Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Willy Plays Hometown Hero

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne & Sam McKee start with their immediate reactions to the Leafs' win over the Red Wings in Sweden, Toronto's slow start, Nylander's 3rd-period heroics, the disallowed goal and Samsonov looking more steady. Later, they listen in and react to John Tavares' & Sheldon Keefe's post-game pressers.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.

let's welcome everybody in to the real kipper and born show on this special edition friday swedish edition of the real kipper and born show 5 p.m eastern here usually we fall into the four to six. That's not the case today as we just watched the Toronto Maple Leafs really stun the Red Wings in Sweden with a third period rally that I'm sure has Steve Iserman and Chris Draper scratching their heads. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, and Jen Rolnick

with you for the rest of the hour here in the Leaf edition, and then we go into a national edition at 6 p.m. local here. You can always download our podcast wherever you get your platforms, and remember to

Texas 590-590, and of course, we can officially call this off the rails Friday as we will have Doug McClain at some point today to talk about everything that we witnessed so far this afternoon JB uh it wasn't looking pretty and I'd say, what, 40-plus minutes. Yeah. And then it's as if, shall I say, the Jägermeister wore off. Did you guys ever have Jägermeister? Yeah, unfortunately. Lots. Far too much in my life.

I would say it's by far my favorite thing to show. I've never had Jägermeister in my life. What? What does that even mean? No, what it means is I never had it until a Swedish defenseman named Callie Johansson ordered a tray of them. Okay, yeah. And hardly have ever visited it since.

Yeah. But. Freezing cold? Really cold? Oh, yeah. It's a nice beverage. I'm getting thirsty. It looked in those first 40 minutes that the Jagermeister must have been flying all week long

because that was a dog's breakfast of a hockey game for two periods. That was, yeah, that was ugly. First off, a little note just that it was historic. That was the first Maple Leafs game ever not played in North America. So kind of cool to come on air after that and be part of sort of a historic Leafs broadcast here on Sportsnet. But yeah, it wasn't great. You know, all the hype and the buildings packed

and the Willie Nylander show. And it was ugly. And I know we're going to get to how amazing Willie and his line were in the third period. But Willie was not as fine as self for the early portion of that game. It just wasn't anything happening. Halfway through the game, the shots were 10-10.

So it took a little while for everything to sort of connect and get flowing. I would say that was by far the worst William Nylander has looked all season, and he finishes with three points, including the game-tying goal, and the power play sets up one of the game winners. It's just like, I don't know, can we kind of uh give him a break a little bit on everyone he knows in attendance watching that's a lot of pressure if by chance they didn't have the comeback uh what were your thoughts if they would have just kind of finished the game like they started for the first 40 minutes would you have still maybe said it's cut him slack then cut him slack then i don't know or

did or did the third period absolutely save their bacon the only reason we're talking about this because at intermission we were having the conversation where sammy had said going into this game neil anna is going to be one of two things he's going to be unbelievable or he's going to be awful and yet again i was wrong oh yeah being neither of those things he was not great until he really took over the game the play he makes to set up or twos he changes the entire game yeah right and it's the type of play only he can make where he gets that touch up high and shakes a guy we've seen that 10 15 times already this season yeah and just controlled the pace and everyone gets pucks there and it willy and he makes a pass and bertuzzi is where you'd like bertuzzi to be for that line to work and all of a sudden

leaves go get a scent for it and then i don't know if detroit stopped playing if they're worn out on the tail end of a back-to-back or if the leafs just started getting hungry but it was over from then you pointed out to me during that play that he made to to tie it up when he passed it over to bertuzzi that 99.9 of guys in the nhl just try to force that on net when he's at the hash marks he has a moment and he makes the cut towards the corner where it's like that's just elite vision gets it across to bertuzzi who had his best game as a leaf and then there you go yeah no that's why i guess william newlanders be really rich you must have loved the bertuzzi uh causes the turnover on justin hall justin hall looks like like bad Justin Hall for a moment.

Leafs fans probably went, oh, right, that guy. Yeah. Nice to be on the other end of that, I'm sure, for Leafs fans. Yeah. A lot of people would have thought for Bertuzzi playing against an old team that he would have come out gangbusters,

but that wasn't the case. And it's as if that one play, the one play to Tavares, could possibly change his season. You think so? Yeah, I do. I do because it is right in his wheelhouse. It's what you're paying five it's what you want to be go get a puck and a four check five million dollars that is him and it just hasn't been around i am curious uh kip if

you know bertuzzi good bertuzzi kind of looks like exactly what could make willie and tavara's work because willie and tavara's typically haven't controlled play when they've been out there together they haven't even outscored their opposition typically but with bertuzzi good bertuzzi if there's someone else to be at the net someone else to forecheck like could he be the guy that we go maybe bertuzzi's not destined for matthews and marner maybe this is the right spot for him. If he's able to make those tight plays, and it was like the total package, so you got the physical Bertuzzi, and then you've got the one that can make a quick play

within, what, five, seven feet? Those short passes, which he is known for. Then with a guy like Tavares, who's always sniffing around the blue paint it should it's there's no reason why that recipe can't work yeah yeah and we saw it interesting because I think if you broke down the full game Matthews and Marner not much of a showing tonight out of that line eh like I really didn't get much there not much of the third line really just kind of got yeah kind of a pretty ho-hum game the leafs just pulled out yeah and we've seen this a lot over the past few years with this team where it's like they don't really have a whole lot going into the third period and then they have four guys on their team who make a

lot of money who just were like all right well we're going to put this on our back and score. And that's worked in the regular season. You know, we've had the conversation, the playoffs a little bit, but it does work in the regular season. That skill takes over. The one thing that I was kind of reminded again, when it comes to the Leafs in those first 40 minutes,

is I just don't think they pass the puck very well. And yes, they've got amazing world-class talent, and it usually is a great individual effort, like we saw on Willie Nylander to start, where it's just this world-class skill takes over, one-on-one scenario, beat a guy with your edges. But when it comes to moving and passing the puck i thought detroit for the first 40 minutes they they weren't great at passing the puck either in

the first two periods but they were better played a ton but they were better i guess they played the day before which might have helped so is this just the way it's going to be for leaf fans watching a typical game like this where you could be frustrated for long periods of time and then you have your fingers crossed? Come on, let the world's talent take over. Please let the world's talent take over. Let's see. Great observation.

I actually think it is a really good observation about the Leafs, though. You know, after we've had some of these conversations, you know, I have access to a couple of different sites for stats and stuff. And the Leafs are not a team that passes the puck a ton. Their best guys, like John Tavares, passes the least of the core four. He is an around the blue paint, get the rebound. His assists come off, generate a shot, rebounds. I really don't remember a lot of passes ever.

No, he'll make like one around the net to someone or something, but not a ton of passes. Willie would prefer to shoot make like one around the net to someone or something, but not a ton of passes. Willie would prefer to shoot it. Matthews would prefer to shoot it. And those are the guys who have the puck, the bulk of the game for them. Right now, according to staff leads, they're 21st in the NHL in passes.

So, you know, they pass the puck considerably less than Tampa Bay, Vegas, Vancouver, you know, and Detroit's seventh in the NHL team that does pass the puck a little more. So there is real merit to that observation. Okay. Not a lot happening up until, what, a span of, what, a couple minutes between a goal that we thought was scored by Mitch Marner.

Most of us, hey, for the first time, I think in three years, we've watched a game together, by the way. We went in person. I don't think we've just sat and watched a game together. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Like, I don't know if I ever want to do it again. I thought it was a good night. I enjoyed it.

I thought you talked a little too much. What was I saying? What was I saying? What was I saying? You just need to shoot all the time. Hang on now. You're the guy who's in contact with the situation room every time a play happens. Honestly, just for the people out there, a goal goes in. Four calls.

They're like, what'd you take on a goal, Kipper? He's like talking to seven people. What'd you talk to the ref? Who are you in touch with? Just everybody. Everybody wants to call me. I don't know why. Everyone's at home.

What did Kipper think? Your phone blows up. The stack of the puck goes in the net. Old Coley Campbell. It didn't help me having a conversation with Sammy in the background. That's me. That's me. But listen.

I'm a chirper. I'll go home and I'll sleep over it, you know, on it. Consider watching again. Consider watching another hockey game with you. Next sleepover we all have. Bring our PJs and watch a Leafs game. I did go find snacks for us. That was cool.

A lot of them. Yes. You brought back like seven bags of chips. You need some popcorn. Okay. Initial thoughts because everybody, the majority had the assumption that mitch marner shot a puck that would have gone in the net if it hadn't been dislodged yeah uh you know i thought it would have been really hard to call

it a goal like it would have been anticlimactic but it would have been the right call to me the net is dislodged the puck goes by the goalie without the goalie touching it and the only reason it hits wallman is because he's where the net used to be boy that was a weird fall for him that was a beer league fall well he was like i'm gonna go behind the net i'm gonna go in front of the net i'm just gonna eat the net that was awkward yeah but i actually think it should have been a goal yeah i just i i imagine if we were talking about a game four, game five right now, and it would be the hottest story. And what if that...

In a playoff, if the Leafs would not come back, that's a typical nightmare for the league. Yeah. But I mean, what do you do? Back when my dad was playing, they had the long moorings that... Yeah, I don't know. For sure. And the official explanation from the National Hockey League my dad was playing they had the long moorings that you know yeah i don't know for sure and

the official explanation from the national hockey league is that there was no conclusive video evidence so do you think it was because they were in sweden like would they have had more video in well you know what's interesting building is that you know i didn't think about that don't make no sense if in north amer, you have the way bigger pegs, right? And in Sweden, you have the tiny little holes. Oh, is that? Do they have little four hole pegs? I don't know if it's four.

They're just tiny. Okay. That cannot be seen from video. But the pegs can, and it helps you guide. I see what you mean. Where it would have been. Where it would have been. But they couldn't even determine where the posts were once it dislodged.

Because Wallman goes right over the holes in the peg. And if you don't know exactly where it's lined up. You can't have any gray area. Within a fraction of an inch or a centimeter, it's really hard to be conclusive. And that's why they to be conclusive. Yeah, that's fair. And that's why they had to turn around. And their biggest fear is that any general manager

would come up to them on the unfavorable side and go, just show it to me, prove it to me. Yeah, that's fine if it's a goal. We can't really prove it, but we think it would have gone in. Yeah. And that's okay if it's a goal we can't really prove it but we think it would have yeah gone in yeah and that's okay if it's if it's shot in the middle of the net yeah but when you're dealing it's going like towards the post towards the post it's like it probably was going to be a goal if wallman doesn't you know knock that net off but yeah is what it is what um what did you think of samson off tonight you You know, I don't know, not just what you thought of the goaltending, but the decision to start him as well as how he played.

Yeah, I thought he's fine, and I think he's been fine for a week now. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I think whatever he's going through or gone through, I think he's coming out of it. I got to tell you, with the shot on the collarbone, there was a part of me going, please get up. Just find a way to stay in the game, right?

Well, last year, that was a criticism. I forgot about this. Yes. That you were like, tough it out a little bit. But that one, I mean, I'm not a doctor, but it hit him in the chest protector. But he had also been hit in the middle of the mask on a shot like two minutes earlier or something. Maybe it was five minutes earlier.

And I'm glad that he found a way to get it out. Is that a good term? Yeah. I mean, listen, it would have been really hard to see a goalie get hit in the padding of his chest, leave the game and go, you know. Briss shot? I'm glad. Briss snapshot? i'm glad he hung

in there i you know he was fine the lucas raymond goal though for me through him right yeah maybe it could be but it's just like that's one where he's already on his knees as raymond is shooting it yeah and then so it ends up going under his wing a little bit or under his glove but i didn't love that one don't love it. NHL sniper, just standing 10 feet from the net and just getting a chance to go barring in on them. But I think credit to Leafs and Sheldon Keith for saying to Samsonov, this is a big moment,

big game, Saturday night division rival. We still think a highly of you. This is, we haven't handed the team to Joseph wool. You're the guy who makes more money. I think it was a statement start to give him the start i agree and do you think like it's just 100% locked that wall plays on sunday yeah yeah have they have now i don't know if they've announced

that or not i just think you know keith is pretty good about giving everyone you know they went all the way over there i can't see him being like come here and watch two games you know he started all the swedes like he has a pretty good sense for that stuff. I'm pretty. Plus, Samsonov was all dinged. It'll certainly be Walt. God, I hope that doesn't factor into your decision. I just think.

No, the, like. The Sweden thing? Yeah. Well. There's a human element here. I think it's such a fine line that you want to keep building for Samsonov, but in the back of your mind, you're like, we really think that we got to keep building Wall up too,

and you can't forget him. I don't think it'd be the end of the world if Samsonov played against Sunday. I don't think it would necessarily be a statement that we've lost any faith in Wall or move it forward. I think I don't know. I would lean towards going back to Samsonov again and let him just start building up again.

Makes no sense. You're talking about two goalies who you're talking about basically splitting this year. We don't even know who the starter is right now. If I asked one of you guys under your head who it is. But if you would have told me at the beginning of the year that the starter, I would say it's Samson. You wouldn't have said that last week.

Yeah, I would have. I wouldn't have changed my mind in 12-14 games. I feel like we change our mind in this show every time. I envision Samson off playing 45,

50 games and, and wall cut to come for wall to come in and play 30 games. I thought it would have been very good for him, but I wish I was patient enough to go back and listen to our old shows where we were like, Samson off gets shelled and his confidence is shook. And we're not sure if he can play in the league and what are, you know, Wolves, the guy.

In three weeks? This show we had these conversations that Samsonov was no longer in a good spot to be the goalie. That's fine, but we didn't say get rid of him or bail on him. No. No one said that. No, but still, given how close it is

between these guys the guy to split them up one for one just yet right but they play in 36 hours now yeah it would be illogical to be like and you know for whatever what desperate reason would you not give jay wool hasn't played in 10 games too or 10 days too or whatever it's been now so yeah it'll be 60 did someone tell me willie is on the podium do you not want to hear willie i mean i don't put me in this spot but like i don't want willie i could tell you right now it's not gonna be really no i want to go to it okay it's probably too late now if you want to go but sure i don't know it's derrick can we go to willie yeah go okay but uh no it was a great day uh for sure i mean very special day for for all the swedes on our team and i mean obviously the history that the leafs have uh with swedish

players so uh it's a very special day for sure on the right side second row merle's from game notes i couldn't help but notice but the first goal and the third goal came from the blue paint from the mixer is that something you work on or think about and get pucks there and bodies there um i just think that's the kind of the game the way the game was going for us nothing was really clean everything was just kind of sliding off our stick or whatever so we had to get there to get a get a couple dirty ones i guess second row andrew another game with a point that's every game this year the consistency to be able to do that and and doing that in the third period after a couple of difficult periods for you guys.

What does that say about being able to do that again? Sorry? Say to continue the streak after what was a tough couple periods. Yeah, look, I mean, the streak for me is now, it is what it is. I'm just focusing on working hard. And, I mean, if there's a point that happens, it happens. But the most important thing is that we get the win. Third row on the right.

Would you say that you feel any development in your game this season? You've made a lot of points in the beginning. What have you been working on this summer? I think from... We should try to tap out of the Sweden question here. Tap back in. Bring us back. You happy?

You know what I found? Yeah, I am. I am. Okay. I don't know if we're back or not. Are we back? Yeah, we're back. I hope people can see that outfit he was wearing.

That was some mafia. He couldn't shower fast enough. Right? He couldn't shower fast enough to get out. Saturday night in Sweden. Put that suit back on. It's Friday Saturday night in Sweden after a weird Friday. It's Friday. Whatever it is.

It's Friday. It's all the same. You know what I found interesting? Because we had the live feed here in the building. Is that, like, they were pumping up the audience. But it was, like, so. You could have been at a monster truck event in Alabama, you know? I mean, it was no signs of the Swedish language.

It was all English, you know? It was a real... Yeah, it didn't have a heavily Swedish feel. No, there's no Swedish feel in that building tonight. No, I agree. Outside of Willie's presence. Yeah, and I mean, Willie's relatives look pretty Swedish. That was a pretty good...

Willie's, you know what Willie's relatives look like Willie. So they're like oh it's Graham is going to go to the game. He never I was expecting her to look like 100 years old. She just looked like he's 25 years old. How old do you want the grandma to be? I don't know. But I was

not a math major. When I was 25, I guess I my grandma's not a math major When I was 25 I guess my grandma was older I guess I had an old ass guy I don't know Sure, yeah, anyway His grandma looks great Now, why is

Why is the media So obsessed with this streak They ask him every day And every day he's like we did this last year too i don't care i get it they get it i don't we did it with mitch last year at the streak willie's is it because it started the beginning of the season is this a different streak than mitch's streak yes or is it considered the same streak different streak than mitch's streak this is so this is a new record from the start of the season. Yeah.

We should establish a stance as a show that we don't care about point streaks. I do. Oh, damn. Why would you not care about a point streak? We do not agree. It's a man in the NHL scoring points every game for a consecutive run of games. That's interesting.

There's so much random randomness even for great players that ain't a random point or you miss a night because your line mate doesn't shoot it in doesn't tell us we're all in the pursuit of what's what's wayne's record what is it like 51 51 51 i was gonna say late 40s but yeah like i mean that's a that's a long way to go obviously but like you can't get to 41 you can't get to 51 without 16 straight. So got to start somewhere. At least on the way to Gretzky. Yeah.

And I'm not allowed, Sammy, not allowed to talk about money or really because you just get absolutely depressed. Here we go. Because everybody else can apparently say that, hey, the price of poker keeps going up. But to be fair, I'm not allowed to on this show because it depresses you. In our pre-show meeting where I apparently was talking too much, Borny was the one who was like, we don't have to do it today.

We don't have to do it. We just did, Willie, costing a lot of money. He's on the team now. Can Red Tree Living not negotiate after this game going, yeah, but what about the first two periods, Willie? I actually think that was a joke in the room as well, was that after two periods, they should go in and offer him 9-5 and see if he would take it. But after the third, you would not have liked the number

it would take to get it done. I don't know. Keefe's going to speak, so I don't know if we want to go to that live. I don't know when it's going to happen here, but I don't know if we want to tap dance a little longer here or want to go to break. What do you guys want to do?

Go to break? Well, we also think that we might find Luke Fox, but he's running around. Yeah, but he's running around. So let's go to break. Yeah. Come back and see what's.

Okay. You heard the man. We're going to go to break. Come back more real Kipper and born leaf edition, big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, and the NFL,

the JD bunkers podcast, subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we're back here on the Leaf edition of the Real Kipper Unborn Show. And, of course, we are kind of flying off the seat of our pants because we've never really had an afternoon game before that we watched together.

And then come on and talk for an hour about it. So we have the option now of going to maybe the podium and getting some of the players. And just on break, JB and I were like, yeah, we can go to Tavares on the podium and Sam was saying no no no no we can't go to Tavares

and I'm like Sam I know he's not the most exciting guy in the world I know you're the producer we're going to Tavares obviously it's a tremendous honor to play here to play in Stockholm, Sweden. All right, let's go to him.

Tremendous honor. He's the captain. It's a tremendous honor. Diener, 16-some months here, put himself, I think, in the conversation with the best players in the game. You know, he continues to show on a nightly basis how dominant he is and the game-breaker that he can be. And just playing at a real elite level obviously he's hot right now and you know leading the way for us. All the way over here on

the right Luke. John can you describe what it meant to the team to have Matt Sundin give a little pre-game speech and maybe share what his message was to you guys? He was fantastic. I think that was pretty cool. I think, especially for the Ontario guys that, you know, watched him growing up and idolized Mats and certainly all our Swedes. So what he means to this organization, his track record, and what he did for a long, long time, you know, for me being captain and him being a former captain

and the way he led the way was extremely impressive and something you, you know, you don't take lightly and you, you know, idolize and try to mimic some of the things that he did really well. Obviously a really special player in person. So that was really cool. He just had the opening lineup and just wished us the best and just thought we were going to have a great night. So it was pretty cool having him come in.

Right side, third row. John, playing in Toronto for a few years. Can you tell us about where you saw his legacy back home in the city? Yeah, it's really special. We're ready to talk now. The last couple of years, you know know you really started to feel it obviously was that my impression or you thought that was exciting i thought the ontario guys note was a worthwhile one not just for the swedes but for the ontario guys in attention everybody else went

and taped their stick it was a special for the ontario guys by the way john tavarez with that point at three point uh three points tonight inside the NHL's top 100 scorers of all time, he passed Phil Kessel for 99th. He's been the model of consistency getting his points. 994. It's always around a point a game. With the Islanders, the Leafs. That's his wheelhouse. I was heartbroken when he was leading the NHL in points.

Remember at the time when no one had gotten any points? I think he had 85 or 86. And Jamie Benn had a four or five point night with empty netter. And lost the title. Art Ross. Yeah, in the last game. I think we have the clip of Sundin talking to the room. Yeah, the intro.

That was really cool. We should definitely play that. Do we have that, Derek? All right, perfect. Let's listen to that. It's Keefe tees him up, and then he talks at the end. Coming to Sweden here is not just us showing up and joining the city and playing the game.

It's not just because we got five Swedes on our team, but our connections here in Sweden with the Maple Leafs are deep, right? There's a patch on your shoulder tonight honoring the life and legacy of Borja Salmi for the great player competitor that he was but he also paved the way for not just the Swedes that are on our team here now but for a legend Leaf legend Hall of Famer, captain, and all-time leading scorer, Matt Sundin. Come in here. Let's go, boys.

Let's go, boys. Keep doing what you're doing, guys. Samsonov in net. Riley. Lagersen. Nylander. Jan Kroop. and Domi, boys. Let's go.

One unit, guys. Make us proud, guys. Have a great day. You have to say, I'm going hunting. Got him, Krook. I could cry. I heard a lot here.

Honestly, like, Matt Sundin means the world to me. That's awesome. And just to have them there and see him in the dressing room and like having him around the least it's like oh oh it's really exciting and i people of my vintage like my friends like that video in my group chat it's just like i've been sent that by seven different people really it matters people love mattson dean like my era people younger people probably feel that way about the devar as he's been making fun of uh their current captain tremendous really cool

oh we could do a key voice hey there we go coach kippers clippers let's go william nealander just a few thoughts on your team's performance tonight coming away with the two points. Slow start, but big finish. Yeah, I mean, we saved our energy and our legs. You know, we didn't have a whole lot going on in the first two periods in terms of pace and tempo, all that kind of stuff, but found it in the third period for sure and gave ourselves a chance, felt strongly if we scored

the next goal that you know we have a real good opportunity and that's the way it worked out over here on the right luke uh sheldon whose idea was it to have matt sadeen uh sundine address the group before the game no we talked about last night at dinner um you know we just thought it was a good opportunity to to let him have that moment and thought it was it's impactful as well with the group just i think they're you know the the connection was with sweden and swedes uh is is is strong uh with the maple leaves and and uh to have matt's uh address the group i was really, really important and a good opportunity to, you know, sort of, it's a small token, but I think it gives him that moment too

and gives him a chance to address the group. I think, I mean, some younger guys in the group and all of that, but everyone knows Matt Sundin, who he is. And then whether it's the Swedish connection or Max, there's strong connections there between the team and Matt and Borja Solman as well. So I think it was a very fitting thing and quite an obvious thing for us to do.

And has your appreciation for the connection between this country I think it was a very fitting thing and quite an obvious thing for us to do. And has your appreciation for the connection between this country and the Maple Leafs changed at all? Is there something you've learned now that you've been here? Well, just seeing the blue jerseys, you know, in the crowd tonight, which, you know, I'm sure there are some people that have come in from Toronto, you know, but I think a lot of those are Swedes. You guys might know better than me, but I spent a good seven, eight hours walking around the city yesterday on our day off, and saw lots of fans from other leagues,

or from other teams, excuse me, around the league that clearly had traveled over here. Didn't see a lot of league fans, but yet there's a lot of blue jerseys out there tonight. So I think that gives you a sense and a perspective of folks like salming and sandine and those that have come before our current crop um so yeah to that end it's tremendous i was i was thrilled uh not surprised but thrilled to see that the Salming patch on the shoulder tonight. I think that was a real nice token to the legacy of what he means to the organization.

And then, you know, to have a sweetie like Willie come through for us in the big moments and kind of carry us through that third period with his line and the way that they played. It's a tremendous finish. Up front, Matt. Just how special was it to see William rise to the occasion like that in the third period in front of family, friends, all these Swedish fans, his grandmother watching the game for her first time in person? Yeah, it's tremendous.

I'm sure Willie coming in wanted to have a night like that well he's had a lot of nights like that um so far here this season he like a lot of our team didn't have much happening in the first two periods i don't think he had a shot on goal in the first two periods but uh it was clear to me that he had a little extra a little extra jump in his step in that third period started to double him up a little bit. And, you know, we were still trying to use four lines, but I was trying to use the Tavares line more kind of every third shift and then move the other guys around. I thought they had a little something going.

Willie certainly drove it, but Tavares and Bertuzzi were excellent as well. So, you know, those guys obviously came through for us and I thought the rest of our group fed off that. Matthew's line started to have some really good shifts, had some chances of their own. So, you know, it's really good and clearly that's what we needed in that moment. There are no more questions.

Thanks for your time, Coach. Thank you. He did his walking around. Moving around, walking around. Moving around, moving around. Walking around. I kind of got the sense. He's pissed off. I got the sense that he wanted to say more about what he didn't like or what he might be concerned about, but he didn't want to because I don't know.

He's going to keep his mouth shut. I don't know. He didn't want to ruin the weekend. He didn't want to because I don't know if he's... Mouth shut. I don't know. He didn't want to ruin the weekend. He didn't want to squash the Sweden moment. Willie was the hero in the game. He didn't want to go into Sweden and be like, actually, I hated how they played. I was listening up there,

and I would have made a bigger emphasis on, like, I'm not happy. I'm not happy. We've been here all week. We start that way. We looked awful. We've been here all week. We start that way. We looked awful. We couldn't make three passes. Like, yes, it finished nicely.

Yeah. But it also was a horrible start where you guys looked disinterested. You couldn't make three passes. Why weren't you ready? One simple question. My first question in there was, why weren't you guys ready to play this game you know i think i would love to hear it is i think sometimes over the course of 82 games and you can correct me if i'm wrong on this and you've been in nhl dressing rooms and all that you you can't always put your foot

on their throat and it feels like in sweden in this big sort of unique moment, it would just feel like the wrong time to me to go out there and be like the Baham Bug things. You could see him fighting it up there. He did it without saying it. I've watched Sheldon Keefe every game, every morning. I'm glad. He was not. I'm glad he mentioned.

Hey, Willie, you didn't show up for two periods. Did he not say that? And he went out of his way to specify. He actually not. I'm glad he mentioned, hey, Willie, you didn't show up for two periods. Did he not say that? And he went out of his way to specify he actually had no shots for two periods. So, you know, like he's. Well, good on him, but. Yeah. As someone who had him over three and a half shots, I noticed that myself. So.

Very nice. Ended up with five, by the way. Five shot third period. There has to be a little bit of a concern here. And guys, you're 20 minutes away from Detroit going to what? 21 points. That was a huge. Big swing. That was a big swing.

Yep. For the Leafs and Detroit. Detroit had a chance to close out 20 minutes, go to what? 21 points and leave the Leafs at 18. Go to 20 points because they're at 18. The Leafs are tied. No, no, no. They have 19.

The Leafs have 20. Am I right? Yes, you are. Oh, they haven't updated on each other. Okay. So if we're sitting here doing this show right now and Detroit finished them off on a regulation win and they're at 21 and 18,

are we having a conversation that are the Leafs going to be one of these teams that's just going to be in the mix all year long with a bunch of other teams here or are they are they going to be a team that's you know right there with Boston and and running away with uh number two spot if if they can even catch Boston. Yeah, you know, like I don't see this team, this Leafs team, with Boston start. It's tough to imagine them chasing down the division lead. But, you know, they've won four of their last five now, right?

After a really bad stretch. They've kind of rebounded a bit here. They've had a tough, yeah, they beat Tampa, Calgary, Vancouver, Detroit here. But have they done it really looking like They've had a tough, yeah, they beat Tampa, Calgary, Vancouver, Detroit here. But have they done it really looking like they're kicking it into, like, a third gear? Saturday against Vancouver for sure. Yeah, I think they did on Saturday.

No, they played great on Saturday. Yeah, I didn't think Demko was great. And they were okay. They were good. But I still don't see them as that was their most complete game i won't take that away from them yeah but a team that we can say is like head and shoulders above other teams no they got they got work today we're not there and we weren't there today either you know when you look around the league you know see the rangers at 11 2 and 1 you see boston at 12 1 and 1 you see dallas at

11 and 3 you see the golden knights at 13 and 3 you cannot you know like there are some teams that you say okay those teams are a little special a little bit something different it doesn't feel like the leafs are in that tier but they're the next year i would say yeah and you can win the cup from that one and there's room to get better So you just don't want to be giving away points. A regulation win was important, I think, tonight. It really was. Because you could be in a tie at the end of the year with Detroit, and that could be the difference.

And what did I tell you from a Detroit angle? With 10.57 left in the game, call a timeout. Yes, you did, too. You said the Leafs are, they stopped playing. Derek needed to call them in and pretend he was on Hockey Night in Canada and say, when we were in Tampa, this is the way we did it. Yeah, well, when you're in Detroit, here's how you should do it. They should have called the time out in that moment, no doubt about it.

I love that controversy. It's like, oh, yeah, they tried to shoot blocker on him. It's like, oh, my God, what a Nashville controversy. So what's the deal on this off the rails Friday? We're dropping it. You're driving it in the ditch. You're not back on our national hour. Gord Stelic, right? You guys got Gord Stelic on the other side of the door.

Where are you going? To do TV? I'm going to go sit with, yeah, Carolyn Cameron, Luke Asick, talk about the NHL at large. I hate to break it to you, but we're more popular than they are. You guys are prime time. All right, have a good one. Thanks, guys.

And that's it for us on Real Kipper and Boren with our Leaf edition. We're back after these words with Gord Stelic on our National Hour.