Halford & Brough in the Morning - #TheFinish

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

In hour one, Jason Brough and guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk a massive Canucks win over the Jets last night (6:00), plus they discuss the latest NHL news and notes with Sportsnet's David Amber (26:10). 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.

Whoa! Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a fucking Canucks? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- You're listening to Halford and Bruff. Anderson with a long drive right on, stopped by Hellebuck, rebound, they score! It's Besser again! We just gotta take it one game at a time. I kind of live by saying if you ain't got no haters, you ain't poppin'. So hate away. Good morning, it is Halford and Bruff here on Sportsnet 650. No, Mike Halford, I'm Jamie Dodd filling in. Again, filling in for the rest of the week here on the show. Bruff, good morning. Good morning. Poor Yannick Hanson had just been pointing out the obvious and then laddy uses his words against him.

Laddy, right? Bad timing. Yannick comes on, he does great content for us. He puts his takes out there. He's honest. When you put yourself out there, that's the risk you us. He puts his fakes out there. He's honest. When you put yourself out there, that's the risk you take. You're gonna get punished for doing so.

That's a lesson to the kids. That's what I heard that he's like, I took that seriously. How dare you? How dare you, Yanek? I took it seriously. Good morning, Adog. Good morning. Good morning, laddie. Hello, hello. Halvin and Ruff has brought you by the Delarie family

of Honda dealers. Experience the Delarie difference today. Visit your nearest DeLari Honda dealer today. This hour is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid 11.70 Powell Street. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. So yesterday at this time I came on and I said, sometimes when I say we've got a big show coming up, I'm lying. But yesterday really was a big show and that was true.

Today is one of the ones where if I said it, I would be lying. We do not have a big show coming up. We had five guests yesterday. We used up all our guests. We've got two guests today. So it's six 30. We'll talk to David Amber at Sportsnet at eight. We'll chat with Thomas Drantz from The Athletic,

my usual cohost on Canucks Talk here on the station. We didn't have to talk to each other much yesterday. Right. We're going to have to dig deep and really like struggle through a conversation or two. Frank Ceravelli normally goes today, but he's got a thing. So we're going to bump him to Friday.

So we'll have a big show on Friday. That's right. And of course that they're all big shows. Don't worry. We'll just make it big in a different way. I actually want to talk about the Canucks now. There you go. How about that?

That's true. Thank goodness. It's, we've got all this open time on a, after a win, when there's lots of positive stuff to get into and we'll get lots of Fan engagement listener engagement and I was just gonna say that with the lighter guest list That means we need you of a listener to help us out as well. Send your thoughts in 650 650 to the Dunbar lumber text line. You can send to what we learned in early We'll read those at 8.30.

But just send in your thoughts about the Canucks as well because we'll have lots of time to dive in to the inbox and read some of your texts. So again, eight o'clock Thomas Drance will join us to chat about last night's win for the Canucks and the road ahead as they go out on the road. Now at 6.30 David Amber from Sportsnet will talk all things NHL with David Amber before we do that Let's tell everyone what happened What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit bccsa.ca.

We start of course with the Vancouver Canucks. They got a much needed, very impressive win against the High flying jets on Tuesday and Brock Besser broke his slump with two goals and an assist as the Canucks won 6-2. I actually want to recap this game. The Canucks began last night with one of their best and most encouraging first periods of the season. All three of their goals. Yes! They scored three times in a single period.

Oh my goodness. They were nice to watch and nice to see. Let's start with the first goal was a beautiful rush goal, finished off via one timer by Drew, wait, Drew O'Connor? Started with a beautiful rush goal, finished off via one timer by Drew O'Connor. There you go. All right. We knew it was going to be a good night then.

Great pass by Quinn Hughes to O'Connor. There you go. All right. We knew it was going to be a good night then. Great pass by Quinn Hughes to O'Connor, that makes sense. And a great play by Linus Carlson, who had been called up on an emergency basis because Connor Garland was hurt. Um, he took a hit to make a pass to a streaking Teddy Bluger through the neutral zone. Let me say that again, a streaking Teddy Bluger through the neutral zone.

Um, so I mean, that was, that was a great start. Now future Canuck Nikolai Ehlers tied it with a nice goal of his own on a play that I'd say Marcus Pedersen might want another crack at, but Brock Besser drew a penalty, then scored on the resulting power play when he perfectly tipped home Quinn Hughes' point shot. Obviously it was a big goal for Brock Besser, but shout out to Lekker Mackie for looking real comfortable on the power play and giving the Canucks a legit one-timer threat from the left face-off dot. We'll get into that after the game recap. Side note, obviously the connects didn't want

Connor Garland to miss yesterday's game, but it did allow Carlson into the lineup and he made a nice play on the first goal and I thought played very well overall. And it also pushed Lekker Mackey onto the first unit power play. I got a question on social media that said, who do you bring out if Garland is ready to go or when Garland is ready to go,

whether it's in St. Louis on Thursday or Saturday in New York against the Rangers. So we can dive into that question later. Anyway, the Connacks third goal was one of their prettiest of the season. It was another rush goal. This time it was a rejuvenated Besser. You could tell. Yeah.

Uh, the, you know, like he found some legs playing give and go with Elias Pedersen. Another point for Pedersen because he eventually found a streaking Nils Hoeglinder right down Main Street to redirect it by Hellebuck. That goal came with just seconds remaining in the first period, giving the Canucks a two goal lead over the top team in the conference and maybe the top team in the NHL. Now the Jets did make it three to two, about seven minutes into the second.

And it did kind of feel like they might take over the game at that point. And we were all like, Oh boy, okay. It's another two goal lead blown at home. But a strong four check by Nils Hoaglinder led to another Brock Besser goal. And all of a sudden the Hoaglinder-Peterson-Besser line had two goals at even strength. Plus Besser had already scored with the man advantage. Besser's second goal, not quite as pretty as

his first one, more of a hard working goal after he went down low to help Hoeglender on the forecheck, got it back to Marcus Pedersen for a point shot and then got his feet moving, got his feet moving to get to the rebound. So not as pretty and not a great rebound by Hellebuck, but just as encouraging to see the jump back in Besser's step.

That made it four to two for the Canucks and I'm looking down at my laptop, possibly to Google whether this was real or a dream. And I hear Shorty yell out, they got another one. And I was kind of laughing at that. Uh, five goals in this economy. It was Pugh's suitor scoring that one. His 19th of the season off a perfect cross crease pass by Kiefer Sherwin.

Was this 20th or his 19th? That was his 19th. That was his 19th, right? Yeah, I think that was his 19th. Okay. At any rate, um, huge kudos to, maybe it's his 20th. Huge kudos to Kevin Lankton, who made a number of big saves on the night and didn't give the Jets a

thing in the third. It was all around a very impressive performance. It was absolutely. And there's a lot of different things we can get into there. You alluded to some of the young players in the lineup, lineup decisions, but I do think we have to start with Brock Besser and the two goals,

the assist and just the impact that you could see, as you mentioned it had on him, right? That little bit of confidence from, Hey, you tip home a power play goal. And then all of a sudden there's more jump. He's moving his feet. He's playing with extra burst and we all know Besser is never going to be a burner, but there's still a difference between him playing with burst and playing with jump and not doing it. And I also think, you know, I think back to what

we've heard from Elliot Friedman about what Brock Besser went through at the trade deadline wasn't just hard for him. It was hard for his teammates as well, because he is a long tenured popular player. He was really, he was really faking his comfort because there was a few quotes that came out from Brock Besser before the trade deadline.

He was kind of like, you know, I've just, you know, I'm comfortable with it. Yeah. You know, if I get the contract here, it's fine. If I don't, I'll just go to free agency and I'll get the contract there. I'm pretty comfortable with it. But you know, in the wake of the trade deadline

and perhaps two things combined to make him feel a little bit differently. First of all, how he was playing and second of all, how it all went down. Um, you know, he had some words afterwards where he's just like, that was actually really tough to go through, you know, and, and, and I get it. I understand.

But, um, he, he did kind of, and I, I, I, again, I don't know if he was just trying to act like it didn't bug him, but, or it was just a line, but before the trade-off that I remember thinking like, Oh, Besser actually seems pretty at ease with all this, but I don't think he was. I want to play some audio related to Brock Besser. We all know the captain loves to talk up his teammates after a big game. He talked up Elias Pedersen after a big game a little while ago.

Here's Queen Hughes on Brock Besser's game last night. I mean, Brock's one of my closest friends and he's been someone I can lean on and just been a really quality friend over the course of six years that I've been here and obviously you never want to see anyone struggle but in saying that, I think everyone on this team's kind of gone through some ups and downs this year.

And as far as Brock and the message that everyone in here needs to have is just, every game's a new night and each game has a new personality and you don't know when you're going to break through. So hopefully he can kind of get on a roll here. So earlier in the show, I was wondering, was that 19 for, for Suter? I forgot that he had an empty netter.

Yes. That was, that was his 20th of the season. So Suter had two goals, Besser had two goals. So those were the pending UFAs that the Canucks held onto. And if you want to call them their own rentals or whatever, they didn't trade them. They kept them and Brock Besser was struggling

pretty badly. So it was a big game for him, but getting to 20 goals was also a big deal for Pugh Souter. And here's Rick Taka talking about Pugh Souter. Yeah, he scored his 20th. I told him after the game, cha-ching, right? That's a cha-ching goal. But yeah, no, Suits is, he's a really

smart guy. Like, you know, and I've given him some tough assignments this year. That's a tough line to shut down. They're, you know, probably one of the best in the league. And, you know, he's just a smart guy. Like, you know, everybody says, well, you know, it's foot speed, but he looks like he's fast out there to me because I think he's just a smart guy. Like, you know, I've never, he says, well, you know, it's foot speed, but he looks like he's fast out there to me because I think he's got a, he's got a good brain, right? Um, but yeah, cause score 20 goals, shut down the other team's best line is, is a, that's great for us.

The fact that the Canucks didn't get, so they say, great offers for Brock Besser and I don't know how much they shopped Pugh suitor. I have no idea because, you know, in my mind, in some ways he was more important than Brock Besser to them. Just the fact they didn't have any. Well he's the centre. He's the centre.

And he plays on a PK that Rick Tauke had actually called maybe the most positive story of the season that we don't talk about much. But do you think it had anything to do with the fact that neither of those guys is super fast? Well, I think in Pugh's suitor's case, it's not just the speed. He's not big or fast. You know what I mean? If he was one, if he was like six, two and not very fast and a center, he definitely would have, people would have like six, two, and not very fast and a center, he definitely would have people were like, oh yeah, we got to get him right.

Or if he was five 11, but really, really speedy, I think you'd see something different. It's the combination of not having either of the physical characteristics that teams value and really look for. But as talk had said, you can get hung up on the physical stuff, all you want. And yeah, in an ideal world, would he be bigger and faster? Sure.

But he's still effective. And at the end of the day, that's what matters. It's his hockey IQ that carries him through. I think there's going to be teams that regret not going in on Pius Suter. Like that's a guy, it's such a cliche now to be like the Swiss army knife thing, but don't you, isn't that exactly what you want in your lineup

come playoff time? Is a guy you can plug in anywhere. Totally. Wing, center, whatever line, PK, and no, like matchup role, and no, that he's going to be effective. What if you have an injury? He can do anything.

Absolutely. You know? Like he was playing on their first line in the playoffs last year. He scored a massive goal against Nashville to win that series. Like he can do so many different things. He's performed in the playoffs.

I think teams kind of- He's gonna get the unsung hero, right? Teams, oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, like he's gonna get, and people will be like, we talk about him all the time. We talk about everyone. Talk about everyone, okay?

People might, well, what about Kiefer Sherwood? A lot of people say Derek Foreboard's the unsung hero. No, we talk way more about him. He might be the, he might be, you know. I hear that a lot. Pew Souter is or board is is an Unbelievable penalty killer. Yes, pew suitor is less sung than Kiefer Sherwood What about Derek Foreboard? No Derek Forebird? Yeah, like if you're just

He should get your award yeah, because you used to throw him in the same category as day or name That's true. We need more court license plates. Okay, I did a little bit, you're right. Yeah, that's a great defensive play last night. They were like, oh, Juleson and Day Harnay and Fourboard out there. It's like, no, no, no, don't put Fourboard in that group. Fourboard is not part of that category.

All right, guys, slow down, slow down. Ladi, what was the other piece of audio? Oh, I wanted to play something on Nils Holund or because, um, you know, a lot of people out there think that Rick Tuckett's got something against Nils Hoglund or, uh, the many critics of Rick Tuckett, which we're going to talk about later in the wake of our interview with Rick Tuckett yesterday.

Um, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't like Nils Hoglund or, uh, does this sound like a guy that doesn't like Nils Hoglund or. Does this sound like a guy that doesn't like Nils Hoaglinder? Yeah, that's a good point. I think with Hoggy, he told me this a month ago, he just wants one or two points. And I think since we've been giving him one or two points, he's really starting to play well for us. I think the last month he's one of our best fours in just an overall intensity and stuff

like that. Um, you give him five points, he gets in trouble. So we'll keep it the one or two points for hoggy. I love the guy, but, uh, yeah, no, he's, he's a guy that he's really good on the four check, right? If he can be that first guy in the four check for best and PD goes a long way. I think he brings a real energy to Pedersen that Pedersen needs.

And when Taukep made the decision to put Besser up there and he was like, you guys figured out, having Holglunder on that line really helps them. Now Holglunder still does the odd, come on buddy. Like he had, I think an icing in the third period that was kind of unnecessary. Um, but you know, like hopefully that stuff goes out of his game eventually.

Overall, man, he's, he's, he's, he had such a tough start to the season. I think you got to give him credit for hanging in there and just taking his lumps. And, um, he's really found his game. And the important thing with Hoganlander, you reference some of the plays that drive coaches crazy, can drive fans crazy, but now what you're

seeing and really for the last couple of months is, okay, those plays are still there, but the positives are outweighing the negatives, right? He is doing enough good things that yeah, would you love him to clean up those mistakes or those plays? Of course you would, but you're still getting positive contributions because he's doing enough other good things.

And early in the season, it was, well, you're not, you're not doing the good stuff. You're, and we're just left with the frustrating plays, we're just left with the offensive zone penalties or the turnovers at the neutral or the blue line, right? The penalties were just killer. They're brutal. So look, he's, he's never going to be a perfect player. the offensive zone penalties or the turnovers at the neutral or the blue line, right? Penalties were just killer.

They were brutal. So look, he's, he's never going to be a perfect player that might always be an element of his game, some of those plays that, that make you want to pull your hair out, but he can do so many other good things when he's on his game that you can live with it. And I mean, we're talking so much about what the

top six could look like going into next year. A productive Niels Hoaglander who earns his top six ice time. That's a, that could be a really big deal for this team that just desperately needs spark plugs. Guys who can make things happen, guys who can make plays with the puck and play with that energy. They need that at the top of their lineup.

And if he can use this time down the stretch to kind of reestablish that confidence, reestablish at least being a candidate for that spot in the lineup. That could be a really big deal. That was funny yesterday when I asked you if Tuckett should just put Besser back with Pedersen and we were both kind of like, I'm guessing, I'm guessing he can try.

Whatever, all right. But we weren't at all optimistic that it would work because neither guy was really driving play at all. Pedersen had shown some improvement in his willingness to shoot the puck, but I don't think he was out there, you know, putting the team on his back or anything like that. Yeah.

But I guess that's what Tauke had ultimately decided to do. And I think maybe part of the reasoning, in this was, in this is the idea behind not taking them off the power play either is like, these are our guys, you know? Like we're right. We're either gonna, we're either going to win with them or we're going to lose with them. So here's an opportunity.

You got the Winnipeg Jets, really good team coming into your home arena. We're going to put you up together, Besser and Pedersen and we'll have Holglinder there too, provide some energy. What can you do with it? And now I'm going into Thursday in St. Louis and going, I hope we can have a repeat of that performance.

Yes. You know, and that, and that's the key, right? Cause we've seen some good performances from the Canucks in one offs. You know, I think about two games in particular against Toronto, one in Toronto, one back here in Vancouver that were like almost as positive as this, you know, if

equally positive and they just weren't able to follow that up and build off it. And they're still in a very desperate situation. And that, you know, I was bringing up with Brock Besser that it was difficult, not just for him, but for the whole team. And I do wonder, can him getting out of the slump and producing and having that moment propel not just

him to a strong finish to the season but can that lift the whole team right to see that guy who you know he heard coin Hughes hey he's one of my closest friends right we know he's well liked he's respected he's an important part of the fabric of the team can seeing him get going have more than just an individual impact now having said that I'm also mindful, you know, as you said, we've been constantly looking for these turning point moments in the Canucks season where, OK, this is what this is where they they get the good vibes back and they get rolling.

And I think even just last week, Alias Pedersen scores a massive goal against Calgary to tie that game. They win in the shootout. They come from behind in the third period on the second half of a back-to-back huge game, right? And Quinn Hughes is raving about Petey after the game. And we're thinking, all right, hey, Petey's back. He's back. This is it. The good vibes are back. Quinn Hughes loves Petey. It's all sunshine from here. And then they go out and they play that game against Utah, right? And it's incredibly frustrating. So I'm mindful that I'm setting myself up to be fooled again here thinking like,

Oh, is this the vibe? Is this the vibe shift we've been waiting for? But it's at least a possibility. And at a certain point they, they have to grab onto something. They have to take advantage of these moments of these one-off moments and say, we're not going to let this be fleeting. We're going to keep doing the things that made it successful tonight, going forward, and specifically against St. Louis tomorrow.

Well, Jamie, last season we had a lot of success at the beginning of the year, this show, by popularizing hashtag The Start, which led the Canucks to one of the best seasons in their history. Of course. So I'm wondering. It led the Canucks to that, yes.

You're such a go back to the well guy. It was, yes. You're such a go back to the well guy. It was all us. So big, big go back to the well guy. So with that said, should we try and popularize hashtag the finish and maybe that's what the Canucks need to get the ball rolling with an extended win streak into a playoff spot. Okay, well let's let them win two in a row.

Yeah, well that's because we haven't done hashtag the finish yet, that's why we haven't done hashtag the finish yet. That's why they haven't done that. So later on in the show, we're going to talk about what else happened in the NHL last night, because there were some very interesting storylines to follow. The Canucks are going into St.

Louis on Thursday and St. Louis has won three in a row and they're one of the teams that's in the race with the Canucks for this final wild card spot in the West. So that's going to be a desperate team that the Canucks are facing. And then Saturday they play the Rangers who are coming off a dreadful performance last night

to Calgary. Calgary went to Madison Square Garden and absolutely dominated the Rangers and the Rangers got booed off the ice. Um, so I don't know what's going on there. What's Miller done the last eight games? Yeah. Zero goals.

Um, well, I mean, we'll see. You tell him laddie. Yeah. Well, we'll see, we'll see what he. Just stirring it up. What? I mean, I can't wait for that game on Saturday morning. Here's Rick talking on, uh, what's facing the Canucks coming up.

Well, we're going in some desperate buildings, right? St. Louis is desperate. Rangers are desperate. Jersey wants to hold where, what they're trying to do. buildings, right? St. Louis is desperate, Rangers are desperate, Jersey wants to hold what they're trying to do, Columbus, these are desperate teams. The building's going to be loud, there's going to be a lot of heat on you when you have a puck or to make a play, and I think this is good for us to be able to know that if we do the right things, it's okay, they'll put pressure on us, but if we all stick together

that we can get through some pressure. So yeah, it's okay. They'll put pressure on us, but if we all stick together, that we can get through some pressure. So yeah, it's going to be a good test for us. A lot of desperate billions we're going into. So it's going to be fun down the stretch. Hopefully the Canucks can pull it off. David Amber is going to join us next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canuck Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info,

and even the post game show. Listen four to six p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. ["It Is Time For David Amber"] It is time for David Amber, he is on the hotline baby. It is time for David Amber, he is on the hotline baby. It is time for David Amber, he will talk some hockey maybe. It is time for David Amber, he is on the hotline baby. It is time for David Amber, he will talk some hockey maybe.

I'm on the hotline baby. I'm right in the shrooms talking. I remember what I was doing at 23, pooping in my pants. There's a massive butt coming here guys. No one's fighting Rick talking, no one wants to Tauken. I'm on the hotline baby. It is, it's David. It is, it's David Amber. It is, it's David. He's on the hotline. You know what? I wasn't expecting it to keep going after you had the David Amber quotes. I was like, well that seems like a reasonable length of time for the jingle to be the original intro is 12 minutes

I had to trim it down substantially. This is the radio edit. Yeah, there's a single version Yeah, the album cut goes on forever. You really got to seek it out I welcome back to how for the breath here sportsnet 650 Jamie Dodd filling in for Mike Howford How for the breath brought to you by the DeLari family of Honda dealers Experienced DeLari difference today visit your nearest DeLari Honda dealer today This hour is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling Vancouver's premier metal recycler Pays the highest prices on scrap metal Northstar Metal Recycling they recycle you get paid 1170 Powell Street. Let's go to the phone line now

where we are joined from SportsNut's NHL coverage. As you heard on the jingle there, he is David Amber. David, thank you for doing this today. How are you? Jason, Jamie, I'm doing well. I actually have the extended remix on repeat playing in the morning when I wake up. It's a good way to jump out of bed. I was gonna say, is your amp up music. Getting ready ready to face the day what could be more perfect than that. So the Canucks looked like they were pretty amped up last night against the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 results and given just what a slog this season has been for the Canucks at times they're still in the thick of a playoff race I mean

that might be their most impressive win of the season what did you think of the the performance and the result for the Canucks against Winnipeg? I thought they were great. I was concerned. Obviously, no Hedl, no Garland. Coming off that lost Sunday to Utah, obviously I was like, oh boy, and against a very good Winnipeg team. They played with a passion and purpose

that they've needed to play with, knowing what's at stake at this time of year and where they are in the standings. And, you know, when it was a 3-2 game, I was getting a little concerned, I'll be perfectly honest with you, because we've seen these moments happen for the Canucks where things slip away from them, but they bared down.

They buried their chances. They had some finish last night, and it was a full team effort. And you know, if this is sort of going to be their identity moving forward, that they're going to have to sort of be a team of committee. They have a superstar in Quinn Hughes, but they're going to have to play sort of a very, you know, conservatives, the wrong word, but they're going to have to play a very tight game. They don't have a lot of margin for error. And I thought last night they did an excellent job of sort of staying within that context and playing

with the level of passion they needed to play with. It was a really impressive performance. Uh, hey David, were you able to catch any of the flames Rangers game? Cause I want to know what the heck happened there. Yeah, I caught all of it. We were doing the intermission, Sam Cosentino and I, and it was, it's funny cause it started out pretty poorly, right?

Mackenzie Weger tripped on a play and Panarin stepped in and beat Fudar. And to give a bigger context, I mean, I don't know if you saw what happened Monday night, the Flames had the wheels beaten off of them in Toronto. I mean, they just were not in this game, you know, at all from the second period moving forward. And it would have been easy to go back to back traveling, you know, Vladar in that not Wolf, you know, time for possibly a letdown.

But again, Ryan Huska has his team so well prepared. They battle basically every night. Monday was an aberration to that. And they absolutely dominated the Rangers guys. They outshot them 35 to 12 or 13. That's wild. Yeah, part of it, Sam and I were sitting there going, this is fantastic, wow, the flames look great.

And part of it was like, what the heck is wrong with the Rangers? So it was actually pretty and JT Miller, by the way, was getting very frustrated at times and poking at the goalie and just getting into post whistle scrums, but not in a way that was purposeful in a way that sort of showcased frustration as opposed to, hey, I'm going to try and stir things up and get my team into things.

So I don't know what's going on with the Rangers, but I tell you it was a really valiant effort from the Flames on a back to back and we had their schedule laid out in our Hockey Central pre-game show and this is a you know everyone right now we're into the final stretch here but the Flames upcoming schedule you know over the next six seven games is really going to dictate whether they're right there and have a legitimate chance or if they're going to sort of fade away because it's a pretty tough upcoming schedule they have. And listen, I think this is great. It's March 19th. We're waking up. There's six Canadian teams in the playoffs. The only one that is in actually is the Calgary Flames right now. But that is something that none of us probably would

have predicted, certainly not two months ago to think that there'd be six Canadian teams potentially making a run to the Stanley Cup playoffs. So it was a pretty cool night for Canadian teams last night. Whose performance last night was more surprising or more impressive, the Canucks against the Jets or the Flames against the Rangers?

Oh man. I might say, I actually might have to say the flames simply because of what happened 24 hours earlier. It would have been really easy to have a back to back let down. They're on the road playing back to back games and, you know, part, a big part of me thought, okay, this could be the, you know, they've run out of gas.

And that wasn't the case at all. They really took it to the Rangers start to finish. And that's not to discredit anything Vancouver did, because again, Vancouver had one of its best games of the year, I thought. But just, I was so shocked by what Calgary was able to do yesterday. So I'm just gonna give them a little bit

of extra love today. Well, and even if we're just looking at like the four teams involved in these games, right? Vancouver, Winnipeg, New York, Calgary, and trying to rank're just looking at like the four teams involved in these games, right? Vancouver, Winnipeg, New York, Calgary, and trying to rank, you know, most impressive and most disappointing. I think the most, like the most shocking performance of all four of those teams is New York with Calgary coming in on the second half of a back to back. And you don't just lose, you get shelled, you get massively outshot. They're just far superior to you in every facet of the game. You know, Igor Shosturkin is, is desperately holding you in it.

You can't muster anything in front of him for a team that's still right there in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. That's a shocking performance at home from the New York Rangers. It really was. They were booed off the ice in the second period after the second period. You know, they were outshot 10 to two in that period. And quite frankly, I don't even know if the Zamboni needed to go out to the Calgary side, you know,

end of the ice age. It was honestly, the ice was tilted and it was, and I know Calgary only won two to one. If you didn't watch the game, you said, oh, Calgary squeaked out a victory. It really, it could have been five and six and seven to one. Just Sturken made a lot of big saves. Calgary had all sorts of both possession, territorial, um, you know, high,

high danger chances, et cetera. They, they dominated every metric and they sort of, they should have had a third goal, but it was an offside, uh, you know, Blake Holman side and that, uh, negated what would have been a third goal. So yeah it is surprising and I do think there's massive change coming in New York guys I think that it just feels something feels off in that environment listen they've traded their captain in Truba and obviously Hedl and a number of Icako and a number of other players and then Lafranier is having a down year.

It just doesn't, something doesn't seem right in that mix right now. It just doesn't seem like the synergy is there. Elaviolette, you know, he is such a good coach, but he doesn't seem to be able to pull the right strings right now. And listen, the Rangers still could find their way into the playoffs, because I think they're a very talented team

when you look at the individual pieces, but some of the parts just isn't what it should be. And there isn't that feel, that vibe, that synergy. This was a team that made it to the Eastern Conference final two times in the last three years. They look like a shell of that team. And if they get to the playoffs, they're literally stumbling into the postseason.

And the way Ottawa and Montreal are playing right now, they're not the favourite to get into the playoffs. The Rangers are now seriously on the outside looking in and have some work to do and also need some other teams to do some work for them. They put themselves into that position. So a lot at stake in the last, you know, three and a half weeks here for the Rangers, but they're not, they're certainly not trending upwards right now with just four wins in their last 10 games. So I know the Oilers had a big win over Utah

last night and the Canucks thanked them for that. It was seven one over Utah, but I want to put a negative slant on this for the Edmonton Oilers because we don't really like the Oilers here in Vancouver. Is there a goaltender controversy brewing there? Cause I noticed that Pickard got another start.

Yeah, that's a great question. I don't know if it's a controversy, but one thing, and Sam and I were talking about this yesterday is I just can't imagine whether Pickard starts game one or not, we don't know. Um, but we do know, or we do presume, you know, if Stuart Skinner stumbles in the postseason, and I just mean even in game one, if he's struggling in game one, I bet you it's going to be a very quick hook. Not all just a reflection of Skinner and the inconsistency

he's had this year, but maybe even just more a reflection of the comfort they have with Pickard, who at times has been very strong for Redminton last night, or this season. And last night was another case of that. So I think you remember back in 2018 and, and it was, um, uh, who's the Seattle goalie I'm forgetting. Um, uh, gosh, uh, it was, Hopi ended up sitting on the bench for the first two games. I'm going to call him Good Branson, obviously if I could brand. Gruber?

Yeah, thank you. Gruber. It's early in the morning for me too. And Gruber started the first two games and then Hopi came in and essentially led them to the Stanley Cup. Like it could be a situation where it's going to have to be a little bit of a committee this year, as it was last year for Edmonton. But it was clearly Skinner one and Pickard was sort of a desperation move during the playoffs in the Vancouver series, the Dallas series, et cetera, when he had to come in. But I do see

this as a situation where it's down the stretch in these last 15 games. If Pickard keeps coming up strong, it wouldn't shock me if he gets the first start and the first look Redmondton come playoff time. Imagine if Ottawa and Montreal are the two wild card teams. I imagine it all the time. Come on. I think it would be great.

Good for business for us. Yeah, it's great. And these are fan bases that are dying for postseason play. I mean, specifically Ottawa. I do think that place, the roof's going to blow off that place. And there's the potential of Kachuk versus Kachuk. I mean, how much fun would that be, right?

Brady Kachuk's always like a little devil just running around the ice like a madman. But picture that in the playoffs, he's just going to be going legitimately crazy. I think it's going to be so much fun to see. And Montreal, Marseille and Saint-Louis, 11 games ago, guys, they've gone 8-2-1 in the last 11 games. 11 games ago, they were 14th in the East, and pretty much an afterthought. And oh, would they have a top-five pick? Seven games ago they were 14th in the East and pretty much an afterthought and oh well

they have a top side pick and those were the sort of conversations being had in Montreal by their fan base. And here they are, they went on this epic run and this top line of Suzuki, Caulfield and Slavkovsky has been absolutely sensational. They've arguably been the best line in hockey over the last couple of weeks and here's Montreal now sitting in the final playoff spot. They were dead last in the Atlantic division the last three years, right?

They were no, they didn't come close. They didn't sniff the playoffs and they were one of the worst teams in the league. And here they are, Martin Saint-Louis deserves a ton of credit. And they're playing with a lot of, you know, excitement right now and a lot of confidence. And they're a young team.

And some kudos has to be given to Kent Hughes and that management team guys, because at trade deadline, they didn't move David Sabard. They didn't move Joel Armia. They sort of stood pad and said, well, let's just see how this plays out. And that veteran leadership surrounding that young nucleus has worked wonders of late. And it's been really fun to watch

I don't know how much you know opportunity you've had to watch some of the Canadians Games of late, but they've been really they're just playing a dynamic brand of hockey they were they were losing to the third period last night at home and That would have been a massive massive, you know point or two to let slip away And what do they do? They score four goals unanswered a couple couple of empty net goals included and there they are. They're now sitting in a wild card spot for the first time in many, many months.

I know if they went into the first round and got Washington, just look at the goals differential for both teams. Washington was plus 72 on the season and the Habs are minus 16, but you'd kind of wonder like, oh, all right. If Montreal gets those home games, that arena is maybe the best in the league, in the playoffs. And you mentioned the youth, the youthful

exuberance, I just wonder if they could put a scare into a team like Washington. Well, they'd have nothing to lose. Listen, on paper, it doesn't favor them. Washington's been so good, so consistent, and pretty much by any metric, as you mentioned, Montreal is the prohibitive underdog. But there's something about a team that has

absolutely nothing to lose. The Florida Panthers a couple of years ago against Boston after squeaking into the playoffs, we saw saw Columbus team versus Tampa in 2019 sweep Tampa who had won the president's trophy. So there's a whole series of examples of teams with nothing to lose going into the playoffs, playing loose, playing with a level of confidence that, hey, what does it matter? All we can do is work as hard as we can work and they're the ones with the pressure and that's exactly how it would be. For whoever's the second wild card and you can say the same thing in the Western Conference, I

mean right now if the playoffs were to start today it's Vancouver and Winnipeg and quite frankly all the pressure will be on the Jets. All the pressure will be on Connor Hellebuck, not on Kevin Lankinen or if Dempco comes back it wouldn't be on Dempco. I don't imagine it's gonna be on Ken Hellebuck, not on Kevin Lankin or if Dempco comes back, it wouldn't be on Dempco. I don't imagine it's going to be on Ken Hellebuck. You know, is he going to have another collapse? Is this team overrated? Was it all smoke and mirrors?

That's going to be all the narrative, especially if Vancouver were to go out and win game one. So there is something to that. And I think that's what makes the Stanley Cup playoffs so special. You know, unlike other leagues where it's kind of a given, it's kind of understood, you know, the number one seed in an NBA conference isn't going to lose. If anything, they're going to sweep. And we saw that last year where it was not competitive in many of the NBA playoff series. NHL is a completely different ball of wax and you don't know what's going to happen. And some of those some of those first round series guys are going to feel like conference finals, right? Like Colorado versus Dallas, my god, right? Like that's an amazing matchup. We

potentially could have Florida versus Tampa or Toronto versus Tampa. I mean, these are really compelling first round matchups and I throw in the sort of the eight versus ones, whether it's Washington, Montreal or Winnipeg, Vancouver, it's really compelling theatre and as we saw last night, on any given night anything can happen. On the NHL schedule tonight, the Leafs and the Avs take center stage and the Avs are surging right now and the Leafs get that big win against Calgary but it did seem prior to that like the fan base and the media out there in Toronto we're starting to get a little restless with this Maple Leafs team this year. What's the the feeling around the Leafs as we sit here with a few weeks to go before the

playoffs? Yeah I would say that's a fair way to assess it. You know cautious optimism might even be too you know too much. The Leafs have struggled. They've been inconsistent. You know they have struggled. They've been inconsistent. They had this division for the taking about two weeks ago and they stumbled pretty badly in the last 10, 11, 12 games. They've not looked dynamic at all. And now here they are sitting in third and with some work to do

if they wanna get home ice advantage in the first round. So it's been one of those, I think for the first 45-50 games of the season, people were saying, wow, the Leafs identity seems to have changed. The goaltending has been so strong. Clearly they are a much better defensive team. And in the last 20 games or so, it's really started to slide. And I wouldn't put that all on the goaltending, but they went from, I think, second in goals against in the first 40 games to 25th in goals against over the next 20 games. So it was sort of an identity crisis, like which Leaf team is it? And unlike last year and in previous

years where you have Austin Matthews, you have this prolific generational goal scorer, he's been very pedestrian. We all, you know, he's missed some time, we're all knowing he's fighting some sort of injury, it's undisclosed what it is, but he's been battling that injury, he doesn't look like the same dynamic, you know, superstar heart MVP caliber player that he's looked like in previous years. So it's, that's a massive question mark, you know, when you don't have that level of elite player to lead the team. And Mitch Marner has been fantastic, don't get me wrong. And they have William Nylander, who's going to have a third straight 40 goal season.

But Matthews clearly is the catalyst for this team in many respects. And he just hasn't been a superstar. There was a glimpse of hope on Monday,, he scored two goals. That was just his third multi-goal game of the year. Last year I think he had 14 or 15 multi-goal games on his way to 69 goals. So there was a glimmer of hope on Monday. We'll see what happens tonight. But there's certainly I would say cautious optimism that this Leafs team can do some damage in the playoffs, but there's also a lot of people saying, well, here we go again, same core, same issues, same lack of identity, and that's going to come back to haunt them. Time will tell, and this stretch run, I guess, will maybe set the lease up for real playoff success, or we'll set them up for another first round exit. I guess we will wait and see. What do you think about this Avs team now with Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle down the middle

instead of Casey Middlestad and I don't know who the 3C was before Charlie Coyle, but they were looking real top heavy before the deadline and now the lineup, at least on paper, makes a lot more sense and the Colorado team I watched the other day against Dallas looks like a formidable foe. They look great, right? They're 8-1 and 1 in their last 10 games. And the funny thing is, they add Nelson, they add Coyle, and it hasn't been like, oh, they've just lit up the score

sheet. I mean, in prepping for tonight's show, I was looking at Nelson, five games, he has two assists. But that only tells part of the story, right? He's opening up ice, he's a plus player in every game. He's, you know, having scoring opportunities, possession opportunities. He's been exactly effectively what they've needed, another scoring threat. And as much as we love Makar and McKinnon,

and those guys are superstars through the best in the world, easily, I do think some of the, what scares teams about Colorado is not just dealing with those guys but you know they have Lekkonen and Natchuskin and Natchuskin and I always had all his off the ice battles but when this guy plays he's just a stud he's just incredibly good and they have these layers now and as you mentioned the the depth's up the middle, the size up the middle. They're a formidable, formidable opponent.

And that central, getting out of that central division, guys, when you look at that lineup up the middle there with Winnipeg, Dallas, and Colorado, my goodness, it's going to be just an absolute cage fight to come out of that division and then get to a conference final. So Colorado's right there. I'm excited to see them tonight.

You know, Nathan McKinnon is going to put on a show knowing it's across Canada and all his fans out Eastville. We got a chance to see him and he's just been spectacular. It looks like he's on his way to a back to back MVP, certainly in that conversation along with Connor He Halibuck. And, and as you mentioned, those moves by McFarlane and Brass in Colorado were very stealth and very smart and it looks like they're legitimately

going to be one of the top cup contenders as the playoffs started a month. Are you guys going to talk about Landiskoch at all tonight because I've seen he's been practicing or skating with the group, but I'm not exactly sure what his status or what the expectation is for him. Yeah, it's funny on Monday he skated and a lot of reports were like, wow, he looked great. He looked like he'll be playoff ready. And I guess my only thought is,

wow, that is a long amount of time to take off, right? If I'm not mistaken, he hasn't played since they won the cup. Is that correct? Yeah, that was his last game was when they won the cup. So think about that. They won the cup two plus years ago. So that is a great storyline. I'm not sure we're going to get it in tonight.

I mean, I guess we're going to have to see what the game gives us and everything else. It's certainly something that I think will pick up steam. If he escapes this morning, it's only, you know, the teams will be taking the ice in about 45 minutes. If he skates this morning and he's out there and he's doing a lot of things, certainly in this marketplace, a lot of chatter will happen surrounding Gabriel Landis' cod. That would be quite the X factor to just throw in there, much like the Oilers are ready to throw in a Vander Cane. But again, I do wonder at his age with that amount

of time, what can the true expectations be for what he can provide? Which would be an amazing storyline and maybe a real inspirational boost for Colorado to come play off kind of their captain back. David really appreciate the time as always thanks for doing this enjoy your broadcast tonight. Yeah gentlemen thanks for having me on and I enjoy it you know hopefully we'll talk in a week and we'll still have six Canadian teams sitting in a nice comfortable playoff spot we'll talk then. All right thanks David that is David Amber from Sportsnet NHL coverage and again he'll be taking you through the Leafs versus the Avalanche on the national broadcast tonight that point about Landis Cogge, yeah, 2022, the last time he played the playoff, the 2022

Stanley Cup playoffs when they won. It's basically a three-year absence. Yeah. Can you imagine having that long a layoff and then you're like, you're in game one for the playoffs. It feels like the kind of situation where the classic example is from the NBA, like this is before my time, but like the Willis Reed game, right? Where in the finals for the Knicks and he hobbles out and I think he plays like four minutes in the game or something, but it's like the

inspirational story. Or I think. Or like a Gibson homerun. Yeah. Or Stamp Coast in the, I think it was in the bubble, right? Where he played like one shift, but scored. And it's like, okay, that's enough.

That's enough Stamp Coast. But it's just that boost of having the guy there. And I think like if Landiscock can just suit up on the fourth line for a game, what that could do for Colorado. I think they're going to be a very trendy Stanley Cup pick with the way they're playing going into the playoffs.

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