Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: The Beat on Boston

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

The Leafs' first-round opponent is set! Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with a brief look at how Toronto matches up with Boston in a 7-game series before looking back at last night's 5-2 loss to the Panthers. They get into the overemphasis on getting Matthews to 70, the disaster second period and a missed opportunity for Woll. Then, a chat about which d-men are in the lineup for Game 1. Later, a more in-depth look at the Leafs' challenge against Boston in Round 1 - what role the history of the rivalry takes and where each team has the edge. Finally, catching up on an exciting night in the race for the final Wild Card spot in the East as the Capitals clinch in dramatic fashion. 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.

welcome in to real kipper and born the toronto maple leafs lose game 81 to the florida panthers who in turn passed the boston bruins and everyone's hair is on fire. We have a lot to discuss today. Welcome in everyone. Today I'm joined by my boy Sammy McKee. We got Lance Kennedy and Jen Rolnick in the back helping us out. We're on Sportsnet 590, Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet Plus and you can get our podcast wherever you get your pods. This hour is brought to you by bet365 because we're only one hour today sammy and we wore our we wore a green for bet365 we are matching green and we are both wearing gray pants when it goes to like the shot of both of us it

looks a lot less it looks like we're both wearing green but then if you go back and forth it doesn't look as bad mine doesn't look as green when i'm zoomed in. I truly think there's some sort of vibe. We look outside and it just feels like a green day. It's a crappy day. Crappy day today. I don't know. Anyways, yeah. A lot of people, I got messages today like,

is Sammy going to be okay? I had someone say this is going to be a counseling session for Sammy. Really? Give my love to Sammy. Really? Hugs. How are you doing? I'm doing well.

I am, you know, are the Bruins, after watching what you watched last night, and specifically in the second period where the Florida Panthers turned up the playoff intensity to 150, and the Toronto Maple Leafs maybe just weren't able to get there, and we'll hear some of the clips from Keefe. After watching that, I definitely don't feel quite as bad about playing the Boston Bruins as I would have playing

against that Florida Panthers team. I do think that we all got a little excited about them having a little poopy stretch, and we're all like, oh, they suck now. They suck. They're hurt. And myself included, I bought into that. But when they turn it up the way they did last night, there's not a lot of hockey teams in the NHL that look as good as they do.

So all of that is to say that I don't particularly love the option that is the Boston Bruins. It's playoffs. You're playing a good team. Yeah, but here's the great thing about playing in the Atlantic Division, my friend justin bourne if you happen to beat the boston bruins the first round you're likely going to be playing that florida panthers team you played last night so they got a bunch of band-aids they'll be hurt by oh yeah we'll see but no i i i'm interested to dive into the conversation with you about the bruins I mean, we can talk about the game last night. I think... I think we should.

To me, this 70 thing is totally agonizing. And yesterday, I wasn't as upset about it. And I thought, you know, he's going to get it. And it was kind of a moot conversation. And I hated the way it played out last night. In terms of looking for him or... I thought towards the end of the game, it was horrible. Yeah. I can't end and you know okay we'll do it how about a keep clip uh lancy we'll go to keep uh to clip

four on talking about having the top guys out in the final minute of that game yesterday we'll hear what the coach's thoughts were i mean it's that's less about austin it's more about the fact we got a chance to work on our six on five and get some reps at that and some six on four against a really good team. I think you take advantage of those opportunities, especially against a team like that, that really challenges you. So, yeah, Austin plays a role in that. But that, for me, is more about getting us some reps

in a very important part of the game here with playoffs approaching. What would you like to say to your team?'t know well i i think you look at it as if we can also get matthews one here this takes a lot of decisions out of our hands and a lot of pressure outward public pressure i don't know i just i've soured on this. I want him to get 70 goals. I really do. I think it's an incredible accomplishment. We listened to Paul Maurice talk about it yesterday and how it's a history and all of that, but it's turned into a total sideshow,

Barney. And last night was an absolute sideshow. And the fact that you have him out there in a game, he gets high sticked in the face. You know, he gets a draws a penalty you're down five two you have 40 million dollars worth your all your chances of a playoff series on the ice at the same time against the florida panthers team who we know what they're

like it's a meaningless game it's turned into something that i wish it never did yeah and he's gonna probably play tonight and i'm sure i don't know who's starting in that. It looked like, you know, we're on early, so we don't have these details yet from Tampa. But I'm assuming it's going to be probably the backup. Maybe he gets it. But it's just, it feels way dirtier than I wanted it to feel. And I'm just being honest.

Yeah. You know, it didn't play out perfectly. You'd love for him to score, you know, two against Detroit on hockey night in Canada and call it a wash instead of having to have these conversations, which we saw coming for a month. I've literally been talking about this

since like early March. Yeah. So, you know, it's not perfect how it's playing out. I am curious to see if there's any chance he doesn't play tonight. It feels unlikely. You know, one of the things that i think gets lost in the conversation of should he prioritize this record or prioritize

the team or whatever is that going for the record does not necessarily not prioritize the team he can go out play 15 minutes score against tampa get a 70 and that helps him roll into the playoffs it could be good for the team yep so to me it's lot of like, we don't really know what's best for him. I, you know, would have loved to just have him watch tonight's game. It's not an option now. I think you leave it up to him. You can't have a sour Matthews.

You can't keep him out if he wants to go for it. So it's kind of up to him what he wants to do now. Yeah, I think he's playing tonight, right? I think, I mean, we can listen to Keefe Clip 3 there, Lance, if you want to play it. It's on Matthews and the plan for tonight. So if you want to play Clip 3 there, Lancey. Austin played well tonight.

He had a ton of chances. I don't know how many shots he ended up with, but a couple are behind the goalie. You know, a lot of holes have been falling for him. They didn't fall tonight but you know i liked i liked a lot about his game will he play tomorrow i'm sorry will austin play tomorrow uh we'll talk about it we've got 12 healthy forwards oh yeah he's playing yeah by the way luke fox will he play tomorrow direct as you can be yes yeah fox the the the man and and

keith we have 12 healthy forwards answered his question. You know what that does too, though, is it does alleviate the pressure on Matthews to say he made this decision to chase it. He's not. You can't put in Domi. You can't put in Yarncroft. You can't put in McMahon.

You're a cap team. You can't call someone up. From the start of the show until now, this is why I love this show. We don't do the show off air. We save it for he's going to play tonight. Yeah, he he's in so and i don't even blame they don't really have much of a choice so so you know i think last night was in terms of the meaningless game that you worry about injury and and you worry about what's gonna happen in last night to me is much more of a scary game than tonight is as I touch I think this is

this is what this feels like what I'm touching that tonight is the one you worry less about in terms of intensity because tonight neither absolute no hitter you're not playing each other in the first round both team knows exactly where they're finished you know who you're

playing could play each other in second round for sure and you want to take a you know take a chunk out of them yeah but tonight feels like a night where it could be matt tompkins in net and you could be going up against rested like guys who are resting and so i do think 34 plays 15 minutes tonight yeah and i think the ideal scenario is like we've talked about yesterday gets it early put them in bubble wrap put them in bubble wrap play on 12 minutes the rest of the night and away we go. Yeah.

But like you said. That's not how Leaf stuff works out. Empty netter. Yeah, empty netter, fine. Yeah. Yeah, so he'll be in. It didn't play out how you wanted. It's interesting just to talk about last night's game a little bit.

You know, you're in a group chat with Kip and I during the games. Kip can be at times hard on the team, which is fair. You know, like they're, you know, they like every other team. They have their shortcomings.

After the first period last night, he said, really liked how the buds played last night. Or sorry, in that period, really liked it. Like the other buds played in the first. And it was,

they were great. That was a really good period of hockey. They, I think they would shot them 14,6 they uh all my metrics they were way better and chances and everything and when there was physicality you know outside of maybe a tavarez moment here there answered the bell went back at florida and hung in there not sure what happened i don't know what happened it's almost like florida took a bit of a punch in the mouth and was like oh no oh we're doing like we're trying i i don't know what it was really hard to picture because a lot of times you watch hockey there's periods that have different feels to them where you know one

team will come out and they'll be like we got to respond to whatever happened in the first period that's happens every night in the National Hockey League. Of course. I don't know if I've ever seen two more stark periods in that all year, where the Leafs were really good in the first. I was impressed with how they played. And I was like, wow, this is a really, this is a borderline statement period here.

I'm like, is this how they're going to play for the rest of the game? And then the penalties start, the power play start, the wave of red starts, that building gets going. You know, like they get to cheer because there's other fans there. So they get somebody to play off of. So they get up. So, you know, there's some real. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Leaf fans bring the atmosphere, which is great. And it was a wave. And I just, I've never, I don't remember a period. Well, I'm certainly not this season. I think the last, it's not the most shots the Leafs have given up in a period. 29 shots. Not the most. Really?

Yeah. 32 shots on goal allowed March 15th, 1984, in the second frame versus the Whalers. Shout out Sportsnet stats for digging that one up. He might have. But I don't know what happened. Honestly, to me, they gave a good period, and then the Florida Panthers came out with their A game,

and they weren't ready. That's what it comes down to. I actually think that was a good of a playoff reminder because that's what happens in playoffs, where the momentum is more real in playoffs than at any other time of the year where the other team gets their home building going, and they start getting all four lines

and you're hemmed in, you can't get off the ice. Long change in the second. And it can happen. You could lose a game in five minutes. So to my earlier point about what the Leafs will be facing tonight, I just saw on Twitter from Ed Encina,

who used to cover the Baltimore Orioles and now is the beat writer for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Very interesting. Been following him for two totally different purposes. Divisional opponent either way. Yes, I followed him for baseball and now it's hockey. Matt Tompkins will start tonight, looks like. Alright, good for him. Well, let's

find out what Sheldon had his take on what happened last night in the second period. Clip one, Lancey. Obviously, you know, them scoring early in the second period on that first shift, that's, you know, the momentum shifts there, energy changes in the game, and then we just took too many penalties, you know, so it took away from what I thought was a pretty good hockey game for us

to probably kill lots of life and momentum for them. Not real scoring chances. I thought we managed it really well, but a lot of time on our end, a lot of time for our best people sitting on the bench and a lot of defending. You know, but it's a funny game. We played a terrific first period,

and the game looks a lot worse than it is from there. It's made me give up many scoring chances in this game here tonight, way less than we've been giving up in previous games, despite what the shots say. But obviously give up too many goals and don't get enough chances or don't finish our opportunities from there. Didn't look as bad. Wasn't that bad.

29 to 4 in the second. This is a classic Kee playbook right the hard zag the hard zag expected everyone to be like there's certain games where they're awful and he's just smoking hot and he comes out and he just he doesn't even have the ability to look at a reporter and answer a question he's so mad throwing fast yeah but this is the one where they look bad and they lose to a team where it's like you know it's not bad but this time of year that's what coaches do right it's like we're okay we're actually better than you think we're actually great did you you know what you guys miss we work great so i appreciate uh him trying to yeah not pile on his guys four days before playoffs um but yeah like kind of left with

more questions than answers joel edmondson you know he's gonna start for you but you know he's having some struggles on the back end they're not finished yeah and morgan riley worst game i can remember him playing it was dash four last night but the big one joseph wool gives up four um you know i don't know if it's a percentage probably ended up above 900 considering the amount of shots they gave up. But it wasn't great. It wasn't great. It wasn't bad.

It wasn't great. And now you're worried. To me, I just was desperate for him to just run out there and grab that and just have an excellent game just so you can have the fallback option that makes you feel good heading into the playoffs, that makes fans feel good,

that makes Keith feel good, that makes Treleaving feel good, makes Shanahan feel good. That makes Treleaving feel good. That makes Shanahan feel good. And that wasn't what it was. Swayman Allmark is looming. I thought that he did actually make some good saves in the third period. Yep. And it was a wave in the second period.

Like they just couldn't. The puck just kept going in the net, to quote Sheldon Keith. The puck just kept going in the net. But I thought he kind of rebounded a little bit in the third period. But four still go in. The same with Samsonov. Four seems to be going in the net to quote Sheldon Keefe the puck just kept going in the net but I thought he kind of rebounded a little bit in the third period but four still go in the same with Sam Stoff four seems to be going in like it's amazing and this is just more of a fan and I'm sure they feel like this and they don't necessarily feel like this in the room but all the goodwill that this Toronto Maple Leafs team had built up over i don't know when's that like stretch of hockey that they were one of the better teams in the league the last month and a half so they

have been legitimately one of the better teams record wise stats wise advanced stats wise and six in their last you know 28 across the board yeah the numbers are looking pretty good yes it is remarkable how crappy three hockey games can make you feel about it. Oh, I don't feel that way. I don't feel that way. Well, listen, I'm a fan, buddy. Yeah. I watched those three games, and I'm still like, I don't think they suck,

but I'm definitely shook a little bit. How can you not feel a little bit shook about what's happened in the last few games? I know they're meaningless. I know. No, but I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why, and it's because I never felt good about the goaltending to begin with.

Okay, that's fair. So the goaltending looking shaky is not like, well, I hadn't anticipated this little wrinkle. It's not just all the goaltending. It's the decor. It feels like they can't get a puck out of their own zone.

Like, it's just, and it feels like there's a lack of intensity, and it could come down to what these games and how little they mean and i i acknowledge all that and when it starts on saturday they can play great and they could look great that is a definite possibility but i would be lying to you and i would be lying to our beloved audience if i didn't tell you my confidence has been shook or shooken shaken shaken it's be shook it It's be shook, Marty. Yeah, no, I know.

It's, you know, there is an old psych study. You know, I'm a psychology major back in the day. Oh, yeah, wow. And, you know, if I offer you. And now you're sitting here with me. Yeah, I know. Great. Vanilla and chocolate cone, and you get a choice.

I ask you how you feel about your choice. You're more likely to be happy than if I gave you nine choices. You pick one, and you feel like you'd feel like I'm a bad example. I'll just go vanilla every time. Fair enough. Even if I got nine choices. All right. Well,

if you got 900 choices, you might be like, well, there's five types of vanilla. I could have had that. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That rich French vanilla.

That's how I feel about the Leafs decor is that now you have 90 that are NHL D-men. And I don't know that you're ever going to feel good about the six you choose. Yeah. Because Lilligren out doesn't feel good anymore. No. Because, you know, Edmondson is struggling. Labushkin hasn't been awesome. You know, Benoit is kind of in.

Brody is, you know, whatever it is, you have all these choices for guys to put in. And it's really tough to sit here today and say, here's the best six. You know, like the handedness doesn't work for the best six. So then you got a guy in lilligren who hasn't been who hasn't played hockey no but he is definitely in is he for me he is i if you're if you are choosing your decor and you stuck with him at the deadline and he's healthy and your right-handed shot options are ilia labushkin and timothy lilligren helya Labushkin and Timothy Lilligren.

He's in the lineup. Timothy Lilligren is playing game one. Well, I can tell you that's not happening. Labushkin's going to be in for sure. You think? I do. I haven't liked him at all recently. It's Brody who you're saying you have TJ Brody who plays 20-some minutes a night for you

and all this experience. Or you got Lilligren who's coming off injury, played a game. Bunkus and I just discussed this for a couple minutes, you don't think that the decision could be come could come down to Labushkin or Brody for the last spot well if you're that sure on Lilligren which I don't know how we would have got there I listen I'm sure yeah I'm far from sure yeah but I think like although for all the reasons I laid out you know he's played's played, he's going to have played three games here. Now you got him back. You stuck with him at the deadline.

You talked about how you wanted to build them up and you wanted to build them up. He's starting game one. To me, he's in the lineup. Boy, that's the one he's least likely to start giving. You think game one is going to be a run around and bang it up.

And the Bruins absolutely own him. He is awful against the Bruins. You think of those games he's played against the Bruins, you know the the stuff in the boards earlier in the year he's i i would love to know what his plus minus is against the bruins i can probably look that up but it's not it's not great yeah so you know whatever you think that lineup is going to look like um there there's some tough choices to be made on the back end i personally would play joseph wool tonight um to just jump back to the goaltending um because i didn't feel good about his game last night he hasn't played much hockey he's going to be the backup in playoffs i don't think you can say that back to back is gonna ruin a 24 year old

you know so i i think the more chances he gets to play the better yeah so that's my vote for tonight is give him another one like jones is if you're down to jones you're in at least game five of the series anyway and you've lost at least three times could be matt murray instead of jones bud no he's playing we'll send jones down then jones is jones is 908 with the leafs this yeah i know i'm just saying yeah okay this is not something i thought I thought I was going to ask you. Series on a line. You have to start Martin Jones or Matt Murray. Who are you starting?

It's Jones. I don't even hesitate. Okay. Listen, I think Matt Murray's a good guy. Like, I do. Here we go. And no one ever preferences that. And I think he's the best goalie.

He's going to get. That's all. He's going to get. That's all. He's going to get three and a half mil this offseason morning. I haven't trusted him as a Maple Leaf. I know he's had great stretches of his career, but in blue and white, it hasn't been great for me. So should we get down to the brass taxes here? The Boston Bruins?

Yeah, I guess. So our beloved Ryan Fabro Our fearless leader Came up to me when I was Printing out the lineups Ah the Bruins On paper And I looked at him and I said It ain't on here

The paper is soaked in blood The paper On the paper that's written With the Bruins Leafs matchup It's covered in the souls of leaf fans past it's it's unbelievable that all the time borny we spent in here i know talking about we never even took this seriously as an option that talking about the florida panthers and how they're gonna match up and what it's gonna look like and the boston bru tanked two games. To Chicago and Ottawa? No, they lost to...

Ottawa and... No, Ottawa and Washington. Yeah. So last night, it almost... So I don't know if you saw what the shots by period were. They had three shots in the first period. And it almost, to me... And then, like, I didn't watch the game,

but I got a few messages from Bruins fans who were like, oh, they were actually playing, they were actually playing. Yeah, because they knew it was too shameless they knew if they're like three shots up for they're like we gotta go out there and play hockey we gotta pretend to play hockey so it's now the bruins they tank i was right about it they tank hold on they lost i don't know that you were right that they tanked well they pretended not to but they did they got their desired effect yeah and here we go it is uh really a whiplash to now be talking about the boston bruins uh yesterday on the show we said who would you rather have and kip chose boston i choose death i think i chose boston as well you know the

there is plenty of reason to believe and we will will get to the stats over the next two days as we preview the series. But the Bruins haven't been good. Friedman will tell you I'm on record calling them frauds several times this year. Good. I'm glad the Bruins fans have that tape out there. I have.

There's plenty of it. Their goalies are very good. Very good. But this is not a team that I think is loaded. I think the Leafs, this is going to be, you can see a day in history when you're talking about the year it went right for the Leafs, the final few days of the season and how Boston fell to them, you know, a team that was struggling.

You're talking about the Leafs not looking good the last couple days. I mean, they just lost to Ottawa and Washington. On purpose. On the other side. Well, sure. Okay. not looking good the last couple days i mean they just lost to ottawa and washington on purpose on the other side well sure okay um yeah it unfortunately the good news is a lot of this team doesn't carry the scars that you do yeah but i really do feel like they they know and they know the fans know and the players have been good for 12 years. It doesn't really matter to me. It doesn't really matter to me about how the Leafs players feel

because I feel like if you go back and look, the Leafs players have had fine success. I believe Marner, in the regular season at least, the Bruins are by far and away his number one most scored on. He's had a lot of success against the Bruins. But it's not about the Leafs players. Those Bruins players want to play the Leafs. They love to play the Leafs.

No, they don't. You're making that up because you're afraid of them. They love playing the Leafs. I think Danton Heinen has an opinion or Morgan Geeky or Jacob Lauko or Jesper Boquist or Jason Megna. These are all real players in their 12. You and I both know that's not who I was talking about. You're doing that on purpose. Number 63.

Okay. Number 88, David Pasternak. Number 74, Jake DeBrusque. Jake DeBrusque. Jake DeBrusque. You could have had him. Charlie McAvoy. And that was goaltending.

That's all that really matters to me. There's not enough bodies left forrusque is an absolute Leaf killer scored multiple big goals against him in the playoffs he got uh Nazem Kadri suspended because he hit Marleau hit old boy Marleau got Nazem Kadri suspended to me you do this whole thing to protect your emotions. So you're just saying it's going to be a Leafs win in this series? I do. But I think they're 51% favorites. Okay. I think they are, at least up front, they are considerably better.

They're back end, giving it to Boston, and they're goaltending, giving it to Boston. What's most important to us? Well, I don't know. That's a fantasy, too. There's this old saying that forwards win championships is that how the bruins the bruins are middle of the nhl in terms of producing offense which is great news for the toronto maple leafs that you know florida would have given them a much harder time and florida had much better defense core

and better defensive forwards talked about barcob all over him. Are you worried about Pavel Zaka shutting down Austin Matthews? You know, like Charlie Coyle, okay. But these are not the elite of the elite. This gives the Leafs strength a better chance to thrive. Matthews, Marner, these guys will have more opportunity to be better.

I think everything you're saying is incredibly accurate. And I think that the Leafs have a much better chance to beat the Boston Bruins than they would have had to beat the Florida Panthers, specifically after what I watched last night. I was like, oh, yeah, they're still the best team in the league. Yep. So everything you've said is right.

And the Boston Bruins are definitely a better option. Yeah. But it could have just, not be the golden black team. That to me, it's like, that is the biggest mental block for every leaf fan. That's listening to this right now. And every like people would convince themselves,

but at the end of the day, you have no history in your mind of good memories versus this kind of version of the Boston Bruins with Pasternak. No, he kills the Leafs. Marchand, you have that video of him running around saying how people are going to get it this year, and every Bruin fan brags about that for some reason, even though he turtled twice in that game.

It's just, there's too much history for a lot of Leaf fans to be positive about this. No, there's two things for me that are popping in my mind. One is that when the Leafs played the Bruins, so the Leafs strategy in playoffs has always been that our elite forwards will power us through. That has always been the plan. And when they played the Bruins in playoffs,

it was what, 2018-19 and 19-20? Or maybe even sooner? The last time they played them was 18-19. 17-18, 18-19. Yeah, back to back. It's 20-24 right now. I'm saying the young guys on this team they played the last time they played them was 18 19 17 18 18 19 yeah back to back 20 to 2024 right now the i'm saying the young guys on this team are now prime age horses austin matthews has won a heart trophy he's won rockets he's a different guy scored 69 goals one season one

season i heard that it's a very good number not quite 70 but it's good it's quite a nice number the well done the so the core the plan for those guys to to win has a better chance to succeed given where they're out of their career the other thing is this the washington capitals had to beat the pittsburgh penguins to get to their ultimate destiny they lost to them for years do you not feel like you need to pull like king was it arthur who pulled the excalibur from the rock i was gonna say leer but that's definitely not right. Yeah, Lear's not the answer. You know, do you not feel like the dragon needs to be slayed here for the Leafs? This could be the first step to the ultimate destiny.

Yeah, I couldn't care less about that stuff. I think... You believe in all this fiction about jerseys and ghosts, but you don't believe in slaying the dragon for the championship? Okay, I think there's something to what you're saying, but the Leafs could beat the Devils, the Jackets, and the Sens, and they go to the final. I don't

care who they beat. But having said that, if the Leafs beat the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs, and it springboards them towards winning a Stanley Cup, yes. That Cup would be much sweeter because you can look back at this time when they finally beat the Bruins, sure.

But any Cup, I don't care who they beat. I don't care. That's, to me, that's secondary. But it would be nice. I think you'll look, if they're able to get past Boston, I think you can look back at the years of struggle as progression where you say we couldn't get past the Bruins, we did. We couldn't get past the Lightning, we did. Couldn't get past the Bruins. We did. We couldn't get past the Lightning.

We did. Couldn't get past the Panthers. Well, that'll be your next opportunity is you're going to have to do some work. Okay. I don't want to come off as like super negative because I feel like I am coming off as super negative and nervous. I hear fear. I do fear.

I'm sorry you couldn't. I fear. I have fear. I do. But at the same time, I do think that they can beat't. I fear. Like, I have fear. I do. But at the same time, I do think that they can beat them. I really do. And I think that they haven't been good for the second half of the season. You think they won't, but you think they can.

I'm not picking them to beat them. No. I'm really not. If you gun to my head asking what's going to happen, the Leafs are going to lose game seven at TD Garden. Why would you think it? The scars are so... But no, but it's like, it's going to be game seven at TD Garden. Why would you think it's going to be a super tight series.

I think it'll probably go six or seven. Yeah. And they have home ice advantage. Yeah. So if they lose game seven in TD, I'm just going to come

to your side. I don't think I'll do this. I'm just going to believe in ghosts. I feel happy that I show that because that's literally the show that everybody's

been looking forward to watching me do. Like I've gotten to the point where I'm enough of a synonymous as an elite fan that people enjoy my pain. So a lot of people want to watch that. But yeah, I do. If I had to pick right now, I would say the Boston Bruins are going to win in seven games. All right. Well, we're going to

talk more about this. Sorry, more about last night. We're going to do a little game time all after the break. We'll see you in a couple of minutes the best blue jay show out there period blair and barker be sure to subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts welcome back to real kipper and born on this day seven years ago tyler bozak's overtime goal gave the leafs a 2-1 series lead over the washington capitals who was the first one since travis green in 03 caps ended up winning that series thanks to to Lance Hornby for that. One of my favorite playoff goals,

Bozak from Nazem Kadri on the power play, off the half boards, shot tip into the middle. Classic Babcock plan. Off the half boards, hard snapper into the middle. JVR down low, helping on that power play. Great, great goal. That was when I truly, truly loved that team. It was the first year they made the playoffs

before the scars set in you're like oh my god he's gonna win four cops but Kapanen looked like he was going to be a big part of this so and shout out Jim Houston who was on the call for that and I remember him the inflection in his voice

when he said the Leafs had the series lead with like the passion plus like the sort of shock because it's like the Caps were heavily favored. They hadn't won their cup yet. Was that the year they won the cup? Was that the year they won the cup? No, it was 16-17. Anyways, the way that he like called that was just elite.

They have the lead. Like it was just so good. So, that's what I truly loved. You're so bitter. I know. I'm just beat down, man. I've been beaten down. All right.

So, I don't need to get too more into that. But you want to do some game time? I do. Actually, before we do game time, I want to read this headline. Okay. This was forwarded to me by a friend of mine. Maybe this is the year the Leafs beat Boston. Says delusional idiot who doesn't know S.

I think that's from the Beaverton. So good stuff there. Yeah. The fruit is low hanging, but they picked it very well. It's very, very good. So I just wanted to read that to our beloved fans. All right. 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 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, we have some series confirmed. And Colorado Avalanche and the Winnipeg Jets, they are the only Western uh series that is confirmed

yep jets get what a season for the jets to me yeah them to get home ice advantage in the playoffs uh you know they didn't win the division but the dallas are a runaway train they're really good and i don't think anyone had this kind of expectations of the jets this year i think people thought they'd be good but to be this good it's an awesome season and huge to get it at home so you're not in altitude as much you're in your own building and they have a good home ice advantage there they go nuts they get they wear all the white although haven't they lost a bunch with the the white anyways very interesting number to me on the series this is just to win the series isn't game one or anything the colorado avalanche are minus 130 favorites to win that series. Plus 110 for the Winnipeg Jets.

To me, not to discredit our wonderful sponsor, Bet365, disrespecting the Jets to me. I don't know how the Jets aren't a favorite going into that series. Hellebuck v. Gorgiev with home ice advantage. Yeah. I mean, I know that they have McKinnon. I know they have, is Rantan playing again? Is he back? He was banged up with a concussion.

To me, that's... It should be minus 110 both ways. That is an even money type of series to me. And if I'm... If I'm a gambling man, which I tend to be from time to time, mostly around golf majors and NFL playoffs, but sometimes in hockey,

plus 110 is a good number yeah so uh would you like to hazard a guess at what the line is in the toronto maple lease boston bruins playoff series first off i just want to say that i'm going to bet that the jets yeah in that series as well i like them um the leafs against the Bruins. The Bruins are favorites. They're exact same line, minus 130 Boston, plus 110 Leafs. Plus 105 Toronto Maple Leafs, minus 125 Boston Bruins. Okay. So literal underdogs. Yeah, they get to be underdogs.

Show this tape, Sheldon, I know you're listening. Get the Bet365 thing, put it on the big board, and show them all that they are underdogs you know for years now the leafs have been favored to win their series they've had home ice the past couple years you've heard the opposing coaches john cooper leaning on it paul maurice leaned on it too but like oh we're just happy to be here against the leafs oh the leafs if anyone has a chance to take a period off this you know just really setting the stage of pressures on them to get it done. You can't do that this year.

This year, Leafs are dogs. And hey, their record on the road in playoffs under Sheldon Keefe, pretty damn good. Yeah. Enough to bet plus 105 to beat the Bruins? Yes. It's a tough spot. I prefer the Leafs as favorites for my happiness hedges oh yeah

so it's a tough one to have to bet on boston here we'll see what when we get up you know when the season starts happiness hedge season starts is around game four of every playoff series yeah i don't do it in the first couple games or whatever but once the that's when it starts to come in it's gonna be interesting to have a different coach you know you're expecting paul marie's for kippers clippers coming in here. Now it's Jim Montgomery, so we'll see how that goes. Does he say anything? I don't know.

We're going to find out. Just going through these series quickly, the Lightning and Florida Panthers, what would you hazard a guess that the line is on that? I'm going to say pretty similar to the line you just gave me, minus 125 Florida. They believe in the Florida Panthers. They're minus 170.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are plus 145. Oh, that's must bet. That's a really good number. That's must bet. I at one point said that I think the Tampa Bay Lightning are the best team in the East. Yeah. I no longer think that.

No? I do think that this is very similar to when we were talking yesterday about Vancouver and Nashville. And don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing Tampa Bay to Nashville. I'm just comparing the situation. That I think a lot of people, a sexy pick will be Tampa. And I feel like Florida might run them over. I really do feel like there's a possibility of that happening.

I think it comes down to is Vasilevsky the guy he's been? Yeah. Or the guy who struggled this season? 100% what it comes down to. Yeah. And the last two I'll bring up quickly before we get out of game time. The New York Islanders are plus 275. Probably would stay away from that one.

And the Washington Capitals are plus 350. Minus 450 if you want to bet on the new york rangers to be the cat you know what i like to do is a lot of these series bets so series bets are one of the the few places i feel like consistently i do pretty well at and and season long stuff it's easier to sort of get the things tend to even out to what you where they should be i think that washington one if you were going to bet it, you could probably bet them to lose in five, say. Rangers in five or something. So I'm just looking at the correct score after game four line. And so if you want Rangers 3-1.

Yeah. Oh, sorry, I got the wrong number here. So if you want to bet on them to sweep, it's plus 400. 3-1 is plus 140. So I'm looking to bet on them to sweep, it's plus 400. Three ones plus 140. So I'm looking at the correct series handicap here as I pull it up. I'm not going to go through this right now. Okay, cool. That was game time.

Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds to find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play it responsibly. Yeah, just got intimidating there with all these numbers. Yeah. Let's just play in the plan here.

Zach Galifianakis. What the hell happened last night in the NHL? What a unbelievable stretch of 10 minutes there. So to lay it out, Washington and Philly are tied. Detroit is losing to Montreal 4-3 at the time. And I want to say Detroit scores to make it 4-4 with three seconds 3.3 seconds david perron from the point philly then thinks they have to beat washington in regulation so they pull the goalie not knowing detroit has scored detroit getting the point eliminated them

anyway right right so they wouldn't have done they wouldn't pull the goalie had they known they were eliminated so then they pull the goalie not knowing they're already eliminated washington hits the empty netter which then knocks out pittsburgh crazy so if you're a penguins fan watching that unfold it was like an 18 car pile up like everything was going along okay. Detroit's losing. This game, you know, like, it was all good. And then it just drastically wasn't. Can you imagine being a fly on the wall, watching Sidney Crosby watch those games? It'd be the saddest thing of all time.

I would like to be... I bet you he didn't even react. You know who I would like to watch watch those games? Kyle Dubas. I'll be a fly on the wall for that room, for sure. I bet you some poor water bottle needs some repairs this morning. Yeah, there's a dent in the wall somewhere. Yeah, I think we made a lot of fun of this playoff race,

and rightfully so because there were some crappy games for a long time to get to this point. Yeah. But what we got, Borny, was very good. And exciting. Towards the end here, this was like, you know, I don't know how much of a soccer fan you are,

but this is a much smaller scale in the final spot for a playoff. When they all play at the same time. Yeah. But it was like in the one year that Man City won their first one in 50 years or whatever, it was, the goals were going back and forth and the fans think they win it. And all it's like having these different moments yeah in different

games that have so much impact and all like did you see Kane's reaction to winning the shootout he scored the shootout goal beautiful low blocker snapper and it's like hangs his head yeah it's like oh great we won like that's so depressing like I just I thought it was really really good yeah it was it was an exciting night of hockey it's been an exciting run we're obviously left with some awesome playoff series um yeah could not be more excited islanders find their way in the end uh looks like vegas is going to end up with the oilers right now they're a point ahead of the los angeles kings after a win last night um la could catch them la has a game against the blackhawks to go a point ahead but vegas still plays anaheim so vegas beats anaheim the oilers will get the vegas golden knights and then they're the treat for falling out would be playing the dallas stars right it's a big yeah i mean you

either get the oilers or the stars it's a tough matchup regardless but for it's a big difference for the oilers because the kings are not the golden knights but then but no but then nashville they could go around to like, there's still a little bit to be determined here, but yeah, I, I think you would be doing all you possibly can do to avoid playing the Dallas stars.

I think of all the teams I've watched in the last little while, I've been probably most impressed with them in terms of being one of the best teams in the league, like Florida's right there. But you know, I, I respect all the franchises and I hope they're all great but for our bosses and for us and for all of canada i'm really hoping it's not dallas and florida in the final yeah because that really feels possible and they're both awesome teams they're both like a lot of exciting players

yeah but the laundry on that one doesn't necessarily fit my eye a whole lot no there's the potential for the best canadian year in a long time right like if you're looking at vancouver nashville i'm picking vancouver i just told you i'm picking winnipeg over colorado gets back last night they get a win he looks good that's huge for them how nice is that for the psyche heading into the playoffs they get a big win that's great like i'm probably i'm definitely picking edmonton over LA and maybe over Vegas. And I told you, I think Toronto can get Boston.

So call me a big old Canadian homer here. But at the very least, they're not massive dogs in any of these series as far as I see it. I want you to just go down, head to fantasy camp with me. Can you imagine that the Toronto Maple Leafs

and the Edmonton Oilers met in the Stanley Cup final? What that would do for this country. The country would be on fire. I mean, you talk about, you know, our bosses being happy. Ad prices going up, baby. But, like, I can't imagine. Because I think, I'm trying to think back to the finals. It's been weird because of COVID.

But, like, the last final that had two true, like blue blood sort of teams, you know, you had Colorado in, in Tampa, which are two great franchises, but they're not, it's not Chicago and,

or whatever. It's just having it be two teams like that. I can't imagine what that would do. You know, last year, you know, you guys did Leafs talk, you know, at times 10,000 people watch, whatever.

When Toronto beat Florida, or sorry, beat Tampa in game six, and I was on with you guys, over 80,000 people listened. So, you know, eight times your usual volume. If you go to a third round, you win two playoff rounds. Now you're a month into playoffs. You have time for it to build and people to get on board. I just can't imagine what the city would feel like. It'd be really

good. So I want to make sure if you're listening to this, that you will be returning to Leafs Talk. So we're doing Leafs Talk again after every playoff game, of course. And Justin Bourne will be the third head and a three-headed monster. I will be the third wheel. We need you during playoffs because uh we need a babysitter well i do yeah bonkus is more professional than i am but you know i'm in these positions because of my passion and

yeah one minute after a super intense playoff game you put me on air you're probably gonna get some passion so i'm really looking forward to having you back it's going to be great so i just want to make sure we got that in there uh interesting news at a mini uh mark andre flurry resigns for a year yeah i you know i guess like you guy just loves it doesn't he seems to some of these guys that are hall of famers i feel like they're just racking up the numbers at the end just making it harder it's for other anyone to ever catch their wins and all that so yeah good for him he signed for 2.5 million and what was his numbers like this year i'm just looking it up uh i don't have them in front of me they he was a he played 39 games this year he was a 298 and a 895 so i mean they yeah it's probably just backup kind of having yeah

people must love him there and but he's had an amazing career, and you're right. Like, he is a first ballot hall of famer. He is. He's in the top five, I think, in wins ever. Or is he even one? No, he's top three, top two. He's up there. He's up there.

So, anyways. So, the big surprise last night when Washington gets that OT winner, or sorry, the empty net winner, is the Capitals get in as maybe the worst goal differential team in the last mark andre flurry's second all-time and wins second all-time and wins there you go so you know one of the worst goal differential teams to ever make the playoffs if not the worst goal differential team to ever make the playoffs if you sort the nhl by goal differential the the caps are minus 37 the teams behind them are montreal columbus anaheim chicago san jose so they're better than five teams in the nhl so if you sort the list of like the

plus minus and where they are and see the x beside their name like as a team that has clinched it's hilarious like this is a if you're the rangers they're getting served a series on a platter here you are very smart how how does that happen charlie lindgren was very very good but i guess you get blown out when you're bad and then you sneak out one goal wins when you when you get it done there it is but also you've complained about the you know what's true 500 and not i don't have the standings in front of me, but there's surely they're not a actual, a true 500 team. Here we go. They are 40,

31 and 11, meaning they're 40 and 42 on the season. So there you go. You know, they're not an exceptional hockey team. So tonight Leafs play the Tampa Bay lightning final game of the series. We have a quick clip on what Sheldon Keefe is looking for tonight on the way out the door.

If we could get clip five, please. Got anyone there to play clip five for us? I thought we played a good game here today in lots of ways, especially that first period. We want to start like that again. There's a lot of things we'll take out of that first period. And, you know, you want our special teams to be good, which they were again here tonight.

So that's a positive for us. Power play gets us going. Penalty kill is really overworked tonight, but does a good job. Those are the kind of things you'd like to see continue. And then, you know, we want to get out of the game healthy, which looks like we did here tonight. So to that end, it's a successful night. But obviously, I wish we got the two points tonight.

He's in full cliche mode. Yeah, he is already protecting the team. I hope we got the two points tonight. Yeah. I saw a tweet from Jason Greger, who we had on the show the other day. Wish we could have him on more. It was great. That, do you know how I always whine about the playoff standings?

If it was 1-8, exact same matchups. In the East? In the East. Wow. It would be the exact same matchups. There isn't one that would be different. Although, we're at 1-8. I believe Boston was incentivized.

Had they won that, I think they would have got the Islanders. I remember reading last night. So, I mean, that part of it, you clearly... Change the incentives. Change the incentives. I get that part of it. But if you're starting the playoffs right now with the exact same playoffs as if it was 1-8, so...

And looking at it, I can't think of a team who deserves a different fate. Like, Washington deserves to play. The Rangers, the Bruins and Leafs, neither of them pulled away from the pack. I can't believe the Bruins, you know, after the start they had limping in here at the 109 points.

So you've really, I will say over this hour, this is bad, that you've made me feel a little better. Okay. The way you've talked and the confidence that you have in that this should be a good series for the Leafs has made me feel a little bit better. When David Pasternak shoots one under the bar five minutes into Saturday night,

and I go, da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da, I won't feel good. Their power play is a little scary. Yeah. I mean, that's... What does it always come down to? I don't know, goaltending? Special teams.

And it's going to come down to it again. It feels like it comes down to whatever is't know goaltending special teams and it's gonna come down to it again it feels like it comes down to whatever is bad for the leafs that's like how people like to do it no special teams has been one of the most important things for the lease and one of the things that's killed them and it's going to be huge again this year it absolutely is it's the playoffs special teams matters and you wish that their penalty kill looked a little bit better starting to figure that out a little bit mitch marner looking like himself after his injury which i think is really encouraging yeah you're hoping you get max domey back you're hoping you know hoping all those guys are available but domey back and yarn crack yarn

crock back that uh i'm actually writing with the leafs perfect lineup today really sports at.ca they're their playoff lineup and what it could look like and certainly care to preview uh the preview is that i don't know what to do in terms of game one i feel loving this no i feel different game one than the rest of the series because you got to have ryan reeves in game one i thought ryan reeves had a little bit of a jump last night yeah he's skating way better than he did in the first part of the season yeah he needed some time off i don't know what he did during that time off but he worked maybe he's working with barb she was still working the least barb underhill working with her but man he was nope he was flying around i thought last night even carried the puck a couple times i was like what's gotten into this guy but you need him in game one absolutely yep so i think he'll be in

game one tonight leaves versus the tampa bay lightning a game that doesn't mean much beside from just tightening up all the loose screws can we get the sideshow over with get the 70th goal so we can never austin matthews 69 goals one game left gonna play about 15 minutes tonight we have our fingers crossed fingers crossed for you um and then we will be back tomorrow at our usual time nick caprios will be here four o'clock thanks for listening today and enjoy the final game of the regular season. We'll see you next time.