Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Special Teams Trouble in Toronto

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the Leafs' 4-2 loss to the Bruins in Game 3 last night, now trailing in the series 2-1. They get into the muted fan atmosphere, Toronto's physical presence, the controversial missed calls, Marchand's effective gamesmanship and the Leafs' power play struggles hitting a breaking point. Then, on the core four - the absence of Nylander starting to become noticeable, Marner's up-and-down game and Matthews quiets down after his Game 2 break-out. Later, on Swayman's statement performance and if the Bruins would be crazy to continue rotating their tandem for Saturday. Finally, they get an update on Nylander's status and share what needs to be addressed in Game 4.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.

condensed version of the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee derrick brandale and in for david's sis boombaugh. In for Jen Rolnick. Lance Romance Kennedy. Not correct. What? I may have misled you. So Jen is here doing the cameras, and Lance is on the board pressing the buttons.

No Derek Brandeo. Derek Brandeo is probably sleeping. He's at home. Boy, did I butcher that one. Well, listen, you're not on the hook. I don't think I'm that one. I literally told you one second before we started when I heard Lance's voice. I'm like, oh, crap. Is this the condensed version of this show I can expect off of that start?

Let's find out. Let's find out. Wherever you are, Sportsnet 590, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Plus, we're glad you're aboard here in our one-hour version of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Toronto Maple Leafs,oston bruins last night not a bad start but not the outcome that leaf fans wanted as they dropped a 4-2 decision to the boston bruins losing and now putting them back in a little bit of a hole here as this series moves forward. We're going to dissect a lot of things,

and we're going to crash a lot of things in in the next hour. But I want to start, first of all, with the feeling of the building letting down the team. And I know we had a conversation about this off- air moments ago sammy about uh joe bowen who is the the voice of the toronto maple leafs play-by-play guy he put a tweet out there and i think it was a challenging tweet that the building's too quiet and and in many ways it's now running up against the vancouver canuck fans or the Winnipeg fans. Edmonton. Edmonton.

Like, where are your thoughts here on that when the Leafs had come back tied 1-1 in this series? I don't know. I wasn't in the building. So watching on TV, to me, the lower bowl looked bad. It looked bad. It just straight up looked quiet. Didn't look like there was a lot of energy. Like, they got going pretty good at the end of the first when there was that big shift where benoit lays out pasta and reeves nails zacka and they get going pretty good but just on

tv and you know compared to watching the other buildings and the other games it didn't look that great and you know i it's something that jumped out to me. But I wasn't there. I wasn't in the building. You were there. I was there, yeah. I left yesterday's show, jumped on the TTC. Wow. Went down there. You were hobbling off your millions of fans. I didn't find Willie, by the way. And trust me, I looked.

Willie, under the seats? Yeah. No, nowhere to be found. But I felt the vibe the moment I got on uh uh the subway leaf fan jerseys everywhere people excited walked in the building and it felt it felt it felt great yeah so i don't know now i also did a hit after the show so I did not stay for a good portion. I came back home in between periods, caught the third period on TV,

did a hit with Ivanka and Ken after for Sportsnet Central. I don't know what happened between the start, the first half of the game, and the second half of the game in the building, but that first part, man, it didn't disappoint me no i'm glad to hear that and also i said to you guys when i came in it's like if i paid 500 for a hockey ticket to go watch that game and people were lecturing me the next day on what my responsibilities are to the team i'm gonna be real pleased about that but i think the that's what the problem is is that a lot of

people feel as though the real fans are priced out. For sure. That is absolutely valid. And people that are willing to spend $650 on a ticket for a lower bowl, probably more than that last night, quite honestly. I don't know what they were going for on secondary market, but it would have been a lot. It's not my buddy from the schwa in the building.

No, absolutely. It's a different crowd. It's people in different tax brackets yeah so i don't know if they're more willing to act like idiots i don't know i'm not trying to shame that way but it just didn't look good to me on tv didn't sound good compared to other markets well i thought it was great it sounded great for me to the start and i i really thought that that first period validated the toronto maple Leafs in terms of being a team that can beat the Boston Bruins in many ways at their own game.

Is there stuff to clean up? Absolutely, and we're going to discuss them right here. But as far as that feeling that we're going to get out-muscled, we're going to get pushed around that is gone the tea the leafs are a bigger stronger team and i think brad marchand reiterated that that this is not your normal toronto maple leaf team that they've seen in the past no and you know i i agree kip i you know despite being down to one i think you could feel pretty good about the way the leafs have played but it's

unfortunate to have lost obviously last night but there was a moment last night we discussed this a little bit before just where it felt like boston was getting rattled you know benoit reeves labushkin edmondson all the mccabe running into guys over and over you had the coach montgomery was uh complaining to the refs you know marchand is getting tangled up with bertuzzi like it felt like the bruins were a little bit on tilt and it was like this is what it looks like when you start to be like god this is so pasternak can't score like it felt like the leafs had him in a good spot brutal to let it get away but that doesn't change where they're at in the series or the way boston would feel about the leafs you got a comment before i go to sheldon i

you know i think the hitting and the physicality, I've never seen it come more natural to a Leafs team than it does to this one. It doesn't feel like it's, other than game one, that felt a little bit manufactured. It feels like it's really coming natural to them. And I love the physicality, but the issues remain, boys. It's been, you know, three goals or fewer in ten straight games and the penalty kill again.

Okay, we're going to get into that. Let's just go and get Sheldon Keefe's thoughts on our first Kippers Clipper here on where he thought it may have switched or gone wrong in the hockey game. Well, there's a few different things. Obviously, again, there's just little mistakes at very important times that end up in our net. But in general, I just didn't think we got to our game nearly as much tonight as we did on any others. I was credit to Boston, played hard, made it hard to get to the neutral zone. I didn't think we did enough to manage through that.

He sounds like he didn't like it a whole lot yeah i thought that was the leafs uh better maybe one of their best defensive looks in terms of d zone coverage you know i saw at times in the d zone it's benoit and mccabe and camp and these guys keeping them outside they didn't give up a ton it you know you talked about being a patient game and needing to stay patient i thought they did a good job at that you know the frederick one you know you want to save other i don't want much analysis beyond that yeah no no i'm going way more critical on what which part the uh the goal for samsonov yes yeah, no, no. You're much too kind on, like a save. That is a killer, okay? That sucked the life right out of the game, in my opinion.

That goal cannot go in. And we'll get into the factors on why it happened. But not in a million years should that goal go in from there. Short side. So we were just having a discussion off the air on, I don't know how it started. Somebody had a tweet asking for memorable back breaking. Down goes Brown. Yeah.

Talking about back breaking moments and plays. And you guys just moments ago showed me Joe Neuendijk going against Ottawa on Patrick Lilleen in the early 2000s. One of the greatest days of my life. Anyways, continue. Ignore that. That's Trent's goal last night for me. It is.

Yes. The Leafs are up. The Bruins are starting to get frustrated. McAvoy pulls down matthews marchand is getting into it like they're on tilt the leafs are leading and just shoots one in from distance with good coverage so one of our best guests on our show over the last few years has been steve aliquette yeah absolutely and is analytics. That's what he does. He puts numbers together. ClearSight Analytics, this company.

He told me that they've got analytics that close to 700 shots from there on... This is going to hurt. I don't want to know this. On that area,

gaining that zone on a one-on-two. Yeah. How many goals have gone in? Is it like three? I'm going to say... Bingo! I was going to say two, so... Three. Oh, my God.

Three. That's less than 1% of that shot on a one-on-two go in. Oh, my God. It's well-placed. It hits the post. So that's why it's a killer. Yeah.

And to me, it shook Samson off. I don't think he was the same. I thought he looked a little shaky. I thought he looked a little scary after that. Even the Marchand shot that led to the the debra school he's just kind of like like standing up and he bats it into the slot was that after the face off the shot from the neutral zone that kind of hit him in the collarbone i don't know that he was paying attention i don't know it just yeah got a little it got a little squirrely after that when it went in. So you talk about that goal and it can't go in.

Can we talk about what led to that? I'd love to. So I thought the Leafs got an awesome whistle last night. I thought they got how many power plays? They ended up with five, right? I thought they got a very fair whistle. I thought that they got more power plays than the Bruins, and I thought the refs did fine in that.

But the one that they missed the most blatant one on austin matthews where he gets suplexed hold on that leads immediately to that play and in the space-time continuum if you call that penalty the only real blatant one of the whole game that play on samsonov that never happens it's blown dead they have all the momentum and they're going on a power play and all the power plays things they probably don't score but that changed the entire momentum of the game entire momentum i'm totally on board with you and any other person that tells me how can you not get a holding penalty on matthews behind the net in the offensive zone? It's crazy. So it's nuts to me.

It's ridiculous. And it's just a blatant missed call. Okay. But I love the fact that Pertuzzi and Marchand are going at it, and the ref says... Do your thing. Hey. I don't need a whistle there.

Don't need a whistle there. I don't need a whistle there. Don't need to watch your shenanigans. It's like a parent with two kids going at it in the backseat. Figure it out. Just shut up. It was a dive off. It has no bearing on where the puck is,

but it does have a domino effect because of the chaos that it caused, and Craig Simpson talked about it on the air last night, that allowed Trent Frederick to gain the zone so easily. It was a distraction. And without it, maybe he doesn't gain the line on a one-on-two. Maybe they stand him up, and he never gets that shot on goal. Yeah.

So it did have an effect on the play, but it didn't have an effect to call it a penalty, which I liked. Which I think brings us to Marchand and Bertuzzi's kind of back and forth that they've been having in this series, and I've talked to some people being like, you can't do that with Marchand. He's too good at this. And I agree.

Oh, I don't. I'm fine with those two. If they want to have a little brother-brother thing all series, that's great for the Leafs. But it's not great for the Leafs. It is because he's not in Mitch Marner's ear like he has been the past saying, I'm going to get you. He's not on Matthews.

He's not on Tavares. And he won't be on Nylander. If they can cancel Marchand with Pertuzzi. But they're not canceling him. He killed you last night. Kill him. He kills them because that one goes in the net. They end up getting a couple breaks.

It's a great shot. It's a great shot that he goes up and he gets an empty. I understand. Listen, I'm not saying he didn't play well last night, but I am fine if those two want to cancel each other out. It's not working out for the Leafs, JB. It didn't last. It's out. It's not working out for the Leafs, JB. It didn't last. It's not.

It's not working out. And when I look at the three games, how many penalties have the Leafs taken because of Marchand? Feels like a few. Domi and Bertuzzi are in the box. By the way, Bertuzzi and Domi, you're on the number one line. Yeah. Okay.

How many penalties have you taken in this series because of this guy? You're on the number one line. You have bigger responsibilities than worrying about Marchand and going into the box. It's not working out for them. No. You know, the penalties, certainly in the first game, I thought it was a big issue.

Domi coming out and the way it kind of went about it. I thought last night Marchand was as invested in that little tete-a-tete little thing they were having as Bertuzzi was. And I think forecasting that, I like it. I understand it hasn't worked out so far. But he is, in the end, he gets the upper hand and probably feels good about the way he's gone, and now you've got the coach talking about it, we're talking about it, and it becomes a win.

Would you like to hear the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs talk about Brad Marchand? I really would. All right, let's clip two, please. Well, I mean, you've got to play through it. You've got to recognize, you know, he's a world-class player, both in ability and how he plays. I mean, the gamesmanship and everything, it's world-class player both in ability and and how he plays you know the gamesmanship and

and and everything it's it's world-class and he's been in the league long enough as you can see he gets calls it's on it's it's unbelievable actually um uh you know how how it goes you know um uh but he we got to play through that you got to play through that stuff i don't think there's another player in this series that gets away with taking up or choosing his legs the way that he does there's not one other player in the series that gets away with that but he does because um you know it's it's an art and and he's a lead at it um so we have to manage our way through that avoids it putting ourselves in situations where he can put us in those spots.

And then as far as this game, I think we've managed that pretty well for the most part. Obviously tonight we make a mistake at a key time that allows him to get the winner. It's an intelligent comment. I disagree what you're doing the exact same thing you're asking your players not to do he's in you're engaging with him like you're you are doing the coach's version of cross-checking him in front of the net you're giving him all the time you're taught you're talking about how elite he is and how it's unbelievable he gets away with all this

stuff you're doing exactly what you're telling your players not to do. It's infuriating. I hated that. Hated that. To me, I see a coach who has watched his last three series, John Cooper, John Cooper, Paul Maurice, and, you know. He's trying to crawl into heads. Is that what you're telling me?

I'm saying this is tactical to him. That is to draw some attention to this guy. He practiced that one in the mirror before he went out there it's like i hated that you're you're you're not gonna come out on top if you're gonna try to out marshand marshand no and you know what's crazy too is marshand his statistically this year he's john devars they both had 29 goals in 80 games and 65 points i think marshand at 67 they're the same offensive player it's this stuff you need to avoid him winning and making you think about him worry about the bruins at large the bruins aren't at large Marchand at 67. They're the same offensive player. It's this stuff you need to avoid him winning and making you think about him.

Worry about the Bruins at large. The Bruins aren't at large. Not the best team. I'm not worried about that team winning a Stanley Cup by any stretch. It's, you know, in terms of getting by them, you can't let this be the Brad Marchand show. I really hope Old Takes Exposed doesn't listen to our show because yesterday I was just making fun of him

for being a diver and crying and what he acts like on the ice. None of those things were described. And then immediately just reverse jam in my eye. Killed the Leafs. But you weren't wrong. You said he's great and he does those things. Both those things were correct. He's just a Leaf fan.

That's all. He's a killer. And, like, I hate his guts, but I do just respect the hell out of him. Like, he just, he's a dog man he's an absolute dog there's there's no club in his bag he can't hit bingo yeah no i mean listen the shot he makes last night so maybe you want the save or whatever if you went up to the net and hand placed where you would want to put it in the net that shot that's where he put it it's a great shot just watch his work along the walls watch him with his ability five feet inside his own blue line five feet outside his blue line five feet in the offensive zone on

either way he wins so many battles he makes the right decisions he's in the right spots great of the power play excellent on the penalty kill and buries you sticks and a dagger in you with what three inches high on samsonov it's a great shot no doubt about it do you want to hear montgomery on marsh and before we turn the page yeah i do i did let's listen to clip one montgomery it's the way we did it like morning skate i saw the way we were i saw the way morning skate, I saw the way we were. I saw the way our captain was, and I just knew we were going to have a good game. Didn't know we were going to win because Leafs are a good hockey team, but I knew we were coming to play. In what way? What did you see from Brad in morning skate? Well, he started barking the first drill before. I go,

what's three minutes early? goes let's go i loved it i have to tell you i have never struggled more cutting a clip in my life than cutting that one but i did it for you guys i did it for the audience yeah i the way that jim like i'm jim mcgumray i'm all the way there the way he was just waxing poetic last night now he's happy now oh you mind staying in tor now, you big cry baby? Are you okay with that? Anyways, continue. All right.

Okay, where do you want to go? You want to go? Listen, we got to hit the power play first and foremost. Okay. Oh, and five. What needs to be said because this has been a broken record for a very long time. So what were we expecting?

Better. I wish I had a whiteboard here so we could actually talk about the power play, like the way that they go about it. So two quick thoughts. One of them is that if you want to make plays backdoor passes and sneaky little slips and stuff you need to move the puck around just let's start there in the ozone they need to move the puck around a little bit more the other thing though is marner has to play low he needs to be the the goal line guy for this to be effective because who are their shooting options right now

matthews you got another one for me there's none like without marner low to pass it up to tavarez who pops in the slot tavarez is a non-shot threat riley's a non-shot threat marner doesn't shoot it you only have matthews so the whole pk is don't let the puck go to matthews and the goalie can read it so you need marner down low where he can go behind the net he can make great creative plays do all he does so you can make other guys threats. Right now, Bertuzzi and Tavares down there, it's not enough. They need to move where he's playing on the flank. Great breakdown.

Thank you. The guy did something different. This ain't working. Yeah, and find Willie. That could help too. Well, yeah, but was that would put him on the flank where he normally is in marner down low like willie helps but i mean it's been bad with willie too the power plays you see the stat i put in the lineup today the last 17 post-seeding

post-seasons meetings between the bruins and leafs the power play for the least is 19 8 for 42 and the bruins is 40.4 19 for 47 yeah it's not great that explains a lot so Marner was out for a long stretch and you didn't have him on the power play and it struggled now Nylander's out and you don't have him and it struggled I don't know how many games you had both for at the end of the season there and it still wasn't great but boy it would go a long way to have all your personnel I know that much how much pressure is on Willie to show up Saturday night I hope if he comes back that the team's not like fixed it willie's gonna do it you know because it's a

close game without him you just hope he's that difference maker i i abstain from this conversation i'm so sick of talking about willie willie won't he i'm out you guys can talk about it like great tell me what he's hey tweet out the opening lineup and see if he's in it then we'll talk but it's just i'm not doing this again and again. I don't blame you. I thought last night that they were really hurt not having him. I thought, you know, I mentioned earlier that, like, great coverage in the D zone, neutral zone, tough slog,

tough to get through. I thought that Willie's a guy who could have made a difference last night in a close game where, you know, Austin, Chris Johnson reported that he missed morning skate with an illness and he wasn't great last night. They just are missing that one extra guy to me. And last night it was noticeable. As far as the talk the last 24 hours on Marner being invisible,

what did you see out of Marner? Pretty electric first goal. Yep. Very Marner-like setup. Great pass. World-class play in the middle of the ice. I had to think at that moment it must have been a good feeling

knowing the scrutiny that's been out there for him. It was similar after that, but he contributed to a goal. It was also similar for a lot of other guys, and I'll include 34. No, he was no good last night. I actually didn't think either of them were good last night,

but the Marner play was awesome. It's good for him to make that progress. Matthews won't get nearly the scrutiny for having a bad game. Go ahead and scrutinize. That's what we do. Yeah. You know, I didn't think that either of them were very effective. I thought, you know, Matthew's a lot quieter.

And Marner. Matthew's body felt like he had a few more hits than, like he had a couple early in the first period where he nailed a couple people pretty good, but like just not even close to the same guy he was in game two. Game two, he was unbelievable. Last night, not as much. I thought Marner turned the puck over a lot. T tavaris just isn't capable of doing those things for them so again very close game without getting elite performances from guys you expect good games from so tough on the power

play uh the penalty kill still can't find a way to suck the momentum out of Boston. McCabe came way over on that one and left the net front. I don't know. That felt very aggressive to me for a PK. We could actually just replay so many shows we've done. Bad special teams, bad goal on your goalie. Their other goalie makes a million saves. End of show. I've watched that same playoff game with the Leafs in this era

literally 10 times. It's just, it continues to be the same things. Like, the Leafs are completely fine at 5-on-5. They are totally fine at 5-on-5. And you need your power play to get you two goals last night. And you win the game. At 5-on-5, they've heavily outshot no chance to the Bruins. Why don't we listen to Sheldon tell us about the penalty kill

and what he thinks well it's you know we just we just gotta do a better job of you know the details you know if you break down each goal it's been each goal we've given up it's a different it's a different mistake at a different timing today you know we're we're still on the wall we lose a battle and we get beat three on one coming off the wall. Can't happen. So little details inside of that that say it hasn't been the same thing. It's been different things that have led to goals against, but, you know, we've got to find a way through that.

So much worse. There's a lot of can't happens. Can I ask you guys, like, if you were going to rank the most coachable things in a hockey game, where does special teams rank? Probably the top of the list. Okay. So we're in how many straight playoffs here now? With this being a massive issue?

Totally. But the message can be different in so many ways, but when do you just finally say that it's just not the right makeup? Like we don't have the right personnel? Right. It's a personnel. It's not X's and O's. It's just personnel. And I'll go back to the beginning of the season or the summer.

Let's go to the summer. And what was the number one reason why you went out and thought that you needed to spend $4.1 million on Klingberg? You don't have someone at the top on the special teams, on PK. Or sorry, PP. You don't have a PP guy. Has to be, right? So you go and get them. You go through training camp.

You go for the start of the game or the start of the season. And this is the direction that you want to go. And then you lose them. And then you revert right back to what's been the issue the last few years like okay if you had the thought at last summer to to have a different look or have a guy that can give your power play a completely different look why just wave up the white flag and go back to what wasn't working a year ago you know i think morgan has managed them to a fairly high success rate over the years i think he's not a uh a positive add to it necessarily but i think they kind of think it's like all right they're fine with him last

year we got through a playoff round over 20 and we win one with Morgan. I think it's like a fine solution to them. For me right now, what can you do before game four that helps on these special teams? The one thing to me, and I'm the only person who keeps saying it and everyone boos me, is TJ Brody played the most minutes shorthanded for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year. He's a good penalty killer.

Tim DeLilligren, he pinches on the Frederick goal that kind of lets Elaine go. He turns a puck over on the Marchand winner winner he has full possession of the puck behind the net i don't i didn't notice him outside of those two plays everyone's like he's right-handed he's right-handed okay well he's not playing good no you're right it's time it's i mean i'd like to see bro time for the switch it is i thought it would i thought there was a chance that it could happen in game two. They win. They stick with it.

That's probably it, right? They get the win, so they go to game three. Now you have to give the guys sometimes just a different look, a different feel. And the good thing is he's been out long enough. I mean, he's chomping because he took warm up you know you very seldom would you see a veteran of his stature knowing that he's not playing take warm up you think that's for boston's sake i don't know we're not sure we're gonna because

your game plan doesn't change a little bit enough like enough willie might play brody might play shut up play like i don't care yeah it's like you think marshall's looking over and seeing who's warming up and it's like oh they might put brody in right you guys make fun of this stuff it depends with some guys how the coaches do their deployment with with some guys yes i get it for sure i understand that brody lilligren is the ultimate like well we don't care about this. That doesn't matter. We hope both of them play.

But really is a significant alteration to how the team would think about playing them. All right, we still got plenty to get into. Yeah. Wait, I want to take a quick break and we'll come back? Yeah, sure. Okay. And we've also got your game time at the top after the break here.

So plenty more to dissect on the Toronto Maple Leafs as they go down to one in the series with the Boston Bruins. More when we return on Real Kipper Unborn. Covering the Blue Jays from an analytical perspective. Jays Talk Plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jays Talk on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ben Kipper, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee on our condensed version of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show Leaf Edition. Sammy, take it away with Game Time. It's Game Time, presented by Bet365.

Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Only two games tonight, boys. What is that? Too slow. Too slow for me. Eight series and we get two games? Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning in a

crucial, couple crucial game threes for the home teams with the New York Islanders as well coming home to take on with the Sorokin and Nett. Your New York Islanders, bud, are plus 140 on home ice. Actually don't mind the number. You know, you think they maybe get one. They played well.

You're going to get one last push. So maybe tonight would be the one they get. Plus 140, not a terrible number. And it's pretty close to even money in Florida and Tampa. Minus 105 for the Panthers. Minus 115 for the Tampa Bay Lightning. They like the Lightning a little bit tonight. Think they're probably going to get back in the series.

And the other one I wanted to bring up, because we're not going to get time to talk about my Golden Knights. But the Golden Knights are now a minus 450 favorite to take out the powerhouse Dallas Stars in the first round. Boy, am I looking like a schmuck. Man, were you watching that game last night? You didn't know they'd be playing a completely revamped roster. Buddy, they're going to win the cup.

They are stacked. You know what? Stacked, boys. Yeah. And again, goaltending, I don't know what they had for shots, $20, $21, $22? Couldn't get a sniff. Does it really matter when you have that defense? Hannafin's flying, scores the winning goal.

You got a fresh hurdle and a fresh stone. The more games they get, the more dangerous they are. Kipper, you said it. Hurdles, massive. He's a huge guy. I think he grew since game one. Did he get new equipment? Or like, I don't know what it is.

He's huge. So anyways, that he grew since game one. Did he get new equipment? Or like, I don't know what it is. He's huge. So anyways, that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. All right, 35 minutes in. And we didn't really touch yet on the Boston Bruin goaltending.

And it could be that we could look back at this series and simply say at the end of it the Leafs got goalied by Jonas Corposalo and by Carey Price and by Andre Vasilevsky and by how many guys how many times do you get goalied before it's your own fault

I mean there's a couple good goalies good goalies Sway couple of Vesna. Good goalies. Swayman's awesome. I thought Swayman was so good last night. But I mean, can we run into him like Domi did?

I didn't mind that. Everyone else seemed to be bothered by that. I liked it. But Tuesday just got shooted in the net on that power play. Beats it into the pillows multiple times. Just shoot it in the top of the net. Yeah.

I don't know how I... I didn't like what Max did to Jeremy Swayman. Oh, you thought you did it on purpose? I've heard that several times. You know what it is to me? I didn't think it was on purpose. You ever play 21 in basketball and your friend is shooting, you know,

from the free throw line? Give him a spinner. Yeah, you throw it off the line, make him lose. That, to me, is just like, just do what you can. First of all, it's easy to... give him a 10-minute misconduct for that.

Like, you know, it's just you're pushing the envelope. We've seen this too with these guys who want to be the agitators. I don't think it factors in. Just play. Play harder. Play, you know, find different ways. Find different ways to push the envelope than that. Yeah.

Connor Dewar snowed him pretty good in game one. That was fun. I will say that, you know. I don't want Max to go into the box for 10 minutes. You need him. Swayman has been obviously hanging out with his captain a ton, but holy. Oh.

What a dive. He barely touched him. Yeah, I know. He jumped off his feet. Like, good Lord. He barely touched him. He jumped off his feet. Good lord. This is the time of year where you're trying to exaggerate. Exaggerate. I didn't think Domi was playing in general last night

compared to the other games. The Ice Girls were out there. I honestly think there's part of me that didn't think it was totally on purpose. How gutsy does Montgomery have to be to not play swayman saturday night in game four do you want to hear uh him talk about the goalie before we get into that yes okay so montgomery clip three please lancy he's been terrific like he's i just love his compete level and his quickness.

When it went 3-2, right after that, there was a barrage of rebounds. I think, if I'm remembering correctly, Bertuzzi had two of the chances. But there was two more, it seemed like, and he was just square to puck, and he's fighting, and he finds it. It inspires the bench there's a frame when it's two two as well right right after they score to tie it up it goes in off for twosie and then they turn it over to domey at the goal line there's a scramble at the net and

like you know it very nearly was three two leafs but swayman gets in there keeps it out gets play going the other way. And he tracks. Like, I know we already had a discussion on the power play, but if Austin's waiting down low, and you mentioned this in our break. Yeah. If Austin's down low in almost that Leon Dreisaitl spot. He's dead. But Swayman's ahead of but swayman's ahead of that he's ahead of that there's just

he's waiting for austin less dangerous you need to be higher so there can be tips and screens and all those good things that low dry saddle lemieux spot it's not gonna help you any no but i mean the battle part of it to me when he says that they're, he just fights to find the puck. And he's quick and he's decisive. And it's just like, he's really good. And it's. There's also another Bertuzzi one. He almost bats in the net. God, he was all over.

I saw, I saw Swayman. There's a, sent to me an interview that he did with John Scott on his podcast. Talking about how, like, he was in long conversations with the Leafs. And they drafted Ian Scott one pick before Jeremy Swayman got picked. There it is. with John Scott on his podcast, talking about how he was in long conversations with the Leafs, and they drafted Ian Scott one pick before Jeremy Swayman got picked. There it is. So, I mean...

Sam, what are you trying to do to us? I'm not going to fault whoever made that. It was like a fourth, whatever round it was in. It's like it's a lottery ticket at that point. Maybe it doesn't turn out the same. But just an extra special little twist to the knife for every Leaf fan out there. It's a good twist.

It's a good twist. So, Allmark, out there. So, Allmark, game four. Please, God. What do you think? What do you think he does? Because if you say you're going to stick to a rotation, there's no reason to deviate. It's not like Swayman got a

shutout. Swayman, last two seasons versus the Leafs. Now let's update this. 6-0-0. 1-3-1 save. 9-59, save percentage story. And 30, sorry, 4-30 save games. Yeah, he's been very, very good.

I can't imagine. I think they're going to go All-Mart. I do too. But it would be asinine. That's the word that comes to mind. Absurd even. Okay. That you would risk going back to two when this guy is money right now for you.

Like if you want to set yourself up to almost make up the decision that is fireable in my opinion if you lose this series with all mark losing saturday night go for it it's funny though like if you set a plan before the series the plan is not supposed to be oh but if one of you plays well we're going to scrap the plan like they have a plan and and maybe part of the reason the swayman is so good when he gets in is this has been part of his rest and rotation and he's thinking way too hard i'm presenting their argument i would start swayman in a heartbeat okay of course if i'm jim mcgumry of course yeah it's gone but you know you're just to me you're just trying to look smarter

than everybody else what i was gonna say if you started all mark on saturday you're making it about yourself yes you're trying to prove a point now that i can look different and get way more credit when we win the stanley cup that's all i see if you're not playing swayment saturday night yeah stakes are high for them uh can we give the boston bruins uh decor a little bit more love past mcavoy and lynn home because i think they've looked really big and really yeah like they're they're hanging no i mean they battle the leafs are coming at them. That's what I see. I see a Leaf team that is throwing a lot of punches in the first early rounds, and they're absorbing.

Yeah. I guess I'll give them credit in that the Leafs offense is once again a playoff story, and someone deserves some credit. We gave Swayman some credit, but it's not like there's been a heap of breakaways and two-on-ones and you know they have been responsible and basically said try to beat this guy from distance that's such an advantage when you trust your goalie or you basically say we don't have to be aggressive and pinch and whatever we're gonna let you shoot from out there

and see if you can get one by from out there and right now he's feeling it he gets to feel it from long distance shots where it's just like then when it it gets closer, he's already. First shot of the game is a camp frister from like 58 feet. What are we doing? He's like, yes. Thank you. A little warm-up shot. Let him feel it. But I thought Carlo has had a good series.

I think Carlo's very good. Very good. He's a good defenseman. And Mason Lurie. Lurie. Yeah. Pretty good effort last night. He has skill.

Like, he's a good offensive player for them. I think he, you know, I love that they have a couple guys out there that maybe they don't trust 100%, but was it Witherspoon gets in and gets a slapper ripped off his knee to start things off? That looked horrible. Welcome to the series, man. As far as the Leafs, any thought about having a conversation about Joseph Wall Saturday night?

I don't think so. Too late. I don't think so. If you're not going to do it game two, you're not going to do it game four. Yeah. I think that goal is such a killer. It is. But it's just one goal in a series.

But there are also signs that. Made some saves in the first. Listen, he's good enough to lose, if that makes any sense right now. Oh, that's the worst phrase possible. It's just, it's not good enough to win, is my point. Yeah. And there are still signs of Sammy that whether or not he's fishing or off balance, I didn't like the fact that he

dropped his stick on the marsh angle. Matthew's knocked it out of his hand. I get it, but how many times have we seen that this year? That he's lost a stick and is scrambling. It ends up deep for sure. But it wouldn't have made a difference. I mean, if he has a stick and and is scrambling yeah the trend ends up deep for sure for sure but it wouldn't

have made a difference i mean if he has a stick in his hand i don't know he's talked to a lot of goalie coaches and it does make a big difference to come out and challenge if he's not as worried you know i don't know martian went bar down from the hash marks it's tough to it's probably going in regardless he's got a stick or not yeah tough to say right yeah who knows but i agree with you guys that uh for whatever reason we never saw joseph wall reset coming off of that lengthy high ankle sprain like it never materialized which still a couple good starts in me is baffling the one against carolina carolina he had a a good look for sure good against phoenix or sorry arizona utah you know you would have a very short leash for samson off like you know if you get that frederick goal goes in or something

like that in the first period next time maybe you say i'm not gonna take the chance to see another one of these and you know if you're that close to go to the other guy but no i don't think he was bad enough to you didn't score enough goals your power play stunk you know he was okay i think he's probably over 908 percentage that game but jb if it's one thing that we've learned so far early in this first round is how critical go tending is for you whether you win or lose and i think we've got some great examples of it so far yeah in this uh early round pick a series let's have a goalie conversation and we'll have a better understanding why for instance the la kings are tied now with the edmonton Oilers because you look at Talbot and the way he recovered off of that disastrous first game

and where you think Skinner is. Gorgiev did that. Gorgiev. If I'm an Oiler fan, I got some Skinner worries. Saros. Yeah. Sorrows. Yeah. Keep going. It's a goalie theme here for me early.

The old line that goaltending is like 50% of the game unless you don't have it. I was just going to say, I was listening to Skinner, man. He is all-world kind of goalie thing because he didn't look rattled in the very least no after last night's game yeah and uh maybe maybe it's a good thing maybe it's not i don't know i've never played the position i don't know i can't crawl into a goalie's head but right he was like yeah we played good played good. We were fine. Expected goals were like five to one for Edmonton in that game, so tough to come out with a loss.

So quickly before we go here, Elliot Friedman just posted an article while we've been talking here at 11.44 a.m. about the reason for William Nylander's playoff absence is hard to pin down. He says in the opening, I'll just read the opening paragraph. According to multiple sources, William Nylander's absence from the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup has to do with a migraine so severe that team doctors tested to see

if he suffered a concussion. One of the reasons for the secrecy around the situation is that an actual diagnosis has been hard to come by, whether it's a migraine, a concussion, or something else that could affect that area. God, that's tough timing. But he got rattled. We know he got rattled.

So whether it's neck-related or a concussion or my, like he got rattled, and he's not right. The secrecy led to wild speculation, obviously, even by Toronto standards as to why Nylander missed the first three games of the Boston series. It's believed Nylander first indicated an issue Thursday, the day after the Maple Leafs ended their regular season in Tampa Bay. He played all 82 games in 23-24.

So there you go. You know, not the best potential injury for the Leafs. You know, it's not something like, well, that bone will heal up in time. You know, this sort of thing can go on for long stretches and it's tough to brutal just kind of get your sleep and rest and drink lots of water and cross your fingers you know it's so wait and see on that one put that in yeah thank you so how we feel and heading into saturday because we got a long time we're going to be talking about this again tomorrow we'll tee it up we have simmer on tomorrow probably talk to mac right like how are we feeling talking buddy this is a series

okay yeah and for me it's still just getting started couldn't agree more so i'm fine yeah i'm fine i think this bruins team is there for the taking i know there's nothing there that says this leafs team can't beat them and if they don't it would be among the more disappointing playoff performances so i i believe in the leafs that's what i'm saying here if they don't beat them we know what the issues will be so like it's if you play they have days to tidy those things up if you play five on five i have loved the least five on five for all three games i thought they'd been excellent five on five line was great i think they they carried over 80 of the expected goals yeah they were awesome second period nize was all over it he had tons of shots and nice great pass

by margaret but it's just the special teams a third or fourth line goal could help yep specialty specialty teams, and get a big save that can close out a game. Well, that's same as after game one loss. Sitting here today, I don't feel like they need an overhaul. I don't feel like, how do you come back from this? I feel like you just throw your sticks in the middle again, and you might win the next one. Like, I don't feel like you need massive changes. Yeah.

So, the other game is real quick. Before we go, last night, the Edmonton Oilers. Yep. Lose 5-4 in overtime. Anze Kopitar, OT winner. What a man. This guy's an occupier. Hey, what a shot.

You know who's actually, when we always talk about most underrated guys in the league? Kempe. Yeah, Kempe. He's a great boat. He can shoot it in the net, too. He is silky. He's mean you got like that goal he scores the bats in and out of midair unbelievable i already mentioned my knights where uh have they

ruled out sam bennett officially i don't know well he said he was out for a week yesterday okay oh is that it yeah okay that's a big loss yeah it is now what do you do you have tampa coming back in this series i don't think tampa bay lightning gets swept i don't think floor is good enough for that so i'll give tampa tonight agree new york islanders in the other hand oh boy don't ask my opinion no no they'll they'll make it to one think so yeah i do i do i feel i feel bad for your boys like that they're going to sorokin you're up big you know you're you you have all your fans you start dreaming on what could happen here the you get a split and go home carolina's had some issues in the playoffs and years passed and all of a sudden the hurricane flies through

and you're going home to all did you guys catch uh any video out of salt lake city i did yeah that was pretty cool awesome what a great way to get the boys and integrated into the city show some love get them excited fans at least at least there was uh a connection right away that uh established that you're wanted god someone cheered for us you know that must have felt amazing they got all fired up in the mic was it they said what curve so this is honestly one of the coolest experiences we've all had as hockey players. There's people here. One of the guys said to the crowd to call Jack McBain spicy tuna and they all started chanting spicy tuna.

You know, like, that must have felt great. Was that O'Brien? Yeah. Spicy tuna. Old Revo turned him into spicy tuna pretty quick. He did. Oh, man. That was a big hit, too, on Zaka.

He hammered him. Reeves has been, I mean, everything you could have hoped for. Yep. When you signed him. Oh, no. In this series, he's been a really effective player. And that's what's, like, the building was, like, electric off that hit. It started to get built up built up and it was taken away

wow there's nothing that gets the toronto fans going series of like a bunch of greasiness that's what we love we've always loved it and when that happens benoit hammers past track mccabe hammered past track but it's all within the flow of the game it's not like manufacturing mccabe didn't lose his brain after doing it like in playoffs last year i did mention that this hour is gonna go really fast and that's it rest of the way enjoy your blue j game what's going on sammy they can hit they can't hit i don't want to talk about it uh no further comments or questions at this time i've got a tea time at humber valley i'm on my way'm going to go freeze my butt off. All right. Hit them long and straight, Sammy.

No, probably not. Thanks for joining us on this condensed version of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Tomorrow, off the rails Friday, we are back at our regularly scheduled time slot. And who knows? Maybe we'll find Doug McClain. Enjoy your two games

tonight thanks for watching thanks for listening