OverDrive - OverDrive - April 20, 2026 - Hour 2 - Peter Laviolette

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 2 on OverDrive! Former NHL Head Coach Peter Laviolette on the biggest headlines around the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They also dive into the Canadiens and Sabres' opening wins in the first round, Matt Fitzpatrick's playoff win against Scottie Scheffler at the RBC Heritage, TaylorMade picks for the tournament and Bryan hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

Welcome back, Friends. Hour 2 of Overdrive. Brian Hayes, Jamie McClennan, Jeff O'Neill. Got a big hour. Got my old coach, Peter Lavillette, coming up. Lots of great things. Pretty good. Yeah, okay, there you go. I like it.

Friends. Welcome back, Friends. Welcome back, Friends. It was like a little bit of Duffy with a tinge of Jimmy Nance. Yeah. Okay. Are you going to, is that your new thing? Do you want to open the 5 p.m. hour?

Hello, friends. No. It can't be hello friends. Welcome back friends. Well, it's good. I like that you open that because I was going to have to put out a poll if they like it or not. I could come up with something different tomorrow. Welcome back friends.

Yeah, it's a little bit. Let's like Mr. Rogers type of thing. Yeah. It's kind of creepy. I don't know if it lands or not. I'm glad that you, you know, we got a little time before Labby comes on. Like is, are we allowed to ask them questions about you? Or do we just...

No, I got something to say to Labby. I haven't talked to LaVey any long time. I'll open a conversation. Well, good, good. Because I, like, Labby's an unbelievable coach. I played against him and he's a hell of a coach. And, you know, that's a guy that's going to find himself, you know, back and work, all of that type of stuff. He's had some...

That's the thing, man. He has some... Yeah, he's old school. Gritty, but he gets it. I like a just a loose cannon behind a bench. He's not. He just demands. He demands to be ready, focused, and to play hard.

Yeah. I'm not even saying about his own players directed towards the ref, the opponents, the other coach. He's had some coaching, you know, scream off. Oh, yeah. Oh, he loves, y'all. He's kind of, he got a little bit of Pat Quinn in him where he loves giving it to the refs. And I noticed it very early on, like, first, like, ref drops the puck and the defenseman for the other team will, like, kind of dump it

then he'll be like, icing, that was icing. Yes. Just in the game, I love that, though. Intense. Yeah. Well, we haven't mentioned the Kuchuk and Stahl fight to start the game the other day.

What did you make of it? I don't like it. I don't, I honestly, I don't know what got in. Why is Brady feel like he's got a fight to get everyone going? Well, the weird thing about it for me is Jordan Stahl's not a guy who fights a lot. I think it actually gave Carolina some juice. Totally agree. It's their building, and he got a bright hook on him.

Yeah, like they, well, they both, like, listen, they're both big, strong, tough guys. I respect it. I don't mind that. I just think that they're, you know, when you look at a guy like Jordan Stahl, who's not known as that, like, and he does well in his own building and, like, it. Yeah, Carolina got to their game. It gave them some juice. Like, it's going to always give Brady and his bench juice.

And I think sometimes. You needed for the Stanley Cup playoffs? I don't think you need it, but I think maybe, you know, I'm looking at it selfishly. Maybe Brady was like, I want to do this. So have at it, but I just, I thought Carolina got some juice out of it. It's just, it's, it's happened two or three times, right? Do you know what I mean? Like, they did it at the Four Nations.

It happened another time throughout the year. Brock Nelson or Anders Lee. No, I bought Anders-Lie. And that was a. Anders-Lee may be twice to start games. So it's like, yeah. It just, I don't know, it's almost a bit of an indictment if you think about it. Like, there's all, you can just, you know, think about this in a hundred different ways.

But if you really got to scrap the first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs to fire your team up, like, what are we talking about here? That's what I'm saying. You know what I mean? Like, everybody should be jacked up. And I love Brady Kach and the coach loved it. And he is intense, but I don't know. Well, you've talked about Gary Roberts before. Like the biggest impact in the playoffs a guy can have for a shift is a big four check, not a fight.

And absolutely knocking the guy on his ass. And then like going to the net and banging home a rebound or something. I totally agree. That has a way better impact. And it sends, I think, a better message because if you steamroll a D man, it's like, oh, God, this guy is going to be on me for seven games, just stymying me. That's the thing. And you want that. You're hoping in a seven-game series, you always hear a coach go get a lick on that guy, finish your check.

Because that's an investment. That's an investment for games four, five, six-seven. It's an awful way of thinking, but it's just the reality of the Stanley Cup playoffs. You finish your checks because you could potentially hurt a guy and knock him out of the series. You get a skilled defenseman. You get a lick every time. You never know when he's going to leave the game and say, I heard something I can't play. That's the part of the sport.

Absolutely. I guarantee you Labby loves that. Labby loved early in the series having finished. A fight or big hits? His guy is finishing a check. The first drop the puck last night or tonight in game one. I guarantee you he wants energy on that first shift and guys finishing their checks. Absolutely.

All right. Well, let's bring him in. Cop champ. He's been around the league for a long time. Here he is on overdrive. There's O's former coach, Peter Labia Lett. How are you doing, Peter? How are you doing, guys?

We're doing well. We're doing well. Lavie, I just want to kick this off by telling you. I'm 50 years old now, and I have a great appreciation for how good a coach you were. And I understand I was probably a pain in your ass, but just now being an old man, I truly understand, like, your motivation, and all you wanted me to do was be a better player and to help the team be better. So I have a deep appreciation for that.

I just want to tell you that. Thanks, so. You had an unbelievable career, buddy. I love working with you. It was great. Well, it's great to have you on. You don't have to start lying now, yeah, you could say, like, you could actually be honest with us.

It would be like, geez, that's why I benched you two games into the season because I didn't see that yet. I mean, we can have some of those, too. Listen, it was great in Carolina. Like, you know, like, you don't always walk in and just do something right off the hop. And sometimes it takes a little bit, and that took a lockout. I mean, it was a long time. We sat the whole year before we came back and made some noise in the playoffs and won a cup.

But it was my time in Carolina. I've loved everywhere I've been, but my time in Carolina, some of my best friends are from there that we got together for that reunion down in Carolina for the 20 years on the Cup. And to see old faces and just spend time with those guys, the staff, the players, the coaches. You know, you go through the war of the playoffs. Like right now, everybody's in it, right? you can see the intensity in the games.

And then it ends. And then sometimes those teams, well, most oftentimes, those teams are never the same. But then remove it for 10 years, you don't see any of those people anymore, for the most part. And to have those guys, even just like the staff, the fans, the players, the owner, I saw Jim Rutherford, the general manager.

It was just great to see everybody over a short period of time. Lavi, we've been talking about the playoffs. And obviously, like, analytics is the big thing now. how do you see guy like what happens for guys to just raise their level and get the job done is it just like preparation their mindset like where do you lie with all this stuff on what makes teams an individual successful in the game now i think that the the analytics definitely lay into the game oh you're you're going to look at them you're going to look at the numbers you're going to look at who's moving zones and who's moving pucks and you're going to look at matchups on where you've where you've had some success or where you might try to get away from something because it's just not working. Oftentimes, your eyeballs tell you the same thing, but there's times, I think, when your eyeballs are lying to you. You know, you think in your mind you're seeing something and it's not what's actually

happening on the ice. And it could be a bias or, you know, your favorite defensive pair or your favorite player or, you know, you think you've got an offensive line that can hold up against somebody else's top line and it doesn't always work out that way. So I definitely think that there's a place for it. One, to possibly make adjustments. Two, to check yourself just to make sure that you're going down the right road. And then from there, I think there's a lot more that goes into it. So for me, it's a tool. It's something that you can utilize to your advantage. But, you know, the start of the playoffs, it's tough. There's changes being made right now, right? Even for the teams at one. So everybody's

got a game in except for one group and and changes are going to be made is definitely on the teams that didn't find what they were looking for and um certainly on the those teams will make some sort of changes but even though teams that had success they'll they'll tweak something they'll make some sort of change because it'll be some part of the game that they didn't like well and i'm curious how difficult that can be in terms of expressing that to your players like if let's say you're in minnesota and you won six-one against the dallas team you must be feeling great like how does a coach going there and say 6-1, but we got to do this a little bit differently. That's got to be challenging to get the message across to players who I'm sure are very

confident based on the outcome. Yeah, there's always, I think, something that you, some sort of a message you can bring even in a game like that on things that you could do better. But honestly, when you have a game like that where you're 6-1, you might want to hammer those positives a little bit and just come back and say, this is what we did. then it's this and you have it laid out with, you know, whether it's visually written down or whether it's video clip, not a lot, but one or two where you pound the forecheck or you go to the net, whatever it might be.

And then you slide in a clip and say, but if, you know, if we're going to watch for something, make sure you take care of this. So there's changes definitely, I think, that will be made for, for, obviously, through series, whether you want to lose the game. So, Labby, you know, going into the playoffs, and we always talk about it, you need goaltending, but what if it's a scenario where you've had a tandem all season long as opposed to just a clear-cut starter? You know, what's the mindset there?

Because it can be very tricky sometimes where you've got two capable guys, but you have to give the net to one of them, and it's a balancing act on how short that leash is. It's a starting point. Like, game one is just a starting point for guys that are out of the lineup, for starting goaltenders for, you know, the possible switch of the right wing on the top line. Like, game one's a starting point just to evaluate, you know, what you did. And we, and sometimes it is a bit of a tandem. And, you know, when I was in Washington, we had two rookie goalies.

And both of them were vying for time. And they both played the entire year. And you have to make a decision to start somebody to go down a road and say, okay, this is who we're going with. If it's not working, you make those changes and you move on. Lavie, some of your clips with the Rangers, I don't know, those behind the scenes when you're kind of giving it to guys about playing firm and standing up. Explain to people what you mean by that.

Is that just an overall competition level where you want everybody to be counted for and just play the right way or just explain that to people that heard that? Well, when I get on here, you guys were talking about that face. I'm assuming that you were talking about Carolina and Ottawa, correct? Yes, Kachuk and stall, yeah. And I thought it was awesome. Not because there was a fight right off the bat, but the Kachricks are, they're tough combatants, right? They're willing to drop the glove.

They're willing to go after somebody, and it's almost in their DNA. And so to go into Carolina's building, I thought Stalled in an unbelievable job of answering the bell on this. and not only answering the bell, but like doing pretty good. At the end, he got in the licks that he wanted to get in. And at this point, right, you could call that a draw, right? Chuk got a couple at the beginning. Stahl got a couple at the end. They both went down to the ground, and you could call a draw.

I call it a win for Carolina because Stahl answered the bell in his home building. They wanted to come in and set the tone and send a message on Carolina, who's really not known for that. They're known for throwing 120 attempts at the net. They're known for trying to score five goals. They're known for playing the game fast. They're not necessarily known for that. And so for me, to have your captain stand up like that on the opening draw,

I thought it was an unbelievable job. It gets a checkmark for me as, okay, we started the series the right way. They came in, they tried to do something. We answered the bell. He answered the bell inside of that ship. But you're right. From there, the playoffs are awesome. I mean, the physicality that comes out in the playoffs.

It's unmatched. I remember my very first series, I think it might, and I quote in quite a few series, my very first series was the New York Islanders against the Toronto Maple Leafs. That was a war, man. I mean, an all-out war. And that was my first series. Like, that was my initiation into NHI. playoff hockey. And to this day, it still goes down as, and we lost in seven games. Like,

we went back to Toronto. I think it was, I think it was three, two. We ended up losing in game seven, but the back and forth and the hits and the fights and the nastiness of it. I mean, that's playoff hockey. And you know, you see it in the series coming out. It comes out early in its face here and it gets intensified as everything moves on. And so, yeah, it's about that fight on the opening face off. But more than that, right now, right? It's going to be about the physicality that goes for Ottawa and Carolina. It's going to be about the battles and the compete inside of that. You win the battles, you win the game.

You hit more, you can wear them down. Battles lead to possession. And so all of that comes into play. I just thought it was a really good job by Stalzi to jump in there and do that on the first shift. It's not known for that. That's not his first thing. His is a defensive shutdown center who can chip in some offense. but man, he'd do a good job against a really tough guy.

So, go ahead. Sorry, I just wanted to jump on that really quickly, Labby. When you've got players that are irritable and they're not shy to drop the gloves, when it comes to the playoffs, though, and you've got maybe some guys who are skilled, but they have to play play playoff hockey, what is something that you would look for from them? They don't need to fight, but is it winning the 50-50 battles,

competing on pucks, is it something that you need something different from them in the playoffs to raise their level. That's a great question because you don't want to get out of your shoes either, right? Like I watched the Vegas game, and I watched a lot of Utah play this year, and they did it by playing the game so fast, and they did it by playing really good defense. They would shut teams down.

They would hold them to 20 shots, 22 shots, 24 shots. But they didn't necessarily do it. through the physicality. I think they have to win the lion's share of the battles against Vegas. They have to continue to pound the body and be physical, but I don't know if going after the whistle all the time with a team that's built at 6'4 and 225 pounds. I don't know if that's in that DNA of the makeup of that group. And I almost like to see them stay a little bit more whistle to whistle. And I'm not saying don't compete and I'm not saying don't play physical or don't have effort in those battles or second effort in the battles, but stick with what got you there.

They're a team for me that they were, they were whistle to whistle. They were extremely hard to play against, and they're playing a team that's on a bit of a role right now. But it's like playing Florida. Like you wouldn't, you know, the past couple years, you wouldn't necessarily try to go in and bully Florida because it, but you got to hit them. You got to compete. You have to win the battles.

But do it to do it to the point where you're, you know, you're, you're dissonable. and you're playing the game that you want to play. With Peter Labielette, and I'm curious how that would apply to maybe Anaheim's viewpoint of the O'Other game tonight if Dry Settle plays, and I think we expect he will, if you're Quinville and you've got a guy who's coming back, he hasn't played in a long time, he's probably not at 100%, but he's the definition of a playoff performer. You know Dry Settle is going to give everything he's got tonight. what do you think their game plan will be on dry-sidal in particular?

I often, for me, I often find that really with anybody, but when you're talking about the elite players in the league, it's time and space. And so get the match-up, do your best to get the match-up that you want to get out there against them. And then for me, it's time and space. The quicker you close, the quicker you get sick on puck, the quicker you disrupt them or try to disrupt them.

I think the better off you're going to be from a defensive standpoint. Time and space, I think, for gifted players is money. And so if you can close quick, if you can get there quick, if you can arrive angry, if you can arrive with attitude, those are the things that can help try to slow down, you know, the dry silos and the McDavid's of the world. And oftentimes not successful, right, because you're talking about two of the, you know,

the top scores in the league for the past, I don't know, 10 years or whatever. it is. They've been elite at generating offense, but for me, Anaheim getting after them and going and playing them hard and I think the time and space is a big thing. With Peter LaVuilette,

last night, the Habs obviously win in overtime. Slavkowski, three power play goals and John Cooper was pretty honest after the game. He said effectively it wasn't being overly aggressive, it was being stupid. He called his team out that quickly into a series.

how would you play the media game with your players, especially early in a series? Well, I think he was just being honest at that point. Like, that was, I actually thought, you know, he set it on the bench right before, I think right before things imploded for him, that he really liked this game. Like, he liked the way the guys were playing,

and he thought that, you know, they had, I don't know, five shots or six shots on the board, and they were way past the halfway mark of the game. And so defensively, they were doing what they're doing. But in the playoffs for me, there's three things that can definitely, definitely make a difference in a game and a series, both. The first is goaltending. You guys talked about that.

The goaltender can definitely make a different. He can win a series or lose a series. That's unfair to say, but great goaltending can move you on. And if you play really well and you don't get those performances that you're looking for, your series could be over as well. Secondly is team defense because you can't, you know, you can't rely on Minnesota throwing up a six spot every night. And so defense has to be there. The last one is obvious, right?

It's specialty teams. So one, stay out of the box. But two, make sure your power play and your penalty kill are ready to roll. Because those three, the power play and penalty kill can 100% win or lose a series. Somebody goes 32% on the power play and the opposition, the team that they're playing against, they go 6%. there's a pretty good chance that that team at 32% is moving on. Lav, have you ever seen anyone on the power play? And I know there's been dry sidle McDavid,

but I don't think there's been anyone in a long time as good on the power play as Kuturoff is. Like the way he just moves it around, and I know you love a guy that will just take the ice and take the shot. He does that. He does it all, and he's so good at it. I haven't seen anyone that good in a long time. sometimes for me oh like i get a better i i live in tampa you know so i'm i'm watching my kids who's

just bugging me to call them up and get some tickets to the game tomorrow so i was able to scrape up four from my son and his date and another couple so they're going up there but they're only you know they're only 45 minutes i watched i watch a lot of tampa and um i watch a lot of kuturov and he's it's unbelievable the consistency in which he plays the game offensive right? Sometimes you get a real appreciation and a real feel for that when you coach somebody who's like that, probably the closest player that I've worked with that has that type ability, sorry, that capability, that type of game to make a difference on the drop of a dime, and that's Panarin. And so our Tammy's been a, you know, he's kind of the same player, put the puck on

his stick. You saw him score last night and they all do it a little bit differently. I think I think that, you know, Artemmy does it more with his shot and attack an open ice and he's real shifty east-west. I think Kuturoff has a big shot. I think he attacks open ice and I think he sees the plays really well. And so he kind of a triple threat in the position that he plays in. And really, really tough to stop when you get guys like that. But The closest that I got to work with was a guy like Panarin, but certainly Kucharov has been elite for years at doing that. Yeah, crazy good.

And they're going to need a response tomorrow night. We've got four games in the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight. As you've been saying, you'll be watching them. You'll be all over them, and we'll have to do this again real soon. We really appreciate you doing this, and we'll chat down the road. Thank you, Peter. All right, guys. Looking forward to it.

Take care. You got it. There's Peter Lavillette. Cup winner back in 06 with the Carolina Hurricanes, and he referenced that Islander's Leaf Series in 2002. Dude, we were sitting there waiting for the winner, and I was afraid to death because I didn't want to play either of them. There's a bloodbath.

Steve Webb running around. Tux Robb. Eric Cairns. I think that's when Tux took Peck out. I think that was the series where he took him out. That's being nice with that description. That's softening. You could use your own.

Think of the hits in some. some of the things that went on back then. Those are 10 to 20 games suspensions now. There were fights. Get the Tux hit on Peck ahead and watch this. It's like, it was like the Charlestown Chiefs. Is that the one from behind? No, he submarines.

Yeah, he likes Tux Submarried. Tux will probably tell you to this day. Took his knees out. I don't know. Your buddies with him. He'll probably say like, oh, I was a clean hit. No, I think he's kind of aware. I think him and Peck are pretty good buddies now.

Like you guys all played together in Toronto, I think. Yeah, they were probably on the same line. Tux and Peck ahead. Yeah, it was, it was some, well, listen, Peck has taken some people out too in his career. Here it is. Look at this guy. A little bit of a submarine. That is Reg.

Dunlop. Well, even how talks used to skate kind of like a Hansen brother. Like, when you get the two hands on a stick. Oh, yeah, he did, especially when he had a skullet where it would just be flapping in the wind. And he would. He'd love a two hand on the stick, open ice skate. Yes. And he was like.

Like him and Gary Roberts, they were like, honestly, playing on their line and being out on the ice, they were like predators. Like, they started panting and breathing, and you could hear them on the forecheck. And it's like, oh, God. Yeah. That's why you just, look at this. This guy will stand on the first tee and say that was a clean hit. Clean hit. I mean, Pecko was, knew he was coming, so maybe he should have been prepared.

That's like an old school, high school trick. That's a hip check. You know who was a master of that was ugly face. Like, the Cape could can open, but he could hip check with the best in the league. At one point, like he could get low and bury guys. There is Casperitis. I played with Casper. Like Casper was an animal.

Unreal. You guys saw Caber's ass in those khaki, like pants. padded underwear on. Yes, he walked in. That's Hayes' favorite thing in the NHL. Like, not meeting or seeing anyone draft locations. Brian McCabe's khakis in Chicago that he wore every day. With a golf shirt tucked in as tight as it can get.

Happiest guy in the building. It's just so happy. And, yeah. I mean, remember when kids would start hitting. Like when you first got hip check, you would remember this. So it was shocking. Like when someone would drop and hip check you, it was so annoying. Dude, my dad used to coach my oldest brother who was four years older than us.

And he decided to bring, it was summer hockey, like a select team. It's like all the best players around York region. And my introduction to hitting was he did the old drill where it was like, you got to learn how to do this and threw the puck in the corner. And I go up, it's like the grim reaper story. I look in the line and I matched up with my other brother, because he's not going to put me against someone that's four years older, but my brother was absolutely jacked in 11 months old.

He almost knocked me out clean, cold. Like, he took pleasure in it. And that was my introduction. The first time you get hit, you're like, it makes you think, like, do I want to be involved in the game where this is part of it? Like every shift. Yeah. Like, you know how many people, like, they get to the hitting level,

and they're like, Jack, please, I'm not doing that stuff. I was in a rink last week watching, I think it's U-13 or U-14 when they introduce it. And you could tell these kids were, they had just, like the floodgates had just opened. So every kid's trying to throw a hit. And there's some monster kids out there. That was the thing. Like if you're a smaller guy and you're just kind of easing into it And then you get out there with some kid who's got a beard and a skullet,

and you're like, this guy's going to kill me. Like, he's literally kill me. The problem is is the separation, you know, of kids before puberty, all of that. Exactly. When I was 10 years old, there was a guy, and I still laugh about this because I played junior with him, a guy named Milan Dragasivik. And we used to tease him that he, Draghi, he had no papers when he came over. So he was like 40 years old playing against 17-year-old and junior.

He had a beard when he was 10. So when I played against him, everyone was terrified him. He took a slap shot from Center Ice. Come on. A beard at 10? I would be surprised. He had a beard at 10, and he took a slap shot from Center Ice, and I caught it.

It ripped my glove off and went over the net. Everyone was terrified of Draggy. And I'm telling you, Draggy, Google if a guy can have a beard at 10 years old. 10 might be a stretch. But 12, I could see a handler. Belian. Bricis Civic was his name. And pull up a pick of this cat because he's probably like some kind of like Yeti running around.

The joke was that Draghi was older than he said he was. I don't even know if this is the case, guys, but here's what should happen. Body contact in minor hockey for kids should only be for AAA level players. If you're playing anything less, there should not be body contact. Why should somebody who's almost just playing for leisure? Yes, somebody that plays double A or single A or double B, whatever it is, they could make it to the NHL. I'm sure they're good enough player.

They'll make an adjustment. But why should kids go through the nonsense of idiots running around who, A, don't know how to do it? It's just not worth it. Take it out of the lower levels and just have it for triple. I believe they do and they have. I mean, that's a double-edged sword because there are some kids that want to play to hit people. That is a good point.

They want to play. They're Dragasovic and they want to do. Exactly. Pull their justice. Single A and you're like, I want to go out and hit people. I'm 13, 14. You ask people around Edmonton, Milan Dragasivic had a reputation. He had a beard and he was like that.

Totally different game though, man. When you start like body contact. I don't think the world is the same. I know it's not. I mean, it's more skill. It's faster. The game is different. But, yeah, you start, you're right.

Oh, like it's a testament how much you willing to put up with because there's guys out here trying to kill you. kill you. If they get you, they'll get you. All right, Jay's on the West Coast. Night three of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Rappers game two tonight. We'll continue to tee that up. We'll get to our best bets later in the hour.

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You put a shift in. If you don't work on a Tuesday for whatever reason, tonight is a big, big night. But we've been asking, of the game one winners, who's got a better chance of making a cup final? The Buffalo Sabres or the Montreal Canadiens. Ooh. And that could be a round two matchup,

which would be an electric road trip. I don't care. If we're not going to do overdrive, I don't care. But you guys got to make me one promise. We go as a fan to watch one game. I'll tell you what. Which would you prefer, Buffalo or Montreal? If I gave you either option, they play each other in the second round.

You can never ask me that with a serious face. Can't we go one in one? Because it's always Montreal. You're always going to pick the bell center. Montreal is the only place. Like if there's a company. Where would you want to see again? It's always Montreal.

Everybody that goes to Montreal, they were like, well, and I told my dad this, and every time he was in Montreal, he was like, it's the only place I think he got to for warm-up, like for the beginning of warm-up. Places half-full. No better place to wheel around, no bucket, and just observe the scenery. Okay, but sabres or halves. It's early, obviously, but still, who do we? Do you mean what building?

No, which team has a better chance at follow? through on this first game and going on a cup run here. I don't want to hear it from any fan base, but I'm going to say the Buffalo Sabres. Sorry. I like their first round matchup more. I mean, Tampa, I think, is still going to push back on a half. Boston is getable for me. Like, Swamen, Swamon's been great this year, really, really good.

The Buffalo Sabres guys, like, they've been four-winning and five-winning teams since January 1st. like on a nightly. And they got off to a tough start. What did they do? They found away. They got it done. They've got so much confidence in what they're doing and their guys are playing so good. They're offensive players.

I don't know, man. They could be awfully difficult to stop. And it sounds crazy. Like we were talking about Kevin Adams getting fired. I think it was in November. Yeah. And now they're this wagon. It's an incredible, incredible scene.

It's been a slow build, but they'd, just took off, like you said, since January, they've been a wagon. And to me, I'd lean Buffalo, you're right, Hayes, just the quality of competition. Boston's a really good team, but I think Tampa is a top-tier team. Doesn't mean that Montreal can't get them. I just, I think that the pathway might be a little tougher for Montreal than what Buffalo has seen. Yeah, I think, you know, Tampa is going to have to win game, too. Yeah.

It's not mandatory, but you lose both on home ice. That's crushing. The Bruins may say, all right, let's get out of Buffalo, get back home, recalibrate, resale. Every team says that, Hayes, when they get their ass handed to them wherever they starts, they're like, okay, you know what, we got to regroup. But mentally, when you go home with your tail between your legs, you know that you're in some trouble. And everybody says, oh, you can never really kind of get, the word's not panic. But, oh, it's like nobody's in trouble until they lose one on home ice.

People know that they're in trouble before that if they don't get a win. I'd much rather start on the road, wouldn't you? Like, that way you just try and steal one. If you can get one, now you feel good about yourself. But, you know, you've got to hold serve when you're on home ice. Montreal did that. Like, they're in a driver's seat now, you know. And Vasilevsky, I don't know, noodles.

I didn't love the O.T winner. Didn't love the game winner. No, I thought, listen, they'd given up, what, five shots halfway through the game. Like, Tampa was playing a pretty damn good game, and it just fell off. difference was the power play that's really what it was Montreal can zip that puck around and they did I didn't think he had his A stuff but he made a couple good saves but you can't you can't allow that goal from the faceoff dot can't allow that that's a goal that's on the goalie need to make that save yeah I thought I thought the same thing that I did not like that OT winner and you know the goalies that like we just had Peter LaVille let on he said the first thing is you gotta get goaltending like it goes without saying you gotta have goaltending if you don't you're in trouble. That was the first thing he would say, like, you know, he'd bring the team in after morning skate,

and he would say, Kevin Weeks makes some stops tonight. Like, that would be the first thing out of his mouth, and he was dead serious. It wasn't just like a cliche. He wanted his goalie, and he knows you have no chance if your guy doesn't make stops. Wow, and, oh, you and I were texting yesterday. Some teams went with, like, Colorado went with Wedgwood over Blackwood, game one. Forsberg over Barbary Rock. with the fake guy.

Over Camper with L.A. Now, Forsberg had played very well down the stretch. And then Walsstead over Gustavre. Darcy Kemper was an Olympian, wasn't? He's not in the net? Yeah, he was the third goalie for the Olympics. Yeah. But I don't think he played well down the stretch,

and Forresburg had played very, very well. Now, they might go back to Kemper, but I look at it as that's where I was asking Lavi. These are tandem situations. So they decided to go, like, Wollstead over Gustavis. and Forsberg over Kemper. UPL. Yeah, but UPL, like Alex Lyon was unbelievable this season.

But when you look at it, like Vamelka's going to play in Utah. He played 60 plus games. Like I look at it. Basilovsky's going to play in Tampa. But outside of that, we're seeing some tandem situations where there might be a shorter leash. Well, Allmark's going to play. Oh, Mark, you're right. He's going to play.

I didn't love the Stancove. That was a weird goal. No, no. No, he overplayed it. It was a change-up that he overplayed. But I will say, I thought he played excellent. I thought he was pretty, you give up two, man. Like, it's a race to three generally, you know, and ultimately, Ottawa didn't score.

So, you can't expect them to be perfect. They didn't lose because of Allmark. But the pressure's on him tonight. Yeah, that was a bad goal. We're watching it right now. Yeah, that came a goal. Pinto went stick-on-stick, and it was a change-up, and he tried. This one was a weird one, because he didn't move.

And where's the puck? Where's the pocket gets popped out? Taylor Hall wins a battle. The other thing, too, guys pointed out, like, Artem Zub is a big part of their D. Now, sounds like he's not available tonight. They've been dealing with. Zub has been a stalemate.

He's been Sanderson's partner on the right side. He's a right shot. He really defends well and stuff. That's a big loss potentially for them. I think Sanderson is the main guy to drive the bus in a game like tonight. Like, he might play 30 minutes tonight. He could be like Duncan Keith where he controls the game and contributes to offense.

Because they're going to need it. They need a guy to just be dynamite, and he's the guy that can't do it. Yep, he absolutely can. So we've got that tonight. We've obviously got the Oilers in action this evening, and dry settle. They're not committing to it, but I think it goes without saying he's going to play. He's playing. And this is what we've been waiting for all year in Edmonton, right?

Like all the Will McDavid-Stine or not, what's he going to do, how are they going to respond and going to straight cup finals. Florida's not playing, right? Not that they're concerned about what's going on in the East, but they've run into a juggernaut two years in a row in a cup final. That is not standing in front of them in any capacity, right? Like, you've got an Anaheim team. It's very raw.

Like, Quinville's, I'm curious to see how he coaches this team and what he decides to do. Fascinating year for Edmonton, man. Like, fascinating. Yeah. I think about the West. We've talked about the pillow fight in the West, and what does the Evanton, what do they have in the tank? They've been to the finals for two years in a row.

Pillow fight in the West, there's no Florida Panthers. There's no kind of, if they get hot, just like the Vegas goal, Vegas should scare some people because they could get hot and start dummying people and they could go on a run. The goal is really good. Carter Hart was good last night. He's good. He's 7-0 under Torts.

They haven't lost under Torts. The other thing, though, Pillow Fight Pacific, the three best teams are in the West. And the central, yes. Yeah, the central. Because that's like, do you look at that Colorado team? Like, they're good. That was an ignorant comment by me. I totally forgot about that.

I just, I lost my mind. I know. We knew what you meant. I'm pointing out that, like, even getting out of the Pacific will be hard because I think Vegas is a really good team that's really jelling at the right time, the coaching change bump. But I think that, like this Dallas, Minnesota, I think Minnesota, outside the big win, they on paper might have been slightly favored anyways with the injuries to Dallas.

Yeah. That's what's concerning. But this Minnesota team, I wouldn't sleep on them either. Oh, 100%, man. Seriously good, man. They're a very, very good team. Very deep team. All right, Best Bud's coming up.

We'll recap the golf picks as well. Another winner for yours truly. What a pick with my man Fitsy. Just launching low, hooking four irons into 18 down at Harbourchown. What a shot. deserved it. And by the way, I hope, I hope when there's like the Scottish Open when the American players over there, the Euro fans just give it to them. This is a PGA tour event and these dumb, drunk idiots are yelling USA to Fitsy. Like, I loved it. I loved it when he gave him the old.

Yeah, he gave him the year at the end. Like, what a, what a birdie on 18. I mean, there's some morons on the golf course. There was a guy in the playoff when Fitsy hit his t-shot, he yelled out the Mel Gibson, give me back my seat. son. Well, that happened at Augusta, man. I heard that live and I was dying. Did you? Yes, I swear. You know, you have those moments that people reference you're like, I was watching that. I heard that yesterday. The guy hit it and he goes, get me back my son. The guy, somebody yelled it at Augusta, which is putting his life in danger, because if they hear that, they'll kick you right out of there. You won't be allowed back in the state of

Georgia. Exactly. And it was, I want to say it was on, I think it was Sunday. It was like Cam Young on 14T or something and he launches one and some guy goes, give me pet, my son. And it was perfectly dropped. They should be dragged right off the course. It's just so stupid. But you get that all the time at golf terms. But I hope when the Americans just in a regular tour event,

because I found the European crowds have been pretty friendly to those guys. I hope they just get it to them. Yeah, like Fitsy's just, he's out there playing. He's not causing any problems. Like he was getting the same thing when he won, was it the Valspar? I think of it. Yeah, and they're doing it to that stinky old Bobby Mac and he's hating life of there with that sun tan lotion on.

He's giving people the finger all the time. The overdrive, B.J. Pecks, brought to by Taylor Made. Feel the straight distance, feel the forgiveness, and feel the confidence as you step into every shot. Learn more about the brand new QI Max irons at

Taylormaidgolf.ca. So I had Fitsy. I also had Schephler and Oberg, but I guess Kourlnick buckled and allowed you to take him for some reason. But I should probably get extra points because I basically sent the T-Ferlourne. via text on Wednesday morning. Well, let's keep a leaderboard on this.

But the one that I really want to get traction here is that Monday bar play Stanley Cup playoffs. Yes, that's happening. Big time. Is it a daily event or weekly recalibration? I think we hit it on a Monday and a Thursday. So then it's not like just once a week because there's a bunch of stuff midweek. Monday, Thursday, and we hammer it. And, Hayes, it's on you.

I'll come up with it. And me and noodles. We'll debate it to see you. You missed a guy or that guy should be there. That's a thing. We can debate about it and go, that guy should be on the list. Like, tonight, if somebody has a big night tonight, we can talk about it tomorrow and be like, that guy might have to be on the list.

You got to surprise me on a random Thursday, like in this playoff season. You got to just throw Doug E.G. and 93 on the list. Just do it. You got to do it. Yeah, great. Well, like Thompson, it wasn't the equivalent of Gilmore game one against. St. Louis on Cujo, but a wrap-around, big wraparound goal in the playoffs, I love those type of

goals. And that was Tage Thompson yesterday. And yeah, there's, I mean, a lot of different former Leaf great playoff runs. Like we referenced, because LaVuette was on that O2 series against the Islanders, Alan just sent us the video of Gary Roberts destroying, I think it was Kenny Yonson from behind. Kenny Yonson. Yeah, he was a Leaf pet. He was in that Wendell, Wendell trade to bring Wendell back where it was Kenny Johnson and the fourth overall pick that turned into Roberto Luongo. Good guy. But yeah, Roberts

starts at his blue line and just buries this guy into the fifth row and got kicked out of the game. And Gary's going nuts on the raft. Pat Quinn, not surprisingly, doesn't agree with the call. Bad call. The video, Pat Quinn's so good. He's just shaking his head like,

how do you make that call? Gary just killed some guy in the corner. All right, best bet, Coming up, Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. I'm Cynthia Lois and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week we laugh, cry and talk our way through life's messiest moments.

The things you think about but would never say out loud. The questions you are always too shy to ask. Relationships, regrets, awkward moments and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point. This is Cynthia and Josie's unmentionables. Listen on the first. free IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, today's best bets powered by Fanduel make your picks and assemble the same game. Parlay and seconds on the Fandau Sportsbook app looking at the Ottawa Senators game tonight. I think they went tonight. You get plus money on the money line. I'm going to parlay that. This is a big game hunting here. All right. This is a long shot.

What do you got? Sends Money Line Jake Sanderson anytime goal score tonight. Pay it plus 800. I just feel like he's going to play a ton. I know what you said about Zube, but he scored some big goals down the stretch, Jake Sanderson, big, big goals. Toad drags, everything. And he's got the whole package. I think he shows up has a great game tonight.

Best Bet's powered by Fandole. Same game parlayers are available for every Ottawa Senator Stanley Cup playoff game on the Fandall Sportsbook app. Please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario. Hopefully, Sanderson doesn't go back for a puck and get the Gary Roberts treatment tonight. Look at this hit from 02. Look at Roberts going in on Kenny Jonson, and he just buries him. And then immediately gets up and starts complaining to the ref, like, how dare you call this? But you talk about him grunting and huffing and puffing.

Well, I think, yeah, that's one of those situations where that was happening. I bet you his complaint was the guy turned into it. Yes. Yes. But still, it's like for anyone to watch that and think that that couldn't have been a bad. Look at Pat. What the hell are you talking about, Devo? He hated the call.

Like, dude, he hated. I could just hear him right now. You tell me, Paul Dvorchki, what's the call? No bucket on the rough. It's so great. That's a five-game to ten-game suspension every day of the week. Dude, from the different angle, he starts at the red line noodles. he's flying like Roberts is flying in on the for check.

By the way, Jamie, I think you would agree. But Paul Dvorsky, he was one, like, there was Billy McCreary who was the big of this guy. That is, he hunted him. Yeah. He literally hunted. I'm killing this guy. That's a video you would show in the discipline meeting and say, guys, you can't ever do that. 100%.

A hundred percent. And Pat's just shaking is that. What kind of? calls that. The thing is, remember how they do charge? It's like one potato, two, but like, he was charging from the blue line in and didn't move his feet. One Mississippi.

Yeah. Anyway, I got to get my point in. Paul Dvorsky, unbelievable, right? One of the goats. Great, great guy. Absolutely. So is Gary Roberts. Right.

So is Pat Quinn. Yeah. All right. Good stuff. Let's start at the red line. Look at this guy. Oh, my God. All right.

Look at him putting his hand up. What I do. Yeah, immediately. How could you call that? That's insane to call that. All right, thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today, TV, radio, podcast, web,

and of course up on YouTube Live, every show up on DSN's YouTube channel. We're out of here. Enjoy your evenings. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow at 4 p.m. We'll chat then. I'm Cynthia Lois, and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out.

Each week, we laugh, cry, and talk our way through life's messiest moments. The things you think about but would never say out loud. The questions you are always too shy to ask. Relationships, regrets, awkward moments, and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point. This is Cynthia and Josie's Unmentionables. Listen on the free IHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.