OverDrive - Boudreau on the Maple Leafs' character against Panthers, the Jets' subpar road performances and the Oilers' winning run

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Bruce Boudreau joined OverDrive to discuss the Maple Leafs' confidence against the Panthers, Toronto keeping the lines the same, Miro Heiskanen's return for the Stars, the Jets' subpar road performances, Connor Hellebuyck's mentality in the crease, the Oilers' dominance against the Golden Knights and more.

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Call four one six four five seven plan or visit ask Kelvin dot CA TSN hockey analyst joining us here in the maple Toyota hotline Bruce Boudreaux. Are you a fan of the name? Oh, I love this one. Yeah, it's so stupid and ridiculous. Utah Mammoth, Bruce, are you on board with that or what? Well, I think it's going to be like the crack and everybody hated it at the beginning, but they sold tons of merchandise. What I don't want to see is them saying,

oh there's Logan Cooley of the Mams coming down the ice. You know, like I don't want them to short form, like you can call the Avs the Avs and everybody else, but I don't think you can call the Mammoths the Mams. No, I'm with you on that. Yeah, it's gotta be the complete name. Well there's gonna be Mammoths all the time. Unless there's a unique nickname for them. That's the thing. Why not call them

that then? Like what would that be? Okay so the leaves are called the buds. Yeah they tried the Yetis right and they couldn't do it. Right but there maybe there is some form short form or maybe a nickname that there are going to develop in Utah but I agree with you Bruce the the Mams or whatever. The Mamai. Yeah that would be no good. Would be no good. What if you called them what if you called them the tusks? I don't know you see the two tusks in the Jersey I don't know. Yeah that's not bad. Somebody's gonna figure out something in that cuz nobody's gonna want to call them the mammoths all the time even though you

know like when they're talking fast but they are what they are yeah you're nobody calls the crack and the cracks that would be a good one though the crack or the cracks give it time it's just a matter of time Bruce so Bruce we're I'm curious your take on what appears to be the approach of Greg Barube here that if you go based on what we saw at practice today he's not going to change the lineup leading up to game five if that in fact is the case are you surprised at all and how would you handle it if you're in his shoes? Well I mean I guess there's what are there's two choices there's putting Stolarz in if he's healthy and there's two choices? There's putting Stolarz in if he's healthy,

and there's putting Robertson in for somebody. OK, and I don't think putting I think Wall has played fine. He was really good last game. And, you know, maybe maybe Stolarz who's practicing. But if you've got a concussion, as Jamie would tell you, there's still a protocol of about at least seven days that you've got to wait. And if he was just taking shots, I don't know if there was a full practice or not today. So I think going with wall is the safe issue.

And I don't think the one player that I was talking about up front, whether it's Robertson and taking out whether it be McMahon or Pacioretty or whoever, I don't think that's a difference maker. That's not turning the needle for me. So I mean, to me, I would be sitting there boys, you got us here, you guys got the two wins, you guys got the two losses, I'm counting on you and you make it sound as if you really believe in all of them and hope that they go out and prove it to you. I mean, obviously they didn't look very good in Florida, but I believe that the Leafs can be a different, you know, they don't, I've never seen them look bad three games in a row for a long time. So, uh,

I think, uh, I think they'll come back and be a real good team tomorrow night. Well, Bruce, we were talking about whether they should change up that top line and maybe flip Neal under and play him with Matthews. And Brian and Noodles both brought up that he's kind of done this all year. He's just kind of kept calm and not change things up. So I wondered like as a coach, what is that line you walk between, you know, I need to make an adjustment, but I also don't want to send maybe panic to the room. Yeah I mean I don't think they're in a panic mood I

don't think Craig's a panic guy but I mean I did it often if I'll go back I mean I did it often in all the four teams that I was on that I mean you keep say Baxter andovaskan and somebody else together but if it it's my job as the coach see who's going and at the end of the first period if somebody's not going then you Make line changes and then even if they go good the next day. I'd go back to the same line and and And and see how it goes and then if that you know you make adjustments during the game i mean i think he's going to be going with who what he thinks is the best combination

to win if somebody's not going he's also smart enough to make those adjustments quickly and and and hope it doesn't uh... you know it's not too late to make them i don't think uh... they've they've interchanged these lines an awful lot. I don't think putting John with Marner and all of a sudden changing it is going to be the biggest difference in the world. It might. I don't know. Maybe I'm maybe I'm too

old to to think those ways. But I do believe that their best lineup is the lineup they've got. If it doesn't work, then all of a sudden we start getting a little bit desperate as the game goes on and we Start making line changes or shortening the bench or or doing something like that So I mean and sometimes your fourth line is playing so good. You start playing them a little bit more So, I mean those are all things that coaches do during the game little bit more. So I mean those are all things that coaches do during the game. With Bruce Boudreaux our TSN hockey analyst so the Jetson Stars have game four tonight and Miro Haysken in his back for the Dallas Stars. How big of a

boost do you think that is for Dallas and how much more difficult is it going to be now for Winnipeg to get a win tonight that feels like a must-win for them? Well I mean you know when you look at it on paper, you go, oh, no, now we're down and we're facing this guy. It's, it's gonna be tough. I hope he's ready. He's been out two months, I think, at least, right? And so it's gonna, I mean, he's gonna take a little bit of time to get going. But sometimes, you know, and I'm just trying to be a positive guy with, as a leaf here, you know, sometimes what happens is now the rest of the guys go, well, we've got Miko back or, or Nico back. And, and, um, all of a sudden we don't have to play as hard because he's here.

And, and that happens how many times when your star player comes back, you think, oh, now we're off to the races and we don't play that good. I think it'll be a great boost initially, but I really believe then they better do good in the first period because I think they're gonna waste a lot of adrenaline in the first period with the crowd going nuts that he's back and then

just coming out and want to put their foot on the throat of the Jets. And so I mean, I think the first period is going to be so important tonight. What do the Jets have to do to get a road win? I mean, Connor Hellebuyck's been pulled three out of the four. He gave up a five spot last game although i wouldn't lay it at his feet but you know they've been great at home bruce but on the road it's it's not been a great formula what do they need to do to calm that crowd or you know take the crowd out of it to try and get back into this series yeah i mean they were the third best road record in the league

in the uh during the season i mean mean, I'm answering these questions, but I'll ask you one while I'm answering it is, if you were a goaltender, how would you feel about being pulled three times on the road? I still get mad. I've been talking about this. You pull them the first time.

The second time you say, get in there and just, you've got to fight this and get better. You pull them the second time, you pull up the third time, you're giving them easy outs. So I think no matter what happens, Halliburke's got to stay in there and suck it up and take it and, and, uh, fight his way out of this. And on the other hand, uh, on the other side, I mean, they've lost eight in a row on the road. I mean, they're too good a team to keep this up. I don't know if it's a mental blip that they've lost eight in a row on the road. I mean, they're too good a team to keep this up.

I don't know if it's a mental blip that they've got now. They don't think they can win on the road, but I mean, they certainly have got the talent to win. You've seen them play an incredibly good game, their last game at home. I've seen them when they needed to win, play really good games and beat the team. So they just have to play their best game.

And they, but I think Winnipeg, one of the things about them is they're in the playoffs anyway, when the other team scores, when it's on the road, it's like a woe is me and it takes them a little bit more to get going. They've got to realize when they score to toughen up and just go right back at these guys and not allow them to score 42 seconds later or four goals in seven minutes and stuff. I mean that's against St. Louis and against Dallas when they get scored on the road they seem to fall apart and that's the time when they've got to get stronger and hopefully

they realize that and they will tonight. With Bruce Boudreaux, Edmonton with a really really impressive when last night and total control uh... they shut out vegas there they're in the driver's seat now they're up three one they deserve to be in my opinion uh... what have you taken out of edmonton really since game three of the king series where they've lost once since then and it was with 0.4 seconds left on the

clock what's happened here in Edmonton because they they look as good as I've seen them in the last couple of years that includes the Cup run last year yeah I mean when and even if you say they've won seven out of eight and they lost the one game with a second to go like I, I mean, they've been really good. But I think a real big key, a real big key is their balance is so much better. I think the addition and size and strength of Frederick and Kane have really allowed the team to get really a lot more balanced.

Especially if, for the most part, you use Corey Perry on the first line that really equals out the lines and you don't Necessarily you love to have it and it happens more often than not to have dry side of Lynn and McDavid Being doing all the dirty work But you know, I mean you can get other guys doing it where I never thought they they did that in the past to me They look really really good right now and and they're physical, and they're strong. And I mean, the idea of them, I mean, obviously they were told, let's make life really tough on Hill.

And they've been bumping into him every step of the way to the point where, you know, he looked like the goalie in Flapshot when they, when Newman was calling calling him a name when he went after the guys in the corner so i mean i mean a little bit of his focus was taken away um i mean he played fairly good after that but i still believe that vegas has got to be focused but edmonton's doing everything they can and they're being they're really good at it right now. I think they they truly believe that they're the best team that's gonna go that's gonna win this series Yeah, I think They deserve to the way that they've been playing and it's you're right about that balanced attack Like it has not been the McDavid and dry subtle show every single night

And I one guy I think you got to give credit to her I do because I've been very critical of him Especially early in that last round is Evan Bouchard has really picked up his game. He's really snapped out of the game. Quieter though. His game is quieter. Exactly. Makes great pass. The other guy too, John Klingberg looks like John Klingberg. He's throwing like three foot sauces over sticks. I'm like who is this guy? Yeah. This is Dallas Stars stars john clingberg we're seeing not ronald maple leafs or emminton euler regular season john clingberg or anaheim ducks john clingberg is also not overly impressive uh... yeah i know that those those of the surprises bouchard and you said the magic word he's been quiet he

hasn't played for both teams on on any given shift here He's been really solid. And I mean, Klingberg's been solid, and I thought there was no chance when they got him. I said, what are they getting him for? So I mean, the Anaheim thing went terrible. His last year in Dallas went terrible. His Leaf thing was terrible.

And then the other one is Wollman, like I mean, who's been traded twice this year. He's played so good where at the beginning of the playoffs, you thought Edmonton wasn't anywhere near as good as they've been in the past because their defense was really, really weak. And they've been a tower of strength. And I think it might be only two games he's played now, but I think Skinner's got his mojo back and and I think that makes them a really complete team and tough to play against because they're big and strong and fast and They're playing solid defense. So boy, I really believe whoever they play if they complete this round I don't think what Vegas is going to go

out quietly but I mean if they beat Vegas I think they got a good shot at whoever they're playing Dallas or Winnipeg we need to love to see a Winnipeg Edmonton final in the West I think that would be amazing for everybody except the American viewers but I think it would be great for Canada so that's what you keep hoping for. That's what we're pulling for Bruce we're all collectively gonna come together as a country and hopefully watch Winnipeg and Edmonton and maybe the Leafs maybe the Leafs as well in the East Conference final. Thank you for this

Bruce enjoy the game tonight we'll do it again soon. Yeah don't give on the leaf no we're not gonna be really good tomorrow okay I agree there is Bruce Boudreaux joining us on the maple Toyota hotline drive the built-in Canada fuel-efficient fun to drive Toyota RAV4 gas or hybrid models available visit mapletoyota.com Introducing Bryan Adams radio on I Heart Radio. Got my first real sick string. Hosted by Brian Adams himself. Join me for an insider look on a wild ride through 40 years of global rock and roll.

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