Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Domi Gets it Done in Game 2

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Leafs' Game 2 win over the Ottawa Senators in overtime to take a 2-0 series lead. They get into Max Domi's overtime heroics, Anthony Stolarz pushing back against Ridly Greig's antics, potential lineup changes for Game 3, the Leafs' defensive style and much more. Later, former Leafs GM and analyst Gord Stellick joins the show (32:01) to share his early takeaways from the series, whether the Leafs should consider David Kämpf or Max Pacioretty for Game 3 and his thoughts on Game 1 in the Battle of Florida.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.

All right. Let's keep the energy going on the leaf edition hour of the real kipper and born show. Nick Kiprio's Justin born Sammy McKee Derek Brandeo Jake the snake Schultz with you For the next hour talking everything blue and white is the Toronto Maple Leafs on a max Domi overtime goal Take a commanding 2-0 series lead into the nation's capital. Starting back up on Thursday, we'll catch our breath.

We'll break it all down. And we'll get our thoughts. Sammy, you look like you just swallowed a canary. What's going on, Sammy? How are you? I'm great, I'm great, I love hockey. Yeah, you know what I love too? What?

I know we've mentioned this before. I just wanna say I'm great, I love hockey. Yeah, you know what I love too? What? I know we've mentioned this before, I just wanna say that again, that four minute transition between Blair and Barker's show into our show, and if people could just listen to for three minutes, so we walk in and all we can say to them is, can the Jays get a hit? And they're like, can Stollers take the Leafs to the Stanley Cup final?

We have a yell conversation of the Coles notes of what's happening with the respective franchises. I really think we should put out the crossover a Jays Leafs show. It's three minutes long. I will say that the Jays are extremely hopeful for a long Toronto May Police run here because they are a putrid offense right now. So they're hoping for some distractions in the city. Yeah. And it's working right now. As we are in our first hour of our show on a constant basis.

So, okay. What I thought was a first period as good as we've seen out of them in a long, long time ended up being somewhat inconsistent after that. Obviously the win is the win, the commanding two-nothing lead. It's all feel of feel good scenario. But what did you get out of game two?

You know, honestly, Kip, I take a lot of the similar sentiments to what I said about game one where I felt like the Leafs when it was tied they came out and they took it to Ottawa Sam I think you called it the best opening 10 12 minutes of the season until the second commercial break Which I think is 13 minutes into the period. I thought it was the best they looked That's as good as they've looked. I mean out of the gates flying Marner hits the post they all mark delay. you're trying to delay the game, doesn't matter, they get one from Riley, like they just poured it on. And then up two, it kind of felt like game one where it was like, okay, we're going to

not give up great days, we're going to back off and let them sort of batter the net with shot attempts and they blocked 32 shots, Dotto is six, they hung on, they end up with a win. I tell you what, if we had a sponsor for Kippers Clippers, they would get their money's worth today, Sammy. You know, I look at these every day before we come on air to know what we have, and today I didn't scan it, and I'm so overwhelmed right now by the clip sheet. I'm sorry about how many clips. The coaches were talking, they talked today, like there's the brooder films on too many

men, like there's just too many things for me to like go through most. I'm sorry I'm sorry. I got a little horned up. I was excited last night. There's a lot of good clips all is forgiven Thank you. Not enough. Let's go to Craig Berube on our first one on Game two his overs overview Great to see that goal by Max You know, obviously a great play Ben one made a great play, you know, on it. But first period was really good. I liked our start a lot. Came out with playing on

our toes, you know, got to our forecheck. We were aggressive. We got a good lead, power play came through again. Second period, I thought that they were the better team. We didn't make plays, we kinda looked like we were just protecting the lead a little bit and didn't make enough plays, didn't advance it and get to the offensive zone enough. Took a couple of penalties. And third period was fine. We're in good shape and the goal was the first shot

we gave up in the third period. So, you know, we were playing the right way and doing the right things. It was a mistake and mistakes happen. But we, you know, we stayed with it and ended up getting the win. So many directions we can go off of that clip. You want to stick with the Domi game winning goal to start or you want to go backwards?

You know, I'm torn because the quote that sticks out to me is we didn't make plays and that's something that's worth talking about. However, they did win. Domi did score a big goal. Let's start with the good stuff. Let's start with Max Domi shooting it in the net. Pretty exciting moment there. You know, cutting a tie. Do you see Mark Savard and Craig Borubey having a little celly together? Yeah, Kyle did that on the telecast last night where it was from game one. The first one

was from game one where Bor where Ruby actually had to calm him down. Chill out man. I couldn't stop laughing. It is a very funny thing for an NHL head coach to be like fan level excited. That was cool. Do you remember the you guys are too too young. There's a cartoon called Spike and Chester.

Yes. Two dogs. So you know what's funny is I think of this often but no one gets it Oh, no, no, no He's a little dog nipping in his heels Chiefess spike and marks of arts Chester I wouldn't have ever known their names, not in a million years. And the old guy part of our show, we just lost our

a jet. You come back, you. I remember it perfectly. Yes. Ah, shut up. No, I dine. I do. I do.

That's like very early remembering that. But I do remember that. It's like, how about that but I do remember that Celebrate a goal together Would you calm down? He's just like Beat it beat it buddy. Yeah, beat it. I am beat it. Hey, how about we chase cars chief and then on the overtime I know So hard to look like he's been there before After that one, I feel for him there. That's all good. I did like I think there was just a prior

Three on two where Domi went in there and he just shot the puck. Just a hard low shot. Hard low shot. He could have kicked it out either way. So there's a guy that said, if I'm in this area, I'm putting the puck to the net. No turnovers, no doubt about what I'm going to do with it. I really liked his first attempt that really I thought set up the game winning goal. Well the first attempt probably keeps him on the ice to get the second attempt. You know, instead of trying something cute or turning it over, he did something simple and he got to play.

A big story here for me is Craig Berube having the confidence to put that third line out in overtime, which didn't play 10 minutes in the game and wasn't very good for most of the night. The other thing you gotta remember too is on that play, Ottawa was coming in fairly aggressive and you want to talk about the ultimate hope or pass coming off Batherson,

I think looking for cousins if I'm not mistaken. That's right. It was a horrific turnover that Benoit read like a book and give Benoit so much credit for having the poise to say Okay, it's just not about me breaking up this place about me turning it into something He was like Darrell Revis there sitting in yeah I mean it was a he could not have No labeled that pass anywhere like he just he knew it was coming

He read he jumped and give him credit like we've seen this from Benoit once in a while I've called him Simone the Fleur once in a while because he loves to fly up and down the wing like very not that often but he can push it up here and there and he did pass it back to Domi and you know what happened but give him credit good play. We sat in here after game one and you said who is the best player on Ottawa and we in synchrony I believe we said Drake Batherson yeah who was the worst player from game two for Ottawa? You know, it may be the same guy. He had a really tough night. That's him Let's Morgan Riley behind him on the goal. There is just a lot of turnovers a lot of mistakes for for Batherson

The other thing I want to give Benoit a lot of credit was that he went hard to the net I don't know if you noticed how close he was to Allmark. And I bet you if you really look down, there might've been a part where he was maybe in the blue paint if there is any contact at all. Like he went out of his way to avoid Allmark. And I think if Allmark had a chance to do it all over again, he could've sold a bump.

But he was so fixated on Domi, he didn't even get the opportunity to read it, but watch. But you know what I like about a kick? He's swinging around to go back and play defense. He's not just like, you know, he knows he's not supposed to be that far down the ice. Great shot.

Yeah, Omar couldn't see that one, no chance. Layers of streets. Happy dad in the stands. This is very, this is a very sentimental leaf moment. Like it is, you know, having Max Domi, the son of Ty shoot one in and overtime in the battle of Ontario sort of 2.0 here. Like that's as good as it gets. Like it's, it's awesome. And you can talk about his game. Wasn't great for parts of it clearly, but like that's the redemption story out there. He fires it in the net. It

was pretty exciting. There's nothing like an overtime winner boys. It just there's nothing like it. Let's get the head coach Craig Ruby's thoughts on Max Domi Yeah, he's he works hard I mean, he's always trying to improve and get better and work with people skill guys and Practice and stuff like that and that you know, I feel very good I look very happy for him to get a goal. It's a big goal obviously, and it's a great feeling to score one of those. I've got a couple. But I'm very happy for him.

He's a hard worker. I thought he had a good game tonight overall. He was skating. I always say when Max skates and attacks, he's on his game. That one was with a little bit of a wink, I liked it. So you talk about Max Domi working. Old friend Rob Wong tweeted out this video yesterday,

I don't know if you saw this, but this is, look at this, if you watch this video quickly, the first clip, look at it. Ping! It's the exact same play, cutting over to the middle, like it's just, it's hilarious that, it's almost like that clip of Sid working on that low shot in the golden goal that ends up happening like I love that This nice work on the rewarding shot and that in essence is what the playoffs are all about right clean slate

two guys that are early in the playoffs that kind of Not struggled to probably get numbers that Reflect maybe how much money they make was Max. And Philip Deneau, he had eight goals in 80 games for LA Kings and there's a lot of pressure on him too. He didn't have the season he would've liked but lo and behold he scores one of the biggest goals so far early in the playoffs against Edmonton

the other night and there's Max same thing, right? I got a tell us I don't know if that was tongue-in-cheek But I did some searching for the Craig Berube overtime winners and I had a hard time finding The old YouTube Gonna call him out on that again, no, I'm gonna see that no no no You know overall themes of the night, stole ours, taking it to Greg. That was entertaining.

Well, we called that yesterday. Yeah. We said like... Actually, our guest yesterday, Cope. Yeah. I believe we have a clip of it from yesterday. Oh, give me the Cope clip. There you go.

So I'm not gonna ask Adam this question. I'm gonna ask like edge or cope this question Okay, Ridley Gregg's driving hard to the net What is gonna happen to Ridley Gregg he's gonna eat a forearm The blockers coming straight out. Oh, the waffle. He's eating waffle. That is too perfect. Especially with stores at 6-7. Greg's got to be careful. Apparently, right after his hit with us, he got a message from Brett Hitman heart Okay. Yeah, that's pretty Watching them on our show Like we got Canadian

Show now we gotta get ready to get Trish stratus on next. I saw her at the game who's next like I'm starting to get nervous. I thought it was just like the three of us and maybe our friends and family watching. That is really cool. I think you talk about that Domi moment being one that'll be remembered in Leafs history, a sentimental Leafs moment.

If the Leafs were to carry on and have success in this series and win this series, when you're showing a highlight package of the Battle of Ontario, which one doesn't include this and this and the swing here? Followed up by the, you know, tight end setting a block for the quarterback right there. Yeah, see, I'm not gonna, like I like Ridley Gregg, right? But he, like at that moment, Ridley Gregg's gotta come back and just pop, pop Stoller's. You have a green light.

I'm telling you. You know what Brad Marchand would do? When you get hacked like that, Ridley, buddy, green light, man. Go get him. What's gonna happen's gonna happen double miners five minutes each Exactly like you get your money's worth That's how you know sometimes a guy may not be as tough as he kind of wants to look like Or it's early, you know, like I don't know if Brad Marshand in your three of his careers doing that bad guys Costing you like being down to nothing right now. He's he's it right? No stole our solar

So Lars is the reason why you're down to nothing that guy hits you twice like that. You don't come back and pop them Missed opportunity make me think of Matthew Kachuk and Brad Marshand. Oh, yeah opportunity make me think of Matthew Kachuk and Brad Marshand. Oh, yeah agitators who you know, they're Involved in the face. They're not looking for a penalty and skating away at least turning around having a look. Yeah, but that That's full ownership paper stole ours on you full Ownership paid in full. Yeah Listen this guy comes in off the wing in game one, you know, when the game is close to out of reach and he falls down on purpose

and flies into your knees, you're probably going to be pretty upset at the guy and you get your chance to do it. I mean, this clip is really funny from Anthony Stoller's on the battle with Greg clip one. If we can play that there. I know. I mean, I just caught up in the heat of battle. Just one of those things.

It didn't matter. I didn't even know who was it. It's just one of those You know, you're in you know, he had a moment and it is what is easy Easy Pinocchio Reading the name bar on the guy you're blockering to the back There's been a lot of great lies told in the world that may be the biggest lie ever. That's that's pretty fantastic. It's uh, Also, no goldfish. It is starting to be Turning into quite the remarkable story

Stole ours in his year and the way he finished the regular season and how it's carried over in the in the first two games I told you early after game one that he's already crawled into their heads and last night I Think it just it grew it grew more legs. Yeah, he hung on to everything even that one You can't see it on the way through he catches it this one. Okay, there's one from cousins right here That's a 90 seconds left in the game and a pretty good shot Both goals that they scored zero chance weird bounce off the Kachuk one, great tip by Gaudet, literally no chance on either of those, but everything he had a chance on, he made a good save.

So yeah. Do you guys want to do any more clips on that or the Greg versus? Let's hear Barubey. He's got two, one on Solars and one on him sticking up for himself. Let's go for the sticking up for himself. What did you make of Anthony sticking up for himself, even though it meant taking a roughing there? Well, I mean, I think it's getting to him, you know, it gets annoying after a while,

right? And I've seen that with goalies before. I really don't have a problem with it. He did have Bennington. He's seen an annoyed goalie a lot. It's a good point. It's a really good point. He's experienced an annoyed goalie a lot. That's a good point. Yeah. That's a really good point.

He's experienced it, his goalie taking cuts at people. His goalie has got spending. Stolar says a walk in the park compared to that kid. Yeah, that's true. And with all due respect to national hero Jordan Bennington, Stolar is not a bluffer. No. No, that's a big scary guy. All right, so uh

Depth where do you want to go? I want to go to the fact that Ottawa is down to nothing Very easily not easily but could have come out of that game with a win and didn't and I don't think the stars even have played great the first game they were very good, but Uh, stutzla for me, uh even have played great. The first game they were very good but... Stuttsla for me had stretches last night where he was the best. Sorry I meant the Leaf Stars. But yeah Stuttsla was good.

Okay I thought you were talking about Ottawa a little bit. It hasn't been, you know, outside of the power play in game one, it hasn't been a star-driven series so far. Stutselup, best player on the ice for the Ottawa Senators. Especially when they started coming back. But outside of that, we're not seeing probably the domination of other star players in other series right now. And don't look any further than Carill the Thrill and with the Minnesota Wild. You know, you look around at other teams

and most teams have guys where you go, oh God, don't let him have it. And Nikita Kuturov is number one in the league or maybe McDavid McKinnon, but Kuturov when he has it and you're playing against that team, it's just like, oh. You know, Sens don't have that as much. Stutzel and Sanderson are the closest thing maybe, but the Leafs do have those guys and it hasn't happened I know they have points in the series, but I thought it was brew basis

Was that yesterday morning that he said that they wanted to really slow down? Stutzel through the neutral zone and yeah, I Thought he was flying through the neutral zone and entering the zone and it's been on Matthews and Marner It's a heavy load. They are in the first two games. I'm quite surprised how much of a defensive feel That they've had in this game compared to The push of the offense. Yeah, and I told you guys like don't look any further than how many offensive zone starts Matthews and Marner's had compared to Willie and Tavares.

They had- Is that in this series? In the series, three, I think, I counted. Three offensive zone face-offs. And other star players are at 12, 13 now, 14, Nate McKinnon, you know, those type of players, they don't have to go 200 feet to go create offense. Yeah, they're your best all around guys.

Can I ask? And Willie is at 12, 11 or 12 offensive zone face-offs compared to Matthews and Marner at three. I wanna talk about him in a sec. Can I ask then, I mean, I don't to look too far ahead here and talk about game three But you know, you don't change a winning lineup Like to me it's got to be tempting for chief to think about putting camp in there for another guy That's capable for a defensive zone draw because you're right like

In overtime, it's Domi out there for a defensive zone draw. Like it's like you're really shocking, right? You're kind of thin on guys who are going to take defensive zone draws. And, you know, Robertson plays what? Nine. It's got to be tempting for Barube to think about putting camp back. I don't disagree. And I think that that might be all you do is you do some sort of like camp Holmberg Domi line or something like that and let McMahon play with

Tavares and Nylander and kind of go from there. And Ottawa gets the last change, right? That's true. So you want to show it up defensively. It would be nice if they had someone else besides Matthews over the boards in the defensive zone. And I thought Robertson didn't have a great night.

Obviously, he took the penalty, a couple of turnovers. As much as they want to go with a winning lineup, it's probably camp time for me. Nylander was interesting. Usually you can tell when he's got it, you know, when he's cutting back in the Ozone, you're like, oh, Willie's got his juice. And in the first, I thought he did.

Yeah. And I was like, he did on the goal, on the Morgan Raleigh goal. And he almost recreated it to Morgan in the same period. I was like, okay, he's got his legs tonight. And then he faded. Badly. I clipped some stuff today and I was gonna put it in my article and I didn't,

because it wasn't relevant to my overall point, but him just like blowing by piles, hoping the puck comes out on the other side and it doesn't. And he's, all right, curl back in the zone. I got three clips of it where it's like, by piles, hoping the puck comes out on the other side and it doesn't. And he's, all right, curl back in the zone. I got three clips of it where it's like, all right, everyone else is on the D side of things here. I know he has a longer leash than other people, but I didn't think he had a good night.

Yeah, no, I agree. Which, again, makes you wonder or feel like, is this, are going to get better? Are they going to like to me they're up to nothing. We have yet to see a complete 60 minute game in both contests from the Toronto Maple Leafs. They've had stretches better stretches last night than in game one, in my opinion. But when are we going to see a team from start to finish now be the better team? Yeah, I think it depends on the score of the game a little bit, right? Like they, they

haven't needed to push and take chances and play. And I think that's really shaped the way this series has looked. You know, it's a lot of chip it in, dump it in. You know, one thing that can change is that top line with Marner and Matthews, every time Matthews gets a puck near the net, you know, he loves that rap that you don't like so much. Like sometimes just hanging onto it and being content

to keep looking for a hole. Keep the play alive. Keep the play alive rather than forcing it to the first potential opportunity for a shot and a goal. Like let's just, it's okay to have a whole shift. It may not come that shift. Yeah, absolutely. Bang on.

Yeah. Bang on for sure. But to your point about not playing a complete, it is like it is the playoffs here and the Sens are a good team. They play the least well. Like I think there's gonna be stretches of every game that you play in the playoffs. You're not, you're never going to beat somebody

for a 60 minute game. Like I think the thing that really hurt me about them tying that game last night, Kip is from the time we, I don't know, four or five minutes left in the second period to the time. Good debt tips out one in that's his lockdown defensive hockey as I've ever seen. They were,. They were that's crazy. They were unbelievable You couldn't get a sniff of the net these shots are banging off the glass like they are Really playing a great defensive game, so I don't you're not gonna never gonna dominate for six Yeah, this is more. This is more than just that to me okay, and I do believe that I Think they pointed out on the on the telecast that the the shot attempts

were two to one for Ottawa. And of course, you can sit there and say, well, they're not dangerous. And it missed the net or it got blocked. But there is a sense that if you're constantly in the right areas, it does give you confidence that eventually one will get through. That's the feeling I got with the Ottawa Senators. But you know, Kip, that's been the thing with the Leafs for the whole Dubus era, was they're out attempting people two to one, you know, they have more possession time, they have it in the ozone.

And then when they need to get to the net against the good teams, they can't get there. And it feels like the Leafs are the good team in this story. Where it's like the other team can't get there. They can't get to those dangerous areas. So yeah, sometimes they're gonna shoot some pucks in that ping pong around and go through. But I think if you just focus on eliminating these great A's and no second chances.

Well, there's a comfort zone in playing this way. And it has everything to do with, first and foremost foremost your goalie Yeah, and everything he sees he will stop That's the feeling that they have and they have so many people diving in front of pucks to block shots It helps that he's above them at that height. I think it's just a good marriage between their style and his build and You know, I think it's kind of gone according to plan, even though it hasn't been pretty. I think I don't think pretty is the plan.

No, not in crazy, not in Ruby's world. No, I mean, he doesn't even celebrate overtime winners. So unless shaken manually, what is this talk? And this is the first I heard about it when I walked into the office today. And we don't usually talk, but there was mention of too many men on the ice in overtime. Sammy, where is this from? Let's play the clip. It's clip five please from Travis Green. My bad. I went over the video of the overtime goal last night was there a chance that there might have been too many men on the ice for the Leafs and I think there

was a couple last night definitely to the Tavares breakaway was too many men I think that seven guys we looked over it but and the overtime one arguably you could say there was but it's part of the game. That is planting the seed. They are pouring over the tape like what? Well that's what the teams do. I mean yeah the teams do. The reporter like what do you say you got the oh I got to pour over my reports my tape

like give me a break. We went upstairs over the overtime. Oh like there was just nothing There's nothing there. We did give it no Supruder it we looked we stopped frames It's like you got a squint till your eyes are closed and maybe you should have closed your eyes before you ask that question Because holy like this whole I mean don't make me get to Auntie Ottawa here, but I listen to Travis too late Travis green here today And he's talking about all least got lucky bounces, you know

Ridley Greg panel like Yeah, they got was it four to one power place in the game I was five to like, you know, so that's not an excuse the five on five like what's next? What's next? There's too many leaf fans in our building so we couldn't win. I guess they're for they're new to this. You can tell you can tell. No, you buy one. You're not new to this because this time of year, this is me. I see me. If it isn't Travis Green, it's Paul Maurice.

If it ain't Paul Maurice, it's John Cooper. All of them make you sick this time of year. All of them. I don't think Travis Green really makes me nearly as sick. But we're only two games in. No, but- Wait until five or six, you're gonna wanna run him over. No, he's, listen, I don't think he's as,

there's a certain feeling with Maurice and John Cooper that they're the smartest guy on earth and they're way smarter than you. Travis Green is just a hockey guy. He's the most hockey guy. I don't think he's on that level in terms of pissing me off, but we are early. Let's listen to clip two from Travis Green. I'm curious about the title of this one. Yeah, we had a good game. We spent a lot of time in their zone give their team credit they blocked a lot of shots and No typical playoff hockey though, but to play a road game like that was very encouraging for our team And now we got to play a little better next game This is the greatest oh two series deficit in the hockey history the most undeniable team

They are just they are on down They are the 86 oilers of being down Oh two in the series like good Lord didn't say We're good. This is great. We dominate five on five The Ottawa senators What do you want him to say? He's got 20, 22 guys listening to his every quote? Now you're right. It's his job to carry confidence and momentum back home.

That's what coaches do, Sam. We suck. Meanwhile, Torz is like, that's what we do too. I don't know. You can do it differently if you want. Let's review the tape on top of our mouths so I can have another excuse for losing two straight games. What are we gonna do with it

if they go to a conference finals? It's not gonna be pretty. I cannot be responsible for this. What are we gonna do if they lose this round? Yeah, like that is on the table. That is 100% on the table. But I just like, pour it over the tape. That's not I think I saw Options on our leaf edition hour. No, they needed yeah, and well, I will say we talked about this a little bit on least

I've gone last night and I'll bring it to you least we think about the crowd going into game three in Ottawa and I think you know think you gotta hope that it's gonna be a little bit better than it usually is. Where they've been doing all these little tricks, like they're acting like they're the Florida Panthers trying to keep the Leaf fans out. They're doing all these little tricks.

They're buying up all these tickets. That's fine, good for you. But if the Ottawa Senators lose that game three and it's three-zip going to the Saturday night in Ottawa that is going to be 95% Lee fans. That will be a Horrendous situation point I could see a lot of Senators fans being like I don't want to see this on home ice I got a chance to make some money on this ticket Yeah, you could get to 50-50 for game two if you won game three Anyways, and this has been hating on Ottawa going any further than Thursday night

No, listen. I'm just saying like it's I mean big Obviously could lose just saying that that Saturday night could be a nightmare at the least find a way to win three straight It is there. All right, Sam's gonna catch his breath Now we got Gord Stella coming up electricity electricity Hey, did Ruby like Riley or not in that quote? Did he like him? He did like him. Okay. He did like him.

He's more decisive, playing with Carlos has helped him. He's really come along. Okay, the voice of reason. When we return to the real Kippren Bourne show, Gord Stella electricity. Hey, it's Matt Marchese. And I'm Mike Fuda. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL

and the hockey world, weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on Sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the show. We are live on Sportsnet 590 the fan and Sportsnet plus. All right, it's electricity, playoff, All right, it's electricity, playoff, fever. There he is. There he is. The one and the only.

Put your hands together for the lovely Gord Stelec. Thank you. Buddy, this time of year never gets old, does it? No, it doesn't. It's just whether, you know, it's just the Toronto Maple East, but just the best time of the year in general, great first round action. And this is the whole thing. This is where your emotions are at extreme and year after year after year, nine

consecutive years of well, not playoff to put disappointment the first year when they lost to Washington. But you know, intriguing stories and at the end disappointment, but you back for more and we're back for more. Gordon what are your early takeaways from a two game series so far where the Leafs have won a couple of hockey games. Justin check check check check check check okay so you had to do something different You had to get some small wins and hopefully collectively me bigger things So one was coming in first place getting home ice advantage, you know what you got only one game You one of the seven last year you'll scored more than two goals the same the year before what your last five games

Six goals your first game. So check check check one for 21 on the power play last year power play goals got out Goaltended basically every series including by Jeremy Swainman last year. Power play goals. Got outgoal tended basically every series, including by Jeremy Swainman last year, even though the Leaf goal tending is pretty solid. Check. Depth scoring balance. Check. Defense scoring.

Check, check, check. And then a tough overtime game. It wasn't Nick Paul that scored the game winner. It's a guy like Max Domey reminding us of what? Corey Cross in 2001 against Ottawa. Gary Volk in 1999 against Pittsburgh. I mean, those guys. And 23 years ago was the last time they went 2-0 to start a playoff series.

So Justin, check. Doesn't mean you've won the series. You got to win those, close it out. But check, check, check, check. Gordon, is it just this is the Leafs style? This is a Craig Borubi way? It's doesn't matter shots on goal or shot attempts going two to one in favor of the Ottawa senators.

This is the way the Leafs win hockey games. Yeah, yeah. You know, and Kip, you know, like, like, okay. And analytics and stats, they factor, they're innate. I mean, look at the number of block shots they had last night, for example. And, you know, so, but at the end it's finding ways to win. And that's what the teams, if you get 16 wins or even 12 wins to get to the Stanley Cup

final or even eight wins to get to the conference final, you know, different ways that you got to, you got to find a win. And I got to tell you, like, you know, just even watching, it seems like Brandon Tanev is contagious. Like they're shutting down in a way they've not shut down before Morgan. Riley is in a shutdown defenseman. Okay. But now Brandon Tannib Chris, Chris, Chris, or what's that? Excuse me, Chris Tannib. So is Brandon if he played defense, Chris Tannib play with not Brian McCabe, but Jake McCabe, but just the level, the way they shut things down, that the understanding that the front of the net, okay, that is a do not fly zone. The opposition does not fly there. And in the other, in the opposing end, you got to fight hard to get into their do not

fly zone. And that's something that wasn't as evident the last number of years that's really been evident in these two games so far. It's funny, you know, like Brandon Carlo hasn't particularly had an amazing game one or game two, but what he brings to that pair with Riley is such stability and a confidence that you can use those guys and it seems to make Riley better. So you've almost added two people. It's like the Labushkin ads and whoever else they taped to him over the years, you know,

they just weren't quite skilled enough to do the things Carlo's doing that has really helped them be a top four pair. Well, exactly. You know, the thing about, I'm big on Morgan Reilly, okay? But, you know, your best defenseman should be someone you could pair with everybody, but it seems like Morgan Reilly, you have to find considerations who can pair best with him.

So that's just a reality. And you're a hundred percent right, Justin, the way I read it. And Kip, I mean, you play with Brian Leach. There's none better than Brian Leach. But when he was with Jeff Bucher Balm, okay, it's a different level. It's a different kind of pair because you're talking about a hall of fame defenseman, but you're talking about trying to win a Stanley cup and win some tough playoff games. And I know quite often people will throw it. Who gets paired with whom and all that. You kind of, well, that's what the coaches have to figure out and I've always maintained that and they seem to so far have figured that out

you're watching and listening to gourd Stelick former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Does a terrific job for us here at sports net. So Gordo years Great as any leaf historian out there, right, in the past decades, stole ours. And at some point during the middle of the season, we're like starting to maybe compare this type of goal tending to Potvan, Balfour and Curtis Joseph.

But is there a chance that he can go beyond that and and really do something special here? Are we at that point yet or do we still have to see more? No, Kip, you're correct as far as my role as a preeminent leaf historian as well as being a broadcast legend. So there's nothing to bring to the Hadi? Okay, you look at the Cougt-Joles and Ed Belfort stats those six years, man. Okay, I mean, there were a lot of shutouts, a lot of things that happened. So you're comparing different eras. Back then it was expected, okay? Anthony Stoller's been a career backup goaltender.

And it first started when I was looking, you're looking, and I'm still big on Joe Wall. So I was going back to the shot I mean way back in my historical thing Bernie Perrante and Jacques Plante way back when provided that kind of tandem goaltending the early 1970s and then way way way back you got Johnny Bauer and Terry Sajak that both played in last time the Maple Leaf won a Stanley Cup but then you had to go with the one guy and he's obviously the guy you're going to you know I'm curious'm curious what really clicked that, you know, the backup guy that he's able to seize the role because Kipi, to your point, I will agree with you. I'm going to hesitate to right now put him ahead.

I'm not saying you're asking me to Curtis Joseph, Ed Balfour, but it's the best we have seen since then. Absolutely in the playoffs. And we've had guys like Freddie Anderson, who's given really good regular season goal to any, but not quite the same in the playoffs. And man, big, I mean him and Joe Wall, they should be NBA players on the Raptors, big, big, big guys. And I just love his department, his confidence.

And I wonder about sitting on the bench last year, like going deep, even though you're not the starter, you're the backup and what happens. So he's been the most pleasant surprise. And there's just a, and you can feel that kind of confidence on the ice And all of a sudden like 20 years ago Goaltending has become a question mark for Ottawa like 20 years ago the least I mean Belfort and Joseph kicked Patrick Aleem's ass All the time and that was always always a question around those playoffs series Patrick Lilliness, he's a he's the new the new addition here

you're looking at the safety blankets that teams like to lean on, the Leafs seem to have found something with this fourth line. Like, I don't know just about you, but just watching at home when Lawton and Lorenz and Jarncroft go over, you feel pretty good that they're going to do the right things, finish their checks, get the puck in deep. Have they finally found a fourth line that can be playoff functional here? Well, again, I'll qualify. It's only two games, but let's be confident. Yes, let's be confident.

Yes. And you know, Justin, like I'm fine with Scott Lawton being a strong fourth line guy, maybe moving up in the third line. Like I'm, I tired of first round picks. Okay. Nick Folano didn't work out. Ryan O'Reilly didn't work out. Got eliminated, lost the first round pick okay Nick Fulano didn't work out Ryan O'Reilly didn't work out got eliminated lost the first round pick again okay now in this case there's a bit of more

defined role for him it still could be the third line if need be I mean you got guys like Max Domi that you know can move all different kinds of places but I don't remember like like I think back to Berg Zezo Osborne that's a long long time ago, but having a quality depth line in that regard, I don't remember this kind of depth and this kind of identity. I mean, I see Blackwell gets an overtime goal the other night, he was supposed to be the guy a couple of years ago, came into trade.

It's been a kind of a mixed bag and nothing has really stuck. So, and again, this is what I felt Craig Baroub and his staff had the year to kind of figure, some people go, why is Pontus Holberg playing so much? You know, is this Thomas Polkatic the second? Well, no, they're right now They're figuring out different roles and there is an there there is an ability to be flexible And you don't have variety and try different things should he want to do that as the bench coach we've seen the big line of Matthews Marner and

Nice play a pretty line of Matthews Marner and Nyes play a pretty defensive role in the first two couple of games and maybe a lot Gord has to do with the fact that you got early leads in both games. Ottawa giving up what two goals on four shots on a couple occasions here and then you're you're in this defensive mode but how important will it be to kind of get them going on on the other side? in Ottawa in game three What I mean on the defensive side on the offensive side to particularly five on five Yeah, because they haven't I mean they've scored a ton of power play points, which is great

But you're right not a lot of even strength and boy Mitch Marner He's not gonna miss many more like early last night That was was a, but I think the, you know, Austin Matthews joining Mitch Marner, killing penalties. I mean, really adept at it among those blocking shots. And his defensive game is really, you know, something, I mean, playing center is tough, playing center, coming in the league center as the center as a 19 year old, being a great two-way center, whether you're Connor McDavid or Austin Matthews is difficult and something has grown into. We know Mitch has been a consummate two-way performer, but I do agree with you about kind of like the Ottawa Senators, you know, the observation the first game that it wasn't

an insult to Tim Stootsla. Tim Stootsla, you know, the fact he went out first game, it's more physical. So he gets nine hits. Well, that's great. But if you're Toronto, I'll take nine hits over no points all time long with Tim Stusa. So the same with the big line. They're gonna get big minutes. It's a little more balanced because as Justin alluded to earlier, you got a third and fourth line right now. So but yeah, yeah, the fight I mean, I mean all those other variables.

I mean, unless your goaltending sucks that can screw up the series, but the big guns have to be the big guns. They've not been that before on a consistent basis in the playoffs. And that includes 5-1-5 scoring. Because that's something overall the Ottawa Senators have been a pretty decent job of, even though they're down 0-2. David Camp, Max Patcheretti have watched the first two games,

are both eligible. Do either of them get in game three? I wouldn't at this point. I, and, and you know what, what I've mentioned, uh, what we've discussed many times is just that when Barubis blues went all the way, it was like 15 different forwards played the 12 different roles. And I think there will be times for that. I think, you know, patch already just that kind of experience. Uh, you know, I think those Lorentz and OEL on that anybody that's gone deep or won a Stanley Cup, I think

that all had some kind of value. So that's another piece there. But no, I wouldn't make a change, but I'm not adverse to the little spices and figuring that out as we go along. That's not a superstition. Don't fix what ain't broken on the scoreboard thing. No, no, because quite frankly, that sometimes make a change after win. It should not always be predicated.

Okay, we lost, okay, no beer after the game, and we're gonna make two changes, okay, whatever. No, it should be like a little bit more thought out that way. I just think at this point, you got everything humming. And the fact he put that, you know, the fact that line had a tough game last night and they got on in overtime, you know, just a kind of feel and Max told me and they you know got a chance to say redeem themselves

But I guess redeem themselves is just kind of shown about this kind of feel No Dante's fiesta after the game If you can be you know what Justin does it get me now look like Pierre Pauli have has people said that like when he Comes in do they usher him to the newsroom to say, look, I'm going to big elections. We told him, you got to get rid of the glasses or people are going to think you're nerdy. We were working on his image.

We're getting them polished up as best we can here. What do you think? I could be a leader. Remember Kipi, you used to have those big signs, right? And you scared people. Remember the billboards with Kipi all around Toronto? Oh, I had a face like this. Oh, was it? Yeah. Was that ads? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did. I scared. I scared small children. I was told. There's a can of beer upstairs with your face

on it. Street proof their parents. Street proof their kids watching the Kipi ad anyway. Oh, good. Sure. Just wanted to get your notes as we close out our leaf edition, go in a national hour in a few minutes, but watching Tampa Bay and Florida and perhaps sizing up what could happen there in the next round for what Lee fans are hoping will be their team. Were you surprised last night at the outcome between Florida and Tampa Bay? Yeah, big time big time and you know, let's stop sweating if you if you if you talk about you want to go deep You're gonna have to beat some tough teams. Okay, and I think it helps if you do get through Ottawa Yes, you had you had different because you never got through Columbus. You never got through Montreal. So bring on whoever's coming

Uh, it's only one game and we tend to over read one game start to the playoffs because that's all we have. I'd said to what the Florida Panthers are the defending Stanley Cup champions. They got the belt. They deserve the belt. But Tampa Bay, the last 25 games, they're the last team I would have wanted to play. Well, it was the opposite last night. I mean, not a lot of shots on goal.

Florida three for three on the power play. So I'm intrigued to see about Tampa Bay coming back because we know Ottawa in Toronto's case and Montreal in Washington's case there are new teams there are new teams in the playoff and you know there's a bit of a novelty there's not the higher expectations but Tampa Bay man if they go back 0 and 2 and have that kind of effort against Florida not good on them and hey you know for whichever team it is they are what they are. I'm not surprised by either. If one of them were to win in four or Tampa Bay were to win in five, they are powerhouses. It's like Colorado and Dallas, what they're facing

now. You know, sometimes you got to play around early on that probably is a little bit unfair when you look in the big picture. And if the Leafs get by, that's going to be a little bit unfair, but why not win it for a change? Excellent stuff as always Gordo. And you ever going to do a hit again from us from your laundry room again? Is it the steam whistle brewery last time? Hey, laundry day, laundry day. We'll do that. You know, it's always a big once a week laundry day. So yeah, we're going to mix it up a little bit. I can't go to the dog park every time from the least side dog

park at the dog park, but we can do laundry. I love it. All right, pal. Great stuff as always. Enjoy game three Thursday night. Thanks, Gordon. I appreciate it. Never short of energy that guy. Oh, man. He knows stuff in and out. I'm almost excited as excited as you, Sammy. I was doing some stat mining while we were chit chatting and I was looking at the D zone starts thing. Yeah, so

The Matthews line both Matthews Marner bit on for three offensive zone face-offs two games eight defensive zone face-off That's five on five and Tavarez and Neal under you're gonna do a story on that Tavarez and the owner of the opposite Neil is actually 11 and 2 and Neal under you're gonna do a story on that Tavar is the owner of the opposite and the kneeling is actually 11 and 2 yeah 11 and 2 and but it wasn't the case in the regular season that it was that heavy so this is a lot about how they want to use these guys that's a story yeah it is interesting Matthew's top your writer you should write it too nerdy for me the top time on ice that Matthews is face the three players on Ottawa is Stootsla

Sanderson and Kachuk and the top three for Tavares is Zub Sanderson Pinto So Pinto Amadio is the next other forward so They're trying to get some space for Nylander It also goes to my point that they haven't been Haven't chased in two games, right? Right, Even an early one nothing down and you kind of want, you don't want to go down two nothing, you're pushing. But like, you're barely in your seat and the Leafs have been up two nothing.

And it is, it takes a life of its own on how you want to play. It changes everything. Changes everything. This has been my entire complaint about the way this series has been talked about. Ottawa has to score the first goal Thursday night. Absolutely.

They absolutely have to. It's as close to a must first goal. They don't come from behind. They need to leave. Yeah, and they assert themselves. You can't lose whatever crowd you have in that building that are wearing your jersey. You can't lose them Thursday.

Have you heard anything amongst Leaf fan people in that building that are are wearing your jersey you can't lose them Thursday have you Heard anything amongst we fan people that you know or Ottawa people that you know about the split have you heard anything? No Doesn't interest me though that much It's good for you. Why are you you dig for the juice here? I see you working the phones before the show. That's right. All right, guys. Great stuff.

Thanks to Gordon Stelick. No reason to panic. No reason to panic. No. Five on five, it was pretty obvious. We go national. I missed that drop. What was it? Five on five, it was pretty obvious.

Just like that. Too many men. Pretty obvious. All right. When we return, we get Jason Buchla, pro hockey group, Sportsnet. Analyst. Always love his insight as a former NHL coach. That and more when we keep her going on The Real Kipper and Boring Show. You