Real Kyper & Bourne - Colorado in Crisis + ECF Hits Montreal with David Amber

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Golden Knights' Game 3 win over the Colorado Avalanche to improve to 3-0 in the Western Conference Final. They discuss Colorado's blown three-goal lead, Vegas' depth production, Nathan MacKinnon's injury and John Tortorella's impact. Then, Sportsnet's David Amber joins the guys (13:02) to help tee up Game 3 in the East between the Hurricanes and Canadiens and discuss Rod Brind'Amour and Martin St. Louis' coaching chess match. Later, Nick and Justin regroup with Sam to chat about Frederik Andersen's play, recent Max Domi injury news, the Predators' interest in Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland, and John Chayka's reportedly 'positive' meeting with Auston Matthews. 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.

Right back at you with the fastest hour in hockey. It's the real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on SportsSat 590, the fan, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 360, Sportsnet Plus, YouTube, Sammy. You're going to spend the whole hour just talking about your platforms here. This is my very part of the show is the dread that Kipper has halfway through this where he's like, God, these are a lot of places I've got to read. It's my favorite part of the show.

Apple Podcast, Spotify. YouTube where we love a thumbs up. This hour of Real Kippron Bourne brought to by Bet365. See I'm okay with that because they pay a lot of bills. Yeah, they do. They do their party. Nick Caprio's Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shills, Derek Brandeo in a few minutes.

We'll welcome in David Amber, who's jumping from town to town covering the Stanley Cup playoffs alongside our Elliott Friedman. They are in Montreal for the Eastern Conference final game three, a pivotal one. No doubt. We'll get into that. In the meantime, can we get our buddy Steve Alickette on to talk about his prediction of five games for Colorado? But to be fair, to Valley, nobody really thought much.

Nobody? Except you. You? You had Vegas winning? In fairness, you didn't think they would win. You just believe you're the main character of the universe that's designed to have the worst-case scenarios play out. Did you pick Montreal to beat Colorado? No, they're not playing.

I picked Montreal. I'm sorry. Did you pick Montreal over Carolina? Yes, he did. Okay. But that's your negative... Right. This is your worst...

Your worst dream is Montreal and Vegas playing in the final, so you picked them to reverse jinx them. Not true. They're the two better teams. A load of crap. It's such a load of crap. Let's go back and hear the tapes. That's what I picked, boys.

We know you picked them. Yeah? I'm exposing why you picked them, which we've never discussed before. You're a fraud. Yeah. It was your reverse jinks. Didn't work. I know.

Didn't work. If it was an RJ? It didn't work. We know. It looked pretty good for Colorado out of the gate. Good as it can get. I don't know how many teams have blown three. Not many.

I haven't seen Colorado. score in the series, I don't think. I had a whole bunch of stuff going on. I was like, oh, I'll check in on this game after the first and pick it up from there. Didn't go great. It was, I think they are 52. I think they were 52, oh, and oh, with a multi-goal lead at some point of the game. And then there was the other way with Vegas.

Like, it just, it doesn't happen. It's funny, I did go back and watch that first and just seeing the way that game played out. It's everything that could have gone wrong down the stretch did for Colorado. And it's been funny. Like, if you ask someone to describe what happens in playoff, hockey, it's like health and goaltending. You need to be healthy, you need to goaltending. McCar's hurt, McKinnon's hurt, Natchewskih was hurt,

your goaltending's not great, you're losing. You also, it's a reminder that there's a roster of 20. And as much as we want to put the emphasis on star players, man, it's really the ones that can hold the fort for those star players. And right now, Colorado doesn't have any support around McKinnon. and McCar. So the focus is on them being, first of all, not healthy. Second of all, that they're not providing offense.

They're not getting it done. And Vegas, on the other hand, last time I checked, whether they have 15, 17 different scores so far in the playoffs. And it's just not Marner. It's just not Jack Eichel. And Colorado has nobody. Like, where's Brock? Well, Brock's been bad.

He had multiple opportunities last night where he didn't even hit the net. Like, really good scoring opportunities. Nate Chess. Where's he? Well, he scored. The breakaway when it was 3-2, Josh Manson hit Brock Nelson

with a spectacular stretch path. And he broke in, and it was 3-2 Vegas at that point. They were already buzzing. I was 3-2 Colorado at that point. Had a chance to make it forward to, rang it off the post, goes out. He also missed one, a rush down the ice before that show.

Yeah, so you're right. If it's just not going, it's banging your head against a wall right now. That's what it feels like for Colorado. And power play opportunities, like Colorado gets theirs with Mitch Marner going to the penalty box. They cannot capitalize. They cannot get the key goal. I do think McKinnon's no good on the power play. I don't like him on the half wall.

And last night, him immobile, not being able to move on that knee and putting him out there on his offside, not breaking the puck in. It's like, okay, if he can't be himself. Don't put him out. Glad you brought it up. I was going to ask both of you guys. If you're like, if you can't go, you can't go.

Or if you can go, you can go. But just to have him out there, for a power play with the most important time of the game, he can't move. Like, I know he has all the power. We talked about it with John Michael Liles. I just,

there's, you'd better off to put somebody out there who's not at 40%. Like I know it's Nathan McKinnon, but he was hobbled, fellas. Yeah. I mean, I just thought he turned into,

where he was kind of stationary, wait for the breakout, kind of, it's just not his natural strength. He's a power skating guy. Sam, to touch on your point, we are now in the league where, like, these guys decide. I felt it was a little selfish to go out there, boys.

Bettner made that perfectly clear on McCar. Like, I, it's just shocking to me that he would go to a press conference and say, it's up to McCar, and this is all on McCar. Like all the weight of playing is on this guy. Oh, you didn't like that? You didn't like how he handled that? I just don't see the benefit of telling the world that it's not...

We want them to play. It's good by us. We want him to play. I'm the head coach. I don't have a say. We have a whole medical staff, but it's not their say. It's his say.

And I'm like... But that's okay. That part's okay. I don't... It may be true. I just don't want it out in that capacity. Right. And I don't think...

I'm not sure McCarr appreciated it either because now the on, hey, like, come on. It made them look a little soft for the first two games to not play. Whatever the case is, it makes him... Like, if you're hurt, if you're injured, right?

There's different aspects of how much you can play with pain tolerance. And this is the time of the year. Show some guts, show some balls, get out there. This is the playoffs. And it's like there's sometimes there's got to be a doctor somewhere that says, listen, you just can't go. You just can't go. Or if you're at that 40% mark, then the coach goes,

I got to make a hard decision. I can't take you at 40%. but they've set it up now where if if McKinnon wants to go out there 40%, 30%, 20%, it's his call. And I'm not sure that's a good thing. Really tough, right? Like he's going to be a heart trophy finalist

which means he's one of the three best players on the planet this year. If he is able to go over the boards and says he can, you have to trust him. You have to trust him. And if he is being dishonest an impossible spot for the coach. If he says he can go,

You can't not let him go. And so you kind of have to trust that he's doing a trade for the team. That's where you have to put it on McKinnon. Where you're like, where you going out there on that power play at the most important time of the game where you couldn't, he could barely receive a pass, boys. Like he was just a mobile. Couldn't make it.

Like you said, stationary. This is the turn of the power though, right? Because you'd rather lose with him being happy than lose with him going to looking at you going, why didn't you put me out there? Well, yeah, you'd rather lose with him out there trying than sitting him on the bench well, Jack Drury handles the puck on the break. You'd rather lose the Olympics with Gretzky taking up. That's exactly right.

You lose, you go, it's great. Right, then sitting them on the bench. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. You're right. But I do think with the McCar thing that if he says, like, I'm not comfortable, I'm not going to be able to play like myself. If I get bumped, it hurts.

He did that for the first two games. I know that, but that's fine to me. Like, I think if he's not comfortable, I don't want him out there anyway. You thought he was comfortable last night? You thought he was? No, I thought he got leaned on. He was ginger. Yeah, he was ginger.

And the first shift, I think it was hurt. This took a huge run out of it. Why wouldn't they? I think I saw that he took more hits last night than any other game last year. That's what you're supposed to do. Of course. If I know he's in and his shoulder's no good, I'm taking the extra one, Mississippi, two Mississippi.

It is amazing how absurdly good at 70 or something. 60% or whatever the hell he's playing. At the top of the power play, he's fumbling it still a little bit, but the quick twitch is out of control. He's so good. He's a huge part of why they're awesome. Yeah.

It's going to be ugly there if they lose four straight. Yeah, you're not wrong. I'd probably say they'd make a coaching change. Oh, do you think it'd be conference finals, and they'd say beat it? Yeah. The best team of the league, like. How fast would he get gobbled up?

Did he have a coach yet? L.A., Toronto. Hold the phone. And then David Carl stays in Denver and just slides right in there. That makes more sense. We just did a nice puzzle. Holy smokes better. You heard it here first.

Carl likes to stay with his family. That makes more sense. Yeah. I don't know. Go nights? Oh, God. They're just, they're playing so hard. I mean, I was going to say like the torts thing.

totally worked. Like it just, there had just been unbelievable underneath. I know he's been really good, but it worked. They, they were so sick of Bruce Cassidy.

Yeah. That if you went in there, we'd be saying that Sammy McKee, they're still free out there. Out there for Vegas. They just had, they, they, quit on Bruce Cassidy's message.

That's the free, that's, that's what freed them up. Is Bruce Cassidy gone? I like torts. I think he's done a good job for sure. So giving him credit's tough. But it was actually fairly, it was set up for

the next guy to come in. Just surprising they waited so late. Right? Torts is great for two months. I'm not sure if he had seven months. Right. It's the five months extra that he could bury himself on. But it's it was set up for anybody to go in there,

Sammy, including torts. know what the calling card of a torts team is, is that they block shots, they pack the middle that. Yes. Like they are. It's playing. The guys know. He is.

There's nothing in the middle of the ice. Like they are, they're playing hard for him, man. I'm not, I won't take that. I won't take that away from towards. It pains me to give them credit. Okay. They're playing hard. But I think you're making a really good point, Kip, that it's like at some point

when you need a change, you just need someone new to come in and go, okay. Look at the talent, like hurdle, horrible all year. And that guy. scores the goal of a lifetime. Hey, in your very peak, could you shoot a backhand? Like he shot that backhand? He's coming in so hard. Yeah.

With so much speed. And, yeah, if you, if you, like, because the puck's moving fast before he even gets at airborne on the backhand. So it's coming in hot. He cuts into the middle, but he's coming in hot. And you can get a lot on a backhand. That's a, that's a snipe backhand. Malinski, just.

But like, to Malinski's credit, He keeps him in front of him. Like hurdles long stick and he gets to the inside. Obviously, it's not great D, but it's, he didn't get cooked. Like the guy just, I kind of got cooked. They've got all four lines going. They're getting goals from everybody.

They're blocking shots. Carter Hart now is, you know, toe to toe with Mitch Mariner right now for Conn Smyth. No, he's not. Not according to Bet365 when I look today. All right. Anyways, we have DA. I think we have DA.

We'll see. We'll see how it keeps going here for Carter Hart. In the meantime, let's go to our Consmite Lake announcer. David Amber, announcer? You're not really an announcer, are you? I'm certainly not an announcer.

You are a host. A host with the most. So how's the travel? It's been, we've had some times. We've got some time. Judging by that t-shirt you're wearing, you've got to get home soon. No?

Running out of clothes, you're not wrong. Yeah, we got, Ellie and I got stuck. We got stuck at Pearson a couple days ago and then had to fly to Charlotte and then drive. We had a 3 a.m. wake-up call drive to Charlotte on game day. You know how it is. It's just one of those. It's not a big deal. It happens.

But, yeah, traveling's not as glamorous as it's always cracked up to be. But we made it safe and sound on time to Montreal and the city's kind of in this weird moment because F1 just finished. So all the F1, all the motorheads are moving out and all the hockey guys are moving in. And the city's still buzzing, though. I did see that Lewis Hamilton is going to be in attendance at his first ever hockey game tonight. Kyle, Kyle will have to earn that paycheck.

If he could somehow track him down and get him as a guest, that would be phenomenal. But yeah, I'm sure. Here's the thing about hockey. He's walking in his first ever hockey game into the cathedral in a playoff game. Don't let him see anything else. Just let him think it's cool all the time.

This is awesome. where's this been, you know, my whole life? So it's going to be fun. That's awesome. Maybe you can help us then set the scene of this series a little bit, DA, like heading back to Montreal where they haven't won a whole lot. Carolina gets a massive win. The celebrations from the Keynes fans and everyone,

like I think they knew that they really needed that, that OT win. It was all about exercising those demons. They've been so horrible in the conference final for the last stretch of years. And the fans were coming up and they're like, this is PDSD. Like they were, they were freaking out before overtime. a lot of the fans we were talking to, and I think it was just exhale, Keynes were playing their kind of hockey and they were rewarded for it. You know, the Canadians, they've been great, this bounce back ability, right?

They are 6 and 0 following a loss. And today, a lot of the players were talking about pace, pace, pace, not just so much what the Canadians need to be their pace, but just dealing with the frenetic, relentless pace of Carolina. And you'll see this mostly, it's on best display when Carolina takes a penalty. I mean, it doesn't feel like a penalty kill. They put two guys on the pop. They are so incredibly quick at closing the gaps and taking away the time and space.

And Montreal's barely had a sniff on their four power plays in this series. I think that's got to be a big adjustment, you know, moving forward for Montreal to have a shot. We remember the Buffalo series, how important that power play was. And they're going to need some help. They can't do it all five on five against the very good Carolina team. You're watching and listening to David Amber, Sportsnet Hockey host, in Montreal for the Eastern Conference final. David,

Brendan Moore was asked about the adjustments in game two. He said we made one but didn't really specify on it. I did post for Sports Central the other night. I said it was the neutral zone, the middle of the ice, not allowing Montreal to come in counter with a ton of speed through the neutral zone. From Jordan Stahl to Slavin to Chatfield,

they really did a much better job in the neutral zone. I think that's probably the right assessment. He certainly was holding his cards close to his chest. But having said that, I mean, look at what happened when they gave up those four goals in whatever eight minutes. I mean, it was just everything was a stretch pass, a tip pass, and a breakaway, essentially. And they were just closing those gaps.

Slavin was very unslaven-esque in game one, minus four. In fact, Brindamore, and I was actually surprised in the post-game news conference, one of the reporters asked him about Slavin's performance. And he's like, yeah, that's the worst he's ever played, essentially, is what, is what Brindamor said. It was like a one-off. He goes, in my eight years, that's just not who he is. And he also said, he added, I'm not worried about him.

He's a professional. He's going to be fine. And then he was plus three and, you know, one of the best defensive players in the league. We saw that showcased in game two. So, yeah, I think Slavon's back. The team made that adjustment. Martin St. Louis coached brilliantly in game one guys. You watch that, right?

They're coming off the seven game series, and he used all six defensemen, at least 14 minutes. He didn't overwork any of his forwards. No forward played more than 18 plus minutes. He used four lines, rolled them. He brought in Struble, which I think was a good replacement for Jack. So it's been a little bit of a chess match between Brindamora and San Luis. San Luis was asked about the adjustments for his team. And again, same thing.

He was like, well, we're not going to go into the depth, but these guys know exactly what we need to do. But the one thing the players kept reiterating in the locker room this morning, guys, was pace, pace, pace. So I love the pace. I think that's what's made it a fun series, right? Like, it's up and down the ice. It's frenetic. And it's going to maybe come down to goaltending and special teams. And if it does come down to goal tendings and special teams, you know, it's such a, the margins are this tight. Doebush has been spectacular this, this whole postseason. As is Freddie Anderson. You guys are talking about the cons smite. You know, Freddie Anderson, before game one, where he allowed five goals was maybe the front runner, right? His number,

he had a 95% okay um yeah no you don't think but i think about not playing Anderson tonight the guy gives up the guy gives up the first goal on the first shot he gives up two and 10 the guy makes me nervous man he's looking behind

himself three or four times if i'm the montreal canadians i think i i got i'm waiting for a break point to get to this guy i mean that's a fair statement i I was doing an interview before the series started in Vancouver with Halford and Bruffin, and they said, what do you think the key is? And I said, I think you have to get Freddie Anderson off his game. And it doesn't mean run him over, knock him out, but get in his space, get in his head.

And we've all seen Freddie Anderson can be, you know, exceptional. But he also can falter. And maybe in game one, it felt like, okay, that's exactly what's taking place here. He didn't have to be spectacular at all in game two, is the point you're making, right? Canadians only had 12 shots. They're going to have to generate a bit more offense and certainly more traffic. And I agree. Having said that, I'll still stand by original statement that after two rounds,

Freddie Anderson certainly was right there with all the other cons, my favorites, in my opinion, only because especially in that Ottawa series, that shouldn't have been a sweepipper. I mean, I watched that, I watched every minute of that series. Ottawa could have won one or two games if Anderson hadn't been as good as he had been. I'll give you that. Isn't that funny how, like just what a pace changer, Nick Eelers has been. Like, I know the Winnipeg Jets just absolutely miss him this past season.

And, you know, he's not always the best guy for you. But as depth guys go, like, Montreal's got good depth contributions throughout this postseason run. But Nick Eelers is a guy that even when he doesn't score, he just changes the pace and puts people on their heels. And that's why it was the most coveted free agent a year ago. In fact, Elliot's going to do a thing on why they pursued Nick Eilers and why he chose to go to Carolina. He had many suitors. he might have even left money on the table, gentleman, right? Like he's making a nice living, don't get me wrong. But I think he just found this was the right fit.

Elliot will kind of give the inside scoop on that tonight in our pregame show. What had faltered, you know, Caroline in the last three years, you know, three of the last four years getting to the conference final. They just weren't able to outscore the opponents, right? They were bullied, obviously, by Florida. But they also just weren't able to score those big goals because they caused all sorts of shots on goal, so much frenetic pace. But it wasn't meaning anything.

And he's just another finisher, right? A six-time 25 goal guy, a guy who scored big goals. You know, he had a massive overtime goal for the Jets versus Edmonton a few years back. This is a clutch guy. And he, you know, showcased exactly that in game two. And if they go on and win this series, Carolina, that will be that seminal moment, right? Like, Eilers, that goal changed the whole sort of momentum of the series because Montreal didn't play great in game two, but they were right there and they played well enough to win.

Had they stolen that game and that kind of? could have happened, then it would be a very different conversation here heading to Montreal 2-0 with the Habs on top. Are you surprised that Josh Anderson has turned into such an important player for him? Because at times we were talking about, can Montreal, like, get rid of that contract? Is it too much? Is it, you know, I mean, one of those guys that he's now put himself in a position to be best remembered as a playoff type of performer?

No, I'm not that surprise, Kipper. And I say that you guys remember when he was on Columbus, and I were playing the Leafs, I was probably with a bubble year. Yeah. I mean, he could be a difference man. He's kind of, he has a, you know, he's not Tom Wilson. Don't get me wrong, but he has that ability. He's Tom Wilson like.

Yes. He's an impactful player. Luchitch, you know, when Luchich was doing his thing, like he's a physical presence. He has scoring touch. He drives other teams crazy. If you want to drop the gloves, he'll gladly engage you on that level, too. He's, he's one of those preeminent. power forward. You can't do that for 82 games.

And Nick, you know that firsthand. You just can't play at that level with that much animosity and everything for 82 games. But he's one of the most impactful players, you know, every few games. We saw it in the Tampa series in the first couple games in that series. And now we're seeing it early on in this Carolina series as well. Yeah, no, no doubt he's been a fantastic part of it. You know, as they sort of head towards, I guess deeper into this series a little bit, are you keeping an eye on the other series? Looks like Vegas will be going through. you think either these teams is better equipped to handle that Vegas team?

And direct flights from Montreal to Vegas? Not a bad two city commute. I looked at that this morning, actually. That's what you said. How difficult is this going to be? There is one direct a day. Yeah, well, first of all, what's interesting and interesting twist is either Carolina or Montreal will have home ice advantage if Vegas goes through.

So that's one part of the equation. Yeah, I'm not going to, I mean, this is what Vegas is doing right now. I guess they might go in as the Stanley Cup favorite to regardless of who they play. But I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, I don't think Montreal or Carolina could compete in win a Stanley Cup. I mean, they're both exceptional teams. I mean, especially Carolina. They were kind of lost in the shuffle, right, guys? Is that fair to say?

Like Colorado was so dominant this year. Carolina had the second best record. better than Dallas, better than Minnesota, better than Tampa. You know, Carolina's been good all season long. I think we kind of slept on them because the Metro Division wasn't that sexy this year and did not that many great teams. But we're seeing how good that team can be. When Carolina plays its best hockey, when Montreal plays its best hockey,

yeah, they could beat anyone. I think that's proof. As far as the matchup behind the bench between Marty St. Louis and Rod Brendan Moore, I can't recall, I don't know if you guys have even discussed this, but have we ever had like the pedigree of both those type of careers behind the bench facing off with one another? We're talking about Stanley Cups, talking about Hall of Fame,

we're talking about a thousand plus points. I was just thinking is any player in either team better than either one of them was in their careers. Like they, they're, that's a great question. You know, they're, they are, they are, they are the highest profile. file guys in the series. Put it that way. The two coaches in the West didn't play in the NHL.

Benard didn't play in the NHL level, right? No, I don't think so. No. And they've won Stanley Cups. He's got a game or two. Oh, did he? Okay. Maybe, I don't know.

Barton, yeah, I should know that. Did not play an NHL game. Okay. No. Okay. So one of South Carolina, one of ECHL championship with the South Carolina Sting raise, though.

Okay. There you go. Yeah, I mean, obviously, the hockey backgrounds, I wasn't belittling that. I was just making the point that they weren't NHL players, their Stanley Cup head coaching champions.

And then on the other side, you have these two, you know, one Hall of Fame or in one, just elite, elite, elite, you know, player in Rod Brindamore. And both are Stanley Cup winners as players now trying to put that other crowning jewel on the resume. It's cool. And one thing is, I love their intensity. They're different.

Like Brindamore's eyes, like they're piercing through you when you see them in the news conference. I'm almost scared to ask a question because he has this like, you've got the game face on postgame. And San Luis is a little bit more, you know, calm demeanor, more cerebral, but he can ice you as well because they just, they're raising their team to this level. And they understand their team so well and they'll how to motivate them. And tactically incredible coaches. I love it.

I think it's fantastic. And it's funny. We were having a conversation at dinner a few years ago. Is there another elite player in the NHL right now that you think could be like San Luis that you think could be like Brindamore? You know, not sort of a third or fourth line guy, but like an elite Hall of Fame caliber player that could step in and be a head coach because it's very difficult to do.

And I didn't come up with them. Most of them don't want to do it. Most of them make so much money, they're like, I'm good. I'm just going to watch it. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm wondering if there is that guy out there.

I don't know. Is there anyone that comes to mind to you guys? Jonathan Taves. Ooh, interesting. I'm just making stuff up over here, guys. We'll definitely think about it. We'll get back to you. All right.

There you go. Who's got the torch tonight? Any idea? That's a good question. There's a lot of speculation. I think Chris Chelyos has been in town for F1. Oh, he'd be fun. Yeah, you know, P.K.'s name's been thrown about it.

It's a much of all Canadians. You have a lot of options, right? And you have a lot of, you know, just a lot of guys who would get the crowd going. Having said that, you know, again, there are only two and four on home mice. So I don't know if they're going to go off. the beaten path a little bit, but I could see Chelyos bringing out the torch tonight. That wouldn't surprise me. Enjoy it, my friend.

We always appreciate having you on our show, DA. Yeah, guys, enjoy the game. It should be a lot of fun. I think the pregame 730 Eastern and should be, this could be the series tonight. This is a really important game three, so catch the auction tonight. We'll see you then.

Thanks for a time, D.A. David, Amber, Elliot Friedman, and the crew 730 Eastern. It gets started, Carolina and Montreal on Sportsnet. Love that guy. I reached out to DA, like, I don't know, a few weeks ago. I was like, hey, do you want to, like, get out and play a few holes during the day? He was like, I'm on the road for two months.

Yes. He's like, I work, brother. Zero holes. Rodbrenemore is not in the Hall of Fame, is he? I think I mentioned Hall of Famers, but I don't think he's in. He's one of those fringy cussies guys. He's on the cusp. He's close.

He's. He is not a Hall of Famer. No. What are his numbers? 1,484 regular season games with 1,000, 184 points, two Selke trophies, captain of a Stanley Cup winning team. 150 playoff games. Played like a warrior pub.

That's wrong. That's not correct. What I just said there. Take that back. That's fine. I was wrong, 159 playoff games. Yeah. I mean, there's...

Come on. We can go down the list of Hall of Famers where he just, like, blows by, like, like, 100 guys. Yeah, he was super effective. Him, but not... And I know, like, you have to take guys coaching separate from their playing, right? But to me, it's like, do we have to do that? Like, doesn't that impact what he's done in hockey? When they lost the Red Wings, the first time they made it to the final with him as the captain,

he played 2452 a night. As a defense of grinding forward. And when they won, he was 2352. That's so much ice time for a forward. Like, hard work. I love seeing that man walk after an interview. He just looks like he's been three. He is

He is everything to that organization. If he ever shuts it down, I think that organization just crumbles. Really? Yeah. He is everything to them. He is a big part of that,

their history and their culture for sure. Game time? Game time. It's game time. Present of my bet 365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

So we made it through the first 29 minutes of this show Without bringing up the two words, Mitch Marner I would like to tell you what his odds are to win the cons fight Plus 200 now or something I can't help but laugh It's plus 190 He is the two favorites For the consbyte are Mitch Marner at plus 190

and Frederick Anderson at bus 550. By those odds, they think that there's a better chance that Carolina loses tonight. Sorry, Mitch Marner has a better chance of winning the Kahn Smyth than probably Carolina's the underdog tonight. I will check. The odds tonight. No, Carolina's big favorite tonight.

Minutes 140. Oh, wow. But Montreal is plus 140. Yeah. So I... You either take the habs in one game or Marner for Kahn Smyth. Even for Toronto, this is pretty remarkable. Like, this is pretty remarkable.

I can't believe it. You'll be fine. I will be fine. We'll get your therapy this summer. Honestly, like once the, this is my nightmare. Once the show ends and I have to deal with him, you know, bringing the cup back and I'm not on air with you guys. And we come back in the fall and we're all renewed. It'll be fine.

But right now, it's pretty crazy that we're looking at. We're staring down the barrel of this. He is pretty darn good, though. I got to tell you. He was fabulous. He could have five points every game. That pass he made to Mark Stone on the power play goal right off the rip. Half clapper, fake shot right on the tape tap in.

Like, he's been unbelievable. And he's deserving of that. So that was game time presented by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Like if you're going to tweet me about it now or you're going to make fun of me about it now, I got nothing left. You're not the only one.

But there's Leaf fans. I see it every day. there's leaf fans on my feed, there's leaf fans in my life, still fighting the good fight, still trying to be like these qualifiers and all this stuff, I'm done. I got nothing left. He's beat me down. Like it was, oh, he's playing against the mammoth. There's no way.

They stink. Oh, it's playing against a bad defensive team. They stink. Now it's Colorado. They're about to sweep. I was like, what do I got to say? Yeah, great. He didn't do it here.

Blah, blah, blah. Sick. Sammy, it's fine. I know. I'm just admitting to the whole audience that I'm done. I'm done. Listen, you could be broadcasting right now in Carolina or Florida where there's no pressure on anybody and, you know, no one would care what you thought. I will know.

Everybody cares what you think. I don't think anybody cares what I think. As a reminder, this hour of real Kippram board is brought to you by bet, 365. Okay, let's take a break. When we come back, little NHL news and notes, including the Preds, have they got their new GM set. Gee, there's a reason they're taking so long with this to see. Yeah. All of a sudden, starting to make a little bit of sense.

Also, Sammy, your Toronto Maple Leafs, Max Domey. The Leafs made an announcement today, which I found peculiar. We'll get into that when we return to Real Kipper and Born after these words. The best Blue Jays show out there, period. Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio. Nick Kemprio's Justin Bourne.

Sammy McKee. Time now for the Accura performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. Looking at a rather big one tonight, Eastern Conference Final, game three at the Bell Center. Just going to ask a question.

Do you two think that it will be loud there tonight? I don't know. Hopefully we'll get an update on that. You think we could get a big piece maybe from somebody that it might be loud at the Bell Center? tonight. It could be loud. We're hearing reports. It could be loud. Hearing that report, yeah. I think it's going to be loud. Okay. Okay.

That's good. Good stuff. The Canadians are 6 and 0 when following a losses postseason and can become the fourth team in NHL history to record to record seven straight victories in that scenario. They would join the Devils in 88, the lightning in 2021, 2020, and 2004 in the Blackhawks in 1990.

The hurricanes have benefited from four overtime victories in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs are 4 and can become the fourth team in NHL history to win each of their first five or more that required overtime. So I would join Florida in 2023, who had seven, Anaheim had seven in 2003, and San Jose had five in 2011. All the fancy stats through two games, kind of lean Carolina's way, expected goals and all that.

I give, I give Dobish a ton of credit with that six and O when following a loss in the postseason. It's a huge part. chirping. I'm okay with whatever he wants to do as long as he still gives me a chance to win. And that's that old saying, just don't talk to him.

Don't just leave him alone. Just don't worry about the goalie. And that hasn't changed over the years. They're strange sometimes. They're weird. But if it's working for them, you leave them alone. Everybody's with good reasons.

reason, right? Because they have their opinion on how much he should be involved with the likes of Dahlene last series. And then we saw in front of the net the other night. Who was shadowing him? Jankowski. Yeah, I think it was Jankowski. Or Marnik? Martin.

And you can see him chirping and you can see all of that. And it's like, but yet he still gave him a chance to win. The only thing I'm curious. And this is not, skepticism, so much as curiosity, like we saw at the start of the season when he was 5 and 0, 6 and 0, loses that game, cries after the game in an interview, he's emotional. So my question is just, is that a massive advantage?

Because he's invested, he's involved, he's whatever, or does it become like this has just been too much? First of all, the guy that cried in November, I think it was the first week in November. Very weird. Out of Jersey is not the same guy I'm watching day to day. now. Brown into a man.

It's like, credit to them, super highway. Credit to him. Super fast highway to get there. When you're young, years a lot. Could they lose the series

or the Stanley Cup final when he just runs out of gas or he just pushes that envelope a little too far? And think about where he would be from that November meltdown in New Jersey to where he is now to starting the next season.

Like there's so many lessons. He's going to reflect back and he's probably saying, yeah, I got to, it's one way I can stay involved mentally, physically, emotionally for me. But maybe next year I'll back off of that a little bit more. Yeah. Yeah, it'd be nice if you were Canadian and not check. It's only 24.

You know, it's like this guy's going to be around for a while. He's 24. I thought it was a great game Saturday night and Eilers. You could just see it on his face and the team, the building. Like, they lose that one. They go to down 2O their history. in the Eastern Conference final, going back to that. They needed that.

So Eelers was flying around there. Nice goal. Low snap or blocker. Works every time. Yeah. Anyways, that was the, sorry, my bad. That was the Accura Performance Matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium.

I do have a fun stat. Yeah, let me have that series. Most shots with one goal or fewer in the postseason this year, two Carolina hurricanes on the list. Martin Nook has 22 shots with just one goal. Svetnikov, 32 shots with just one goal in the postseason. I don't know what's. to make it.

I don't love him or Aho. I haven't particularly been going away by either. The rest of their team has been awesome, but they've kind of been waiting for that line. How many shots for Slechnikov? 32 and one goal. He should be a star. He should be like Slavkovsky.

Yeah. And he's not even close. No. No. He doesn't have the same impact. He's not showing the same. Savé with a puck. Yeah.

It's funny because I get torn where it's like. Do you say Savvy? Savvy. Savvy? Savvy. That's where it's like... Savvy meter over there. You know, is it a good thing for them? I said a French.

It's not bad. He hasn't yet broken out. So it's like they still have this very good player who hasn't been awesome yet. Is that a perk? Or is it like it's just never going to come for him to the playoffs? Maybe he could be hurdle and just make that one play. Well, that's kind of it. He can.

He can make that same goal. He's strong enough and fast enough to make a play like the one we saw last night. Freddie Anderson following a. in the conference final 0 and 4 8, 8,77. Okay. You looked at me like at three heads when I said I'm not a... Even me, I think. I'm like, you know, I'm on the tail end of defenders.

You can't, you can't. You just won. I get it. You'd play it. I know you can't. But if he's bad tonight, you play, you don't play. But I'd have him on a very short leash. He had some of those...

He's peeking. You know, where he's sitting on his ass or he's lying on his stomach. And it's like, you know, that's not the way NHL goalies kind of fall. Yeah, you're not real comfortable with it. What are his numbers right? No, he's been unbelievable, but it's just, I would say that.

927 in the postseason, get out of the net. There's history with Rod and him and that team. You think they're going to go down with him because... No, there's a seat of doubt, man. When that seat of doubt, man, when that seat of doubt... Of course, there's a seat of doubt. He played 35 games this year. It's a couple inches of stock in this season.

It's not... It's beyond a bulb now. He hasn't been a legitimate NHL starting goaltender in five years. He played 35 games this year. Bussie played more. Yeah. And it's like, it's not bad either, that kid. He may get some games yet.

Leafs. We've been good boys. 44 minutes in here. We got seven minutes of Leafs talk. Domi things seems kind of weird. Okay. Just for those of you that don't know, the Leafs put out a press release today. I can read it.

You can pull it up quickly. Please do. that had some words that we don't necessarily hear. Okay, so this is from the Leafs account. They said forward Max Dolmy underwent off-season surgery to address an issue he played through during the 25-26 season. Due to complications arising from the procedure, Domi will be out indefinitely.

Domi will continue working with the club's medical staff and will be re-evaluated at the start of training camp. What do you got, Kip? My understanding is that surgery may have happened maybe a month ago. Oh. So this isn't like two or three days ago. It was a while ago. And I don't think, and I'm not telling you I know what it is.

So I'm not going to go there. But maybe something's happened between then and now. And I don't understand. And here's what I don't understand is the need to release this information now, and in particular, certainly not discuss what the injury is, so you're vague there, but you want to be perfectly clear that there was complications. And there's no sense of, there's no follow up to the complications. And for me, all that does is just make people a lot more curious now to go find out.

It draws attention to something that I'm not sure needed attention May 28th. Someone drop a junior mint in there while they're doing procedure? I don't know. Like, well, how would you have handled it if there was a complication? Just not say anything? I wouldn't have used the word complications, I can assure you. I could say that it's undetermined right now on the length that he'll be out and we'll reevaluate at a later date.

That's, for me, that would have been enough. Complications now makes everybody go search. And the other thing that it bothers me, and maybe it's just, again, the social media aspect, there's people that hear this news and go good, good. Robeda Island. Robeda Island, get his money off the books, get rid of them. He's no good.

And I'm like, come on. Can we just not be better than that for like five minutes and at the end of May? Yeah, you know, it's unfortunate all the way around. I was kind of perplexed by the idea that he played through something last year. He played every single game. 80 games and two healthy scratches. We played 80. Why the hell is he playing?

What was he playing through if he played every single game? Or like if he was playing through something that was like bad enough or he's going to I need surgery. Can we not get Twerberg up here for the last 25 games and let him, you know, rest it in a lost season? To me, maybe that's partially like, hey, the year didn't go great for him. This is like some, when he comes back, hey, he's going to be better because he's, last year he was playing through something. Like we, it feels like he's going to be staying around.

You know, for me, it's, it ties their hands because I think a lot of people had thought maybe that was money they would move off from. Now you can't. it's again, May 28th. Yeah. Like, people are... It's May 25th, by the way. Okay, May 25th, sorry.

Yeah, okay, I'm off three days. We need these days. We need these days. It's so nice. That was the first nice day of the year. Um, where is a salary cap an issue now that everybody's tying this to a Robita Island, get his money off the books?

Like, you're not signing any free agents to July 1st. So where is the sense? of now that they're they're scheming towards pushing him and burying his three years left on his contract. What do you, I guess I'm not understanding. What are you saying here? I'm reading all these reports that they want to bury his contract. Okay.

And it's like why the cap's going up. It's not like it's going to like Max. wouldn't be healthy and agree at 32 years old or whatever he is to not play. Like if he can play, he's going to play. Yeah, it's not like he's. Tanev. You're not going to agree to just call it a career.

But why are people assuming that they're trying to get rid of his contract or bury his contract? Yeah, I don't know. I don't get the tie. You haven't seen much of that? Not really. I've seen a lot more of it. He's 31 years old, you know? Like, I don't think this guy is going to LTIR at Robidost.

Well, that's what people are kind of tying it towards. And I don't see it. So if you guys haven't seen much of it, maybe I'm just. A bit of it. For sure. Okay. 11 seconds left. Toronto Marley's.

Oh, my God. No, we don't do H.O. Third period. Oh, the East and Cowan on the back door. Early clutch, Gene. Hold on. Are we making anything out of Chris McFarland, like, done deal? You want to talk with the Marley's fun?

Marley's minute. No, no. Marley's minute. Okay. Easton Cowan. I don't know. Yeah, LaTerry or whatever's name fanned on and it fell on a sticky shot. Beautiful.

All right. Okay. See you next week. Are you sold on Chris McFarland now? I mean, how am I supposed to answer that question? They're awesome. Every year, he's very good. They're in the conference final and they're very good.

They're hurt and they're struggling in over three games. Yeah, I think he's awesome. Okay, and this stems from Jonah Siegel from the Toronto Star and then Elliot talked about it as well. Is that not tampering? I don't know. Guy under contract and we all know he's going to go to that team when this team's done. There's many that think that this is a done deal

and they can't announce it until Colorado either gets. gets eliminated or wins the Stanley Cup. Is there some internal problems there? No, but clearly Joe Sackick's the guy. Yeah. So for McFarland, you're like, I'm never going to move up past this office. Yes. Is it being the general manager of like cup contending teams?

No, vice president of hockey operations now. Now you move up. Okay. I don't know. Like is it a bunch more money? It sounds like if he goes there, he'd be. the boss. Okay.

That's all. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I guess. Matthews? It's all succession. Is it this whole thing? Elliot said a Zoom chat. Zoom chat.

What happened? They were supposed to fly down there. Too busy. They're trying to find a coach. They're trying to... They're prioritizing the right things. Why do you have to fly there to talk to him? Have a Zoomer.

Really? Like, if we just... We could face time. If we sat there for... I agree. Like two seconds and really... try to figure out what type of conversation Chica or Matt's and Austin would have.

What do you think it would be? Are you cool with being here still? Do you like it here? Yeah, I'm good. All right. Are we going to try, are we winning a Stanley Cup in the next two years? Let me check.

Three years? Did you sign a contract that has two more years on it? Okay, yeah, I'll see you. See you in September, big boy. Let me see here. That's why it was a zoo call. Yeah. See, in September, fella.

A. Matthews. Looks like you'll be here. Honestly, there's, like, give me good players. Okay, we'll try. Yeah, well, that was kind of what we were saying to do. Good talk. Good meeting.

How's Arizona? Good talk. Sweet. You're right. Like, do you need to land at Sky Harbor? What is there to talk about? Nothing. Right?

Maybe if where he wants to go, like, you know, maybe a Utah house. Maybe Chagga can set him up with that. Maybe that's the only thing he wants to talk. But we did. But in two years. You know, we do all agree that the previous rumblings was, hey, I'm hearing the coach might come back.

Not so sure if I'm going to. Oh, is the coach gone? That's been looked after. Yeah, that got looked after. That got looked after. So I think that was a big part of all the, oh, stories now circulated. I think it was someone flexing their muscles. Any one minute coaching updates, heard anything?

Talk to anybody? It's been not much, eh? Quiet. Yeah, it makes you do think that there's teams, waiting for everyone to be done. Maybe they're waiting for Bednar. Bedsie's the domino to move at all. I would like that.

I would like to be able to call the coach of the team Bedsie for a year. Bedsie. How is he on Kippers, Clippers. He's thoughtful. He's thoughtful. Drones a bit. Drones a bit. But he's thoughtful.

Buddy, we're coming off. We're calling off grunts. We'll take thoughtful. Who wins tonight, boys? Boy, we're in Montreal. I'll take Montreal. y'all. Canes 3-1.

I think Carolina wins. Our thanks to David Amber. He gets started. It gets started 7.30 tonight on Sportsnet. Montreal and Carolina. Game three. Sir. All right, boys.

Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you and a thumbs up on YouTube. Dome's open at the Rogers Center, baby. Let's go. Submers here!