchler here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Batch? Good morning. How are you guys? We're good. Here's the first question.

Do you have any idea who's going to be playing for the Vancouver Canucks tonight? No, is the short. answer. I guess we'll wait and see, obviously, there were those flurry of moves yesterday. So, you know, is Brock Besser back or not? We'll have to wait to find out. Is Teddy Blugher able to play? We'll have to wait to find out. Could there be more shuffling from Abbotsford in Vancouver officially on paper? I guess we'll wait to find out, although I think they probably have done everything that they're going to do with, you know, Neil Zomann coming up and Tom Veylander as well. So I guess there's a chance that Tom Veylander plays his first

NHL game tonight. So, you know, there will be a lot to watch for in the Vancouver lineup. Let's put it that way. Are you having trouble like I am knowing how to feel about these connects? Because, I mean, it's incredible that they won the first three games of the road trip, especially how they looked in the first period against Dallas. And I think a lot of people deserve a lot of credit for that. But at the same time, the Hedal situation, I don't know if you could have drawn up a worse case scenario. like getting blasted by Tom Wilson, you know, in the middle of the ice like Heidel was and leaving the game. I mean, this is the situation that we all worried would happen. And it's

happened six games into the season. Yeah, you really feel for Philip Heel, first of all. And that's where my mind went first was, oh, no, another one of these for this guy that can't seem to catch a break in terms of health. And especially because he had, you know, played pretty well to start the year. I know he had a couple of untimely penalties, and there was the one giveaway, I believe it was against the Oilers that, you know, he would like back, but he scored a few goals.

You know, was playing on the line with DeBrusk and Besser before Besser. You know, didn't play last game due to personal leave. So, you know, it was all looking up for Philippaedal and now you just hope that, you know, this isn't long, long term for him. And ultimately,

I guess we'll have to wait and see if they provide any sort of timeline on the injured guys in the next day or two. But, you know, not only is it sort of your greatest fear for Philip Heedal and his help personally, and hopefully he's all right, but it was also your greatest fear in terms of the stuff we talked about all summer, which was, you know, depth down the middle. And, you know, even Jim Rutherford said it could be more costly to not find a center. Well, maybe we're about to find out exactly how costly it was to not get a center.

or maybe they're going to go get a center and help shore up the middle of the ice. But, you know, there's a very real scenario where you're looking at Elias Patterson, Max Sassin, Atu, Ratu, and Nealz Oman as your four centers for the game today. And that's not the way that anybody would have drawn this up, including Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen. So, you know, hopefully for Heald's sake, it's not long term. But if it is, I'll be very interested to see how the organization operates in terms of trying to help. those guys down the metal. Well, here's another conundrum for Adam Foote. You know, I remember

the beginning of the season going like, you know, like I don't know if Pedersen and Garland should be on the same line because ideally I'd like Pedersen to drive one of the lines on the top six and Garland to drive the other. But, you know, the way the season started for whatever reasons, Garland was elevated to that spot with Pedersen

and they look really good together. So are you going to break that duo up or are you going to risk all right we'll keep de brass peterson and garland together you might have a second line of i don't know rotu between cane and sherwood and how is that going to fare yeah well and these are the the challenges that adam foot is going to face now um you know the way i sort of looked at it was that they were trying to draw up a matchup line and because Pedersen had sort of a slow start offensively, you put him with Garland, you know, Pedersen's going to be reliable

defensively, that can be your matchup line, and then moving heel off that line created sort of the offense line, right? That, you know, at one point was with DeBrescan Bessor and those guys can generate offense. Now, you know, it kind of does feel like you have to load up one line with all the injuries, but then you've got three other lines that have to find a way to keep their head above water, And, you know, that Abbott'sford line, I think, has been really good. And they're essentially going to have to be your third line, potentially, in this scenario,

where you're looking at, like, a Neil Zomon and Joe Labate anchoring your fourth line, potentially, depending on who is or isn't back with the team and in the lineup for the game today. So, I mean, these are problems for Adam Foote, certainly. And I'd be very interested to see whether Pedersen and Garland stay together or whether they're split up just so you have a couple of lines. that you can hopefully rely on because Pedersen has looked better the last couple of games,

I think it's fair to say. All I would say for Adam Foote's sake is that hopefully this is short term that he has to worry about this where you get through the final two games of the road trip, you're incredibly thankful that you've already banked six points. And if you can get some more here, great,

but get through the last couple of games of the trip, you've guaranteed yourself a winning trip, and then hopefully guys are getting healthy or reinforcements are brought in one way or another by the time you get home for pretty big back-to-back this weekend too. Like this schedule does not relent. We already talked about the first three games of the trip being in whatever it was 67 hours or something like that.

And now you've got another stretch this week where it's four games in six nights, including a home back-to-back against two Canadian opponents. So, you know, the games keep coming thick and fast, and they're going to have to figure out a way to get. through the week. I was actually looking at the schedule last night, and those three home games where

it ends with the Tuesday game against the New York Rangers. I wonder if they're kind of reverse engineering it to make sure that Dempco's the goalie for that Rangers game. How do you think they're going to roll out the goalies because

Lankinen has been fine, but Demco has been incredible. yeah well and what i look at more with the goaltending is less about the ranger game and more about the oiler game on sunday in terms of divisional matchup uh underman team like that might be a game where you really want to have thatcher demko in the crease so part of me wonders if this week goes lincoln and demko lincoln and demko and then maybe you could go back to demko on tuesday against the Rangers if you wanted to. But with the 3 and 4,

you would expect that Demko would play two of those on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, which means maybe you go to Lankin and tonight, or maybe not, right? Maybe Demko is separating himself to get some of those extra games. But that said, this is what they talked about coming into the year, the congested schedule,

and we signed both of these guys for a reason, and we don't want to write Thatcher Demko early. And the fact that you won, games gives you a little bit of cushion. And, you know, I know it's very early, right? Three wins in a row in October is not like a playoff spot confirmed and locked up or anything like that. But the fact that you've won some of these games does give you a little bit of that cushion to say, okay, we don't need to feel like we absolutely have to roll Thatcher Demko out, you know, most nights here, although he's still going to be the starter most nights. But do they

need to force him into this game tonight. Maybe, maybe not. If they do or they don't, then what do they do Thursday and how do they, you know, figure out the back-to-back of the weekend and then what does next week look like? These are going to be questions that we're going to talk about all season long because, as I said, this schedule just keeps coming and the games are coming thick and fast and they're back home and then they're out on the road again. And so they're going to need to use both guys.

And if they want to make sure that Thatcher stays healthy, then I think it would be, you know, in their best interest to make sure that Kevin Lankton plays a couple of games this week probably. Let's talk about Elias Pedersen because I've been encouraged by his play certainly over the last two games. I would say over the last two and a half games. I thought the game he played in Chicago

was the closest he's been to back, if you want to call that, in a long, long time. I'm not willing to go there yet, but what have you seen from Petey? Yeah, I think more decisive with the puck and that's what he is when he's at his

best. And the first moment I sort of thought, oh, okay, that's Elias Pedersen, was that move he made to the front of the net in overtime against the Blackhawks where Spencer Knight made a great save on him but, you know, I think it was Lucas Reichel that he danced around and got right to the front of the net and that's a confidence that he's

had with the puck that we haven't seen from him in a while. I think Adam Foote, you know, kind of characterized it as taking on guys and When Elias Pedersen is confident and playing it his best, he is taking on guys and he is dancing around them and he is forcing them to commit and creating opportunities by doing that, by moving his feet as well, which is something that has been talked about a lot. So I agree, I'm not going to like have some grand declaration that he's back, but I think the last couple of games at the very least have been the best sign that there is a trend in the right direction there. And then, of course, all the great defensive stuff, too, like the shot blocks and, you know, plays that he's come back to break up in his own zone. And, you know, you often see him below his own goal line helping out his defense to try and transition the puck.

So we always knew that the defensive side of things and the two-way ability is there. But ultimately, especially with the issues they have down the middle of the moment, with Heedle and potentially Blugher out, you need this guy to be an offensive driver. And I think we've seen signs of him getting back to being that player. but he can't rest on his laurels now just because we've seen signs of in a couple of games he has to continue to build on that continue to gain confidence, continue to gain momentum and continue to grow his game

and hopefully he can have another strong game against the penguins today because they're going to need him with the bodies they have out of the lineup. I'm not asking you to start trade rumors or anything but I know you follow the league pretty closely as well as the connects. Are there any names out there that you think could be, you know, interesting for the connects to pursue.

You know, I know sat throughout the name Pavel Zaka. A lot of people texting into the Dunbar-Lumber text line about Nazim Khadry out of Calgary. I don't know about that one. Like, he's getting old and he's got four years left on that contract. Maybe. I don't know. I mean, the picking seem to be pretty slim out there. Yeah.

And with Khadry, you know, you'd have to give up a pretty penny to get him here. I think he has some sort of, maybe it's not a full no movement clause, but he has some sort of trade protection. And, you know, you've already made some trades with the flames in recent years and sent one of your high-ed defensive prospects in Hunter Bursdevich to a division rival. Do you want to do that with another one of your young defenseman in a trade like that? He does have a full no move too. So, I mean.

Yeah, exactly. So he would fully control that situation. And you know what? Maybe he would want to come here if things aren't looking great in Calgary. But for a team like that to give up on one of their top guys this early in the year would be quite surprising, I think, in terms of being willing to be a seller this early. So I don't think that is likely. Another name that Randipe and I were talking about the other day is J.G. Pajot with the New York Islanders.

Obviously, the Islanders are going through a transition period right now, and Pazzo could be available. he's not like the bona fide number two center that that cadre would be but you know if you're looking around the league for guys that could potentially be on the market market or could potentially be got that that's another name that I've sort of flagged here in the last few days but ultimately this is this is a really hard spot for them to be in because teams don't generally like to make trades this early in the year right they're still trying to find out what they have you know even though the schedule has been so congested and in some ways it feels

like it's been 20 games, it has only been five or six games for most teams. So, you know, maybe they can get a guy that, you know, either isn't getting the right opportunity with his organization or, you know, there's a young guy that they'd like to get more ice time

and they want to move out a depth center, but ultimately, we know that this organization wanted to acquire center ice help all summer, and they weren't able to do it. So I don't, see how the landscape will have shifted drastically enough with five or six games played in the year, that suddenly there's going to be a sentiment available that makes a lot of sense

for them and that they can get at a reasonable price. If they're going to get a centerman in the next week or two, they're going to have to pay a premium to do it. And that's not a spot that anybody wanted to be in. But ultimately, that's the spot you are in at the moment, assuming that, you know, at least one of these centermen missed significant time. And, you know, I can understand with Hedel's injury history, why people might be preparing themselves for that. And even if, you know, Teddy Blugher is able to come back, I don't think anybody was drawing up second-line center, Teddy Bluger,

and their plans coming into the year either. So it would help a lot as opposed to, you know, potentially having to roll out Ratu Sassin and Oman down the middle. but it probably still isn't what they need for the season that they want to have and for the start to the year that they want to have as well. Well, the top two centers in Pittsburgh, the Canucks opponent tonight, are fairly recognizable names in Sidney Crosby and of Jenny Malkin. I wonder if they could get one of those guys.

Maybe that would help. Maybe Sid would help for sure. It might cost a little bit. How much learning do you have to do when it comes to this Pittsburgh roster? are some names on here that I am not familiar with? Yeah, they are incorporating some young guys into their lineup a little bit more. And I think they've had a surprisingly good start to the year for, you know, looking at the roster and seeing that there are some, you know, pretty unfamiliar names

and guys that don't have a ton of NHL track record there. But, you know, that's probably, you know, as much as this is a tough period for Penguins fans to go through after all the success, they've had organizations. and, you know, not being a playoff team here of late, you know, you get some young talent in and, you know, for those guys to be around the likes of Crosby and Malkin and Latang, while they're still there, you hope that has a big impact on them.

And, you know, from a penguin's perspective, you hope that refreshing their roster and having some young talent and that potentially being bad this year and getting a high pick, even if it's not the top pick that everybody's going to be going for this year, you hope from a penguin's perspective that, you know, this is sort of the start of an upward trend for them where they can turn things around. But, yeah, there are a few names there that I've done a little bit of prep on that I'll be doing some more prep on between now and the drop of the puck to make sure we've got it all locked in and ready to go. The connects are going to skate this morning. They're going to skate in a couple hours, so we might know about lines, line combinations as well.

Sorry, Alford, go ahead. I think they hit the ice before the end of your show, actually. so you might get that news on the air before 9 o'clock. Yeah, they're practicing at 8.30 this morning and then media availability afterwards. Are you expecting to see RDC Loves tonight? That is my expectation at this point. Yes, I don't think the Penguins have officially announced anything,

but based on the way the games have gone, it looks like it could be a Sheelov's game, and you understand why he might want that game and why the Penguins might align things up to make sure he can play his former team. Batch, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it, as always. We appreciate it.

Have a good call tonight. We'll do this again next week. Thanks, boys. Have a good one. Thank you. Brendan Batchelor, Play-by-Play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Time now for the one to watch, brought to by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audio-visual integration experts. My one to watch tonight, Kiefer Sherwood. What a week Kiefer Sherwood had last week.

Two-goal performance against St. Louis, followed up by a one-goal performance, a one-power-play goal performance against Washington on Sunday. guess how many power play goals Kiefer Shirwood had in his NHL career prior to Sunday? One? That's right. The second power play goal of his career but the Kinnock's up 3-0 on Sunday.

He's obviously had a ton of minutes and a ton of deployment and is playing in situations that quite frankly he hasn't been exposed to earlier in his NHL career. With Bessor out and then Leckermack, you got hurt. You just go down the line. Yep. Next man up, Jason.

Next man up. It's a mindset. It's a philosophy. And Kiefer Sherwood gets it. Yeah, I got to leave the show, so next man up. Sherwood's in. He could probably do this show. Oh, yeah.

That's how versatile he is. Yeah, and also it's an easy job. Also, he may win the Cy Young this year. He's got four goals and zero assists. Nice. So he's off to a good start. That is your one to watch tonight, brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts,

specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at limitlessavv.ca. Okay, we got an old. open segment on the other side. So we can go back and talk about the Jays game. We can talk about the Canucks. Any other stories in the world of sports? Anything you want to

talk about, text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650 650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dunbarlumber.com.

The floor is yours, listeners. You're listening. to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. This segment of the show was brought to by your BC Lions. It's another season of hard hits, heated rivalries and nonstop entertainment. For tickets, visit BCLions.com and get ready to roar as one. Let's talk about Elias Pedersen. I thought the game he played in Chicago was the closest he's been to back, if you want to call that,

in a long, long time. I'm not willing to go there yet. People keep asking if I'm back, and I haven't really had an answer. But now, yeah, I'm thinking I'm making progress. Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets, weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650, or wherever you get your podcast. First and 10, inside the 15, looks, throat, fired to the end.

Oh, ball is cut. Touchdown. Seahawks. Dunking it over the bar is Jackson, Smith, and Chicka. 731 on a Tuesday. You got a 15-yard penalty for dunking over the goalposts yesterday. Yeah. The point after attempt was like 60 yards.

It was like from the logo at half. The No Fun League strikes again. I know, I don't get it. Why can't you dunk? You should be allowed to dunk. I know. Or in my case, a layup. Sure.

You'd shoot a free throw. Fundamentals, baby. You are listening to the Halifax. Alfred and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning, it's brought to by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick, no more interest, much lower payment

and financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program with the midway point of the show. Open segment here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Hour two of this program was brought to by Jason hominock

at Jason.morgage. If you love, giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. mortgage. Juan and Comox texted in to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650-650 and asked a real simple question, hey, did anybody actually watch the football games? Plural games last night. Put my hand up. I did. Watch both. Monday night football. First game. Second game.

The Lions did beat the bucks. Every time I turned to that game, there was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers player getting carted off the field. I was like, this is not good for them. I think you jinxed Baker Mayfield yesterday when you were like he should be MVP. I think we are grossly overstating our jinxing abilities, both mine and yours, because you were at the forefront of a possible Mariners jinx yesterday online. Yeah, elite jinx. I don't believe in jinxes, but still it's worth pointing out. The second of the Monday Night Football doubleheader last night,

the Seattle Seahawks won, 27 and 19 at home over the visiting Houston Texans. despite that win I feel like their head coach Mike McDonald's who is going into a buy at 5 and 2 and theoretically should be happy will not be happy with the way his team played football yesterday

lost the turnover battle the defense was very good yeah lost the turnover battle sloppy play defense played well absolutely but they can't be happy with losing the turnover battle 4 to 1 winning the game

27 to 19 but that game was so sloppy It was weird. The whole thing was weird. Vibes were off. Including the vibe. Vives were off. At Lumenfield.

You knew someone that went down to the game. And how did that person describe the atmosphere there? Everyone was on their phone watching the Mariners game. Yeah. And then when the Springer home run happened and then the Hoffman closed happened, there was two huge deflation moments. Not one, but two. And it really kind of sucked. the air out of Lumen Field.

Yeah. I understand it. Sam Darnold fumbled in the end zone. This is not. But there was like, we're dominating this game. We're winning, but it feels, doesn't feel fun. There was like terrible clock management and bizarre play calling. And I don't understand near the end of the game why they kept dropping Darnold back

to pass instead of just running the ball and chewing up the clock. It was bizarre the way the game was going. I think they were just testing the Texans to see if they could do it. anything and I don't know they couldn't it was a sloppy game the if if I woke up this morning and the Texans offensive coordinator had been fired I would not be surprised at all well I'm we're not yet I'm keeping an eye I'm keeping an eye out for a couple firings right and I've been checking the ticker better known as Twitter but that that team is that team is a mess given where they were a couple years ago when C.J. Stroud burst onto the scene offensive rookie

of the year playoff team in his first year. They looked like they were a team on the rise. It's been a disaster this year. I know their season's not over, but that was not a good performance yesterday. A couple of you were texting in explaining the reason that they can't dunk on the goalposts in the NFL. You are correct.

The reason why is because Jimmy Graham used to dunk, but Jimmy Graham used to hang on the goalposts. Yeah, that's a technical in the NBA. Right. And he used to, and he would knock them askew off kilter. If you watch JSN, yes. yesterday. He threw that down with ferocity. Oh, a windmill. No hanging around.

He just slammed that thing through. I think if you hang on the goalposts, flag it. If you just hammer it down like JSN did, let it go. It's good times. Okay, NHL scores last night. A few interesting ones. Let's start at MSG where the Rangers finally scored a goal in front of their home fans. Just one goal. They lost three to one. to the Minnesota Wild and by all accounts

were pretty badly outplayed by the Wild so that's is that four home games for the Rangers one goal scored no wins 0 4 and O at home with one goal

shocking they've done okay on the road they're three four and one so they're not a complete disaster but that is a disastrous start at home for a team that really needed to get its fans back

kind of the same way the connects needed to get their fans back. They didn't obviously have a very good season last year, and they were not very good at home talking about the Canucks. You know, I watched some Rangers games last season where they were terrible at home. And, you know, this is a team that can't really afford to be a disaster.

A lot of problems for them right now. Obviously, the inability to put the puck in the net is one. But Mike Sullivan in the aftermath wasn't even focused on the finishing. He talked about how yet again they got outworked. They didn't win enough puck battles. They didn't have enough energy in their game. Where are they without Shasturkin? Winless?

It's possible. Possibly. Shastirken's been one of the best goalies in the NHL this season. And the Rangers are still three, four, and one. The quote from Sullivan was, quote, this wasn't nearly the game that we've been putting on the ice game in and game out. We knew we were going to play a team that was going to come in with urgency based on circumstance, and we didn't match the urgency.

That was the challenge, and we got outplayed tonight. Now, the circumstance is that Minnesota came in almost as depleted at Forward as the Vancouver Canucks right now. Marco Rossi's hurt. I don't know if you saw that, so he didn't play. Matt Zuccarello's already on the shelf. Whoever they plugged into the lineup last night got his first ever NHL goal, and it's been a team that hasn't really been all that great to start the season either, the Minnesota Wild.

and they went in and sort of dictated how the game was going to go to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, which has happened way too many times already this season. Sullivan doesn't like his team. That's my read on the situation.

Is Sullivan took this job? I don't quite want to compare it to when Torts left the Rangers and then, as we've kind of pointed out, half-heartedly took the Canucks job. He's like, that's a lot of money. Yes. I feel like there might be some similarities here,

with Sullivan. I think so too. I think there might be. He's inherited a team that's older. The core is stale. But they've had some success. Torts said that. They haven't won, but they've been deep in playoff runs before. There's a lot of guys that have been in trench there for a long

time. If you want to make that Torts Vancouver comparison, don't forget, Sullivan also, good buddies with Tordorale, they coached together, that has really great train wreck potential because of the guy orchestrating it, Chris Drury. We have seen his penchant for action when things aren't going well.

He wasn't afraid to blow up a lot of the core last year, right? Truba, gone, Kreider, gone. I wonder. When does Drury's relationship with Dolan start to fray, though, because of results? I mean, I think that's part of the reason why he's feeling that pressure constantly to turn things over and get them back on. Just imagine having a boss like James Dolan? It would be a lot, right?

Dolan's very hands-off until he's hands-on. And then when he's hands-on, it's like, uh-oh, someone's getting fired. Well, he's always hands-on with the Knicks. Yeah. Especially with, like, security cameras and everything. But with the Rangers, yeah. With the Rangers, I think it's a lot different.

Maybe it's because it's not, hockey isn't necessarily his thing. I think he feels like he's more of a basketball guy as an owner. But Glenn say there was always the buffer there, right? That's right, and he's gone. Okay, the Calgary Flames. We talked about them yesterday. Yeah, they lost again.

There are 1-6-0 now. They lost to the Jets. who were 5-1-0, 2-1, but the story in that game really wasn't about the teams, it was about the player. Jonathan Taves, first goal in over 900 days as he scored his first goal as a member of the Winnipeg Jets. And yeah, that was the big takeaway from a Jets team that's gotten off to a very good start.

But man alive, if you're Calgary right now, it is tough sledding because you can't score enough goals to win tight, low-scoring one-goal games. And your goal-tending, although it was fine last night, that was the strength in the backbone of your team last year. It just hasn't been there this year. It was crazy in hindsight that the flames started Dustin Wolf in a back-to-back scenario to start the season.

It was very good. I know it's like, he's fresh, but it's also, I mean, it's going to be a crazy condensed schedule. I'm just looking at the Canucks schedule, and I know we talked about this a little bit with Batch, but thank God. the connects have two capable goalies because look at how it goes

they've just played three of four on the road and they won them all which is and I did not see that coming now they play so they played Sunday now they play tonight so one day off in Pittsburgh one day off then they go to Nashville

then they have to come all the way back from Nashville which is one day off on Friday play Saturday against the Habs Sunday against the Oilers and Tuesday against the Rangers oh yeah and then they're just like

oh you know don't get comfortable after that Rangers game because you got one day off and then we start a three game road trip to St. Louis Minnesota and Nashville

I kind of wanted to have this is the Olympic season I think the Florida Panthers have played like 11 games already they have they play they played a lot they play in Boston tonight oh yeah yeah yeah it's mass shot

yeah it's his emotional return to Boston anyway but we'll play park that for a second. I wanted to have the conversation. Mashmont. Remember when they were calling them that for some reason? Because they're from Massachusetts. Mashmont. I wanted to have this conversation a little longer with that, but we were jumping around topics.

But when you're talking about the current play to the Vancouver Canucks, it's easy to focus on who's not there and how depleted they are forward. But that does provide an opportunity for guys to step up, right? Next Man Up, philosophy and all that stuff. And, you know, when we're when we're under siege, who's going to step up and provide good performances for this team? We've talked about Connor Garland.

We've talked about Kiefer Sherwood. Leas Pedersen had a very nice game in Washington. Tyler Myers, I think he's played exceptionally well to start the year. Yeah. And I would like to suggest that this is an opportunity for both goalies to further prove that they're the top tandem in the National Hockey League.

We didn't talk about this at all when we came in on Monday, in part because the game happened on Friday. and there were so many things that happened on Saturday and Sunday. But I thought Lankin's performance in Chicago in that game, pretty impressive, given what the Canucks are dealing with on this road trip, 31 to 33, 933 save percentage. Like, if you look at this team right now, they're going to be, as they like to say, in football parlance under the cost. And it's inevitable with how thin they are at forward.

But when you've got good goal tending and you've got healthy goaltending and you can flip back and forth between guys, you're going to stay in a lot of games that you otherwise probably wouldn't be in. And you look at a three-game win streak to start this road trip. I don't know what percentage you would credit the goaltending for that, but it would be a large percentage right now. They are playing very, very well. Jay texts in with a question into the Dunbar Lumber text line. If PD finishes with 70 points but finishes top three in Selke votes, do you consider this a successful

season? I responded, yes. You responded, oh, God, yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's a no brain. If you finish top three in Selke voting, having a hell of a year. You were up there with, who was it last year?

It was like Barkoff, Reinhardt, and, God, I want to say Sorrelli. Were those the finalist? Did I nail that? Nope. No. Barkaw, who did you say, sorry? Barkov, Reinhardt and Sorrelli. You got that.

That was the first time teammates had been, it was all Florida. Right. Sorry, yeah, it was all Florida. Yeah, yeah. Tampa Bay is in Florida. Check. First time teammates have been nominated for a Selke. Do you have the guys down the list like four, five, six, seven, eight, nine?

I mean, if you're, honestly, if you're top ten in Selke voting, you're usually having a pretty good season or you're a good player. And then Jay kind of followed up with a question is like, do you think he's on track with that? Yeah, I get Maybe I mean defensively he's been good Is he killing penalties a lot You might have to now I think now

I mean the whole that Everything's been kind of thrown into flux now He needs you need to get To that kind of 70 point area You need to be almost a point per game Here's your top This is to the top 10 Selke vote getters from last year

To give you an idea of the pantheon that you enter When you're a top 10 defensive forward in the NHL Barkoff who won it Reinhardt, Sorrelli Nico Hesher, Jack Eichel Leon Drysidle, Mitch Marner, Anzee Copatar, Brandon Hagel, and Adam Lowry.

So to answer the texter's question, if Petey's in that pantheon, as I put it, by the end of the year, he's had a very good campaign. Well, he's been a top 10 selky guy before in terms of votes. He finished 7th

in 2022-23. And that was his 102 point season. You know, Selke, you need to have production because it's a two-way player. It's not a defensive specialist. I think that award kind of started out as being the defensive specialist award.

But then people realize, oh, wait a minute, it's like two-way player. We got a few more texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line. Someone asking, is Bess are back tonight? We don't know. The connects are going to skate in Pittsburgh. probably in about 45 minutes they're going to start.

So we'll start to see, I'm sure they'll have line rushes and we'll see who's in the lineup and who is not. It was suggested by Adam Foote after the last game that Bessor's absence shouldn't be too long, but he didn't say if he'd be back in time for the game today or if he'd be back in time for any of the games on this remaining road trip. Gary from the North Shore,

the hit on Heedle was devastating for this man's career and for no player on the Canucks to challenge Wilson sent a message that we lacked toughness okay I got this from a few people just like friends texting me and I think you have to listen to some of the audio from the Canucks including the head coach after the game it sounded like there was a directive from up top and that being like the head coach not like

your mother for anything but it's like don't don't don't get dragged into this mess because that's exactly what the washington capitals want to happen and foot has sent a similar message kind of said it after the calgary game early like the flames want to drag you into that stuff don't do it so agree or disagree with that line of thinking and i kind of think sometimes like it's worth risking a penalty for the bigger picture of like sticking up for your teammates I'm so torn on this one

I'm really torn too and I'm not just putting this on just to be like I'm on the fence look at me I because historically situation you can you can do you can you can cause your team to lose a game

by sticking up for a teammate but historically on this show I've been very pro don't think about it don't contemplate it jump in, protect your guy and then the first moment you get a chance to get your pound of flesh, take the pound of

flesh. I've always been a big advocate of, you know, make the sacrifice now, it'll pay off further down the road. Build camaraderie. It'll build chemistry. It'll put the vibes high and it'll make everyone understand that they're part of the wolf pack. Do you think they felt they did enough, though? Like, when the hit happened, Carlson went over

and had some words with Wilson and there was kind of a scrum in front of the benches. I mean, I don't think Wilson was like, super scared or anything like that but um was winning the game um and the way they did with they were so shorthand was that was that enough to build camaraderie without getting quote unquote revenge on tom wilson well enough of the quotes that came out in the aftermath suggested yes and i'll also add the most important part of all of this is that the coach

tells you know the answer's no the coach says don't do it you're not going to do it. You're not defying coach's orders in that situation. And again, we played the audio from Adam Foote in the aftermath. And I harkened back to the first game of the year against Calgary where he made some similar remarks about not wanting his team to get dragged into what the other team wants them to do. I thought it was weird when he brought it up against Calgary

after the season opener because I didn't see enough instances of it where you had to make it a talking point. I absolutely get what he was talking about with the Wilson thing. And he made it pretty, it wasn't, like sort of waxing poetic or being subtle about it. Like he said, we didn't want that. We wanted the two points and we wanted the win.

So if that's the message from the guy that's in charge, the players follow it. And blowback on SportsNet 650 or not, the only person that you're there to serve in that moment is the guy making the decisions behind the bench. Like, it's the coach's call, right? Yeah. If you go rogue, you face.

I mean, there's a lot of different issues there, right? One, it's like, well, are you part of this team or are you not? And then two, you run the risk of putting your team down a man, being out of the lineup for an extended period of time. Like, who knows what they throw at you? If you get the instigator, you could be out of the game, right? And then all of a sudden you're down to what, eight forwards? Right.

So, I mean, the coach is going to put these things forward for a reason. And yet at the same time, I think it's okay to admit, like, I don't love the fact that Jason Dickinson and Tom Wilson never got challenged. I don't like it. But it is what it is for now, I guess. Aaron and Langley ask us anything. is a good one. Does this loss for Mariners fans feel more like the 2011 Canucks game seven loss or the 2014 Super Bowl loss? And Aaron goes on, the Canucks was over early, that

game seven game, so you could mentally prepare for it somewhat. Yeah, the riot got going. The Super Bowl loss was a shock late, much like last night. Man, it was a combo. That was a combo because, I mean, the 2011 comparison is not necessarily the game 7 loss. The 2011 comparison is going up to nothing and being like, I remember, I remember being like, are the Canucks going to win the Stanley Cup? They're two wins away from it. Are they going to, I mean, they've been so good this season. They're amazing.

Are they going to lose four or five to this Bruins team? And do anything, Mariners fans, we're kind of the same way. We're up 2-0. We won the first two, I mean, for them, we won the first two games in Toronto. Yeah. We're coming back home now. 2-3-2. For three games.

To lose 4 or 5. We're winning at home. We're clinching. We're going to the World Series, and we're going to celebrate going to the World Series in games four or five. I remember going to Boston and being like, and there were a lot of media there, national media, that were like, This is going to be a sweep.

The Connects are going to win the Stanley Cup in game four. And it just goes to show you like how incredible sports can be, but also how cruel sports can be because we still talk about 2011. It's been a decade and a half, guys. We still bring it up. We're bringing it up because we recognize the patterns in the Mariners. We're bringing it up because we recognize the patterns in the Tom Wilson, hit on philippeitel and everyone's like oh you know erin roll him on nathan horton like right away that

sticks with a fan base and this is not me being a homer but you know that connects loss in 2011 i think you can put that up there with any loss that's been suffered in north american pro sports in the last couple of decades in terms of sticking with a fan base now does it mean that people in Philadelphia. Think about 2011 Canucks that much? No, not really, but I'm talking about like the pain of a passionate fan base

that sticks and I just wonder how long this is going to stick with the Mariners. Was this their chance? Like was this their chance or do they have a ball? Like one of the things with the Canucks was like yeah they won the President's trophy last

the next year but I think psychologically they were pretty messed up. And then they got old. They got old real quick. And suddenly it's like they're not even close to being like how long of a runway do the Mariners have to come back and kind of make up for what happened. Okay. It is a Canucks game day. I will remind you.

Canucks game day on SportsNet 650 is brought you by Panago. Game day the Panago way. Buy two medium pizzas and score free cheesy bread. use code Canucks Deal at Panago.com. Panago for it. Restrictions apply. Hour two is in the books on the other side. Neil McAvoy.

VP of Football Ups for the BC Lions is going to join the program. We're going to do some what we learns as well. Get them in. Dunbar number text line is 650, 650. Hashtag him, WWL, and tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. One final hour to go. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet, 650.