Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: March Malaise

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the Leafs' 4-3 loss to the Flyers last night, and if they have established any concrete lineup combinations during this stretch run. They get into the dysfunction of the Rielly/Brodie pair and optimal d-pairings, the Leafs' lack of urgency, Robertson's defensive lapses and the significance of the final 15 games for the depth forwards. Later, former NHLer and NBC Capitals reporter Alan May (32:55) sets the stage for the Leafs' match-up against the Caps tonight, how Washington climbed back into the playoff picture, the emergence of Charlie Lindgren, Ovechkin getting back to his vintage scoring ways and former Leafs assistant coach Spencer Carbery's impact.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.

back-to-back nights for the toronto maple leafs on the real kipper and born show the leaf edition nick kiprios justin born semi mckee derrick brandeo jen rolnick for the next two hours we are live on sports at 590 sports atnet 360, Sportsnet Plus from 4 to 6. Download us when you can. Catch us live on your favorite pod. And remember to text us at 590-590. You got something really interesting to tell Sammy who can tell us. And then we'll tell you where to go.

Yes. Yeah. We will. All right. Halfway there on the back-to as i just mentioned the leafs drop a 4-3 decision to the philadelphia flyers was so good for so long against those flyers all good things must come to an end jb and uh it looked like the leafs may have, if they may have had another two or three minutes, they were tying this game up. But that doesn't take away the fact that it's pretty ugly

for those first 40 minutes. Yeah, it was. You know, it was a really weird game for me. And I don't know how you felt about it, but I, you know, I have a tough time analyzing that game last night because statistically, they were good. High danger chances, 14-5 for the Leafs. They hit six posts.

All these things you think were good, but you couldn't help but watch that game and go, ah, pretty ugly. I don't know. What was your overall takeaway? Yeah, I did not like it at all. You didn't? No, and I don't care what the stats tell you i am downright stunned by that you're gonna love that one i i don't care what the stats said i

don't care what the analytics said uh that's not a team that uh looks like they're getting moving forward to to getting ready for a firstround match. And I don't know if they just think that they're going to snap their fingers and get it all going by mid-April, but I'd have some concerns. And the one thing that I liked the most, and we'll get into it with Sheldon Keefe momentarily, is that he didn't brush it off as just a game where he could find some positives. He found no positives, and I'm glad he didn't, because neither did I.

Yeah, and we're all dumber for having watched that. No, honestly, like I'd say it was like one of those things, like that game from start to finish really provided no answers. And when you're moving towards the playoffs, what you're looking for is, is it coming together? You know, like,

do you, you know, what about this Q is going to translate to playoffs? You know, now they're on their one month sort of Ascension towards game one. And I wrote an article today and we'll get more into it on the show, but my article is just about who, what are the lines like going into game one is there any one line that you like or deep hair that you like

have they established anything for this team in playoffs outside to answer your question And over the course of Sheldon's coaching tenure with the Leafs, all I can remember is Mitch and Austin. Mitch and Austin. That's exactly what's in my article, is that there's one forward pair that is going to be together game one, assuming Mitch is healthy. And then after that, I literally cannot give you a second pair of forwards who are likely to play together.

And so I won't do my article in oral form here, but the idea was... Let's do a reading. Let's just read the article. The idea was if you go back and look at this Leafs team in the postseason over the past few years, against the Florida Panthers last year, the Florida Panthers used four forward lines total. In five games. In five games. In five games.

They didn't have. They never changed it up. Not a fifth line. Played two shifts together. Four. Total. Total. The Toronto Maple Leafs used 22.

22 versions of a line. So this is not a one-off in that series. When they lost to Tampa prior to that, they used 24 lines. When they beat Tampa, I think it was like 19 or something like that. Okay, not to derail your thoughts. We have Paul Maurice coming up at the top of the hour. Remind me to talk about your article today in Sportsnet.ca about just running four lines in five games.

I think it's like I'm shocked to hear it. When the Vegas Golden Knights beat Florida in the cup final, four lines in five games i i think it's like i'm shocked to hear it when the vegas golden knights beat florida in the cup final vegas used seven lines but four of them played entirely wow and the other three lines all played one minute together so they used four lines and the leafs well the leafs did not make it that far but in their other series they were all around 20 20 20 to 25 around average 20 last few years yeah 20 you know it's that is that's the bingo bango balls and so you know i'm sitting here watching that game last night i'm like what line i know reeves is out and marner's not there and yarn

croc's not there but there was no moment when i knew who was on whose line yeah you know you usually can know who to like, you know, when somebody comes out, you look for who's coming next with them. That means here comes, could have been anyone. I don't know. I don't know. And we,

if we were to put a finger on this, and this runs to kind of the consistency that you've talked about Sheldon over the years on our show anyways, that if he's chasing the score, he'll make different decisions. He'll, he just, being down a couple of goals will not lean towards him just sticking with whatever he's got going. It's like I'm changing it up or I'm going back to what i thought worked yeah in

the past yeah and and so that game last night you know there was like i think the d pairs stayed together which i don't know if that was a great thing because riley and brody were struggle fest 98 it was uh it was not pretty back there either can we do do a GoFundMe so they'll never play them together? What do we have to offer the coach? What's a GoFundMe have to do with that? We're going to have so much money that we're going to just either give it to Sheldon or... The players themselves. The players themselves.

We got to buy them apart. That's my point. Yeah. Find a way. I guess it's that they were really good for a really long time and Keefe is just searching for something with a decor that we've all had

conversations about that may not be the best one in the league. I think it's fair to say. And he's going back to something that he thinks should work and boy it just doesn't. Just give me something right now in pairs going into washington tonight and by the way in about uh what uh 15 minutes or so we're gonna have alan may join us who covers

the washington capitals for nbc washington he'll help us tee up tonight but in the meantime, JB, give me pairs tonight that don't include Riley and Brody together. Okay. So give me Riley and Labushkin. Give me Benoit and McCabe on his offside, Edmondson and Lilligren. I think Benoit was really good last night. You know, not really really good but he was one of the guys last night that i thought skated and looked pretty decent it to me that benoit mccabe pairing hasn't been what they wanted it to be necessarily but i okay hold on for a second you you're taking brody out yeah oh okay which i suggested a while ago but I got him right out of the lineup tonight. I know, but he's not coming out.

I cannot see Sheldon now bailing on Brody if he has not bailed on him already. Is it too late? Is it too close to playoffs to start messing with his confidence? Yes, it is. Could he play worse? I don't know, but he cannot play the right side you can't tell me that benoit is not more effective as a defender for the leafs right now am i am i out on

no over my skis here i thought benoit was a you know and we'll listen to keith talk about how he hated everyone last night but i thought benoit was a lone or one of the only bright spots for me where it's like, oh yeah, I missed having that guy in the lineup. He needed to puck up the ice a couple times, have a shot. There was one where I was like, just pump the brakes.

A little too aggressive, but I think he was too excited just getting back in. It's not like Brody's in his late 30s here. Is it just lack of confidence? Is it focus with him? It's speed to me. And when your speed goes and you're someone who plays tactically and defends the blue line, whatever, what is he?

He's not physical. He's not offensive. It's, you know, I want to be wrong here. The Leafs need a good Brody for their PK to stabilize a pair. He makes five mil. Like, they need him to be good. But when he's not, I can't pretend he has been. And I guess, to your point, if there was ever a night

they were going to do it, second half of back-to-back where he comes off struggling, you can be like, oh, he's a little bit banged up. You don't have to show him up and, you know, say that he's a healthy, say he's a bit banged up, bring him out of the lineup, give him a rest until they play Saturday night. Another back-to-back. don't know i could see it happening i guess but probably not yeah it is unlikely i admit that i'm okay with even edmondson and brody just something different

edmondson and brody together yeah yeah okay i could yeah let's have a look at that edmondson's fine on the on his off wing. You'd play Edmondson on the right side. Yes. And I put Brody on the left side. Would you really? This is the full shelter treatment. Here's a big defensive D-man for you for once

instead of you being that for someone else. Yes. Okay. And then. There's this saying as about shuffling some sort of chairs on a sinking ship. I don't know exactly how the saying goes.

That would be the Titanic. Oh, okay, okay, okay. But we're looking for something. I just want something where you go, day out a good night. Let's see if we got something here. All right, let's go to Sheldon Keefer, our first Kippers Clipper

on the overview of the game last night. Just weren't sure. We weren't sure mentally. Couldn't pass the puck. Couldn't handle the puck. Didn't sure mentally couldn't pass the puck couldn't handle the puck didn't defend didn't compete so not a lot to like thank you thank you for not finding one positive and i mean that yeah i'm usually the guy who looks for them and other than maybe benoit i am struggling to give you one so if they i like tavarez okay if they hit so how many posts they hit last night seven including the one that went in

if three of those go in off the post instead of out is he singing the same tune if my aunt had sammy they hit six i don't care they hit i don't care you don't care. They hit six posts. I don't care. You don't care at all? Six non-shots on goal, okay? That's what you had last night. Yeah. You didn't even get credited for a shot on goal. I don't care about six posts. You should change that rule. Don't even bring that in the equation.

Okay. Stick to Sheldon's comments. Okay. We sucked. And we are less than a month away from the Stanley Cup playoffs. We better get our act together. Fair. Totally fair. Let's hear Sheldon on the post to see if he agrees with Kipper.

Clip three, please. Yeah, we had a ton of chances. Second period. Third period. You know, but it could have been a lot worse in the first period at the same time. So you can't play catch-up hockey on the road and expect to win. So, you know, we weren't ready to go.

That's on me. Just start the game in the first period and dig yourselves a hole. It's amazing when you do that, how all of a sudden luck doesn't go your way. Okay, I'm loving Sheldon today. Loving him. Loving him. Real. Shocker. It's real.

The time he's the most sour you love him the most. His comments are real. I know. He's right. Listen, I'm just playing devil's advocate with the six posts here, but like, yeah, I'm glad he's like this because even the part where he says it's on me thank you it's your team it's your head you're the head coach it's a horrible start horrible john tavaris a goal and two assists i don't care you were soft as a pillow on the first shift you brought the puck into the middle you lost it

19 seconds later it's in the net horrible start if you're you know he was critical of himself keith was why are we starting john tavarez on the road with who is he with robertson and lilligrant on the back like why is that our first option i'm actually okay with that i'm okay with that because we got to put these guys in a position where they feel important starting a hockey game in the nhl is a big deal okay i've had maybe four my whole career oh come on no i'm telling you you don't start third and fourth line you start number one line you you start messier's you start matthews yeah that makes sense you start yeah but david yeah you know why because you don't

want to get buried the first minute and set a tone that that carries mentally it's like one bad shift in the second period doesn't have the same mental effect on you as a bad first shift because you carry all your prep work and to Sheldon's point you flush your prep down the toilet with a bad first shift that's why you always see the stars start because the coaches are scared to death on having a bad shift that can now have a domino effect on you and i'm okay with robertson put him in there you got to find out you got to make him feel important but it's up to you nick and jt and i don't know who the left winger was with it nice come on guys can't get soft here you're playing a team won the draw too that just

exactly you win the draw and you're still you're shoveling a puck out of your net 19 seconds later yeah thanks ilia by the way but that first shift all the boys should have said is get it in deep yeah get it in deep boys do not mess around here they've lost what eight in a row their coach just benched their captain he's full of piss and vinegar they're gonna come out here we got to be ready and they weren't it was a terrible first shift yeah you know i i don't know where you stand on this but like i made this joke doing leaf talk with sam last night which was just like the one thing i have some issue with is people are like you can't give up a goal in the first period you can't you know it's crucial and then you can't give up a goal in the final minute of the first period can't give one of the

final minute yeah you can't give up a goal in the first shift after a power play you just can't do it you can't and all of a sudden you know there's no game left it's like you never want to give it you always want to have good shifts i know i know but it's what you carry. It's those last thoughts carrying it into a dressing room. And it's... For sure, the final minute ones are killers. That momentum that you have to sit and fester for 15 minutes. It's that last shift that you're thinking about. Yeah.

But he would just talk a lot to me about the Leafs not being prepared for the starts of periods. And is it worse for the Leafs than other teams? I don't know. End of periods and end of games have to be worse. How many times have they given up goals early

to start periods? I'm sure there's statistical analysis. Saturday night, they had the lead and within 20 seconds of the third period against carolina uh connor dewards shoveling a puck off the goal line or else it's three three in in the opening minute yeah you know it's definitely seems like it happens i don't know

if it's true but you're you're right you're right that that's what are you guys doing what are you talking about in between periods and like what what's happening here that you're having these mental lapses to to start or finish uh periods or games well we have keith on not matching the flyers intensity uh clip two let's follow up with that i don't think it has anything to do with urgency necessarily we just we clearly weren't sharp especially on our half of the ice so we weren't willing to do the things necessary tonight from the start of the game i thought we competed pretty good on the offensive side but uh you got to do a better job when you're in your own zone with without the puck and we were very poor in that area tonight it's actually shocking that nick robertson got back on the ice after the first five minutes or whatever where he's the weak side winger and his guy just walks down main street behind him it's like god man you know you're healthy

scratch all you must be thinking about is defensive coverage how do you not it's the one thing you do in the d zone i i totally agree but i'm okay with with the leafs where they are and we will i'm sure we will lead to a discussion on the standings but where they are right now with there's there's no there's no panic and losing a playoff spot here so why not put these guys in a position to be tested now because eventually if you you think you're going to win two rounds or three rounds to get to a a conference final or a Stanley Cup final, you've got to put these guys in tests now.

And a few of them failed last night. Yeah, no doubt. But keep throwing them out there, even if it means that Austin or Nylander don't get to pad their stats. I'm okay with that. Learn something about the rest of your lineup. And he learned something last night. Give him another chance.

Put him back in the fire again and remind them, you failed last night, but you're going to get another chance here, and you got to pass. But I do wonder, when do we go from, this is the educational portion of the season, and we're learning what these guys can do in these situations to okay you know that part's over now we're playing the best guys in the best situation we're playoff ready this is the national hockey you have no

choice you have no choice but to keep throwing them out there because it will not your your lineup isn't deep enough even if if you sit there and go, okay, I got six guys going and I got six. You can't just go with six guys. You got to keep throwing them out there. The lessons never stop. But you hope that if there's enough repetition in the teaching moments, that they get to relax a little bit more.

They get to learn a little bit something about themselves. And that's what i think the next dozen games should be all about keep throwing homberg and mcmahon and robertson out there even if they look bad you have no choice man you got to build these guys up yeah you gotta you gotta have them feeling somewhat in a in a responsible mode to get ready for game one. Yeah, you know, it's funny. In researching for this article today, I was looking at some of the other of the recent cup champions and what their lines look like, you know, a little bit farther down the lineup.

It's not like they're perfect. Like Matt Amadio is on the third line for Vegas last year, who was a waiver release of the toronto maple leafs like you know if you're with guys that can support you some of these guys can can play like you can cover up you know robertson or holmberg or whoever if they're on a decently supported line yes you're right and i think the best example so far who's come a long way is Bobby McMahon. Right. He is the perfect example.

The Abe Kubel one with Colorado. Yeah, you had him for half a season at 10 minutes, and now in the last week and a half, we've seen him go from 15 to 17 minutes, probably a little under 17 last night for him. But he's now become an important guy because he is now being thrown out there more and i think he's a lot calmer he doesn't have to feel like he's got to make a a great play to get

his next shift he knows it's coming just need about two or three more of those guys homeberg that was ben wants me last night where he doesn't know his next shift's coming so it just seemed like a little much a little much. A little too aggressive, a little too excitable. Holmberg, Robertson, you know, even Matthew Nyes. There's some shifts where he looks pretty darn good and there's

other ones where he's like, oh my gosh. Get him off the ice. In another dip for me. They're not going anywhere without those guys. No. They are going to need him. You know, I thought thought a good example that last night is lilligran as involved as he was goalie pulled he got a lot of touches in the offensive zone in big situations now i don't love that necessarily you know that that he's in those spots but i appreciate that it should help

with his confidence and give him reps he needs and so they clearly see this as a guy that they want to be involved. And I don't know. They're doing what you're talking about, Kip, giving him the opportunity to. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned the schedule there and them being locked into a spot. I was listening to Bonkus this morning talking about this,

and it was something that I hadn't really thought of but they've been in this malaise to the end of season for since 2017 2018 basically where it's just march malaise it's just a you know death march to playing either the bruins or the lightning or the Panthers for the last bit of the season. You can't really move up. You can't really move down. And how much of that has led to what's happened in the playoffs with them not playing any intensity down the stretch? Like you think about these teams. I mean, it's a very easy example to draw,

but look at Florida last year where they are playing fighter scrapping, life or death, and they go down 3-1 to to boston but they've been playing playoff hockey for however many weeks and they come back they win they go all the way to the final or whatever like these malaise games it just feels like it's happened to them every single year and a lot of that's because they've lost to bad teams and all that but like they're never playing intense games down the stretch. They're meaningless.

Yeah. Well, listen. Then. That has to have an effect. Lose to Edmonton, Carolina, New Jersey, Washington, and then start Florida feeling like you got to play to save your season. Yeah. They might get there organically.

But they're just not. Listen, they're not going to do that. They have too much skill. Yeah but they're just not like listen they're not gonna do that they're they have too much skill yeah they're good 85 points if they get 10 points they're in playoffs in the next 14 games they've been winning a lot like they win five times but this is horrifying this is that's what's wrong with the almost war this is friggin standings this is where sheldon has to find a way to overcome that, Sammy. That's your head coach who sets the table. Practice, games, dinners, meetings, sense of we're going nowhere, guys. You want to play like that, it's over. It is Daryl Sutter, eight days, guys.

If you think you're going to come to the rink and just outscore your mistakes in the first two periods and think you still got a chance by playing this river hockey and last one to touch the puck wins you're done i get all that and he is going to be hammering them with that for the next three weeks but it's human nature. I don't like, I know. I'm not sure if he's going to hammer them or not. You know how I'm going to know. He's going to be telling them like process, process. He's going to be having all his meetings that he loves to have.

They're going to be telling him all the different things. He's going to be coaching just as hard. But it's human nature for these guys. They're like, this doesn't matter. But we'll know. It doesn't matter. We'll know by watching. We'll know by watching.

If he's tricked them into caring? Yes. But how can you, it's the same guy thing, the same things for five straight seasons in the exact same situation you've been in. I don't get, I know they're professional. They're making so much money. They should be trying their hardest every night.

And I believe they do. But in the back of their mind, it's like, well, another one that doesn't matter. Life or death, yeah. Because we can't move up, we can't move down because of all these great rivals that have been created by Gary's sweet playoff format. Yes.

One thing I did want to touch on was Joseph Wohl not being available. Last night, he didn't back up. I talked to, you know, I was trying to figure out, we were all kind of trying to figure out what happened, where he was. I was talking to my buddy, Michael Amato works here at sports and basically just suggesting what is pretty obvious they have three goaltenders if you want wall to start in the second half of the

back-to-back you might as well have jones on the bench in case you pull the goalie wool still available as your starter for the next night carolina does this with three so yeah he's gonna go tonight no i don't think there's any great conspiracy about where wall's been or no no and i almost have to revert to our conversation a couple of days ago where they're gonna they're gonna give wall plenty of opportunities here to get his ready game ready by game one what's it been four, four straight for Samsonov? So I think, yeah, four straight. But I think that they wanted to use that window too to... Listen, Joseph Wall was off two plus months.

Yeah, so this is like a get back in a couple games. Let's like slow her down, practice. Put the work in. And then put the work in. So we assume he's playing tonight and if he has a good outing i could see him getting saturday as well really so but was that based off samson off last night did you like samson off and not really but he's the least of my worries right now for the leafs the goaltaltending, we're going to question right to the very end.

But, as of now, I think there's a lot of focus that needs to go to certain individuals or lines or D combos. Right now, I think they're going to give Samsonov and Wall ample opportunities

the last, what, 15 games. Let's listen to the coach on Samsonov, and we'll jump back in. I think he was like the group that I didn't like anybody tonight for defense goaltending, didn't like anybody. Okay. Got it. No one good. I thought he, like...

So mad. He talked for a minute 40. A minute 40 total. That's... They weren't very good. He was swimming a little bit. Well, I thought that, like, an open door or a closed door, that he like made himself an open door.

He got narrow at times and almost got out of the way of pucks. Long's goal was no good. No. Was that the one where there was some contact it looked like, but he kind of played it up and twisted a bit? Yeah, but even like Benoit giving up the middle on the 360 move and then and then mccabe like over back checks same with robertson right well it was a complete i actually put that whole thing on max who fires a absolute laser saucer straight towards the back

the blue line from behind the net with no support. It's like, he didn't even need to saucer it. He had no chance to make a play on that. It goes down the other way. Benoit's out of position. Then it's a soup sandwich, like you like to say. It just wasn't pretty. That's a great use of soup sandwich.

Shout out to Darren Underwood for that. Willie Nylander has 27 points in the last 20 games. There's few people let me tell you he's minus three over that time texting people are texting the monster season continues and like i don't know am i watching the same thing here because we know how skilled he is we know that he's so good he's actually the human embodiment of the leafs, isn't he? Like, he can do it. Almost better than anyone in the league. But I think his games regressed since the first 40, 50 games.

Kip, I think he has three or four blue line turnovers for breakaways in the last three or four games. No person makes more plays and hands over more pucks in the same game. This guy, high event both ways, electric to watch. And it's not, doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon. He did limit this stuff. He can do it. Right?

He can do it. The first 40 games. He can do it. I think so, yeah. After the All-Star break, it kind of like it's almost like there's this one moment throughout the season where it all sort of changed let me think about it oh when he got 92 schmillion maybe that was the moment it all changed it was more intense he played a heavier game in the first half he did yeah hey. Hey, no argument. I, I think this guy,

I have no worries. You talk about guys you're not worried about that. The moment doesn't get too big for him. He's able to show up and be there and be the same guy. The problem is the same guy takes a lot of chances and doesn't always think defensively responsible. And he is unbelievably dynamic. Last year,

Kipper, we had the conversation. One of our big conversations all year, was how much more consistent Willie had been. That had been the biggest jump for him, where he cut out those weak stretches where he didn't notice them, and we talked about that all.

And then right around this time last year, in the standings malaise that they were in again last year, this happened, and without the production. Like, you have the production now that's there, but the defensive side of the puck, like, even Mike Johnson last time on the broadcast did a great job bringing it up. He's above the puck, like, on multiple different occasions.

Yeah, offensively, he's above it. Like, instead of, like... He's just not... Or he shouldn't be. He's just not locked in. And I think, I have belief that he will be once it starts. It's just this whole team has nothing to play for. There's nothing to play for.

Agree. Couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. I remember like against Florida game two, the Leafs were up to one to start the second period. And he has a moment where he just starts dangling in the neutral zone he falls and barkov goes in there and buries it that's just willie he does it in the playoffs too yeah i vaguely does yeah i'm just saying though it's like it's crept in in the playoffs on occasion

too i know he's got this this feeling like he steps up and he's way better than matthews and marner in the playoffs which i'm not really buying all that much player he is he doesn't change but if if he if he gives up as many as he gets what are we doing agreed it's a huge this is this is my feeling with robertson i got you know my my buddies texting me like pictures last night they shared the points per 60 or whatever you know robertson's fourth on the team and whatever it's like he gives up as many that way unfortunately you know and and willie does not give up as many that way as he does offensively but he can on certain nights and last night i think he did all right we've solved nothing nope and we're just getting started uh when we return we got alan May helping us tee up the Washington Capitals.

Are they back in it or what? That power play there is just humming. Here comes Ovi. Here comes Ovi. Sammy, he's hot. Let's go to break. All right, Ovi, Alan May, when we return on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. The best Blue Jays show out there, period.

Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toronto Maple Leafs set to play their second game in as many nights they've battled the Washington Capitals this spring and Alan May, former National Hockey League player, more importantly

my right winger when I broke into the league now doing a terrific job covering the Washington Capitals for NBC Washington. Maisie, what's going on? Nothing. You forgot to say that I think I assisted on your first goal as well, but we won't bring that up.

You did, and the late Doug Wickenheiser. There's my first goal. That's awesome. Yeah. Wasn't it a good one too? Oh, it was fantastic. Joe Louis, Sammy St. Laurent didn't stand a chance. Poor oh it was fantastic uh joe louis sammy saint laurent didn't stand a chance poor guy i think i ended his career that night first overall and uh did you get drafted

undrafted two undrafted wingers that did pretty good for themselves there you go all right listen um uh capitals need wins. They got to climb in there, but it's a race I didn't necessarily see maybe a month ago, but how has this been done in terms of the Washington Capitals now having a legitimate shot at making the playoffs? If you just look at the goal differential, when I say it's been pure defense, you'd laugh me out of the room, but it's been pure defense on the last 15 games it's been 10-4-1 in that time and you look at the goals for 54 goals for 44 goals against but of those goals against 23 have come in the four losses

and only seven goals for those four losses uh the power play is finally clicking I think it's 16 power play goals for seven power play goals against in. I think it's 16 power play goals for seven power play goals against in that time, but it's been swarming defense. They've been playing better without the puck. I think they realize they're not the fastest team. They're certainly not the slowest team, but they're not the fastest. And they're realizing they're not the offensive juggernaut they used to be. They need a five-man swarm. They got to stay above the puck. And it's very similar to what you saw out of the Philadelphia Flyers last night against the

Leafs. They block out the middle of the ice. Charlie Lindgren's job has been a lot easier. He only has to worry about the half of the net where the puck is on. And he just gets that glove out there. They're keeping shots to the perimeter. The high dangers are going down. In most of their wins, they're suffocating teams. The penalty

kill's been really big for them. Most of the season has been pretty good. The power play was awful at the start of the year. It was either 32nd, 31st, or 30th place. And I think that everyone finally got the attention of the coaching staff after a game at Edmonton just over a week ago where they just got the doors blown off them trying to trade goals at the Oilers. And after that, they settled down.

Three really good games of excellent defense uh against Seattle Vancouver and against the Calgary Flames just the other night but it's been team defense all the way team defense has led to um you know some really good goaltending too from Charlie Lindgren over the month of March uh he's got the best save percentage at 940. Is this a surprise, a revelation? You know, this guy, I think he's almost 30 years old. Where did this guy come from? Well, unfortunately, he came from being behind excellent goaltending. When he was in St. Louis, they had Huso and Bennington and Montreal,

Carey Price and Jake Allen. So when you look at that, the opportunities aren't there. You have to go to the right place at the right time to get your opportunity. No pressure last year being a backup. Every time he went in, he was spectacular. The entire team fell apart down the stretch last year, and everything about La Villette's system caught up to the team. This year, right from the get-go, he's been battling hard, the glove

hand, playing with a ton of confidence and I think that's bred confidence from his teammates, but he's been there. He was just always in the wrong place at the right time and now he's in the right place and it certainly looks like the right time. Allen, in 2018 when the Washington Capitals won

the Stanley Cup, Kuznetsov could have easily won a Conn Smythe and looked like a guy that was just going to be a Washington Capitol for a very long time. He ends up out the door at the trade deadline. Who has benefited on this roster because of that? Who can we watch tonight that is now eating up some of those minutes? I think the biggest thing with getting Evgeny out of that, who can we watch tonight that is now eating up some of those minutes? Well, I think the biggest thing with getting Evgeny out of town,

unfortunately he had to go to rehab. He was gone for a while. He was away from the team for about six weeks. Then when he got back, they didn't let him back in, basically. They knew they had something worked out with Carolina. But it's benefited Connor McMichael. He's been given a more important role every single game. And he deserves the role. It wasn't just handed to him.

He had to really work hard the last couple of years. He's developed an all round game. His two way play is way better. It used to be about, you know, those guys that score 50 and 60 and junior like yourself. You've got to figure out what your role is. And he has figured out that his role needs to be a competent all-around center that stops on pucks, battles for pucks. And then they called up Hendricks LaPierre a while back, and he had a hat trick his last game in the American League against the Belleville Senators. And he came into the caps, and he was flying. He was on a confidence high, and he was skating not just fast on offense, the back checking, the tenacity that he skated with.

He doesn't have to worry about getting a jersey every game. And he's really stepped up and he's really hidden some of the slower wingers or the wingers that aren't getting there as fast as they used to be. His two-way game has really developed. His puck protection, his puck management, way better. And I think you and I have talked about it before, how important it is to play in the American Hockey League. And if you could be on a good team and go to the finals, what that does for you, learning about defensive play, the sacrifice, the block shots, take hits, make plays, everything that goes involved with winning.

All these Capitals players that were on that roster to finish last year and win the Calder Cup with a team that really shouldn't have won the Calder Cup, they've all benefited and they've all came here ready to play. Beck Malenstein, Alexi Protis, they played very, very well. And because of that growth and getting that two extra months of hockey, those guys had a little bit of cheat code on everyone else.

So they developed confidence in themselves, and the organization knew that it was time to let these guys start getting in the lineup. And they haven't let management down. They haven't let the coaching staff and certainly not their teammates down with their evolved play. And the all-around play has been a lot better it's been a lot better to watch because we all know when you first come out of junior especially the high picks they think they're still going to be that guy that guy and it takes a while if you're not ready for nhl day one it takes some hard work usually about three years in the minors in my opinion to get yourself ready

and when you're here in the states it's you're not under the gun under the microscope so much to develop and have to produce in america league and what's wrong with this guy you just kind of put them there you kind of boil them get them ready and then you bring them up when they're uh perfectly baked so there are so many good so many good things about what these young players are doing right now so the young guys are making a big difference for them but i gotta believe if you look at uh so the leafs or sorry the caps power play percentage in the first half of the year up until december was 30th in the league and since then they've been at 28 fourth best in the league since gotta believe that's on the back of the

vets that's on the back of ovi who now has 20 goals in 19 straight NHL seasons. What has changed for Ovechkin that he seems back? He's alive! He's back. Well, I think the big thing is at the start of the year, there were five guys that were on the power play were melting the ice because they weren't moving around. They were just standing in that 1-3-1. And I don't know what happened, who said what,

if it was coaching staff or if it was players finally having a blowout with each other or maybe getting ready in like a cocktail napkins and figuring out what they could do but they all started moving around and most importantly obi got out of the old office and he started to go on the right side of the point where john carlson was john carlson was kind of staying up on the lefty and teams didn't know what to do and all of a sudden the players started to realize there were more openings when obi moved up there and obie's an incredible passer we know he's got a wicked shot but he was doing the same thing for so long it was basically 15 years of that setup his career hasn't has been longer but it's been 15 years of that setup and they were standing around looking for perfect passes

they weren't even getting any quality looks and once he finally started to move around everyone else started to move around. I don't think it matters which five guys are out there or the four other guys at the OV right now. If he moves around, it makes the penalty killers get out of position, forces them to think, opens up passing lanes, opens up shot lanes, and it's been a lot better to watch because we all know, as much as we love hockey, when we hate on a power play,

it's just the worst two minutes of a game when they're just standing around being so deliberate and everyone in the building knows what's going to happen. And when you're not getting goals, it gets even tougher and tougher. And I felt that the last three years, the power play has been a drag on the team. Right now, it's such a positive. We're talking to Alan May, former NHLer, covering the Washington Capitals for NBC Washington so everybody talks about Toronto being the the media market of the world and how much

coverage everyone gets when they're here with the exception of assistant coaches we know nothing about the Leaf assistant coaches every year and that included Spencer Carberry who left here to become the Washington Capitals head coach what can you tell people listening now who are leaf fans about spencer carberry that they had no idea when he was behind the leaf bench he loves to talk and he's he's a great guy huge personality uh gracious to everyone and he's done such a great job of uh you know he communicates very well with his players and you know i heard that when he was in south carolina heard that when he was in hershey that his communication skills were excellent and he hasn't eaten eaten his own he hasn't beat up

the team he doesn't blame losses on players he he doesn't he doesn't accept the credit for the wins and he always talks about the group and you know what when there's a problem he's probably in the office about 4 a.m getting ready trying to figure it out and try to help them get out of the problems but he just looked at ways to fix problems and find solutions rather than finding and blaming people but uh i think an incredible personality a great hockey mind and just the way he goes about selling what what he believes in in the game of hockey without acting like he's invented the game, because we know how nauseating that can be when general managers

and coaches act like they invented the game, created it, and they're the purveyors of everything excellent in the game. He's a humble dude. He's worked really hard with his coaching staff. He lets his coaching staff have a huge stay, and I'll give you his number if you want to call him because he's probably willing to talk to you now, Kirk. Kirk Muller there, he leans a lot on Kirk.

Well, the entire coaching staff, these guys, they hang out a ton. They collaborate. The skills coach is a part of it. The video coaches are part of it. But having Mullerlly around such a great positive influence all the time uh he's been excellent and he brings you know there's different points of his life he's connected to everyone in the game uh it's amazing but he's able to lean on all of that experience you know from his playing experience to his different coaching experiences

to the people he knows it's always just a phone call or a text away. So certainly having Kirk Muller around has been an excellent choice. He's been a great hire. He's fit in very well with the guys. And once again, they're all good to the players. They don't bend over backwards to the players. They get them to change. They help them get better.

And it's been great watching these guys all collaborate. All right, looking forward to the game tonight have a great call alan great great catching up with you thanks for doing this pal take care thanks alan alamay nbc washington the uh the capitals goal leader since 2005 06 has been ovechkin this year d Dylan Strom. Shocked? Dylan Strom has 23 goals actually ahead of OB. Smart player. Smart player. High IQ. Not a great skater.

No. No, but he's smart. He's like, to me, he's like R&H light. They're not a fast team. He's like, he's a nudge light. Yeah. The Leafs are going to have to really be patient here if, in fact, they catch themselves into this 2-1 kind of low-scoring game.

You're right. Yeah, and that is something that we've preached for the Leafs is that patience. But they do have those sort of guys. Don't cheat on this team. No. You know what's a fun fact for me, too, is combined blocks and hits among forwards. So you total the blocks and hits. And look at the guys who rank tops of the league.

It's Garnett Hathaway, Cal Clutterbuck. And then before Tom Wilson is this Beckck malenstein this guy on washington so they got two guys in the top four that hit and block shots and that's kind of the way they want to do it right they want to slow it down and i looked up i looked at the box score for uh the game where you got your first career goal uh ala may had a hell of a night that night gordy howe hatfield goal is this in a fight yeah 11 pims plus two nick kiprio's plus two who do you fight uh let me quickly pull that up detroit uh maybe joey kosher who good lord uh yeah yeah it would have been joey kosher who's winning the fight alan may and brad may uh kevin hatcher got in a fight that night a lot of

fights a roster of detroit's i do let me let me hear some names one of the best things in sports is let's remember a guy uh you would do you know who scored two goals for the stevie why nope sean burr had two goals late sean burr he had two goals uh but stevie eisman had two goals, but Stevie Eisenman had two assists. He was a dash one. Joey Kosher had two assists. He was a plus one. So, yeah, there you go. Did Boreas Salming play that game?

He did. He did. That was really cool for me. Wow. Really cool. That is amazing, Kippy. I was like six, seven years old when Sittler, Salming, Lanny were my heroes. That's cool. Man, that's cool.

That was like a moment. There you go. And you look across the ice and you see the king. Yeah. Very cool. And do you remember who played in net that night for you guys? Jim Rivnak? Bob Mason.

Bob Mason. Bob Mason played in net. So there there you go which great guy too that's a great guy i mean to get that's to play play against yeah salming that's pretty amazing cap yeah didn't try to run him uh not even close autograph book time can i have your stick jersey swap jersey swap anything just don't ask the Raptors about jersey swaps. Yeah, geez. In listening to Alan May talk about Spencer Carberry, so he's a University of Alaska Seawolves alumnus like myself. He was there the year before I was.

So when I went on my fly up, usually you call it a fly down, he was one of the guys that kind of took me around and showed me the dorms and everything. He is a massive personality. And guys like, you know, he partied and guys loved him. I'm shocked watching his career ascension because you just kind of see one of your like, you know, meathead hockey buddies that everyone loves to hang out with.

And it's really incredible how well he's done for himself and how teams seem to galvanize behind him because again, he's a wildly popular character. Do you remember that first game the Leafs played against the Caps? I think it was an afternoon game. It was a weird game. It was the first game we ever watched,

all three of us together, where Kipper said I was talking too much. Okay, yeah. They were the worst team in the world. Yeah. They were truly... I watched them at training camp, and I'm like, it may be a tough year.'m like it may be a tough year yeah it may be a tough year

that he's rung this out of them is very impressive let me throw this out to you because we often have this coach of the year conversation with the tockets of the world and yeah like would he not be in the running if they make the playoffs i don don't see why not. To me, you know, the Jets coaching staff, having them in first in a very tough central, talk it with the Canucks is worth the mention. Knobloch, what he's done to the Oilers. But Spencer Carberry is in that conversation. I'll bring it up in game time.

We'll have the exact odds. The Predators as well. All right. And we're just getting started. As we said earlier in the show, Paul Maurice will join us. Awesome. I'm really looking forward to that. Plus, we'll get a little bit more into Tortorella.

Yeah, we ignored him, but we're going to talk about him. We didn't even mention his post-game remarks on benching his captain. We're going to get into that as well so plenty more on the real kipper and born show do not go away that's an order We'll see you next time.