Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Battle in Beantown

Episode Date: November 2, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee open the show by previewing the Leafs’ game against the Bruins, Boston’s red-hot start, Tyler Bertuzzi’s fit within the lines, and Keefe’s decision to start Ilya Samsonov tonight. After that, they’re joined by Andy Brickley (26:43) of NESN to discuss the secrets to success in Boston, Matthew Poitras’ development, Bertuzzi’s short tenure as a Bruin, and Pavel Zacha’s contributions.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.

welcome in to the real kipper and born show the toronto maple leaf hour edition i'm nick kiprios i've got justin born sammy mckee derrick brandeo general nick we are on sports at 590 sports at 360 as always sports Sportsnet Plus. And wherever you download your pod, and remember to give us a text at 590. 590, give us your thoughts and your ideas, and we'll get them on air. All dressed up and somewhere to go. You look flat-out handsome. That is a beautiful suit. Well, I've got my, we've got our regular season Leaf edition tonight on Sportsnet Ontario.

Sportsnet Ontario. Regional coverage tonight of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. And me, you, David Amber, Elliot Friedman. We're getting the band together. You know, it's only about a time before this guy with this haircut is in there, too. Oh, boy. Look at that. Look at that.

The mullet's gone, folks. Did you get guilted into a haircut a little bit? No. So, first of all, Kipper, I'm going to say that is a spectacular suit. It is. It's clearly the first day of school vibe that he couldn't wait to wear that suit. It's so nice. I look like pumpkin soup right now, don't I?

And then with the hair. You look like a tiger. Regarding the hair, I just needed a haircut. And I just didn't feel like having them anymore. And I cut it. That's it. There's nothing. It's really not that complicated. There's really nothing to it.

Just was done with it. Had it for a long time. It's good to know that you did that on purpose because I was about to tell you whoever did that to you, we're going to get the guy. Nobody does that to our Sammy and gets away with it. That's my girl, Anna. Shout out. Good work, Anna. 10% off next time,

Sammy. Taking what exactly on the road off of their loss to Los Angeles earlier this week? We're not sure, but there has to be a sense that anytime these two teams get together, we should be in for a good one. And I got to think, again, with the cast of characters of Marner, Matthews, Morgan Riley, Willie, Tavares, they're going to bring a much better effort tonight in Boston

than what we saw. They do tend to respond in these sort of situations. And we'd even theorize that part of the reason they were so god-awful on Tuesday could have been just looking forward to this game. This is a true measuring stick game. These Bruins guys, going into this year, did we not think they would be considerably worse? Well, Sammy was hoping.

I mean, praying and hoping. They lost so many good players. Yeah. You know, there was definitely a bit of it that was projection from my part, hoping that they were going to stink, that finally this is, it may not stink,

but not be. These guys are good. Scary good. Not be one of the only undefeated, I guess, undefeated in regulation teams through nine, 10 games.

I wasn't expecting that. Bruins joined Golden Knights as the only team without a regulation loss. They've opened a season with a nine game point streak for the first time in franchise history,

and this is their 100th season. So quite the version of the Boston Bruins they're getting tonight. And they're coming off of a historic regular season last year, and it is, I don't know, shocking that they're off to that good of a start this year, especially with the major losses in the middle led by future Hall of Famer Bergeron.

But does this not just speak of good coach, good structure, disciplined players? Well, how have they held on to that culture that I think we most associated with Bergeron, right? He was the respected, hardworking, two-way kind of guy. Brad Marchand is that as well. He's wearing the C now. He's been able to continue that culture for them, I guess.

Pasternak taking up the mantle a bit, McAvoy. Pasternak being the all-world-class superstar. Brad Marchand, we know, is a very good hockey player. I don't know. It's semantics. Is he a star? Is he a superstar? He's been a superstar. I don't know if he still is.

He's a star. There's no question he's a star. He got a hard trophy vote last two years ago. But he's not, you know, your typical, like, dynamic superstar. Can I say that? Jesus. I'd rather watch Tim Stutzla with the puck, but I tell you I'd rather have Brad Marchand than a lot of people.

Did we not do, like, a star or superstar thing a year or two ago on this show? There's like 14 of them. We have to revisit that one again. Yeah, put that one in the hopper outside of that you're looking at some some plumbers on this team yeah i guess so i mean you go down the lineup and it's john beecher and patrick brown and oscar steen on the fourth line morgan geeky and trent frederick you know a couple of guys there coils of big bodies they got some some workers, you know. And who else? If you're listening to that and not watching, you don't even know that's not Kipper.

No, no. That's Derek Brandeo. In about 25 minutes, we're going to welcome in Andy Brickley, former NHLer. He's done a great job over the years as a Boston Bruin color analyst for Nesson, along with everyone's favorite guy uh jack edwards jack edwards love him or not uh here in toronto i can tell you what the answer is not not not a lot of not i gotta i i swung the my pendulum pendulum on those type of guys that they're, of course, they're homers, and of course, but that's their job. He's iconic.

But that's their job, right? Yes. So it's okay for everyone else who's not a Boston Bruins fan to hate him or hate the Bruins. It's actually good for the game. Like, Joe Bowen is cheering for the New Englanders. You know? By the way, that was right on cue.

Like, that's just the way it goes. So we'll have Andy soon enough to help T.S. up the big game tonight. As far as this bit of a trademark of being a bounce-back team, the Leafs have had that because there's been snippets or windows. We saw it early last year where a lot of people are questioning the Leafs in many facets, whether it's the blue line up front, lines, goaltending, but they've always found a way to kind of come back and put some big numbers up, and then everything's all fine.

Yeah, and you know what? The Leafs have typically played well against better teams. Like, they blow it against bad teams, and then they come up against a good opponent i'm just randomly digging for a stat the leafs winning percentage like the total winning percentage of teams they've beat this year is very good like it's like one of the best in the league like they play well against good teams so i'm expecting a better performance okay uh let's go to our first pretty Pretty good. Who was that? Larry David. That guy's hilarious.

He was very fun. Let's go to Sheldon Keefe on our first Kippers Clipper on the bounce back of the Leafs. Yeah, I really like that about our group. I think that has been a bit of a trademark of our team, quite frankly. We have responded very well when our backs are against the wall. We've played well against this team in this building. It doesn't make it any easier to get a positive result,

but like I said, I'm confident in our group's ability to respond, and I think that the opponent tonight will bring out the best in us. I like that. Yeah. And you have to expect it. It has to be an emotional element to their game tonight. Yeah. I think so.

You know, the Bruins are in an interesting spot tonight. You know, they're down D in a major way, right? Charlie McAvoy suspended five games after that. Four. Four games. Sorry, yeah. Should have been five in my head. Should have been six, maybe head um maybe bad hit and

they're without matt grislyk and they're also without derrick forboard so tonight they have mason loray parker witherspoon and ian mitchell among their six defenders which kind of gives them a bit of a different look and the leaf should be able to in theory exploit that out long term with uh an ankle injury i think people may have had that penciled in for reeves luchich yes that's a little disappointing i think i've heard them both talk about never fighting each other i you know i've done these old events with clark gillies and dave simenko years ago talk about how they just it never happened you know that they just like they didn't publicly come out and say we're not fighting each other right it just like the they didn't it didn't line up and it just feels that way with reeves and luchich that the the

timing is just not there for these two heavies okay let's get uh keith's thoughts on on the boston bruins uh before we dive in deeper on uh samsonov uh getting the nod tonight you know they've got a great foundation, first of all. Their defense has stayed intact. And I know they've got some changes here for tonight's game. But through the season, their defense has been intact like they had last season. Their goaltending has been the best in the league. And they've got elite forwards that have really done a good job for them.

And they've got a really good team structure and culture. And, you know, they've been a very good team for, you know, over a decade here now. And there's some common denominators there that have stuck with them throughout that time that sort of set a high standard, and they've maintained that. And it is. You mentioned it before.

It is a high standard. Yeah. And it just seems that some people can come in and out, but if you grab the culture and what's important to them, like just watch them. And it won't really matter who's in the lineup. They find a way to get them to make good, simple, safe decisions. They're on the right side of the puck.

They're completely on the right side of the puck. And that's where sometimes the leafs could have an offensive zone face off in the next five or seven seconds it's a it's an odd man rush down their other end yeah i don't see that out of the boston bruins on many nights no not as common happening nearly as often as it does for the blue and white if you want to know the difference in these two teams both teams average 3.22 goals per game i get goals allowed against per game the the leafs are 3.11 and the bruins are 1.56 yeah that's a big difference the bruins don't get scored on so that helps best goaltending in the nhl by miles their penalty kills at 97 percent like putting the puck into the boston net is a challenge so what you're telling me is you just whoever you put on that stupid black and yellow sweater they just they just turn into it's like frosty's magic

hat just like you put on that sweater and you become bobby or yeah that's great swayman and all mark back again together and losing to the florida panthers you could you listen to everybody going see see it doesn't matter in the regular season they've never done it before but like they're good goalies yes and that uh this start just proves that yeah yeah won the j Jennings last year. Best team save percentage again this year. Like at some point you go, not a fluke. They just have really good goaltenders. And that is to me, you know, talking about the goals against,

that is where the big disadvantage for the Leafs is. You know, can they get goaltending commensurate with what Boston has? Can I ask you guys a question? It's more towards the Leafs side of things. Always. You know, the tweet comes out every morning with the lines at practice. And I wouldn't say I was surprised, but I was somewhat disappointed to just see the exact same thing.

Are you surprised to see the exact same lineup? Buddy, you hate when he tankers. No, I don't hate when he tankers before the game. I hate the in-game stuff, the panicking in the game. Just to send out, to start the game with the exact same stuff to me, it just feels like it's a clear chance to try something different. I'm not surprised. Yeah.

I think as much as you hated the game against L.A., I think there has to be a little bit of a sense of going into Boston calm and not as if your hair's on fire. And I think if you would have really gotten out the bingo bango balls, Sammy, there would have been a sense that

he's going into this game desperate or panicky, like I said. So I don't mind these lines coming back okay for for tonight yeah you know he mentioned the continuity that that boston has had i think there's some merit in trying to give these guys some run of their own it is you know i have one kind of tangent i want to go off with you kipper about this and maybe i'll just do it now you know the the way the leafs are constructed with the core four guys then every year they tape on a couple

of guys for a million bucks and say go overachieve and then go get your money elsewhere it just feels like those guys have no ownership no equity stake in the team at all like bertuzzi's here to get his next deal so well yeah well bertuzzi was not your 750 000 uh add-on to the line this was not zach acid he's not here playing for his next deal which may not be here well i i mean let me just get this out of the way first. Bertuzzi isn't in like Hyman was, where it was just like, we don't know what you are and we'll see how it develops. And then anyone that's been up there over the years has been always that feel that we're asking you to overachieve. Bertuzzi was the first one that came in with some real street cred at 5.5.

And I get what you're saying on the one-year deal, but I think the one-year deal wasn't based on we think you're going to run off and go get your money somewhere else. It was based on this is all we can do. We're so up against the cap. Yeah. And we don't have what we need right now to make you happy on a long-term deal.

But come in. We'll start with the one-year deal. And the feeling was that he was going to resign here. That they were going to find a way. And he didn't want to move again. The thought was, I want to come here and make Toronto my home. But I got to earn it right now. And much like Hannafin and Calgary, all bets are off right now.

Because no one's going to want to see him sign to a long-term deal when there's still question marks and it's still early in the season so get him get him out acclimated towards you know being in the city and being a top guy and then we'll discuss a contract so he is he is the guy that they okay they handpicked sure to come in so they handpicked him to come in, but he's still a part of the subordinate class of Maple Leafs. He's not one of the four. He didn't play great last game, so he's benched. He's one of the guys that is eligible to get public scrutiny from his coach to be benched, to be kicked down the lineup,

which he's already been kicked down and benched now. And this has been how it's been here in Toronto for years. It's like two separate teams. Two separate teams entirely. And you're either a part of it and Domi's the guy who comes in, one-year contract. You know, Klingberg does not feel like a guy who is going to be here next year. It just feels to me like instead

of the Maple Leafs signing guys to be a part of this mission so they can win a cup, it's taping guys to this group that you're trying to have win a cup. It feels like they're the Maple Leafs and everyone else is on the team for now. But the idea was that we're giving you, Bertuzzi, $5.5 million, which is a very healthy salary. And if you play well, then you get in with the cool kids.

You're in that group. Who's ever succeeded on getting in with the cool kids? Well, that's a good question. Camp. Camp and Yarncroft are the only guys to get long-term deals. No, they're not in. They're in by... Well, they're the only guys signing you on next year.

They're by default. They're at the party, but they're not at the cool part of the party. Yeah, they're just... They're the work friend that got invited. No, they're Academy Award seat fillers. Where the stars go to the bathroom. They're in the music video, but not listed on the credit. You can make sure the seats aren't empty.

Yeah. So there's a couple, you know, you're right, Bertuzzi is a guy who could be in. If Bertuzzi had some early success right now, he'd be right in the mix with all the big boys. Like Kerfoot might have been kind of in. He might have been as close as someone got to be in one of the cool kids. You lost me when I heard cuck. No. Never.

Ever. He was here for years. He was the commissioner of the Fantasy Football League, guys. That's pretty cool. He's just a seat filler. You know, you have to play well enough for sure. You know, it's serviceable wine. I'm not saying that he's not an NHLer.

I'm not saying Yarncroft's not an NHL nhl player right and he scored a sweet you're not you're not you're not winning four rounds in the playoffs with yarn croc beside matthews and marner for two months i know you're not i know and i just not that type of player. I look at Tampa Bay, whose seat filler is Nick Paul, who has a seven-year contract, who's a part of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nick Paul is a best-of-seven player. Yeah. Yarncroft is not a best-of-seven player. He's a one-to-82 player.

Cannot play with him. Right. Cannot win with him. Cannot coach with him. A nice one-to-82 player. Right. Not a best-of-seven guy. Well,. Right. Not a best-of-seven guy. Well, then can you find a best-of-seven guy

and give him a seven-year contract? Bertuzzi's supposed to be that guy. And if it doesn't work out soon, he's not even going to be a lead. What are we, nine games in? Ten games in? Yeah, whatever the number is. How many games are we in? Five, three, nine.

Yeah, okay. Yeah. Okay. Deep breath here. Yeah. Rich, okay. Yeah. Okay. Deep breath here. Yeah. Rich was great. We could have that conversation if we're past Thanksgiving and you've seen squat out of him.

Yeah. But still early. I actually think he's coming around, and I like Bertuzzi, and it always feels like to me there's two separate classes of players. So you think that they would sign him in this season? You think they would sign him long-term in this season? I believe that they'd find a way to get him re-signed if it clicked. When it clicks, if that's the way they're looking at it.

I wrote today my article for the Toronto Star. You can find it on my X or Twitter account. And it talked exactly what we're talking about, the chemistry and where the fit is and why hasn't it fit really well. And, you know, I mentioned in the article about my opinion again. And you know how I feel about the center ice position. Yeah. Particularly this one in Toronto where Matthews and Tavares are your two key

guys. And I, they, that is the quarterback of the NFL position for me in the NHL. You're right. The center can't be a goal for a center. I know the rules you can, but you still

have to have that that truth threat of of setting up your line mates and right now it's it's missing from matthews and that doesn't mean that and you know i feel about that i'm not taking marner out of the equation yeah but like there has to be somewhere a place where it totally makes sense for bertuzzi's to to come back and still be that guy that they just gotta work harder they gotta they gotta share more they gotta they gotta get emotionally attached to the fact that bertuzzi has to be that guy he cannot be that the guy on the third or fourth line. It won't work. It won't help us win.

And actually, we had the talk with Futes yesterday about putting guys in a position where the management staff doesn't want them. They don't want Bertuzzi. I don't even think they want Bertuzzi on the second line. I think when Tree Living signs him, he sees a pretty clear spot for him, right? Yeah.

So it's only a matter of time before he gets that crack again. And you said as much in your article. It's harder today with a for him, right? Yeah. So it's only a matter of time before he gets that crack again, and you said as much in your article. It's harder today with a salary cap, as you said. Sometimes you rob Peter to pay Paul, and you start, you know, taking good players off lines to spread the wealth. But, you know, we grew up, I grew up watching these great lines, great chemistry lines, and you grew up, and the first thought I thought of is a guy like Brian Troche and your father-in-law, Clark Gillies.

Get the puck, be in the blue paint, have a different role. Clark was... Don't take this the wrong way. No, listen, I know what Clark was. Brian Troche made Clark into this superhero in the island. Clark certainly did his part. He knew his role and played it. The centerman has that ability,

and you can go down in history of all the players where the centerman just made their wingers a little better. I mentioned Crosby to Chris Kunitz. Chris Kunitz. Yeah. That's what Matthews needs to do for Bertuzzi. To me, you're making the case for Marner is what you're doing. What case?

The case that Matthews needs to make Marner better in this case here. Marner's been awful to start the season. I mean, he's not anywhere near at the level that he's been. But Marner's going to be fine. He's going to be fine. But Matthews at the center ice position has to find a way to make Bertuzzi come back and be the guy he's supposed to be.

I mean, Bertuzzi is a 25 goal scorer consistently in the NHL? Should be. Somewhere there about? He should be 30. And you want to take the 60 goal score and distribute it to Bertuzzi? Yeah, I do. I do. I think it'll make the team better.

I think there's a case to be made that the three of them have to work as a group more and short support and move the puck and relieve pressure with little passes. And they have to really care. It has to be the top priority. And I would hope that Matthews feels as big of a failure as Bertuzzi feels that he's not on that line right now. Yeah, and I'm guessing that's not the case.

I don't know. Yeah. Doesn't he love playing with Jarnkrok? Well, he said in the media, because what do you say? I don't like playing with that guy. No, but didn't he ask for him on his line at one point? Which maybe spoke to what the Leafs had for wing options last year. Yeah, that's true.

That's true. Totally the right decision, Samsonov, right? We're good there? 100%. Okay. You want to hear from Keith on Samsonov? Yeah, that's what we had to say. Why not? Alright. Clip three. I think Derek's

going to get some Halloween candy. He's battling and I feel like he took a good step in Nashville with the game that he played there, and he needs to play. We need to have both guys thriving. Wall, of course, has played very well for us, but we also need to make sure that we're giving Sammy the opportunity

to continue to grow his game. I would think that the team would be really sensitive tonight to Samsonov going in, and they would feel a lot better coming in with him now off of his Nashville game than prior to that. But here's the but. You really got to insulate him and protect him and give him the best chance to have a good game tonight.

You know, I did the Flames game last night, watching them against Dallas, and at one point Markstrom gives up a goal to make it 2-2. It's a muffin on the ice through his legs, and you can see everyone on the Flames go, we just can't let that team shoot. And they all back off, you know, almost like there's no trust.

They back off. They don't play play aggressively and it just made them worse you know when you don't trust your goaltender there's no level of hockey where that isn't the case 100 you just change the way you play hockey yeah you're like okay we cannot let them shoot from anywhere so we all risks you're coming back you can't play like that right been on some teams where we're on the bench and we're like this with the gloves and we're like just diving to tell me when it's out tell me when it's out of our zone exactly and it's no way to live you can't live like that and samsonov deserves a good effort in front of him i think this is going to be a tandem at the very least you say let's just go with the two of them through christmas and then we'll see where we're at. We're not going to declare any starter.

I love that idea. Yeah, like you can't panic right now and worry about Samsonov. You just got to go play. And you're right, they do need a good performance in front of them. But put the onus on Samsonov to say, we trust you. You got to make us some saves, but we're going to trust you to be the guy here. Okay, let's take a quick break. And then when we return, Andy Brickley, former NHLer,

who does a great job covering the Boston Bruins, we'll get his thoughts on the red-hot start out of Beantown and the challenge the Leafs have tonight. More real Kipper and Bourne after the break. Everything Raptors, before and after the games. The Raptors show with will lou subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts all right our next guest, Andy Brickley,

does a terrific job covering the Boston Bruins as the color analyst for Nessun, former NHL, of course, and getting ready for a big game tonight. Andy, thanks for joining us, man. How are you? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I'm excited about, well, I'm always excited

when the Bruins and Leafs get together, especially over this last stretch of years when it's been so competitive. And always curious to see what this high-end talent of the Leafs is going to bring tonight and some of the additions that they made to address some of what they perceived were their weaknesses

and the challenge that faces the Bruins tonight with the somewhat limited roster. Well, listen, a lot of people up here thought it would be the Boston Bruins chasing the Leafs in the Atlantic. Understood. At any point during the regular season with the loss of Bergeron and Krejci, how is this possible?

Goaltending? We can start right there. I mean, those two guys have been absolutely phenomenal. Picked up right where they left off from last year's regular season. Obviously didn't carry forward into the postseason against Florida, but that's a subject for another day. But the goaltending has been outstanding. They had five returning defensemen from their top six a year ago,

so that's been a positive. And their penalty killing has just been off the charts, and they've needed all three of those elements to be able to compete because the eyeball test will tell you that this is nothing like last year's team where they would have games where they would have a ton of puck possession, they would have tremendous offensive zone time, they would have a potent power play for stretchers. That is not how they're winning. You know, if you take each game and see how they've been victorious, it's one line playing pretty good, and then the next line,

another line played pretty good when the other two or three weren't going and it was enough. They're still a work in progress with the turnover, not just in numbers. I think you'll see six or seven guys tonight in the lineup that weren't here a year ago, particularly down the middle. You mentioned Bergeron and Krejci. Noshik was a part of that too last year. He was a good fourth-line center. So much of what the Bruins do as far as their connectivity,

their five guys working together in conjunction in the hybrid defensive zone that they play. I mean, there's been creases, there's been holes, there's been cracks, and the goaltending has bailed them out. So you thought coming into this year, fellas, that they were going to play a lot of close-scoring games. I didn't think they'd be high-scoring either.

You still have a guy like Pasternak. You still have Macha. Zach is a good player. They have some good players. You know, DeBrus can score goals. But when you're that, you know, when you have that much of a turnover down the middle, it's going to affect what you do in every facet of your game,

how you defend, how you transition, you know, everything that's involved. You know, every defensive metric for the Bruins is like through the roof, save percentage, through the roof, goals against, you know, PK, everything they do defensively is really sound and those are things the coach sort of controls. How are things on the offensive side of the puck for this team?

Same output as the Leafs so far, obviously with a very different group of personnel than the Bruins had last season. Yeah, it's hard to be critical when you're 8-0-1 on your first night. Right. Is anything bad there? But, you know, you hard to be critical when you're 8-0-1 on your first night. Is anything bad there? But, you know, you have to be realistic.

And they've had a lot of one-and-dones. You know, whether it's the low-high game shot from the point, you know, whether they get the screen. But there's very few second and third chances on a regular basis. You know, they really haven't established a five-man cycle game when they do. They've had stretches. Like most teams, they have stretches during the course of a game. Well, they'll go six, seven, maybe even ten minutes where they have the total edge in play,

and maybe that ten minutes actually decides the game because they score a big goal. You know, they win 3-1 or they win 3-2, you know, maybe a 4-1 or a 4-2 because of an open net goal, let's say. But, you know, there's been a bunch of six-on-five situations because they don't fill the net as much as they did a year ago. But the offense looks sporadic at best. You know, Pasternak's a game-breaker. You know, thank God for his goal-scoring ability

and timely junctures in the hockey game to give the Bruins a little bit of separation in the game where the goals have been tough to come by. They're not as dominant in the face-up circle as they've been in the years and past, but they know that this was going to be a growing process. You know, there was going to be some growth. You know, you got Johnny Beecher set on the fourth line. He may play wing tonight because of, you know, some of the shortages that they have going right now. They finally decided they needed to sign Denton Heine because of a couple of injuries to Loco and Lucic on their fourth-line combination.

But they're down the middle with Matt Padra. He's been a real surprise. Great camp, hockey IQ, competes real hard. At times he looks like a 19-year-old. He's going to be in some situations where it's going to be difficult for him to win a certain battle, but it doesn't get him down, and the coach knows he can roll him right back out there because it's a learning experience. So all that stuff is good when you start talking about October and November.

Where this team will be a month from now, I don't know, because they definitely need growth on that offensive aspect of the game they can defend they got goaltending the penalty killing all of those things that you mentioned but they need more in terms of the most important things the puck you need to have it more and i think they've played too much defense to this point in the season andy the leafs uh experienced an underage who came into training camp and made some noise in Fraser Minton. But then reality kind of set in. You mentioned Patras.

I'm just wondering now, you think this is a done deal? He ain't going anywhere? Or have you seen enough in his game to suggest that this is a week-to-week situation? How are they going to protect this kid and still have the confidence to have him grow and develop? I don't know if he's going to play every game, but they love his game. And he's filled a certain void in their lineup.

He's played inside the top nine every game he's played. You know, the junior going back to junior going back to Guelph, it's off the table. You know, we're on that point now. But how much he plays from this point on, I don't know. But he has shown absolutely nothing in terms of any kind of reason to take him out of the lineup or to sit him other than load management. You know, Leo Carlson, whatever argument you want to make on that side of that topic.

But this guy's been important. He's been impactful in every game that they've won in some form or fashion. And any challenge that's been thrown his way or any battle that he's lost, it has not deterred him from continuing to compete and play in the game as best he can the right way in order to fit in with this group and be a difference maker. Rick, tell us about the Tyler Bertuzzi experience with the Boston Bruins. How was he there?

Here in Toronto, we're waiting for it to click still, but we know it went pretty well in the postseason in Boston. Well, I can tell you from personal experience of watching him play against the Boston Bruins when the Bruins played the Red Wings. It always seemed like the Red Wings gave the Bruins a hard time. And he was one of the reasons why, no matter what line he was playing on. And, you know, he stood out when the Bruins played the Red Wings,

certainly to my eyes, you know, when I analyzed the game. You know, they had other more skilled players, I thought, the Red Wings did in their lineup. But when he came to Boston, the first thing I learned was he was more of a playmaker than I gave him credit for in Detroit. You know, I mean, he was always around the puck, and he made plays, and he was a hard guy to handle in and around the net. He always seemed to get his stick on the puck to make some kind of second chance possible.

But his ability to think the game and be creative with the puck in some of the areas, he put the puck in for possession plays when he played for the Bruins was impressive to me. And I didn't give him his just do when he arrived at the expectation when the Bruins started to make some deals in the off season was all right, they're clearing room for this guy to be a Bruin. And it sure seemed like he wanted to be here.

It seemed like his experience was a positive one. So I was pretty surprised when a deal did not get done. And then to have it end up in Toronto, you know how the fan base here in Boston felt about that. Andy, the blue line remains pretty much the same as last year. Tonight, no Charlie McAvoy. the blue line remains pretty much the same as last year. Tonight, no Charlie McAvoy. Can the Leafs take advantage of this?

100%. 100%. He was controlling the game. He was playing anywhere from 23 to 28 minutes. He was playing in every situation, killing penalties, top of the umbrella on the power play, but he had the freedom to join the rush. His decision-making on when to join and his timing when he joined the rush, his ability to either skate the puck out of the defensive zone or make that first good pass, all that stuff was high level,

especially the last two or three games. You know, he was on top of it. He was just a stud out there, and he wants the puck in the big moments, and you love players that have that mentality. So with him out of the lineup, that really hurts everything that the Bruins try to do and the way they play. You add Matt Grisly to that because they were playing together. They were a nice tandem.

It's hard for Matt Grisly to stay healthy in this league, play at his size, and to do the things that he tries to do. So he's going to be out for a little while. And Derek Fulbert's not going to play either, and he's a big part of what the Bruins roll out there on the PK. You know, he starts every penalty-killing situation with Brandon Carlo on the back end, great shot blocker, gets pucks out when needed, tough kid.

You know, he's strong on the puck, understands what his role is, likes his role, and executes his role. So that's three big pieces out of your lineup on the back end. So maybe a lot on the shoulders of a Hampus Lindholm tonight. You know, when the Bruins were missing key defensemen at the start of last year, when everybody thought the Bruins would have a hard time being maybe 500 by Thanksgiving, he was unbelievable last year. It hasn't gone that way to this point in the first nine or 10 games for Hampus. Some games he's looked like that player.

Other games, the puck just won't cooperate when he's looking to make a play or finish a play. He'll do a lot of good things. He'll handle big minutes. He'll defend well, but the production hasn't been there. So hoping for bruins fans that he's able to deliver a good performance and be positively impactful tonight against toronto so up front when you guys like when a team like boston loses bergeron creche hall felino you know all these talented guys and keeps winning someone has to step in the void and play well one of those guys to my eye appears to be Pavel Zaka. He's playing, I think, three minutes more per night than he did for the Bruins last year.

He's on special teams. You know, as a guy that was scoring 25 to 35 points a year, hit 60 last year, you know, what sort of clicked in his game that's made him an effective player for the Bees? Well, I think it was the Bergeron-Creature effect last year. You know, you got to see those guys play, see them up close and personal, but more importantly, at a point in his career where, you know,

he has started to figure things out. The game becomes a little bit easier. He sees a lot more. He understands all the moving parts. You know, you play with a team that moves the puck. You know, when you move the puck quick, you can play as fast as anybody in this league, regardless of how fast you yourself personally skate.

He's very good at that. His vision's good. He makes a lot of right plays, possession plays, values the puck, won't give it up. I think early in the year, and I mean maybe the first two or three games, I think he felt the pressure of being that so-called number one center and being a full-time center and not playing wing with with Krejci and Pasternak understanding what his role was what was expected of him he didn't want to be a weak

league defensively being the top center and I think that impacted his finishing ability in the offensive end take a few more risks that he normally would take but I think he's settled in the last three or four games, he's been outstanding. Had a great OT winner against Florida the other night. But he's starting to produce, and he's starting to feel more and more comfortable. Like, I can handle this. I can handle this responsibility.

I can handle this role. This is nothing that I can't thrive in. And I love everything about his game. His compete, his strength, his leverage, you know, his technique, all those things. It's impressive to watch on a daily basis for a guy that I didn't know all that well other than his time in Jersey,

you know, as a visiting player, a casual fan of, you know, watching the Devils play. But I get to see this kid every day and he's an impressive hockey player. One more for me, Brick, and then we'll let you go and prepare for tonight's matchup between the Leafs and the Bruins. And, you know, if someone asks me who's your favorite player to watch on any given night, I'm saying Pasternak all day long.

When you lose Krejci and Bergeron, and you're coming off a 62 or 61 goal season, that number is supposed to go down the following year, not up. Does this guy really get the credit league-wide on how good he is? I don't know. I don't know if he does. I know he's personality plus, which everybody enjoys. You know, when the critics want to get on him,

they get on him for his turnover capacity, and that's because he gets more rope than any other player because of his individual talent and his ability to make something out of nothing and his creativeness. And when you have the puck and you're around the puck and you try things, you are going to turn the puck over. But I think he's cleaned it up in terms of the high-risk turnovers, but he still does turn the puck over.

And maybe that hurts his reputation as being, you know, one of the great players in this game or one of the players that you want to watch on a nightly basis. But I'm with you. I mean, I want to watch this kid play every game that he's in a Bruins uniform, his ability to be a game-breaker, his creativity. And you know that you have to really continuously add to your arsenal of how you score goals if you're going to be that kind of goal scorer in this league.

Ask any of the big-time goal scorers. They had to add. They always had to add. They had to adjust. They had to make changes in this league. Ask any of the big-time goal scorers. They had to add. They always had to add. They had to adjust. They had to make changes in their game. They had to take something from another player and say, I can do that, and I can actually do it better. It'll help me score goals. And you had to think. You had

to really learn the game, and I think Pasta has welcomed all that. And again, I know it's redundant, but I think it's the Bergeron effect. Bergeron had all that aptitude and all those characteristics, and Pasta really took that to heart and said, I know it's redundant, but I think it's the Bergeron effect. You know, Bergeron had all that aptitude and all those characteristics, and Costa really took that to heart and said, I want to be like that. And I can use my own individual skill and play my game and still be my own person, but I want to learn from Bergeron to be as dominant a player in all three zones,

but particularly from the red line in because that is my strength. Andy, have a great call tonight. Enjoy the game. We really appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, my pleasure, folks. Thank you. Thanks, Frank.

Andy Brickley does a terrific job covering the Bruins for Nessun. For a second there, I thought he was talking. Okay, hold on for a second. Why are you giving me a dirty look when I'm asking him about Pasternak? Because. What?

Because if you hate it. If this was real Kipper and Bourne based in Boston, he would be your whipping boy. That's if he's Willie. Oh, he'd be your whipping boy. So it did sound a little bit like you were talking about Willie D. Lander there. Yes, man. Just a touch. There's no question that you would be just.

No, Willie's a poor version of Pasternak. The only thing that I would say, yeah, you're right. He is because Pasternak throws some hits. Oh, no. Yeah, he runs into people. And he's got a mean streak. And he scores about 20 more goals per year than last year. So he'll take your teeth out.

Better than William Nylander. Yeah. There's no close to a conversation. Don't break your teeth out with a stick. He'll do whatever it takes. This guy in the playoffs finishes checks, too. Yeah, but he turns the puck over a lot. You wish Willie had that.

He doesn't. But as far as the skill is concerned, Willie goes toe-to-toe with him. Anyways, we were just talking about it. I don't like him a lot. No, you hate the Bruins. You just hate the Bruins. I do. Because they've embarrassed you.

I can tell you, if you listen to Brick there, you must feel a little better. Yeah. You know, he's like, we got our issues, right? Like, you know. The scoring thing was interesting to me that he's like, they can really defend, but at the end of it, are they going to be able to score? I don't want to get this Poitras. He knows the Bruins really well.

Yeah. Listen to him talk about it. It's like, I feel like I know them better now after he really broke it down there. But yeah. It's crazy him talking about that kid Poitras that he might actually like sit out games. He's a first line center. Yeah. Listen to him talk about it. It's like, I feel like I know them better now after he really broke it down there. But yeah. It's crazy him talking about that Kip Wacha that he might actually like sit out games. He's a first line center. Yeah.

But he says he may not play every game for them. So they are clearly seeing some holes. Do we know who the Leafs are facing tonight, Nat? I think it's Swayman tonight. I think it's Swayman. Yeah. And they've been bad.

I think it's Swayman. I think it's Swayman. I think it's Swayman. I think it's Swayman. Rise up. Right? And that's going to put a lot of pressure on Samsonov to go toe-to-toe,

save for save, not give up the bad goal. Yes. Oh, that's all you're looking for tonight. It is confirmed, yeah. It's S to put a lot of pressure on Samsonov to go toe-to-toe, save for save, not give up the bad goal. Yes. That's all you're looking for tonight. It is confirmed yet. Swayman threw four starts this year. He is 4-0-0. He has a 126 goals against average and a 957 save percentage.

Stopped 111 of 116 shots so far this season. Interesting to listen to. Not bad. It's pretty good. Rick talked about Bertuzzi and I don't know what everybody pretty much solidifies what all Leaf fans have expected from him. Well, more than that. He'll start

with Tavares and Nylander tonight. You know, it wasn't would it have been a much bigger deal if it was somebody else that sat in the third period like Bertuzzi did against L.A. Like he was really, I couldn't figure out what line he finished with

because he wasn't on the ice. He didn't finish. You know, his second period ended with a bad penalty followed by a two-and-a-half-minute shift in the D zone where he just. It's like kind of quiet benching. Is it because he's new and everybody's kind of scared to... No, because I think you're allowed to bench guys. Yeah.

Like, it's the NHL. You can bench players when they play bad without it being like a 25-minute conversation. Me too. I wish we saw it more. I just didn't think it was that... Maybe it should have been a bigger story. No?

Well, we're the people that do that. I know. I know. We just did. Maybe we should have made a bigger deal out of it than we did. I think it's right that we didn't make that big deal of it. Hockey player professionally who makes $5.5 million, plays bad, sits on the bench. Yeah.

You know, I do think it's interesting that he talked about his playmaking. You know, I heard that from Morgan Riley when he first came here that he was so impressed by his skill. Brick says he's so impressed by his playmaking skill. In tight areas too, right? Yeah. And here it's a lot of like, ah, you can tip pucks. It's good.

You know, kind of waiting for the next layer of that. And even talking about didn't matter what line he was on Detroit, just made it tough to play. You noticed him. I wonder if he felt like he didn't have the puck enough with Matthews or Marner. No, that's an interesting question. Why didn't we see any of that?

They had three full games in the exhibition season, and then right up until this past week, they were together and not to have one exchange on a goal where all three of them are involved right seems crazy i know i'm trying to get us information here on bertuzzi and puck possession time but yeah it doesn't seem like he's had the puck enough to decide if he's good with it bad with it or otherwise so yeah hoping for a big game from him going in there a little bit of a revenge game ozone possession time per game for the leafs willie melanders had it for 36 seconds per game in the ozone matthews 27 marner 23 bertuzzi 19 seconds per game in the ozone he's had the puck and he would be fourth out of like

there's nobody else no tavarez is fifth nice they're all within a tight pack they're 18 17 you know per game basis i will say this that you got to help bertuzzi get going if you're sheldon and he needs playoff uh power play uh ice time, what do you do there? Because Tavares is the best guy in the league there. Listen, you may hate this, but there's some shifts. I don't even care if it's off a commercial break that Tavares doesn't start or somebody else doesn't start.

Bertuzzi starts. On the power play, yeah. Big picture. And listen, if you want max to to feel some love too he needs to start a power play every once in a while like it doesn't have to be the big boys for a minute and 50 seconds every time it doesn't have to be but it's awfully nice yeah like it doesn't help you grow as a team why are you gonna make your chances to score worse you know you make a good point but i do think that because it's

gonna run out like it has run out every spring now in the interest of getting everyone feeling involved and like they have equity in the program yeah maybe that's where you start and i don't think you can start the game that way kip but second period third period if you haven't seen it say okay willie not there tonight or mitch not there tonight no no no no start the game well now you're talking no it's not it's not if it just there has to be i'm not saying all the time i'm just saying on occasion these guys gotta feel like they can we sit here and m Mitch Marner doesn't start the power play tonight against the Bruins in the first period because Bertuzzi needs to get some love. Your program's running out of time here for other players

to feel like this is a true team effort here and not constantly three guys bailing you out. I agree. Okay. Great stuff. At the end of Real Kipper and Bourne. No, we still got another hour to go. We're going national, and we got a guest in studio.

Guest Ken Reed's coming, host of Sportsnet Central. He's got a book coming out called Hometown Hockey Heroes. We're going to hear all about it in the next hour. Ken Reed and plenty more of real Kipper and Bourne. Our thanks to Andy Brickley giving us great coverage of the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight.

And remember, JB and I on Sportsnet tonight covering the game as well for Sportsnet Ontario. All right. These quick words and we're right back with our National Hour.