Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Matthews' Milestone, Samsonov's Net

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with reactions to Auston Matthews reaching the 60-goal mark on Saturday against the Sabres. They get into the game - Leafs fans taking over the Sabres' home ice, the scrum to end the game and Samsonov's shutout bringing him closer to securing the starting job heading into the postseason. Then, looking ahead to tonight's game against the Panthers and how the Leafs respond to Florida's physicality. Finally, former Panthers' defenseman and current analyst Ed Jovanovski (34:47) discusses Florida's untimely skid, their playoff outlook with heightened expectations, Reinhart's signature season and how the deadline additions are fitting in.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.

the real kipper and born show leaf edition we're live on sports at 590 sports at 360 sports that plus from four to six you don't catch us live get us on a podcast and remember always te always text us 590-590 all week. And we'll get to the good ones. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Derek Brandeo, Jen Rolnick, and recently called up from the Bunkus League, Sammy McKee. Welcome back.

Welcome back. Really happy you're back, boys. Nice long Easter weekend. Had Friday off. Just really enjoyed myself. Good. But I will say, I missed you guys. Yeah, I know we missed you too.

It's a long time to be away for four full days without seeing you two. The show's attendance this year has been sparkling. It has been. I don't think Borny's missed one. I'm still going strong. I think you've missed three to go to Florida. I did. And I've missed three total.

So six games out of how many games we've played all year? No, you lost. We're doing good, boys. That's durability. That's incredible. The best ability is availability, and we're available. So I'm really happy to be back. And yeah, it's nice to see you guys.

Yeah, you too, bud. Yeah. And Kim got a fresh haircut. You were kind of in light Easter-y fun colors. Yeah, I did. Nice weekend. They're hanging in. The feathers are hanging in. Buddy, I'm jealous. You are. They're hanging in. The feathers are hanging in.

Buddy, I'm jealous. You are. You're hanging in there good. That's great. What are you worried about? Oh, I'm losing them. Really? Oh, yeah.

It's bad. It's going back deep, boys. I'm fighting it. Buddy, hang on. I'm 41. It's going now. I got no chance. It might be time to fly to Turkey, pal.

I get a fourth trip. I wish you much golf. Maybe I'll give up golf and go to Turkey. That's true. All right. We got a big game tonight. Oh, baby. Coming off a weekend in which the Toronto Maple Leafs

shut out the Buffalo Sabres on the back of Austin Matthews scoring 60 goals for the second time in his career. And now, just a handful have ever done it before yeah ninth player in nhl history with multiple 60 goal seasons it's a heck of a run can you name the other eight with two 60 goal seasons yari curry okay yes correct brett hall correct ovi no no him. Oh, just one for Ovi? 65, didn't he? Yeah. I'm terrible at this. Gretz. Marcel Dion.

Mario. Gretz only did it five times, though. Mario. Mario, correct. Was Dion one? Marcel Dion? Nope. I can give him to you.

No, no. Wait. Oh, okay. So you have Gretzky. Yes. Peter Svoboda. Peter Svoboda. You said Curry.

Hall. So you got threeoda. You said Curry. Hall. So you got three of eight. So this is a great radio. I got three. Yeah. Gretzky, Mario. Oh, yeah, you said Mario. Yeah, so you have four.

Yep. Can you just give us the names? Bossy. Yes. Five times. Wow. Yeah. That's a big one. The other ones are pavel beret and stevie

eiserman and phil esposito very good company that's crazy if we had sat here for another 30 minutes i i don't know i don't know if i get all three at the end but anyway there you go uh and a good goal too like a kind of feel like i'm not going to be denied goal yeah yeah i mean he was it was funny play like the demon had lost his stick and he picked the pocket there and i i think he felt he should have scored on the breakaway but yeah really stuck with it and thug went in there and the celebration by the crowd in buffalo i i will say uka pekaalukanen he robbed Matthews a solid three or four times and it happened to him the game before against

Lindgren where he stoned him and that save on the breakaway he makes when Bo Byron blows his stick up was a great he just gets to the front of the net and he goes in but yeah I asked this question on Eat Leafs Talk last year too was it better that it happened there than in Toronto I feel like it was a better reception

that it would have been here well you got more i would say authentic leafs fans people who probably wanted to spend less but love them enough to travel and you know you had a i just kept can you defeat a franchise more thoroughly than the leafs have beat the sabers by import they own their building did you catch some of the comments and i'm a bad producer i forgot to grab the clip yeah that's all good but tristan wouldn't have forgotten he would have forgotten to load them in the system but he wouldn't have forgotten to to clip them and it was a red light went on i was like i think it was um cousins killing cousins and alex talk that that they were so dejected after the game and i think it had a lot it had everything not

just the loss because we know they've had a lot this year yeah but just the feel in their hometown building to get absolutely steamrolled by the crowd was disheartening as i've heard players after a game regarding their fans. Yeah, his cousin said something like, it's something if we could get that support like that on the road someday, it would be great. And to say that we know that we have to build that, these guys were basically looking at what had happened over their time in Buffalo

and really Leafs fans have just. Ugh. Yeah. But the last time they went down there, all those fans had lost nine, three. So it can go either way. It can go either way. But the fact is that they're there,

you know, even to see the loss, but it's the, it's the opportunity that Sabre fans are allowing the Leafs to go out and, and, and go get their building. Now, is that all secondary market ticket sales?

It's just the ones that aren't scooped up by Buffalo fans first. Yeah. And if I'm, not to derail this thing to Buffalo's organization, but if I'm the owner, Terry Pagula, I can't let Saturday night happen ever again. That was the ultimate humiliation toiliation i i don't care what i need to do if i need to buy the tickets myself yeah and hand them out myself but i cannot allow that building with leaf fans to humiliate my players ever again wasn't there something at

the start of the year where they were going to limit it or there was a way they were going to limit it like a area code thing? I thought there was a ticket license too. They definitely made some effort. If you're a seasoned ticket holder and the Sabres reek, they've stunk for however many years and you're like, well

I got to make back some money here. I don't want to go to watch this team. You're like, well, I'll make triple what my tickets worth on one night. I don't think it's a moral failing for a Sabres fan to sell their tickets. I just think that, you know, as the owner of the team, you got to find a way to keep them in Sabres fans' hands. Yeah. Okay, in about 30 minutes,

we're going to welcome in former NHL defenseman Ed Jovanovsky, who has played over 1,100 games in the National Hockey League and current TV analyst for Valley Sports Sports covering the Florida Panthers, who, by the way, are 4-5-1 in their last 10. Ooh, what a soft playoff. Foe of LB. A little vulnerable, maybe, coming into tonight's big game. So we'll get Jovo's thoughts on that.

In the meantime, just to go over Saturday night, let's go to Sheldon Keefe for our first Kippers Clipper of the Week on his overview in Buffalo. Things I really liked in the game, some that I certainly did not like, but the things that I liked, because what we'll focus on most here tonight, I thought we defended really hard. And when I say that. I thought we defended really hard. And when I say that, I thought we defended too much, and the game was a little chaotic.

But especially in the first two periods, the majority of what looked like their scoring chances didn't get to the net because our guys, like second, third efforts, we got sticks on pucks, we got bodies in lanes, we collapsed to the net. We killed a lot of chances before they could really, before they become really dangerous. And, you know, that effort and competitiveness I really liked from our team.

And that led right into our penalty kill, which was really good tonight. So that type of urgency is excellent to see. What did you think? Of what he had to say? Yeah. I think that, if I'm being honest, I thought that the last period of when Matthews scored in that little, you know, quote-unquote brawl,

which was far from a brawl, I thought it kind of papered over a pretty sleepy game for a lot of it that was just like a little sloppy and they got bailed out by their goalie a lot but yeah i think you need that over the course of an 82 game season kippy okay and don't ever use brawl with what we saw it was more of a dance than anything oh my goodness well i was just saying this sam before the show like if you're mcmahon and tuck in that whole thing like have a fight or don't fight you're both there you got your you're hugging each other if you're mad each other fight if you're not mad don't fight what is this i don't know i don't know either do it or don't and he keeps going on it's like i did get a couple of texts from ex-players that were giggling at that attempt of showing something i

don't know but it's fine it's better than nothing i'm fine i'm very 2024 oh it's a gen z brawl that's what it is that's exactly what it was that's what it was yes you're not mad just don't just let him go he's not trying to get anywhere. The one thing that I'm watching this Saturday night, and I'm hoping tonight kind of corrects itself, but I didn't see anything Saturday night that can help you prepare for a Stanley Cup playoff game other than the performance from Samsonov. Yeah. That was it. that's all i grabbed

out of saturday night i think you nailed it you know they were without a lot of bodies right they are without very good players in riley and marner we know and then some good secondary players they're playing in buffalo they didn't play great they probably got outplayed right they're outshot but their goaltender was excellent they have finishing ability they got a win on the road great you know i'm not going to be overly critical of that but the bright spot for sure but their goaltender was excellent. They have finishing ability. They got a win on the road. Great. You know, I'm not going to be overly critical of that, but the bright spot for sure was, well, one, the penalty kill being better, but mostly that the goaltender,

I think that's the best I've seen Samsonov play this year, maybe. I thought he was really composed. That's a nice warm-up for me. I thought he was really composed, and I felt very good about where his game was at. Okay, let's pick up Sheldon Keefe on his goaltender's performance Saturday night, and we'll respond.

He's just a talented goalie, you know, that's found himself, whatever it's been now, a couple months ago, and, you know, he believes in himself. He's worked at it. You know, I talked to Curtis Sanford after the game tonight, and he actually felt, never mind the big saves and stuff like that, but he just thought technically that this was his best game of the season,

just how he moved in the net, how he was in control and in position to be able to make those big saves because of how he was managing the game and his depth and all those sorts of things that are so important that I don't know very much about. But, you know, when they show me and talk to me, it makes sense. And he was really good in that area tonight, so he gave himself every opportunity to be in position to make the big saves when we needed him to. And like I said, I thought, especially in the first two periods,

our guys really did a nice job of sort of settling down some of the chaos in the game by not letting the pucks get to our net with second and third efforts from our guys defending. Okay, there you go. Curtis Sanford backed you up. It is very funny, though. Is there any other sport like this where the head coach of the biggest team in the sport is like, I don't know what that guy's supposed to do. Like talking about go team in the sport is like, I don't know what that guy's supposed to do. Like talking about goaltending, he's like, I don't know about that stuff. That's one thing between me and Keith that we really see. I just hate goalies.

Yeah. I don't know a lot about that. Look good. So at least a week ago, we were questioning who was it going to be, and we've got our answer right now. No question. Samsonov is the number one goalie of the Toronto Maple Leafs going into the last single-digit games.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it is 100% his net to lose now. Okay. So Joseph Wohl, his last game was excellent, right? Played very well. Yeah. i was at a 5-1 win against washington was it yeah yeah well he was excellent he played very well in that win so two of his last three games he's been very good okay so my point is can he play well enough even if samson off just okay he can't play well enough there's not enough out of his hands there's

not enough runway left in the season and we aren't we're talking about samson off since january 1st yeah we're not talking about samson off the last week week and a half two weeks we're talking about a fairly big chunk of a measuring stick right now going into the last couple of weeks here of the season and that to me again means a very very about face for him to lose his net yeah since january 1st the highest winning a winning percentage among goalies uh samson i was first minimum 20 games played he's a 775 with skinner at 759 and ottinger at 741 they're not gonna mess with that now they're not gonna now play head games uh going into the last uh what nine games yeah i you know i still feel like it's gonna come listen it's it's aprilst. They play nine more games.

If one guy's bad three times and the other's good four times, you know, and going into the final two and it's a wall playing good. That to me is a meltdown. Sure. Right? That's a major meltdown that he's going to. Have three bad games? He's going to chunk.

He's going to chunk a shot. Massive drive. A massive drive a massive drive he's gonna hit one fat three times yeah scotty scheffler missing the six footer yeah i i really do you know this is the stupid conversation we have all the time but like i tend to agree with kipper that he's established himself as the number one goalie and i was wall guy through and through and what i've seen from Samsonov, it's good enough to tell me that he's starting game one. Who the hell knows about game two.

And that's why I hate the two goal thing. I know that's it. But what if we go into tonight where Samsonov is starting, right? He is the starting goalie for tonight against the Florida Panthers. And they shoot five past him on 16 shots. And then what are we saying tomorrow? You know what we're saying?

We're saying what we've been saying all year long and you know your reaction to Samsonov starting with that smile is you don't trust him. Don't confuse that he

may not start in game one. You don't trust him. Yeah. He could run the table for the next nine games, and you will still go into game one and go, I don't trust him. Yeah, you're so right. So that's all it is.

And I won't argue with that. Yeah. But he's earned it. He's earned it based on the body of work since January 1st. I also think it's no small statement that they're playing the Florida Panthers tonight, who are their likely round one opponent. And the Leafs three weeks before playoffs have said, that's the guy. But what does intrigue me is this was the logic with Joseph Wall getting two starts

against Boston just a few weeks ago. And don't forget that before Wall got hurt, he was the unchallenged number one of this team. Samsonov was being shipped off to Siberia. He was going to be the guy, you know, he gets hurt. He comes back. They give him the biggest games. He has a couple slow starts, but now he's playing well.

They want him to be the guy. He's going to be here. If they have the chance to make Wall the guy, I still think it can happen. But to your point, it's Florida tonight. They are saying that he's the guy to play Florida, who, by the way, have the best road winning percentage in the season, so Samsonov has his hands full.

Four of the nine games left for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the regular season are against Florida and Tampa Bay, which I kind of think sucks, to be honest with you. Why? Because they're tough games to kind of, you're going to overreact to the games. And I don't believe in necessarily taking your foot off the gas pedal because you need to play a certain way

and it's not an off and on switch but they also play florida april 16th i don't care what the goaltending situation is i don't think you want samson off to play in that game in a perfect world or maybe even wall i might be right jones getting a Jones getting a start. I think they would want to get Jones a start or two. I really do. But tonight, I think it's a good game for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Again, where do you sit on the probability that these two teams play each other? And what do you think you may avoid by not playing that hard or not putting too much emphasis on tonight's game, but I think it's an

opportunity that can help build character for the Leafs tonight. I just don't like that they're playing now because a lot of the season is sort of decided. I understand that there's standings, jockeying going on a little bit, but if the Leafs play their tail off and get super hot and

catch Florida and pass them and get home ice advantage, okay. If they're still playing Florida, play their tail off and get super hot and catch Florida and pass them and get home ice advantage. Okay. If they're still playing Florida, like, help them. Maybe it helps them 1-2%. I don't know. And if somehow,

some way they end up, you know, getting relegated to the wild card spot. Same thing. Okay. Yeah. Give me a really good team. Psychologically.

Give me Boston. Give me the Rangers. Whatever. Psychologically, if we were talking about a team that should have and was expected to win the Atlantic Division ends up the eighth spot in the playoffs, that doesn't have a psychological effect going into game one. Well, they can't be eighth. They could be seventh.

Seventh. Yeah. Yeah, I understand your point. Yeah. I know what you're saying. Yeah, like I guess, guess i guess but i still don't think it would affect their chances of winning that series which to me would be the exactly the same percent chance of winning you know if if they get boston or the rangers or

florida they got a 49 chance of winning in my book so um against my best judgment i did cut some palmer east clips this morning oh morning. He spoke to the media for 10 full minutes in Toronto, which is... Can we just listen to the interview we did with him again? His Super Bowl, of course. The clip three there, Derek, he's talking about setting the tone for a playoff matchup

and playing this close to the playoffs and doesn't matter. He spoke on that very topic. Do you want to play that for us, clip three? I think none. zero effect really truly like like we got a certain style of hockey that we play they have one we're both going to play it tonight and then if we see each other in two weeks nobody's going to remember this game except for you guys like truly we're going to play hard they're going to play hard. They're going to play hard. It's game 74-ish. I think, what are they at, 73, 74?

Okay, so there's both teams have had strong enough years that they've got to play eight more games for the playoffs. You know, and, yeah, everybody wants to feel good, but everybody wants to get to the playoffs pretty hard. The difference in the standings between Boston and us and maybe even Tampa is probably based on the schedule. What a line that is. I don't agree with Paul.

No, and I don't think he agrees with himself. He has no bearing, he says, off the top of that clip. It doesn't matter tonight. I think there's more upside for the Leafs than there is Florida tonight. Florida has their rep and everything established and their perceived favorite. We know their style of play, right? And this is where I think the Leafs can get some upside

is that they got to ramp up their style of play. And I would be, if I'm Sheldon Keefe tonight, I'm pushing my team to have a style of play that we saw against the Edmonton Oilers a Saturday ago. Whereas, go challenge their better players. And I know Edmonton is not in the lineup, but there's McCabe in the lineup. There's Labushkin in the lineup.

There's McMahon in the lineup. Benoit. There's Benoit in the lineup, but there's McCabe in the lineup. There's Labushkin in the lineup. There's McMahon in the lineup. Benoit. There's Benoit in the lineup. Reeves in the lineup. Go challenge them. And if you can have some success like you did against Edmonton with that style of play, and it plays into your favor and perhaps even win in the hockey game,

we are going to remember this game. Well, that's the thing where you're not going to remember this game. You will if something happens. You know, like if there's bad hits or fights or an 8-0 rout or, you know, whatever it may be. But there's certainly the possibility that you remember it. The thing is, Kip, I just don't think that is going to become the Leafs' identity.

You know what I mean? Like, they're not going to become the team that suddenly... But that's the kind of team that they're going to have to become the Leafs identity you know what I mean like they're not going to become the team that's suddenly but that's the kind of team that they're going to have to become in the playoffs JB I'm sorry you're not just outskilling teams in April it doesn't work you know it it doesn't often I agree you know but like the Penguins win their cup they're not overly heavy you know they're not overly defensive it's just it's rare i know they need more of this defensive element or this physical element so i just the leaf decor can be that the forwards i don't know by the way there is a stat that uh these teams are one and two in the nhl and hits per game this year which do you believe the leafs are second in the league and hits per game this year yeah really you believe the leafs are second in the league in hits per game

this year yeah really yeah i do i mean they got their their decor specifically they run into people just k benoit they're just not they're not punishing and they're not intimidating that's what's missing in the leafs hits correct so yeah ryan reeves it'd be interesting to see if reeves let's say reeves takes it to Sam Bennett or whoever, can he stir it up enough to stay relevant in this series? Same lineup? Yep. Same lineup as in Buffalo.

The Leafs are second in the NHL right now in different combinations of defensemen with 25 this season. They've had 25 different D pairs. Just fascinating. You like their penalty kill? Yes, the penalty kill. Against one of the worst power plays in the league? Well, you know, it's funny because I did write an article last week and said I'm not that worried about their penalty kill.

And then three straight games they have not given up a penalty kill goal. And, yeah, not against a great power play. We have a clip on it. Clip three from Keith talking about it on Saturday night. All righty. Well, we've spent a lot of time on it. Obviously, it was required and probably long overdue. But the guys have really rallied.

You know, we've made some adjustments to it. You know, we're killing a little bit differently in some areas. And the guys have bought into that and adjusted on the fly with the limits of practice time. But so much of the penalty kill just comes down to will and competitiveness and all of those sorts of things. And, like I said, I like a lot of that area of our game at five on five. And I thought it went right into our penalty kill, too. So that's

great to see and when when you're doing those things especially with the penalty kill it's six kills tonight you know that's obviously it's a major um major part of the game you know that allows us to hold the lead all throughout the game and be in a comfortable position and not allow momentum to swing back and forth. Hey, you got to start somewhere. Yeah, that's about it. Like they're, I mean, statistically, they have a bad power play, but they don't have awful players out there.

Like Darlene's a good power play player. Tage Thompson was a really good power play player last year. Like they have guys in that power play that are somewhat intimidating, Kip. I know they're... They're 29th. I know, Kip. They stink.

They stink. They stink. I'm sorry. Well, guess what? Guess who else is... They're 29th. I know, Kip. They stink. They stink. They stink. I'm sorry. Well, guess what? Guess who else is... It freaks. So the fact that they went 0 for 6 is impressive to me. Sounds like a fair fight to me, and they won.

They've made crappy power plays look great. We're going to find out tonight because it's a top five power play in Florida led by Sam Reinhardhardt what's he got 20 25 sam reinhardt has the highest third highest percentage of a team's power play goals uh since 1993 he has over 44 of the florida power play goals are off his stick so he's the guy who shoots it in the net an insane amount might be a good idea to cover him. Yeah.

And when they get a power play goal, they win at an 850 clip, which is the highest since 2013, I think. Wow. They're good when they score in the power play. So definitely a key area of the game to watch for tonight. The Sam Reinhardt thing is out of this world. He's shooting 25%. Do you think Austin Matthews getting a 10-minute misconduct

will hurt his Lady Bing chances, Kipper? Again. If I didn't find that whole episode embarrassing enough, giving him a 10-minute misconduct was like a joke. Not to mention Benoit's interference penalty. Oh, my God. So you didn't like the end of the game? Listen, whose angle do you want?

Leafs, fine. You're up 3-0. Nobody needs to get hurt here. Leafs are fine. Buffalo on the other side, come on. Leaf taking a little bit off the other team. Something. Give me something.

Give me some passion and emotion. Not this fake little pillow fight. Do-si-do. The Sabres are hurting, man. They're embarrassing. They need to untangle that knot. Yes. It's a mess.

It's tough to watch from the crowd i love buffalo fans i just you know the pagulas need to get involved a little bit right like they were they basically are all bills now sounds like they don't deal with the sabers at all they care at all it doesn't seem like it at this point no it doesn't it's not pretty all right just sell the team somebody will buy it oh my god who wouldn't buy it right now people are all i mean that's a distressed asset that would have a ton of value they start winning games unfortunately it's not for sale because the leafs on them ah there it is all right more on the matchup tonight or do we want to break now we're doing we do a little bit

more on the uh because keith talked about the panthers tonight and said you know on the matchup against them and what if last spring plays into tonight at all and that sort of thing. So we can listen to clip five from Keefe there. I think it's less about what happened in the spring. I mean, we've got a lot of different people here. I think that it's more so just it's a really good team. Playing a good team, it's a divisional team, a team that plays you hard, doesn't give you an inch.

So, you know, the game is very competitive in nature because of the style of play and all of that. It couldn't be more polar opposite than the types of games and types of, you know, our style of games that we played last week. So it's going to be a different feel that we've got to be ready for. It is good, Kip, to play these teams and that different style he's talking about before the playoffs. Listen.

You don't want to play Buffalo and Washington. And you've been right there with me talking about florida a lot to like about florida but i am i am catching them a little bit more vulnerable right now oh yeah yeah i mean i know they've been losing a bit yeah four five and one in their last 10. Yeah. And I don't know. Like, I'm a huge Barkov fan, but this guy can come up with a goofy injury every once in a while. Mm-hmm. He seems to always be a little bit in and out of the lineup. I mean, I think managing expectations last year, this time, what do they need?

Pittsburgh to lose to Chicago and Columbus to get in. So that's gone. That us against the world is gone. This is now managing expectations. They've had me and you and a lot of other people going, this is the team to beat. I still think they probably are. Are they feeling a little bit that at 4-5-1?

I like where you're going, Kiffy. Underdog Leafs, nothing to lose going in against the big favorites. I think there's something to be said there, Sammy. Nothing to lose other than every person that works in the front office and coaches staff. But, you know, to your point, Kip, like they weren't that good a team last year. Like during the regular season, they weren't that good a team.

They snuck in playoffs by a literal point. They struggled. They sneak in. They get a huge win against the Bruins, right? A comeback win against the Bruins. And all of a sudden, the good vibes are going and they're able to take that to the final. We saw the Montreal Canadiens, you know know have a Stanley Cup final run not that long ago

and that team I'll just say it they stunk you know it can happen and then all of a sudden people look at this team and go you guys should be winning and I look at their lineup and go okay Evan Rodriguez and Sam Bennett are on the second line you know Lusteran and Gajevvic, Stenland, Lomberg. Like, I'm just saying they're not the 1960s Canadians. Were the Canadians good in the 60s? 70s. 70s. Okay. Really good.

Leafs in the 60s were really good. Okay. So, yeah, that's the idea here is that this is a good team, a legitimately good team, but I don't think they're unbeatable. And they went out and got a guy like tarasenko who is still a very talented guy but i don't know how's how's his lip dragging playing 13 minutes a night now is he playing 13 a night i don't think much more than that yeah yeah so i don't know i all i know is sometimes it can have a negative effect around guys

if some guys feel like they're not getting their just due. Yeah. He's not playing a ton. You're right. His last five, 12, 13, 15, 12, 14. I don't even think Ocpozo was the captain of the Buffalo Sabres. Was he not? He was.

Yes. Is he even in the lineup? I don't see him in their 12, just taking a daily face-off as we're talking. So those are pickups that haven't exactly worked out for them that well. Yeah. Which can kind of throw a little bit of chemistry off. Sure.

Ekblad has come back. You know, that should help them out a little bit. He's another walking bandaid you know it's funny you're talking about Barkov his last four seasons 66, 50, 67, 68 games so he never played 70 games always misses 12, 17

games. Always got goofy little things going on. Yeah so it's prone to going away at any point so get the boys out there hard on him early lean on him sammy this is this is like i always my spidey senses are tingling with kip here he's setting it up he should win so we can lean on him harder when they don't bingo i remember after the lightning in the first round that you're like they're gonna sweep this guy they're gonna sweep

i had an i had an usher at the Raptors game yesterday go to me, hey, tell Kipper, be nicer to the Leafs. He goes, even when they win, he's hard on them. I said, listen, he's the worst. He's the worst. I'm doing my best. I'm trying to work with this guy. Listen, I've seen where bars need to be set to win a Stanley Cup.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay? That's all. That's all I'm saying. Expectations are completely reasonable and something champions have to deal with. Yes. I don't think it's unfair.

I do like to joke about it. In the back of my mind, too, great built-in excuse night for the Leafs tonight. No Riley, no Marner, no Edmondson, no Lilligren. Like, you're missing four guys, and you can just be like, ah, no, they don't even have their playoffs-type lineup. Here's my prediction for tonight's game.

One of Samsonov and Bobrovsky is terrible. One of them. I don't know which one, but I think it's just like two guys. It's going to be a narrative-based thing. Okay? We'll look for that. So let me get this straight. All this time you're on the show with me and JB,

you're not only analyzing the Toronto Maple Leafs, but you're analyzing me. Yeah. Yeah. Sound like that. Don't like that? One bit. Okay.

Can't be. I love you, buddy. All right. Let's take a quick break. We come back. Ed Jovanovsky, another guy who's analyzing the Florida Panthers for us on the real Kipper and board show. The best blue J show out there,

period. Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. the caprios justin bourne fresh off his stint in the east coast league sammy mckee fought his way up he's looking good here. Get it in deep. Thank you. Change early.

Austin doesn't look like he wants to slow down at all. Playing a different game. Without Marner, he's a different human being. Is it nine games left? Better game? You think better game? I do. I think he plays.

Because the goals. He's not on a goal-a-game pace or anything, but he has. He has looked better, more complete for me. Snapping it around way more than me. All right. We got Jovo. Let's get Ed Jovanovsky involved in our Real Kipper and Board show

as he preps for Toronto Maple Leafs-Florida Panther game. Jovo, thanks for joining us, man. Really appreciate it. The Leafs and the Panthers have nine and eight games, respectively, left in the season, but two against each other. So how much stock do you put into tonight's contest? Well, I think when you look at the Panthers,

I mean, four, five, and one in the last 10, I think they hopefully found a little spark last game, played better. You don't play in these teams that are hungry. For playoff position, There's no easy game. Played a decent game and hopefully they found some level of excitement

in their group and find that consistency going into the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, you look at both teams are playing for points, trying to get their game in order. I think it's an important game for both teams. Joe, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

Wanted to get your thoughts on the skid that Florida has been on. You talk about them getting excited for playoffs. Has it just been that they kind of know roughly where they're going to be in the standings and just trying to get to the games that really matter? Well, I mean, you guys both know I think it's a long, long year. And the team has been so consistent this year. So I think we know who they are as a group. So when we see this little skid, it could alarm a little bit,

but there's no reason to hit the panic button. I think this group, you know, at some point was going to probably go through a little stretch where, you know, some defensive miscues, some lack in scoring, and they hit that the last 10 games. And, you know, hopefully, you know, just talking to the guys, I think they're all comfortable kind of where they're at. But they certainly want to get their game going and feeling good about every aspect of their game, you know, heading into the playoffs. Joe, we were speaking moments ago about expectations

and how this time last year, Florida wasn't even in a playoff spot and then made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final. A much different feel here in terms of expectations. How do you think they can handle it with the experience that they have in the room led by Barkov, I would imagine? Yeah, Kipper, I think when you look at this group, you know, they've kind of climbed the last handful of years. You know, their couple first-round losses last year kind of sputtering, finding life kind of in January time and really playing well heading into the playoffs and being, you know, a few wins away from winning it all.

This year, differently. They came out of the gate, started excellent, been really consistent, like I said. So, yeah, I mean, the expectations are winning a Stanley Cup, I think, for this group. They added, you know, a couple guys in Tarasenko. They added in Buffalo. So I feel that Bill Zito believes that the pieces are there

and that they have the team to have a long playoff run. But I think if you ask anyone in the organization, you know, what are their goals, I think this team is in the position to really contend for the Cup. You know, one of the most important things to have for deep playoffs run is some of these elite guys who can score goals and produce sam reinhardt having a career year how much of his career or his success this season is you know kind of knowing where to be playing with barkov stuff like that like is he controlling playing controlling games or just an excellent finisher for the Panthers?

Well, he's an excellent finisher for sure on the power play. I mean, I'm not a huge stat guy, but I think he's got 25 or 26 power play goals. You know, he's a very, you know, smart hockey player. Seems to be in a good position, always at the right time to have a good look at shooting the puck. But, you know, you hear Paul Maurice talk about it when things aren't going well, he'll go to Sam Reinhardt.

He's probably a coach in the making one day. I think his hockey IQ is very high. But, you know, like I said this morning on a couple shows, I think you're really good. Obviously, him being a pending UFA, you have to look at the situation where Sam Reinhardt is. And I think he understands that, who he's played with. And he's not a guy like he's going to wow you.

He's not going to be a master. He's going to take you out of your seat. But he just seems to finish on plays. But a lot has to do with his line mates, the system he plays, and the positions he's put in. So basically what I'm saying is recognize that when you're going to UFA so we can keep him here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This guy's not that good. We're talking to Ed Jovanovsky, who covers the Florida Panthers for Valley Sports. So you mentioned a couple of late trades at the deadline, including Tarasenko. I know he got off to a pretty good start with a couple of goals early, but where's the fit here? Because I see the minutes probably aren't where he thinks he should be right now.

So, you know, acceptance of any role, or is this a guy that wants to be a big part of this thing in the top six? Well, I would think, yeah, being in that role. I mean, Tereseko is a goal scorer. I think you got to get him the puck. He's got an excellent shot. So I think having him in your bottom six is probably not what they've envisioned for him if he does end up in that area.

But you look at him, he's had some great games, had some games where, you know, has been that, you know, noticeable. But I think coming into this situation, maybe a little bit of a different system. But you can see when he's going and he's skating, coming off that off wing, he's very good at finishing. And listen, the guy's won before. He's had an excellent career.

So you've got to put some value in that, knowing what it takes to go through a long playoff run. And adding him can benefit the group. So heading towards playoffs here, we've been talking about the Leafs finding their game, what it's going to look like, whether that's some physicality from the back end, a lot of scoring.

The Panthers are second in the NHL in penalties taken. I think they end up shorthanded quite a bit. They play a physical game. Is that at the root of their identity? Is that physical play? It seems like you guys got pretty good defense and goaltending to go along with that. Yeah, Borny, I think you mentioned that,

and I think it's been a hot topic of late. I mean, last game, I think the penalties were 6-1. They've been kind of on the other side of that, and I think it's been a hot topic of late. I mean, last game, I think the penalties were 6-1. They've been kind of on the other side of that, not saying that they weren't penalties. I think the ones that you just can't live with are the offensive zone penalties, right? The ones that are a little bit lazy, you want to take that extra step, get above the puck, don't be reaching in there

and give the opportunity for the ref to make the call. But it's one area I think they need to clean up. I mean, they're confident in their penalty kill. But we all know, you know, come playoff time, it could be that one kind of silly penalty. And we had one the other day, kind of like Rodriguez along the boards, had time and kind of flung it over the glass. And it seems like those penalties, delay game penalties,

always seem to end up in your net, along with the offensive zone penalties. So it's an area that, yeah, you want to clean up a little bit and maybe not play shorthanded as much. And it just takes a lot of guys out of the rhythm that don't kill penalties because this team usually runs four lines. And I think that's what's made them so good where you're not taxing your top guys on each and every night where you can roll the four lines in the 60 and have a well-balanced lineup and that's what i think bill zito has done with this group and has given maurice and they've executed well on it when they can roll those groups when this regular season

winds down Bobrovsky could be looking at close to 60 games in a season and that's a number that you know we don't talk about anymore for for goaltendings goaltenders starting in the NHL but is there any signs that this guy could tire at all moving forward? I don't know. I mean, all we hear about is how hard he works and, you know, the time he puts in the gym. And, you know, I think I'm going back to what you said, Kipper, too, is we don't see it much anymore. And I read the comments of Marty Berdour of late, you know,

how we baby these goalies now and they're not playing as many games but I think the Panthers when you look at this situation here Anthony Stolarz has come in and played excellent so I think you can afford to give Bob some rest you do want to have some consistency

in your goaltending going into the playoffs but you also want to give your number two guys some action just in case something happens. I think they're comfortable in that area. They're comfortable with Bob running with it, I think, down the stretch here. And I think they're in a good position there.

Well, we're looking forward to tonight's game. Jovo, have a great call, and we'll catch you down the road, okay? All right, guys. Anytime. Thanks, Jovo. Appreciate it. Ed Jovanovsky, color analyst for the Florida Panthers. Bob's going to play that many games, eh? I think he's at, well, he'll be 54 tonight.

Yeah. So I don't know. Does he 57? Yeah, yeah. That's a lot. 56? A lot of games. 58?

Before we got to Jovo, you were talking about how you've liked Matthews recently. Yes. Dive a little bit more in on that? Sure. What is it that you see? I just see a guy that is thinking about more options. That's what I see.

Yeah. It's interesting. To me, it's a no-brainer that Marner comes back back they play together again you know like i don't love the idea of people being like give matthews his own line you think matthews just that bertuzzi domi line you cannot you can't even i don't even envision one second of a puck drop in game one and marner's not with matthews i know that's the time to now experiment right you know not a chance yeah it'll be curious to see if marner gets back early enough for them to experiment at all and when's he coming back do you know i think if everything feels good he

probably will play wednesday night okay yeah like we're there we're at that sort of arrival a riley skated as well if i'm not mistaken he did so yeah you got you got the the bodies coming back with some runway which is nice this uh the timing could be good for the leafs i think by yeah by april 20 that right? I did see they called up Marshall Rafai. So, you know. And they needed to put Mitch on long-term. Did they? Retro.

IR. IR, not long-term. So why feels like we're starting way too late, the playoffs? Okay, can I just add one more thing? And again, it's great that he got his 60th goal the passion all of that i'm not telling him to stop scoring goals oh boy but you've got nine games to go it just cannot be about how high this number can get. And I don't blame him. I blame the media.

And I blame people like you, Sammy. Okay. How do you blame the media? We are the media. Because it's, everybody's obsessed with how high can he go. Yeah, because it is fascinating, right? It's fascinating to see if he can have the all-time greatest season as a Leaf or whatever. But for that to really happen, you've got to make him the priority for the next nine games.

Well, who's got to make him the priority? The media just covers it. He doesn't have to do anything different. Yeah, he has to play a little bit more selfishly to get 70. To be part of the media? No, no, no i'm saying that it's it's media driven yeah the the push the constant he ain't getting 70 he's not gonna sniff 70 people still want him to get 70 i would like him personally i would like him to you know get to mcdavid's number from last year that's 65? 64 is what McDavid... It's a great number.

It's fine. Listen, I just want him to go out there. The focus has to be on the team being as prepped and ready as he can for game one. It can't be him chasing and hunting down goals. I actually think it's in the perfect scenario now. Where I thought he was chasing 60 pretty hard. Yeah. Right?

Where the last couple games, he was taking fall away jumpers for sure. You know, he's also been there before. But now that he's gotten 60, he's got to have a hattie tonight for us to be talking about 70. Like it really feels that it's going to be the perfect scenario where they're not being like,

should we play him in the last couple games if he's on 67 or whatever? 63 or whatever. Whatever it is, you can maybe give him a little bit of a blow down the stretch here, a couple games off, before the end of the year. Like, I think it's the perfect scenario. I expect him to take a game off at least. I wouldn't play him.

Right? I wouldn't. I mean, I just don't want him to play against Florida a game before they play against them in the playoffs. That to me against a dirty team would concern me a little bit. But that's it. I think that's valid. Thank you.

All right. Thanks to Jovo Cop. Yes. Don't go away. Adam Oates, always a fantastic guest on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. He's going to join us after the hour. Where are we going to find him? He's zooming.

He's zooming from somewhere. All right. McDavid nearing 100 assists. If there's anyone that knows what that feels like, it's our next guest. Don't go away. More to come. The Kipper Heels,in bourne sammy mckee we are the real kipper and bourne show