Halford & Brough in the Morning - This Could Be One Of The Biggest Collapses In Sports History

Episode Date: June 24, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason wonder if we are all about to witness what could end up being one of the greatest collapses in sports history if the Oil complete the comeback over the Panthers tonight (3:00), plus we hear the Edmonton side of things from Oilers reporter Bob Stauffer ahead of tonight's festivities (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.

703 on a Monday. Gotta break out the crazy horns for Game 7. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda.

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Let's dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket here, Jason. 650-650. Weigh in with your thoughts. Jason's going to read some of them now. Yeah, so I asked a question heading into the break. Where will this rank? If the Florida Panthers do indeed lose into the break. Where will this rank? If the Florida Panthers do indeed lose game seven tonight, where will this rank in terms of greatest team chokes?

So forget the individual chokes. John Vandervelde and Auroria a couple weeks ago. We're talking about teams and teams only. Unsigned text here, 73-9 season, up 3-1, lose to LeBron. And that text, of course, is talking about the 2016 Golden State Warriors. And yeah, there were a lot of similarities in that series. If you want to say LeBron is McDavid and Cleveland is Canada in terms of droughts. Yep. That looked like the Golden State Warriors were going to win it.

And then just a few things went badly for Golden State. There was a lot at stake in that series because the Warriors had the best ever record in NBA. His 73 and nine. Yeah. Right. The thought of them losing four games in a series was unfathomable because they'd only lost nine, especially three in a row.

Yeah. It just, it wasn't going to happen, but that was, was that LeBron's, if you were to pick out all the great things that LeBron has done, was that his greatest? That was his crowning achievement as a basketball player.

Triple-double in Game 7? Led all players in the series in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Named MVP. That's widely regarded as... We were on the road for that one. It's too bad that we weren't, because we were working. Working is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, but we were working. But it's widely regarded as one of the greatest finals of all time.

If you want to add another layer to the comparison, because this is going to go down as one of the greatest Stanley Cup finals of all time. Adam from Bowen, the Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl. Also, the inevitability of Tom Brady marching the field every drive in the fourth quarter in overtime sure feels a lot like the way McDavid has decided to overtake this series

yeah i suppose but mcdavid i thought was kind of quiet in game six so the single game comebacks i think need to be their own department like they need to be classified differently yeah and that one also um you always had a sense that because it was brady and theots that, you know, I know people are going to say, Oh, hindsight being 2020, you weren't writing off, but everyone just kind of had in the back of their mind that it was the Patriots and they knew how to win.

No one expected the, the Falcons to sort of play the part and just get super conservative and not necessarily allow, but provide fertile breeding ground for a comeback. To me, that one is more about the collapse than the comeback, and that's just a gut feeling. What about the pressure?

What team felt the most pressure? Where was pressure the biggest factor? Because you know what I think about, and it is a one-gamer, but when Brazil hosted the World Cup, and they had Germany in the semifinals. And they collapsed under that pressure. And they lost 7-1. I remember watching that game and thinking, this is history we're watching right now.

This is the weight of a country crushing a team. Yeah, and falling apart. Completely falling apart. It was like 3-0 after 30 minutes or something. It was wild to watch it unfold. Yeah. Like, you couldn't believe it. There were people crying in the stands.

Like, I remember watching that and going, this is so much bigger than just sports. 2011 round one, game seven against Chicago. I remember we talked about the pressure facing that Canucks group extensively because it was Chicago, because Chicago had owned them, because that team was so dominant during the regular season that a first-round exit would have been – like everyone would have been gone.

It would have been like break it down, tear it apart. This team is fatally flawed, which is actually something that i wanted to discuss with florida the narrative on florida and we talked about matthew kachuk's reputation legacy all that stuff florida going from being this team on the rise and oh look out for them for the next few years because barkov sort of hit his zenith as being the best defensive forward in hockey and a bonafide all-star. Kachuk's there, et cetera, et cetera. If they lose tonight, then they become the team that's lost back-to-back

Stanley Cup finals, and the second one is a historic all-time loss. Yeah. I'm not sure how you recover from that collectively as a franchise because I've seen franchises have nervous breakdowns before and just mentally collapse. Right. I think we saw it after 2011 with the Canucks. I don't think they were ever the same after.

No, even though they won the president's trophy the next season, it wasn't it wasn't the same. We alluded to the 2014 San Jose Sharks and like their executive, their front office, their management group came out and said, like, we kind of had a like, you know, it felt know it felt like nervous breakdown yeah i think it was actually a writer that yeah but they basically said like we were fractured as a group after that and i find team chokes even more interesting than individual chokes and i definitely find i mean they're they're compelling they're hard to watch sometimes jean vandevelde and the british open that was that was hard to watch um but John Vandevelde in the British Open, that was hard to watch. But the team jokes are a lot more interesting just because it's almost like a virus hits the team. The opponent, meanwhile, experiences the exact opposite.

So if you get into this and you're Paul Maurice, how best to approach tonight for Florida or if you're some of the team leaders, how do you approach it? Because I don't think that trying to trick yourself into thinking that it's actually a good thing. We all dream about game seven of the Stanley Cup final. Nobody's thinking about that.

Nobody wants to head into game seven of the Stanley Cup final. If you, if you put like, nobody's thinking about that. Nobody wants to head into game seven in the Stanley Cup final like this. So personally, and after watching the Canucks this season, especially the start of the season, I think you just got to tackle it head on, I guess. And you got it, but you can't even go in there and be like, guys, look, we really can't lose this. Guys, do you understand what's on the horizon if we lose this? But don't you think if you start almost going like, if you start downplaying it, you've already lost

because you're protecting your emotions there. You're protecting your ego if you downplay it. I just feel like, you you know what is it meet pressure with pressure accept the risk accept that if you lose it's going to be devastating because if you do downplay it if you do undersell it or you try to like let's put things in perspective the moment you do that you're protecting yourself against a loss that hasn't even happened tonight yeah does that make sense to you yeah but i mean to think that the in like to think that you'd go in and be like guys do you understand the stakes right now do you understand

i don't know if the fear of losing would ever enter a coach's mind as a motivator i don't even know if you acknowledge it because so many of these guys are wired to just think positively and just be about what's the... But that is positive. You can just be like, we got to win this. Sure. We got to win this. But they've said that for, what is it, three games in a row now.

They've all said it. Well, publicly. We never know what they're saying behind the scenes. This to me for Maurice, I think he's in a no, I mean, the only win is the actual win. I think going into it, the messaging is probably, if you had got him in a quiet moment of personal reflection where he could say and speak candidly,

he's like, this is the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my coaching career. Of course it is. Of course it is. You know why? Because coaches are creatures of habit and they're creatures of what has worked for me in the past,

I want to replicate that. I want to find a system and a strategy. There's nothing here. There's no playbook. There's no precedent to fall back on. He can't call up his coaching mentors and be like, what did you say to the boys

when you blew a 3-0 lead in the championship final and you were facing a game 7 one-game winner take all? No one has any idea. You know who the guy I'm looking for tonight? Barkov. He's the best player on the team, and the Panthers are going to have last change,

so they will have that advantage. So for me, Sasha Barkov is the guy that if I were Paul Maurice, I'd be looking towards, because I don't know if I can trust Matthew Kuchuk. I don't know. I mean, I'm obviously going to be hoping that he has that game, but Barkov looked good in game six. You know, he scored and, you know, had the goal overturned as well. And I just think he's the key player. Well, Bobrovsky obviously is a key player for Florida, but in terms of the skaters, Barkov is the type of guy. Isn't that the type of guy you want on your team?

He's the Selkie Trophy guy. He's this reliable player. He needs to have the biggest game of his life tonight. His legacy is on the line too. You don't want to go up to the awards and accept, well, I guess the awards have already been given out. But whatever. You don't want to be like, the Selkie Trophy winner, Sasha Barkov, the guy who you want on the ice when you're protecting a lead, is now tied to the greatest collapse in NHL history.

That's tough. Well, I mean, the guy that, again, I know we've already gone over this, but the guy that I'm looking to the most is Bobrovsky. And, you know, Laddy and I were joking at the break, well, they should throw a curveball in there and start Anthony Stolarz. Like, who would see it coming? They have reached a point with Bobrovsky where you do wonder if what he had in the beginning of this series if he can replicate it anymore that's where that's where I'm at anyway

because there's games one through three Bob where he wasn't letting anything in and let's be honest one game one for them because I think Edmonton was the better team in game one but he was a difference maker in a positive he's not make i mean here's the thing the florida panthers have said the right things over the last few games this isn't bob's fault um you know we're not doing a good enough job of finding the back of the net which they haven't they haven't found a way of solving through and one shot from a forward halfway through the game but at the same six but at the same time their success in large parts in the series and then through the first three games of this series was predicated on Bob making a ton of saves.

So there's a blueprint there. There's a formula how you're going to get to where you want to go, and it involves your Vezina caliber goalie making a lot of saves. I mean, we talked about Florida being this great defensive team and stifling everything, but baked into that recipe was Bobrovsky being a wall. And when he's not,

then you see the foundation crumble. I mean, they've given up a... The Edmonton Oilers, in another crazy stat, while facing elimination, have scored 18 goals. Like, that's a lot of offense. In three games where your backs are against the wall

and you think you're fighting tooth and nail for everything and like every chance you have to capitalize on, they're scoring goals like it's going out of style. I know some of them went to an empty net. Don't you think, though, that the team choke is particularly interesting just because you... The team choke is interesting because I'm not sure. The team joke is interesting because there are some times where you really, really need your leaders to lead then

because there will be players that are like, their mindset is, and this is terrible to say, but their mindset is, I'm going to hide a little bit here because this is awful what's happening. Ooh, a spotlight. Ah, get me out of there. I don't want any part of that. I don't want this. And they're going to be out there going, well,

I know I'm not going to get blamed as much as this guy will get blamed if we lose this game. That's when you need your best players to show up and lead and show confidence. And there has to be something in this game that happens early on for Florida to give them confidence. They can't start out like they did in game six, not getting any shots.

They can't be tentative. Get out there and try and force the issue. And I realize there's risk in doing that against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, but that's how you got the 3-0 lead. You got in on the four check and you forced them to make mistakes. And you do really have to accept

the element of risk that you could lose. Because I think if you go into this game trying not to lose as opposed to trying to win, you are going to lose now the the idea of the the virus taking over the team with the team choke that you mentioned yeah that's an interesting one have you ever felt that as part of a team i felt that as part of a team just in like a beer league game and you're just like nothing is going right right now and you feel it in your hands you feel it in your body you feel like every lost puck battle is like we can't win any of these and that was the panthers and especially

in game six the oilers and we need to talk about their penalty kill because this is the greatest penalty kill i've ever seen in the playoffs. I was looking at historical numbers. They've allowed four power play goals all postseason, and they've scored three shorthanded goals. So all the times they've been shorthanded in this postseason, they're at like negative one goal differential, and the Panthers have no answers. And we saw the Canucks have no answers. And the Canucks, of all the teams teams did the best on the power play that Canucks power play that we saw that was the best power play to go up against

Edmonton all postseason and it's just all the every every situation it seems like the Oilers are outnumbering the Panthers and they're coming out with the puck and they're just icing the puck and they are a machine right now. Well, I know when we talked about momentum not carrying over from game to game, I wanted to put a little asterisk in there because I do think that the special teams does because when your unit's not going, and it's compounded by the fact that you go up against the same opponent

night after night after night that's doing the killing, I think that there is momentum from getting in. Because you kind of get the feeling like, oh, we got a power play. It's our power play. And then it's like, we're also killing it. And the PK is having so much fun. Even though it's hard work, and the PK is having so much fun. And they're just dialed in.

Well, the thing with the Oilers' penalty kill in this year is they've scored twice shorthanded. Yeah. So they've scored two shorthanded in. Well, the thing with the Oilers penalty kill in this year is they've scored twice shorthanded. Yeah. So they've scored two shorthanded goals. The Panthers are 1 for 19 in the series on the power play. And Ackerman Larson running it? I mean, that's not the answer. That's not the answer. So every time that they've gone out with this opportunity,

so here, consider this. You've got a three-game losing streak here in the Stanley Cup Finals. You've seen your 3-0 lead get frittered away. And every time something good happens to you where you work hard and you draw a penalty or something goes your way where there's a puck over a glass or a bounce goes your way,

you get an opportunity at the man advantage and it just flatlines you because everything's getting killed. And the Oilers are scoring more on your power plays than you're scoring on your power plays. So that's a problem as well. Going going into tonight i'll be very curious to see the first time if they even get one i have seen game sevens where they put the whistles away but florida gets on the man advantage like oh god with that crowd but if they score but imagine if they score imagine if it flips right imagine if it breaks through well then it becomes okay our run of bad luck is finally over.

Something's gone our way. So the Panthers were down 3-1 in game six in the third period, and they got a power play. And I was thinking, if they score here, that could be a game. But they didn't. But they didn't come close. No. They did not come close.

We got a text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Lots of texts. Thanks for all your texts. And please appreciate all the texts that are coming in. We can't get to them all. Which goalie is more nervous? Because whoever loses is going to be blamed for losing this series, rightly or wrongly. I just know how media, damn media, grabs onto the easy narrative.

I hate to say it, but that narrative might also be the correct one. Whoever, you know, oftentimes it just comes down to who makes more saves. Now, listen, I'm not going to blame, I'm honestly not going to blame Bobrowski for game six. Like, I don't think he was horrible in game six. I think the others just dominated early on. And, you know, the Zach Hyman, it was a breakaway. But I go back to – I'm not going to blame him, but I think it's still possible.

It's still possible that Stuart Skinner comes up short in this big game. Of course it is. Yeah. Or he makes a bad mistake, goes behind the net, mishandles the puck, right? He could let in a stewie in the big moment, right? And then all of a sudden, you could see the error being let out of the Oilers' tires. Yeah.

That's what's so exciting about this game. It's just so much on the line. Individuals, legacies, players, coaches, fan bases. It is just, it is going to be awesome to watch. Whether you wanted this to happen or not, you will be watching. Okay, David the City Worker, he sent this in about an hour ago. I think we can address this throughout the show as it pertains to the sad club. Because I saw this actually made the rounds on Twitter over the weekend.

David the City Worker wants to know know if the Panthers lose tonight, will they be expedited into the sad club? Now, never before have I thought about it. Fast tracking. Did you not see my tweet? Yeah, but that's what I was just alluding to. It made the rounds on Twitter. But did we reach a decision? No.

That's what I was asking the question. So I tweeted out as commissioner of the sad club, I am pond reach a decision? No. That's what I was asking the question. So I tweeted out, as commissioner of the Sad Club, I am pondering a special resolution. Yeah. Granting the Panthers early acceptance if they lose this series. Typically, it's a 40-year requirement. So the Panthers came into the league

in the early 90s, so they're, what, 32 years into this thing? They're close. Something like this. They're getting there. But I said this would be unmatched sadness, and then I kind of joked, besides we need the dues. Well, that's what I'm wondering.

We've lost the Kings, the Capitals, the Blues in the past, what, decade? Yep. So it's only the Canucks and the Sabres left in the NHL sad club. Notice I only said I'm pondering a special resolution. Yeah. It's unprecedented. That's why you have to think about it. It's never happened before.

I'm, I'm, I'm, uh, I'm thinking probably no, but it depends how this game seven goes tonight. Commissioner is tough, but fair.

Well, listen, I, I, I, yeah, this is all part of getting into the sad club. And a lot of it is time, you know? Um, it, I, yeah, this is all part of getting into the sad club. And a lot of it is time,

you know? Um, it's just, we can't, we can't just expedite everyone into the sad club. But this isn't just, this isn't just expediting anybody. No,

I know. Singular one time clause because, and we do need the dues. Like the clubhouse is a mess. Yeah. Someone's got to clean this stuff up. They are 30 plus years. Needs a paint job and everything.

I mean, if the name of the club is the sad club, there is no more painful and profound sports sadness than what Florida could face tonight. I mean, this is the zenith of sadness. You had the cup. You flew all your family members out to Edmonton for game four. Some have accused you of blowing game four so that you could go back and win it at home.

So did they not fly anyone out for game six then? Some. Some? Some people did not bring their families. Brandon Montour. Were they on the charter? Brandon Montour. Yeah, some were.

The family were on the ad for that idea. Some were. If they were some uh i don't know okay you don't know for sure i know some weren't 100 some were forced to fly forced we're just flying commercial i don't know who got i don't know if they planned a second like chart any family members on the actual that i do not know because that would be crazy that i mind but um brandon montour told frege ahead of game six that they treated that one more as a business trip so that the understanding was a lot of families flew out for game four and frege actually said this a couple times it proved very difficult because the players were distracted yeah and the flights were it was it was just a bad experience. Everyone flew.

They thought they were going to win. They got skunked, ate one. And it was like quick turnaround for this very long flight back to Florida. So they tried to make game six more as like a traditional, okay, we're just going to go like a little bit more stripped down travel team and what have you. That didn't work. And now they're back in Florida for Game 7.

Okay, we got to do one thing before we go to break. I know that we said we would be Game 7 exclusive today, but it is time now for the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. And the timing is right because we do have to do a little tip of the cap to the BC Lions who beat the Bombers 26-24 on Friday.

So that doesn't just improve BC to 2-1 on the season, it also sinks the Bombers to 0-3, the first time Winnipeg has lost its first three games of the season since 2012. So 12 years since they've had this futility to start the year. Awesome game from Alexander Hollins. He hauled in seven catches for 215 yards. Nice.

And a pair of touchdowns. Vernon Adams was real good. Real good. Almost 400 yards passing. The two touchdowns to Hollins were for 71 and 29 yards. A good, impressive performance. It looked like it might be a comfortable victory uh i think bc got out to a 10 point lead at one point but the bombers kept fighting back so final

was 26 24 bombers are 0 and 3 0 and 3 winnipeg so zach calaros here's something to pay attention to decent game passing like he didn't throw any picks vernon adams didn't throw any picks either it was pretty efficient but just 23 or 30 passing for 247 yards no touchdown passes three games into the season dude has not thrown a single touchdown pass this year seems problematic that's really problematic for a passing league it's not good so that was the Canadian football football report brought to you by Securian Canada the official life insurance partner of the CFL and speaking speaking of the CFL, as per the BC Lions, the roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions' 70th season. They're now 2-1 in that 70th season.

Get your tickets now at bclions.com. Lots more to get to on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up, Bob Stauffer from 630 CHED Radio in Edmonton. We'll talk to Bob about this very, very, very significant Game 7 tonight in Florida. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app.

7.33 on a Monday. We're breaking out all the hits for Game 7. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. I feel like when I do the Honda read with this music in the background, there's a little old school

Bob Barker, Price is Right, introducing a new prize. Like someone might win a Honda. It's gone. There we go. I love this. What a sound effect. It has California E-mission. Power windows

and steering. Smoking while he's doing the read. Okay. Everyone focus here. It's game seven, everybody. Half and Breath of the Morning, Hour 2. Bob Stauffer's going to join us

in just a moment here. Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made.

Our next guest has joined us repeatedly throughout this journey. We're happy we can do it one more time, as Game 7 is now just hours away from puck drop. Bob Stauffer joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Bob. How are you? Good. I always like the showcase showdown that used to occur and the prices right when somebody could win both sets of prizes. I thought that was excellent.

As I recall, certainly in the late 70s throughout much of the 1980s, Bob had a particularly pleasing group of floor models. I believe that's the term they used, floor models. That certainly helped Bob out, who had a great cameo as you know

in a fairly prominent golf movie a few years ago where there was an underdog that pulled off a great upset. The price is wrong. Yeah, that's what it's been like for the Florida Panthers. Bob, what was it like in Edmonton for Game 6, not only in the arena but just in the city?

You know, the best way for me to explain this is, you know, and I'm older than you guys, so I grew up watching the Oilers of the 80s. You know, I was 18 when they won the first cup in 84 and I just turned 18 I remember you know sharing in that experience even as a young guy and you know throughout the 1980s maybe frequenting an establishment or two and those guys were we took completely for granted how great and how fortuitous we were to watch the most dynamic offensive team ever in terms of the 1980s owners, the five cups in seven years.

And then to go in 06 coming out of a salary cap, that was kind of a surprise. Some people saw it as a fluke. Obviously, it wasn't going to be able to continue once Chris Pronger requested to leave. This has been building. surprised some people saw it as a fluke obviously wasn't going to be able to continue once chris pronger requested to leave this has been building and so we have people that are 58 38 and 18 that are sharing in this but it's been building for a couple years with this club and so the fact that the team was able to rally just as they rallied all season long um just made it

spectacular you know uh to fight for and we had to fight and i was one of the guys that had to fight for it on air to fight for uh you know a 3p deal to get that you know the downtown entertainment arena district and it's still not completely built out but to watch just the joy that came with it saturday night was awesome and the team obviously did their part they've come back and all i can think of and i know i've mentioned this to you guys before was sitting at uh the gw marriott on monday night november the 6th and vanc just pounded the orders again, and it was ugly. It was like a 6-2 win, and Edmonton had outshot the Canucks 19-2 in the first period. And Ken Holland looked at me, because we had a 7-up at about 12-15 that night.

And they had made the decision to send Jack Campbell down. And he actually said, you know, with a couple tweaks we could, I still believe in the team enough to get to the Stanley Cup. And, you know, it's just flabbergasting what's happened here. I mean, unfortunately, I'll remind your listeners that I'm playing to the market a bit here, but not only did the owners start the year 2-9-1 and 5-12-1 and appear to be out of it both times, but down two games to one and three games to two to Vancouver, down two to one to Dallas, and down two-nothing at home in

game four. They've been written off, but nobody saw this coming. Nobody outside their group saw the team being able to come back. Florida looked like a wagon in the first three games. They were really disciplined defensively. I would suggest to you that Bobrovsky probably should have been, you know, a 2-1 series lead for Florida after three games. And the Oilers have just elevated and outscored them 18-5 over the last three games. And they've gone to a different level.

So, like, evidence is crazy right now. It's going nuts um and we'll see what happens here tonight did anyone see this penalty kill coming no like how have they done that this is the greatest penalty kill i've ever seen in my life and they kill different ways that's so so what is, and I've mentioned this to you guys before, Chris Knobloch was destined to coach the Everton Otters. You know the story. He was coaching Kootenay,

applied for the University of Alberta job. I used to be their SID. And so you can figure out, you know, nobody told anybody that Ian Herbers was going to leave the American Hockey League to coach it. Who does that? Nobody leaves an HL head coaching job to coach Canadian University.

You go the other way. And Chris ended up losing his job in Kootenay. And then in a large part because of Kevin Lowe and the orders for assistant Sherry Bassett in Erie. That's how Chris ended up in Erie. And, you know, had obviously great success and a lot of long winning streaks. You're wondering, what does that have to do with the PK?

Well, when he took the job, he texted me the first night and said, did you know they've used 23 different sets of forwards in the first 13 games on the penalty kill? I'm like, well, he actually asked me to guess. I said like 12 or 13, but it was 23 sets of forwards. And he goes, we're going to cut that right back. And we're going to come up with three specific forward tandems and see how it goes, and I'm going to engage those support players and make them more part of the team.

So he told me that's exactly what he was going to do. So he put Nugent Hopkins with Derek Ryan. He put Matias Janmark with Connor Brown. And he put Warren Fogle with Ryan McLeod. And those three forward tandems kill differently. Like, Ryan's out there to win face-offs, and then they hammer the puck and get it out. They get Janmark and Brown on the ice.

Their job is to push pace and pursue the puck and create turnovers on zone entries. And then McLeod can really skate, and Fogle is kind of a unique player, but he can skate as well. I mean, they've even lost Vincent Darnay from the PK because he's been pulled out of the lineup, his bro-bird's been inserted in,

and Darnay was a big part of the shot blocking on the back end. And you guys know hockey, the best penalty killer has to be the goalie. And comes game four through seven in the series, each of the series, Stuart Skinner's been pretty good. So, yeah, I mean, it's so important to get those, especially on a team like Edmonton,

which has such star power with McDavid and Dreisaitl. They don't have anything to do with the PK. And for those players to play such a big role in the team success that must mean a lot to the group well they're they're not a like what was what was always a complaint oh you guys got gifted McDavid really haven't got gifted twice let's face it they won the lottery twice because they won the lottery in 2014 when you know Florida took out Ekblad one and Buffalo passed on a dry saddle. Tim Murray was their GM at that time. And they drafted five Europeans in the first round of the three previous years.

So they took Sam Reinhardt instead of taking Leon. And then Leon, you know, ironically enough, coached by a former Alberta Golden Bear, Corey Clouston. Where's number 29 for a former Alberta Golden Bear who played with Chris Knobloch. That's Ben Thompson. Ben Thompson was a star player in Ravensburg when Leon's dad coached him when Leon was like 12 or 13 years old. You know, Edmonton won the lottery in 2014 when Leon, you know, when they got Leon on three.

And then obviously McDavid. But you're 100% right. And those two guys in particular are the first guys. Like, the only time Drysaddle is on the PK right now is to take draws, and he got hurt in the series against Vancouver. He's been compromised since he's not been the same player. And so it's affected him. Like, his face-off percentage is sub-50%.

He was at 56% all season long. It's clear he's dealing with a core issue that, you know, limits mobility and that sort of thing. So 100%, and it's a credit to Knobloch because he found a way to get more. Rick Talkett said something. He said, you've got to get players in the playoff time to do things that they're not always comfortable to do during the course of the regular season. That's how you get the most of them.

And that's kind of what Knobloch's done here, is he's empowered the support players. And so Edmonton's no longer a two-player team. They've got more guys that they can throw at you. What do you think's happened to Florida? Well, I'm not going to write them off. I'm going to tell you this right now. I don't know where you guys were in 2006,

but I was in Carolina for Game 7. I obviously was at all the games in Edmonton. I was in the drive show in the All-Sports Station at that time, and I went down for Games 5 and Game 7. And the Oilers outshot Carolina 34-16 and dominated them in Game 6 at Edmonton. And I remember, and Florida's not morning skating here at Amarant Bank Arena. The

Oilers are going on in about 20 minutes but I remember how quiet the Carolina practice was and how loud Edmonton's was and that made me uncomfortable. I was just like, because Carolina looked like they were really forked. I know Edmonton's won three straight. I think

the Oilers have gotten to a place that Florida didn't think they were capable of getting to. I think Dallas was surprised at where Edmonton got to. I don't think for one second that Rick Tockett and the Vancouver management had

were surprised by where Edmonton got to in game four, five, and six. I think when you're out in Western Canada, you know what the other teams can do. I don't know if Dallas necessarily believed Edmonton can elevate, and I'm not sure Florida did and some of the Eastern media did. But I know this. I think the Canucks, I mean, Rick Talkett talks so much to Paul Coffey.

Those guys are super tight. They knew each other's teams inside out. So I guess what I'm saying to you is Florida could easily flip the script tonight. I'm just being pragmatic. I saw Carolina do it in Game 7 back in 06. However, right now, if Edmonton plays their game, they can win the Cup. We're speaking to Bob Stauffer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You mentioned you've been covering this team for a long time and doing this for a long time.

The historical context of it, because this has gone way past just hockey. I mean, we're talking about it in terms of the big four leagues in North America. And I was saying anecdotally, like I was listening to CBS Sports Radio on the way in this morning. They were talking about it. And it gets down to comeback versus collapse. And it just never happens in a finals. Like, we've seen 3-0 comebacks in hockey before, albeit rare still. But, you know, a lot of the American audience are saying, like,

it just doesn't happen in a championship series because usually the mental of trying to get around being down 0-3 and staging that comeback, just it seems too overwhelming. When the Oilers went down 3-0, staging that comeback, it seems too overwhelming. When the Oilers went down 3-0, be honest, did you think that this was possible? I'm not in the room. I do travel with them.

They didn't think they should have been down 3-0. That's fair. What I would say to you is I'm also very pragmatic. Okay, and so pragmatic that I'll provide a different perspective. Okay. A lot of people think the Canucks blew the series in 2011. They didn't blow the series.

Tim Thomas stole the series. That was my concern at the start of the series with Bobrovsky. Sergey Bobrovsky was at a 980 save percentage through the first eight periods of the series. That's why they were up. Game one and game three, the series could be over.

It could have gone the other way. And that's why the older players believed that they could get to him. They finally started to crack the veneer in game three in the third period. And he's been sub-800 since the third period of Game 3. They started shooting high to the blocker's side. I've had conversations

with a couple of our Hall of Famers. They think he's got a... He's left-dominant eye-wise as a goaltender, which is why he's so good and can take away from what Dreisaitl does in that one-timer from the right-half boards, and he cheats with the glove hand to the tip trying to get you to go there, and he's got great agility

and athleticism. He takes away the lower half of the net, but you can beat him high on the blocker's side. So, did I think they could come back? I think pragmatically it was a significant long shot, but given everything that the team had gone through this year, and

Chris Knobloch's track record, the guy has long winning streaks. 11 games in Kootenay with a very average WHL team no business beating Saskatoon and Portland that year back in 2011 in the four years that he won 50 plus games in Erie which he only had McDavid for two of those four years he had eight streaks of 10 plus games unde undefeated. He seems, he doesn't overthink it. He gets everybody involved, and then he's, like, Devander Kane's not going to play tonight, guys. It's just, if you look at Chris's track record,

even though Kane's probably healthier than he's been at any point in the playoffs, unless there's an illness or sickness that we don't know about, he's not coming in. He just, he's got a simple approach he's calm the team is calm and they believe and that's part of the reason why they've been able to get here so and back to the Canucks Tim Thomas 960 save percentage that's it's it's the greatest injustice out there is that all the Canucks blew and they didn't blow in 2011 the goalie stood on his head for five games yeah he was unbelievable.

And the Canucks were banged up. That's the other thing. That's the other difference between Florida and Vancouver in this. How do you think Florida is health-wise? I think they're fine. Yeah. Right? They're alternating two guys in their fourth line.

They're good. Well, fine. I'm going to tell you right now, we're going to find out that Leon's been playing through an injury. He got hurt in game one. Look at how the game switched against the Canucks in game one of that series. He got hurt when it was 2-1. The Oilers scored two

quick goals to go up 4-1, and then the Canucks just swamped him for about the next 15 minutes of that game. And then Leon checked back into the third period, and they had to move him to the link. And then, you know, they played game two, and Dreisaitl has the pain threshold of a cadaver. He is a blank and tough, you know, one.

Like, he plays, you know, he can do that. He did it to Calgary on a broken ankle and had 17 points in five games. But I think he's got multiple, he's playing through multiple things right now. So, I mean, you make a valid point because, as I recall, was Ham Hughes not hurt? Ham Hughes was out. Yeah, he was out. Raymond was out. There was a bunch.

And then once his face got suspended, right? So they were down on the back end. And it just – to me, it's – I've always sort of – you know, the people have said, oh, they didn't blow the series. This is a goalie. Last year, the Oilers got goalied in Game 6 against Vegas. That should have been a seven-game series, and Aiden Hill stole that game.

It's ironic with Skinner because he got pulled in the series against the Canucks, as you guys know, but he's been lights out games four through seven in the playoffs this year. Like, he's 10-0. He's got a 1.40 goals against average and a 9.50 save percentage. So he's a guy that seems to get better as he gets more comfortable. And that's, you know, I mentioned the 06 thing.

The owners did not have Dwayne Rolison, their number one goalie. They've got Stuart Skinner. And with all due respect to Chris Pronger who's top three defenseman only that time he's not

Conor McDavid like the Oilers have Conor McDavid as well and he was quiet in the victory in game six which reinforces

the depth Edmonton now has I don't expect him to be quiet tonight before we let you go I do want to ask another one

on the subject of this maybe guys playing hurt guys just being ineffective Matthew Kachuk in this series, your thoughts on him so far? Sorry, you're asking me about Matthew Kachuk?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, he was fantastic here in Game 5. Yeah. Now the Oilers mismanaged the puck, gave them an easy opportunity, and Kachuk got going. And Barkov was brilliant in game six for Florida. But they got Verhage's minus 11 in his last four games.

Verhage's got one goal in this series. Kachuk's got one goal. Bennett's got one goal. And Reinhardt's got one goal. Those guys are due. Edmonton's got goals from 10 of their 12 forwards, but Drysaddle hasn't scored like he's due. So we'll see. I mean, it's interesting with Kachuk and Bennett,

and I think you guys know the story. The Oilers passed on Kachuk in 2016, and the night the Oilers got the lottery results, Chris called me. He was in Erie, and he said, you guys got to draft Kachuk. He just beat us in the playoffs. Like, he's planted an ankle injury,

and you guys got to take him. Like, he's a player. He's all in. And the Oilers ended up drafting Pauly Irby. And if I recall correctly, I think the Canucks took Yoel Levy. So two organizations missed on a hell of a player. And, you know, he's here in Florida, and he sort of, in my mind, embodies what they're about, right?

They're a tenacious, in-your-face team, and it's going to be a heck of a challenge tonight for Edmonton. Puck drop, 5 o'clock, Game 7, Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton, Florida. Bob, thanks a lot for doing this today. I don't need to tell you to enjoy tonight, but enjoy tonight. All right, thanks, guys. Take care. See you later. See you later. That's Bob Stauffer, Oilers reporter from 630. Ched, the mighty Ched, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.

So there's a lot to unpack there. I think he obviously understands the gravitas and the magnitude because he's covered the game for so long. He's worked in hockey for a long time. This just doesn't happen, period. Not doesn't happen very often. This just doesn't happen. Period. Not doesn't happen very often. Just doesn't happen. Championship final series.

They just don't have three nothing comebacks. Just it just doesn't happen. I was scrolling through trying to think of anybody's written about like the mentality behind it or why it's become so difficult. And, you know, the NBA, the general consensus was teams that race out to a 3-0 lead are usually significantly better, right?

In this one, I don't think that Florida was significantly better over the first three. I think they were the better team, but they got their 3-0 lead. It's just that everyone says the same cliches when you go down 0-3. It's we got to take it one game at a time. You can't win four in one night. You have to do it one by one by one. But I think the most players understand that the odds are stacked way against them.

And there is that, we talked about the dead man walking theory. It applies to teams that are down 0-3. They're just zombies going through it. It's why so many end up in sweeps. It's just like, well, you know what? We're done. You know, we tried to beat these guys. You're too good.

You tried to beat these guys three games in a row, and they beat us every time. It's the mentality of having the same opponent beat you night after night or every second night. So it's tough. And Edmonton's been able to do it. It's honestly, I mean, we've been doing that game for in hindsight, some happening game.

Well, the game for, I remember shaking that off and I shouldn't have. And I remember thinking, well, you know, the Panthers probably thought it was going to be easy and they just had a dud on the road.

And then the Oilers got going and the Panther stopped playing. And that's the way it was. It was an 8-1 game, whatever. They're probably going to win game five back home. In hindsight, was that them breaking Bobrovsky? Like it's funny how Bobrovsky has been both Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo in this series.

Early on he was Tim Thomas. Yeah. And now he's been Luongo. Like I know there's going to be that one texter who freaks out, but I really do think the game three in Boston in 2011, in some ways, broke Luongo that series. And I realize he had another, he had a great game,

the game of his life, but that was back in Vancouver. In Boston, he did not fare well no and i think there was something about that now so the exact so the comparisons aren't going to be exact no no right the comparisons i'm not trying i'm trying i'm not trying to i'm not trying to say it's exactly the same but i do wonder um if the oilers just broke Bobrovsky's confidence. And I'm going to be very curious to see how both goalies come out tonight. Because in the back of every Oilers fan's mind is still like, you know, we haven't always had trust in Stuart Skinner.

Can he just do it one more time for us? One more time for us? One more time for us. I think with the A1, because it was such a jarring scoreline to look at. If you were to just look at, okay, go to ESPN.com and go through the, you know, struggle to score, struggle to score, struggle to score, bang, eight in the Stanley Cup final.

Right? There wasn't any lead up to it there was any indication it was coming i thought that the owners had a decent chance of winning game four because i thought that they would be able to successfully stave off elimination but i did not think that after uh not being able to beat bobrovsky whatsoever they would chase him from the game that was it was it was such a stark contrast, right? There was no indication that it was coming. And that's where I wonder if it was just the cold slap to the Panthers and to Bobrovsky,

like, oh, wait a minute, they've got McDavid. And this is what McDavid is capable of doing. Like, you're going to be kind of silent for two or three games, but then you're just going to take over. And I think if you want one sort of actual bit of real analysis that a couple people have mentioned right now, the best player in this series is Connor McDavid. There's no question about it.

It's clear-cut. Everyone that either knows anything about hockey or doesn't really know a lot about hockey is going to be like, that guy's the best guy. And in a one-game winner-take-all, and I know it's the ultimate team sport and one guy can't make a difference, you've got to think that right now it's more terrifying for Florida than for Edmonton going into this game

because Edmonton knows that they have McDavid, and Florida knows that Edmonton has McDavid. Okay, we're up against it for time. 8 o'clock hour, Randy Jand is going to join us. We'll talk a little more Game 7. We will also dive into the Dunbar-Lummer text message in basket. We'll do some What We Learns. I don't know if we will read non- the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket we'll do some what we learned I don't know if we will read non game seven what we learned we might but we did make

a promise to go exclusively game seven today and you broke it for three minutes and one guy is losing his mind one guy lost his mind he's like he couldn't believe that we took three minutes to do a sponsored CFL report. Oh, man. It's just sometimes the inbox is absolutely gold. It's amazing. Listen to this text. Think about your listeners who are zeroed in on a game seven for all the marbles and you switch to CFL after saying you wouldn't.

I very rarely listen to your show because you guys love to hear your own voice. And then he signs off with goodbye forever. He did say goodbye forever. Yeah, he did say goodbye forever. I feel like we're at an airport and he's going off to a different life. Goodbye forever. Will I ever see you again? It's a one-way ticket.

To where? We don't know. I mean, I don't usually get this kind of response from the inbox, but this is just... It's one of the all-timers. It's a great text. I imagine him texting that in, goodbye forever,

and he thinks for a second before sending it, he's like, yes. Yes. It is forever. We've got one hour left on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Randy Bjanda is going to join us next.