Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Game 6 Ghost-Off

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

It's game day, and Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee get set for Game 6 as the Leafs look to fight off elimination against the Bruins. They discuss the news of the day - Matthews being ruled out, speculating what the injury may be and the Leafs' management of the situation. Then, to the game, the pressure shifting over to Boston, home-ice issues and who will need to step up with Matthews out. Later, they dive deeper into Game 6 with Leafs' radio analyst Jim Ralph (35:39), who weighs in on the drop-off in offensive production, the team's strong defensive effort in front of Jo Woll and whether Willy is back to 100%.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 here we go welcome into the real kipper and born show i'm nick kiprios he's justin born sammy mckee on tech pull it pushing all the right buttons derrick brandeo and David Siss boom wherever you're watching Sportsnet 590 Sportsnet 360 Sportsnet Plus we'll get you ready for game 6 tonight in our Leaf edition of the Real Kipper and Bourne show and

remember if you don't catch us live you can download us wherever you get your pod and send us a text 590 590 I know most of you've had a lot to say in the last 48 hours yeah just absolutely loving the rebirth of the toronto maple leafs of course sammy and leaf nation buried this organization and only in toronto you can resurrect back from the dead sammy so you're telling me there's a chance you were you were like a pigeon at the beach man just searching for crumbs kipper you got them you got them in game five. Kipper, Justin, I regret to inform you that I am back.

Where's your soup, Paul? I woke up today feeling hopeful. Played hockey this morning. Of course you did. Love hockey. Talked to all the guys at the rink. They're all pumped up. Can't wait to watch the Leafs game tonight.

It's what being a Leaf fan is all about. I'm back. I'm passionate. And there's just no way this could hurt me. There's no way. I've beaten them down. I was free. They could have just lost on whatever night that was.

They could have just lost. Wouldn't have to feel this way. But now in my big, dumb, idiot brain, I am back, and I am officially fully invested into this game and the rest of the series. I wrote an article in the Toronto Star based on the Sammies of the world. Okay. That, again, that can absolutely take this team two days ago, dig a hole in the ground, shove them in,

pour the dirt on top, and then come in feeling like this today. You are not a Leaf fan if you cannot switch like this. Buddy, that's why this is great. That's why sports are great. No, this is not sport. Anybody can win a Stanley Cup. You think this is different? Anybody can win a stanley cup anybody can win a stanley cup what today

is the anniversary of the last time the least won the cup 57 friggin years ago what the hard part is is bringing back to life something that was dead that's the challenge. And only Sam and Leaf fans can do that. No other fan base on the planet can do that like Sammy. The electrified zombie curse of the Leafs. Buddy, that's why they say hockey's a religion here. You go and do something like this. So I got to ask. And totally redeem yourself.

There you go. That's Sammy. Oh, really got to ask. And totally redeem yourself. There you go. That's heavy. I'm happy with the plan tonight. Oh, really? I take it all back. I mean, does this affect your feeling, your vibe? I notice you're not wearing the suit that you wore for the last game before they got absolutely lit.

I'm over wearing anything nice. Like, I want to wear the worst clothes they'll potentially let me wear on air. I can crank it from It's Always Sunny. Not that I'm going to derail this this but i am in a split second do you know the millions of leaf fans out there that think like sammy where it's one person does this because they win all the time or one person does that because they lose all the time so they we all end up canceling each other out i love that kipip. I love it. So wear a jacket.

No chance. Wear a jacket. Wear a tie. Wear anything you want. You have no bearing on anything. I assure you. And all of you listening, okay? Yeah.

Go home any way you want. You self-important main characters. It's irrelevant. You are useless. Hockey gods, I do not believe what they're saying. Everyone in Leafs Nation, whatever your routine is, continue your routine. It matters, it matters, it matters.

It matters. Okay. Keep telling yourself it matters. Before we jump into Austin Matthews, just a quick note that in about 30 minutes, we're going to welcome in Jim Ralph. He's preparing for the game tonight, but he'll give us a few moments. And at the top of the hour,

before everything gets started on Sportsnet, Hockey Night in Canada, Kevin Biexa will be in studio at the top of the hour to give us his thoughts. That's the first time he's been on our show. Buddy, this is a debut, I think. I don't know about the first time he's been on the show, but definitely first time in studio.

We're excited to have him drop by for sure. So in saying that, are we that shocked that Austin Matthews is not playing tonight? I mean, not that shocked, given that he hasn't been. But yeah, I mean, I'm surprised. My immediate thought, like everyone else, is like, okay, so what are the options for this injury? Do you have any information? Do you want me to wildly speculate?

Well, we're going to do that for sure. But before we even jump into that, before we jump into that, we watched him skate now twice before game five. Really once. He did skate this time. Like he moved his feet and skated. Listen, when I see a guy go to the rink, put equipment on, jump on, that's a skate for me.

Okay. Eight minutes or 80 minutes, I don't care. That's a skate. That's enough of a skate to tell you something so for me this is two skates now for him okay without a game start so what do you make of that first of all and then what do you make the thought that in this whole world of secrecy where the Leafs have been as coy as anything on any team we've seen in the past, like more so, the secrecy, all of that, that they come out this morning and go, oh, yeah, unavailable. Like, if you're going to be coy, be coy.

No, they listen to us. Yeah, you've been yelling at them for a week about this. They did what we asked them to do. I can't figure them out. If you're going to be coy, go into have them searching for him in warm-up. No, am I wrong? I can't win this conversation.

I don't know what you want them to do. I am thrilled that they are just like... Throw it out there. He's not available. Yes, but Kipper, you and I have literally been asking for that for two weeks but but it's a good point i just i change stream mid-series is very weird i'll give you that okay what i'm happy they're getting weirder than for sure okay okay at the end of the day i'm super surprised

that they would release this information this early but i will give them credit because it's probably the best. And it just, it's been pissing people off. It takes, it takes, okay. The guesswork out of it. All the energy is,

will he play? Will he won't? If, if, if they didn't announce he wasn't playing, we would have spent 10, 15 minutes on, Oh,

he'll play. Yeah. And we're going to tell you why he's going to play. Yeah. They spared us anyways. Oh, thank God. Oh, wild speculation. Him playing did not sound fun. So it is interesting. yeah and we're gonna tell you why he's gonna play yeah they spared us anyways oh thank god oh wild speculation him playing did not sound fun so it is interesting um you know the potential

things that he could have uh do you want to go through a list like for me my my first thought was concussion that's you had mentioned it uh i don't remember how long we've mentioned everything we have we've mentioned you know you remember he took the bonk in like game 80 and a couple of sub-concussive you mean when he absolutely went head first oh yeah almost scored on reimer for his 70th and he crashed into the end boards yes but then you know it's like remember when crosby had the big concussion things it wasn't like the big one that did it it was days later another like little one yeah so that's a theory have you heard anything else or thought anything else could tie into is is he sick nauseous throwing up those are all part of dealing with a concussion actually good point yeah so

did he leave game four because he was feeling nauseous, sick? I don't know. Maybe it was my TV, but he looked white, right, as a ghost on that bench. And was he sick because of a concussion? Because they are tied to each other. Yeah, maybe. You know, that's a theory. Sammy, didn't you come across some other theory i saw that maybe he was had uh food

poisoning and then maybe pushed himself maybe something with a groin he was dehydrated like this is where we're at here i don't know i had heard the you know illness led to injury thing somehow so listen to us like i'm telling you when the mics go off and we're not like it's actually this like i have no idea but at the you know I think you can go into this game and you know where you're at here. And you know what you need. I'm not sure who released the video today. Maybe the hockey news of him actually doing some drills, twisting and turning, going in and shooting a puck.

I mean, can we base that on what we saw prior to that in Boston to say that he's way closer, he's improving? You know people are going to judge based on that video today that he should be playing. I don't know if he can play 20 minutes, but can he sit on the bench and play 10? Can he play two or three power plays? No, I've changed on this like i was a big like it can't be illness he should be in there like it's if you go out there and skate like that like he wants to play he wants to play he was a huge game and if your groin is on the verge of snapping or you got a concussion like i don't i haven't heard anyone call him soft for

this yet i i heard everyone calling him soft when illness was the word but i personally haven't heard anyone call him soft for this yet. I heard everyone calling him soft when illness was the word. But I personally haven't come across that yet. I don't know. Nobody knows. But, like, I mean, what is it? I just don't know. And I don't want to speculate. And I just, you know, you look at other guys playing with injury

and you tell the stories of guys playing with collapsed lungs and all this stuff, right? Like, there's all the playoff lore. You know, wasn't Chuck playing with a separated shoulder latches are different than concussions i know but like if it's a concussion then i get it yeah but if it's like a tweaked groin it's like well maybe for sure so i don't know for sure it's all in the specter of what it is and we could potentially find out is it you know, where you just kind of sit back, you need to watch how this thing unfolds.

But if it is a concussion and, you know, one way or the other, people are going to be questioning where it came from and why was he out there against Florida chasing 70 goals and risking falling into the boards. Certainly that will be a part of our show. That's coming. At that time. And you know it's already happening, right?

People have their own ideas. Either they're locked into just the illness or a concussion or whatever. But those conversations have been going strong for the last couple of days we we could easily have it here i choose not to to your point like what's the point because we're all yeah into the hypotheticals yeah when uh sports and asked me to pick a bracket and they you know after first do it all the way through it's like i don't like picking the second and third rounds because these things we're talking about series that may never happen this to me is what we would be doing we'd be

having a conversation about a scenario that we don't even know if it happened okay let's go to a kipper's clipper on uh with shelvin keep on playing well without 34 i think it's it's a bit of the human nature piece it's you know you recognize everybody has got to be better you know um yeah i think the two different types of games and obviously one's regular season and i think it was a pittsburgh game where austin messed and you know the team in that game played really well but also filled the net and everything seemed to go in the net for us that night and obviously it's an opposite type of approach the other night where it's a disciplined game. It's a consistent game. It's just staying with it and grinding it out

and finding a way to win a hockey game. So I think it's more just the confidence that our team has and how it's responded when players have been out. Like I said, even just in this series alone, you have no William losing game one and still no William in game two. You've got to find a way to win a game on the road. Obviously, we don't get that win. We're not even here talking.

It's so funny that he calls him William like his dad. Does anyone else call him William? Yeah. No, it's... It's like a paternal thing. Anyway. I don't have any takes on that. I don't.

Well, he also has another clip, which is an update on Matthews and McMahon, which maybe... I mean, it's just him saying... Like, I thought maybe we played earlier, but it's just him saying that they're not going to play on options for tonight and both making progress, apparently, on McMahon.

But who knows? Yeah, my article yesterday on Sportsnet.ca was just about, odd options for tonight and both making progress apparently on McMahon, but who knows? Yeah. My article yesterday on sportsnet.ca was just about, will the Leafs have enough time to see the plan through, to see what their team could look like, would have looked like in this series. Can you win one more game and put it together? Can you win two more games to get McMahon back and Matthews healthy?

They win tonight. It's, how do you ask those guys to come back 48 hours again? Like, it's Saturday night. It's not, it's a fast turnaround. What are you talking about? I'm saying that no McMahon, no Matthews, in all probability will be no Matthews and no McMahon on Saturday night. Well, no McMahon. But if Austin Matthews, in all probability, will be no Matthews and no McMan on Saturday night. Well, no McMan.

But if Austin Matthews can play. Buddy, we've done this already. Yeah. Come on. Come on. I'm not saying he won't play, and I'm not saying that he doesn't. I'm just saying that you got to go in there

thinking that you're winning the series as is. Sure, go ahead and have that mindset, Coach Keith. But, I mean, goodness. I mean, it's like when Michael Bunting was back from injury or suspension, they were like, don't put him in. If he can't even take a line rush today on a Thursday, I don't have him in Saturday night. That's fine to express skepticism.

Yeah. But if he's available, he's in. Yeah. So. Listen, yeah, but, like, skepticism yeah but if he's available he's in yeah so listen for yeah but like if he is how effective will he be and we can go down that path and i'm the first guy to say as i've said many times on this show 50 60 play of the power play do it but if he ain't doing it tonight i'd just as is man go in there and try to win game seven.

Yeah. Don't count on him. Don't even waste your time talking about it. Don't even waste your time talking about it. It's a beaten horse right now. Yeah. That's my point. Okay.

But just to be clear, if Matthews is available, he's going to play. And they want him to play. But they want him to play now. The difference between how he looked two days ago in that eight-minute morning skate and today actually making some cuts and handling puck and shooting pucks feels like it's moving in the right direction. But we'll see. We'll see if he gets healthy enough to hang in there.

I have a couple theories on tonight's game. And that is a few things that haven't happened for the leafs and the bruins like in terms of positive thoughts here the leafs haven't scored more than two goals or three goals in one game or whatever they've barely scored at some point this is a good offensive team right like at some point you would expect they've shown signs though during the years of really struggling too. So I don't know how good they are. And I know the numbers at the end of the day warrant,

hey, this is a high-scoring team here. Yeah, second most in the league. But this is off the back of a 69-goal season from one guy and a Willie who was on pace for 130 points i'm talking about like willie hasn't been willie yet and started to show some flashes halfway through last game mitch looked like the best version of mitch that we've seen in this series last game the other angles are swayman has alternated starts going back to january i think maybe there's one exception in there but game on game off game off, game on, game off.

So he's out of rhythm now. This is his fourth start in a row. And it comes with a quicker turnaround, no multiple days rest. So he's back in net in a situation he's a little bit unfamiliar with. They're struggling on their end. You know, Mason Lorai, I think, takes a lot of risks. And he's a guy who's going to play a lot of minutes for them. Gryzlik, not sure if he's going to be in, but they weren't happy with the changes that were made to that roster.

Beecher, the good face-off guy. They pulled Beecher out who scored the opening goal of the series. They took a beating in the face-off, Don. They did. And, you know, Brezeau didn't look very good. They weren't overly pleased with him. My point is there's a lot of things right now where they're – Boston is not comfortable going into this game.

And I know the Leafs don't have Matthews, but I think the Bruins, this is a I think the first period is going to be huge. So just to update for the Bruins side of things, Heinen out tonight, day to day. Looks like... I like Heinen too. That's a big sting. And Peek still out? It looks like

Gryzlik is out again tonight and Weatherspoon's coming back in. Lowry back on the top unit, a top pair, with Lindholm and Carlos, the second pair. So, Carlos back in tonight. Carlos back, Shattenkirk is. So, JB, that's one way to look at it.

I mean, the other way to look at it is I can't believe that Boston would have any lower to go on a horrific first period in game five. Well, you can't play that bad. God awful. Awful. Maybe the worst period, maybe in three years. Yeah. No, they're going to be better than that.

They're going to be better than that. Yeah, they're going to be better. And that's, I heard, I talked to a guy today, shout out to Alex. He was giving me boston bruins perspective and it was just they played atrocious hockey and went to overtime you know that's as poorly as they can play they're mad at the changes they made they're mad at a million things and the game went to overtime so uh if you anticipate them being any better in their opinion they should have a better chance, it's just like you said about one of these games.

It's, you know, that the three or fewer goals in 12 straight playoff games, longest active streak. Like Marner can have a four-point game. Willie could shoot two in. Could they get five one time? Yeah. I just, could they? I'm just asking from the bottom of my heart.

Just a nice stress-free one tonight. Can we get that? Any chance? No. All right. You know, we've done this show for three years. This is the first time you've asked from the bottom of your heart. I think that's a difference maker.

Yeah. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Yeah. Guys, if you're listening, which I know you're definitely not, just score five and make it easy. Relief Nation, one time. Yeah, please win.

That's a very simple message for the comment, please, tonight. All right. Please win. I have a very simple message for John McLeese tonight. Alright, let's Please win. Let's throw one in from head coach Jim Montgomery on a 3-1 series lead. Hopefully we get something from his bottom of his heart.

Did you sense anything from what happened last year seeping in at all to the mindset? Does that explain at all what happened in game five? Do you sense that at all? We talked about it yesterday and we've moved on we think we've grown from it and so again our mindset is staying in the in the moment they talked about it talked about it i think it's montgomery's been weird to me between games like you guys hear uh heard him say yesterday he's pissed yes he's saying i'm going to

be pissed until the puck drops on the next game like don't you usually hear a coach go ah it's just one game we're still up in the series we'll go get him the next one he's pissed he is indeed what i just there's no way they're not thinking about it. And if you're the Leafs, that's the number one thing that you're drilling into their minds. And it's so much worse to do it to the Leafs. So much worse. Get on them early and make them start thinking about it even more. Like it's the number one incentive to come out hot.

I know it's really fresh still for the Boston Bruins off of their loss last season to Florida but any team that's up 3-1 that loses game five it's a similar feeling for everyone is like we can't blow this we can't lose three in a row we had them we lost. Canucks are going through it right now. Buddy, we went through it in the Stanley Cup Final in 94. We were up 3-1. We lost badly in Vancouver, came back. And it was like this would be the worst thing in the world to happen. So it's there.

It's regardless of even what they went through last year there there there is that feeling for sure that you know you don't want to be a part of something that is blown yeah no no kidding um so yeah that that is something in their favor could you get a bounce tonight couple of lucky ones get them to start squirming a little bit that would go a long way um they're back home where they've lost six straight playoff games. Is that a thing? Eight of nine. Wow.

Is that a thing? Yeah, it's a bit of a thing. Yep. It has become a bit of a thing. Why don't we listen to Sheldon Keefe on the issues on home ice clip two, please. I think for whatever reason we come in, our plan doesn't change, our approach doesn't change, but our mindset seems to change. And in particular, just staying with it and being consistent with it.

I look at the games that we've played here. Certainly game three, you know, you go through that game. I think we'd given up three shots in the first 15 minutes of game one, or excuse me, of game three, our first game here. So in that sense, it's a pretty similar game in terms of the defensive play and all that. We didn't have as much of an offensive push in that game, but defensively we were doing a real nice job. But just being able to maintain that play and then staying with it.

You have a plan, you come in, you want to try to execute that. You've got to stay with it a long period of time, which is what we did really well the other night. Didn't really answer the question. Why do you stink at home? That's very political. Answer the question you want to answer, not the one you've been asked.

Didn't really get a definitive answer. So let me ask you, like, give me your number one reason why they stink at home. I got pressure. I got pressure as number one. You know, I believe, and maybe you can back this up in your own playoff experience, but when you're on the road and you're keeping it close, you're in a close game,

that's positive for your team, right? It's like 0-0, third period, road game. We're doing good. This is good. Stick with it. When you're at home and it's tied, you feel like you should be winning. Like, how are we not pulling ahead? We got to go get one. Like, you know, we're at home. We're supposed to win this game, and it's tied you feel like you should be winning like how are we not pulling ahead we got to go get one like you know we're at home we're supposed to win this game and it's a different type of pressure yeah no i i agree and it's like a mind frame especially

here especially off of uh a bad start or worse and we've seen how many times this season the late period goal where you're like so deflated where you walk into the dressing room and go like boys what just happened out there in the last minute yeah last 40 seconds like and then you got to carry that for 20 minutes and then sheldon probably comes in and gives you an earful off of that last shift changes the whole tone of the intermission. Now you're coming out. Now where's the crowd? Where's their mindset? So the Maple Leafs home road split

since playoffs last year. It's very interesting to me. Sportsnet stats, since a wonderful stat pack. I'm just looking at it here. Their home record is one and seven since the start of last playoffs. Their goals per game is 2-6-2 at home.

Their record on the road is 6-2. Okay. Would you like to guess what their goals per game is? 2.62. Bang on. No. Yeah, exactly the same on the road as it is. Their goals against at home.

So they give up goals at home. 3.75 at home their goals against 2.50 on the road god i love when stats are tidy like that goal differential goal differential minus nine at home plus one on the road their power play at home boys is 17.2 five for 29 since the start of last playoffs five for 29 29 at home. Five for 29. Boston Bruins, when closing out a series, last five games, 0-5, they've given up four goals per game.

Jeez. So they've struggled to close teams out. It's a ghost off, boys. It's a ghost off. It's a ghost off. Both of these teams. It is a... Whose ghosts are scarier?

They're going to send a uh you know like a priest down there tonight it's gonna be an exorcism what's going on down there oh it's a ghost if you're a lease fan you're living in fear of david pasternak finding himself are you not yeah but they should be in fear of willie neilander finding himself it's the same thing you're totally right but the one advantage is willie's got to go around you and pastor knack still has the option of going around you or through you yeah so that's the one thing that that fears you from pastor knack yeah it's a it's a different style i do like the way nye's talked to him last game and i feel like

there's some signs that past is a little on tilt, and hopefully Marchand is a little on tilt from last game too. And, you know, both these goalies, you know, Swayman hasn't been awesome in clinching games. Like you said, Sammy, it's a ghost off at this point. So, you know, biggest story, obviously, is Matthew's not playing tonight, and there's tons of opinions on, you know, we said yesterday, which was a clip that got a lot of traction i wasn't expecting but talk about matthews and they're not trying to feed him the puck but is that like outside of that what's the

biggest difference between them with and without matthews for you guys is it just that other guys feel more empowered like what is it well for me it's just having a legitimate trigger guy whereas everybody remembers very freshly the max domey two-on-one with bertuzzi ed and how swayman was easily pushed off and was matched uh bertuzzi shot like when when you got an austin matthews there it's a different ball game yeah and how many pure shooters do the leafs have right now and outside of willie struggling that that's to me is is the biggest thing that's missing from not having 34 out there is having a a true threat to to shoot a puck in the net from 30 or 40 feet out yeah i do like that it puts pressure on other guys to produce other guys to think offensively and to your point

you know not just looking for someone it's whatever the best option is out there and domi played so well like i said marner started to come back a little bit one thing it's gonna do it's gonna force them to try to be better passers though yeah. Yeah. And I've been on this for a very long time. I've always. Since literally our very first show. Yeah. This has been one of your dates. They're not a good passing team.

I'm watching Florida before they annihilated Tampa Bay. How about Dallas last night? Snap the puck on a power play. Like, crazy. play like like crazy it's like through my my television i can hear the snapping of of moving the puck like you go to a baseball game and you you listen to a a great hitter you know hit hit a baseball and you hear that pop or the sound of the glove right yeah the snap that's the way it is when you watch yeah certain teams pass the puck i don't get that from the... Yeah. The snap. That's the way it is when you watch certain teams pass the puck. I don't get that from the Leafs.

No. You know, Marner on the flank, you know, he holds it and skates it and Riley dusts it off. You know, one of the misconceptions, I think, with people is that, you know, when you catch a pass in the NHL, it's like these soft hands or whatever. It's just a smack, right? Like, just a hold that blade solid basically

i do love the sound so i will look for some of that sound tonight yeah maybe they could make that sound on the power play for once well let's see keith on clip four let's hear his thoughts on the power play it got us some of the looks that you want you know i think john had at least two very clear wide open looks obviously morgan had, Morgan had the wide-open one-timer, which is as great a chance as you're going to get on a power play type of look. You've got to hope and trust that these are going to start to fall for us. Again, we spent a lot of time looking at the power play

and things that we'd like to do better and looking for potential adjustments and such. So you do that because you're always trying to refine it and trying to get ahead of adjustments that the penalty kill might be making and then through that process you're also looking at the scoring chances that you've had how can you generate more of them and i mean we deserve more power play goals than we've had in this series and we've had some really really good looks goalies made saves or we've just you know just haven't converted uh in very tight on rebounds and empty nets and these kind of things.

So, you know, the number starts to balloon and doesn't look good, and it's been a major factor in this series. But we just have no choice but to stay with it and do more of the things that we've done well to find even more of those looks. At some point, the guy's just got to put it over the line. Do I say it or do I let Derek push the button on we do not? We do not agree.

We deserve more goals this series than the power play. What? I mean, they barely had sustained ozone time. What? No way. That's good. That's good they feel positive about it. They've watched the video much closer than we have. Morgan couldn't have had a sweeter opportunity i don't know did it get blocked you know what he actually hit that good he and it was go no blocker hit a shin pad and came back

into the goalie carlo whoever the d was in front but it was it was a decent shot it just yeah caught a piece of the shin pad went back into swayman who didn't really see it you're right i know the exact shot you're talking about. Keep playing the percentages. They got to get one. It's like McCabe shot one just through traffic. It's like you have guys in the net and you shoot it. It's very hard to goaltend.

So that's probably a good plan. All right. Would you have ever thought to save a game six in the first round that the Leafs would need huge nights out of Matthew Nyes and Joseph Wall to save their season again. Kind of. Really? I can't believe how much I think Max Domi is important.

Because I'll tell you, halfway through the season, I was pretty hard on him on this show, right? Turning pucks over, hope plays, not defensively responsible. He's really changed for me he is a contributor he defends making better decisions yes he hangs on to it has the confidence to look for an open guy before throwing it yeah i just think that i mean we've talked about this a lot and especially with matthews out and i you know i forget where i mentioned this but they're really leaning on knives they're asking a ton of them he's's a rookie. And it's just like,

that's what I was trying to get to. It's like, he has to be now, but you look at the way this forward core is put together. They planned for this. This was like this. I mean, it's kind of been like this all year.

He's obviously had down points, but he's been in the top six for a majority of the year. They expected to have to lean on him. So I'm not surprised that they need a big night at him. And Joe wall, we thought was the starting goalie until he blew up his him. So I'm not surprised that they need a big night at him. And Joe Wall, we thought, was the starting goalie until he blew up his ankle. So I'm not surprised.

They're big players for the team. It is surprising that, you know, they're not homegrown players. They're not that big that you wrote them off in the last 10 games. I didn't. They did. That's what I mean.

Yeah. Right? They didn't plan on Joseph Wall trying to save their bacon this early. I think they could have envisioned once or twice if they go deep that he's going to have to step in on a couple occasions. But this was a very disappointing first round for Samsonov. And it wasn't horrible, but he certainly didn't didn't make himself an

x factor gotta win a game yeah give me one give me a game in there so yeah but i do think that there's a like a world and where you know the fans tonight i mean that'll be i mean fan talk in toronto there's few things hotter what will the arena be like what will the atmosphere be like they tried last game man they tried Oh, they tried their best. They tried their damnedest. That was a Saturday night. It's a different vibe on a Saturday night. Always is, regardless, regular season playoffs. But they want

this guy to, like, they are gonna be, you know, this guy's loved by the fan base. Do you have a suggestion for them how to chant his name? You know, Wally? You know, you could go full name. Joe Wall, Joe Wall.e yeah i don't know make sure it's not wally wally now wally is i mean in in the this is one of my favorite things what hockey nicknames are but he's clearly waller he's wall Waller. Of course he's Waller. Waller, Waller. I guess.

Tough, tough chanting name. Okay. You work on that during the call. We'll get back to you on this. All right. When we come back, Jim Ralph, Toronto Maple Leaf Radio color analyst, will join us as he preps as well for game six. And then at the top of the hour, in studio, Kevin Bieksa, as he prepares for his big night on Hockey Night in Canada.

Eight o'clock start. Rude. What is that? Rude. Perfect. Is it eight? I didn't even know that. He told me that when we were sitting outside.

This was me growing up with eight o'clock Saturday nights on Hockey Night in Canada. It used to be eight o'clock. I will say my son's going to be crushed because now he can't watch the third period. That's just too late. I mean, it's too late in general. It's too late for me. Too late for us. Exactly. 11.15 hits. I's just too late. I mean, it's too late in general. It's too late for me. Too late for us. Yeah, exactly. 11-15 hits.

I'm like, oh. All right. Plenty more still. So we get you teed up for game six on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things Leafs, Raptors, and Blue Jays every weekday morning, 6 to 9.

It's the Fan Morning Show. Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. TheCampreo's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee as we get you teed up for game six. Maybe not use teed up. Oh, yeah. That's a tough phrasing. Scratch that. Did you play yesterday?

Scratch? Oh, no. Two of them. Two of them right between the eyes. Yes, I did play. I did. As did I. All right.

Let's go to Jim Ralph, who my understanding is is enjoying lovely Toronto traffic right now. Ralphie, is that true? Yeah, you're not going to believe this, but the DVP-404 combination is slow from South of Vincent. Make the helicopter sound for us, would you? Beat your chest. I got to love 680,80 but they gotta change their programming same thing on the traffic every time well at least you've got uh

the american networks to thank because i think uh puck drops at 11 p.m tonight if i'm not mistaken oh yeah i have everybody used to get mad at Canadian broadcasts into the playoff. Boy, is that sweet. Yeah, no kidding. So, listen, what do you expect? You've covered this team for a long time and seen some disappointments against the Boston Bruins

and Game 6s and Game 7s. What do you expect out of tonight in terms of how the Leafs can go about this to turn it around here? Well, I know this is probably the most Leaf thing to say, but I have no expectation. I have no feel for

it. You know, you can see them exploding for five or six. They're being downstream after the first and that's really been the whole series. You know, it's just been tough to get a grip on, you know, how Boston's playing and how the Leafs are going to respond. And you talk about injuries and how are they going to respond

and what heroes are going to step up. So it's another one, you know, flip a coin. I know a lot of people are trying to flip the script and say the pressure's on Boston. But I think when you're facing elimination on home ice, there's a little more pressure on the Leafs. Yeah, definitely a decent amount of pressure. One of the themes with the Leafs, Ralphie, is that they just haven't scored.

They score in the regular season. They just can't score in the postseason. What do you see as the fundamental difference that they're not able to produce at the same level? Well, one thing, Borny, though, that I think is kind of a positive, I mean, the big positive is winning a 2-1 playoff game in overtime. I really thought in game three, they were outstanding for the first half of the game. They got the first goal by Matthew Dyes, and I thought, this is perfect.

This is playoff hockey where you don't have to put yourself in a position to score five or six. Then they give up the Trent Frederick goal, which I know is probably questionable at best, but at a horrible time, and the game flips around. So, you know,

I think there are some positives that you don't have to score five or six if you can defend well and protect leagues when you have to. Obviously, they have only led for about 20 minutes in the series. They haven't had a two-goal lead. But I like the fact that they, for the most part, defensively, outside of the second period of Game 1, have been admirable. I think that's more playoff hockey.

And, you know, when you see L.A., you know, as a 1-0 win over the L.A. Kings, you know, for Edmonton to do that, I think you look at that as a huge positive. So you would like to think that just the law of averages, eventually they're going to get a game where something goes. But you've got to give Boston credit, too, because they're not a team that's easy to score against. We're talking to Jim Ralph, the voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs color analyst getting ready for game

six at Scotiabank arena. So if before we get into maybe the Leafs lineup, just your overall thoughts on the news of Austin Matthews, not being available for game six. And, you know, in all your years of covering the Leafs or watching afar any other National Hockey League, have you ever seen anything like this between Willie Nylander and Austin

and their unavailability during this series? I think we can go back to the early, it might have been 2001, Kev. Matt Sundin got hurt, the series against the Islanders. Darcy Tucker got hurt. And all of a sudden, Alan McCauley and Gary Roberts, you know, picked the team up by the bootstrings and, you know, got them to the conference finals against Carolina.

So I guess, yeah, that's the one thing I looked at this and you're saying, well, you know what? You've got all these excuses not to win, but now it's time for somebody else, whether it's Max Domi, whether it's Mitch Marner, whether it's John Tavares or Matthew Nye, there's an opportunity for somebody else to be the hero. So I know you've got to go back 20-some years to draw on that experience, but I remember the same feeling when you were thinking that, you know, the Sunbeams out for an extended period, how are they going to win

without, you know, their captain and their leader up front? And Leafs are proving that at least for one more game, they've been able to find more heroes. Well, and one of the guys who's going to be tasked with that is Joseph Wohl. I mean, what a unique situation that he's been kind of thrust into here looked really good last game i imagine you don't feel much difference about different about the leafs whether he's in or samsonov's in do you uh yeah i do oh i've been a big joe i've been i've been a big j Wall fan since coming in.

I would say, I don't want to say disappointed, but I was a little in disbelief that he only played three of the last ten games down the stretch. Because my feeling was that if you're going to go on a roll, it's got nothing to do with Samsonov because we've seen too extreme from him. But that also leads you to believe you better have somebody else ready for Wall to go in under those conditions. You remember he did the same thing, you know, game three in Florida last year.

Samson off got hurt early in the second period. He went in, they lost in overtime, and then he beats Florida the next game to get them back to Toronto before losing in overtime again. So when you look at it, it starts in the playoffs, you know, an overtime loss and an overtime win. You've got to give him credit for that. But I just think he brings that consistency that you need in the postseason.

And as we saw in the third period, and again early in overtime, the ability to make the huge save when the game's on the line. Ralphie, is Willie Nylander ready now after a couple of starts under his belt to maybe have a breakout type of game here as a difference maker, a game changer? Well, they need it.

I mean, that's, you know, they look at, I know Pasternak has a couple of goals in the series, similar conversations in Boston that he hasn't really performed up to what his regular season numbers have been and style of play. So, yeah, whether it's Nylander, whether it's Mitch Marner, Tavares, you know, you'd take a three-goal game by Matthew and Isaac. But I think those are the guys that have to be the difference makers tonight what are your thoughts on the Boston Bruins side of things you know they they're

struggling a little bit they're back in they're swapping guys in and out and you know not sure down the lineup either I just my perspective Ralphie is that this is not one of the stronger teams the Leafs have faced in the playoffs the past handful of years what are your thoughts yeah no I agree with that. I mean, they've been great for Boston. It's always been a team that has been so good defensively. You know, whether it was Bruce Cassidy or Thug Julian behind the bench and great goals in it.

And, you know, sometimes that can mask your problems and can turn out to be your greatest asset. But I would agree. I mean, I think from the last time they played in the playoffs, which was, what, 2018, eight Bruins are back from that team, which is impressive. But when you look at who's not back in that group, from Zara to Bergeron to Creighton,

I'd agree with you that they're probably not as strong, but certainly good enough to win a playoff round. And as far as the blue lines are concerned here, Ralphie, you go into tonight and you don't necessarily give the Boston Bruins a heavy advantage with the likes of McAvoy and Lindholm. For me, number one is because of the play of McCabe. And he's really turned into the face of that blue line until Morgan becomes playoff Morgan from Tampa Bay last year.

He's really been the guy that's led this charge on that back end. Yeah, and he does make some plays as well. I mean, I think maybe the underrated guy in that two-kip is Joel Edmondson. And I think you love the fact that he's got the playoff experience. I know we talked about going back to Boston and reminiscing about winning Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals with St. Louis. He's also been a physician when he played for Montreal when the Leafs were up 3-1 in the playoff series.

And obviously the Canadians came back and won that. So I do like the difference in the blue line this year, whether it's Edmondson, McCabe, I mean, McCabe coming back, but Benoit. You're not looking at Luke Sten to be the sudden difference maker in this game. But I agree with you with Morgan Riley. If he can find that gear that we saw him have against Tampa in the first round last year, that would be huge in this game and possibly game seven.

Ralphie, in past years, it felt like the Leafs haven't known what they want to do down the lineup. You know, they've had Spezza and Thornton and all sorts of weird guys that kind of didn't make sense on their fourth line. They seem to have found an identity a little bit with Dewar and Reeves and Kanth. Has Reeves and Dewar, those two in particular, been a positive surprise for you?

Or is this about what you would have expected? Yeah, I think about what I would have expected because I thought down the stretch. I mean, Ryan Reeves is, you know, we talked so much about Ilya Samsonov, you know, finding his game midseason. Ryan Reeves is right up there as the guy that has been effective. And, I mean, let's face it, for the most part,

you want your fourth line not to get scored on. And, you know, they scored the only goal of the first game for the Leafs. They were on the ice for the turnover in game five that led to the only Boston goal, but I think he liked it. I still think you could swap in Noah Greger for Dewar at some point.

When you've got a healthy lineup, you might have a few more options, but I think you've got to be pretty satisfied with where they've been in this series. Ralphie, you think if you got out of your car and swam down the Don Valley River, you could get to the Scotiabank Arena faster? I actually thought I had the brilliant idea of taking the lake tour. Oh, how nice.

Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to hide out there. I will tell you, though, you don't get quite the same traffic updates when you're underneath the Gardner. Not quite. I don't think I've ever seen the helicopter dip down below here to take a look for it.

Well, we look forward to That's why I always leave early. That's why we leave early. Joe and I always joke that we're always three hours early for everything. I think we're looking good. Alright, and if by chance you're not, we look forward to your call

middle of the second. Yeah, we'll get you when we get you. Alright, pal. Thanks for doing this. Have a great call. Hopefully. Thanks, boys. Thanks, Ralphie. Jim Ralph, color analyst for the Toronto Maple Leafs. How about this for a plug? You can hear that game live tonight.

Starting at, coverage starts at 7pm with fan pregame. Getting ready for on Sportsnet 590 The Fan 8pm, Lees-Bruins, Game 6. You can hear the game right here. Wow, what a plug. You're driving around you want to listen to Jim and Joe put it on the radio

do what you want to do, but we're going to have it right here on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. I'll tell tell you i've listened to a couple games while driving this year it's great it's listen we we spent a good portion of the week talking about epic calls by mr bob cole but you can find a few of bonesy on some game-winning overtime goals. Yeah. And bless you boys. What a game. Yep. There's been a few. Could use another one tonight. Hey Sammy. Bless you boys. He does not undersell it and nor should he. It's wonderful.

Holy mackerel! There we go. Alright. Got a couple minutes here. Once again, top of the hour. Kevin BX is going to join us in studio here and we'll help once again tee up the hour kevin bx is going to join us in studio here and we'll help once again tee up toronto and boston as it's the only game in the national hockey league so wall-to-wall coverage continues down leafs net baby let's go leafs now we're allowed to do it

no one can criticize us but outside of that you got uh some lasting thoughts on uh tonight's game mostly just jake mccabe related we talked about the the decor a little bit um earlier but you know i thought that this has been sort of a coming out party for him it looked really solid i think kevin b actually did a great job highlighting some of his you don't have to kiss his butt because he's here oh but it is true he did highlight it and boy oh boy he's been really good for them. All right. As JB already teed up, Kevin Bieksa, Hockey Night in Canada star, the man that constantly has to carry it, carry Elliott Friedman, Kelly Rudy, and Ron McClain will join us. And hopefully, in the next 20 minutes, he'll carry us as well.

More Real Kipper and Boren when we return after these words. Music