Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 167: Featuring Ray Ferraro

Episode Date: April 15, 2019

On Monday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets the guys talk all things NHL playoffs so they are joined by one of the best in the business, Ray Ferraro, to get his take on everything that has been going on. The guys discuss the Kardi-DeBrusk situation, Cale Makar signing in Colorado, Carolina, Tampa-Columbus and a whole bunch more. The guys also get into the Masters and break down how big of a comeback story Tiger Woods has been.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 167 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by New Amsterdam Vodka. Playoff season is here, boys. Fun time, fun time. Let's go to our crew first. Biz Nasty, Paul Bissonnette, where are you right now?

Always in some hotel room somewhere. I am in Toronto. I have an NHL first-timer tomorrow, game three of the Boston-Toronto series, so that'll be crazy. I was just actually at my buddy's bar here, Peter Gerges, a place called Marble in Toronto. Great spot.

And a guy who I played with won a Calder Cup with Vincent Laverde, who's now playing with the Toronto Marlies. He won another Calder Cup last year. They're going into playoffs here, but it's his 30th birthday, so I just want to wish him a happy 30th birthday. He was the captain of that Calder Cup team, so a big thank you to him for his solid leadership skills. And a quick funny story.

When he showed up to Marble tonight as he's celebrating his 30th, I had to come back and record the podcast. I was talking with a few of his teammates now, and they just had their last game of the season. So they've already clinched, right? And you know how end of the season when you've already clinched, you just dress all like the peasants and stuff like that? Yeah, good luck. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They were playing cleveland tonight and cleveland needed to get in so cleveland outshot them like 50 to 10 something ridiculous and obnoxious and uh it kind of brought up a story of it was our last game of the season when we completely dominated the american hockey league regular season uh with the manchester monarchs but hubie mcdonough who we had a bunch of degenerates, like everyone from the coaches. We were just a bunch of misfits. And he didn't really call anyone from the coast or anywhere, so our whole lineup had to play game fucking whatever,

78 of the American League when we'd clinched at December. So I remember it was kind of a little irritated. Game was in Providence, afternoon game. So you know there's going to be 14 anthems. They sing God Bless America, Oh Canada, the American anthem, and then I just throw – yeah, and then Rene Raycourt comes out, he gives it a couple fist pumps and then sings the anthems all over again. Anyway, we ended up sitting out one of our guys,

and I got to play fourth line center that night. Well, wasn't this a fucking treat? I step on the ice for my first shift, lose my centerman, minus one. Stutsy, our coach at the time, gives me the, I'll just stay out there, take the face off. Literally off the face off, loss it. D to D, goes in our end, lose my centerman, minus two. So Josh Gratton, my winger, who's trying to sign overseas the next year,

is like, bitch, you're fucking killing me right now. My minus is day. We ended up going minus three on the night. I don't think I saw another shift after halfway through the second, but I just thought it was funny because it was their last game of the year, and it reminded me of that story. And that's when I knew there was not a chicken dick's chance in hell I was ever going to play another game in the NHL level.

How about the fact that you could probably be playing in that league until you're 50, and I don't think you could win a face-off either hey no i want to try and win face-offs hey one hey there was one year in phoenix where i think i took four face-offs i ended up winning four of them and and it was like an ongoing joke in the locker room anyway sorry about that long intro that was a hell of an intro huh next out of the voice you heard was next up, Ryan Whitney. What's going on, buddy? Where are you these days? You home or on the road or what? I'm back home.

I'm back home. Going to NHL Network this week because this is a big time of year to be at the network, you know, when it's playoff time. But, I mean, I'm catching heat, boys. We'll probably get into it, but things aren't starting great for me. Picking teams again. But I'm still pleased to be here, and there's a ton of us, ton of stuff for us to talk about tonight.

Right. We'll get right back to you in a second. Let's say hello to our producer, Mikey Grinelli. Last but not least, what's up, guy? What's up, boys? Master Sunday. It's finally getting a little nice here in New York City, so the pink Whitney's are flowing.

That's what I want to talk about. Were you able to watch it? You weren't flying or anything, were you? Yeah, I was able to watch the entire thing. Just an incredible day. I got into golf after Tiger had kind of stopped dominating. It was like the year or two after he won his last major before this at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

I didn't really understand how obsessed everyone was with them and how all these kids who play now they played because of him and every guy I know that plays golf and has their whole life. They're just all obsessed with them. So to actually see that today and you kind of see him just, I don't know, I would think everyone, he's just a, he's just a presence. And so it was incredible to watch. And I mean, I think it's probably the greatest comeback story in the history of sports. I said on Twitter, it's I think the closest sporting event, sporting thing I've seen closest to Roy Hobbs in the natural.

I know that's an old school movie, but where a guy who's been away for a while, he's an older guy and he steps up and he fucking, you know, wins the championship. And one of his last time up. But it was incredible, man. I mean, 20 some years since his first one. Just an incredible sporting moment that, yeah, we're going to be talking about it in 50 years if it's still around. And, I mean, I've read a decent amount about Tiger and the books that have come out about him.

And from what I've read, I never knew the guy. His dad didn't sound like a very good person. Nonetheless, it's his dad. And the pictures that were kind of released today of him hugging his dad in like 97 or whatever it was, and then hugging his son, you know, 22 years later, whatever it is, it was pretty incredible. No matter what, like you, you just get a little emotional thing. And this guy's been through hell and back.

And a lot of the issues were self-inflicted, right? I mean, you read about him. He had some issues. Yeah. I don't think he was. Well, I agree with the self-inflicted. When you say you're talking about his old man, are you saying as far as how he raised him and how disciplined he was?

No, no, no. I'm talking about other fam, how he treated his wife, how he had other kids with somebody else, how he was a serial cheater. Okay, so now you, so right. And everything you say, Tiger, self-inflicted. So I didn't even know any of that other stuff. I just assumed that he was pretty hard on him growing up. Do you think that, that,

that kind of had a psychological effect on Tiger and maybe the way he handled this, his, his non-golf business? I think that he a hundred percent is a product of his environment. Like so many kids are like the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree. I think that he was he was like a built like a robot almost his father had this goal where he was going to create the best athlete the best goal for the greatest champion of all time and it was from birth i mean you read about it so he didn't have a no i mean this wasn't a normal human right no of

course so i i mean i'm not gonna like judge that guy for what he did i mean i i mean i guess it sounds like i am either way what he went through i mean he gets his face smashed in by his wife with a with a golf club he tears his acl he has like 15 back surgeries he's completely done he had the chipping yips he couldn't walk it was like a DUI. It's like 50 different Hooters waitresses. He was crushing Perkins waitresses, porn stars. It was the ultimate downfall from grace. You couldn't fall harder than this guy. And so naturally, I think people enjoy a comeback story. Everyone counted him out. I did. I lost a thousand bucks today. I had two different $500 bets. He'd never won another major, but I didn't even mind losing it. I'm. I lost a thousand bucks today. I had two different $500 bets that he'd never won another major,

but I didn't even mind losing it. I'm like, this is just insane and incredible to watch. Oh yeah. I was more on the, the, the side of empathy where there's some people who still don't like him based on what he's done in the past with all that shit that ended up happening with

his wife and stuff. But I mean, fuck the, the off the golf course stuff. You got to imagine that there was some, some, some major healing going on there. So, yeah, I don't think you were judging him when you said that.

I just think that you were saying coming from the situation that he did, it must have been hard for him. Yeah, but, I mean, yeah, all right. It's the natural. He was born. He's not one in a billion. It's like a trillion. Like, they'll never be – I don't think there'll ever be anyone like him again in golf.

So the fact that he's like, now he could win the next major. Now it's like it's his second career, and it's just awesome to watch. So it was a pretty cool Sunday. I mean, I won a little money, but I didn't have him to win. Yeah, I mean, he had no real childhood, and he had kind of a hockey dad for a father. You know, he played golf. But it sucks to hear hear I thought for sure you would have had something on him I had a little taste at 16 to 1 so I picked up a few bucks I had him and six other guys so I was like

I would have been hedging right because of these bets I have these bets I had with people so I never really wanted to bet on him because I was like as long as he doesn't win I'm gonna get this money although it's a stupid bet by me. I'm a bad gambler. Oh, hey, is the foreplay podcast going to get mad at us if we keep talking about all this golf? I know. People are furious because it is playoff time. But that was a crazy Sunday.

But what series are we talking about first here? Because, wow. Well, Washington, Carolina, the Caps got an early jump in game one with a three-nothing first period lead. They held on for their life before Lazella got an empty netter, sealed it, the 4-2 win. The Canaps got an early jump in game one with a 3-0 first period lead. They held on for dear life before Lars Eller got an empty netter to seal it, the 4-2 win. The Canes crawled back thanks to Andre's veteran cost for us, two

career goals, but it wouldn't be enough in game two. The Canes came back again from deficits twice. Jordan Stahl forced OT when he tied the game, five minutes left, but buck 48 in OT. Your boy, Brooks Orpik, won it when he got a nice Kuznetsov feed in the top corner. Also became the oldest defenseman in NHL history

to score an overtime goal in the playoffs. So shout out to Orpik there. Dude, the Canes, I mean, they're playing them tough, but the Caps just got a little bit too much right now. You know, they're going back to Carolina. Do you think this one's over, Biz, or what? Oh, man. Talk about how resilient Carolina was in that second game,

especially the first two games. They, they'd been trying to go run and gun with Washington and they haven't held off. And if anything, I feel like other than execution, Carolina's look better. I mean,

they outshot him fairly drastically in that first game. I mean, you know, Mrazik wasn't at his best. Mrazik stood on his head in game game. I mean, you know, Mrazek wasn't at his best. Mrazek stood on his head in game two. I mean, let's get to it. Furland, I thought he got fucked. Another situation where he just, you know,

he'd just gotten out of the box after taking the minor, so he's probably, you know, a little bit more on edge than normal, trying to, like, make up for it, right? Because a lot of guys try to chase their bets in playoffs. Like, emotions take over. And, and, and of course, with the way the game's called nowadays, that hit looked a lot worse than it was. But I mean, I, I know people are going to say, fuck another replay. You know, we,

we guys challenge everything. I feel like if you're going to throw a guy out of the game and playoffs, you should be able to look at the video again, just to get definitive evidence. And Caroline ends up losing a top six forward, whatever. Some people were like, oh, fuck, Furland was playing like shit. Anyway, shut up. Who cares?

Guys can flip it around in a couple shifts. He's a top six forward. All of a sudden the bench is short, and then they had to kill off that five-minute penalty. But once again, that resiliency came back. And they clawed back into that game. And although Washington did take over late and Mrazek did stand on his head, I mean, let's go to that overtime. The guy ends up breaking a stick in the corner.

And then the wrong guy, two of the wrong guys. And Orpik said it in his post-game interview. He goes, one of the best passers in the game. And Kuznetsov, he got to go right behind the net. The guy went in front. I mean, you could say it after the fact. You got to chase him right away because once he sees the ice and he gets to hit the reset button and say, okay, what am I dealing with here?

He's going to find somebody. And especially guys coming off the bench on a line change. He lays that perfect little saucer passer over. Fucking I could have put that one in there because Brooks Orpik did. I just saw Orp score. I'm like, holy shit. Orp, biggest goal of his career, I'm guessing, right, if not one of them. And the fact that he ends up being that guy, I was just so happy for him,

especially to think that, I mean, he was gone, right? You know, he had to kind of get bought out, and then he goes to Colorado, and all of a sudden they traded for him and bought him out. He signs back with Walsh. So he wanted to be there so bad and to see him get that goal. You know, he doesn't get the usual offensive credit. He's the guy who's the shutdown guy. So to get the hero role for a game like that he deserves it and Carolina has played well I mean they're they're out chancing them they're out

playing them at at times along the game it's just they're making mistakes at times and and they're the first game the power play was I think Britain Moore goes the power play was terrible and so was the PK okay it's just you can't be – that cannot happen when you're playing against Washington. And I also think that, you know, the beginning of that game when they go down – it was 3-0, right? You said, R.A.? Or was it – I forget what it was.

Game one was 3-0. It was 3-0 and that's the perfect example of what I said in Pittsburgh when we first got in the playoffs of like you don't realize it's different, right? And that's that first game where Washington comes at them flying. They know what, they know what to, what to be ready to, you know, the way that they have to be ready to play after winning the Stanley cup. And I think because of that, Caroline, all of a sudden, they're on their heels are down three, nothing.

They just couldn't recover even though they played so well to claw back in. So it's tough. You're playing against, you know, one of the best teams in the league, the defending champs, like I just said, and they're, they just have to be better. As good as Mrazic was in Game 2, he's going to have to continue to be that way because they are outmatched personnel-wise. I'm sorry, Biz. I thought you... Oh, no worries, buddy.

Sorry. I was going to let you chime in there. Yeah, actually, I thought it was a pretty interesting move at the end of Game 1. Brindamore pulled his goalie when Carolina had the power play, so he actually opted for the 6-on on four with the empty net. You see guys do it in the regular season, but I was surprised to see him in the playoffs with more than two minutes left.

That makes, you know, such a risky move to leave his net empty like that. It turned out they didn't score on the empty net or they didn't score. I'm sorry. He didn't give up an empty net goal and they didn't score on the six on four. It didn't matter at the end of the day, but you just don't see that too often. So, yeah, game three is tonight at 7 in Raleigh. So, I think Caroline, I think they're going to throw a good punch tonight. I think the key to them is just got to get a lead.

They got to stop battling back because that's tough to do. What do you got, Biz? Well, I was going to say there was almost a TSN turning point. I don't know if we're allowed to say that for legal reasons. Might have to bleep that one out there, G. But when Holpe, he did that little pirouette net, and it was 2-0 at the time for Washington. Obviously, at that point, winning game one,

you're in pretty good control of the series. And it was just very uncharacteristic of him. And all of a sudden, you saw the momentum shift back in Carolina's favor. And, I mean, in these playoffs, I guess really any playoffs, you could just see the momentum can change so quickly. And I thought they were going to have it after that. Obviously, we talked about that Furlan hit. And, boys, I thought Brindamore,

obviously, initially, he kind of snapped. He still kept it under control somewhat, but then dialed it in towards the end of his rant towards the referee. And then after the game, I thought he was very controlled in his comments. I thought everything he said was extremely fair. And I don't think I would have handled it as well,

especially being under the pressure and all that tension mounting and all of a sudden you think you get bent over on a call and then you see the replay on the bench when, in fact, it shouldn't even have been a penalty. I would have lost my fucking shit. I know. Hey, R.A., I don't know if you're giving picks later, but I'm kind of thinking Carolina game three at home.

Absolutely. Okay, because you should fade me, but I like that one. Yeah, any time a team's season's on the line, of course, we're talking about Tampa Bay, and they're down 2-1 right now with five minutes left in the third. Their season's pretty much on the line. So, yeah, but still, I don't regret making that bet, even if Tampa loses tonight, because, yeah,

anytime a team's season is on the line, man, I'm definitely going to throw some bucks on them. Also, in that post-game interview with Orpik, he corrected himself right away. He goes, the best passer, and he goes, well, one of passer and he goes well one of the he goes the other one's back from so he made sure to correct himself and pump the other best pass from the league on his team's uh tires uh so uh very interesting um i would have liked to have seen this one going back to carolina one one um and especially that that's just me kissing the carolina

fan base ass again uh shout out quickly to john John Carlson because he doesn't get maybe talked about as much as he should, but holy shit. Three points in game one, just placed 25 minutes a game. That guy is a complete horse. Yeah, he's been a stud for a long time back there. So, again, game three tonight at 7 o'clock in Raleigh. It's going to take a look at the next series. And, oh, boys, this is a big surprise to you folks because you picked Pittsburgh.

The Islanders beat the Penguins 4-1 on Sunday. They took a 3-0 series lead. I think everybody's stunned that they took a huge lead. Robin Lane is vastly outplaying Matt Murray. Murray hasn't given the Pens the save when they need one. Thought he had a rough game today, but it's not all his fault. It's the first time in three years that Crosby has gone three games without a point. The Pens, they just don't look fast enough.

They can't penetrate the trap the Islanders have. You've got to give props to Barry Trotz and his assistants. They whipped up quite a, well, I guess a trap out there. The Pittsburgh just can't get through. Wits, are you as shocked as everybody else with the three-dent lead? I would imagine so. Yeah, I'm shocked and disgusted. And the Islanders fans, I'm getting a lot of heat online.

That's what it's always called, Biz, right? Catching heat online. They're all over me. I don't blame them. I've been all over them for being scumbags and rats towards Tavares. I've been all over their team saying that they wouldn't get into the playoffs first off and then they would lose in the first round. So I'm wrong again.

It's not the first time. It's not the last time. But I'm wrong again. I'm more shocked at the fact that they've been able to just hold Crosby and Kessler and all these guys to just nothing almost, pretty much nothing. And, I mean, I'm also very biased. People don't – I think they understand by now. Crosby could be and have a walker. If he's playing, I'm going very biased. People don't – I think they understand by now. Crosby could be and have a walker.

If he's playing, I'm going to take him, right? I'm not going to take against Pitt. That's what I do. I'm very forthright in that. I take Pittsburgh. So don't be so surprised here. Islanders fans, also, I mean, this is going to be your second playoff series win if you get it done, which you should now in, like, 25 years.

So take it easy. Still great hockey by the islanders jordan eberly talk about adding a couple dollars to that ufa deal this summer ebbs hey hey buddy uh i gave it to him actually recently i said you're gonna lose in the first round he said no we're not so he's probably saying suck it wit um i don't know what else to say besides barry trotz the guy can coach the guy can coach the team he's given to coach because he figures out their strengths he figures out their weaknesses he plays to the strengths of the islanders he keeps it very simple and they got guys that like brock nelson they got guys anders the people that i um i don't want to say doubted i guess i just didn't believe in them is that the Anders Lee, people that I don't want to say doubted. I guess I just didn't believe in them.

Is that the same thing as doubted? I don't know. I wasn't giving them enough credit, I'll say that. But like you said, all right, Pittsburgh looks slow. It's weird. They don't look quick. It just seems like they're just taking forever to make plays, and the Islanders are quick and in your face.

Well, I guess this could be the start of my apology tour. Cause there was another team that I doubted. And the Islanders have been everything advertised in the regular season and more in playoffs. Their goaltending has, has maintained pace. They have fucking shut down the middle of the ice. Like I've never seen before on,

on Crosby and Malcolm. When's the last time you've seen them look like non-factors in a playoff round like they have this round? Just overall team defense. Barry Trotz has every guy in that lineup buying in. And remember, this is a group of misfits. Like, you know, the Phil Pulas, you know, the guys who never won it when they were in their prime.

They're all kind of towards the end. And what's funny about it is they're kind of all being led by this young fucking stud, Matt Barzell. He has been ridiculous. His edge work – because remember, like, playing with the Islanders, he's not on prime time all the time. This guy's fucking living for this right now. All the talk coming in was Crosby,

Malka, and this guy's grabbing the fucking bull by the horns. And I love it. And what the Islanders are doing right now is they're shoving it right up our ass. They ain't spitting on their dicks. They ain't putting lotion on it. And they're shoving it right up our hoops. They're getting you raw again, Biz.

I mean, Christ, how many times am I going to get bent over nowadays? Like, I'm going to – Speaking of that, you got an enormous – My leather cheerio is taking a fucking beating. You have an enormous workbench they gave you in that hotel in Toronto behind you, huh? I know. Look at that one.

Is that a California king? The whole Islanders team is going to come in and fucking – hockey or some shit. Well, it's crazy. Also, with what I said about Crosby, he's gone into – this will be his 28th postseason series, or this is his 29th, I think, and he only has ever had no points in one of them, which was the conference finals against the Bruins in 2013.

So it's been wild to see no points in minus four in the first three games. And shocking to say the least. 2013. So it's been wild to see no points in minus four in the first three games and shocking, shocking to say the least. I, I, I, the Islanders, I just didn't get, it's like Vegas last year. Same, same thing. It's deja vu all over again, which I know we disagree on how deja vu happens. I think a big reason too, is the shutdown pair of Adam Pellick and Ryan Pollock. They've been stifling Crosby all series. There are a couple of homegrown guys the Islanders drafted in the last few years. They're certainly not household names, but they've been playing a monster role. They're excelling at it right now.

And, I mean, they're keeping the best player in the world off the scoreboard. And it's, I think, a large part, so we've got to give credit to those two fellas. I've been very disappointed in the big boys. But, hey, I know they're down three. And, I mean, I guess I can congratulate Islanders on the on the sweep just to jinx them hopefully so i can salvage my bet in my my opinion but uh i tell you what if there's one team that can do it it can be them they can do it murray hasn't murray hasn't played that bad to me yeah i don't i won't put this on murray they need to pick up the offense. They need to fucking get back in their game rhythm.

And you just never know, boys. And how about this before we move on to another series in the current NHL playoffs? The Islanders had gone 20 series, stat guy wit. They'd gone 20 playoff series without going up three nothing in a best of seven series so it has been forever since they actually were in the driver's seat like this in any round in any playoff series so it's incredible for their fans and they can talk all the shit they want to me right now because they run on my show what else am i gonna say i'm a man i can admit when i'm wrong

and uh game four is Tuesday in Pittsburgh at 730. They'll be trying to stave off elimination then. And next up, we're going to take a look at Nashville and Dallas. That series is tied up at 1-1. This Central Division battle has been very tightly contested. A pair of one-goal games. Both teams have only scored four

goals. Miro Heskinen was the horse in game one. He got a goal and an assist as Dallas snagged a one-nothing series lead. The Preds evened things up Saturday. Took it to OT despite Ben Bishop's supreme effort. He was unbelievable once again. Like I said, Craig Smith whacked home a rebound. The Preds

have only gotten two goals from forwards. Rocco Grimaldi and Craig Smith. They have big guns. They haven't done a lot. Bishop's been outplaying what's his name? Pecorine a little bit so far, but I don't know. This is a coin flip, man. This thing looks like it's probably going to go seven games. Biz, what's your take on this series so far? It hasn't been

any real crazy storylines to pop up yet. Yeah, I mean, I think the goaltending's been good on both sides. I wouldn't blame Rene for anything. It's just the lack of offensive production, once again, for the Preds' power play. They went 0-4- that first game and special teams and everything, and then they gave up the one power play goal by Dallas.

And I guess the initial thoughts of the back end is Preds' back end's been great. Yossi's been moving. He's been creating offense. I think PK's been unbelievable in the first two games. Ended up getting that goal in game one. I believe he finished with six shots in game two. He's

got that spinorama move going right now. Guys know what's coming, but he's so good at protecting the puck and he's been executing it. For me, it's just the big boys up front for the Nashville Predators, you know, need to step up and be what they are if they're going to get over this hump. Because right now, I just like Dallas's overall game. And that was a huge OT goal for Nashville.

They go down to Dallas, going back to Dallas. I just, I don't, you know, I'd put him in mental midget category. But going back 1-1, different story. Big goal by Smith and OT. He just finds a way, eh, Whit? Finds a way to get that, find that puck and always in the scoring areas. He's a little honey badger. Yeah, he is. He still has one of the funniest clips of all time when he had, like,

an empty net breakaway and tried just shelving it and flipped it over the glass. And the horn went off in Nashville because it was that obvious. You couldn't miss. But, yeah, huge goal for him. Great sell-y too. I saw our Twitter. Grinnell, did you do that? Nice little sell-y.

Just put the sword away. Game of Thrones tonight. How are you? Wit for that connection. And, Biz, I haven't actually seen like much of this series because I was away swinging the wrenches. Do you like seeing that big line broken up where Ben's not playing with Radulov and Sagan?

It looks like Dallas is better because of it. Yeah, spreads them out a little bit more based on the fact that I would say Nashville is deeper up front. It probably helps for Dallas' case. I would like to see the big boys for Dallas just do a little bit more. I think the biggest difference in the series right now is who's going to outplay who. Is it going to be Dallas' forwards or Nashville's back end?

To me, that's the battle. I mean, with the top four for Nashville, it's hard for even those big guys to get any sustained pressure in the offensive zone. The biggest thing about having those four for Nashville, most of the times when you're coming up on the blue line, they have great gaps. They're all fairly mobile, so you've got to dump it in.

Well, they know how to go back and retrieve pucks and make plays, so they're breaking out right away, so no real sustained pressure. And, I mean, those big boys for Dallas are the type of guys that, man, they like to cross the line with the puck. They like to make plays. But when you're playing against teams that are so good on the back end, all of a sudden the time and space leaves and your time with the puck goes and you're just not getting the touches you're used to.

Yeah, I think that now you have to enter the zone with possession-making plays, at least part of the game, because when you do FD, you can break it out. It is the most – annoying is not the right word – deflating. It's deflating when you're chipping the puck in And every time they're just going D to D Or D to center reverse And just out of the zone

You're like oh my god we can't play in there at all It kills the game And Nashville has the D that can do that By the way our boy Boyle threw an enormous hit in game one Who was that against? I don't know if they scraped him off the ice yet It was Dickinson. Oh, my God.

Welcome to the National. He got buried. We haven't mentioned yet. We're going to be bringing on Ray Ferraro in a little bit for his expertise. He's been covering the Colorado-Calgary series, and he's always great to talk to. Yeah, Nashville just doesn't seem like they have that swag. I mean, the last couple of years, we're not really afraid of them.

They should be scoring more than not. Like I said, I think Bishop's going to be the difference there. Yeah, so there might not be a ton of storylines in Nashville, Dallas, but there certainly are in fucking Toronto, Boston, boys. Saturday night, the garden, I was in there. Place was rocking nice and loud there. Social media was on fire as

well. The bad blood is officially here. After Toronto beat up on the Bruins in game 1, the Bees responded in a much different fashion than we saw in the first game. They come out firing. They put David Backus back on the lineup. He was huge. He was hitting everything in sight. They basically just dominated Tampa

all ends of the ice. Toronto. What did I say? Yeah, we got Toronto and Tampa confused. Yeah, all over Toronto, man. Tied up the series, but everybody's talking about the big hits. Dabrowski, people thought he'd need Kadri intentionally. Kadri come back, gave him the two-hander across the head. He's obviously going to get suspended.

Whitney, how many games is Kadri going to get? What do you think? Oh, man, this is crazy. It's crazy to see that this happened again. Was it the exact date last year? It had to be, if not the date, within two or three days of him pulling the same bullshit that he did last year to get three games, to put his team in a brutal situation in a playoff series against an enormous rival.

It's like, dude, can you use your brain maybe or be like a little less selfish and just think of the fact that you're not only like hurting your team. I mean, you're hurting everyone in this because when you go bullshit like this, the whole team suffers. They needed you one out on the ice, but you're selfish. You're so selfish that you have to go cross check a guy you're pissed off with. And by the way, to not be able to figure out and put your emotions in check after going through this once before is just incredible to me.

It seriously, to me, seems like I don't give a fuck about anyone on this team because I don't understand how you think. At what point in your brain can you think, I'm going to go cross-check this guy in the face in a 3-1 game? Like, it makes no – Grudelli, what are you laughing at? I just think it's funny. You're so right. Like, at what point in your mind –

What? Like, are you – All right, do you guys mind if I chime in and play devil's advocate a little bit? And I'm not condoning anything he did. No, I would love to hear – yeah, go ahead. I just kind of want to break down the overall game from a non-biased standpoint And I'm not condoning anything he did. No, I would love to hear. Yeah, go ahead. I just kind of want to break down the overall game from a non-biased standpoint because I'm not a Bees fan and I'm not a Maple Leafs fan.

Let's start with the officiating. Would you guys not agree that Boston had the clear advantage as far as officiating was concerned during the course of that game on Saturday night. I would agree. I thought they were just bad all over. They weren't calling anything. Come on, R.A.

Elbow to the face of Dermott. In my defense, Paul, I am live at the game. I don't get the benefit of replay. Fair enough. You miss stuff, it's tough to see. There are TVs in the press box. I don't get to see them. I don't get the same advantage that you guys did to second-guess the rest. From the overall

standpoint of a non-biased fan, I'm going to say right now, Boston clearly got the advantage. I believe it was DeBrusque and Coddry who got into it earlier in the game when Coddry got punched in the face. At the worst, it should have been offsetting.

It should have been both guys going to the box. They ended up just sending Caudrey. Then Dermott gets elbowed in the face. Then Caudrey ended up getting another penalty. And then I'm going to give benefit of the doubt to DeBrusque on the knee-on-knee for the simple fact that Caudrey came out of the box like a bull in a china shop, very reckless, and the split second jumped out of the box like a bull in a china shop very reckless and the split second jumped out of the way so DeBrus kind of sees that and and like his initial reaction was what it was he was kind of putting that spot whatever I'm going to call that a wash and give DeBrus

benefit of the doubt but Kadri had had been taking a few cheap shots all game um I will also say that Kadri 100% was was Leafs' best player in that game. He was all over the place. He was in guys' faces, obviously had the goal. He was making plays. He made a big play in Game 1 on the Nylander breakaway. He's been the best player for the Maple Leafs, probably other than Anderson in this series.

Makes it even worse. Right. So he's obviously on edge and at a boring point. There was a period in time, I don't know if Babcock did it, but their easy should have been hands on the shoulders. Yo, I know where you're at right now. The refs have been bullshit. Let's just tone it down, get through this one.

We're going to go back home 1-1. You've been our best player. Chill the fuck out. That's managing your bench. Now, saying that, a hedge coach has a million different things to think about over the course of a game but clearly they were getting fucking dominated and that one was over with and i'm not going to make skis for for as far as the referees are concerned boston was was the better team in that game now all of a sudden you guys are harping on kaju for being a bad teammate. He went after DeBrusque finally after DeBrusque took a run at Marleau.

I'm not saying it was a dirty hit. I'm not saying it was a bad hit. But that's what made Kadri's wires cross. You saw him cross. It's unfortunate. It sucks from a fan's perspective from a neutral ground for the reason of this. I don't think this is a series anymore. Kadri was the X factor that that was the

fucking heartbeat of that maple leafs team i haven't seen fuck all from the rest of the big boys from the leafs um kneelander sure let's say let's give him an even wash too he was okay in game one he was absolute dog shit not worth seven million in my books in game two you don't you don't lay eggs like that in game two if you're a seven million dollar player that was fucking pathetic pathetic but overall i feel bad for caudry and i'm gonna assume this guy's getting minimum six games so i don't know i don't know caudry and i've actually heard great things about him i heard guys really like him. He's a laid back, great guy. I'll say this. I respect the hell

out of his ability to actually have the moments where his wires do cross on the ice. It's what makes him a great player. It really is. It's something I never had in my career, in my game, and I wish I did. To get so fucking mad that that makes you such a gamer and people hate you and that's why

you're a great NHL player. But Scott Stevens was on NHL tonight and I was watching it this afternoon. And he said, I was the same type person where I fucking snapped. He didn't swear, not allowed to do that on the network, but that's what he would have said if it was me and him in the office. And in all honesty,

he then, he then went on and it made a lot of sense to me. He said, but I learned early in my career, I would snap. I would put my team in brutal, in brutal positions. And then I learned as I got older, I realized I can't do this. So even though guys love Kadri, and even though you're saying he's sticking up for, for Patrick Marlowe, who, who I kind of agree with, that was a little, that was not a good hit by DeBrus there. Yeah, I know that. But, dude, you just got to use your head.

And to do this, and, Biz, you said he's the X factor. Last year, I was like, without him, they can't win. The Bruins go on and still win seven. But I was just shocked. I mean, he didn't even go over and slash his wrist. He cross-checked him in the jaw. That was like, I mean, he's going to get, what gonna get what he's gonna get five or six he could get 10 i don't want there to be any confusion i'm not condoning what he did i i think he's gonna deserve the punishment he gets

which i assume is gonna be minimum six games i i guessed eight today and i know some people will be like what the fuck it's just like hey repeat off. I think this is his fifth issue in the last three years, and especially doing the exact same thing. It wasn't last year in playoffs, the knee, but there was a clip they showed of one of his suspensions was literally in front of the net, the exact same thing, where he cross-checked the guy in the face. So that's not going to help him out either.

I just feel that if the game was re refed the way it should have been, and that's not an insult to the refs, it just got out of hand to the point where people were taking liberties on him and his teammates, and the wires crossed, and then shit happened. R.A., what do you think? Yeah, I mean, he's got an in-person here on Monday. He's a repeat offender that's going to fall within the 18-month guideline.

It's a shot to the head. More than once, I think, right, in that 18 months? Yeah, yeah. Actually, I think even so, it's a repeat offender either way. I can't see how he gets – I said three last night. I can't see how he gets less than five now that I say that out loud. He's just – I mean, he's fucking – like I said, the Y is crossed, man. I don't know.

I've never been in that position where I can't control that. I've obviously played fucking pro hockey. But, yeah, at what point, like you said, does he learn, man? I've never been in that position where I can't control that. I've obviously played fucking pro hockey, but yeah. At what point, like you said, does he learn, man? I mean, he cost himself the team, possibly the series last year. Now he's done the exact same thing again. And we mentioned him as a key player before this series and he's taken himself out of it.

I got to think a minute and five games. I don't think we see him the rest of the series. One quick question, which you said it wasn't a good hit on Milo. Was it because of Milo's veteran status or because of the location of the hit? I saw Avery's thing about the veteran status. I think it's the playoffs. I don't necessarily agree with that. I think that it wasn't a great hit in my mind.

I don't understand the fact that – it's like people can't – when people are fans of teams, they can't give realistic arguments. It's like, all right, I mean, you do a pretty good job. You can be unbiased, but it's like I'm listening to fans of both sides of these teams. It's like, no, but what about this? What about this? What about this?

Like they take a little ownership ownership and I don't know. I know that's kind of off subject of the head, but it's been a wild series, which is exactly what we expected. And you hate to call guys out. It ain't fun, but these big guys in Toronto, I mean,

you look at Austin Matthews and it was last year was similar. It's like, you got to take that next step. And it's, it's hard. I mean, the Bruins aren't an easy team to do it against right this is two years in a row where he's dealing with good a good hockey

team that is and he's also having a deal with an amazing player and patrice bergeron most of the time but tavaris too he could be better and biz i don't know like are people in toronto just complaining about the refereeing or are they also giving heat to some of these big cats well i mean of course the the ones on Twitter are always going to complain about the officiating. Ultimately, you have to look at it like this. You guys had a great game one, went in there and stole one. Game two, Gronk's waving the flag.

You know it's going to be an absolute fucking circus. Pandemonium in there. I think the officiating right off the hop didn't play a favor in toronto's hand because when shit gets tough that's exactly how boston's built that place right into their hand they were probably like yes put the whistle away prison rules tonight one one let's go to to and that's exactly what happened now going back to toronto this is where, and I've been giving guys chicklets bumps like crazy lately when I've been negative. Babs, show me something. You have last change.

Let's see some coaching. Let's see some matchups. Mix it up. Maybe Nylander and Matthews back together. I don't know. I know Nylander didn't have a great game last game. We'll put him right back out there. What are you made of, kid?

Don't punish him for it. Say, yo, let's go. You had a bad him right back out there. What are you made of, kid? Don't punish him for it. Say, yo, let's go. You had a bad one? Shake it off. What are you made of? And, I mean, they got the guys in that locker room. If Anderson keeps playing the way he does, and then we see regular season, Morgan Riley, Austin Matthews, and the rest of the crew, JT.

I mean, JT had, what, 40 fucking seven goals this year? Man, they got the guys. Now, let's see. Now is their time to prove what they're worth. And I feel like we're a little Canadian media-ish right now, Biz, and seemingly dogging the Leafs for the last few minutes. But they went in and got one. They went in and did their job.

They did their job. So I think that it's like we're kind of being a little hard on them, but there are just some areas where they're going to have to be better to win the series. No, I was not hard on them all. I thought they played a great game. I was. I was very fair in my assessment.

I even conceded the fact that officiating played a role in game two. That's not all to blame for. I would say more their lack of showing up. So, I mean, I don't think we need to say anything more about the Toronto-Boston situation other than the fact that Game 3 should be very fucking interesting. And I'm going to it, and I'm pumped. Just, yeah, jump on you, piggyback on you, and it's in point, Biz.

He's been excellent. He really only had one mental error. That was when Nylander misplayed the puck. He should have been paying attention. It probably wouldn't have happened. I don't know, R.A. He's catching a little more heat than i think he should there neither there was really laissez-faire there and i know it kind of messed him up at the beginning but he's still i mean i didn't think that was on anderson

as much as people are saying i mean i guess it's probably 80 percent d lander 20 percent all right all right that's what i was gonna say is i mean that game could have easily been eight to one if it wasn't for anderson he made some fucking absolutely incredible saves i mean five or six ten bell saves he easily made and down the other end rask you know we want to mention him he gets shit on all the time so we want to give him props when he's good he was in position for all saves he didn't have to make any real crazy saves although he made the big ones when he needed to so i i think both guys were a lot better than they were last year so far. So, again, game three, Monday night in Toronto, 7 o'clock.

It's a big one. It's been a great series so far. So, boys, what do you say we take it away, Ferraro? Folks, welcome to the podcast. One of, if not the best, color analysts in the NHL. He had a pretty nice career, and he's been covering a ton of NHL for a while now. He's actually covered the Colorado and Calgary series

and the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blue Series. Everyone, welcome to the Spit and Chicklets podcast. Ray Ferraro. How's it going, boys? Hey, Ray, it's going great. It's going great. Some exciting hockey. We want to first hop into Calgary and Colorado because it's a good one.

It's tied after one. And the first game, right, all Calgary. Tied after two, excuse me. First game's all Calgary. My question to you was what was the biggest difference between Colorado game one and Colorado game two? between Colorado game one and Colorado game two? I thought once they got behind in the first game, they kind of lost it.

You know, Colorado's not really deep. You know, they got their big boys, McKinnon and Rantanen and Landisgaard and Tyson Berry on the back. And if they don't score, they're really going to struggle for offense. So they got behind the game was tied for 34 minutes and then Calgary got two goals bang bang it's two nothing and it seemed like a hundred like it you know it just you know when you're in the building and you're like man they're they're not coming back and so the I didn't think they were very good in the first game Colorado like when I think of Colorado I think they're really fast.

And maybe I'm just thinking of McKinnon, but that's what I think. In game two, that's what they were. They were way more physical. They were really aggressive. They skated hard. They had all kinds of chances early in the first period. They could have been up two or three. And they deserved to win game two. They deserved to win game two.

They deserved to lose game one. Calgary was way better in the first game. Thanks for joining us, pal. It's just his first playoff series, but what kind of an impact has Matthew Kachuk had so far in the series? That kid's a beast. He is awesome.

He didn't play great in game two. A lot of times, I think what gets talked about with Matthew is how he stirs the pot and how there's always a lot of crap around him after the whistles. He's got good hands. He had way over 34 or 35 goals this year. He's a top, top-end player, and he's going to get paid big time this summer. He's out of his entry-level contract. His first three years, he had 13 goals as an 18-year-old, 24 goals the next year, and then 34 goals this year. The kid is a stud, and his brady and in ottawa is the same thing like big walt raised some really good players like they're a little bit like him you know but the game's

different but um they play like keith used to play you know around around the net they're so strong um i i know that like they use them as a matchup a matchup line, but other teams worry about him. They worry about keeping Kachuk off the front of the net, keeping him off the power play. I really like him. I think he's an awesome young player. Ray, Smitty was a bit of the whipping boy in the regular season. He gets to start net in game one, ends up getting a shutout and and to me i thought he was even better in game two uh seems like he's kind of gotten the fans on his side now he does um it's funny like it was about five weeks ago or six weeks ago i was doing a game in there

and uh he didn't play very well and um somebody cleared a puck down the ice and they gave him the old you know the fake cheer ah you know because he stopped on and then in game one they're chanting his name like he he's been their best player in the first two games not even close the first game i'm with you like the first game he was good the second game he was outstanding and in the first period it probably should have been two or three nothing for colorado and it was you know they didn't get anything and it was because of him now I don't know I don't know if he's just you don't want goalies get on a roll and you're like man they can play like that for three weeks like I don't know if that's what he's he's on right now but um there was some thought that both guys were going to play if Calgary has a long

playoff run and I think that might be true. But right now, he's been outstanding. He's been – well, Grubauer's been okay for Colorado, too. It's not like he's been terrible, but he's been the best goalie in the series for sure. So, last night, I'm watching, and I get to see what I think kind of describes the NHL now and the young stars we have in the game. And Nathan McKinnon getting that puck in overtime,

the dynamic skating, and the quickest wrister shelf, just the sickest goal, right? An absolute pleasure to watch. What was it like for you just seeing that in person and kind of realizing up close and personal how much that speed just backs everyone off? Well, the cool part about it was five seconds earlier, Matthew Kachuk had the puck behind Colorado's net.

He passed it out front and Froelich had a chance from like three feet and Grubauer stoned him. And then the puck got passed up to Rantanen, and you could see McKinnon coming off off the far side like he saw a lane that he could get through and there's there's different ways to what i see a fast skater right like a guy like matt barzell uh with the islanders you know he's really light and shifty and agile on his feet a guy like johnny goodrell would be the same thing and then you have a guy like mckinnon who just chews up the ice like he takes one stride and he's just like so powerful and so once he gets a stride on somebody besides being fast and powerful he's so bloody strong that you can't

slow him down so like you can't you know like when i played the you'd go through the neutral zone and it was like water skiing right like some guy would hook you and you're you know, like when I played, you'd go through the neutral zone and it was like water skiing, right? Like some guy would hook you and you're like dead. And you're just, you're tugging some guy behind you. Well, they can't do that. And so a guy like McKinnon gets out in the open and he's just gone. And his shot is, you know, his hands are so quick. What I like watching best about McKinnon is when he's skating the puck up the ice

and he's stick handling the puck most guys just push it and he's stick handling it and it's like a thousand times the puck's going back and forth I don't even know if he needs to do it or if it's just habit but I'm so like I'm just mesmerized by how fast he can his hands are how fast he can move the puck yeah Ray I always wondered if that's how he gained speed and momentum by doing that for whatever reason, maybe the way his arms are waving. But I was going to ask you about McKinnon. Do you believe, other than McDavid, he's the most single-handedly dynamic player in the NHL?

Well, McDavid's at his other class, right? When he gets going, he just i didn't even know how anybody really stops him or if he just misses you know like that's what it looks like when when i watch him play mckinnon's different because of the power um he's so hard to handle because of the way that that stuff comes together. Like, you know, I use that Barzell as an example earlier, cause I, you know, he reminds me back in the day at Denny Savard, like get the puck and he'd trick around guys and, you know, guys are spinning all over the place.

I don't know too many guys that are outside of, I would put McKinnon in the top five dynamic players in the league. Like, I just don't know. I can't think of guys that are that make that take your breath away like like he does when he gets going you're like everybody's just attracted to watching where he's going to go next and he goes there and he's so bloody fast you know what's crazy guys they got him signed a couple of years ago. Oh, right. At about $6.2 million, I think. It's like, oh, my God.

It makes me sick. Tens of millions of dollars on the table there. Oh, I think we brought that up when Matthew signed his deal. We said, oh, boy, kind of a tough day. But he'll end up making his cash, staying healthy, knock on wood. I actually want to, before I move on to the other series, I got like a little bit of a personal question, and that's just how do you do this in terms of the travel, right?

Because you've got a couple months now, and what's cool for NHL fans is that I think that you get the best groups of guys, color, and announcers in the playoffs. The games are that much more exciting. So you're doing two different series. You're flying almost every other day, it seems like. How is that, and how much of a grind does it end up becoming by the cup finals? Well, it is, you know, like you're excited, you get to do the games. And of course,

the games are awesome. And it's the best time of year to do it. So you really have to zone in on what you're doing. But I'm not doing one series. I'm doing two series. We went in for game one for Calgary. We didn't do game one Winnipeg, so we did game one Calgary, Colorado. I'm all prepped up for that. The night before the game, I'm all ready to go for the next day. We do the game in Calgary. I come right back to the room, i start working on winnipeg game because we got them the next night but that's in winnipeg so we get up the next so we get up do

the calgary game they're all eight o'clock starts get get to the you know i get to bed at about 12 30 or whatever and i'm up at five because we got to fly to winnipeg so we go to winnipeg we do the game i do the same thing i start working on the Calgary game right after we get up at five to fly back to Calgary. And then, and then this morning guy, so we, we got, there's only, there was only one early direct flight from Calgary to Denver. Cause I I'm doing Colorado and Calgary tomorrow night again. So we take the seven o'clock flight, which in theory was a great idea. But when the alarm went off at like four 45, I'm like, what the are we doing here? Like, Oh, you can swear on this podcast. You can actually drop a few considering you're getting up at army time over

there, man. It's like you're, so you get, I got to the, to the gate in Calgary. I don't know what you guys must've done this. Like you get somewhere and you don't remember the five minutes just previous. Oh no. Like I got, I got through, I got through security and I'm like, wow, I don't even really remember doing that. And so I get here and then I'm pissed off because the masters got moved up and I'm like a And I'm a huge golf guy. It's my favorite thing to do. And so I missed the first nine holes because we were in the air

because they moved the starting time up. So we get here, watch the Masters, and then I just finished watching Winnipeg and St. Louis. And so when we're finished here, I'll get to work and update all that stuff. So it'll be eight games in nine days to start the playoffs. And so that's what, 16 flights in the 10 days. And it's like, unless they start doing the games, guys, in my backyard, this is the only way to do it, right?

Sounds like you need a needle energy. You know what? I used to be like coffee by the bucket, right? And then I'm like, I've got to find something else, man. All right. I haven't found it yet. Oh, really? Yeah.

I can't travel with it, though, but he's got a guy in every city. Funny how that works, right? One more before we get to St. Louis, Winnipeg. Colorado just signed UMass defenseman Kael McCaw. I'm not sure how much you saw him play, Ray, but do you think he'll be a significant factor in this series? He's going to jump right in with Colorado. So I'm at the World Juniors.

The kid is a stud. They used him kind of as a seventh defenseman. This was last year. And every time he got on the ice he created a chance created you know something on the power play really good skater really mobile um so they got him signed um funny how they can get those contracts done in one day eh um you know like i mean maybe his family advisor was having a chat with Joe Sackick as they were watching the games. But he gave him a sign.

They're super excited to have him. And he's here in Denver now. And so there was no practice today. His career ended on Saturday night, and it's Sunday, and he's here. They jumped him on a plane right away. And I think he'll play in game three. My guess is they're going to go with seven defensemen, unless Samuel Gerrard, who got banged up right at the end of overtime.

Sam Bennett hit him kind of high. If Gerrard can't play, then maybe McCar goes in as the sixth guy. If not, they'll play Ryan Graves and they'll use seven guys. He can play immediately. He'll have trouble defending. We're going to be where they're

going to have to shelter him a little bit because all of a sudden, you're not playing against college guys anymore. You go in the corner and you're going to try and control Johnny Goodrell or you're going to try and body Johnny Goodrell or you're going to try and, you know, body math you could chuck off the puck. And it's going to take them a bit,

but they can play them on the third pair. They can play them on the second power play. And this kid can move the puck. He is a, he's a dynamic new age defenseman. Like remember back in the day that he had to be big and tough and you don't need that anymore you need to be agile you need to move the puck and this kid can do it this is a really

really exciting player for them i've been a huge college hockey fan ever since i was younger it was like paul korea dominated like no one i ever saw and then it was eichel did a similar thing too and then this kid is the same type way i mean he had games i was like this is one of the best college hockey players you've ever seen but you're right it's a different beast it's not only the hot it's not only the the nhl at another level it's the playoffs but mcavoy came in he made an impact a couple years back i think that he's gonna he's gonna do well because of how he can skate but leading into st louis and winnipeg. I watched tonight, and people will talk about the current NHL and how it's different, it's softer.

There's some hatred there, Ray. They hate each other. Depends how the teams are built, right? Like you can – the game two that we did, the one that St. Louis won 4-3, it was starting to get mean and starting to get chippy, and it is amazing to me. There are no playoffs in any sport like the NHL. Nothing changes more from the regular season to the playoffs than our sport.

It is harder. It is faster. It is more intense. You feel it. Even if you're not really watching the game closely you just feel all of it and the St. Louis Winnipeg they got some big boys and the big boys aren't very happy when their scrums are out I don't know if you guys saw the one scrum today Bufflin was all tied up it was in the first period and Braden Shen was he threw about seven right

hands at him and I'm like man if Buff gets away from that linesman, this is not going to be good. Remember last year he was tossing around two guys. The Vegas and the Golden Knights. Yeah, one in each hand. And he's like tossing them around like it's nobody's business. Like this series will be a vicious mean series by the time it's done. And it's not dead.

this will be a vicious mean series by the time it's done. And it's not dead. Now that Winnipeg won game three, first time since Jordan Bennington got called up, he gave up more than four goals in a game. He gave up the six. The first three shots of the third period are in the net on him. So they cracked him a little bit. And so now St. Louis, to me, all the pressure goes back to St. Louis.

Because if all the work they did in Winnipeg is out the window, if St. Louis loses Game 4 at home. They already won twice on the road. How many times are you going to win on the road in a series? I think they have to win Game 4. Ray, one guy in particular I was pretty critical of going into playoffs was Liney. I think he had one goal in his last 19 games of regular season. Looked disinterested.

To me, moped around a little bit. And already in this playoff series, it seems like a different player. He's playing with a chip on his shoulder. He got involved with Maroon last game. Tonight he got involved a little bit with Dunn, Yap, and Adam. We don't typically see that at Illini. You know, it bugs me too, Beast, because he's 6'5", right? He's 230 pounds.

He doesn't have to go knock people over all the time, but be interested, be involved, be hard on the puck, and they prod him all year in Winnipeg. He had the worst 30-goal year, if there's such a thing. You know, like you said, like one goal in 19. He also had 18 goals in November. 18 of his 30 goals came in one month. So I think he had one in December, two in January,

and he dragged his ass around a lot. I did 10 Jets games, and I really like watching him play because when he gets the puck, it just feels like it's going in the net. And I was so disappointed because you could see there's more there. You're like, man, this guy's better. I know it's there. And they kept working and driving and grinding them and they moved them to the fourth line and they moved them up with

Blake Wheeler and Mark Shifley like everywhere they went and it was the same result and then the playoffs come he scores the first game on a you know on a rocket um Rister goes up top glove he gets a one-timer the second game. His goal tonight was a beauty. And so now all of a sudden he's scoring three straight games. And now, don't you think, like, you know, I was supposed to provide offense. That was what I did. And I know, like, when I scored in a few games in a row, like, you know, your chest starts to puff out.

You're like, man, I'm going to score again tonight. And he's got the look like he's going to score and they get they got to get a handle on him because there are times you don't notice them and then it comes to him and it is a it is a bullet like so he is one guy that is that has really jumped up for winnipeg and tonight i thought they got a bunch of a bunch of guys played much better. It's hard to, I guess, to rationalize. You're down two at home, but the games are 1-0.

Or like one-goal games, right? Like they were so close. Hellebuck wasn't real good in goal, but they're close. Then Connor gets two goals tonight. Buff scores. Wheeler has a couple more points. Connor, you know, like It's all there for them.

This is going to be a long series. I think most people thought it was going to be long and it's going to be now. I agree and I think it's Hellebuck's turn in game four to steal one. R.A., you had something to ask? Six goals against on just 29 shots. The first real adversity for Bennington,

R.A., do you think he's kind of turned into a pumpkin a little bit here, or will he kind of brush this off? He's such a young goalie. You're not really sure how these guys are going to respond all the time. You never really know until, especially in the playoffs, until you get a chance to get a good look at it because things have gone really well for him. And what's kind of funny is in the first period tonight,

like Winnipeg dominated the game. And that game was over except Bennington was so good. And as it turns out, he gives up goals on the first three shots of the third period. And he gives up six and the night's a disaster. So he did this interview. I'm sure you guys saw it. They asked him earlier, you know, with all the pressure, does he get nervous? And he just looked at the reporters like, do I look nervous? Like he's cocky, right? I love it.

I love it. I want my goalie to be like, Oh yeah. So I think you'll bounce back, but he's never had this before, right? He's just, he's just never had this type of pressure. He's never given up six goals in a NHL game before. So this will be new. All the eyes are going to be on him in game four. Yeah. And final thing I have to say about that series is Kevin Hayes just played like eight minutes game two with the injury to Ehlers and game three, he was flying. He made a huge difference. That's a big player for Winnipeg and getting the win. Ray, I got one final thing and you mentioned how much of a golf net you are. We're fellow golf fanatics, so give me your impressions

and what you thought about Tiger getting it done because we talked about it earlier and what a story it is. Well, I've always been a Tiger guy. It seemed that for a long time you were either a Phil guy or a Tiger guy, and I was always a Tiger guy I just I love the way that like in a sport that at the time didn't I don't know it didn't have a lot of personality he just came out and he stepped on everybody and like when he had people you know when he had a lead he just like stepped on their on their throats like he was going to choke everybody out I just I love the way he Today, I was just blown away with how calm he was.

Like he just kind of, he used the word plotting in his interview after and how slow he walked and how he, you know, everything was just like the way he marked his ball. It was all slow and under control. And I was such a Joe fan today. I'm sitting in my hotel room. He hits that tee ball on 16, the par three,

and it gets up into that corner of the green. And you know, if it gets to the hill, it's going to go right down to the pin. And I'm yelling at my TV, right? Like, get down there, get down there. And then I'm like, go in. Oh, I just loved it. I just, and the scene after and the way, I got to give, you know,

like CBS did an amazing job. Like the way they followed him up the runway there to where his kids were and his mom was and the way all the guys were waiting with the green jackets to shake his hand and they got it all. And I just thought that, I tweeted out, that was one of my most favorite sports moments ever today i just i just loved it and i i think a big reason for that patience is how he's chewing bubble gum now that never used to happen right he was kind of

just slowly chomping away at that bubble gum i'm hearing was it really well there you go a little can i brands tire that's the that, that's the, he is. I, he never, he never did that before. Did he? No, he just started. And what's funny is that with hockey, I mean, we all know, like once you get on the ice, it's just such a react sport. It's nothing like golf.

Whereas you just see him out there and you're ready. You said he was so slow and like chewing the gum. He just made, I don't know if it's something to relax him, whatever it was. I think he mentioned after was he, so he doesn't eat on the course, which doesn't make much sense, but the whole relaxation he had, it was incredible to watch. Cause you can see when a golfer things start moving fast. And for him all day, it was just butter. Well, the, the, I was in the cab and, um, my son Landon landon's uh was texting me and he's like you know giving me updates and stuff and i and there was a long delay on the update on the apps about you know what was going on in the 12th hole so i finally i phoned him like what is going on he's

like it's a debacle he's like molinari's in the water. And I'm like, oh, I'm so pissed that I missed it. Just because, like, when there's a big moment, it's just, that's where sports are the best, guys. We all love sports, right? And I can remember certain places that I was when great things happened. Like, I'll remember this today. I remember sitting at home when David Ortiz hit the home run against the Yankees in extra innings.

Like, I remember just exploding off my couch. Like, just, I'll never forget that. Ray, where were you when Gretzky got stuck in the face by Gilmore? I was playing in the other semifinal. I was with the Islanders. We were playing Montreal. And here's the thing. So we beat Pittsburgh.

If you put our lineup up against Pittsburgh's, you would laugh at our team. We joked that we were the best senior league team there was. David Volek, right? David Volek. But Glenn Healy was our goalie and Pat Flatley was our captain. We're in the semis against Montreal. LA's

playing Toronto. We're like, these guys are no better than us. All the good teams got knocked out. We beat Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh had 50 more points than us. When Gretzky got, when there was a high

stick in that, we were like, if we can just get to the finals, we can win, we can beat these guys. They're no good. And then, of course, Montreal beat us in five, and it didn't matter what we thought. Oh, yeah, but we forgot about those guys. You're looking a little forward here.

Oh, man, it felt like so that, you know like for a lot for toronto fans like man that's you know that's the holy grail of things that they don't forget and uh last year when um the socks are about ready to win again uh my nine-year-old says dad you look really happy and i'm like oh'm really happy. I said, see those three guys in the bullpen? And it was Kimbrel and Sale and Evaldi. He goes, yeah. I go, see, they're warming up. I go, what that means is they can't lose.

And I said, this is a great time right now. So I love the Red Sox, and I love watching golf. And there's just certain things that you just won't forget. And I won't forget that today. And, Ray, we just want to thank you for coming on, first of all. I don't think some of these fans know what you guys go through in order to provide them entertainment on a day-to-day basis throughout the playoffs.

Your schedule says it all. You're one of the best in the industry. Thank you for making the time for us and love your work. Tell Gord Miller he's one of the best in the industry. Thank you for making the time for us and love your work. Tell Gord Miller he's one of the best as well, and we love hearing your voices when you're calling the games. Awesome, guys. Thank you a lot. I mean, anytime.

You know, I'm bouncing around. We can always find some time, but you guys do an awesome job, and the best part about our job is it's not really really work right like we're i've been around the nhl since now since 1985 and i'm like damn how lucky am i to do this this is so it's so fun the playoffs are the best man like this is we're just getting started it's gonna be awesome absolutely absolutely and uh, Hey Ray, before we go, hope the golf game stays money and stays sharp because I'm sure you have a big summer lined up.

So thanks again. Oh, we do have, we, I'm going to Cabot links this summer. So I haven't been there before. And, it was over in Ireland a year before.

And, uh, Oh yeah, I can't, I can't wait. Can't wait to get at it. We will. Awesome.

Take care, boys. That interview was also brought to you by Snake Tongue from The Beaches. The Beaches just released their brand new single, Snake Tongue, on Zane Lowe's Beats One Show on Apple Music. Produced by the band's longtime collaborator, Jackknife Lee, who has also produced The Killers, U2, Weezer, to name a few. Snake Tongue elevates The Beaches' signature tongue-in-cheek style, throwing a middle finger at unwanted advances. Inspired by their own experiences, from catcalls to unsolicited dick pics, beach's signature tongue-in-cheek style throwing a middle finger at unwanted advances inspired by

their own experiences from cat calls to unsolicited dick pics the lyrics ask an obvious but seldom asked question why would you think i would want to meet you having spent 2018 headlining their own north american tour as well as opening for the foo fighters and glorious sons the beaches are set to join passion pit on their upcoming tour kicking off in arizona at the end of april check out more music by the beaches streaming on apple music now big thanks once again to ray ferraro man he's so good at his job i love having him on the show i think it's the second or third time we've had him on such great expertise and uh we still got a couple series we got to get to just uh because we have we did talk a bunch with him we still got san jose vegas to get to and columbus tampa bay the big shocker so far so with that said let's jump right into san jose to just, because we did talk a bunch with him. We still got San Jose, Vegas to get to, and Columbus, Tampa Bay,

the big shocker so far. So with that said, let's jump right into San Jose, Vegas, boys. Vegas, they got a road split in the series that had the most combined goals after two games with 15. Sharks come out, fight it up for game one, grab the 5-2 win. It was Vegas who came out buzzing in game two, and it took them all of four periods to chase Martin Jones, six plus minutes into the game. They had had three goals already got him out of there

um they're going back to vegas with the split you gotta imagine they're happy with that a wits yeah that that's pretty much all you're looking for when you start on the road and the game one effort by the sharks was phenomenal they came out flying um no no surprise really there i mean i think everyone's kind of seeing this going seven, at least, you know, six, seven, they're pretty evenly matched, but that beginning of the game and game two the other night was just wild. If you're a Sharks fan, it's been, it's been moments this year when Jones has been good and moments when he's

really struggled and you're at the beginning of that game, you're trying to take advantage of winning the first game. And, man, he was sucking them in. I mean, it was like kind of off-angle goals, and all of a sudden you're down. And even though they did worry about the comeback, it's just different. It's like, you know, it was incredible to see them, you know, make it 3-3 after being down 3-0 so quickly. But a fun series to watch because Vegas plays quick. Shane O'Shea has guys – I mean, I love watching Logan Couture play.

He's just, he can do it all out there. He's, especially in the playoffs, he's one of those guys that just makes every little play. So he's looked great. I don't know though. Vegas to me still just, I think they're going to, I think they're the better team. I think that when they get Stone going and, I mean, what do you know?

They grab the stud, Gusev, that we just talked to Yipper about, right? We just mentioned about him and how good he was in the KHL, and they signed him. And who knows if he's going to be playing or what role he could have, but it's wild to see Vegas look that good in game two, get a win, going back home where we all saw last year. The atmosphere is a sick joke. Everyone's waffled. everyone's probably on drugs everyone's having an absolute blast and vegas golden night

hockey what do you know so i i'm i'm ready for game three in that one and i'm not at all surprised it was split the first two oh i'm sorry i got buckled with the drug comment because, yeah, I would say half that stadium's on a little bit of Dolly Parton. But this has been a fun series so far. Seems like all the teams' big boys are going and firing. Goaltending has kind of been an issue on both sides. Game one, of course, for Flower, and then Martin Jones, a stinker in game two. And mind you, I think Vegas only had like 23 shots in game two,

and they ended up potting that many. So Stoners looked good, three goals already. Pacioretty, another guy. My apology to him continues. I was critical of him. Hasn't really got it done in big moments either. Already in this series, a goal and three assists. So it's been fun to watch.

I mean, really no storylines like the other series. ready in the series a goal and three assists so uh it's it's been fun to watch i i mean really really no storylines uh like the other series just uh other than the fact that uh uh galant said after game one going into game two he was like he goes these guys will be ready to go i know they will they won't lay an egg like in game one and sure as shit so uh i still i'm still very comfortable with my pick in uh in vegas and six yeah tell that no story lines fucking to uh logan couture's nuts right about now oh my god i forgot about that oh dude like i mean you accidentally hit them when you're going to sit down a toilet and you're cringe i can't imagine taking a slap right off the fucking nads like that boy he. He was in some agony.

A quick note, too, on Jones. And I'm not picking on him, but the numbers are what they are. This is the fifth time he's been pulled in 14 games versus Vegas. Obviously, there's an issue there. Now going back to Vegas, which is tough for road teams, it's going to be interesting to see how that goes. There's just so much speed on display in this one. The game's been fun to watch.

They've been chippy as hell. Another note, too, the Sharks lost Mark Edward Vlasic after he blocked a shot in game two. That's a big loss for them. By the way, game three is being played Sunday night. It's not completed. We're recording right now. Game four is going to be Tuesday. And you just mentioned Nikita Kusev, which he was the MVP of the KHL last year.

He was the leading scorer this year. And McPhee, man, unbelievable. He acquired his rights from Tampa back when he was doing all that expansion draft sorcery back in 2017. And now they might be adding a guy of his caliber to the lineup in the middle of the playoffs. That would be a hell of an addition if this guy's as good as Eddie West. Imagine we're saying, like, oh, McPhee, what a genius. But it was actually Gusev back in Russia. It's like, I only go if I on Vegas

chances are do they have Abra Combre and Fitch store there and then Louis Vuitton next door so I can get a car on the tracks with the Louis Vuitton backpack and shoes but on a serious note the way Vegas plays

too I could see them being the type of team to insert a guy like that because and without any hiccups in it running smoothly like nothing left and in fact impacting the lineup just because they play very loosely like he lets them go at it he just like he say if you work hard and you're backtracking and you're playing both ends of the ice be as creative as you want he seems like a pretty laid-back coach. Whereas it might be tough for him to be inserted in a team like Columbus where torts is like defense before offense mentality. I mean, maybe not so much anymore.

And the apology tour will continue as we get on to them. But do you get what I'm saying by that insertion of a guy who's never played with these guys? Because they seem to just have skill kind of all over the lineup. Yeah, they do. They really do. It's a good call. Hey, boys, before we go any further,

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And the last one we're talking about is by far the biggest surprise of the playoffs thus far. Nobody saw this coming. I don't care who you are. Columbus, after Sunday's 3-1 win over Tampa, has a 3-0 series lead. Absolute fucking stunner to everyone's surprise. I don't think anybody predicted this anywhere. I mean, I said so goes Bob, so go the Blue Jackets biz,

and Bob's been very good through two games, so have the Blue Jackets. He's thoroughly outplayed Vassie. Matt Duchesne has got two goals, three assists at least. At my last check, I'm not sure what he added since then. They're getting goals from everywhere. They're getting tons of balance. This the columbus team i think people expected at the deadline they're playing like it now oh but boy man if you're a tampa fan what the hell happened here what's your take biz well i guess i'll start with cooper and and when i heard him

talking this post-game press conference um after game two i i said, these guys are done. No shit. I didn't see it. For a few reasons, just body language and what he was saying. I was like, really? At that moment, you have to have some strong words and be direct in what you're saying. He just didn't seem to have any answers. And we talk about it all the time.

It's not about getting 126 points in regular season. It's about peaking at the right time. And these guys really never faced any type of adversity during this course of the season. And, I mean, game one, they went up 3-0. Everybody's checking the box score. I did on my phone. I checked it, and I'm like, that's a wash.

4-0 sweep. See you later. And then, boom, all of a sudden, the Columbus Blue Jackets wake up. my phone i checked it and i'm like that's a wash for nothing sweep see you later and then boom the fucking all of a sudden the columbus blue jackets wake up and once again another apology matt duchesne i was hard on him before the deadline i said what team's gonna want him he's never really produced and then sure as shit he gets picked up by columbus at the deadline now saying that and i'm apologizing because I was a bit of a Dutchie hater,

but I was just being honest about my assessment. Even when he was moved over in crunch time for Columbus in order to get in the playoffs, and mind you, they just snuck in. In 23 games to finish off the regular season with Columbus, he had four goals and eight assists. That is not

what was advertised getting him in that trade from Columbus. Sorry, from goals and eight assists. That is not what was advertised getting him in that trade from Columbus, or sorry, from Ottawa, excuse me. Okay, so the guy who sent me the T emoji who got all butthurt when I called it how I saw it, after he finally had his breakout game when they needed him most in crunch time, he did it. A goal and three assists in game two. Matt Duchesne, I tip my cap to you and what do you have tonight? I know he had another tuck in game three so he's, so not only is

he fucking shoving it in no lube no spit this guy's putting the same sandpaper finish you did on your hockey stick when you copied Lindstrom and he's fucking wrapping around his horn he's going busy. Right up my hoop hey. I'm bleeding right now. This is the send a medic.

This is the exact definition, I guess, even though I said it wouldn't be of a team playing playoff hockey leading into a series. That, along with being an awful match for Tampa. We said it. It is so, so shocking. We said right away, God, they would rather Carolina. They really got fucked not getting Carolina over this Columbus team.

But, R.A., you said it. Just shocking. Shocking. And you know what? It shows how when you think a game's over, it almost never is. And they took their foot off the gas pedal. They came out buzzing, 3-0. What you expected, holy shit, look at Tampa.

This team is that good. And they let their foot off that gas pedal. They just relaxed. And what does Columbus do? They grind, and they get back into that game, and they end up winning that game. And you're like, what the hell just happened? And I'll tell you right now, that started the whole Vasilevsky and his blocker.

I don't know what – I mean, Columbus, you see the amount of pre-scouting that goes into all professional sports now. They had to know something because he can't stop the puck with his blocker. It's like, I don't know how many of these goals have gone in. High, you know, high blocker. And it's shocking to see. But, man, have they been a horrible matchup. But Tampa hasn't been able to do anything.

And, you know, you talk about the season Kucherov had and how incredible it was. And you see Columbus get under his skin. They knew exactly what they were doing. They were frustrating the shit out of him. He was pissed off, and he makes a stupid decision. It was this very similar hit to Kadri last year against the Bruins. When a guy's down, it's unnecessary.

It's late in the game that you're upset that you're going to lose, and you make a selfish decision. And what do you know, game three, they're fucking run out of the building. I watched this game tonight. Columbus outshot them like 12-2 in the first period or something like that. Just domination. And Tampa looks just a step behind. And, Biz, you said it to Dushane.

Seth Jones, you guys, I've been pumping those tires for a while. That is a man right now playing some big-time hockey. And Columbus has some players that we said before are built for the playoffs. Anderson's been in the mix. He's been flying. Foligno, same type thing. At the end of the game tonight, him and Stamkos are going at it. And if you're looking at Tampa's side of things,

the headman issue is enormous because you lose a guy of that caliber who wasn't healthy to begin with and then is out tonight. That's someone that you lean on. That's your rock. I mean, that's a guy that you're getting 30 minutes, and all 30 minutes for the most part is mistake-free. We have the puck-type hockey. So just an absolute disaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

I can't believe it. Money down the tube. I would say, I mean, you'd never count them out, but, dude, how hard is it to come back from 3-0 in the way Columbus is playing? And Bobrovsky, sorry, go ahead. And we keep reiterating, playoffs is a different beast. How uncharacteristic was that defensive play by Hedman when he turned away towards the Boers

and just allowed them to walk right down the pipe and snipe? Hedman, the guy's going to win the fucking Norris. Could you imagine Lindstrom ever doing that? I know, but I think playing injured, I think things, you make weird decisions when you're not comfortable. Sure, that's fine, and I'll give him that excuse, but nonetheless, uncharacteristic. And then Kuch, fucking he's going to win MVP scoring title.

All of a sudden, he's a little bit frustrated, and the wires cross. He pulls a cadre, a silly move, and now all of a sudden, you're missing your Norris defenseman and your MVP, and you go in game three to nationwide and you get the cannon ready to shoot off. Man, Columbus, man, they've hit stride the perfect time and what a colossal meltdown for boys. What we could call, considering it's the cap era, the greatest team in NHL history in regular season

because it's the cap era. So it's tougher to put these teams together. They might get swept in the first fucking round. It's fucking crazy. It's crazy. And, R.A., I think the whole time you were pumping Kekaline and Yarmul Kekaline's tires, right? If I'm not mistaken, I mean, dude, this guy went for it,

and wow, what a feeling right now he must have, and a fan base, too, that has never had a playoff series win. That's crazy, and of course, it's going to disrupt not only everybody's bracket, but just the way everybody foresaw the whole playoffs playing out. Everyone has Tampa moving on, and now they're going to get knocked out, and this Toronto-Boston series takes on a whole new complexion right now as well. Oh, it's crazy.

Yeah, great point. That's it. I was thinking that, too, if Boston gets it done. I mean, are they the favorites? Also, I think still Washington, man. God, they have a sick team. And, guys, I mean, I got sources, right? I mean, I got a couple sources I've told you about.

I actually have some incredible audio of the friggin Columbus Blue Jackets coming into the locker room, and this was them coming into the locker room tonight. I already got the audio sent to me. Listen to these boys right now. What's up?

Who's gonna watch? Who's gonna watch? Who's gonna watch? Who's gonna watch? Who's gonna watch? Who's gonna watch? They're just feeling it, actually. Guys, that's actually a video of my buddies down in Pioneers. No joke, when we found a liquor store that was open at night so we could get beers. That's us in the store going completely bananas. I'll have to send you the video.

I was seeing this dude. It was a gas station in North Carolina. He's like, what is wrong with these guys? But we'd played 36 and we needed some beers and we finally found a place after three tries that sold a bunch of Ginlings and Mick Ultras and Bud Lights and Core Sights.

So the boys were feeling it. And then I listened the next day. I said, holy shit. I go, that's legit. Like a team celebrating an overtime win in the playoffs. Well, speaking of alcohol, I had a meet and greet at a bar here in Toronto, the Sportsnet Grill. I told you guys I was going, remember?

Yeah. So great showing. They ended up selling the place out. Everybody was awesome. Had some great conversations with fans ended up selling the place out. Everybody was awesome. Had some great conversations with fans, a little bit of everything. So, you know, I love chatting with people and especially ones that have an interesting story. I ended up meeting this couple. They came down about, I think from an hour and a half away. I'm not going to say what city. And they were here

on their seventh wedding anniversary. And they'd started a business. The business, you know, I think they'd had the business for, you know, close to 10 years, have grown it. That's successful. They're opening different locations. And just really hit it off with them. I even got their business card because you just never know. How old were they? I would say no older than 33, 34.

Young couple. Remember, they've only been married seven years, right? So they're in Toronto for the weekend, and they asked me where I recommend for restaurants. And I actually recommend my buddy's place, Marble, the place I told you about where I just saw my buddy Vincent Laverde. And I've pretty much been living out of this restaurant since I've been in Toronto, by the way. It's unbelievable. The waitresses are all tens. Peter Gurgis, who I don't know if you guys know who that is.

He's lined up like every NHL rookie party ever. I bet you this guy's got more assists than Gretzky. Just, just putting them right in guys' wheelhouses. The best guy ever throws it under. He had a rookie party one time in a, because he used to live in Vancouver. He lives in Toronto now. I think there was 200 girls that showed up, and then it was at the penthouse of the Shangri-La. Girls were waiting in elevators just to get up to the top floor.

Anyway, I digress. So I tell them to go to this place for a meal. They'll really enjoy it. Well, I end up going home to shower after the meet and greet up to my room and go to Marble. Well, sure as shit. The wife is at the bar. And I said, Oh, Hey, you ended up showing up. I said, well, where's the hubby? And she said, Oh, he's, he's sleeping. He was tired. So, you know, I'm sitting with my buddy

Gurgi. We're, we're eating, we're having a good meal. And obviously like I'm being nicer because she was awesome. Great conversation. Well, about an hour goes by and, and, and, and I, I know what, what's coming. And, and she throws it out there. She goes, listen, me and my husband are, you know, we're, we have an open relationship. And I said, yeah, I'm well aware. Cause she, she was hungry. And, and I looked at her and I said, listen, like you're beautiful. Your husband was unbelievable. I just, I just can't do it. I, I, I'm cause I don't know. I don't know if, if, if he would truly like that and I don't know what the arrangement is. So I just don't want that on my conscience. Now, what I will say though, is, is if they, they do have that type of

relationship, that's awesome that they could both find that happy place and be comfortable with it. And to me, that's what a modern relationship is about. You know, you found your partner, your soulmate. They're just to me. Yeah. You know, something about you where you're like, Hey, I don't want to be monogamous. And I respect that. But guys are, I mean, can you, could you do that?

Not me. Grinnell is shaking his head, you dirty rat. I'd do it in a second. I wouldn't think twice about it. Dude, what if, like, so he had left? He just didn't end up coming out. And, like I said, they were fucking awesome people, and he was such a nice guy.

You've got to think she isn't lying. No, no, I think they're both very open about it. So, like, I feel like if he's not going to be there watching, like, I mean, you've already dealt with that. Like, maybe you just leave him out of it, and then you have that California King workbench behind you. It probably could have been a decent little night for you. I'm like, wait a minute.

Did I see you guys at the house in overtime? I mean, those open relationships. I've said it before. I'll say it again if we do episode 750 spitting chiclets and then the swingers conversation comes up if you enjoy seeing your wife get roasted you're the sickest fucking individual i've ever i mean watching it is a different story now i don't know boys i mean maybe down the road if i don't find the one eventually i'll just want some young hot one and just just be like, hey, listen, I'm going to be a bit of a pig,

but here's the Amex, and let's have some fun here. So you just don't have a kid with her, and boom, great relationship. You've been a few players over the years, though, in the NHL that have been swingers, correct? I mean, hell, I've heard of it, so I imagine you guys have. Yeah, I've heard of a few key parties in the day, and we're definitely not naming names on that one. That's the type of information you not naming names on that one.

That's the type of information you will not get on this podcast. I was never the teammate that would be invited to a key party if there was one within the club. Yeah, I don't like to share my stuff, but I don't know. Back in the 70s, everyone just shows up and doing a bunch of blow and just pull a key out of a ball, and that's whose fucking old lady is sticking that night or whose husband you got to hook up with. He seemed a lot less stressed out than us.

Yeah. Just saying. Yeah, definitely. Things were more free spirited back on the day. Actually one quick note on Tampa. It was an interesting tidbit. Tampa was the only team in the playoffs without a cup winner on their

roster. And well, after three games, it looks like it's going to stay that way. Boys. It's it's just, it's wild. It's wild. And, and, after three games, it looks like it's going to stay that way, boys. It's just wild. It's wild.

And Stammer's our boy, but I think he would admit right now he's not playing his best hockey. And it's just been crazy to see. I mean, nobody saw this coming. R.A., you said it. It's just shocking. I'm getting crushed. Gambling. Boys, I think it's a no-brainer.

I think you throw Domingue in that and shake things up. Really? No. What? We just talked about it. The book is out on Vasilevsky. I think 11 of the goals that they've scored or 10 of the goals have been blocker side. I mean, like, what the fuck?

What do they have to lose, man? Domingue did have a good record with them this year. I mean, he's just busy being a bouncer, dude. How's he going to play goalie? That's true. Actually, a couple of good stories, I guess we could say. Connor McDavid, you know, he went down at the last game of the year. He did suffer a small tear of his PCL

ligament in his knee, but no surgery required. He's going to do rehab. He should be ready for the start of the season. And our boy, Keith D'Ando, he got called up to do a little bit of tv work for nbcsn for the playoffs he can bring his boston wit to the masses uh that should be some pretty entertaining stuff and looking forward to that needless to say and a few things uh to note here uh simmons did leave the game for nashville after getting a shot off the foot um i don't think he

came back hopefully he's all right uh Another nasty one is Matthias Janmark. He went into the boards very awkwardly for Dallas. Apparently they were saying on the broadcast too that this kid had battled back from a bad knee injury. And I'm telling you that when he went into the boards in that game on Saturday night, it did not look good. I'm not a doctor. I'm not going to diagnose it.

My guess would be minimum a high ankle sprain. You could see his ankle just go in a certain way that it's not supposed to. So I hope that he's all right. I hope Simmons is all right. I don't like seeing teams lose guys in playoffs, especially a guy like Simmons, man. I just hope he has a big run and gets paid. Hey, real quick, guys.

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And in the hockey world, but not the NHL, we had an incredible women's gold medal game in the world championships. A lot to talk about, Biz. Have you seen what kind of happened? Well, yeah. Congratulations to Finland on upsetting Canada to get to that gold medal game.

And then, boys, a controversial goal call in overtime. RA, I believe it was 1-1 in ot finland had scored and then they they went nuts they cleared the bench the whole building was rocking and then and then what r.a yeah it was in in their home bond too in helsinki it looked like they won the game and then the ref started conferring by the um you know the circle on the side of the rink there they started talking the replays came up and it was you know it looked like goaltender interference in the play I think the question was did it have an effect on the play uh personally I don't think it mattered yeah the goalie was hit but even if

she wasn't she wasn't going to be able to make the save in the first place I thought the goal should have counted but anyways the refs overruled it they had to bring everybody back out after they started the celebration it was like oh no it was kind of a disaster for the Finnish team. They ended up having to go to a shootout. They lost in the shootout, so just a heartbreaker. The crowd was booing. You don't usually hear European crowds boo too much, but they weren't too happy. You felt bad for the women

because I thought they deserved the goal. I thought they deserved to win, but it didn't turn out that way. I don't know. I think of like if that was an NHL game, I don't know. I think it, I think of like, if that was an NHL game, I don't know. I think it would have been no goal as well. It was crazy.

I think it was like 12 minutes. It took, um, it was, it was insane amount of time and, you know, they're celebrating. It was a bizarre scene,

but I mean, I'm going to, I'm going to concentrate on another aspect of the game and that's the shootout and the attempt by the girl on Finland. That was not a great one. You can't be trying that move in anything other than maybe a regular season game or a practice. That's not a deciding gold medal game shootout move.

Can we agree? Yep. So tough look there. I mean, you got to give a better effort. But I do think it sucks for the Finnish girls just because you think you have it and it's a long time before that news ends up coming that you got to get ready to play again. So, incredibly, I thought they would end up giving up a goal in OT. They got to the shootout where it was just not to be had for them.

Well, I was driving back from my parents' house to Toronto, and I was scrolling through Twitter, and obviously you see all these tweets pop up, oh, controversial call, that should have been a goal, that should have been a goal, and you're like, oh, not another one of these. Because you hate seeing it, because then all of a sudden it's the brigade online, they're belittling the officials or, or whoever it may be. And I thought it was going to be a lot worse of a call based on the reaction on Twitter. Now watching it over and over,

I might've led to just allowing it as a goal, but I mean, the goalie made the initial save. She tried to freeze the puck and as soon as she went to freeze it, there was contact. People were acting like she completely jumped out to the right side. Well, I mean, she did a little bit, but it's where the rebound was, and there was contact. So, to me, it's a 50-50.

I probably would have allowed it as a goal, but I don't feel like these refs should go through the scrutiny based on what I saw. That's a tough call, and someone's going to be disappointed. And I think that the reason it took 12 minutes is they're just trying to get it right. And then sure enough, they take 12 minutes, and they're still getting bent over on line. Yeah, it's not like the goal was good because of the goaltender interference.

That's what stinks for the Finnish women. So, guys, we're going to wrap up in a second. but i think so far the favorite part of the playoffs for me has been um sam bennett's mustache have you seen it he looks like fucking uh what's his name yosemite sam like he should be prospecting gold somewhere well how about ned flanders come on man that's your that's your show okie dokie actually you know he looks like with the uniform is Lanny McDonald. Yeah, I know. That's what I saw. I read that somewhere, too.

Grinnelli, have people been buying the ham and cheese shirts? Yeah, we actually got a special request from a couple of guys on the Calgary Flames themselves. Okay. The boys wanted some ham and cheese shirts in the locker room. I also got a special request from the Kachuk family for our Rat King shirts for Matthew Kachuk. So the Kachuk family wants to stock up on those. So they respect that. I love it.

They love it. One thing I got to ask you about, Witt, is did you see Phil Mickelson's video he posted to Twitter? I know we've had a lot of golf talk today, but that funny subtle bomb on Cooch was fucking hilarious. I'll tell you what, I caught that. We were on the bus from Pinehurst to the Raleigh-Durham airport. There's 12 of us

in the bus, 9 guys in the bus. We're trying to figure out who we're betting today. In the middle of that, that video drops where Cooch, Phil, not only chirps Cooch for being cheap, he then says he's going to be dropping complete bombs out there with his driver. I go, if there's ever been a time to bet on Phil Mickelson,

right now is the time. He lost by one stroke that day to Matt Kuchar. So that was a loss for me, but still a great video. I think that's, I mean, if golfers started doing that, more of that type stuff, it would definitely become more popular, I think. Absolutely. It's a complete scene to see these guys just like shit-talking and being funny and not being the complete golf nerd you're used to seeing

and just giving the most robotic sports psychologist answers to every interview they do. Well, and here's where I'll defend them is it's such a mental sport. It'd be like a goaltender going on there and sending video like that before a game. It's just tough. You're putting yourself out there. Speaking of goaltenders, one last thing, boys. I want to wish a happy retirement to Peter Budai.

I played with him in the American Hockey League. Speaking of Flanders. There you go. He had Ned Flanders on his goalie mask. Huckley, Huckley huckley bizarino yeah i'm getting some brownie points in ra's book tonight for all my simpsons references but uh peter budai uh was in saint john's uh i believe it was montreal's farm team at the time and they were in the american league and he had no wins the season before joining us zero wins living on the rock. And all I'd known about him is he was a decent NHL goalie.

And then all of a sudden he was in the minors and had a shit year. And he was kind of a castaway. And we ended up picking him up in the LA organization, got sent down to the minors in the AHL after NHL training camp. And right out of the gates, he was good. And Mike Stothers, our coach there, was always good with managing goalies and always seemed to instill confidence in them. He did it with Jack Campbell.

He did it with our goalies when we ended up winning the Calder Cup, Berube, and I forget the other fellow's name. But anyway, he had an unbelievable year for us. He ended up being in the AHL All-Star game. He resurrected his career. He spent a little bit more time in the NHL after signing a couple one-way deals. Very happy for him. And what I said to a reporter when I got asked about him, as I said,

I'm not only proud of him, but I'm thankful because that was on the way out. I knew I wasn't going to get any second chance in the NHL and all I wanted to do was was win hockey games in the American League and enjoy some times with some good people and we all know winning is fun right Whit and it's it's everything and he was a big no and he was a big reason why we won that year because he kept the puck out of the net we didn't have a very high scoring. We ended up going to the conference finals of the AHL playoffs. So, Boots, thank you for making my second-last season in the AHL a very enjoyable one, and I wish you the happiest of retirements and enjoy your time with your family, buddy.

Love you. Biz, I just got reminded of this, but a couple guys on the trip they like listened to the podcast occasionally and they they both mentioned uh how incredible your last game story was and i was reminded that was a that was a that was a great story you told that's the that's the way i wanted to go out though buddy fucking awesome i forgot about that hey guys before we wrap up i wanted to talk to you for a sec about Robinhood. Robinhood is an investing app that lets you buy and sell stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptos all commission-free. While other brokerages charge up to $10 for every trade, Robinhood doesn't charge any commission fees so you can trade stocks and keep all of your profits.

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Ford, or Sprint to help you build your portfolio. Sign up at chicklets.robinhood.com. All right, boys. I mean, that's a lot to go through. I mean, this first round's wild right now. I'm always a big believer and at least hoping for a lot of 1-1 series after the first two games to get a, I said it last year, to get your highest chance of a lot of game sevens.

That's what we live for as players and fans because I can kind of say I'm both. I'm sort of a player and sort of a fan, I guess, not R.A. style. But I'll say this. This is a fun time of year. Ray Ferraro said it best. So I'm looking forward to the playoffs moving on. Yeah, so far so good, man.

I'm having a blast like usual. What do you got, Biz? Oh, yeah, and last thing, if you guys heard my math breakdown during the YIP interview when I described the flight times, can we just all ignore that? I think I said 16 hours and I completely fucked up and after the interview I

messaged Grinnell, or no, actually I was in Boston and I go, dude, did you hear me break down the flight time? He goes, yeah, I didn't want to say anything and I was like, oh, I'm going to get torched online. So torch away! Hashtag torched online. All right,

everybody have a great week. Enjoy the playoffs. And we will see you. And I showed you a star you never could see.