Real Kyper & Bourne - BONUS: The Leafs Are Headed to Round 2!

Episode Date: April 30, 2023

The Toronto Maple Leafs are headed to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs! JD Bunkis, Sam McKee, and Justin Bourne break down the Leafs first series win since 2004 and discuss the defining moments of their first round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Auston Matthews' strong performance, who they would rather see the Leafs face in the second round, 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.

good evening toronto maple leaf hockey fans it's leafs talk winning a playoff series edition somewhere there's a child who was born the last day the toronto maple leafs won a playoff game and he or she can now go out and have their first delicious legal drink and celebrate a first round victory the toronto maple leaves get it done they get a pound lightning on to the second round baby let's go how we feeling fellas sammy i gotta start with you i am euphoric i'm absolutely over the moon thrilled that that happened i didn't believe for one second throughout this whole game that they were gonna win i thought that i truly had zero belief until

that puck trickled over the blue uh the goal line so beautifully the captain fires it in it's an incredibly euphoric feeling for me for leafs nations for everyone that's texting me right now you can just a weight has been lifted off an entire fan base it's an incredible feeling for everybody watching the stream already got a couple of guys tweet me like getting joy getting swept in the second round yeah take a hike pal i've actually had the opposite experience like my phone is melting down like i have getting every it seems like every person i've ever come in contact with is texting me right now about the trauma police and i will say that to me anyways my experience right now has even been

other hockey fans and sports fans understanding what this means and what this is i know that listen it's an easy punch line for people to make like you're celebrating a first round win like the stanley cup 19 years okay you're allowed to celebrate this you're allowed to be thrilled with this you have to win a first round to win a stanley cup okay now they're going to recalibrate all the goals this is the beauty of winning this round for god's sakes is that you don't have to treat a first round like a stanley cup but they got this one they're moving on and yeah man the horns are honking outside people are horned up it's a thrilling night for the city of toronto i cannot wait to immerse myself in it yeah you know like being here for

the last 10 years including the you know it was for one game and all that and seeing what people have gone through hosting a maple leaf show and you know every every time something good has happened to a leafs fan for the past 10 years or the last few years if someone's on Twitter telling them that it doesn't matter because they can't win in the playoffs or whatever this just ended you know our boy the Oak Leafs shout out to him for a lot of great entertainment over the years tweeted that this isn't joy this is the first movement after being constipated for a very long time this is just relief in the new beginning here just a greasy nugget feeling for that goal too honestly isn't that the perfect way that they're going to win it though like

leafs didn't get a shot for the final 13 23 of the third period so you can excuse any leaf fan for feeling a little down the dumps. That was their first shot of overtime. They went almost a full period without getting a shot on Andre Vasilevsky, and it's a squeaker. It's a bounce. And this feels a little bit like the other two Tampa games, but what have we always been saying for the Leafs, right? What has made you feel like you're cursed?

It's feeling like the Toronto Maple Leafs just cannot get a bounce in a big moment, right? They can't get goaltending in a big moment. They can't win a closeout game. And tonight, here they do it on the road in John Cooper's stupid face. They get a bounce. They get some goaltending, and it's on to the second round on the stick of their captain. It's poetic.

Yeah. John, that's the amount of goals you scored in game six, buddy. One. One goal in game six. One goal for John. Oh, one goal in game six. And, yeah, you know what? Guess what?

The number of real cups you have, zero. That's right. Zero real cups. The bubble doesn't count. And then you beat the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final, and they're in your conference. That didn't count. Zero real cups, John.

One, two, zero. Zero. Same split. on one two zero zero leafs same split in the two teams in the playoffs okay leafs split with the tamp okay this is such a weird game right because it's like it's euphoric and the least for so long it was just you know tight butts waiting for the inevitability that's what i mean about the joy of this moment is like i i bet you there's a lot of people right now like i sell i jumped up off the couch i obviously leapt into this chat room couldn't wait to talk to you guys started just like firing out tweets promoting the show but there is a part of me that it's like i don't know what to do here i'm like will ferrell and talonite hands i don't know what to do with my

hands because i've never been here before i don't know what this is like i've done the loser show a billion times i've lived the loser show the loser show in misery after they blew 4-1 this is just a completely yeah new experience essentially what's crazy entire generation of leaf fans you know you know what the big difference is to me in this series and in these overtimes is the thing that beat them in the past is the entire generation of Leaf fans. You know what the big difference is to me in this series and in these overtimes is the thing that beat them in the past is the big mistake from someone green, and they went and got a bunch of veteran guys, do it the right way.

They played super conservative. Like you mentioned no shots. Well, they're on the defensive side of everything. You know, no forecheck aggressiveness. They just didn't want to make the big one, and you throw a few at the net and hope this is your year by god three in turn in tampa which cooper was like pretty incredible to win three in toronto if we get this done it's like no there's three in tampa where they were awfully good all season it's you know it's you were talking about i don't know what to do with my hands here and like i you know i'm coming

on here i'm supposed to do analysis of this game and it's like i don't even really know what happened like i'm sitting there with my shirt like this the entire game like what happened in the game like i i my fandom of this it was really really hard to stay like in the moment of like trying to analyze what's going on because it's was on a knife's edge, this game. It was such a tight butthole game the whole way through. Every puck, there was a war for every single puck. There wasn't a lot of crisp breakouts either way. There wasn't a lot of great offensive chances.

This is just the type of game that they always lose. The big game, these elimination games that we always talk about these are the ones they lose when it's a one goal game they can't get anything to the front of the net how many slot shots they have in the second half of that game zero one like it felt like they had nothing so it just it's such a weird feeling bunk and i agree like here come my hand i don't know what to do with these things like it's I just, it was such a wild way for them to win that game. Do you know when it's going to sink in? I think for a lot of people, because like, obviously people are going to go out, have

drinks tonight. They're going to meet up with people. You're going to have calls with your loved ones. You're going to say you can't believe it. But I do think that the beauty of this is actually going to come tomorrow morning when you wake up and you open your eyes and you get to look at the internet and it's like good content of your team winning and good clips of whatever whoever steals the podium right now and has the quote right somebody's going to say something like they

doubted us blah blah that's going to get plastered across every Instagram, TikTok feed, Twitter page. And you're just going to get to sit there and not feel like a loser for following this hockey team. Just one morning, you get to wake up, you get to sip your coffee tomorrow, and just hopefully, honestly, hopefully, you guys listening, you banged out five stars on this sucker because you're a good person you got good karma and you're just sitting there and enjoying winning enjoying this experience finally this core gets one done and now we get to see if the theory pays off right now we get to see if the theory is true which is hey if the leafs come first round what are they going to look like one or is this going to be the monkey off their back scenario

that a lot of people have been predicting and so i gotta ask you guys now for like a little bit of the actual analysis of the game borney i'll start with you sammy you know you're watching through a t-shirt eyes closed with this analysis borney how much of what you saw tonight was a team that was playing, you know, a tight conservative road game versus a team that wasn't playing very well or potentially choking a bit? Because again, it is hard to note that that third period they gave up a lead

and were outshot 11 to four and yeah, didn't get a shot on net for the final 13 minutes of the period. Like how much of that you think goes away into a next round where a lot, man, how there's a ton of pressure off these players. Like that's just a fact. For sure.

No, it's a massive amount. It's a good question. You know, you mentioned, you know, sort of in our group chat about that. And my,

my first thought, this is the first game of the series. I was like, they kind of look tired. Like it's been a lot, it's been a lot of pressure and a lot of effort and overtime games and this game didn't have the zest of some of the earlier games in the series or the animosity like it was guys working hard in every battle than getting to the bench right no extra energy after whistles for the shenanigans really it felt like how we kind of forecast the series going

where it's insane for the first couple games members like you got to have shannon for the first couple and then he turns into bobby or and you can never take him out again you know but more shen i know the series did settle in in a different way and yeah this game whether they were tired or clamming up in the moment or whatever it was you know we've said when you look at the numbers 0 and 10 0 and 11 whatever you want to say for this group crazy they didn't get one game where their goalie just played great where their goalie played exceptionally well and they got a bounce and that's the story of the game to me they made no big mistakes samsonov was exceptional tonight and you know what not just on saves, not pushing out of his crease. He looked controlled.

He froze pucks. You know, they got a goalie game. The guy you want to score scores you a big one, and then you just kind of left it up to the gods, and you got one for once. I thought he was obviously brilliant, but I thought they did an excellent job of blocking shots too. I just feel like there was a lot of moments,

Matthews in particular on the forward side of things, Gio, of course, but, you know, Shen blocking, like, the block shots in this game, it felt like they did a really, really good job of doing that. And that box out right there by Shen is amazing. Now, Shen coming back, that's absurd. Yeah. It's a huge difference they've had in the years past.

Yeah, so I was just impressed with's, it's a huge difference they've had in the years past. Yeah. So I was just impressed with their ability to block shots. And, you know, I don't think, I wouldn't say it was an easy night for, for Samsonov by any stretch of the imagination. Obviously he was excellent, but I'm sure when Keith gets asked in the post game, he'll be like, yeah, he had a, he was excellent. He was exceptional for, but I thought our four, our guys did a good job of blocking shots and kind of limited in the middle of the ice.

So I was just, you know, i've caught between what you asked borny there too bunk about hey you know is this a gritty road game or is this them being tight butthole and getting a bounce like i really don't know which side of it i'm on but they finally got the result so it just doesn't matter which is nice because. Because if they hadn't lost this game, you know what we would have been saying? That they did joke. Say that. And here's what I would say. You know what the beauty of tonight is?

Now we get to actually find out. Like, now we get the answers. Now we get to find out that tonight was a tight butthole game and they loosen up in a series against Boston or Florida. But yeah, just, boy boy i can't believe it and i'll say this man i i was higher on samsonov than you guys i think a little bit like they block shots luke shen boxing guys out but borny the confidence that he was playing with tonight i think that that had to give the team a little bit of an added boost in some of those moments knowing that

he was back there not sliding around that he was just like how many rebounds did he give up in this game right like there was one that he kind of out to stam coast that was a little bit dangerous that i remember but for the most part he was just controlled in the net and sis i don't know if you have his first round or sorry his first period saves but that is the one to me is like you're on the road like if we're going to talk about gritty road win you're on the road and tampa once again comes out with the better punch than toronto like they have all series long and it's predictable but what happens that's different than in years past toronto does not concede the first goal in the game and their goaltender is spectacular in the first like his his best saves in the game came when Toronto was at their most rickety

and their goaltender made, I want to say like two, three really, really tough saves to keep them in it. And so to me, this is just a hats off to Samsonov moment. The Leafs have their guy. And again, I hate trying to get too ahead of myself. I really want to live in the moment here. But how many goalies in the playoffs was good about their guy as ilia samsonov after that game like boston they don't know in net for them in game seven and here's samsonov like right there again boom getting that he's healthy

baby that guy's healthy and he's making big saves confident he had ghosts which he probably did and i think we saw a little bit in the early series he may have shored a lot of those up man like i'm feeling great about 35 yeah no that went a long way for everyone i think you know there's a number of things that you kind of needed to go well for the team tonight that did some that didn't the power play didn't go well and that was one of the storylines but you know let's be real they made aggressive lineup changes going into tonight going with 11 and 7 taking out aston recent and uh and lafferty you know you know putting in lilligran and gustafson gustafson not great on the goal against you know not a particularly great

play there but see him again i thought bunting was fantastic like the life bunting gave them lilligran was really good to me like a big question for game one but we'll get to that much later i just thought that two of those changes lilligren and bunting made a big difference just you could see the difference of fresh legs in a series where everyone else is tired i i think you got to give credit to keith for that adjustment big time like it's you know we were making fun of him before the game you know the classic tinkerbell situation where he's like i live to tinker you go 11 and 7 and you're literally tinkering the whole game how many different line combinations they have tonight 100 like it just felt like every shift had different guys going out there which sometimes i don't like but your

big boys played a lot and that's what you needed in a game like this but for him to you know sit down hall who was a guy that is much maligned but that's a guy he's come up with a long time and then to put in two ice cold guys and you know take out two guys that have been contributing all right in the bottom six there's a lot of big stones moves for him to pull before this game and i'm happy that they paid off for him because if they had gone the other way the you know the conversation about him tinkering and over tinkering and gustafson going into that game and him being bad on their only goal against the regulation like obviously the conversation would have been a lot different but yeah i i don't think i want to see gustafson much more i wouldn't say fellas uh i think i would be good

with him not playing anymore but i did like lilligren and i think lilligren is definitely a factor for the second round like there's a couple plays where he just had the puck in his stick and went north and i was like oh i was like oh you're allowed to like oh one of the least defensemen's allowed to do that they're allowed to pick up the puck and skate it up to the neutral zone and get it in deep i'm like oh that's allowed him to miss on a you know on a rush wide side and wrap it back for a two-on-one could have done done without that play, but that play was pretty good. Yeah. Like, that play almost broke him. But you're right.

I think that it's a balance for me, and I'm not trying to throw it away. I think that it was pretty painfully obvious at this point that he had to make a move with Hall. And it got to, yeah, just an untenable situation at this point. But still, going 11-, and then having the experience to be able to blend your lines together throughout the game and throw different mixed matches. I guess like this is what the regular season was for, for a team that was always quote unquote, using it as a practice, right? Getting guys familiar with each other, changing up the

situations. And so, yeah, you're right. We made fun of all the Tinkerbell stuff, but ultimately it did work. And Borny, like i do wonder how much of that too plays a bit of a psychological effect in those moments where you do have some experience some chemistry with those guys but also again things feel different and you're not getting stuck just waiting you got to stay alert you're on your toes anything to that yeah for sure well i just you know and i said this uh on our show on friday just that the one thing about 11 and 7 if you do it is there's no line that goes over the boards where you're like, it's a punt line,

a punt shift. Yeah. Like when you have 11 guys and bunting goes back in, I mean the worst line you can throw out there. Like the worst one is like Kerfoot, Achari and Kampf. Like it's a pretty good line. That's the worst you can do.

So you end up with just a lot of, you ask more of guys. So maybe it puts you at a disadvantage come game seven. But I thought you saw Matthews get a look with a lot of guys. Matthews won a lot of puck battles tonight, you know, helped a lot of team, you know,

his line stay in the ozone when they could. Yeah. There's an element to staying alert, but I just thought it allowed them to make a lot of better lines with better players. 100%. It's just, you guys with it uh

ask me ask me the morning of game one i don't know i i i don't think so i think this is kind of a nuclear situation yeah exactly it was a nuclear situation where you just kind of like this is a massive game for everyone's reputation and everyone's careers here and i'm gonna make a big time curveball and go with something. And it worked for him. So I don't think I want to do it too many times going forward. Like once you get to the start of another series, you know,

you want to establish lines and like maybe later in it, you do it again, but not to start game one. Tavares gets the OT winner, all this heat, all the money that comes to Toronto. He gets one. Man,

that's big. Let's go over that shift because i think there's so like i want to do the two shifts of the game now for the toronto maple leaves which is first of all tavara's nize and ryan signing for the game winner but then after that let's do matthews and what was his shift of the season but like man we were texting nize really could have worn it in this game because of turnover that he makes on the boards on the goal against right instead of just chipping it out and here he is in sorry pal yeah like I yeah Borny maybe just walk us through this shift I thought Shen you know big play to keep it in like Nye is able to just be strong enough to work guys off but

here's Tavares moving his feet you know like he looks pretty professional you're able to keep it around the outside keep it in the zone and not his body position like they're moving great cycle that's it and then riley goes to the front of the net like they got the the defense involved and that's something that they've been badly missing is just getting that from the back end morgan riley involved in everything in this series. First star of the series by 10 miles. Morgan Riley. Oh my God. I just love that. Keith is so happy.

I love the hustle by Tavares on that shift. Just like never giving up on the play. Borny, you said, hey, the Leafs look tired at points in this game. I agreed. Especially early on. It didn't seem like they had their legs. Maybe they found them a little bit later in the hockey game. the second where you know i thought that the leafs were better that was their best period of the game but for tavaris to just stay hard on that puck to track

it down and then do what i think like you really want from it he's not the fastest player right but he uses his body so well and behind the net like those are john tavaris staples and he turns and scores that goal you know how he's able to get it in too is he fakes a cut in with his left shoulder like he dropped in before he turns back to shoot that it's enough to get sorelli out of the lane for him to get the puck through to the net and then yeah kyle dube is full oh my god flex it out oh you know he's like a million dollars per year on my next deal. Easy with that. I just, I love, this is what makes playoff hockey so beautiful and what you've, you know,

what they've lacked so much in the last, however long. It's just this one singular moment in one game that brings so much joy and you could always reflect on it and you could always look back like this will go down in history with all these goals that you've always think about like you know gary valk nikki borges like all these goals and it's just this one singular moment where the puck just trickles in over the that just makes hundreds of hundreds of millions of people over the moon happy like it's just it's. Like there's not many other sports like that where it's just like one singular moment in a game can just change everything. It just,

I could cry. That moment's just so beautiful. It's such a beautiful moment. Seeing the fans light up down at Maple Leaf square. All I can think of is like a lot of times you'd see on Twitter, like the younger fan base being really upset by, I think like there's a lot of times you'd see on twitter like the younger fan base being really upset by i think like there's a bit of an older divide and like you and i were in high school when the leafs won a playoff series so it's not like we can't really speak to this as much but

look at that when the least would have all these regular season accomplishments and some people would kind of slough them off and it was viewed as negativity it's like well guess what now you know right because now you do have one of those moments that you're talking about like now you know that that feels way different than when austin matthews scores a third goal in a regular like in a regular season game or marner's one point of 100 right like that is the moment you're going to carry and i i actually really really really am thrilled for like the old school like long-term diehard fans of this team that have just suffered for so long that have actually turned into full-blown sickos where they're just like whatever lose because then i'm right and i'll be happy with that you know like

i've been poisoned over years and years of losing yes i'm also just happy for the young fans that have just not seen any success that got turned on to hockey with the excitement of this young core and the promise of this team and what's to come. And finally, man, there's just a moment like finally Tavares delivers on that one. It just feels massive tonight, dude. It's just it's such a sweet feeling. It is. And, you know, like for years, there's been such a promise of good process. And people were so sick of that like being promised that like it's coming

things are going well where we outplayed them in overtime no one cared no one cared if the Leafs outshot them 600 to 1 and lost 1 nothing they wouldn't have cared they needed to win and you know for Sheldon Keith for you know everyone who's been invested in this thing who has to argue about sports with anyone it always came back yeah, but the results aren't there. So you're right. Good, good for everyone to have that. Yeah. Like if I had to hear learning experience one more goddamn time, like it's a learning experience. I'd be like, I think we're done learning here. How about we apply our learning?

Like it's a learning experience. Could you imagine if they did the yannis atentacumbo at the podium where they know this on the way to the failure johnny old johnny cooper probably will he'll probably be like uh better he'll probably be like better team lost he's like i thought we were better all series you know blah blah i guarantee he's gonna be putting on a show guess what i i think that there's actually some beautiful irony to the Leafs finally winning a series in which they were outplayed, like pretty conclusively.

I don't know how anybody can come away from this saying that the Leafs were the better team. They outplayed them. Like that is playoff hockey. They were able to get this done. And I would say this. I wonder now if Sheldon Keefe feels like the respect in the handshake line was actually different this time around,

where they actually beat those guys. Because like that had to feel good, is the handshake line for Sheldon Key feels like the respect in the handshake line was actually different this time around where they actually beat those guys because like that had to feel good is the handshake line for Sheldon when he went across and went you do not get to be my daddy John Cooper not today not today you will not be my father I have won this series no it's great um okay from from a just I was gonna say from a Tampa perspective they probably have to be a little bit shell shocked. Like they, you know, they were had leads late in multiple games, like in those, uh,

the game, what three and four in their building where they absolutely blew one in game four, they get tying game, uh, time goal late in game three. And they, they carried the play for a long stretch of this series.

Many moments of this series, they were the much better team. And they lose in six games. That's just what's so crazy about playoff hockey. And the Leafs have never gone that way, like you said. So it's pretty remarkable. They're probably feeling pretty shell-shocked over there. How high on the play of the series list is Bunting taking a suspension? Very high.

Worked out pretty good very high if i had to rank the plays of the series right now i would say number one is obviously devara's game winner because it just has to be because that's what you'll remember two will be matthews's first goal because it just it was a brilliant shift by matthews we'll walk through it and that but i would say yeah three three is michael bunting suspension like that's what you'll remember it for bunting got suspended number three like the comeback i guess you could argue yeah the riley goals probably yeah yeah and the o'reilly punch in like yeah maybe it's lower maybe i maybe i threw it up there for effect

there's a lot of big moments in this series like multiple massive moments when bunting rang it off the crossbar that was his justin hall complete narrative hero of the city swing yeah like how different is this playoff series for justin hall if when he snaps that one that goes off the post goes in the net as an ot winner. And same thing for Michael Bunting, where it's like the suspended guy who goes, was that the hardest shot of the series? Ripped it off the bottom bar. That thing was going a million miles per hour.

I'm surprised it didn't shatter the crossbar. Like it cracked it and they had to replace the net. It was so hard. He rung it off of it. And I went, man, you were so close. You were so close to a legacy shifter. Okay. I think it's pretty clear that with five goals in the series that,

and the way that he played Austin Matthews has completely shifted his narrative. Like there's no longer a loser. He was the best player for the Leafs for throughout this series. Marner was really good too. Like Marner definitely deserves a lot of credit. I think like a little bit more unheralded than Matthews, but Matthews tonight,

it just felt like a guy who wasn't going to let this game escape him. And can we run the shift? And let's have Bourne rock us through this one. Because this is a big boy, big boy, big boy shift for us. I thought the theme of his game tonight was one puck battle. So he's just like the stronger guy when he goes into battles. Good D-side positioning. You know, obviously's he was really

responsible all night too jd you talked about him blocking a lot of shots and stuff too i know spent more time in the d-zone you like but you know handles the breakout here that's a big play right there right one of the ones where you get it playing on the right end of the rink make a play under the triangle like i just thought when he's moving his feet with the size and his physicality no one can hang with him so he has shifts where he can control the play and he's moving his feet with the size and his physicality, no one can hang with him. So he has shifts where he can control the play, and he's poised, puts a guy on his back, a couple of cuts. This is where they've struggled to get to the inside,

and that's a nice play. Hey, the Marner pass there, he's actually getting open for it. But he stayed on the D side, and that allowed him to be up there. Another heater. Didn't realize he had multiple heaters in the same nice play by brody there not to let it let exit the zone too like nothing bobble it gets catches it clean and make sure that matthews gets it that is a all-world shift that is like how how long was he on the ice there and how long was the puck on his stick?

And the whole thing starts from the D zone, multiple shot attempts. You're right, the Brody play is big to keep that in, but man. I thought for a guy that we thought was having some issues in this series, thought Brody was a lot better than he'd been in other games tonight. Just thought he was much quieter

and the puck wasn't as much as a grenade as it had been with him recently in the series. I thought he was much much quieter and like the the puck wasn't as much as a grenade as it had been with him recently in the series i thought he was much better tonight just to keep going on matthews though this there's a couple things with this shift i thought two things this one actually reminds me of like not to go way too big with this but marshall lynch the beast quake where if you look at the clip of like how many tampa guys had an opportunity over the course of his shift yeah to take the puck off of him and who actually make physical contact with him where like nothing happens to matthews like when he breaks open for that first shot attempt a tampa player just gets completely trying to go toe-to-toe with him physically ends

up on his ass i don't know who it is i i didn't clock it there in the shift but through the amount of times in the clip that a tampa player has an opportunity to either bump him off the puck or like strip it from him or make him bobble it and it just never happens the entire shift and so to me uh if you're a leaf fan and you want to get like real crazy with this and you want to do the sweet move of also pissing off vancouver you call that the shift just like they do with the sedins right where oh yeah like that that one to me is that's the shift for austin matthews that's the biggest moment of his playoff career as much as it was brilliant watching him lead them to that back this is a game that was not up at zeros they couldn't get anything going leafs had essentially no offense and he put them on their back for a shift and he

did what like yeah the greatest players in the game do and if they go on a run which god you hope they can now yeah that one will be at the very top of whatever highlight pack he has in the series because it's just a brilliant brilliant big that big poppy shift yeah and you know five goals in the four last four games of the series you know a number of plays of plays where you mentioned using the size and all that, looking like a playoff performer. So you do hope that he feels a little bit freed up by this and it affects things going into the next series. The bar got low enough here that it feels like

not exactly house money, but you're pretty comfortable with, you know, you're not going to get called a choking dog if you lose to the Bruins. Yeah. Oh man. I can't wait to watch that game seven tomorrow night knowing that's fun right just knowing you're through and getting other people just get get the feet up and just you know get to watch that it's a beautiful thing although it goes up against succession which is a little bit tough but other than that it should be fine but okay a question because that that is very relevant topic here um would you rather face the team that's clearly better in the boston bruins but now has

gold questions and is sort of spinning out of control and they would have home ice but you just won a series where you won three of your games on the road or the panthers team that now has the unbelievable sense of self-belief because they've come back in a series and got red hot at the right time and are getting good goaltending and kind of playing with that actual freewheeling house money mentality that they will have. Like, I think that this is actually a question to me more than what I would be.

Give me the cats. Meow! Yeah, I'm with you. I just had to ask you. more than what I would be. Give me the cats. Meow! Meow! Yeah, I definitely want the team that set the record for wins in the history of the league, who has always owned the Leafs in the playoffs. Yeah, that's who I want. That was a stupid question.

Listen, I had the conversation with myself today too, Bunk, where I was like, I don't know, Boston's a little older. They're having goaltending problems. Florida's finding it. No, you don't galaxy run it. You want it to be Florida, but, you know. Yeah, I guess.

They got a chance against either one. Exactly. Yeah, they got a chance against either one. I will just say that I, when that game ends, and if Florida does find a way to win it and they have all that momentum and kachuk is doing the thing in the dressing room that we've been getting the clips of yeah my fear will kick in immediately again like it will not be wow the leafs got these fluky losers that they're going to absolutely dominate but that being said here's the difference and why i definitely want florida is toronto should a thousand percent beat the florida

panthers and if they lose that series they are back to being joking dogs like they should not be taking the pressure off they should not be taking the pedal off the or the foot off the pedal here like this is insane hopefully like again i want everyone to enjoy this moment and fans get to be different right like we're not on the team here all right and i think i know people confuse that because they all feel like they're a part of the curse and we all sat in the right chair tonight, but we're not. So you get to enjoy this differently than Leafs do. But yeah, my God, the criticism will be right back if they sit back and rest on their laurels and look like a bad hockey team and get bounced in the second round. Like, I don't

know what those conversations will be for a different day, but yeah, the job is clearly not done here for me. Don't remind people of that now. No, this is great. Oh, it's all great. It's all great. Okay. Can I say, all right, can we do a little bit of the thing that does worry me now from the series?

Absolutely. Sure. And why I absolutely want to play florida because i think that boston will do this much better is toronto just really seem to have a tough time through every game with tampas for check and getting pucks out of their own end and and i know that the goal against is matthew nyes and it's the young guy and they say that's the rookie mistake but born like back to this it's kind of the same question that we ask a little bit off the top but a bit different

because it's more of a focused area like the zone exits not being clean and not like taking away a lot of their opportunities to establish offensive zone time and be themselves I do wonder how much of this is like gripping it too tight because there's clearly the times where there's grenades and it's like bad passing but there's a lot of this of theme at this point that not go away one of the things that keith and the leafs really like to do is they like to send a winger like an aggressive winger on the breakout because it forces the other teams d to pull back you can't just let someone go and that should in theory kind of create space to break out underneath by sending someone the problem is they sent someone and they often sent two guys and then they tried to do the stretch

pass for a tip which ended up being icing and they'd get stuck in their own end they must ice the puck i don't know 40 times in that they set the world record for icings in that series. Yeah. There's no support underneath. Guys were flying the zone, and they didn't want to make the cutesy play in front of the net or anything and risk turnover, so they kept going for the stretch and tip, and they really had no success with that.

So I don't know. They may want to look at staying in the zone and a little bit more low support and coming up as a five-man unit. I guess it depends what the forecheck is like of which team they draw. But in this series, they really struggled. And that's why possession stayed in their end so much. Icings. They tried to do the stretch and tip and couldn't complete anything.

Yeah. That was very clear. Yeah. You're right. They set the record. It's just painful watching how many times they do it and how often it's like yeah they're getting hemmed in and then it feels like they have to make a desperate play to get it out and then all of a sudden the other coach gets to make the advantageous matchup against the tired group and it feels like it does lead to a lot of that but tampa is so good in the neutral zone being above those guys there's there was no room down

field quarterback could not throw a completion when the receivers are so covered i don't know that florida's d old mahura and wieger and gutus and those guys are going to do the same job so if you're if we're talking about things that if they're things that yeah the boston's got pretty good decor uh things that are worrying me a little bit uh ryan o'reilly definitely has like something going on with his hand again like we saw the shot before the game you know we saw the shot before the game and he's had his splint on his finger and he got absolutely cleaned out in the draws tonight i i don't think he won a draw and at the end of the game like with a minute left his line was out there with achari and achari

took one of the biggest draws of the game and he was on the ice and it was like holy crap like that is a massive factor and not to i didn't even really mean to use his nickname there but it's a massive factor like his draw wins were huge for them on multiple big goals in this series and his ability to be around the net and batting down pucks and everything i like him getting cleaned out on the draw is a pretty scary thing for me going into the next round considering who boston has at center ice maybe like the best face-off guy of all time patrice burge didn't win any draws though the d-zone face-off losses i wrote d-zone face-off loss down in my book i don't know i don't know how many times over and over and over again and they didn't even cover off in the

very well major concern if you're planning on icing the puck 20 times a night yeah that's what i mean like it just felt like there was a million face-offs and they were losing every single one of them and ryan o'reilly specifically was just getting beat badly so guys it would be hilarious to do a show of had the leafs lost because like again almost all my notes are bad like i don't have like it's a lot of bad that's gonna get papered over here tonight because this isn't the show to really bring that up but sammy yeah you're right though if ryan o'reilly doesn't reveal after the playoffs are done that he broke a finger like i'll like what do you want me to do i'll take any bet with any person as soon as i saw him take that glove off and show the splint i texted like a bunch of different players and people and go why would

he have a splint if his fingers weren't broken they were like uh he wouldn't his fingers clearly broken um yeah so him losing those draws it is a little scary because one of the things that i they clearly unlocked in the series that was so powerful for them was having him drive his own line and if you might have to lose that because you got to kick him out to the wing that presents some troubles for you down the line so yeah it's absolutely a problem it's a huge one at that like but getting it done in game six is massive for that like you know giving him five days till they play again to not have to take a draw it's not going to take a draw. It's not going to make it better, but it's sure going to help.

I wonder when they'll start. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday? Yeah, it'll be fast. What's that? It'll be fast. And they get screwed because they started on the second night and had multiple days off between. Like, it probably will be a quick turnaround. So they'll play game sevens tomorrow, probably two days after that my guess is tuesday thursday saturday makes a lot of sense yep that's my guess that's just uh throwing it out there but yeah it's not like

they're gonna wait they're not gonna give them five days i don't think like this isn't gonna be a wednesday start or a thursday start uh regardless yeah of obviously what happens in that next series um any other big talking points for you guys in this game uh before we get into some rapid fire um is just uh wanted to show my card of being part of luke's troops again i just thought brilliant just another brilliant game no not even close not a chance He answered the bell for them early in the round. And then, you know, tonight, the first five or six minutes, they're in their D zone.

He made five good plays in the first six minutes. And he was good. His comfort with the puck has been such a pleasant surprise. Like he obviously is playing with Morgan Riley, who is playing out of his mind. And you kind of have to ask, this is a chicken or the egg situation. Which is making which better here? I think they're really elevating each other.

But, like, his – just that little back pass he's been doing to Morgan Rielly to get on his stick. And he's been using the glass well, using the boards well, breaking it out enough. Like, I've been so blown away. Like, I was, like, you know, nostalgic about him coming back. I was like, oh, my God, Luke him coming back i was like oh my god luke shen's back he's so excited like it's just it's great to have him back i wasn't expecting him to be their second or third most important defenseman out there like he's been brilliant for them yeah um the cult the the big talking point when luke shen came here was the reason why he's automatically

an upgrade on sandin is that he'll take sitting in the press box without any guff. He'll just do it. And yeah, the guff boys. There's no guff. That's a classic. We had dad's that were boomers. Give me any guff.

There's the boomer dads telling us don't give them guff. Yeah, Shen was brilliant. The entire series. and there's just so many things that he does whether it's the box outs whether it's a big hit man he had that staple on maroon to start the game huh and it just maroon's at him before the game starts and then he staples him and then he carries him to the boards and he just eliminates him and guess how many times i noticed pat maroon from that point forward in that hockey game a big old sam you

like to do the big old zero up here patty maroon and you know it's really and it's you know we celebrating the people who did great like luke shannon not meaning to take away but it's tough to imagine rasmus sandin in this decor instead of luke and how different the series might look that's all buddy it's probably over it's probably over this way for the tampa quite honestly if you cried over the departures of anybody that it was not like who did they miss they miss an involved they miss in sandin like did you really feel like boy there was ever moments if sandin was in this series this would be really great no luke shen i i will like it's pretty clear dubas at this point has had a home run deadline

there's just no debating whatever happens with those picks they got out of the first round and all the guys that he brought in have had massive impacts for them except for i guess lafferty but he was the throw-in right even mccabe tonight like just throwing the body around just fearless play from him was solid all game long time on ice uh second most minutes was like 21 is morgan riley mccabe 26 yeah mccabe was awesome tonight like just steady you feel good when he's out there and i do love when he throws the body around like he has a clear impact on the series with that and so the physicality just the veteran-ness of it the calmness of a lot of those moments i thought you felt that through those guys in a lot of big spots so very very big for him but yeah none of the departures i think hurt you right now

like you're just not thinking about any of those but nobody including sammy and i the presidents of lutz troops thought that he was going to be this good like there was no way that i ever thought he was going to be this spectacular and i wasn't going to have to overemphasize it um mccabe played 27 22 tonight yeah yeah i missed overtime in that looks like riley got up to 23 yeah yeah so and I wasn't going to have to overemphasize it. McCabe played 27-22 tonight. Yeah. Yeah, I missed overtime in that. It looks like Riley got up to 23. Yeah.

So rapid fire or big topic time? No, rapid fire. Rapid fire, everybody. Got to be mentioned. Leafs. Okay. It's time for a ref talk, all right? It's ref talk time.

Oh. I have to do it because to me it was a story in the game there is nothing more infuriating to me as a hockey fan with ref talk than the leafs getting two power plays to start the game which were dreadful by the way like should be noted that those were two of the worst power plays of all year just awful awful awful stuff they're both clear tripping penalties like you cannot not call those plays and then we go into the intermission and elliot says i'd be nervous because the refs are clearly going to even it up and he's saying something that's correct like that is what's going to happen right after the second one gets a penalty on a play that it was one of the worst calls i've ever seen and considering like

a moment of the game and just like it's an elimination game like horrific job and brandon hagel gets missed later in the game so maybe that i don't know that probably doesn't even it up for them because but brandon hagel used some language they use some language with those officially called them you bleep in bunch of bums. You're a bunch of bums. And I went, you're right. Yeah,

you're right. Because the idea that this sport, that you're not allowed to have more power plays than the other team, that there is some kind of thought that there has to be the evening up is it's the stupidest thing ever. Like it's so unbelievably dumb that we watch a sport that does this and i was so pissed when luke shen took that penalty i had like a refractory period of like five minutes where i was just like blood full boiling had the least lost the game because of that had tampa

scored on that power play i like i'm tiger king i never financially recover from this like i just i'm not done well stamkos uh just like the classic bolts move just wha-bam snapping that head back bam bam like every time anyone goes anywhere near their head they're all jfk just oh my god they just snap all they do is snap like and even on the on the play with with haggle no with haggle when he got high stick that's a he did get high stick he got high stick but they like he got high stick and two seconds later wha-bam high wha-bam like they're just back and to the left they are they are a diving crew and i know when you say that you know you when you're like oh that play happens a hundred times a game when you that's what you're like a criticism of penalties that play that luke shen did to stamkos that happens more than a hundred times a game that happens a thousand times a game but that is like the most

nothing play i could not believe that i was beside myself and on the second one that they called on um brody did he get the second one where it was like they were kind of standing in front of the net and whoever he was tied up with just kind of like fell down. And somebody was cross-checking Samsonov as it was happening. And they're like, I had two for tripping, I guess. A couple of fishy ones. But yeah, it ended up not being the story of the game, which is great. But if that had been a factor, we would have been right back to like

the five-on-three conversation from last year with the Phantom High Sticks. So I'm happy it wasn't a factor we were in right back to like the five on three conversation from last year with the phantom high stick so happy it wasn't a factor i will say in my opinion toronto was the bigger benefactor of the officiating given the haggle play was such a big clear and obvious one like can't believe they didn't call that and it has like imagine the clean ice tampa comes out with a power play to start the overtime period it's huge like it's massive massive miss i just hate the idea of the evening up bull like it's just it's enough the league needs to address it they need to figure this out and get out of that mentality with its officiating crew like you do not need to make this fair what what's the point of even having you guys here then if that's the case like if it's a draw every time i got a i got a quick hit uh topic

if we're done on refs yeah um i thought the two times that sheldon keith didn't have a great you know it was at risk tonight you know number three justin hall the only thing he's done all series was block stephen stamkos off the flank he neutralized him all of a sudden there's no hall to get ripped one of them off the post they get lucky there stamkos gets. All of a sudden, there's no haul. Two get ripped. One of them off the post. They get lucky there. Stamkos gets rolling. All of a sudden, Cooper gets a chance to put him out there with Sorelli and Kalorn. By far the best line on Tampa.

Sorelli, Kalorn, and Hagley get Stamkos out for one shift against them. Keith Scott, Gustafson, and Geo, and Willie and Nyes, four guys I don't trust defensively on the ice against that line to get scored on so didn't you know i i'm a sheldon keith guy he's a great coach uh not his finest night to for me tonight to get the win um yeah that that really really pissed me off when old coop there's like mr championship pedigree just makes an obvious brilliant move to put Stamkos on that line in that spot. It's just a total feel of the game championship coach

that just like, he just did it and the puck goes in immediately. And I had to take a lap. I took a lap. No, I legitimately like took a walk. I was so pissed off that that worked out for Cooper. That's the sweetest part for me is Cooper being sad. That's all I care about.

There's no way he's being sad. No way. He was so far inside my – I say on Real Kipper I'm Born. He's inside my kitchen slamming my cupboards, drinking my beer, giving Ali a shoulder rub. I can't stand john cooper he was living the quiet noise part of the cabinet they just closed hard now he's he's living rent-free in my head and the fact that they got past him and he would probably like i don't think

there's any question he was the better coach in this series and for him to go home great bye bye john yeah go yeah go condescend somebody else for a change other than the media have fun see you bud the best part about this rant is sam is the producer of real kipper and born and they will 100 be sending a request out to john cooper in the coming weeks to try and get on the show and sam will have to be the point of contact and i wish i could see you derrick can call that guy hello hello there john oh really break for your team you guys had a hell of a series thanks so much for making the time for our show today sir he's been he's been on our show like licking your boots sir lickety lick lick lick

all right you're on with justin and nick here you go three two one clicky clack i will not i will not be happy i will not be doing it i'm not doing it not doing it i will never talk to him again dude you guys can have him on you can get kipper to call him he's a great guest yeah i'll give derek derek to call him he's one of the if not the best coach radio guest there is and he actually does it. He shows up and answers the bell for that song. You're right. He loves the sound of his own voice.

That's why he does it. He likes to just talk all the time and be like, I'm the smartest guy in the world. I'm the smartest guy in the world. I'm so smart. I'm smarter than everyone. Smarty, smart, smart. Take a lap.

Enjoy the summer, Squid squidward new dangles born you better clip some of this for your show to have them on i got one for you i got one for you kucherov bark bark because you're a dog oh my god he was awful awful we're in the whole portion of the show now where Sammy just takes over with the fresh hater legs. We're loose. He's horrible. He was horrible the whole series. He was so unengaged.

A non-factor after game two. Unengaged. Like, just turning the puck over. Not, like, hard on pucks. Terrible. Terrible series for Kucherov and it makes me happy yeah again the best line by far alex calorin might have been the best forward for tampa bay in this series that ain't good i like to point a lot too yeah and i really like sorelli and sorelli

sorelli to me was just if if they would have come back and won that series, his just defensive and then him in the Haggle line, like being able to actually impose some offense in the games as well, that would have been an all-time, like, leaf-killer line to me, those guys from that series. So, yeah, Tampa deserves credit for that. They deserve credit for Hedman, the way that he battled through the fake injury, as Sammy calls it, but I think the real one for the rest of the rationally thinking hockey world but yeah uh yeah so close to scoring again tonight oh yeah

in the third period like it was so close when it like landed on it was like oh no not this guy again not this ice age looking guy again if his eyes were five percent closer together maybe he sees that puck anyway yeah i actually like giving tampa credit because it just means more for the leafs like you beat a really good team you found a way to beat a really good team and that should be in their psyche is they won a series that they didn't deserve to win and you know it's it's funny like some of the earlier i shouldn't even say earlier days like a couple of years ago with the leafs a little bit pre-pandemic i thought one of their biggest issues was that they could go to sleep so much right but then the discussion was they can go to sleep because they have the skill to still be able to recuperate from long sleepy

stretches and yeah tavarez's goal wasn't a pretty tonight, but it's a lot of skill that ends up making that play get done before it. And they have that formula where you should be able to win these kind of games where you get outplayed, you get outworked, the other team is sharper than you because you have all that all-world skill that's up top. The Morgan Rileys offensively, the Tavares as a goal scorer, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, who, by the way, like, yeah, if the alternate timeline show of Leafs lose, it might have been the most, like, we would have gone full boomer on Nylander tonight.

Well, most up and down series, yeah, on the goal against, he's definitely got to sag back and just protect the house. But, like, this series was the most up and down for him. He made some great plays, had some good games, had some defensive gaffes that were worse than anything he did in the regular season. A little bit of everything for him he made some great plays had some good games had some defensive gaffes that were worse than anything he did in the regular season a little bit of everything for him in this season he was never gonna get it was really a full william nylander season encapsulated in set in six games totally like it just it was just like every you got the whole experience the whole thing

through six games so for sure yeah oh uh last thing because we're not doing a preview show for this we'll just be doing our own podcast so subscribe to our podcast by the way our other shows uh real kipper and born and then the jd bunkus podcast monday at nine o'clock uh and then for you guys in the afternoon if you want to listen live on radio and watch on youtube too you guys also stream it so for the audience, you can follow along there as well. But, um, going into the next series,

do you now take, do you take knives off the top line? Are you back to something a little bit more conservative considering the play tonight? Like how much of tonight's game are you using to design what you go into the next series with i you know i think you're looking you're at the big picture here and i thought he slowed down in the series and natural right like he's been playing two games a week as a college hockey player all of a sudden he's in his sixth game and 12 nights in the nhl playoffs i thought he looked

not his best self still made great plays a number of great plays because he's a great player but definitely goes back to the third line for me i loved ryan o'reilly achari and nize if you can get back to that i i think i think this is a guy that you're gonna really have to keep an eye on in terms of energy levels like you're alluding to there i thought like he made an excellent play on the overtime winner so you don't want to give take away too much from him but i really thought that he looked tired and that they were kind of you know targeting him a little bit like he just like they were bodying him and it just felt like he was going away a little bit so i think he's obviously in the lineup down on the third line but i do think there's a world and where you're playing in a next series and it's getting maybe you're going to six or seven games

where like it's a conversation about what's coming out for him like i really do feel like the energy is something you got to keep an eye on with him because he did look really tired tonight i thought i still think he's got a big goal in him in the first no question yeah no i'm not like any lower on him but i think born like you and i were texting quite a bit he'd look tired tonight he just yeah like yeah all schedule is apt and he's had a lot he's had a lot of roller coaster stuff yeah through the march madness tournament there and yeah the kid was on the ice for all three overtime winners though wasn't he yes yeah that's crazy he must have gotten assist on the last one so three assists in the series like he was a contributor yeah yeah no absolutely he was no he's not coming out of the lineup that's not the case i guess i'm making i just wonder if to me i think what you're doing with the line not right away

but like later like later in this run if they go deeper like i could see a conversation where he's he's not as good right like it's just the energy like it's a lot it's a lot of hockey for a kid who's already played a lot and it's pretty young it's a it's a different level of just amount that he's playing yeah it's a lot of grown-ass men yes beating on his body like and his tired body that's been through a lot i think game one if you're facing the bruins you keep matthews and marner apart on the road and if you're at home against florida you're loading them back up together with bunting again and you're just trying to be your regular season selves and just try to out force tampa or sorry florida completely and just say no we're better than you you don't have

anything that you can throw at us that's the same as these other two teams defensively or uh with the checking line so yeah we're just going with full bore regular season lineup uh that's the way that i see right now yeah makes sense well congrats leafs fans honestly like from the bottom of my heart i'm so thrilled that you don't have to be a punch line tonight like you get to do the ones you are the ones who knock tonight you know like the rest of the hockey world is terrified of a toronto maple leafs run because they know the amount of shit talking that is going to go down if Toronto is ever able to do this thing. This is the first step.

The 19-year nightmare is over. Again, almost two decades of not being able to celebrate this. You're allowed to do whatever the hell you want right now, and don't let anybody tell you different. You're not jinxing anything. You're not cursing anything. They won tonight, okay? That's all irrelevant now.

That's the past leaf fan mentality now it's about rolling forward winning games celebrate and not doom casting every single game like that's the way it should be tonight that's it feels so good that that's honestly the the main reason it feels so great is to not have to like talk about like voodoo anymore and like curses anymore it's like this first round this first round thing it's just over with and maybe they'll lose in the second round or whatever maybe they will but it's just to not have to talk about this first round series thing is to not have this core and never win a round because if they didn't sammy someone was gone nylander someone they couldn't run it back

and to not have to have had this core with no success is a gift i can't i and i could not have done monday game seven fellas i could not handle that so i'm glad that happened tonight i'm just so happy for fans man like i just again this is a really passionate fan base they get clowned on all the time because rich guys steal all the seats in the stadium and the rest of the hockey world is super jealous it's true it just it is what it is like a lot of the other teams are jealous of the coverage that toronto gets the attention that their players get no question you have so much money around their team versus the rest of the league like they're the biggest league of the big leagues

of the clubs and yeah a lot of the fan bases hate that they get a ton of attention given that they've been these losers when they win of course like the i get the jealousy i understand the jealousy i'm just saying that it's they're always a soft target it's always an easy target and then there are all these like diehard fans who have just grown up and had every connection like or so many connections in their lives with this team to somebody whether it's been a friend a family member you know like whether you started watching games on a couch with your parents or connected to a grandparent through the Leafs, whatever, like a friendship that you forged in high school or college or whatever the hell, those experiences that you've had, the losing all

that crap. It just like, these are the nights where it's like, you just get to be happy with your friends that you connected with this team. And this fan base gets to be happy. I'm so stoked for everybody involved. so unbelievably i gotta tell you i cannot wait to go through my phone right now like i just looked at my phone enjoy i have i have i have legitimately like 45 messages messages how much is my phone like i can't i like i just the woodwork the people that are coming out of the woodwork right now, it's a beautiful goddamn thing.

I cannot wait to go through it. It's like Peter's own funeral. It is. It's just crazy. That's awesome, boys. This is what Justin Bieber feels like is getting this amount of texts all the time. Bing, bing, bing. People just always constantly blow their nose.

You get one night where you get to feel like a celeb. Everybody should take screenshots of their phones with the amount of text they get, especially if you're trying to date and trying to show a member of the opposite sex how popular you are. This is the night to screenshot the like. This is crazy. I love it. Five unread text messages. I'm in demand.

That's a smart move. Let me give that tip out. Anyways, I love you guys. I love Leafs Nation. I'm so happy they got this thing done. Go Leafs go, baby. Go Leafs go. Thumbs up button on the YouTube channel or on this video.

Share it when you see it on Twitter. Follow us on social media at JDBunkus, at JTBourne, at Sam A. McKee on Twitter and on Instagram. Shoot us a note. Let us know how you're celebrating. I always love seeing those videos. I love seeing those pictures. Like I love it. Like those are the best and yeah,

keep them coming. More content to come and Leafs talk after every single game. So subscribe to the podcast and follow on YouTube. We will see you next week for round two, the second round. Let's go more content. Leafs. Let please let's go these playoff hockey continues we'll see you then