Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Talk - Toronto Hangs On to 4-3 Win Over Wild

Episode Date: November 25, 2022

The Toronto Maple Leafs edge out the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a scrappy Black Friday afternoon game. On a special edition of Leafs Talk, Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee analyze the victory and discuss the good and bad of Matt Murray, the defensive effort from the Leafs' forwards, Mitch Marner's 15-game point streak, and much more!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.

and usually on the real kipper and born, I am the lead in all of this, but that might not be the case in this instance here. This is Leaf Talk after a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wilds. So, Sammy, shouldn't you be leading the way here on Leaf Talk? This is your show, not a typical real Kipper and Bourne thing here. You are the professional broadcaster, Mr. Kiprios. That's why we let you bring it in. Yeah.

Take a look at the way we're dressed right now. Take a look at the hat. Afternoon game. Our thoughts on an afternoon game here. I know, you know, a couple of little buddhas along the lines during this game certainly helped me out oh my god boys i gotta go here buddy where are you at i'll be right back yeah you know i i when he gets back i am going to tease him about uh leading he just tweeted matt murray is a stud so our boy is all the way in on matt murray hey i don't know if you heard me sammy

but all the way in on matt murray tweeting about him being a stud huh uh yeah i'm all the way in i'm i'm ready to take a victory lap on my tweets and on the summer i am all in on this guy he listen he's going to get hurt guy he listen he's going to get hurt again i know he's going to get hurt again at some point you just hope it's not towards the playoffs and right now he is looking like a legitimate number one that he used in pittsburgh how can you not be convinced no question he was a difference maker today uh justin and on the other side 200 feet away mark andre flurry we know he's going to the the hall of fame uh real soon after he retires but uh no question muriel played today yeah you know yeah flow gave him the one gimme and that ends up being the difference in a in a one goal game

um you know we all had some notes going on in the text uh major we got a little echo going on here how's everyone audio all right there's a lot of things going on here all right um yeah no flurry wasn't very good uh beating himself up he's been out for a while had he not kept her prior to that yeah, he's battling, staying in the lineup. This was his first game back coming off of an injury, I believe. So not his best performance at times. Can't hold on to his stick. The Aston Reese goal is a goal that we don't see too often on a guy like that.

Murray doesn't let those goals in right now. No, no, he looks good. And I'll give him all that credit. I'm with Sammy. I like that. Murray doesn't let those goals in right now. No. No, he looks good. And I'll give him all that credit. I'm with Sammy. He's performed more than ably so far. So, good. That's a bright spot there.

The other one, Sammy, what else do you notice from today? Defensive forwards? Yeah. To me, there can't be a more committed forward group to defense in the NHL. I don't know. know like they're deep or like hollow well and met day together is an absolute nightmare like those two guys they are getting covered so much by their by their forwards like i just all the guys in the all the guys in the bottom six are coming back defensively it's really remarkable how hard they're working

coming back no like are you guys noticing that like it's just i don't remember watching a leafs team in this era care this much on the defensive end it's unbelievable yeah no go ahead kipper i was just gonna say um yeah you're you're right it's a total five-man unit uh out there uh defending the other thing that i really noticed, JB, is again, it's been a common theme, I think, the last week, two weeks, but all the talk about them taking away the middle of the ice. How many times have we seen a shot blocked? I'm watching Austin Matthews now sitting in the slot and blocking shots. Now, at some point does it come that you're

too conservative, that you're too defensive come that you're too conservative that you're too defensive that you're too much uh in the waiting but right now it seems to be working for them yeah and with the matthews thing it's like yeah i noticed that too blocked a number of shots and so i fired out a tweet which is similar to something i had messaged you guys about which is just like you know obviously a bright spot today you get a road win in Minnesota. That's wonderful. But I can't help but watch Matthews right now and wonder what's missing. And we've done this on our show. And I think the point I wanted to make is just that it's not that he looks bad.

It's that we just, there's this absence of good of the moments where he takes control and does something dazzling and gives free goal so i don't know what it is that's going on but do you think it could be that he's more committed to this defensive side of play protect the middle that that whole thing well hold on let me start by asking you guys are we seeing a different leaf team than the one that he scored 60 goals on? Are we seeing a lot more detail to defense? Are we seeing the ask being much more conservative off of Sheldon Keefe to play defense than last year?

And has that affected him? Do you think it's been the same impact defensively that he usually has because to me it hasn't like in years past he's down below the dots he's digging pucks out he's starting it in transition i just don't notice him really in any fact of the game at the moment like he had a couple chances tonight i guess but like i'm really not noticing him in many facets including defensively i don't think he's back defensively i'm really not noticing him in many facets, including defensively. I don't think he's bad defensively. I'm just not noticing him the same way I did last year. Yeah, that's fair.

And yeah, I think it is a different team in terms of the way they want to play stylistically. I do think, though, that that shouldn't affect you on the offensive side of the puck. Like when he gets in the O zone, we should still see the flashes where he just rips one past a goalie or he dangles a guy

or does something electric at the other end. And that to me shouldn't be lost because he's committed to playing defense. I will say this though, the line of Tavares, Marner, you know, and Yarncroft, obviously a beneficiary of a goal has really helped buy Austin

time to dig out of this I thought Mitch Marner was as good in this hockey game as at any point, he was all over the place if some guys could finish a lot more he could be looking at a 3 or 4 point night Yeah, so what are we, what are early returns on yard and crock going up with that line? Because I think it's easy to say that him playing with the two best players

he's played with all year made him have his best game, but that was by far his best game. And I think it lit a fire under him to get to play with those guys. No, then, you know, I think when they signed yarn crock, maybe the whole idea was that he has this ability to jump anywhere in the lineup.

And, you know, one of those guys, you're making $2 million a year. You're not making four or five because no one ever thinks of you as a top six forward. But when you're in that wheelhouse of two to two and a half or three then you have the ability to jump up and down and that's where i think they saw yarn croc all along hey listen if you're telling me that yarn croc's going to play with them the rest of the season and you're going to go into the first round of the playoffs and yard crocs arguably your number one right winger here uh time out but to be able to do this every once in a while is i think vision that they had when they signed him yeah no and i'm with you sammy too i thought you one of his better games

i i think he's just so capable you know like he skates well he's on his edges he doesn't get knocked down much he wins pucks okay he's on the defensive side of things sammy your turn there we go sorry boys i went and got it you know he so it's defensive side of things sammy your turn there we go sorry boys i went and got it you know he so it's a lot of things where you just like feel safe that he can do what you've asked him to do and that's useful it's just they have so many guys who are supposed to be this guy that could pop you know could kerfoot you know finally have a bigger or bigger output or could and i'll get my mckeah's numbers could could could and it hasn't happened from anyone whether it's robertson or even aston reese one of the you

know i don't know he's just another guy to me who is versatile they're just waiting for something more tonight was a night where we actually saw the start of what could be for him well he showed more tonight in the top six than kerfoot did for most of the season. How about Kerfoot? One goal in 22 games. It's cardio right now, Kerfoot, boys. What's he doing? Honestly. I don't know.

It costs a lot of money. Yeah, really. You know, part of the narrative going into this game was a bigger, heavier team in Minnesota and what that would do to the likes of a Victor Mete, Hollowell. But never saw any type of sustained forecheck. And not enough to really constantly put the Leafs' blue line on their heels. Their strengths, JB, as we know, is the quickness, the skating ability, moving pucks quickly.

I thought for the most part they pulled it off. Well, I think they pulled it off. And here's where we need to give the coaching staff some credit. It's like they've had so many things go wrong for this group. You know, injury to their top three D being one of them. You know, not having guys pop. Oh, that? Yeah, right.

Not having guys pop on the offensive side of things. Yet they're playing structured enough that their d are not getting tested you know it's not like if you went and put the leafs decor on anaheim for a game they would get roasted because there'd be people flying at them a million miles an hour the canucks the year a great example where they've got the hardest assignment in sports toronto's d has looked good and to their credit they've got the hardest assignment in sports. Toronto's D has looked good, and to their credit, they've been adequate in those tough roles. But I think a lot of it is due to the team is buying into the structure. They're kind of in everyone's way, and they're not. It looks easy to play D for this team right now.

It feels like it was four years ago that we were talking about Sheldon Keefe potentially losing his job. I don't know. Maybe after they lost that Anaheim game. But you've got to give them credit. These guys are drilled in and disciplined right now. Like they are a disciplined group. They're a hardworking group.

And you want to check a box off. They worked harder today than Minnesota Wild on from start to finish. They were a little hungrier on the puck overall and certainly capitalized on their opportunities. But they aren't the same team that we saw in those first three weeks for sure. No. Yeah. Nope, I'd agree.

Either way, good road win for the Leafers. I think a couple now after New Jersey. And where they got tomorrow night? Pittsburgh? In Pittsburgh, yeah. So after seeing – Oh, go ahead, bud. One more note just to kind of backtrack on Matt Murray.

We saw three disallowed goals in New Jersey. We saw three nets off its morning by Matt Murray. Boys, he ain't getting away with the next one. This one's going to leave a stink off of Minnesota, and this will have a ripple effect. His days of knocking nets, I think, are going to be over here soon. Just nice to be rooting for the team that's cheating. It's good to be on the side of this for a little bit.

At least they got their key points out of it listen outside of the pom-poms JB that you have right now I hate it I hate it I absolutely hate it and uh and this is not this is not just a Matt Murray issue this is a league issue this is going on everywhere i think it should absolutely be an automatic two-minute delay game penalty if you do this and it's unassisted you are not forced into it you aren't pushed into it if this is all you this has to be an automatic two you were put we put glass we put bucks over the glass for an automatic too we embarrass people with embellishment calls and yet you didn't find that a little embarrassing today for the game listen if you're not cheating you're not trying camper no but kipper is a really good point so first off post can't be held in place with, like, double-sided scotch tape.

Like, you know, you need to have some, you know, make sure the posts are in the ace pretty good. And if you're able to dismount it from that or dislodge from that, it should be a penalty, 100%. Because it only happens when the action is intense and the chance is around. I don't know if you guys follow Michael Russo, great wild beat writer. You know, he was tweeting his complaints about it today. Matt, we're Matt Murray. And like, there is something to those complaints. They're legitimate.

So I, I'm sure they are going to look at a Kipper cause it is a little suspect. So, so Kipper, you want it to be as soon as it comes off, regardless of intent. If the goalie hits it last penalty.

Auto. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I think that's fair. You want to get rid of it of you want to get rid of the uh gray area totally you want to take the intent out because it is a penalty it is a penalty post and bumps it you're going to put them in the box yeah i don't know it's a hard one to me

we're asking guys to keep the puck in play we can ask the goalies not to net then knock the nets off that's all i just think sometimes they come flying across post to post to get over for a save and you just hate to have them thrown in the box for being aggressive in net. I don't know. It's tough. I think, yeah, listen. Okay, do you want to tweak in a review on that? I don't care, but, you know think i think we're all intelligent enough we've been

around the game for a long time to understand that that was a shove right that was the a little extra oomph in that one you want to talk about a hard slide post to post um maybe maybe we can give that one the benefit of the doubt but the rest of them have got to be hard on it. I like it. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. So a question for you two guys. Do you go back to Murray tomorrow in Pittsburgh?

I think going into this weekend, Kipper and I did say yes. I don't know right now. That was a high stress game i wrote an article at the beginning of the year for the toronto star go back and play it i said they should have come out right off the bat and told this guy he's gonna play 50 plus games okay the the like the best way to make people believe that this guy is not a china doll waiting to get hurt like sammy you say is play him he's a big guy he's a strong guy i'm not saying 60 plus games but 50 should be the goal right now for matt murray oh wow i love it i'm i feel the same way that like you're gonna have to

play every other night in playoffs, and that doesn't mean you want to run the course of them. But I believe you only get confidence through doing. Like, you can't be told you're doing great. You need to believe it. You need to play. You need the results. He's on his way.

Sure. Throw him in, Sammy. You want Sean? China doll. Yeah. It's a good win tonight. Stop it. Stop it. You went shulgrun. You went shulgrun? China doll. Yeah. You got – this is a good win tonight. Stop it. Stop it.

You went Shulgrun and you lost a point last week. I know. He's on the bench. He's on your team. Yeah. I don't know. It just seems risky to me. That's it.

Where else do you want to go? Are we good? I'm good. Are you guys good? Yep. Sounds good. All right. Well, listen, they keep it rolling.

Keep collecting those points, man. That's all they got to do. Shout out to Mitch Marner. 15 straight games now. Yeah. He's been unbelievable. And Willie tied Boria Salming for second most goals by a Swedish player in Leafs history, the 148. Shout out to him, too.

Wow. That's unbelievable. Well, who else is there, Sam? Were you expecting, like, Earl Gunnarsson or something? No. Like, who else? Like, what other sweet names? I just meant the day after the man passes.

It's a pretty incredible thing that the guy on the suite ties him. It's a little bit of serendipity. That's what I'm getting at. I thought you were expecting another suite to be up there with him. Carl Piers. It's a random pull. I love it, boys. All right.

All right, listen. Thanks, fellas. Have a good weekend. Don't be scared to go get yourself some little Luda's along the way just so you know just not a doctor playing one on TV

that's right thanks everybody We'll see you next time.