Real Kyper & Bourne - BONUS: Rielly Ends Thrilling Affair Late in OT

Episode Date: April 23, 2023

The Leafs steal Game 3 over the Tampa Bay Lightning to go up 2-1 in the series. JD Bunkis, Sam McKee, and Justin Bourne break down the victory and discuss Ryan O'Reilly's impact in the game, Luke Schenn's calming presence in a tight contest, Ilya Samsonov's massive win, and more on Leafs Talk!The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

the Toronto Maple Leafs did a damn thing and it feels good it feels so good they do a thing that nobody thought they were gonna do get completely outplayed get dominated by a Stanley Cup champion find a way Justin Bourne Sam McKee JD Bunkers. I got to be honest with you, fellas. I cannot believe we're coming on here tonight with the happy vibes based on what was going on in the second period and the third period of this game. Sammy, I got to start with you, buddy. Let's go. Well, that was different.

That ended differently than it usually does for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah, a really, really, really out of character, incredibly enjoyable win for the Toronto Maple Leafs against Yeah. A really, really, really out of character, incredibly enjoyable win for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. I am fired up. Yeah. I can tell. You're greased up.

I'm in greasy sweat. Because I was texting you guys, I'm sweating through my shirt. This is awful. Every time Tampa has the puck for basically three periods in a row. I can't believe they pulled this one out, Borny. How'd they do it? Yeah, no, you're right. Every time Kucherov touches the puck and makes a dangle

and doesn't pass it and doesn't pass it, it's like, what does he see? What does he see? You know, I can't believe that they took Tampa's best punch. Like, that's what's disheartening if you're Tampa Bay sitting in that locker room. It's like, I don't know if Braden tampa bay sitting in that locker room's like i don't know if braden point can play better than that i don't know if kucherov has better headman played great in his return from injury you know and we didn't get one like this has happened to

the leafs many times in the postseason montreal in particular where they're the better team and one goes the wrong way after outplaying them and you're going well they deserve to win tampa deserved to win but you take one on the road you hung in there samsonov you know he battled after rough start here you go two one how was that their second or third shot in overtime the one that went in the net that's like the exact mirror overtime of multiple ones they've lost over this era i think the ones against the habs where they filled in the habs multiple times carrie price stands on his head it goes down it goes in your net and the game's over they flipped the script tonight i thought that i thought in overtime samsonov after i was sending bad tweets and

sending bad messages about them was immense in overtime for the leafs tonight i just he was at he was at he was they had six shots in overtime? Six shots in overtime, but you're right. Could have fooled me. There was only a couple of memorable – it basically felt like the Leafs had two chances where William Nylander came in kind of half-heartedly, flipped a couple of bucks on the net. And then Justin Holl hit that post and was millimeters from being playoff hero and having everyone in the city have to line up in the streets and apologize to him one by one by one had he put that sucker in the net but no you guys nailed it this was the this was the flip script like that's what happened tonight and you know i tweeted in the third period that they were playing awful and the game was right there and what ends up happening the guy you go out and get to score a big goal in a playoff

game a guy where you're saying pedigree matters he punches one home for you late in a hockey game standing in the area that everybody says all the good goals come from i man what a validation night tonight must have been for kyle dubas i know you saw him happy in the media box but like the leaves look tight the leaves look bad and what do they get massive goal for the big trade line trade deadline acquisition and his goaltender one of his two lottery ticket bullets stands on his head and keeps the Leafs in the game and allows him to steal one yeah I mean how nervous were you earlier in the game watching Samson off swim and do the big pushes and all that and eventually you know kind of reined it in so

that play the O'Reilly goal there to tie it up Willie Nylander makes such a good play just throwing a junker into the net I thought Nylander had the strangest no maybe the most Nylander game of his career where he was excellent offensively terrible defensively anything could have happened either way every time he touched the puck he was true Willie Nylander and ends up being a difference maker he was great down the stretch seven true Willie Nylander and ends up being a difference maker. He was great down the stretch. Seven shots for Nylander of their 28 tonight. So obviously the O'Reilly goal is massive and it's a huge point in the game, but it cannot be overstated. What a breath of fresh air Ryan O'Reilly is every single shift he's on the ice.

I don't know. I can't remember a player in this era of Leaf hockey that I've felt as comfortable with him on the ice as i do with him there's a one shift where i think uh i love that reaction from spets and dubas there that's great but uh i there's a one shift with nize where nize makes a horrible giveaway white out i don't like right after a goal or right after matthew's goal and uh ryan o'reilly just tracks back takes care of him it's just like here is this yeah right here that was just another great riley play yeah like he's just all over the ice defensively offensively below the dots on both sides of the puck like i can't believe how good

he's been through three games he's been one of their best players if not their best forward i've loved his game i think other than samsonov ryan o'reilly was their best forward. I've loved his game. I think other than Samsonov, Ryan O'Reilly was their best player tonight. And it was very, very fitting that he scored that goal because yeah, how many times in this game did you notice positive players for the Toronto Maple Leafs outside of Ryan O'Reilly? Can I say this play right here? Okay, this is my favorite play of the game for him.

You almost scored this. I know. So close. He dumps it in and he almost scores but then can you go back to it dave because there's a part of it that i love the most which is that after the play he wants to stick his in the dirt with all the tampa guys and i went the leaves have not had a guy like that they have not had a guy who was a meaningful impact forward who was just not afraid of the smoke in the big moments.

And yeah, so look at this play. Dump and chase, finds a way. Look, he's on an island. There's three Tampa Bay players. Here he goes. All the whole team's there. He's like, I don't care. I'm trying to go back into the blue paint.

I absolutely love the guy. Like, I don't know how you couldn't. What an acquisition. The factor. Like, he was the factor tonight. Yeah. Takes, I regret. Overpay by me saying they overpaid

for him they underpaid they traded less for him than they did the tampa did for tanner you know they should have paid more he's been their one of their best players through three games so yeah like just i the factor i call him fresh air because that's what he is every time he's on the ice it's just like oh my god much better name than a reference to a bill o'reilly cable show from like a decade ago or whatever wherever that name came from yeah i don't know what that's like one association you don't want with that name right damn it but should we do the thing where the leafs were awful tonight do we want to address that soon or no yeah we probably i do but i think that'll tie into this which is we kind of danced around a little bit, but after the first period, when Ilya Samsonov lets in that goal, I think if you would have

pulled Leafs nation, who should get the net to start the second period? Do you think there's any chance in hell Ilya Samsonov is starting in net if it's given up to yeah twitter yeah basically twitter analysts whatever i felt personally like it was one more bad goal away from the immediate hook or even like kind of a semi-soft one like a halfway debatable one he was done he was swimming around in his net he did not look confident whatsoever and then i asked dave to clip these three saves which turned out to be way more monumental for my narrative here than i thought they were going to be but these waves to start the second period for samsonov this one still sticky kind of like it's a breakaway gets put it on him but samsonov was doing a lot of like frozen plays where he was

like is it behind me is it is it in me? Is it, is it in the net? Oh my God. Is it in there? Please don't make me turn around. Like in a horror movie where the monster's right behind you. He, he looked like he was paralyzed with fear. Then he makes these three saves.

What's that? This one in particular, he's a contributor now. And all of a sudden Ilya Samsonov settled in. He found his game and he looked like the guy that we had seen all regular season making high danger saves making scramble saves that one's amazing that's the one that I meant was that the glove save it felt like he entered the game and I think if like there's the biggest positive from this entire thing tonight is that if you are a Leafs fan you are a player you are a member of the coaching staff you feel like your

goaltender found his game tonight yeah you know what huge to get the win so he gets to end with that vibe that like i found it i did enough i kept my team in it and like the kucherov backhand and ot that rolls up his elbow and he kind of keeps out like he started i i felt like he got quieter and i don't know if that was nerves or comfort whatever it was he started doing less it did a lot more for the team and yeah hung around long enough it definitely had one of those vibes where the leafs were you know they're built differently this team literally right they're more physical they dump it in more they're more of a playoff style team where they didn't make the big mistake and we had seen that in the past where they have and tonight they just waited the game out with that patience and found a way when kucherov cut that to the backhand i was getting up getting

off the couch coming down to do the show because i was like oh that's in the net like that was just and giordano just full yard sale like i don't even know what that defensive play was he's like maybe i'll just fall maybe that'll work he just cuts right into the middle and i was like oh that's it and he makes that great save and for him it's not even him blocking it him locating it because like you said it's like rolling around at his elbow kind of it's like in a weird spot he kicks it down and immediately jumps on it and freezes it and then kind of you get that little breath so yeah mean, I am really impressed with his ability to bounce back after what was a shaking first period.

The first period shook me to my core with like, I don't know what the hell they're going to do. How could it not? Listen, if you've watched Leaf games this year, you're a Leafs fan, you're watching this right now. Let's say you've seen half of Samsonov starts. You know exactly what it looks like when he's on his game versus when he isn't

because of the way that he's moving side to side and his rebound control it's like the most telling thing ever if you were going to sit down and you could watch that first he's like a bad poker player where he's just sitting there sweating and you go uh yeah i call uh call or fold oh yeah you have aces full exactly and tonight in the second period onward he had aces he found it yeah and i tweeted this but i it really felt like the biggest take from the entire game which is finally after all this time the leafs found a goaltender who could steal them a game where they got outplayed in a playoff game yeah yeah hey um are you good on Samsonov? If I zag quick here. Do you agree he's the story of the game?

Yeah, I do. I do. Ryan O'Reilly was fantastic, but Samsonov finding it to me because he was pretty poor in the first is definitely it. But we had a quick text exchange that I wanted to throw to you guys. Can you imagine that playoff game if Lilligren's in the lineup and not Luke Shen? And it's notoff game if lilligren's in the lineup and not luke shen and it's not a knock on lilligren more how good was luke shen for the toronto maple leafs tonight with

the puck without the puck in every variety what does that mean luke troops luke's troops you have now summoned luke's troops you don't know what you've started here uh luke's troops everybody settle in for sam and i to gush about our favorite son for the next 15 to 20 how much time does everybody got tonight because i i thought in the first 10 minutes of the game luke shen was the toronto maple leafs like best player it was either him or Austin Matthews like pick one of the two but Shen did everything tonight for this team he was physical he was the bodyguard he was the babysitter he made gorgeous passes like again this is someone who traded for everyone pointed to his points and went oh well it's just because he's picking up a bunch of second assists

and blah blah blah like I think that people think he's just some kind of chopper who can't play like he went what was he for fifth overall in the draft like he's not a nobody scrub who can't handle the puck and is bobbling and when it's on his stick i don't i think people confuse his like hard rims out and just his willingness to just make sure that the puck's off the glass and out as he can't act like take it out like a modern defenseman and he doesn't have any game but i thought tonight he just borny like he showed you everything if they didn't have him in this game like i wrote down the only leafs that i thought were good tonight and i thought it was two i thought it was 23 i thought it was 90 and 35 and two was for them

like i i just think he lets them be a little bit taller a little bit bigger and yeah i loved him sammy as as much as he was the defense version of ryan o'reilly for fresh air tonight every time he was on the ice i just trusted him like it's just i had full trust in his ability to make the right decision especially in overtime but he was such a calming influence in overtime with the puck on his stick off the glass good snapping passes clear in the front of the net like i loved after the riley braden point thing and they pointed it out on the broadcast i thought it was such a great point i think it was bx that was talking about in the intermission when all that stuff's happening going crazy

everybody's screaming at each other he's just standing in front of the bench being like don't worry guys i'm here you're gonna have to come through me i'm the toughest guy in this game i already went toe to toe with the guy who's supposed to be the toughest guy in the league and bonked him in the face a bunch of times so come through me and he was just i was so impressed with him tonight like i i truly didn't think he had that in him like i i know he's a good player obviously and they traded a third round pick for him but i didn't think he had that game in him anymore i was thinking some gm out there had if they're watching this tape had to be thinking god we could have gone a second you know yeah i guess yeah it would have been worth a second to have that guy on your playoff lineup born what do you think of him well to me

it's a lot of the plays where um you know, he has the puck and the four checks coming and he's going to shoot it out, but he senses there's no pressure and he had the poise to take it to his backhand and make a play. And all of a sudden the Leafs maintain possession instead of a flip out where it comes right back at you. And that's not something I associate with him generally. So did not seem nervous in the big moments. And maybe that's why you get guys who've been in the big moments before.

He seemed very comfortable in that overtime. Yeah. Again, I don't go ahead. No, no, no. I was just,

I was just going to say what the hell happened in the second period, but I guess my, my closing point though on Shannon, the like, again, it is just so nice to see this through line of you got this opportunity to win a game because guys who have been there before were poised, right? Like it's such a major through line with this game is hockey is an intangible sport. And I know that people, we can

forget this at times over the course of 82 games where we're watching the Leafs, you know, kind of play a dog night effort against the Detroit Red Wings and go, well, we're going to try to pick this. And what if they do this? And Matthews and Marner are dominating to this degree. And you go, yeah, you get in a playoff series with Braden Point and Kucherov and like a lot of that stuff can sort of level out. And boy, does it feel so much better having not Sandin or Lilligren, but having a guy who's won cups and Luke Shen back there. God, does it feel good having a selkie guy who wins the draw by the way in the overtime winning goal for uh like we didn't even mention that with ryan o'reilly it's just like how dominie was in the dot tonight someone who's just

fearless in that moment like imagine what their dressing room like this has always been one of my things with the least right when your back's up against it and you keep going back with this core in the same group of players when you're in the dressing room and you're down a goal and you're playing Tampa Bay again and you look and you see all the same faces you must think to yourself at times boy oh boy how is this any different how do you psych yourself into believing something changed and then all of a sudden you see Luke Shen sitting there and he's going yeah you guys remember when Brandon Hagel was yapping and I just told him what are you gonna do and he went right nothing you remember when Ryan O''reilly just played fearlessly all night

long and was just like playing through contact all night long and just doing this you know how it is a different goaltender that's back there now all of a sudden it's like yeah i just i thought this was a monumental game for like the new guys and thusly like that's why i just i keep hammering home it had to be when kyle dubas was celebrating up in that box he just had to go vindication for me for at least one night in this series i'm enjoying a lot of the guys he they brought in have been really good i just you know the all i could think in that overtime you know after years of watching this leafs team is if you're tampa bay and you lose this game you're sitting in your dressing room going well chernak's not coming back headman you know gave us his best effort on a knee that's not quite right braden points not going to feel better

tomorrow than he feels right now i don't know if he needed a needle or what but he's hurting you know it was a miracle of modern medicine it was the second that morgan riley's penalty got announced he came back out onto the ice. It was a miracle. I'm so surprised he was back out there. What a hero. 33 minutes for Hedman tonight. Yeah. So maybe you want to go to the second period or you want to go to that penalty or the Riley hit?

Up to you. The Riley hit is very much everyone wants to hear an opinion on it, so we might as well get it in. Okay, so can you run it, Dave, as we're discussing it here? Because when the play happened, obviously your first thought actually is, wow, it's a pretty scary play for Point, right? He goes in hard. Broken neck play, I thought.

Yeah. Well, yeah, Bourne, just start. What did you think of this play? So I don't have any problem with it. I don't think it's, you know, dirty or, you know, a penalty or suspendable. It's unfortunate. I will say that, like, when you're both moving that fast into the corner and Point is willingly accepting early contact, like, he's putting himself in a pretty risky position,

and Riley, you know, is entitled to battle for the puck with him. Once that contact is coming his way, it's, it's unfortunate more than anything. I don't really have much commentary aside from not cheap. Unfortunate. Yeah. Just hip,

just hip to hip full speed. Those are two guys who go fast, like Braden point and Morganiley are probably the two fastest guys in this game right like like top end speed so i had no problem with it and i was absolutely incensed when they put up the five minutes but i'm glad they did because that's they did that so that they could review it which was smart by the ref so that they did it and then they made the right call i thought and then i don't know there was a bit of a schmozzle like some people thought they maybe could have had a five on three out of that,

you know, out of that brew, out of that brew, ha ha, or whatever. But the Ryan O'Reilly jumping third man in to try to save Matthews getting, going full Alexander Salmon probably was the extra penalty that he wasn't talking about. But yeah, I, I had no problem with the hit. I sucked for point, looked like it hurt, but he was able to come back okay. You went down like you were shot in an old West movie on the way back to the bench.

I was going to say, it was obviously a really tough play, but I did wonder, listen, I'm just going to say this. This wasn't a dive play, obviously, but I did wonder if he was hamming it up to make sure that that review happened. This was a little bit of gamesmanship, and I will say that I actually thought that Tampa was quite divey in general tonight.

I thought both teams had some embellishing plays, but Tampa especially. But I'm with you guys on this one. To me, this wasn't a dirty play. I was incensed when they called it boarding. I honestly lost my mind. I rarely, you know, just do all caps angry seeing red tweets did it and they overturned it rightfully so because of what you guys just said but i actually

think that the the brouhaha afterwards was very consequential and a little overlooked in terms of the discourse stamkos knows exactly what he's doing that is an incredible veteran play by him that it worked out but that should not that should have been an extra penalty for him he just jumps in on matthews for sure he's beaten on him and then matthews finally does what was probably the most embarrassing if gift um attempt at punches i've ever seen for a man who's six foot three and a professional hockey player like he went he tried to throw me but he went like he went full seven he went full out like seven he's trying to get a whole hold on I'm not trying to throw a punch well whatever he was doing it didn't look very good but either way the fact that Matthew said to go in the box sit there for

five minutes and then the play didn't end so that he actually ended up sitting in the penalty box for i think close to eight minutes it was a huge call by the officials toronto didn't have two of their power play guys for their riley went to the box for a phantom call that they decided to make that a penalty like where's the penalty on that and then matthews gets thrown in there when he gets jumped he's the team's best power play shot. Like I thought if Toronto would have lost, this was going to be actually the point that I was going to make about the game that incensed me the most, because I really thought the officials were quality tonight. They didn't insert themselves in the game.

I didn't feel like there were any missed calls except for this moment. I felt like they completely blew it and just went way too one-sided for Tampa. Yeah, I would agree. Like I listen, I thought the rest of a fine job tonight too. Wasn't, they didn't,

they weren't a storyline at all to me. Maybe outside of the three minute late hit in overtime on Pat Maroon, but you got to commit an absolute, you got to commit an absolute war crime to get a penalty in overtime or shoot the puck over the glass. So those are the only two,

there's no in between. So I didn't really have an issue with it, but you're right. It should have been a five on three for sure and that would have been a big storyline if they had a loss but yeah pour one out for for matthews there that's that's just not that's not a pretty way you want your first nhl fight to go i love the stat on the broadcast the stat on the broadcast you're that first time in the history of hockey 260 goal scores ever fought guess what look like it yeah if you're matthews when you go in the hall of fame and they're putting together all of your

career highlights they're like oh did you know you're one of the you're the only guy with stamkos to have this stat and he's like don't put that in the highlight show it burn that tape all right uh let's move on to the second because it was a like the game starts in toronto i thought looked solid but i gotta tell you it's great they stole this hockey game but if we're gonna do a little bit of balance here i thought tampa was supposed to be the old worn down team that wasn't gonna have their a game come this time of year and little concerning how much they dominated essentially the final three periods of this game board what happened yeah see i don't know that that's um you know how i would look at it i'd say this is a team that's won stanley cups

and you're gonna take some you know punches they're gonna they're gonna give you their best some nights and i really thought it was an an excellent Tampa Bay game from their stars. We keep saying here in Toronto, the three of us over many playoff years, you know, at some point, Matthews and Marner are just going to have to take over a game, take over a series and just say, nah. And you see the best players on Tampa do that. I won't say often, but it comes up. And that was one of these nights where it was like,

all right, you took a really good punch for some very good players tonight. You know, that's not to excuse Toronto. They got filled in, you know, like they need to have better than that. But like, there's not really anyone I want to pinpoint defensively. They just played it really conservative. They sagged back to their house and kind of let Tampa just play hockey. I thought if anything, it was just too passive, you know, almost not trusting that they could play aggressively and get the puck back. How many times they iced the puck tonight, boys?

Yes. Every, every shift in the second period there, it just was a hot potato. They couldn't make a breakout pass. Thought Brody was playing with a broomstick tonight. Like I just just every puck that landed on his stick it would roll on him or he'd fan on it or he'd turn it over i think he probably led them in ice time tonight so he obviously had some good moments i think he blocked six or seven shots tonight so it wasn't all bad but i thought he had some notable whiffs and like bad reads

and you don't usually come to expect that from him so yeah i just it was not an enjoyable watch as a toronto maple leaf fan for that full second period of just most of it being played in toronto's zone i thought they were a bit better in the third like i didn't think it was a full cave in like it wasn't the second but man that second period was not pretty say that again tampa was not like barely had any shots and third was just a super tight game where like the sort of went away the second was the big one where it was like toronto was outshot i want to say 15 to 6 uh it was it was a pretty one side but it did tilt the game in tampa's favor and like sammy to your point about the icings like that's how tampa ends up getting their third goal the

go-ahead goal is they finally get burned on an icing it's all game long over and over and over again and born maybe that's why but to me it's like when tampa is able to have that sustained pressure they can turn toronto over so many times and it seems to be forcing toronto's blue line and some of you in their forwards into making those decisions where they're just going we need to get this the hell out even if it just is buying us a few seconds and trust that we can draw and try again. Because they got hemmed in in that second. Yeah, no, everything had to go.

They got every break possible tonight. We can talk about the goal, the disallowed goal that Tampa also scored there at one point, which probably a fortunate whistle, the right call, but a fortunate whistle. They get that break. The icings that they only gave up one off of that was probably fortunate as well so you know this is what i'm saying where it

felt like everything kind of worked out in a way they didn't deserve tonight and you get a freebie and that's great but i think you sit down with a tape and go okay what do we got to do differently i thought tanner juneau was a much better player for them tonight. Like I just thought they got, yeah, they got contributions from places they hadn't, which is much more of what you should expect. You know, you shouldn't expect the first two games. It's going to look like that game the rest of the way. Yeah. I got to give credit to that radish tonight, man.

He was awesome. Like he was, he was a threat big time. And I thought he got absolutely barbecued by Matthews on the first goal or second goal. Was that where Matthews smokes him behind the net, takes the puck away from him, comes out in front of the net. He just can't handle him. He takes the tips, the puck in, but his goal was beautiful.

That's offensive instincts. He was a killer in junior shot pucks through my beloved own sound attack on the way to the 2017 Memorial cup. He's always been a sniper. So I, uh, I was happy to see he played really really well so i i'm surprised i didn't expect that from him but that's the thing it's kind of like basketball right role players at home they look a lot better like these guys that are playing on home ice to get favorable matchups and he just looked like he was popping the whole time i i was impressed by him tonight he shakes nyes there nyes is gonna stick with him and this you know mccabe running at him

rather than just hitting pin or staying on d side he likes to throw that big hit it's a tendency of mccabe's and something you know i like that they have a guy that tries to hit people but it ain't great defense in your own end there i uh wrote it down in my notes is what like that's the one thing with mccabe is where you don't trust him like your traditional shutdown guy and a shutdown pair is sometimes he just feels like he's hunting the hit rather than making the play and hunting a goal he's in deep a lot yeah yeah he sure is yeah he just he feels like a guy who's always really trying to make one happen.

Yeah, I don't know. Like again, Toronto, you're right, Sam. I thought they settled into a degree in the second or in the third period. The overtime I thought was pretty much like all Tampa felt like basically the entire way. But yeah, I do wonder what the psychological effect is even going to be on a team like them

who is champions to feel like man that toronto team they are very very good they probably had their worst game of the series and they found a way to get one done and they took back home ice advantage um for me i mean for me the next kind of story that i have listed down here is i i can't believe that there's no way that matthew nize is coming out of the lineup he was late in the game 23 tonight like gave toronto something and their coach moving them around and trying to give them more opportunities yeah they were trying to yeah they're trying to use them to like spark other lines they put them him on late. I, it just, there's one thing that's very clear.

I short of an injury. He's not coming out when bunting returns, it's going to be somebody else when bunting draws back in. But yeah, Borny, what are you seeing from knives right now? Because yeah, pretty solid game for the kid.

You know what he can do that? Not many people can do. You can do this on the way up and junior and stuff, but not many people can at the NHL level. He can make people miss. He's like Lamar Jackson. Like he's like, you know,

one-on-one with someone I'm fully confident that he's going to find space. Also a really heavy stick in terms of coming up with pucks and getting in there and sifting it out of feet and, um, you know, cute little stick handles. And so tonight was a great example. There was a play where he digs it out of someone's feet dangles it hangs on to it and eventually turns it

over and it's like he can do so much he's just gonna have to learn the limitations this play here you know you're not getting that from uh you know astin reese or bunting you know whoever you think yeah you know he can make some plays he i mean i think his ceiling is really high in the nhl he's i i'm with you guys one of their i don't know fifth best offensive player maybe already maybe four i feel like an that's a great pass too to bring the hands inside like that when it's kind of in your feet a bit and get it into the slot that's a really nice pass by him i feel like an idiot. Like I,

just to see the way he looks, I'm like, obviously he should have played in game one. Like what the hell are we doing here? This guy is the thing that gets me about him is he looks like he belongs, but you know, he feels like he belongs. It's like,

it's a mental thing. Like he goes out there and he's not like, there's no tentativeness to his game out there and he's not like there's no tentativeness to his game at all he's not scared of any situation like you can't really picture for sure no and i agree completely a couple ot shifts i'm like oh god this is scary this is really scary but like is there many bigger situations around the league where you could put a rookie into than they're putting them in right now. Like,

and have him look like this. I'm shocked at how good he looks. He looks phenomenal. He did have the one spooky play tonight where he just has so much confidence, right. In his own end, through the legs pass behind his back.

Did you see that? I like that one. I like that one. Yeah. Oh my God, man. I meant though, the actual bad play where he is in his own end and he has possession of the

puck. He's right about to get it out and born. This is something that you noted right away is he hasn't quite learned that at the NHL level of, no, you need to get it out. Like those guys are very, very dangerous.

This is not Minnesota hockey anymore. Like you're not playing Delaware. You got to get the, get it out. he uh he had a little moment where he tried to do the dipsy doodle and it backfired on him but overall borny i agree with you like how many guys on the team who are skilled than him uh yeah they're core players and then the list starts to get pretty short this was always my case for playing him is he's clearly one of the team's best players and i understand the like ice your vets who got you their mentality and then change it if you lose it

but i i'm still just you guys are yeah i just think that the mentality is play your best players and that give you the best chance to win and matthew nize is clearly one of the best players and but sam i love your point because it's the same way i feel too, is it's like, it's like, he doesn't know he's not supposed to be good. Exactly. Right. That's perfectly said. Ignorance is bliss for young people. And then you get older and you're like,

it's like golfers. They like, all of a sudden they're contending in their forties and they're like, but like, you know, the young, just ask Rory. He's yeah.

He's long and dumb and full of angles matthew nize is uh rory mccroy with the long hair and puka shells that's what he is right now kobe with the fro yeah he's just going for not chubby like he's an adonis like the kid is chiseled out of granite big tall you can see why he has confidence in his life right like that's pretty clear as to why this guy doesn't feel like. He's time machine Kipper. Look at him. He looks a lot like Kipper. He really does.

He's got a big Kipper look to him. Yeah, Kipper probably had a good time in New York when he was with this guy. Something tells me. Something tells me he was doing all right. Okay, so anything else for you guys you want to enter the rapid fire portion or any other big topics from the game for you? Rapid fire, baby. Okay.

You want me to start with? Or you guys want to go? Go ahead. What are you going to say? Seems like a strange thing to say after a guy scores a hat trick, but I just felt zero presence of Tavares tonight. Bad game. He was not good tonight. Agree.

And I'll say, Willie Nylander, for all that wonderful stuff, his line mate, he fails to make the cover on the first goal against. So that's his error. They get scored on. We just showed that one

where Radish walks out and shoots it. It's not Nylander's guy, but you're allowed to, you know, grab a guy who's a foot away from you about to shoot. So didn't love Nylander.

If you're going to mention Tavares, that line needed help. And I thought Keefe tried to give it help and say, I don't know, here's Nyes. Nylander, can you go play with Matthews and Marner for a few shifts? He tried to help out what was a black hole in Tavares tonight. Yeah, that was one of my rapid fire points. That line got caved in multiple times. Which is a bit of an issue that I have so little confidence in them to just impose themselves in this series. Again, you're right.

Nylander does need to be mentioned. I'd just still call it Tavares' line because he's the center. But there was a lot of this regular season where Nylander looked just amazing and he does have the zone entries, at at least that he's able to have. Like he just, he's, he's the best in Toronto at it where it just, he carries it in.

And I do have a confidence level in him right now with Vasilevsky where he's just not afraid to shoot it. And it just, yeah, Tavares, I felt like I kept checking the ice time going, how much has he played? Because I just don't feel as though he's playing very well.

And it, it makes me a little bit nervous on the road when they have the matchups which you probably shouldn't for an 11 million dollar guy uh just all drew two penalties tonight yeah both shorthanded where was it to even up things twice yeah yeah he looked like he looked like penalties all year he came flying in like bobby or off the wing and just bonked right into vasileski like just came flying in there and just ran right into him shock that the tampa bay lighten didn't group beat the hell out of them there they're all just like yeah whatever he smacked the goalie yeah i guess they've they've yeah they've beat the crap out of people for way less than that but like he did get grabbed hard by the shoulder

and yanked down so like i think they probably even even those bozos could figure out that it was somebody else that did it but i was another one of my points that i was going to bring up for rapid fire i thought hall was good tonight fellas blocking shots getting the puck out like a classic good justin hall game that he will get zero credit for although Although, in overtime, in overtime, no, not that one. The puck lands on his stick, and he tries the toe drag. He's like at the top of the circle, and I'm like, oh, my God. And it goes down two on two the other way, forward, back. I was like, get that on net, Baba.

Get that on net and get back. Below Tampa's hash marks at least three times in overtime, which is three too many. Agreed. I had the same thought when he tried to do the toe drag when it was going the other way. I went, so his legacy is stone cold sold like solid. It's over.

He is the new Gardner. He's the number one whipping boy in perpetuity. Like Toronto loses the series. Doesn't matter how they lose it. Everyone's going to point to that moment with Justin Hall. So yes, I think that his teammates, Sancenov, they owe him dearly for saving his career here, being able to ever. His entire legacy. Yeah, it came down to that moment unquestionably.

So Achari scores a goal in the game. Nice for the nice play. Also, the Marner just is a guy who has been criticized many times for just like in the past not shooting the puck enough. Shoot the puck, shoot the puck. And a couple of times in the series, like he's been more aggressive with the shot and it worked out for them again tonight. And yeah, it's kind of funny because a couple of times in the series like he's he's been more aggressive with the shot and it worked out for them again tonight and yeah it's kind of funny because a couple of them like what was it the sixth goal in the last game where it's sort of the muffin that he's firing from that area

but is it just me or is he being more aggressive in this playoffs than in years past with kind of the overly cute stuff maybe it's a time and space thing i wanted to kind of get your guys opinion on it he just seems to be more willing to fire a puck from a low percentage area um something that i've not really noticed from his game too much in the past and it's worked well for weeks yeah it's gone in a couple of times i i thought you know like tavarez i thought i didn't really see him tonight i disappeared after the first yeah so you know but nice nice tip and you're right getting pucks to the net and playoffs a good trait to have if he wants to shoot it a bit more hopefully later in the series that allows him to use his deception and make some passes and do the things that makes

him great and makes the guys around him great god he's good on the pk though notice him on the pk he had one clear tonight where like it was in people's feet and he just found it and did this like around the back clear. That was just like good relief pressure. He's so, so, so good on the PK and it was a nice shot to that. Matthew's tipped in. So good.

Yeah. Good first period for him. Last rapid fire point for me. Discipline. Question. Yeah. Toronto versus Tampa. Where are you guys at it through three games i thought the i thought the lafferty one was it was dumb but god colton snapped his head back like

he was shot like that and didn't he get wasn't he high in the league for embellishments porny yeah we're talking about it three diving families this year yeah and boy he sold that baby but guess what you can't put your stick up around guy's chin like you can't do that so i thought they're getting goaded a little bit here but i i like that they're pushing back i like that they're playing greasy but there's no doubt that they're getting goaded into a little bit of stuff by this tampa team there's clearly hate and they're getting goaded into a little bit of stuff by this Tampa team. There's clearly hate and they're getting caught. What's that JD? Sis, can you roll the penalties back?

Because I want to see them as they go through this for the Leafs, because this is where I do think Tampa has an advantage in the series where it's like, they just don't seem to be taking those dumb emotional ones other than Kucherov jumping. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Brody one. I don't love the call. taking those dumb emotional ones other than kucherov jumping like yeah yeah yeah the brody one i don't love the call this is tavara's one right is that who was the reach in the tavara's

one i actually had the most i was most upset about even more so than lafferty one just because of where he is on the ice and who he's trying to get it from like i know you want to put pressure on headman but that's one where it's like use your body like why are you trying to use it from. Like, I know you want to put pressure on Hedman, but that's one where it's like, use your body. Like, why are you trying to use a stick? That's how you lost the playoffs last year was Alex Kerfoot doing that exact thing. 200 feet from his own net reaching for it. I,

um, it just, it amazes me that to play with Tampa is able to play with the edge that they play with while not taking a horrific amount of dumb penalties just seems to be a real advantage for them to me in the series anyway yeah i think that's really well said bunk and i think there's a lot of leaf fans that would say that they are allowed to do a little bit more that they get away with a little bit more the reputation precedes them which i mean that's you know how you get that reputation you win a lot of hockey games. Yeah. So it's kind of something that you have to deal with. That's just any sport. That's kind of the way it goes. Kind of going to have to deal with some, with some bull crap,

but yeah, I, I, I hate them taking penalties because there is nothing I hate more than watching Tampa on the power play. It is horrifying every time. I know it is, um, rapid fire stuff for me. The, my only have one little thing that i'm only mentioning because it'll be relevant later in the series every time zach aston reese has touched the puck since his turnover in game one he's been great yeah he was very good tonight he was physical he's been a great fourth liner for them that is only relevant because at some point bunting is going to be available to them and there's going to be questions and he ran someone over and over time i don't know who he caught but he absolutely blew someone up yeah he sneaks he seems to sneak up on guys with like how hard he can hit them it's

like they don't expect him gonna smoke him and he absolutely blows them up a lot of times yeah i will say that after two games no bunting i'm not seeing where he goes my one bunting complaint is that he makes it more of a yap and jaw and penalty party and you just want to play this team five on five i know he's good and good players should play but you're right if they win the next hockey match they have a large decision on their hands absolutely and i wanted to say this is a very on-brand uh rapid fire point for me happy to see uh nola chari get rewarded with a goal because i thought he's been really good for them and just like hitting everything and as borny calls him the granite man just running into every single person and for him to pick up that puck in the slot and just beat basileski serum down

low blocker love that shot he's been great defensively hitting people so it's nice to see those grunts get rewarded it was a great shot great goal he had a hit i think it was in the second actually at his own blue line did you guys see that one yes yeah he just stapled somebody tonight it just looks like it sucks to get hit by him yeah yeah he's like smaller guy but he's got that strength and that fearlessness to lay the hit and i adore i like all the old guys what can i tell you can i say that as a tall guy who's played hockey the little guys are the absolute worst that's the nightmare a nola chari in the chest right in the chest is not what you want well yeah it's like florida has

that guy lambo what's his name my god does he ever stick it to some people where you're like and he's mean and he's small he's just a ball of hurt you uh okay so that's it for me um yeah subscribe to this podcast if you enjoy it i would suggest you subscribe it and you leave five stars because that is that's good for us that's what we said sis do we have the ot goal yet we i don't think we've showed the ot goal so it's a nice thing do we have that yet goal yet? I don't think we've showed the OT goal, so it's a nice thing. Do we have that yet? Did I put him on the spot? Uh-oh. Slicing.

Slicing on top. Uh-oh. Subscribe to the podcast. Leave five stars. Like it. Hit the old thumbs up on YouTube. And, yeah, if you see it on Twitter, you see the videos, you see it on Instagram, whatever, tell your friends. Share it.

We appreciate it. Here we go. O'Reilly to the O'Reilly brothers. Matthew Knott, show your plus in OT. Tell your friends. Share it. We appreciate it. Here we go. The Riley Brothers. Matthew Knives. Show your plus in OT. Grapes loves it. Fire it from the point. I'll never forget after Toronto lost to Boston and they had this

Grapes go on and be like, point! Point! Point! We clipped it as a soundboard, just him saying it on repeat. Oh, God. So nice to see him go in from the point. Hagle has this super hateable face. Super hateable.

Him jawing while there's Pat Maroon and Tanner Janot behind him. Like, let those guys do the word and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And Luke's like, fight me. Fight me, Hagle. It's nice having Luke go, what? Like, what are you going to do the whole time?

I was like, nothing. He did that during the post-Riley hit scrum to Sergeyev too. Just had him in a pretzel. It was like, enough out of you. You're done now. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram, at JDBunkus, at JTBourne, at Sammy McKee. Reach out anytime.

We love feedback. Leave it in the comments too, even for the haters. I love you back. Leafs win. They flipped the script. They did the haters. I love you back. Leafs win. They flipped the script. They did the thing. Heavy, heavy game four with a real opportunity for these fellas. Monday.

We'll be back then. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.