Real Kyper & Bourne - One Last Regular Season Dance with the Bolts

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the Leafs' goalie fiasco and Joseph Woll mysteriously appearing as a Roster Emergency Exception. They move on to tonight's game against the Lightning, if the stars should sit and how much the 100-point mark means to Mitch Marner. Then, they reflect on last night's win over the Panthers, Matthew Knies' debut and Ilya Samsonov looking ready for the postseason. They are joined by Leafs radio colour analyst Jim Ralph (41:50) who discusses the Leafs' EBUG debacle, how they will start game one of the playoffs and getting defensive pairs set before the end of the season. Finally, Brian Engblom, Bally Sports Lightning analyst, tees up tonight's game from the Lightning's perspective, if they are hiding an extra gear and how the team is different from last year (1:05:56). 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.

This is real Kipper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Van. We got a terrific show for you lined up the next two hours. Plus opening day here in Toronto for the Toronto Blue Jays. Hey Blue Jays, let's play ball. That was pretty good. Yeah, nicely done. That's our NPR opening. But before we get to first pitch. Kipper's going to the game tonight i am going to the game yes dressed all nice looks like a million

bucks today i was gonna go uh and maybe do a hit on tim and friends because they're there for their very last show but i was kind of on their last show last week or at least my last hit just stand behind them wave i don't know if I'm going to make it. Now there's lots of traffic. I'm told there's a couple of lights that are out that's causing mayhem around Rogers Center. And I probably need a good hour to get down there. And I think they're off the air at 6.

So I'll just have to. All that Vladdy power has caused a surge in the region. I'll just have to go straight to the patio. Well, if you take, I mean, if you take the good old TTC, you'd be there in 25 minutes, tops. What is it? You can make it there in 25 minutes, tops, on the TTC. But you're too famous.

No, no, no. I would take the Red Rocket for sure. Now that they've got cell service down there. I don't know if that's happened yet. Rogers, going to be on your TTC. Yes. Apparently. In the subway. Yes. You'll have cell services. So no alone know if that's happened yet. Rogers, going to be on your TTC. Yes. Apparently. In the subway.

Yes. You'll have cell services. So no alone time at all. That sucks. That's my favorite time of the day. That's your solitude, right? My disconnection where I read about my good buddy, Boren. Now it's going to be Kipper and I being like, get us clips, Sammy.

You guys are pretty nice. All right. He's Sammy McKee. I'm Nick Kiprios. Justin Boren. Derek Brandeo. And David Siss-Boomba. We also got Jim Ralph in about 43 minutes. Brian Ekblom will join us as well, lightning analyst for Valley Sports.

We'll figure out what's going on with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But first, let's play a game called Hey Maple Leafs who's your goalie spin the wheel do we have a wheel sound like who's your daddy who's your daddy who's your daddy who's your goalie who's your goalie who's your goalie yeah what a mess what a k i mean it sounds now like joe wool is going to be your guy the league has relented and allowed the least to use a goalie so they stood firm they stood firm the league stood firm that that uh the Leafs were not allowed to use an emergency call-up which they planned on with Joseph Wall when Matt Murray went down right the feeling was according to the league that you wanted matthew nize you added him you're creating the emergency you could have just

called up wall and not signed correct nize you chose nize over Joseph Wall. Right. Therefore, we're not allowing you to go to an emergency backup. Therefore, bring in the ATOs, amateur tryouts for anybody that has bought goalie equipment within the last three years at Canadian Tire. Yeah. You are now eligible to sign an ATO contract. Right. So then... Therefore, give me a goddamn break i know it going into today you know like any of the guys on the leafs that you wanted to you know say are injured which you justifiably could do presumably would have made room for

wool like could you not said that matthews no you could not why not because the issue is now it's the end of the year and there's a cutoff on ltr that's right so murray couldn't go on it murray could not go on a few days too late the cutoff is 10 games or 24 days. How stupid is that? Matt Murray. That don't make no sense. It does because people tend to cheat and circumvent situations. But that's got to change the league. Like Gary Bettman having a team of guys who haven't played in six years in his backyard and his favorite team, the Arizona Coyotes,

like that kind of circumvention,ipper that's one type but that that doesn't make any sense to me in that guys still get hurt in a way that they're not going to be available and you should be able to use their salary cap you can you can you can do it in emergency as long as you don't create the emergency yourself right but i'm saying'm saying if you say last night Matthews gets hit by a shot and tonight he's hurt and he's not going to be available to us for two games or whoever, pick anyone, Lafferty, that should create the space. But they're not believing that the Leafs have these injuries. You can't put anyone on LTR from here on in.

Right. But you should be able to is my point. That's all. Yeah. So it looks like Wall will play. Only the goalie. The Hawks and a few others have now been reporting out of Tampa Bay that he has mysteriously showed up on the roster. So here's from Cat Friendly on Twitter.

They put out an explainer. It says, how is this recall possible? Since the Leafs played last game short a goalie and they had to rely on an ATO, they've been permitted to use the roster emergency exception, REE. While recalled under REE, Joseph Wall has a cap hit charge of $0, free 99. So the league was essentially just like, all right, fine.

It's an emergency. You clearly don't have, you know, the league would be embarrassed, I think, if they were to put in a major junior goalie tonight. 100% correct. They're saving face here. Like, come on. People are spending $100, $150, whatever. It's like, I didn't pay to see this right yeah i would

imagine that the league it's or or brendan or kyle just pushed on him said you really want this you you want me to play two teenagers right and also nize was signed yesterday as you mentioned creating that problem yesterday that they could have avoided but then he's a guy who's under contract just like anyone else on the team. So today they need a goalie, you know, like how far back would a guy have to sign his contract to say you've created the problem? Well, it wasn't today they signed the contract. So they do qualify for that emergency exemption. Either way, Joseph Wall is going to play tonight. Yeah.

And he would have to give up 38 goals to get the hook tonight now just hearing some rumblings that if wall may play austin matthews and mitch marner may not play yeah i met there's no way there's no way they should play really at the very least matthew shouldn't play marner marner maybe if you want him to get to 100 points, which I am fully on board with, that's a worthwhile chase. Matthews has his 40 goals. He hasn't sat out yet, and everyone else has. He should sit.

I think Mitch should play. So, I know at least the plan was for both of them not to play tonight. Wow. Really? There it is folks who knows who knows what's happened between their plans last night and going into today with all the craziness of of talking to the league and perhaps the push on respectability on in your roster i i don't know where it ended up but don't be surprised if you turn your set on tonight

and you don't see 16 and 34. It's funny how human this all feels to me. Usually they point to, well, by the letter of the law, this feels like a bunch of people got on the phone and were like, this is dumb. What's your problem? Let's talk through this. This is what's the most interesting, too,

is that by coincidence i don't know this is a truly meaningless game right for both teams yeah which is wasn't the case last night against florida like consequences real huge consequences and good on the leafs because they have nowhere to go in the standings but they dressed a good lineup last night and they pushed florida hard and they found a way to beat them can you imagine tonight if it was a game tonight and and and you're pittsburgh watching i thought the same thing if it wasn't tampa can you imagine now if it meant something to Pittsburgh, the game tonight, and you're watching them go to ATO goalies.

Like, you'd lose your mind. You know, it's so funny, you know, the way this is all. It's a very good point. Yeah, if you're one of those other teams going, I'm sorry, you're going to let them do this even though, you know, and then you hold up the whole rule book and say, even though maybe they're not technically able to. and the islanders too right the islanders right there with pit watching teams that could make or break them for sure and you know the other thing is

the leafs don't get favoritism from the league i think a lot of people would make the case they get the opposite that it's the the league does not favor the leafs in this case imagine they force samson off to play a back-to-back the team doesn't want him to play to play and he gets hurt and now this franchise that was never going to happen that's why you would dress he was not going to you're going to dress anybody you could find to stand and and put pads on before you would have gone to samson off get wayne simmons in there tonight over samson he'll probably we'll see wayne simmons in the lineup i mean i meant in that yeah i know but uh but you know we'll we'll see probably yarn crock and simmons and uh Simmons and maybe Lafferty in the lineup. Nyes?

Nyes will play for sure. So I like the Leafs not giving Matthews and Marner to Tampa. Yeah, I do too. I think Marner's got to play one of these last two games. He has to be given one point away? They're definitely, I'll be shocked if they're not in the lineup against the new york rangers good they will on thursday they will be that's good like i i think the the second half of back to back the team you're about to play in the first round of the playoffs you know the the grittiness of that team it's a good place to get them a little bit of practice

run a shut down and one note too guys let's forget, one guy's going for his 300th goal of his career and the other one's going for 100 points for the first time in his career. I don't care about Matthews' milestone. That's nothing. Marner's I care about. The guy has been everything for this team this year. He deserves the chance to get you.

Matthews doesn't want that off the books. I'm just telling you. Yeah, I'm sure he does. Yeah, he'll get that game one next year. Goal scorers like that stuff. Like next year, the first game, it goes in the net. I'm just telling you. Yeah, I'm sure he does. Yeah, he'll get that game one next year. Goal scorers like that stuff. Like next year, the first game, it goes in the net. Oh, he got it. Eight months later.

He's the 6,000th player to 300 goals. You want to go to Sheldon Keefe's overview of the game last night or you want to start off, JB, first? Well, I guess the obvious conversation, we should probably do the overview first. Matthew Nye is the guy. But let's start with the overview first. I thought we did a great job. I mean, obviously, we knew this game means a lot to the opponent,

and we're doing our best to make it mean a lot to us in terms of our effort and our preparation and all of that. And I liked how our guys stayed with it. You know, you see, the winning scheme and regulation, but, you know, it's a desperate team on the other side. And I thought we did a good job. And we made one mistake in the third period and they scored on it. But aside from that, we really didn't give very much.

And there wasn't much happening up until that point. So I just, I liked our effort today. And I liked that we found a way to get the second point. Okay, people at home, think to yourself now. What did Kipper think of Matthew Nyes lesson this is my favorite part of their show when you and i don't do takes pre-show and i get to find out how you felt about matthew nye's debut uh i thought he he showed a presence yeah that he comes in right away as a guy that is big and strong, can work the walls against some NHLers.

That's Mark Stolle pushed off down there. Is there times when he looked a little bit lost, maybe a little bit indecisiveisive yeah but that's yeah this is a guy and if we look at his last 48 hours i believe that when they lost the thought was he was just gonna stay in florida and join the team yeah but i think the coach made them all go back to minnesota first if you're nice you're like i don't have to do anything. Well, I think they all went back together. And then he stayed. And then he had to jump back on.

And, you know, so his head was spinning. Full rigmarole that day. His head was spinning. Do I think that he can come in and be impactful and be somewhat of a difference maker? Can he lend towards push back or lean back on a tampa bay that's coming after you i'm not sure he's quite there yet in a perfect world i'd like to see him with the marlies first but this is now you're kyle and sheldon don't appear to be in that that space no yeah yeah okay that's good

yeah no i think um my off am i no no no i tell me what you saw i i have two thoughts about him one i am more impressed with his skill package than i expected to be like he looks like a guy who can make plays do things offensively like a lot of quick twitch movements a lot of like small area passes that were really good at the same time I you know Leafs Nation needs him to be good in five days six days they need him to be able to help and contribute and I have some worry that in previous years they've had guys make mistakes like one-off mistakes that have cost them and i'm not talking about the one turnover everyone thinks i'm talking about he's just in some places where i think but he could hurt them

but that that is the one play that could hurt you in this best for sure for sure it's the gouch and it's the dermot turnover it's that's right you know it's those moments and so i'm curious to see what their aversion to risk is with keeping him in out and how they use them because i think he can make plays get points contribute i really am impressed with his how fast he is at that size i didn't think he was very uh i thought i was expecting a smoother skater i found him very uh you, a lot choppier than I thought I was going to see. I found him more quick than fast. Like I really thought he got from here to here quick.

But yeah, I didn't, he didn't look like a knee lander, you know, skate with a glass of water on his helmet. I'm really excited to watch him again. Me too. My first thought was he kind of just looks like the size of an nhler like yeah you know presence no but like you know everyone sold him as this big bruising power forward and you see all these highlight clips of him burying guys that are playing for wherever state and you're like oh my god this guy's a dynamo he's massive then he goes out there and just like kind of looks the same size as all the other guys and it's like well that's one factor of his game that you were kind of

anticipating being an advantage that wasn't there at all like i thought he kind of shied away from contact a couple times where he had a chance to like make a hit but like you guys i am interested now like i really he had enough in his game where i'm really interested to see it again but i wasn't blown away if you only had this one chance to assess would he be in your lineup or would he not for game one such a good question so i think my answer is no my answer is no as well unanimous he is not starting for me in game one so here's just based on what we saw out of what we said we was gonna get like anywhere between 10 and 13 minutes but here's my caveat to that if the first guy to play poorly like it could be after game one yeah i'm very comfortable with him going in playing on a third line playing 14 minutes whatever i'm comfortable with him going in, playing on a third line, playing 14 minutes, whatever.

I'm comfortable with that. But I just think you're going so good. And the question isn't, can he play? It's who comes out. And Lafferty just got in a fight and scored a goal and had some of his best hockey before he was out. Zach Aston Reese has been a dynamo for them, playing his best hockey of the year.

It ain't Kampf. It ain't Kerfoot. It ain't Achari. It's like when people say say this guy's a top five player in the league and you start to do it it's like who do you take out who do you take out for nyes not not that he can't do it you can't also and i've been in the i've been in rooms and watched guys like this come in you cannot underestimate what it does for maybe i don't know as many as 5 10 15 guys going you walk in here five minutes you get to start game one and we got a guy that's learned the system and has been with us all year and he's out that's not right

it's not right yeah and there may be other ways this opportunity presents itself, whether through injury or through struggles. You know, a player really messes up here. Down 3-0 in the first round. Well, I hit her. Come on. Jesus Christ. What are you doing?

What is struggling now, right? Like, seriously. Here's my guarantee. Struggling is you are down in the series. You can clip this. Matthew Nyes will play for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Tampa Bay Lightning in round one of the playoffs. He will play.

He will not watch the whole thing. A hundred percent guarantee for me on that. So it's just a matter of how long they wait, how poorly someone has to play, how badly they have to lose a game he's going to get in i wouldn't i i wouldn't put that guarantee on i like your chances i know i like your chances uh

maybe we'll just have to see what happens with uh tonight thursday those are those are tough buildings to go into under any circumstance i think the only way i'm wrong so back it off to 99.9 is if the leafs sweep tampa bay if they just go bam bam win win they're not changing their lineup in which case i'll happily go i was wrong and they will celebrate they've demonstrated by their actions with the cap how much they adore matthew nice and how much they want him around they have invested in this publicly like they you know they they dressed the kid who played for the attack this year last night so that they could get him on the roster it wouldn't be the first player that uh kyle's fallen in love with though too

well i mean he fallen who else is he falling in love well listen i wrote i wrote the nick robertson article when he was in against columbus about how he wasn't ready too and I'll just go ahead and count that W. Let's listen to Sheldon Keefe talk about Matthew Nyes. I thought he did a good job. I thought the pace didn't faze him at all. His feet were moving. He made some smart plays with the puck. You know, there's a couple of mistakes

out there but I think some mistakes are good because you can learn through that and adjust your game which I thought he did. So I thought he did. So I thought he did a nice job. Listen, it hasn't been easy for him in terms of what he's been through, not just in the devastating loss that they had for such a long season, but just the turnaround to get here and his day-to-day.

I don't know how much he enlightened you about that, but his day leaning up to the game and then getting here to the arena. I went to go talk to him just before warm-up, and he was still talking to doctors and going through all the medical stuff that they have to do. You can't just show up and play in the NHL. There's a lot of hoops to jump through and clear in terms of the medical process that normally is done in training camp. But he had to go through all that sort of stuff today,

and he had to travel a good distance to get it done as well. So not an easy day for him, both today and yesterday. So I thought it was a good effort from him, and it was nice to be able to get him in and get him involved. And don't underestimate the luxury now Sheldon Keefe has that there's nothing on the line for them personally as a team. You can,

can put them in situations where you, you know, if it bites you, it's not the end of the world. And last night was another example of that. One, one he's out there. The game's on the line or there's playoff implications or home ice advantage.

It's a different beast. Yeah. He gets some reps in some different spots for sure which is good for for nize and good for the leafs to know what you got i guess good on the leafs for putting themselves in a position where they can take these last four games and and truly uh use them for for any way they choose yeah so this is a maybe a bad comparison well it's not bad it's just different so and you can probably relate to this kipper so when i left college i went and played

in the american league for a little bit and i remember the first couple games getting caught in positions where i just didn't it didn't used to matter like i was a good college player and guys catching me from behind um you know just getting through the neutral zone and just getting back pressure like the tracking was so much harder. You know, he gets hit last night by Giovanni Smith at the one point. He got lit up. Got drilled, right? And, like, he's just in a spot he wouldn't normally be

or wouldn't anticipate getting hit by a big man. And it's not like he's going to get lit up like that all the time. It's just getting used to the speed, right? Oh, no, for sure. And the positioning and the structure also playing junior hockey and american hockey league you can you can go down your roster and you can find three or four weak spots in a lineup and just know that that guy will never play in the nhl and he's just there's ways to take advantage of him that's not the case when you step on the ice in the nhl right everybody every guy everyone's

pretty pretty strong and now that's the adjustment to know that uh there's not just like four or five elite players out on this ice there might be 15 17 and they're coming at me every shift for sure and that's just a learning curve and soon as you see yourself crossing that threshold and saying, I'm one of them now, that's when you take off. Right now, he's on the other side. Yeah, and I thought he did kind of peter out during the game last night.

Like, a lot of his great plays came in the first and second period. You know, it's a long day. It's all, you know, we're doing all we got. We're judging all we got to go on, which maybe isn't fair. But we do have a bunch of clips of what he thought of his game one. Do you want to go through some of his comments? Yeah, I'd love to hear. Pretty mature.

I've not heard this, so I'm intrigued like all our listeners. All right, let's start with Nia's on transitioning from college to the NHL. It's hard to kind of try to put that behind me and you know this is this was a good thing that i needed and um you know get that joy back in because obviously it was a devastating loss back in the frozen four so um you know it was pretty heartbreaking having to say goodbye to those guys and um show up and be the new guy here but it's it's they've been you know really welcoming and um you know i couldn't ask for anything more let's run through the uh the gamut before we weigh in you know just i don't know it shouldn't be uh brushed off that the guy stayed an extra year and for sure

it's about first and foremost what's best for him in development. But he stayed in so he could win a national championship, too. That team was loaded. They were up 2-0 in the national championship game. It may go down with Cooley and who's his other name? Snuggerud. Snuggerud. Awesome name. Could be one of the—we may look back and say,

well, it's one of the best college lines you've seen in a long time. It's not right up there with the best and to just peel off the maroon and gold pull on the blue and white and be like and i'm on this team now like it's not an easy transition my true my last year of junior hockey we had two best of sevens to go to the memorial cup and we lost to the oshawa generals twice in game seven and i'm here i am and i'm looking at like you know 30 plus years and i'm so pissed off still yeah so pissed off i have a missed putt from when i was 16 in a tournament that I think about all the time. I'm like, ah. So. I've just sucked at everything. Anything to say?

No. It was to go to a playoff hole in 18. We're talking about something that happened, you know, 48 hours ago for the kid. Yeah. I know. And like as Sheldon said, like leading up to the game, I think he had to travel while he was there to like go to doctor's offices. Like he, it would have been impossible to just like 10 seconds in overtime and he's on the bench how do you not start that line oh man i don't know

i don't know you lose the national championship without the best line in hockey on the ice to start you start your checking line and they lose eight seconds in coach had a flawless year one coach of the year in college hockey that That's a tough one to sleep on. Bit of a whoopsie. Is that a good way to transition to the Leafs overtime and not starting? No, because he's got two more nice clips. Let's finish on him. Nice on the differences in college and the NHL.

All right. Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty big step. You know, guys are a lot heavier, a lot faster. You know, it's a pretty big adjustment. But, you know, I think, you know, the more games I kind of get under me, you know it's it's a pretty big adjustment but you know i think uh you know the more games i kind of get under me you know i think the more i can get adjusted to the speed and um you know my awareness would get a little bit better so um you know i think overall i think it was a good performance but um yeah i think the speed and the heaviness

of the players is definitely an adjustment that is pretty aware to talk about awareness you know that that's something that'll come for him when he went to college he's a smart smart guy he did present very well in his interview and let's do the last one this this this one he got asked about being in the lineup for game one of the playoffs which of course so so so this was the answer he gave to that which i thought kipper would like this because he was he thought he was getting a little overconfident before so let's uh let's play this clip um you, I'm just here to help out the guys. Just, you know, I want to be as helpful as I can anywhere as possible.

So, you know, that's not really my focus. My focus is this team right now and the guys in that locker room. You know, I want to, you know, make sure I'm, you know, doing my best to help them out. So there you go. Saying the right things on day one. Oh, it's like he's Canadian. It is like that, but he's not, right?

He's from Phoenix. That's great. All right. Perfect answer, Sammy. Perfect answer. That was a perfect answer. Yes. Nailed it.

Nailed it. That's what we like to hear, Kippy. Not too confident. Absolutely nailed it. Just here for the boys. Help the boys. Now I just need him to fight someone on Tampa Bay tonight. Okay.

Kidding, kidding, kidding. I don't know if we want that. Relax. Where do you want to go? You want to go Samsonov? And pretty impressive in terms of getting himself ready for game one. Boys, he looks good. What did he make?

46-7? Geesh. What a showing. Yeah. I mean, he was really good. That was his best game of the year for me. What's the score without him? Yeah, you put that college kid, that junior kid in, it a showing. Yeah. I mean, he was really good. That was his best game of the year for me. What's the score without him? Yeah, you put that college kid, that junior kid in, it's 15-1.

My boy Nick Chouinard from the unsound attack probably not going to end up with 45 saves in that game. No joke, that was a starting goalie performance. In a game the other team pushed. Really good, really good. There will always be a little bit of nervousness when it comes to him. Injury. Injury. Happened again. will always be a little bit of nervousness when it comes to him and injury injury and happen again yeah yeah two games in a row where you just look at him and go are you okay we took

a clapper look like almost in the throat last night it was way up high on him and he's shaking it off he's taking it's just there's no fun watching a hockey game that doesn't mean anything with him in the net. He is just, it's a terrifying thing every time. I hate it. I hope that he's one of those people who plays up his injuries. Because otherwise, I don't like what's happening. And you wanted him in bubble wrap, Sammy. I listened to you the other day. You didn't want him to play for, like, don't want him to play.

No, I don't want him to play. I haven't wanted him to play at all. But goalies have to play. I know. They can't go eight, ten days without playing. I would like him to play. I would have liked him just to play Thursday, get that game under your belt, and get ready for the playoffs.

I can't imagine him not playing Thursday. Oh, he plays Thursday for sure. Yeah, no question. So, then you're good to go. Just going to hate watching other people's games now. No nerves at that game. On the other hand, you know, there, then you're good to go. Just going to hate watching other people skate. No nerves at that game. On the other hand, you know, there's some that's suggesting to me that Matt Murray's getting ready or feeling better,

but he's not skating. He won't play any games. I don't know. Sounds good. They'll come home Friday. They'll get the day off Friday, I'm sure. And then you got Saturday, sunday monday play tuesday tuesday you think they'll open yeah yeah that's that's what was on top out of the league uh the other day tuesday tuesday thursday saturday night so really

fascinating if matt murray is the backup goalie in game one. No, I don't see that. I don't see Matt Murray coming back and practicing Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and then putting him in a position where he could play game one if Samsonov gets hurt. I don't see that world. When's the time to break him in then? I don't think you do. I think you just leave Wall there

until you believe that wall can't do the job really yes a healthy matt murray and you'd keep wall in i can i can i tell you how i feel about that yeah love it yeah agree 10 times yeah i just i i cannot see a world where and maybe i can maybe they traded for him because they think he has a mental advantage. Maybe tonight another solid start by Wall will solidify that. What about a bad start?

Does it destabilize that? I know you're throwing a curveball at me. If he gets buried tonight. They think Matt Murray has the guy who won Stanley Cup super advantage he's the jedi of goaltending or whatever that's isn't that the thing because he's not the numbers aren't there so it's supposed to be a mental advantage he has well he's no good on the ice so hopefully

jeez yeah anyway listen you can give him a week 10 10 days of practice, and then feel like he's where you... You play a couple of Marlies playoff games? I don't know, but it's not by early next week. For me, anyways. I just think the longer you wait to put him in, it's more treacherous, you know? Like if it's all of a sudden you're in the third round and Murray hasn't played.

If you want to do that, you're up 3-1 in the series, maybe. Playing with fire at that point. Whoa, that is. What, to back up? Oh, oh. Not to start. Oh, okay. No, we're not talking.

Okay, okay. There's not a world I see that he starts unless Samsonov is completely blown a wheel. Crap to bed. unless Samsonov is completely blown a wheel, crap to bed. All right, let's listen to Sheldon Keefe on Ilya Samsonov. Oh, outstanding, obviously. Just the way that he battled and competed tonight.

Really commended our team in terms of the fact that in a game that doesn't mean a lot to us in the standings, obviously, means a lot to everything, really, to the opposition. It was a true test of our commitment today and the character of our group, the togetherness of our group. And I thought in terms of battling and being committed to the job tonight, nobody exemplified it better than Daniel.

Yeah, so he was awesome. Keefe, the goalie played good. Got it. Yeah, he was. And just doesn't seem as, seems calmer to me. Yeah. Yeah, he's at his best when he's not. Fish out of water.

Right. Keeps it fairly close to the blue paint. They did win the game in overtime. Yeah. First of all,ews and marner they started they listened to us they put out the good players to start and you know what i loved it they put them out there with brody that's the three it's matthews marner in 78 that's your starting trio every time perfect they figured it out with three games left good job guys okay john tavaris the hero

in overtime now if you're gonna stay out there for like the whole overtime yeah there's a really good chance you're gonna be the hero you're gonna be a goat i cannot believe i think i'm so excited to bury these guys willie's the guy a A minute and a half, he's out there. He's dragging. Ekblad skates around him, and Willie's so exhausted, he can't even play defense. Then the puck goes out in the neutral zone, like a rocket, full tank of gas to go push for offense.

I was giving Willie crap. I'm jawing at my TV. A minute later, Tavares gets a chance and out skates. Matthew coulduk down the ice with a little hop in his step. Well, he was resting the whole time. He should have a hop. That is unbelievable to me that

you can have legs after two and a half minutes shift. I don't understand. Working his bag off. I don't know about that. Yeah, it's it's it's not the right way to play put it that way conserve conserve let them skate around

with all the room in the world go take some space away and skate with a guy was it 2 minutes and 37 seconds I think maybe 2.47 or 2.37 it was one or the other he was at 2 minutes when he started his breakaway. Yeah.

You're the captain of the team. Jokes, jokes, jokes. You know, it's not a good message. It's not a good message to stay out there as long as you want. Like he's trapped. He's trapped in the D zone. He couldn't have just... He wasn't even trapped. He was just hanging. Hanging out. Just having a picnic. Let's listen to

Keith on that because he actually commented about that. Considering the length of his shift, we you at all surprised John had the energy still to go down there and finish it off? Well, a little bit, but he was kind of standing in the middle while they were doing the merry-go-round all around him there. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and chalked it up as a good strategy by him. Not one you like because he deployed often. He could do no wrong. He could do anything he wants. Sheldon just will not crap on him.

I don't think we've ever heard Sheldon be like. No. John. Yeah. He's the captain. He's the captain. He's had a couple this year when they were really. He didn't crap on him, but some words of encouragement, I would say.

We need better, that sort of thing? Yeah. Okay, now can we move on to the fact that nasty finish? really or he didn't crap on him but he you know some words of encouragement i would say we need better that sort of thing yeah but okay and now can we move on to the fact that like nasty finish oh my god i'm very tavara's like to get in tight like that under the bar in the back end as he's one of the best around the net six feet the hands uh he's still a guy that can, since he was first putting on skates, he is just a guy that loves his cookies. You play legit pond hockey, he might be the best player in the league. Yes. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he would just, like, no one's gonna hit you, you could just do the

whole... Well, I don't like him three on three. I think that was a pretty good example last night. Yeah. Albeit, you know, minus the finish between him and Willie, blowing zones, but foot speed's an issue, 200 feet for him. I will say the one goal against that Florida gets, Brody kind of half-pinches,

gets caught, but typical TJ Brody plays it brilliantly, like works the way back, hands it off to him off to McCabe, is it? Good switch, well-communicated, and then the puck just goes through his feet. But 91 and 88 don't track back and take anyone, and the third guy back shoots it in the net. Yeah. You know, so I worry sometimes.

That's why you can't do Nylander, Tavares, and another offensive player. They got to play with someone who has a conscience. Ryan. O'Reilly, yeah. I don't see any way that uh you don't have that as your second line to start i think so game one i just you put john in positions to succeed and that means power play power play and uh and then just someone to back him up and Willie, to be honest with you.

And that has to be Ryan O'Reilly. Ryan O'Reilly has to stay on the defensive side. That's funny for O'Reilly, although he will get assists, second assists and stuff doing that. But, yeah, we're going to need you on the D side of the puck. Yeah. Literally all the time. Yeah. And then Camp Lafferty and kerfoot is that your third line

no i don't like that no i like the camp on the fourth line uh was it achari kerfoot yeah can no one else i guess lafferty achari play center there kerfoot and lafferty yeah is that exactly what you said and i just mucked that up yeah i'm not a hundred percent sold on achari at center yeah i like camp i do i love i think camp could be a good third line center okay last night i thought he made a couple really good plays skated really well like he took that one play by the blue line beat a defender and took it to the net. Long, skates well. You're right. I like him a lot.

I just, you know, it's fun when he's your fourth center or fourth line guy because you're loaded. It's going to be interesting to see Tampa's lineup. As we mentioned, we don't expect Matthews and Marner in. Who would they pull out? Kucherov might not play tonight. Headman. Headman. they can all they're they're in the same boat they're not exactly willing to to throw guys out there

tonight for a meaningless game yeah i wonder if they'll get elliot instead of vasilevsky and if they do play vasilevsky can wayne simmons just absolutely take one for the leafs i'm just that's just cheating. He ain't cheating. He ain't trying, Kip. If he's on the ice, he's in the game. You have no chance of seeing him tonight. No.

You don't think? Oh, why? Just tell me why. He hasn't played in a while. And he needs the Leafs tonight to feel good about himself? He according to left wing lock, he is the likely starter. Really?

Alright. Well, who is left wing lock according to? I don't think they have their own sources. Maybe. Is that Vasilevsky just saying I want this start just to iron out a few things? If I'm John Cooper and I'm starting Vasilevsky, I'm like if anyone comes within a foot of your crease you have full leeway to let them meet your blocker

or your stick or yeah but who on the leaf there's no one on the leaves is gonna do that come on now you know this team better than that um mr nice guy uh that's one way to become a hero in the city. His last start was April 5th, fellas. That's a week ago. Against the Rangers. And what do they have after Toronto? Detroit. The rings, two days from now, on Thursday. Yeah, at home.

Yeah. He'll play that one. Yeah, that one should be enough for him. We get Tampa-Toronto at the end of the year and it's for not just for nothing it sucks by the way if it was one to eight you'd be in a race right now 107 rangers 107 devils 108 canes 109 huge points right now for final playoff seeds just just to throw it out there oh if we were if we were one day we're in gary's world right okay we'll take a quick break here.

We'll get Jim Ralph, Toronto Maple Leaf radio color analyst. After the break, we'll find out how close Ralphie was to maybe suiting up tonight. Couldn't have been very far down the depth chart. I suggested my buddy, my Greek buddy, Panos. Panos. Morris. Moros. He would have been awesome.

Could have had him down there in the private jet. Just crashing Suvolaki at intermission. I suggest my boy, Chris Bernanke. Excellent beer league goaltender. You got anybody? Shout out to Tim Mouser. If anyone out there knows. My old goalie in Arizona.

I'm telling you, Chris gets in there, he's making at least one spectacular save. No. Two bad jammers. We go Jimph after the break diving deep into leaps rafters jays and nfl the jd bunk is podcast subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts this is real kipper and born on sportsnet 590 the van i do wonder if a guy like jim ralph would even contemplate being an e-bug you know i saw bernie perrant playing the winter classic uh like a alumni game

when he was i don't know old yeah i wonder i would like to see jimmy ralph look better than bernie perrant in that game that's all i would ask let's let's welcome in jim ralph does a terrific job calling the games for the toronto maple leafs uh ralie, so lots of talk about Curtis Joseph earlier this week. Yeah. And was he or wasn't he the E-Bug goalie? I was told no, he was not. Yeah, I was told his equipment was there. He was bringing his equipment in for something else the following day.

And it was just perfect timing that he was doing it. Yeah. Now, listen, under crazy circumstances, could you ever see yourself, like, putting the beer down and actually putting equipment on and waiting in a room if you had to? On the road? Not in front of friends and family? Yeah. No. No.

No. They weren't thrilled with that idea when I was in my 20s. So, yeah, I got to say, even though there's been management changes and everything else, I'm pretty sure they're going to stick to the company policy. Let me ask you something. When you were in your heyday striving to make the NHL and doing everything you could, did you ever envision seeing a scenario 30 years later

where kids just get plucked out of a college right into an NHL bench? No. I mean, I guess the important message for all the kids is stay in school. You know, that seems to be the one. What do you make of it ralphie get your zamboni license or stay in school that seems that seems to be the uh um the common thing there

what do you what do you make of it i mean come on we need to fix this do we not oh yeah this then to me this makes the league look bad. I mean, try to picture any other sport and having, like, say, you take somebody, a high school pitcher, to start a baseball game. You know? I mean, I just think it's a little bit on the ridiculous side. And, you know, one of the guys you feel sorry for is Keith Petruzzelli playing for the Marlies. You know?

They had Shelgren there and Wall. And now you're, what, eight on the depth chart for guys that have never signed a pro contract before. So those, I guess, you know, having spent a lifetime in the minors, you sort of look at the trickle-down effect of those other guys that, you know, it'd be nice if they could get up and even dress for a game to get NHL pay for a day. But can you just imagine, though, if it was flipped

and the Florida Panthers played, you know, an EBUG goalie and, you know, you've got the Islanders in Pittsburgh watching going, you've got to be kidding me, you know, when teams are trying to get in. So if there is one silver lining in this rather murky cloud, it's the fact that it's it's got no um no bearing on the standings or anybody else's playoff hopes that's true you know the uh the storylines have been running rampant here as they you know the goaltending situation is a big

one obviously the introduction of matthew nye is to the lineup last night he makes his debut as a maple leaf looks like a kid who's going to fill out and be a big, strong kid with some offensive talent. But we're not worried about what he's going to become later because it's this year that the stakes are as high as they are. What were your thoughts on his debut and your expectations for him here the rest of the way? I thought he handled himself pretty well physically.

There were a couple of turnovers that led to scoring chances. It's super important, but that's kind of the tap on the shoulder where you've got to say, kid, things happen a little faster and it's a little tighter here. But, I mean, that's an adjustment everybody has to make. But I thought physically, which I think is important, he handled himself well he had a couple of moments where he was ragging the puck along the boards and uh looked

pretty good but you know i'm sure an adjustment for him as well playing 13 minutes as opposed to 20 or 22 that he would have in college we look at we look down the left side and it's clearly the weakest position on the leaf roster is there a legitimate opportunity here between tonight and uh a solid game in new york where he could actually work his way into game one if not later on in the series yeah i'd say later on kit um you know i i think you know they've done so much work to try to solidify the bottom six and get to what they want,

unless you're top of the top six position, but I think you sort of owe it to the group you've got, if everybody's healthy, to give everybody an opportunity to start the playoffs. Bottom line is, they're going to go with the best lineup that they think can help them win.

But, you know, when you just start looking at who would have to come out, you're going to say, you know, these could be guys that you're counting on to be pretty significant, whether it's 10 minutes a game or 15 minutes a game to, you know, to be those tough grinding lines to play against. So I would say, you know, maybe injury or they get into some trouble in a series and get down a game or two then you might see it but um i'm i'm not 100 told you'd see him in game one you know what would be the hopes to see out of him to make you feel like

he's a guy who can contribute now is it offense is defense? Is there anything in particular that'll make you go, okay, maybe Zach Aston Reese is good, but this guy's just got too much upside? Yeah, maybe the physical play, though, for me. Because that's a lot of what Zach Aston Reese brings. But then again, you're asking a guy to maybe take on a role that he's not accompanied or comfortable with. And I think that plays a big part.

But I think Zach Aston Reese has shown that he's thrilled to be here. If it's eight to 12 minutes a game, he's accepted his role and embraces it. So I'm not saying never, but I just think that, you know, that's a big adjustment. You get a kid that's got offensive talent up front, and you say, okay, you're going to be a fourth-line checker in the playoffs. You know, that might be just a bit of a stretch to start.

We're talking to Jim Ralph, Toronto Maple Leaf radio color analyst. Tonight, Tampa Bay, I did hear, hear Ralphie that there might be some talk last night after the game that Marner and Matthews would miss this one and come back against the Rangers obviously Tampa Bay has the same option of sitting out some of their key players

what do you expect out of tonight's matchup and how the Leafs should handle this I don't know I get the feeling that it could actually boil over into something. Just because it's a nothing game, but are we going to send a message or this is a preview of what's to come game one? It could be one of those games that is goofy enough and meaningless that all of a sudden some bad blood spills over a little bit early.

One thing that I find amazing, just going back through the schedule, that on February 14th, Tampa was ahead of the Leafs for a playoff spot. And here, two months later, they're 11 points up. And I just wonder if on a Tampa side, they're going to say, you know, Patrick Maroon, Corey Perry are going to play with more of a chip on their shoulder tonight

and, you know, try to send that subtle message for game one. So even though it's, you know, whether a guy's arrested or not, if something tells me that it could be a little more eventful than we think it might be. If it is, though, it's the Tampa Bay side. That's not the Leafs. The Leafs never have had the ability to go in there and send any message to any team outside of, we're going to outwork you, outplay you, outscore you.

No, but I think what the Leafs would do then, Bill Kipper, is try to have to respond to it. Whether it's with the likes of Achari or McCabe or Luke Shen, there would have to be to respond to it. You know, whether it's with the likes of Achari or McCabe or Luke Shen, you know, there would have to be a response to it, which would, I think, make it interesting. I don't think anybody wants the storyline to be that, you know, lightning beat up Leafs in a series preview. You know, I don't think anybody wants that hanging around either.

But it's such a good point kip like why if tampa bay were coming into toronto or something like you could see them all right we're gonna send a message you know why can't that be the leafs tonight i was gonna ask you ralphie if you thought that you know there's anything aside from coming out of tonight unscathed you know injury wise that could be seen as a win but i you know i could see them having a chat and being like hey like this is an opportunity for us to say we're not going to be the retaliators the the punch second team for once you know could it happen would there be value in showing tampa that they'd punch first uh unless it's Michael Bunting.

Just so you would feel phony, maybe, coming from the Leafs? Yeah, Bunting, my one, would just go out and take the major early. Good point. Get a couple of shots in. Yeah, he would have to be the poster boy for it, wouldn't he? Take a couple of shots in the chops with no repercussions.

Like I said, it might just be a bit of a snoozer game, but when you're looking for storylines, I think, wouldn't they? You know, take a couple of shots in the chops with no repercussions. Like I said, it might just be a bit of a snoozer game, but when you're looking for storylines, I think, you know, wouldn't it be interesting if all of a sudden you got a five-on-five ball somewhere and, you know, let's say the game got out of hand and Timber started to boil over a little bit because

you know, they're going to be very familiar with each other in a week from now. I could see a little bit of maybe what we saw against Boston and that was Lafferty's hit on, jog my memory, on Matt Grislick. Those are the type of hits that the Leafs are capable

tonight to start. They should start Achari, Lafferty, McCabe, Shen. They should just put out a bunch of bullies to start. Wayne Simmons would be on my list. Start the game like that. Get Paul Newman to be player coach. All right.

Maybe that was a bit aggressive on my part. All right. Joseph Wall. Were you sitting with Bill Burr in Ottawa at a game? I was, yeah. He said he was a little dry on material. I said, listen, I've got a ton of it from real Kipper and Bourne. I got it from Ralphie.

Ralphie's son stealing his bits. Yeah. You know what? He's one of my favorites. And it was actually my son that finds out. Well, my son's my second favorite. But no, I absolutely love his style. Love the style and love his take on the world.

Yeah, and it's 24-7 apparently. He is what he is on stage. He's same demeanor, same tone, same excitement levels. Yeah, it was fun hanging around him. Like you, Ralphie. it's like chatting with you. Well, maybe you can invite me to another one game next time. You betcha. Joseph Wall, is there room for him to solidify a backup spot

to start next Tuesday? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, if it's not already, you know, semi in stone. I think even if Matt Murray is back healthy for the playoffs, I mean, you want to get into that situation again where, say, Sam Sanoff goes down with an injury and now you've got to put another guy in that's battled injury problems. I think that's nothing against Matt Murray.

I just think with the situations, Wall has played well enough in his time. I thought tonight would have been, under normal circumstances, the perfect game for Wall to play. We've been saying this for about three weeks, that let him play in that building against that team and have some familiarity just in case you need him for it. I think he's there.

I think there's that outside chance. He can do what Alex Lyon has done with the Florida Panthers and what Biddington did and the Hamburglar did in Ottawa where guys just got to get on a roll at the right time. I would expect to see Wallace a backup. I mean, obviously, I don't have any insight to that at all. But I think when you're looking at your two best goalies, your two healthiest goalies, I think that decision is pretty easy.

So there's not much to decide then. You know, that's an interesting thing to keep an eye on. Like if Matt Murray gets healthy, one of the other things would be uh the d pairs kind of who gets in as the sixth seventh guy do you still feel like it's open not tryouts or training camp here but like it's up between shen and lilligren and who plays best in the last couple games yeah you almost wonder what uh i mean shen was rush in last night but but what did he finish with, about 10, 12 minutes? Not sure. Yeah, he's right around always about 12, 13 minutes.

Yeah, so it seems to be, you know, if there's seven D, he's among the lowest. And, you know, you think if they go with six, I know for me personally, you know, I'd want him in the lineup. You may not have the foot speed or that, but he brings that tenaciousness and boxes out so well. When you have the likes of Corey Perry and Pat Maroon hanging around the front of the net,

Luke Shen and Jake McCabe are probably my two top picks to stand there with them. One more for me, Ralphie, and that's what you just mentioned moments ago about Tampa being ahead of the Leafs February 14th and what's happened since then. You know, regardless of where they were going to finish, 2-3 or 3-2,

there was always a sense because of the success that Tampa's had that Leaf fans would have to see it to believe it, that they can beat Tampa Bay. But has their play in the last month, six weeks, now turned see it to believe it into just we believe it now? Yeah, I mean, you think, and especially with, you know, how much has camp has played over the years you wonder if that plays any factor whatsoever um actually just saw a stat that i

thought was pretty interesting that since the start of the 21-22 season andre vasilevsky's played 71 playoff games and elia samsonoff has played 89 regular season games. Oh, geez. That's kind of a scary scenario going in. But I think you also, I mean, you have to have tremendous respect for Tampa. I mean, how many people thought the Boston Bruins were on the

way down and out, you know, until this year? And it's their core, they got them through it. So, you know, as much as you hope you're closer to being able to win in the first round, and especially against Tampa, they've got too much of a history. And I don't think by any means you're going to look at them

and say, yeah, this will be easy. You know, there's just too much success and a history in that locker room to feel that way. But, you know, even last year they went 5-0 in the first game. And you think, oh, wow, good. No, this could be a five- or six-game series. And you see Tampa always found a way to push back. So I think that bothers you.

And it would be stupid to think that Andre Vasilevsky couldn't steal a series on his own if he gets hot because we've seen that before how did the canadians win four in a row in in the 70s or your dad's team jb uh with the islanders i mean weren't people talking about them running out of gas after their second stanley cup or their third one you know i just know talking to my dad that last year against the Oilers, like nothing left in the tank by the end of it. But yeah, I think it shortens your career span for some of these guys. But they still found a way to win four.

Yeah, you start leaning more on experience than speed and skill, I think. Hey, Ralphie? Yeah, but now the other side of that, you got to remember with Montreal, they went and got a goalie out of Cornell. That started there. That helps. With six games left in the regular season, and he wins the Conn Smythe Trophy before he wins the

Caldera's Wookiee of the Year. Anyway, I love going down memory lane with you guys. As we do, too. Hey, Ralphie, thanks for doing this, pal. Have a great call tonight. Hey, Ralphie, thanks for doing this, pal. Have a great call tonight. Thanks, Ralphie. Sammy just cut him off.

I wasn't sure what happened there. Sammy cut him off. I didn't cut him off. I don't run the board. Oh. Two thumbs. Didn't even give him the old, oh, I love you guys or anything.

We didn't get anything from him. I didn't really even consider. Like, I just was thinking that this game was so meaningless. Me too. Right? Like, I never even really considered. I've sold myself on a physical element tonight. But there could be some bull crap.

There's going to be somebody somewhere. You don't just lead the league in penalty minutes to let this one go away quietly let's say the name boys it's pat maroon night hey cory perry i'll be floating around i mean running mouth getting in people's faces basically saying do something about it and that's why you love having a guy like wayne simmons in the lineup you do yeah i you know the fact that we could name five people out of the 18 skaters in the leafs that we would be comfortable with in a brawl was pretty impressive to me i've been covering this team for some time i can't remember a time where we could put together

five guys that could fight so they got five decent amount it's not even the fighting part it's just getting in your face it's it's actually initiating a hit lafferty uh hit on uh matt grizzly was a prime example of something that you just haven't seen consistently this time of year from a toronto maple leaf roster for sure and that's why padri years ago had to go and do it himself. But that's five guys who, yeah, maybe not fighting. Maybe it's the hits you're talking about, but they won't run from it. Like they'll look the person in the eye who tells them, you know, F you.

They will look back in the eye and say, no, no, no. You know, I like that. I like that they got a few guys that can bring that element. So we'll see how relevant that is tonight. It is possible it's a sleepy affair still. And Tampa's got some guys here, like Braden Point's sitting on 49 goals. Don't tell me he doesn't want the magic 50. That means something near and dear to every NHL goalscorer.

The Leafs should take great pride in stopping that from happening if they can um so just uh was alerted to this while you guys were talking to ralphie oh no there's a fourth goalie now listed on the least active roster um matt anuska i guess out of uh windsor maybe i think that's right. They had two this morning ATOs. Probably backs up and Samsonov doesn't even dress. I bet you Samsonov's feet up. No, Samsonov's not dressing tonight. Oh, you know that for sure?

Yeah. Oh, okay. I don't even think he's going to the rink. Good. He should just be flying to New York. Get ready. Who was it yesterday? Who did I hear say this? That they should rent him a jet ski and they should just let him to new york get ready he uh i who was it yesterday who'd i hear say this

that they should rent him a jet ski and they should just let him go enjoy the day in the beach yeah and and lots of alcohol let's do that too machine and alcohol good idea crush this robotus and go out there and drive the tractor why don't you go do some farming while you're at it you want to give these guys a jet ski you You're a week before the playoffs. You want to give them a machine that leads the emergency ward in the state of Florida?

Most likely to be hurt on a jet ski. It's such a Leafs thing to happen to. Any ski resorts near sunrise? You can do both in the same day. Hot air ballooning. What else do you want? Parachuting. Alright, he can sit on the beach same day. Hot air ballooning. What else do you want? Parrot shooting. All righty.

You can sit on the beach and relax. Hey. Let him get some snowmobiling in. Have a day, kid. Have a day. Relax. Bubble wrap. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a much better idea than my idea. All right. Anything else on Sammy? What else can you find us we're gonna turn the page to tampa after this i'm looking forward to finding what their injury was because there was a day last week when i think it's elliot who tweeted five guys in the lightning were hurt okay now all of them are available i think i'm way past that this is just a tired team i on tampa i don't buy the tiredness that andre palat absence from last year it makes a big hole in their lineup i'm watching uh ryan mcdonough oh yeah i'm watching

i'm watching uh nashville last night in calgary and they've got uh no ryan johansson they've got no matt duchesne they've got no ph Duchesne. They've got no Phillip Forsberg. And they got no Roman Yossi. Like, come on. Really? Yeah. Oh, geez. Yeah. But Ryan McDonough

still can make a great first pass. He can still be in the right position. He can box guys out forget who said this too you know who else they don't have was victor headman's d partner from last year ran yan ruda like that was another guy who played a lot of minutes he played 17 playoff games for them last year as headman's partner and everyone's like ah like this is this is this is well beyond just a tired team, right? They're different.

They've lost some talent. They've lost some size. Salary cap has made life harder for them, for sure. Okay. Not convinced, boys. Not convinced for one second. You're awfully quiet over there. Listen, you guys can crap on Tampa all you want.

I will do nothing of the sort. We're not crapping on them. We're just saying they've got issues. Observing critically? We're saying here's one pitcher, here's the other. Spot the differences. They've got issues. And we'll ask Brian Englom after the break.

Lightning analyst for Bally Sports. We'll get his thoughts. Is this just a tired team? Or are there holes in the lineup? More with Brian after the break. You're watching and listening to real kipper and born get smarter when you listen to hockey talk the hockey pdo cast with dimitri filipovich subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts this is real kipper and born on sportsnet 590 the van nick kipriel justin born helping you tee up tonight's matchup between the tampa bay lightning toronto maple leaves also welcoming in brian englom lightning analyst for bally sports two-time stanley cup champion

sammy's working on getting him in the lineup you know when we talk about those those backup goalies all right brian's now with us hey brian thanks for joining us how are you i'm doing great how are you guys yeah we're good uh A little different feel for us up here, anticipating the Leafs in Tampa tonight. Basically, guess your goalie time. Leafs with a bit of a salary cap crunch, especially with adding Matthew Knives out of the frozen four off the weekend. But all in all, really just a tee up for what's inevitable as early as uh

tuesday next tuesday a toronto tampa game uh your thoughts about tonight's game first of all before we get into maybe a little bit more of a breakdown uh it's been an interesting month plus for the Lightning. March was rough. It was for a lot of teams, I know. But March was a rough month, and it showed on them. They had four straight weeks of four games ending with Saturday, Sunday, four in a row. So it wore them down.

I think it wore them down attention span and mentally. It showed. They went through some bad stretches. Then they played four really good games in a row. I thought, hey, this is really coming around. Then they went on this last three-game road trip. It was pretty mediocre against the Rangers. Went south against the Islanders, and even farther south against Ottawa. So I've seen pretty much everything, guys.

I don't know what to tell you. It's unusual, certainly for a team of their quality, to be this up and down. But they just can't seem to get everybody motivated at the same time on the same night. That'll come around, you know, next Tuesday because it has to. You know, you flip. You know, everybody talks about flipping the switch, right? I think there is an emotional switch that you have to flip. But as far as how you're playing, yeah, I don't believe that. I don't think you just automatically step on the gas, you know,

and start playing really well systematically. I don't think they have huge issues there. I think they've cleaned some up, but I think they've still got some work to do. So it's going to be really interesting to see how the series starts coming up. I am curious to know if you feel like their team has a personality of sorts that, you know, they need to be emotionally invested. Like the Leafs up here, we see them play against lesser teams and they sleepwalk through games and then they have a bad one. But their personality as a group seems to be like, all right, we got embarrassed and they always show up the game after.

Like, do you believe that this Lightning team does have that, okay, it's serious now sort of gear that they can play to a level that's higher than what they've seen on average this season? Absolutely, that's what I expect. I mean, they've won two cups and they went to the finals, and we know what that takes. And during the regular season, so many teams are so even, and the execution level and the pre-scouting and all of that is so even that if you're not emotionally engaged then you end up losing you can lose to the 32nd

place team in the league nobody loses all 82 games so when you don't have that yeah it it makes a difference i fully expect because of their experience level of the core that they will get up to speed right away and that emotional level will make the difference. And then that's when you combine the X's and O's with the emotion and you see what you've got. But up until this point, it's really difficult to judge exactly where they're at. And I think they're even feeling that they're sort of shrugging their shoulders like, yeah, we know. We're kind of all over the park here. You know, we'll see kind of thing.

So I'll stick with what they're saying because they're the ones feeling it and doing it. Brian, there's no doubt that most hockey people will just talk about the things that you talked about, just the mental part of the game not being there. But what about physically? And how much of a change in this lineup can two guys in particular make? And I talk about Ryan McDonough and Palat, who went to New Jersey.

They're two big losses. There's no doubting that. Andre Palat was such an underrated player, and boy, was he a big-time player. Just look at his stats in the playoffs. He was simply outstanding, and that doesn't show the things that don't show up on the score sheet, like being in the right position, like back-checking

and being on the right side of the puck, all those things that we talk about all the time. But you look at his stats and you go, wow, that's why he was playing first line. They'd bump him up to first line, no problem. He scored some big goals. Ryan McDonough, we all know, and he's a big loss. They couldn't afford to keep either one of these guys. They were both dearly loved, I mean, absolutely loved by their teammates.

And Ryan McDonough had that ability both in the locker room, but on the ice and on the bench to help just get out there and grab the game back when it was going sideways. He had that thing about him where he could just make some plays, make a big play defensively. I've compared him to Serge Savard over the years because he reminds me of Serge, his style of play, and even the way he skates backwards

and the way he can cover 15 feet laterally in a heartbeat and then grab the puck, slow it down, and have that presence. And that's what I'm talking about, grabbing the game back. Do they miss that? Oh, hell yeah, they do. So do you expect Tampa to roll out a fully healthy lineup for game one? You know, at one point a week ago, it looked like there were about five guys with injuries.

Where are they at in terms of health? Yeah, it seems like most of the guys are okay, except for Tannage. You know, he looked bad when he went down a couple of games ago. I don't expect him back anytime soon. As usual, the Lightning are being pretty cagey about that, but there's nothing imminent. So I don't know what that means, but, man, when I saw his leg crumple underneath him,

I wouldn't count on him in the next little while for sure, and certainly I wouldn't count on him at the beginning of the series at all. Otherwise, the guys that were nicked up, Cirelli missed a game or so, Hagel was out, Chernak, they all came back at the end of the road trip. So they were skating today. I don't see anything big there in that respect. So I think really

only Tanner Janot would be, as far as I know, the only guy that would be definitely out. Brian, how big of a loss is that? We know the price that they paid for this guy. I don't think the numbers were there early in the trade to support

something of that magnitude, but was it shaping up to be a significant pickup for them going into the playoffs? Where was it leaning towards with this guy and the huge price that they paid? Yeah, Tanner Chateau was just starting to come around. He finally scored a goal. He should have had five. I swear there was a point there if the net was empty and he was 15 feet away, it would have hit him in the leg and gone in the corner.

He was snakebitten that badly. And you could see he was really gripping it. So he finally scored a goal. That relieved some of that pressure, even though they didn't acquire him to be another goal scorer. But still, everybody's got to feel good about themselves. What I did notice is the respect he gets around the league. He has guys, when there's a scrum around the net,

there are guys that look at him and go, no, not you. I'll go to him. You know, that kind of thing, Nick. And that's a valuable tool to have, you know, in your toolbox when you're in the playoffs, as we all know. So that will be missed. He's a grinder. He can skate. Yeah, he'll be missed.

Mikey Acemont will be in the lineup. He was the other day. He had his best game in Ottawa the other day. He's been mostly out of the lineup and not in. They got him because they like his speed and what they were after with both those guys in the acquisitions was the speed that they have, trying to upgrade

the speed on the fourth line. Because Belmar, Maroon, and Corey Perry are another year older and it shows. I mean, it's just father time. So they needed to be able to inject some speed, and so the line combinations that Koop's going to use will be interesting in the Toronto series involving those three guys.

You mentioned Koop. You know, I've talked to my dad, who won Stanley Cups back in the day, and their relationship with Al Arbor, and sometimes coaches have to lean pretty hard on guys to get the most out of them over and over and over again. John Cooper's the longest tenured coach in the NHL. They've been deep a number of years in a row. How is his relationship with his team now

after having been through so much with them? I think Coop is the modern coach. Yeah, Al Arbor was famous for really going after guys sometimes. So was Scottie. I played for Scottie, right? And it was not fun. And they would tweak guys up and more than tweak them up. That's being polite.

Really go after players. Even in the meeting an hour and a half before the game. I don't think that's done a whole lot anymore. Maybe on the bench still from time to time that happens. Everybody needs a kick in the butt sometimes. I think Koop gets it right certainly a lot more than he gets it wrong. I think he reads people really well, and he's a talker. He'll talk through guys from what I understand.

So they know where they stand. He's a really good bench manager. Like any young guy coming in, I think that's where he's a quick study. He's an attorney for a reason, and we know it takes a lot of study and memory and everything else to pass those bar exams and just become an attorney. So I see that study, you know, in him, and I think he's learned an awful lot over the course of time, which includes bench management and match-ups and all that kind of stuff.

So that's why he's the longest-tenured coach, and he's got two cups and another two finals under his belt. He knows what he's doing. Brian, one more for me, and this is going to be the most important one because this one scares the heebie-jeebies out of our producer Sammy here, and that is where is Vasilevsky's head? Because with all due respect to Point, Kucherov, Stamkos, and the rest of them, there's only one guy that really scares Leaf Nation,

and that's the big guy in that. And he's going to keep it that way, too. His presence about him, that's really interesting. He's got that it thing, Nick, that you want every goalie to have. There's a little bit of Patrick Waugh in him from that respect. There's that presence, that

mystique, that quietness, that look that he has. He's had his ups and downs. I think he's had his games this year where you go, yeah, he's been kind of mediocre for his standard, but he's played an awful lot of hockey.

They're careful with him. He likes to play and they've been telling him for years already, nope, you're not going out in the morning skate today. Nope, nope. Otherwise, he'd be out there all the time. So they and he have learned to manage his minutes and his time.

So I fully expect Vasilevsky to be as good as he has been in the past. And certainly the way they have played this year, I think it's put a lot of strain on him. So I think that has a lot to do with his mediocrity at his level because of that. The number of attacks were ridiculous at times. I mean, absolutely ridiculous, dumb mistakes that the team was making. So night after night, and he's playing most of the games, he did a lot of stuff. So I think it wore on him a bit, you know, and why wouldn't it?

So I think as they tightened down and in that four-game streak where they played really well i saw everything sort of come together including vassie getting like unreal he stopped 99 of 100 shots there in that three game stretch and three out of the four that pretty much tells you about vassileski when we've had conversations about tampa bay up here you know there have been some question marks hey they're de-struggling a bit they're getting scored on a bit more than usual people usually reply with yeah but headman you know headman's gonna play 30 minutes or whatever 28 minutes for them per game in the postseason he's been there rock how has his season gone as a guy who has you know really been one of the

league's preeminent defensemen for for years now um it's been an interesting year for him. I think he's been solid. He's been good. He hasn't been as spectacular. I think that shows in his numbers. But also part of that, I think, was it seemed to be a purposeful development of Mikhail Sergeyev.

Sergeyev had a lot more time on the power play. I think a couple of games ago, I looked it up. For the season, Sergachev had had 45 minutes more total for the season. 45 more than any year he's ever played for the Lightning. So that's, you know, a big jump, in other words, of power play time. And meaning on the number one power play, because you know what it's like being on the second power play. Good luck with that, right? You know, you get 15 or 20 seconds here or there if you're lucky, or on a bad night when everything's going sideways,

then maybe you're out there. So I think that has affected Heddy. Maybe in the long run that's a good thing. So he has some reserve left in the tank. He knows how to pace himself and go when he needs to. I just hope, you know, that when the key times in the series, whether it's Toronto or the next round or the next round, I hope that he is allowed to go and wants to go.

I'm old-fashioned, guys. I want to see a guy who's as good as Victor Hedman. I want to see him grab it and go and tilt the game up on two wheels. I didn't, to be honest with you, I didn't see that hardly at all in Stanley Cup Finals. And it bothered me. It bothered me a lot. Because sticking with the structure and not getting caught and all that stuff, I get it. But to me, I will never change my mind because I played with Larry Robinson.

I saw all the top guys, Paul Coffey, you name it. When things are going sideways and the big boy picks up the puck and starts going, which includes Victor Hedman, everybody on the bench gets about eight inches taller, right? And here we go. I didn't feel that. I thought there were too many games in the Colorado series where I went, okay, maybe it was a one-goal game.

But momentum-wise, because of Makar and McKinnon, I didn't think it was even close. Not even close, momentum-wise. So that part bothered me me and Victor Hedman is the key there there's no doubt so that's one thing I'm going to be looking at during the course of the entire playoffs however far they go is how did Victor Hedman play not necessarily did he score did he get the points is did he grab it and go at the right time? Not the entire game, a couple of shifts here or there, maybe for 8, 10, 12 minutes, whatever it takes,

and then go, okay, get back in this system, Hattie. Don't get caught, whatever. I think that goes a mile. I don't know what you guys think, but I love that kind of stuff, and I will never change my mind about that. Brian, I've got to ask you one more before I let you go, and that is just this reputation of the Tampa Bay Lightning leading the league in penalty minutes,

watching often during the regular season of this Wolfpack mentality, touch my guy, five guys go in there, drop their gloves, willing to do whatever it takes. I mean, was that by design? Did they stumble into it? I don't think Julian Breeze brought, put together a team when he first started saying, I'm going to be, I'm going to beat you in the alley. I'm going to beat you on the scoreboard here. And is there a chance we may see some of that tonight in a meaningless game against Tampa's first-round opponent? Only if there's that one hit or that one incident.

And that seems to be all it takes in any game, but certainly in the Lightning games. If there's one thing where it gets a little questionable, maybe there's some face-washing and whatever. Maybe there's a little message sending or whatever. I don't expect to see a lot of that. But all it takes is that one hit that's iffy, and they will jump in really fast. I think they learn from everybody goes back to when they lost the Columbus Four straight in 2019. But I go back to the year before that when they went all the way to the conference

finals against the Washington Capitals. But by the end of that series, Washington was taking it to them. You know, the Tom Wilson factor, everybody was running on Washington. I mean, T.J. Oshie's running, guys. You know, and they have, I saw that as a turning point where they didn't have a Pat Maroon. They didn't have anybody to really respond. And that really stuck out to me. And I think it did to Coop, and I think it did to the management.

And they started to turn back in the direction you are talking about back then. And I think that's gone a bit unnoticed. Columbus just sort of played rough and tough. It wasn't about fighting, but they played solid. And that was another step forward in the lightning, molding them into a different group that you see now. Brian, great stuff, man. Have a great call tonight, and we'll see you next week right

yeah absolutely looking forward to it guys thanks for having me brian and glum lightning analyst for bally sports i was interested hearing him talk about ice time and sergachev and how they really did put time into his development this year right like running power play one at times yeah they're interesting in how much, and I'm curious to hear what you think will serve a team better in the playoffs. They're very top heavy in terms of ice time, the way they roll out their decor.

Number one on their decor and ice time per game is Sergeyev, total, 24 minutes, 23.50. And Hedman's right behind him, 23.43. So they play a ton. Next guys, Cole and Chernak are like 19 minutes. they play a ton next guys cole and chernak are like 19 minutes and below that radish and purbex are 16 uh the leafs are 21 50 as top guys morgan riley brody's 21 halls 20 mccabe's 19 and a half geo's 18 no is 19 you know like they spread it yeah what do you think is a better setup for the postseason just give me one healthy headman and i'll take my chest yeah and uh i

there have been few guys a handful of guys that i can honestly say that when they're out on the ice they dictate they control well just when you're that big the ice, they dictate, they control. Well, just when you're that big, it's like chara. Think about half the game. Half the game. Yeah. When you're on the ice, you like your team's chances. And that, I think of Brian Leach.

I think of a guy, even Chelios in his heyday. They just go out there and they find different ways to control games. Hedman's that guy. The Leafs don't have that guy. So they have to be solid from one pair to the next. The top ice time on Boston, like Lindholm plays 23-16 in McAvoy's. When I watched Leafs play Boston last week, Linholm controlled for me when he was out on the ice.

Yeah. He dictated. I was just thinking of like the best teams, like the way McCarr did that for Colorado on the way to their cup. You know, Tampa has it. Boston has it. Fox for the Rangers is their guy. You know, Slavitt and Pesci for Carolina.

Hamilton for the Devils. It's something that the Leafs have to overcome is my point. And Morgan's not in that class. No, and he would tell you the same. The Leafs would too. So they need all their D to be good. Whereas other teams can say, well, we may not have six good guys, but we just leave these guys on the ice a lot.

So some updates from Sheldon Keefe who is speaking right now. Okay. Wall starts tonight confirmed. Samsonov dealing with something and unlikely to play Thursday either. Yeah. Oh, the Thursday that's interesting. Really? Yeah.

Good thing he had to play in all these meaningless games. Well, we've seen him on a couple occasions the last few games dealing with something. They're not making. They're not making. Yeah, he's hurt. They're not making something up're not making yeah he's hurt they're not making something up here the man's playing hurt did they mention marner and matthews no not yet the good news is samsonov is whatever he has he's healthy enough to play if he had to tonight presumably yes so that means he'll play in playoffs i'm actually whatever fine get him in game one you're starting goalie zillia samsonov you started the year thinking that might be the

case this is where though you got to go back to september where you are rolling the dice with this guy and you hope that he's can turn himself into a work, but you don't know. There's one thing to say that you can play Thursday or be ready for next Tuesday, but starting Tuesday, it is every other day for what you hope is two months. Yep. For sure. That's the great unknown.

It is. And I think at the start of the year they would have said well that's why we got two guys hopefully one of them is healthy at all times really work out that way in the stanley cup playoffs historically we got two guys it doesn't we we it's not unprecedented you know murray's been a part of that with flurry but it's certainly not the more common path that that year flurry started he faltered matt murray cleaned up he said grubauer played some for holt b saw franco's played some for kemper like it's not the way you want to do it i know but yeah and that's where you hope that samsonov's confidence and uh his season can catapult him now to that next phase of being a great goaltender and that is getting the job

done every other night in the spring you know what all season long he's gone you know a week between games for him would not be that ridiculous right like matt murray all season long he's gone you know a week between games for him would not be that ridiculous right like matt murray has been there he's often gone a week without games he's coming off a 47 save one goal against performance he'll start for the leafs in the playoffs fine with that good well listen he has proven that he won the job he has proven that he has earned the trust of his teammates he is in a great spot to start tuesday what's he earned financially in the offseason oh come on okay all right sorry no don't do it i wrote about that last week uh he'd be looking for with without right now i think the leafs probably i would believe that the

leafs would try to sign him now yeah well why wouldn't you do you want to get him in the fours or you want to have him beat tampa bay and then take this to five plus i want to just just beat tampa bay okay then you have 500 million per. I just want to win a series so bad. You're starting to sound like Sammy. Yeah, well, listen. It's important. Livelihood hinges on this. Okay.

Yeah, still nothing about Matthews and Marner. That'll be interesting to see if they're in or not. I do believe that they they should they should take them out i'd let that i let the meat and potato guys go at tampa tonight math matt onuska is gonna back up yeah let's is there any chance this is a little you know i don't know it's stupid i was gonna say gamesmanship to make tampa think he's hurt before the game. Who? Samsonov. It could be related to why they were allowed to call a guy up. Samsonov is playing game one.

What do you care if he's nursing something or needs an ice pack on something? Who cares? Would this be part of the way to get Wolin in the first place? What's that? I would have liked him to have a capable backup goalie that they could have started more down the stretch and not run a guy into the ground because now he's hurt. Listen. That's what I would have liked. he's healthy enough to start tuesday that's

all you need to know anything can happen from then on you don't know whether uh an injury could happen because it wasn't treated two weeks ago or if it's if it happened in the first period you just don't know anyways i've just it sucks to see that yeah don't worry about it oh yeah i'm fine it's fine everything's fine you're good all good you're good no sweat okay news and notes where do you guys want to start you want to start with calgary maybe the biggest disappointment of the season is it name me another team that is disappointed more than calgary flames no it's the flames i mean the islanders can get there too who traded for beau horvat if they don't get some breaks down the

stretch here but calgary flames they win the west last year or what they have second in the west whatever they were this is significant fall so then write about it i I sure will. Thanks, Daryl. What do you... I know they couldn't score. Couldn't score and they didn't get saves. It's hockey. Those are two important things. But the Markstrom thing was a big story for them, for sure. Doesn't sound like they had a lot of fun this year.

That's a Daryl Sutter comment. Losing... Winning is fun. That's the best losing sucks you can get along with a whole bunch of jerks if you win like yes absolutely yeah yeah you expect changes there like they're locked into some contracts now i mean what what changes do you expect daryl's gonna start coaching cattle again maybe i don't know you think they could clean out you get he may just want to tree living doesn't muck stalls in a barn instead i don't know is it is it tree living that doesn't want to resign is it uh ownership that didn't offer him a deal up

until now nothing's really clear there yeah but i mean I don't think you go, ah, next year will be fine, and just go ahead with the same group and the same coach and the same GM and all that. So, certainly changes ahead. Curious to see how drastic those changes are. Winnipeg can make life a lot easier with a win against Minnesota. They got Minnesota and Colorado to wrap up nashville still has an outside shot right nashville does they don't hold any tiebreakers they're three points back with two

games to go which means one point from the jets is all they need even just a drop point by nashville would do it that's it yeah so we're as close as a team can be to locked into the postseason congrats to the jets for absolutely doing everything they could to miss the playoffs hanging on but hanging on so they're likely to get the vegas golden knights in round one they have a lineup that can beat Vegas. They have a chance. They have a chance. And they got a good goalie.

Boy. Yeah, and was John Quick the guy right now for Vegas? Who's goaltending for them these days? Tune in on that. Outside of that, it's just jockeying for position, right? Yeah, it looks like it. Sorry, just following Luke Fox. I'm following, you know, we didn't have any clips from today

because they're talking now. Luke Fox just tweeted, Dubas speaks passionately in defense of Jet Alexander playing Saturday. Long-serving e-bug for the Leafs. Oh, he didn't like our show. Did not like our show. Oh, boy. Any quotes?

Nothing yet. Just the passionate speaking. Well, stay tuned on that. Passionate speaking. Passionate speaking. Those idiots on Real Kipper and Bourne said I'm an idiot, so. No, it's not him. I don't hang this on anything from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I says, pardon? It's the system the system is the issue not kyle okay not you're just doing whatever you can to save your salary cap that's all oh i thought we're talking about him putting jet alexander in for a minute 10 yeah well i don't to me it's we're in 2023 now this is what we do yeah i've got it's not that big of a problem seattle just did it last night i would have it would have pissed me off if i was in the lineup but so what i i'll get over it i didn't know you could name your kid jet something would have been an option is that short for anything jethree jethro no jethro jethro jethro tully he actually plays a a flute and a rock band on the side seems unlikely um anyways it's fine kind of likes that stuff he He wants people to feel good about him. Agreed. Eric Carlson got to 100 points as a defenseman.

I air quote that a bit. But he got 100 points. One of six guys ever. In a 6-2 loss, which is so Shohei Otani. I can't even believe it. Otani strikes out 12 in a 14-2 loss. It is impressive, and he's going to win the Norris because of it. We've been... If there were a second candidate that were worthwhile, he may not,

but he's going to get my vote. I will say we're pretty hard on Carlson on this show in terms of... Defensing? Defensing. I saw this from Travis Yost yost today good he does excellent work that the even the even strength goal differential for san jose this this season kipper with carlson on the ice yeah it's good they're a plus five and with carlson not on the ice yeah what do you think dash what yeah 30 61 okay i mean to be good enough to pull that team to those numbers. I don't care what the numbers say.

Okay. If I was a team and I was thinking about trading for him, I'd be nervous. I'd be nervous that he would come in and want to run the whole show. Yeah. I feel like I feel some pressure from people to like really it's an unbelievable accomplishment to be mentioned with the names he's mentioned with but yeah i don't he makes 10 and a half million dollars and i don't trust him defensively so i don't it's not

i don't even it's not even the defense part it's the chemistry part okay i don't think he's a chemistry guy sure not his personality just he's tough to mesh with because he does his own thing i just know that uh san jose's best years in as an organization were when he wasn't in the lineup not when he was in the lineup and all i know is brent burns was a very good hockey player and brent burns his career as a san jose shark was the was over the moment they signed carlson yeah that's what i know sure and let's just take a quick second here and say if you envisioned a team taking a chance on carlson by for him this summer, where would it be? Where would you envision right now?

God, remember all the Oilers people really wanted that to happen? Like, where the whole system is around him when he's on the ice, needing the puck, getting the i just i just think there's a chemistry issue with him yeah okay yeah i can't think of a fit no it's interesting hey yeah it's a lot of money it's you're right he guy kind of go get another norris trophy and and let me ask you in the height of his norris trophy, if you envision him playing on any other team, and you can say, yeah, all of them, and you can't come up with one right now.

You know, like, could he run the Leafs power play? Would they like him? Sure. I don't think there's enough puck for everybody. No, that's a good point, too. Any more on Carlson? You want to talk about the playoff races i i do enjoy watching them i do i'm so talented right he's so talented it's like what are you crazy he's a magician with the puck

i just don't know if if it's uh team friendly yeah it's in we know it's individually fantastic sell tickets i'll watch don't know if it's built to win his game i'd agree with you the playoff races got interesting last night the washington capitals tried to lose they dressed no one the islanders did not succeed they lost a huge game what is going on with your islanders here and it's almost as if when bo horvat mentioned vancouver it kind of like turned i called that a coincidence i think why did he have to go there ah it's fun love it's loved it anybody go out i'm a i'm a big bo horvat fan yeah anyone who's gonna crap on vancouver i'm all here for it good on you yeah

he felt bad though uh you can walk you can tell yeah he walked it back and he should i mean it's no disrespect to them he was just kind of caught up in the moment right yeah that's being pro islanders not anti-vancouver and and it still stings i think for him oh yeah getting traded yeah jt miller being the guy that uh you know took the brunt of it i gotta tell you he's gonna love long island like he the the media coverage is so different than vancouver there's much less hate so what's their playoff scenario here jv islanders are at 91 points the panthers are at 92 those are the two wild card spots right now both teams have one game left the penguins have two games left and 90 points so if the penguins win both their games they're in the playoffs and the islanders are out but the penguins have penguins pretty hard this year and

they kind of remind me of calgary as a team that you expect a lot from that continually sort of weirdly disappoints you so i'm holding out hope here as an isles guy do we envision a stanley cup playoffs without sydney crosby i don't know the other day their backs are against the wall he shoots two in the net scores are three seconds left or whatever and they win i have a hard time picturing sid losing these two games against chicago and columbus for sure he's. It's like Tiger making the cut of the Masters for the 23rd straight time. Like, guys like that just find a way. That is an excellent comparison.

Yeah. And it's true. And even if you're not going to win, just they get there. Yeah. I hope Sid's not limping like Tiger was at the end. Oh, my God. My best case scenario here. I cannot watch that.

I agree. That was like. It hurt my soul. Yes. This is the most dominant guy in the history of the sport who no one could ever even... It's a real reminder of our own mortality. A cart. No, that's not allowed. No, come on, Kipper.

They can't make exceptions. No. No, no, no. There has to be one exception. Paul Casey. Get him a green cart. A green cart. Well, it would have been cart path only that weekend. You can't drive across. 90 degrees only. The best case scenario here is Florida loses to Carolina,

and New York and Pittsburgh win all their games and get in. Okay, boys. Carolina, what's going on with them? They lost two really good players that were huge for them, and they haven't really looked the same. Huge players. They got to win that division. They lost their game breaker.

He's their heart and soul guy. The 2-3 in the Metro is hell. You got to win the division. Huge race there tonight. Okay. Our thanks to Jim Ralph. Brian Englom joined us as well to tee up Tampa and Toronto. Enjoy that game.

We're back tomorrow to sum it all up for you. Thanks for joining us on Real Kipper and Born.