Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 341: Featuring Eric Engels, Joe Smith & Stanley Cup Final Talk

Episode Date: June 29, 2021

On Episode 341 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by beat writers to represent both the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning. First, we recap the NHL Semifinals and give our final thoughts regarding those series. The boys are then joined by Eric Engels (00:28:50) of Sportsnet to talk all things Habs. The guys then preview Montreal vs Tampa and give their thoughts on the upcoming series and even get a call from Barstool Big Cat. The boys are then joined by Joe Smith (01:45:07) who covers the Lightning for The Athletic to discuss Tampa and some insight into the Lightning locker room. The guys then wrap up with a Game 1 recap, the Tour De France, NHL news and more.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' Checklets 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 341 of Spit and Check. Let's present to you by Pink Whitney, from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. We are already back in New York City, feels like we never left. Biz, Whit, Grinelli, good to see you guys again. We're going to be live streaming games 1, 2, and 3. And it might even be hotter here than it is in Tampa Bay right now. But obviously, we didn't get to Vegas like we hoped.

But we're still going to be partying down here. Let's say hi to the crew first. Producer Mikey Grinelli, what's up, buddy? It is an honor to be sitting in handsome Hank's seat. I'll say that. Oh, yeah. It's an honor to be sitting here in the studio. We've taken over these Muppets' place.

It's a dump. It's an absolute dump. They keep it a pigsty. It's no surprise, though. They're a pigsty. It's no surprise. They're the grinders. I mean, they started Grit Week. Right, Buzz? I'm just taking a look around. My OCD is just like...

It looks like a giant junk drawer. Yeah. It's a drawer you open and you're like, I'll clean that tomorrow. Yeah. It's like, need a scotch tape, Phillips head, screwdriver, sandpaper, like in your kitchen. That's what it looks like. I think when he cleared out his desk, they had like a bunch of bins full of all his clothes. Remember that?

What really was before? Yeah, I think he sold a bunch of it. Yeah. It's like they brought it in here, put a grenade in it, and it just went off and it's back all over the place. Hey, he sells the stuff for charity, but you used to sell your Abercrombie out of the trunk for your own wallet. I was trying to buy all of his bins off him for cents on the dollar so when i came back on

my next trip you're walking to the offices i'm on the side of the street i got a whole setup the t-shirts hung up 20 off this rack three for 20 bro three i got you three for 20 i got you hey i'll get you a lock of Whitney's hair, too. Pubes. I love being back in New York, but it is also the grossest city of all time in the middle of the summer. I think it's the worst major city in the U.S., including Houston or somewhere that's 120, because it's 99 and all you smell is trash. Remember that Toronto story I told you guys when I had to get Jans to come to my room after pregame meal because he wouldn't believe how bad it smelled from the lady the night before. That's New York City.

When did you get in business? This morning? I took a red eye. These red eyes are killing me. They're going to be the death of me. This guy leaves his phone. He comes to New York. Last trip, this trip already.

He's been here an hour. Goes and gets a coffee. Leaves his phone right in the middle of the table in these places. And then like 30 minutes later, he goes back and it's sitting right there. I'm like, nobody else's phone would still be there. And that happened at Starbucks in Boston. Did the same thing in Boston. Cup finals last year.

And the lady hated my guts there too. So I thought she would have thrown it down wherever. Wherever you would throw a phone to dispose of it. Someone from Boston just snagged your Amex card off of the phone and then left it for you, but you still got hosed. With my $500 limit, I wouldn't care. I'm locked tight. Me and Whit took the train down this morning. We were on the same train, but we get on different stops, so we don't see each other until we get off.

And for the second train ride in a row. Perfectly timed, Whit. Yeah, completely unintentional now no hey i'm gonna tell you exactly what happened this is how you go you you you you go first no i'm not i was a joke you you obviously wouldn't come to salt station to get on the train i wouldn't expect you to hey what's bitchy no no i thought you i thought biz is saying that i'm like trying to stay away from you but i was going to say this thomas crown Affair, final scene. We see each other at the train, walk over, it's like a block to the hotel, and he's leaking, and I'm talking to him, and he's telling me about his train experience and how he went to the quiet car, and then he went back to his seat.

The guy's forcing him to go to his actual seat, even though nobody's in the one he's sitting in. He was trying to sneak in at first. Well, no, I said, I just get first class first class and i just said have her do that next time and he's i respect the hell he doesn't want it but i think he'd have a much greater ride and we could talk the whole time hey grinnell uh wit at the train station he's the guy in the final scene of thomas crown affair just the guy can't catch him because he's switching hats. No, I think there's a thousand guys with hats on in that scene, though. Yeah, that's what I meant. Okay, sweet.

Yeah, I am that guy. I'm the opposite of what I thought. Well, since the last time we were on the train, they had to socially distance all the seats so they didn't bust balls about what you said. Yeah, it was open this time. Because nobody ever cared about assigned seats until today. The guy was trying to socially distance himself in the first class.

Well, either way. Just like the cup finals. He's like, wait, wait, let me in. The guy's like, you know this guy? No. Looking for the bathroom. Next thing you know, he's in the fucking cup picture. Well, that's what I was getting at, Biz.

The bathroom. For the second fucking train ride in a row. No. Last episode was the strip club bathroom. We got another bathroom one. When you use the train on the Amtrak, the bathroom on the Amtrak, how do you operate the door? You shut the door and you lock it behind you, right?

Because there's sliding doors that if you don't shut them... Yeah, with my foot, too. Yeah, exactly. Oh, you get a hand towel. What gives a guy a hundred bucks to close it for him? No, no, I don't want him in the room while I'm hosing. So go ahead. And there's like a light or a little, depending on which one it is,

to let you know if it's locked or not. So if someone's in there... So last two times, literally, I went over, over open the door and there was someone in the bathroom both times they didn't lock the door you don't leave the door open because it slides up and down you're supposed to shut it and then open it when you go in and today i think i thankfully i didn't see anything like too personal but i think it might have been like an older lady in there because like i opened the door and i just saw like pastels and shit and like just seen like a hand come during the thing i was like sorry and i was like just seen like a hand come door on the thing. I was like, sorry.

And I was like, lock the fucking door. All right. Coming from a guy who's been caught by his mom spanking off about a half a dozen times. I mean, that doesn't seem like a big of a deal to me. I mean, it's not really on. If I see a green light or green, you know, piece of plastic in an airplane or a train bathroom, I'm opening the door. I mean, what are you going to do?

Yeah. It's like basically in a place like that, it should be known to lock the door. You can't just go in there and not expect someone to walk in, especially on a trip, like those train doors specifically, because you have to shut them when you use them. All right, that story sucked. Let's fucking move right along. You've had some tough bathroom stories.

Yeah, man. Early on in the episode, too. One thing we got to kick off with, considering I'm the cyclist of the podcast, we have to talk about this Tour de France. Oh, my God. I can't fucking sleep. This lady inserts herself into the race, and I want to say she hit one of the leaders. I try to type this French sign in Google Translate, even I speak French and I didn't understand what it meant.

I don't know if it was something political. So if it is, whatever. We don't need to go there anyway. She fucking runs out on there holding her cardboard out, smiling at the camera. And next thing you know, there is, I don't know't know what would you say 150 cyclists pile up it was one of the worst i've ever seen in the tour de france bikes were broken did anyone out front get away from it or did oh yeah oh yeah there's a couple guys couple on the left oh you are how nice is that oh see you guys yeah yeah put it into like a really relaxing gear yeah let me turn this thing you start You start walking it up a hill.

Yeah, and then I think one of the leaders in a two-time Tour de France winner was the guy that she hit, and he was banged up. Nothing was broken, but tons of swelling. I don't know if he's even continued. I kind of stopped following it because I got to worry about knowledge in the hockey field, but just ridiculous

what do you guys think the punishment should be for this lady ra who stepped onto the to the track i didn't read the whole story but i saw the headline on the way down that the toy de france is going to sue this woman now they are i don't know how soon works in france or how much what they'll get off her what she's worth but i mean she's she fucked everything up i mean that's just a huge clusterfuck i don't know why they don't have barricades there. I guess they've been doing it for so long without them, but I don't know. It's the biggest no-brainer what they should do. Was it Bartman, the guy in Chicago with the Cubs?

Yeah, but he didn't even do anything. No, he really didn't. No, not at all. Well, Cubs fan may disagree, but the only thing you can have her do, she's got to get an old BMX, and she's got to do the Tour de France. Doesn't matter if it takes her two and a half years. That's her punishment. And there's a couple police officers following her with bread and water, and she's doing it until she's done.

There you go. And people on the sidelines can throw tomatoes at her? Yeah, I mean, that's going a little extreme. Isn't that a European thing? When you're getting booed, you get to boo. I think it was an old-time theater thing. I don't know if it was strictly Europe, but yeah, they would throw rotten fruits and veggies at you and shit. Bread?

Yeah. Yeah, I think he was thinking of Game of Thrones. No, that was just funny. He wasn't picking up your joke there. Which one? The tomatoes joke. Oh, throwing the tomatoes? No, I don't think it was a joke.

I think he was being serious. I was partly joking. Let's stay on topic with the Tour de France. One last thing. Oh, this could have been my year. I could have been at the front of the pack, at the left side, and completely dodged that. No, but that's something you said you'd do and you didn't do. Shocker.

He hasn't done that before. That's a big thing. I was going to wait her. I don't have to wait her. We'll get to that at Borelli's, but you said you'd do the Tour de France training. You actually texted me on the side the other day and you said I want to get back into cycling. I didn't know you were ever going to begin with,

but still, I should mention that you are looking to get into the game. I am. We can talk hockey. First, the Pucks final start tonight. you are looking to get into the game. I am. Okay. We can talk hockey. Yeah. All right. First, the Pucks final start tonight.

Hoops are going to be starting soon, so make sure you hit your local liquor store and load up on the new 375-milliliter pink Whitney Mickey right there between song. Not barter. Yeah, Biz and Whit over there. If you haven't got them yet, they're all over the place. Actually, who was the figure skater with the bottle I saw on Instagram? What was her name?

Oh, no. Are we in the Olympics? I don't know if it was the preliminaries or what. She was a Canadian figure skater. Oh, no, some of those. Chaz Michael Michaels. He was gassing a 350 mil. Well, either way, stock up on them if you haven't gotten them yet.

And we do got a pair of beat writers joining us later. It is the Stanley Cup Final, of course. Game 1 is starting as soon as we record this podcast. We have Eric Engels from Sportsnet who covers the Montreal Canadiens. And Joe Smith who covers the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Athletics. So we got a little insight from both guys. So hopefully you fans will appreciate that. But first, Stanley Cup Finals.

A very unlikely match right here. Montreal versus Tampa Bay after 800. I'm fucking blind even with my glasses. 868 regular season games and 79 playoff contests. Just two teams left. A total clash of styles, Biz. We got the penalty kill in Montreal versus the power play of Tampa Bay. Defending champs versus the Cinderella.

And here's the other stats. Since the Cup Final went to a best of seven in 1939, the winner of Game 1 has gone on to capture the Cup 61 of 81 times, which is good for a 7.53 clip. But the last three years, the Stanley Cup winners all lost game one and went on to win the Cup. So another story angle. But first, let's see how we got here, Biz, okay?

Montreal, Vegas, another huge upset. Vegas was a 320, 340 favorite favorite they end up losing in six games montreal what's your take on that whole series biz go to you first as the resident habs fan here i mean biggest you call it biz biggest thing obviously the first line uh i don't know they said they weren't injured they said they weren't banged up i don't know if that's just someone who doesn't want to give excuses and they thought they had enough and everybody at this time of the year is playing a little bit banged up and they just couldn't get it done in crunch time.

Obviously, I would imagine a lot of energy and emotion spent on the series prior against Colorado because they just didn't look like they had that fire. They couldn't get past Montreal in any which way and create and generate, especially that top line. That was the biggest thing. Listen, let's compliment the penalty kill for the Montreal Canadiens. Eric Engels, when he came on earlier in the year when they were having their struggles,

I think their power play was ranked 21st or 22nd in the league, and he just couldn't understand it because he knew it was that good. He said it should be ranked 5th. Well well i think they've killed off what 30 straight penalties it might be even 33 or something right now the the vegas power play they couldn't even gain momentum half the time with they couldn't even get in the zone at some points it was it was a clinic and it was also just i mean you could say what you want is like a fan of vegas but it seems like every year they get into they get deeper into the playoffs and they can't score and so you just like wonder what happens and you gotta credit montreal like you're doing but

stone to have all zeros across the board i can't believe it yeah it's like now patch already looked good he was battling injury for sure, right? I mean, they missed him for a little bit. He looked good, but in the Montreal series, he didn't get much done. And it was just more about a team that I think is willing to play that shutdown style. Like, Elliott Friedman calling Montreal the Islander's Light. If he's saying that, it is similar. I mean, that's why people are all over me.

Montreal, they get it done, and they're not as exciting as Tampa, right? Like, Caulfield is so fun to watch, and he scored some beautiful goals, and the OT winner by Lekkonen was great. But, like, overall, to win, they have to play a boring style. Vegas could not get through any sort of neutral zone. Neutral zone, they shut them down the entire time and then when they even got into the zone, they were finishing them off. There was no cycle and then when you

can't get your power play going, there's no chance you're going to win a series. The thing is now is they're going against a different animal in Tampa's power play. One of the best I've ever seen. But that series, if you look at it, right from the start, man, Vegas did not look great. And I know you bring up the abs wearing them out.

But for Caulfield to step up the way he did, you could tell right away they had nobody to match that energy. That goal in game six, you guys, that move, to flip it to yourself like that and to be able to get the angle. And then he goes down and he goes top shelf kind of in the middle than that. Like I'm not going to say that was a great goal for for leonard to let in but still a perfect shot by the kid and then it's right after he mentioned that he was talking about oh oh i'm glad he's talking about that i like to go possibly five four so he's got like a little cockiness and swagger to him that i think canadians fans love and watching him play i love hey. Hey, I think Big Cat's FaceTiming us and wants you guys to answer right now. Okay, let's bring Big Cat in.

I'm going to talk about the goalie distraction. Hi. We're in your studio. I know, PFT jerks off of this seat. That's all good, buddy. We were just talking about actually getting caught cranking off when I was younger. My mom used to walk in because I used to forget to lock the door. No, we were going to christen your office.

We're actually going to have a big circle jerk right now. You're sitting in my seat. Do you know when we talk about farting in that seat? I mean, dude, you want to talk about farting? You're talking to Biz. If he has a piece of pizza after eating all healthy in Scottsdale, he starts just ripping bombs the whole time he records. Yeah. You know when your stomach gets used to healthiness and then

you go on the road and you're a disaster? Hey, last question, because I want to see you guys in a second, but you can buy a Grinnelli, a Rolex, but you can't buy him a new phone? What the fuck am I looking for? Well, I don't know, but you can't buy a cleaning lady to clean your office? You're the richest guy here.

I said that's called Billy football. He's not doing his job. Billy football cowards me when he saw me after he buddied me. Not cool, big cat. He bro'd and buddied me. All right, we're back to hockey. The goaltending situation, that was just a distraction to take our minds off the power play and really lack of offense when it mattered. What did you think about how, I mean, you called the whole thing, to take our minds off the power play and and really lack of offense when it mattered what did

you think about how i mean so you called the whole thing that flurry was going back in for game five my argument and looking it's easy to say now but play lennar after he got the win in game four and then you if he wins you just ride him and if he loses game five you go back to flurry back at game six yeah every uh every goaltender I've talked to and texted with said they would have went back to Flower for game four. Now, we've already talked about the fact that that decision had already been made. DeBoer said anyway. He could have been just doing that to protect the overall breakdown

of why he was doing it and when. But people said once Leonard got that game four victory and was going back home, that they should have went back with Leonard. Now, once again, the goaltending thing is that's why I kind of outsource it to all these goalies. And they said, yeah, at that point, it gets a little fucked up.

But once again, here we are talking about the goaltending situation when that wasn't the issue. Yeah. At all. Exactly. It wasn't. But you can change the vibe. I know what you're saying, but it is no excuse whatsoever,

and it was not the reason they lost. And the other thing about that series, too, is like Brendan Gallagher, how he was able to get in Petrangelo's kitchen. And, I mean, honestly, it doesn't really even matter that Petro was getting rattled and into it with him because he was the best player Vegas had all playoffs. Yeah. So it didn't slow him down. But that's just what this Gallagher does.

He's got that Marchand. He's not as skilled offensively. He's not that elite level offensive player like Marchand. But to get in your face and piss everyone off, he's the exact same player. So we pretty much broke down most guys with Montreal with Eric Engels. A few guys we didn't talk about was Gallagher and the impact he's made. And I agree with you. It's just like he'll find a way to make an impact however he can, whether it's him blocking shots, whether it's him coming out of, you know,

coming out of his rhythm and game to, like, engage and be chirping all the time, although that might be something that he can do comfortably. Another guy, Armia, we didn't talk about, who I believe is going to play in game one because he's taken a private jet down. They thought maybe he had COVID, so he had to stay back in some type of protocol. But, I mean, that's an important piece going into this. I think behind Deneau, of course for the offensive impact, but we're talking about the penalty kill and how big of a deal it's been for Montreal.

Well, he's the second forward in ice time behind Deneau as far as how much he kills penalties. So, fuck, they're going against the juggernaut Goliath here, who has the best click and power play over the last two years. It's a joy to watch. It's a pleasure to watch. It's a pleasure to watch. He's a power play guy.

They're going to need that guy who knows exactly the routes to take and how to kill penalties against this team. And if he's not in game one, look for that to be maybe a reason why it swings Tampa's way. A few more notes before we bring on Eric Engels, then we'll talk about the Tampa Bay Island wrap-up. Vegas forwards only scored five goals in the whole series. Cole Caulfield had four himself. Vegas scored just 13 goals in the whole series. I mean, we already dissed their offense already.

Power play was 9.3 during the whole playoffs. For a team with that much talent, I mean, like you said, they couldn't figure it out not just versus Montreal, versus anybody. They were bad all playoffs. And I think the biggest story, Biz, from this series was Celine Dion, native of Quebec, just ditching the blue blanc at Rouge and bedding down with the Vegas Golden Knights.

I mean, she's leaving her home province. What's up with that? I think on a serious note, there was a fake picture that was circulating around the internet. But now saying that, when she did a show, when Vegas got to town, she did throw a jersey on and she was strutting out there. Now, I think that, whatever, at the time it probably looked innocent, but obviously this photo recirculated and everybody got all worked up from Quebec. So I think Celine Dion's on the hot seat, so she better be supporting the boys in blue, red, and white.

Did you say blue, red, and white for the Canadians, or blue and red? Blue, blanc, et rouge. That's what I was always taught. I don't even speak French, so I figured you might have known that. All right. And the other thing that's interesting, too, is that Suzuki is a smart player. He's got so much skill he's young he works great with Caulfield and for him to be a part of that deal for Pacioretty and to see how

he played compared to to Max in that series it's it's not it's a good trade I think in the end and it's it's really hard to judge it's been three years Pacioretty's an elite offensive scorer but Tatar was part of it a second rounder part of it. I don't know who that pick was. And then Suzuki, you got a possible future number one center there. So it was a – Not to put salt in the wound here, but I was going to say something that Vegas probably has to look to address in the offseason is trying to –

I mean, they don't grow on trees, and we know how hard it is to get them unless you're Buffalo giving them away. They've got to get a first-line center. True number one. A true number one. I think they go after Jack Eichel this summer. I don't think. Can they afford them?

I mean, they'd have to move some pieces. Well, didn't they try to move past Shreddy at the deadline? So what if they. They did this year? Yeah. Wasn't that a rumor? It was a rumor. I don't remember that rumor, but I don't remember the train.

I don't remember the morning today. We like rumors around here. Let's go with that. Okay. Yeah. We're a rumor guy. We're a rumor that. Okay, yeah, we're a rumor guy. We're a rumor mill. Patches to Buffalo. Jack Eichel.

Anything else in that series? Stone said he actually got skunked. That was the word he used. I got skunked this year. Yeah. Like, you know, when you get shut out playing fucking, I don't know, horseshoes or fucking volleyball. Price was money, though. He had to save on Marsh or so in game.

Yeah, I mean, he was unbelievable. And to bring that up, let's see. He gave a marsh or so in game. Yeah, I mean, he was unbelievable. And to bring that up, let's see. When his team can clinch a series, last six appearances since 2008, 9-5-9 save percentage, just seven goals allowed, two shutouts. I mean, he looks like the goalie from 10 years ago, 10, 12 years ago,

when the fucking Cavs in the playoffs. Sorry, brain fart. Sorry. When the fucking. Hey, I could save it, though, because I got a fun fact. You guys like fun facts. Is this the Montreal-Toronto in the playoffs one? No.

This is Montreal ended both Winnipeg and Vegas series at 18-21 of the first overtime. Isn't that bizarre? If you look online, there's all these things that are aligning. That is bizarre. There's a lot of things in this run that are aligning with their 93-cup run. And this is just another one icing on the cake. I thought that that was... And then the other one that... Yeah, the whole Team of Destiny thing with the Canadians,

it really does have some sort of weird feeling to it, this run. And then to hear that every single time the Canadians have played the Leafs in the playoffs, the winner of the series has won the Stanley Cup. That's a little weird. That's a little odd. Now, the winner of the series has won the Stanley Cup. That's a little weird. That's a little odd. Now, the crazy thing is I don't even know if that's 100% true. But the last time they played before this year was 40 years ago.

Hey! Yeah, 40-something years ago. Stanley Cup? The Canadians beat them twice in the late 70s during the Canadians' dynasty, and then Toronto beat them probably in the 40s or something. When there was four teams in the league. Hey, dude, that's what the Canadians built their legacy on, you scumbags. Nope, just kidding.

Just kidding. Also, too, Alec Martinez was playing with a broken foot as well. I think he's up, isn't he? So they've got to figure out what they want to do with him. I think he's a great piece. I thought him and McNabb looked awesome during this run. There's a couple other guys who stepped up to the plate. And I think even Martinez chipped in, what, two or three goals?

He is nasty. I didn't know. He's a shutdown demon. He led the league in block shots. That's a big-time player you want to try to keep. Hey, how about him scoring the winner in OT to win a Stanley Cup? Wouldn't that be the – what? At home.

At home. In L.A. And it was a sick play. He got backdoor, right? It was a backdoor goal. I don't know. I don't even care. I'm just wondering if he was single at the time.

Could you imagine the next two weeks of your life? Hold on. Let's just take like six minutes and then Chris in the office. He'd be like Dana Beers, the blowjob king. It's unreal Dana's saying that. We're going to get Dana Beers on at some point. Yeah, Dana Beers is coming on. He joined us in the West Coast Wagon Tour.

Should we bring him in right now or no? No. Not right now. He's us in the West Coast Wagon Tour. Should we bring him in right now or no? No. No, we're going to put him on. He's not here currently. That's why I said that. So if we're going to transition into the Cup final, my only concern... No, we're not? Not yet. No, we're going to throw it to Angles in a second. No, we're going to you soon,

Biz. We've got to get you... You've got to tell us all about No Days Wasted. Alright, I'm going to pull it up. Actually, before Biz, was Pasha pigeon-tossing Caulfield at the draft? That was in the notes. No, I wrote down pigeon-tossing. Pasha, you know, he's not that kind of guy. So Cole Caulfield, it was his draft.

I think he ended up going, what, 15th? Was that Jack Hughes' draft? Yeah. So, you know, he's probably trying to you know sniff his fucking seat posh is the biggest new jersey devil he's a seeker he's a seeker he's a full-on seeker he's the guy outside the hotel he's a seeker he's still he's still in uh in arizona by the way oh yeah he came down to do that mcdonald's project with me like six months ago and then he just like hasn't he hasn't moved out of fairmont scottsdale for six months.

Yeah, but it's like $20 a night. He gets drink tickets and stuff. He's got the greatest deal in the world right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaking of blowjob, King. Where was I? Oh, so they're at the draft, and Cole Caulfield walks up to Pasha as he's having a conversation, probably trying to get through security to go see Jack Hughes.

And he says, hey, I love Biz Does BC and all the stuff you do with chiclets. And Pasha was like, okay, cool, thanks. And I kind of smiled and that was it and kind of like pigeon-tossed him. So next thing you know, Pasha's in the crowd, the draft's going on, and number 15 overall, the Montreal Canadiens, Cole Caulfield. And Pasha's like, oh, fuck, I just pigeon-tossed the 15th overall pick. No, it wasn't even that. I heard this story.

Pasha was just like, no. I could have asked him what Jack Hughes' hair smells like. They played together this year. So that's probably why he was legit pissed off. Because he could have seeked on Caulfield. We got to get involved with him. I think him, Pavelski, us. Maybe get something going, the Wisconsin Alums, I think I mentioned that, but

he's got a cup to try to win first. So I got a FaceTime from Joel Edmondson the other day. They were out grabbing lunch and Cole Caulfield was with him and the conversation, the shirts came up, so he FaceTimed me. So I got to say hi to him, just smile ear to ear. Seems like the happiest guy to be around every single day. How about

the video that you guys tweeted? I just wanted to tell that story because I got a FaceTime from a guy in the Stanley Cup. Yeah, that was what it all was. It all a big day. We sent a tweet out. Where did that video come from? Caulfield looks like he's 12 years old. And the kid's like, oh, he buried it on the bakery.

He's like, every time. Shelf. What was it? The National Development Program. That was from that? Yeah. I mean, he looks so young. He looks young now.

But yeah, I think he's a legitimate star. And Angles will go into it, so we'll go to him now. But first, we've got to talk about No Days Wasted. All right. Live ad. I'll try to. Here it comes. You guys think I can handle this one on my own? It's a small font.

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DHM Detox. Yo, we hit that ad read. That was the best reading. I was ready. I thought you were going to do the whole thing. That was a Flurry and Leonard ad read. I'll still clap for you now, man. Oh, I did want to mention before we move on quickly to Engels.

Fleury, Leonard, bravo for the relationship those guys have. Who knows if it's all bullshit? I don't think it is. Rooting for each other and not letting egos get in the way. So congrats to them on a great year. It was not their fault. So here we go right now to Eric Engels. Well, the last time we talked with our next guest way back in March,

it was right after the Canadiens fired head coach Claude Julien, and the team was floundering a bit. Well, as the famous philosopher once said, things done changed. Since then, the Habs are now gearing up for game one of the Stanley Cup final. So what better time to bring back Sportsnet's Eric Engels to discuss how they got from there to here. Thanks so much for joining us, Eric. How goes it?

It's fine, man. This is a ton of fun. You guys having fun? Oh, it's a blast. I mean, what better is this? Two contrasting styles, the most famous franchise in the league versus the defending champions,

and you couldn't draw this up much better. Now, are you in Tampa now? Are they even going to let you go with all their regulations? What's the story? I'm on my way after game four in Canada. We have this 14-day quarantine rule that disappears on July 5th, and I'm double vaccinated and ready to pop off and get over there, so I can't wait. And yeah, it'll be my first time covering the Stanley Cup final

in 14 years covering the league. Canadians had a tough time getting there, but here they are now. Well, so you must be fired up. This is your Super Bowl, like you say. You're finally in the Cup final. You're following your team. And when we talked to you last, don't even try to say you saw this because nobody did. What was going on there with the coaching change and what had happened? What has been your experience in seeing this entire thing turn around? And is it really based on Carey Price and how things changed?

Honestly, I really think that the Canadians underperformed throughout the season, and I felt that way the whole way. And I was wondering, after their first 10 games, when they'd get back to showing that they were the type of team I thought they could be. I wrote at the beginning of the season that I thought all of Marc Bergevin's moves were excellent, not only because he filled holes in bringing guys like

Joel Edmondson and Jake Allen and Howard Foley, Josh Anderson and Corey Perry at the league minimum, but because he got the guys that actually were the perfect fit for what he was looking to do. And I felt that they were they were built to play in the playoffs. And there was no way I could pick them coming out of the regular season when they backed in, having lost 14 to 21 games and then their last five. So, like, you know, I was the only person at Sportsnet that said they were going to lose to Toronto in seven games and I'm not saying I put money on them winning but let's just say that I did feel that it was very possible and the biggest reason why was because

I looked up and down the list of players that they have and who they are and what their pedigree is and Mark Bergemay said it himself I didn't bring in Stanley Cup winners here by accident. And I really believe in those guys. I believe that the dynamic in the room was extremely healthy for a couple of years leading into this one. Now, we haven't been in the room for 15 months or 16 months or however long it's been. So I don't know what, well, obviously the evolution has been pretty good.

But beforehand, I really did believe that they had such a healthy room that they should have been doing better. And I was really surprised at what happened in the regular season because I really felt they underachieved. So it's pretty remarkable to see them get here the way they did. They've come together as a team and it's been incredible to watch. One of the things you mentioned last time we talked was how I think their penalty kill was ranked in the twenties,

but yet it should have been ranked fifth or in the top five anyway. What changed in that regard? And what did you see then that finally started clicking in order for the numbers to change? Honestly, I have no idea. The strategy didn't change whatsoever. It's just that everybody seemed to get on the same page. And I think that's what penalty killing comes down to, right? Like if you have one guy who's not reacting the right way to what the other three guys are doing, you're kind of screwed up there. But yeah, I remember Whit was asking me about the power play,

like what's going on with power play. I was like, what the hell is going on with the penalty kill? Like you look up and down the roster, like this team should be one of the best penalty killing teams in the NHL. Well, now they've broken a record in the playoffs. It's 13 straight games without a goal against, 30 straight penalty kills. I mean, that stuff is absurd. I don't expect it to last against Tampa Bay,

but if they're even three quarters as successful as they've been so far, it's going to be a recipe for success for them. One player who was really struggling when we talked to you back in March was Carey Price, and the team, of course, brought in Sean Burke as a goaltending coach. Did he do anything specifically to fix Price's game? Was it just a matter of getting a veteran like Burke or a retired guy like Burke in his ears to fix some things?

What exactly did Burke do? I don't know that it's Burke specifically, although having a guy like him who's been through every experience as a player that Carey's been through. And I've gotten to know Sean Burke decently. This guy is a really interesting guy. He's a smart guy he's very passionate and he's very down to earth he's got his philosophies he likes to say that no goal is a good goal against that like if you're getting scored on you've done something wrong even if it clink goes off six

guys and ends up behind you and you know that mentality is one thing i think another thing is that the move itself to fire step on weight um was a shot across the bow to carry price and now you know you look at everything in retrospect and where he's at right now and what he's done in these playoffs like it seems like a really long time ago but people forget like he came in for the playoffs off a concussion like he missed the last segment of the playoffs off a concussion like he missed the last segment of the season with a concussion and jumped into the playoffs and has literally played like the carry price we've always seen in the best games and the most important games so he's just been he's been ridiculous he's on a mission and um he's i think one thing about carrie price like

his leadership is so undersold you know just because of his body language and his calm demeanor and the way he is with the media. When he steps up after game four in the Toronto series and he's asked, you know, for years you've been putting up these incredible performances and the team can't score more than three goals for you. Like, are you not frustrated at this point? They got blanked on home ice and scored one goal a game before.

And he goes, no, I'm not frustrated. I believe in this team. I face them in practice every day. I know they can score and they're going to. And that moment, I really think changed everything here because in this day and age where the players kind of, oh, don't listen to this and we don't hear that, they see and hear everything.

And I guarantee you they heard that and it meant something for them, especially coming from a guy like Terry Price. Do you think he's thinking about Olympics at all? Do you think that's creeping into his head at all right now? Or are you laughing because it's like now he's focused on the prize at hand? Yeah, I think he's four wins from the Stanley Cup. I think the only thing he's thinking about is that right now. No, I don't think it's – I think it's –

Are locked in, you know? He's trying to solidify himself as, you know, one of the greatest Canadian goaltenders of all time. And in in the next nine months he has a period of time to do that obviously the stanley cup is one of the things he's missing but another gold would kind of put him in that category with raw i just i was just wondering if it was a topic that came up in one of these media scrums if he puts a lot of emphasis on it like he's already there and you know what it's one thing for what i think what with things but you think what ra thinks what mike thinks like the players have been calling this guy the best goalie in the world forever if andre vasilevsky is on the mantle now based on the playoff goal well great you know

these two guys are going up against each other in the stanley cup final but i'll tell you like my personal opinion and i think most players that shoot on carrie price on a daily basis and most players that have to play against him in this league would probably say to you that if they needed one goaltender for one win and their life was on the line, they'd want him in net. And I can't think of a guy in Canada who's better than him. I think him, Marc-Andre Fleury and probably Jordan Binnington will share that net. But that's so far in the future. And who knows if they'll actually be in China. We still don't have a firm commitment there.

But, man, like this guy is finally there in the Stanley Cup final. And this opportunity was taken away from him in 2014 when he got bumped into by Chris Prider in the conference finals. I think they would have gotten past the Rangers with that team. And who knows how they would have done against the Kings. But he's the man on a mission. He's playing just out of his mind. No such thing as a stupid question. Price is crying right after they give the cup.

They're like, what did it mean to win the cup? He's like, no, I made the Olympic team. Hey, there's, wait. Kerry, the cup's right there. He's like, no, no, I'm going to Tokyo. Is it even in Tokyo? Oh, no. Beijing. Hard-hitting journalism around here, Eric.

Hey, listen, no such thing as a dumb question because it led to all this. Pat on the back, Biz. Way to go. I got a hockey question, though. You got a good one? Actually, R.A., you were waiting. I apologize. You go ahead, buddy.

Just because it was price-related, going into the playoffs and given the way his season went, be honest, did you think we were going to see Jake Allen at some point in the playoffs? No. When it comes to Gary Price, I always expect that when the games matter most, he's going to show up and play. I know how much these opportunities mean to him. We talked a couple years ago about the reset and the rebuild

and having to be kind of a witness to this youth coming up through the team guys like Suzuki, Kaki Emi, Caulfield have just been drafted he's kind of like you know I'm on the back nine of my career here like I need chances to win and of course it excites me to see the young players coming but I want to see I can't imagine there was anyone in the canadians organization who was more excited about the guys that berg may added in the offseason when we spoke to him coming into training camp he looked at his team after going through the going through the practices the first practices of training camp and he just said we have everything we need here

and he uh was asked by kyle bakoskis after the Game 6 win over Vegas, how unbelievable is this? And he said it's perfectly believable. He genuinely believes in what the Canadians have, and he's a big reason why they have a reason to believe. I don't know. I would never bet against this guy in a playoffs, ever. Another guy is Shea Weber I need to ask about.

And when you talk about making trades, the giant trade with Subban and him, it's about making your team better, a better chance to win the Stanley Cup. I think no doubt at the time, like Shea Weber, defensively you have a better chance of winning with him. But for a little while there, Subban had some big years in Nashville. It didn't look great. It's flipped around now to where he's playing this mountain man hockey, playoff hockey. Is he healthy

finally? Is he just more confident? What has kind of helped him really find his groove again there? I don't think he's healthy at all. First of all, he came into the playoffs with a busted left thumb. I was told that he tore stuff in there and probably needed surgery. I think he busted his right one on

Ryan Reeves in the first game of the Vegas series. stuff in there and probably need surgery i think he busted his right one on on uh ryan reeves and in the first game of the vegas series uh and he just he's just an animal like this guy is an animal and you speak to you know i did a piece for his thousand game and spoke to all his defense partners whether it was uh yosi or ryan suiter or ben charlotte or go down the list a bunch of guys i can't even remember all of them. Classic was one of them for the Olympics. Like everyone says the same thing about this guy. It's just like his presence is larger than life and that he will do absolutely anything to win.

And that he's the most respected type of person you could ever have in a room. And I just, you know, I've gotten to know him pretty well. And the thing that I, like, here's a story about shea weber okay like right after the suit man trade was made i get a one-on-one with shea weber and i get one with pk also like this is the the first game that they're supposed to play against each other pk ends up being hurt so he's not part of this the situation but this is before they go to nashville in preparation for it and i'm asking shea weber about shea weber which is like his least favorite topic. And then we start talking about the Norris trophy,

the fact that he never won the Norris trophy. And he turns to me and says, you know, that year that Drew Dowdy won the Norris trophy instead of Eric Carlson. Like I love Eric Carlson. I think he's amazing. But Drew Dowdy so deserved to win that. And I was so cheering for that because look at what he does. He'll block every shot. He clears the puck every single time. He can skate it out of the zone. He can play on the power play.

He plays on the penalty kill. He plays 25 minutes a night. He plays against the best guys in the world. He does everything. And I know like we're in this new school era of, we want to see puck rushing puck moving defensemen. And that's the premium that everyone is interested in in the NHL. But I just have respect for guys who do everything. And I think that was as close as Shea Weber has ever gotten to talking about himself. And that is who he is, that is who he's become.

There were guys who were telling me, when he comes to Montreal, you're really going to miss DK because he's not a good quote and this and that like as I've gotten to know Che Weber he is one of the best people I have met in the game and one of the most enjoyable people to speak to when you get a chance to get him in that situation where he's one-on-one and you know I can see why he commands respect from virtually everyone the guy is just he's he's everything there's nothing is just he's he's everything there's nothing missing there like there's nothing that you you meet him and you expect to see something completely no it's it's exactly what he shows you is exactly who he is and i just think uh the biggest trait i look for in a leader is are they like they can't ask you to do something that they're not willing to do themselves and i can never see shea weber asking someone else to do something that they're not willing to do themselves.

And I can never see Shea Weber asking someone else to do something that he's not willing to do himself. And he instilled this culture where, you know, he would turn to a veteran in the room and say, why are you having the trainers carry your bag out? Like, are you too tired to carry your own bag to the truck? Like,

that's the kind of thing that like, you notice it on the road, like I'm on the road and I see Shea Weber carrying his own bag to the truck all the time. kind of thing that like you notice it on the road like i'm on the road and i see jay weber carrying his own bag for the truck all the time and this became a thing but not only that he gets every other guy in the room to do it because he just that's the way he was raised and that's what he believed so it's just a sample of like what kind of he's like what the fuck is your weber bomb give me a fucking weber bomb um you you talked about defensemen who can do it all, Petrie, and you saw how much they missed him in that first game

against the Vegas Golden Knights. Did you hear as to what maybe the injury was when he got it caught? And just, I don't even know how the fuck they ended up getting him from Edmonton, because that is an absolute banana land steal. This guy's like top 10 defenseman in the world now. Yeah, well, he's incredible I mean I I don't know if I rank him there but like maybe he deserves to be there he's like we're going four years in a row or three years in a row of over 40 points in this year in a 56 game season he caught

his fingers in the in the slot where they put the the cameras and I was told that he dislocated a couple of them and also would need surgery. And I think they reset the bones and we ended up with that situation where I don't know if he was screaming or puking or what, but he burst those blood vessels in his eyes. I heard that he, I heard that I, the rumor I heard is that when they put the fingers back in,

he like passed out, I heard is that when they put the fingers back in, he like passed out, basically shut his eyes so hard from the pain that he popped the blood vessels and passed out. That's what I've heard. I don't know if that's true, but I wouldn't surprise me one bit. That wouldn't surprise me either because I've dislocated the fingers on my right hand playing street hockey.

And I was, I was skating and there was sand just woke up on the street. And street and i and i fell with while i was still holding my stick and dislocated my fingers and i'll never forget when they reset them it was an awful experience but i'll also say this i got a cast on my hand it was supposed to wear it for like four weeks and i was 15 years old and just playing sports like an idiot and i ended up breaking the cast after a week and a half. And I was just using the fingers and the more that I was using them, the better they were feeling. So I don't know if he's feeling better now and I wouldn't compare my injury

situation. Warrior. Even though I just did. Warrior. Yeah. Right. But the Edmonton thing, like I did a Pete,

like I spoke to Craig McTavish about that. He said, it's one of the biggest, the biggest mistakes he's made in his career. He still regrets it to this day. Wishes Jeff well. I thought while he was in Edmonton, he wasn't treated very well. He was brought in from college, expected to be a shutdown defenseman when he had only been an offensive defenseman his entire career.

They were playing him 22 to 25 minutes a game straight out of college and with a team that had zero insulation for him and that became a very old yeah became a very old story in edmonton about the fence been just being sacrificed to the fans and this guy was a whipping boy there and it got to a point where it was so bad where he he literally would go hunting with Ryan Jones, who was his roommate. Come on. Just to get away. Like, just to get away from everything, to cancel out the noise.

And, you know, I think it was so hard on him and his family. I sat down with him and his wife at their home and talked about that whole situation. And, you know, he said the one guy who really, really really truly helped him and was great to him was steve smith and steve smith was running the assistant coach running the defense and had his own trials and tribulations in edmonton you know he cost him with a big own goal and has to wear that for the rest of his life and it's a mistake that happens in an instant and breaks up a dynasty and we all know like you know the Oilers still had a bunch of time to tie that game up and win it and continue

on with what they were doing but it's interesting to me that it ends up being him Petrie also has this connection with Roger Clemens through his wife and his dad and Roger Clemens played together but his wife her her father was coaching baseball or something and Roger was involved with something they're from Houston and Roger Clemens had a lot of advice for Jeff Petrie that he's basically taken over the years to build up his mental game and not get bogged down in the mistakes he makes and he writes down the things that he does so that he can forget about them and let go of them. So he's been a fascinating story to come into his own in his 30s and just put up career season after career season.

The most important player on that blue line, obviously, because without him, boom, they lost game one against Vegas, and since then, here they are now. Yeah, I was there with Petrie. Steve Smith is an awesome guy, great coach, then here they are now yeah i guess i got the i was there with petrie it was um steve smith was is an awesome guy great coach and and i think he he understood that like this kid's getting treated like shit he's young like you said what was the trade though who was who came back he was traded for a second and a fifth and and and Edmonton Edmonton had this fucking

6'3 guy who skates like an like the wind playing 24 minutes they give him up for a second and a fifth it was a conditional fifth too by the way he man that's so funny like good shit he was

out of there he was traded out of there first of all he was he was a pending ufa and was basically told by his agent like they don't want to sign you you know they probably think it's better off if you just if you just move on they trade you whatever it is he's like all right like i've been through it i was willing to resign like if they don't want me like just trade me, no problem. And then he got a call to go in and talk to Craig McTavish. And McTavish kind of said, like, I don't know what your agent's telling you, but we want to try to work it out.

And he was just totally mixed messages, really strange stuff. And at that point, he just said, yeah, like, just trade me. Like, it's OK. Like, just trade me. He lands in Montreal. They go to the playoffs. Go on a run right away. He gets exposed to this and signs a five-year deal immediately, which to me is an incredible story because he went through hell in Edmonton. It was brutal there. And for him to sign in a market like Montreal after

just a few months and a short playoff experience, that was crazy. He signed a long-term extension to be there. Yeah, you thought it was bad in Edmonton, Jeff. Wait till these guys get on you. You can't believe. So in his words, he experienced just what it was like to step on the ice at the Bell Center in the playoffs, and that was it for them. He was sold. He's staying in Montreal. And I think there's been a lot of players since that

have had a similar experience, that they were worried about being in Montreal, but the minute they got exposed to what the franchise is actually like, what the organization is, they just wanted to be here. So he's a great story. The star who stayed, essentially. Yeah, the trade for a

second and a fifth. Oilers fans are probably still puking about this to the point where they're probably bursting blood vessels in their eyes. They can't even blame Shirley for that one either. It was before Shirley. I thought they sold their soul to get to the cup finals and it was time to cast a check. Tough crowd, tough crowd, tough crowd.

Is there a delay on this? No, that was just a dud. You mentioned his dad, Dan Petrie. He won a Stanley, I'm sorry, a World Series back in 1984 with the Tigers. I'm curious. I mean, it's still a ways to go, but if his son can end up winning the Stanley Cup, you've got to wonder if that's the first father-son combo to win a World Series than a Stanley Cup.

Maybe getting the car a little in front of the horse here, but you mentioned a few minutes ago, Eric, players hear everything, they see everything, and I know teams in other sports, especially like the Patriots here in New England, they use disrespect as a fuel, or maybe they even invented the disrespect to use it as a fuel. Is a lack of respect from the media and bookmakers a factor at all here, or does this team not even need any of that to do what they're doing right now?

No, I think, of course, it's a factor. It's a rallying point, and it's like the most age-old rallying point for any coach they live for that shit they'll just uh run it into the ground as far as they can go and they're lucky you know like every team they've played they've been such an overwhelming underdog that you know it's not like the media has to stir it up you You know, the first series against Toronto, it was easy, right? Like all of us at Sportsnet picked against them. Everyone at ESPN picked against them. And, you know, they just pasted that shit on the wall and said,

ha ha, like, fuck you guys. Like, here we go. And I think that was just as much a help to them as much as it did hinder the Toronto Maple Leafs with their history. And as the series went along, obviously the pressure shifted shifted to them i don't know about you guys like watching game seven in that series there was never a second during that game that i felt the canadians were going to lose like not even one second and i would i would even suggest that going back to game six when jake muzzin went down and the leafs were in big big big trouble. So I just think since then, it's so easy to count them out.

They sweep Winnipeg, and nobody has to say anything about it. We didn't make extra picks in the second round or third round or whatever. The odds, they went into the Vegas series, the biggest underdogs in 30 years as Stanley Cup semifinalists. That's what it was? Yeah. If you were betting on those games you made a killing seriously like this was at one point the canadians were plus 280 in one of the games i was

like this is uh this is a joke this is amazing um and it's just of course the team is gonna fuel off that but at this point like they believe in themselves so much because they've found a recipe right like every time you watch the canadians play you're seeing the same thing over and over and over again you know i just think hockey's the ultimate team sport that's i love that like to see them come together if i look up and down their lineup i can't think of one guy that i would pull out for someone who's sitting on the sidelines right now. Just everyone's doing their job. And that's the beauty of this sport. Like on football, you're going to bet the quarterback and the coach most of the time.

In baseball, you're betting the pitcher. You know, in basketball, you're betting the favorite because it's never an upset. In NHL, you're betting the goalie, though. In NHL, yeah, you're betting the goalie. But in the playoffs, when you get to the final four, who are you betting on as the goalie? Who are you betting on between Bryce and Vasilevsky? You tell me. I just think it makes sense to bet on Kemp, obviously.

I was the only guy at Sportsnet who picked him to repeat as Stanley Cup champion. I was the only guy at Chicklets. I'm starting to regret it, actually, to be honest with you, because I think these Canadians have something special going on. All right, so Cole Caulfield goes to Wisconsin. I like how he stays the second year. He lights it up.

He wins the Hobie Baker. You see college kids hopping right into the NHL the day after their season ends now. But, no, he goes to Laval. He has three goals in two games in the minors and comes up. He looks great and then we get to the beginning of the playoffs like looking back now how foolish and ridiculous is to think that this guy was a healthy scratch early on uh yeah looking back now well let's look back at when he first joined the canadiens and they were in a cap crunch and they could have figured

things out and move things around and it might have been exposing someone or whatever it is but like I remember writing five articles within a seven-day period at sportsnet about how badly they needed to put this kid in the lineup and i had canadians fans coming at me left right and center you're an idiot you don't want to expose him you're going to ruin him i'm like like the best one was you don't want to put him in this room with this culture this culture like the culture like and eric stall and cory parry that was my burner account like what the hell are these people talking about so the thing is that a lot of people didn't really understand what cole caulfield is and the kid is just a stud like he's a he's a star player he he's spent his entire life filling the net he broke austin matthews record with the u.s national development program team and the best version of that team

ever by the way like shattered his record by over 25 goals or whatever it was and i watched him play a wisconsin time i watched about 50 games this kid played before he came to Montreal. And like everyone, the biggest mistake that people made about this kid is saying he's a sniper. You know, he's just a goal scorer. No, no, no. It's here. His hockey sense is elite.

And one of the things he does best and with, like I'd love to get your thought on this is, is I would never compare Cole Caulfield with Evgeny Malkin, but Evgeny Malkin for me, his superpower, his entire career has been one thing that he's got a million of them, but he's got one thing that he does better than almost anyone. He reads transition so well and puts himself in motion right at the right time to make the D to D outlet

the easiest pass possible so that he could take advantage of his other skill set, which is his hands, his shot, and all that stuff. I just find people will say, oh, he's cheating out of the zone. No, no, no. It's his read is so good, and he makes himself the auto pass out of the D to D. And I just feel Caulfield is so good at that. And it's such a sample of what his hockey sense is. And it enables him to get into motion and do those things that he does in the

offensive zone that are so impressive. I think I know like it sounds insane to compare those two guys. One of them's a center and a lefty and it's huge. And the other guy is a shrimp who's, you know, got all these different abilities, but I just find that his hockey sense that brings him into motion in the right times to get the puck on his stick while he's skating 100 miles an hour it's that is to me the most unheralded skill that this kid has and it's why people have really misread what he's about he's not just a shooter he's a playmaker

he's a hockey sense kind of guy very smart cerebral player well i did oh i was going to ask about to know because i think at the time we talked to you i'd say other than carrie price he might have been the other guy that was probably under fire the most and you know we just didn't see that offense this year where he was supposed to contribute was defensively but the last you know six to six weeks to two months he's completely turned around and shut down some of the best players in the world yeah and i and last time i joined you guys i said you know i think one of the most unfair things imaginable was when his contract negotiation leaked out while he was struggling you know this is a guy that if you know philip to know he cares so much about the canadians

and was there during some lean years where he gave heart and soul to the team and for him to be painted in the public as the bad guy for turning down a contract that he had fully earned essentially he you know he the comparable with jean-gabriel pageau signed six years five million bucks the rumor was that dino had turned that down uh he had earned by the numbers something better although not pandemic adjusted and i didn't believe for a second i said to you guys i'm going to speak to the people involved on the end is the agent. And I'm going to get to the bottom of this one way or another down, down the line when the time is right, that I didn't believe for a second that Don Meehan's move was, Oh,

you're giving me six years, 5 million bucks for, for Phil. And only just hangs up on version. Like, no, that's not how this shit works. So I just, I just think that was so unfair and look at what he's done since you know this guy in the regular season he's going to get 40 points like that's what he's done for the last number of years it's not going to be an issue and he was on pace due to saying despite the fact that he went the first 24 games without a goal in the playoffs have you ever seen a player have more of an impact scoring three points up yeah i was gonna say even he he's unbelievable it's not just him you know that the synergy he has

with our three lack in it and the canadians four pillars on defense it is really quite a recipe they've got to shut down some of the best players in the world and their biggest challenges in front of them just a quick one all right does he ever get the Guy Carboneau comparison especially early on maybe with where he's going it's coming now right like he's elite in the face-off circle he's shutting down the best players in the world and Guy Carboneau you know go back to 1993 he asked Jacques Damaris to cover Gretzky they lost the first game of the series and he went into Jacques Damaris's office and just said you give me Gretzky and I don't first game of the series and he went into Dr. Merz's office and just said, you give me Gretzky.

I don't need to score. We've got the other guys who can score. You give me Gretzky, we'll take care of him. He did. Gretzky had I think it was four points in the first game or two and then I think he had four points over the next three total. So

that's the lore of Guy Carboneau and the shutdown D-man and uh at the centerman and and I think Philip Deneau fits in that category he's that type of player and and he just he loves this team so much and he's such a nice guy like he's it was really sad to see him painted as the bad guy within the fan base and what people were saying about him because it was so the antithesis of who he actually is and what he's about. Assuming those numbers are spot on, do you think his price went up during the playoffs? And if so, how much?

I don't think so. I think, you know, that the pandemic situation, the contracts that were signed by Radek Faksa and Adam Lowry are going to affect him. I will say, though, that the market's going to pay him, right? Like, he's a pending unrestricted free agent. There is a team out there that is willing to pay him probably what he wants. I believe he wants to stay with the Canadians.

I believe there will be a compromise to be had that they'll find in the offseason because, damn, I don't think they want to lose him. And I don't know what it comes in at. I don't know if it's five years, 4.8 or 5.0 or whatever it ends up being, or maybe it's a little bit less over a longer term or a little bit more over a shorter term. Whatever it is, it's going to be worth it. This guy, that skill that he has of shutting down players

is not going to dissipate over time. It's not like you're looking at a 30-year-old goal scorer and saying, in two years from now, we're going to be really paying for this contract. I just think he's proven his worth. He's a tremendous player. Well, hockey's a religion there, and obviously the pandemic's hit Canada hard with the vaccine rollout and everything, but is there any chance game three comes

and they maybe open it up to 10,000 or they do something to maybe change how few people are in there the first three rounds. Not based on what I'm hearing. Unfortunately. Shocking. I know, I know it's hard for people to get like, and Quebec's numbers are some of the most encouraging in North America in

terms of percentage of people with the first vaccine dose, I think is around 80%. Second vaccine dose growing by the day, ton of vaccination happening. And the cases are down to under 100 a day and hospitalizations and deaths are way down. My opinion on this is a little outside of what, you know, I would love more than anyone to see 21 273 people pack the bell center especially since it's been 28 years since they've had a chance to root for their team at this stage of playoffs but i don't want to see us take another step backwards like i just i'm i'm all for us moving forward and if that's part of this like mont is going to a green zone on Monday which means like everything is essentially open and I don't know if that will come with a drastic

change in the attendance numbers if we get to 10,000 at the Bell Centre I think it would be great if we get to 5,000 it'll be something but I'm all about just taking steps forward and none backwards and I'll say this I've been there with 2 in the building and 3500 in the building and I'm not sure there's a building in the NHL that would be louder with less fans in it it is the atmosphere is incredible so I wonder if it comes through on TV because it's been great do you think the fact that it was Saint Jean Baptiste day on the day that they clinched to go to the finals that it was so chaotic outside the building because that's what the people were arguing they're saying there's 25,000 people outside the Bell Center downtown. Why can't you just put a few more inside?

It definitely raised the hammer level a little bit outside. I think people had a long day of celebrating before we got to that 8 p.m. start. But, yeah, I thought people were going to go nuts anyways. In the end, you know, a few police cars got damaged. None of them set on fire. And, uh, you know, I don't know, a couple dozen people got thrown in jail for the night. And that's, uh, that's a win in terms of Montreal playoff celebrations. Uh, cause in the past it's been a little bit crazier and who knows what's going to happen moving forward. All I know is that night,

I was pretty happy that I was leaving a couple hours after everybody dispersed from the building. Cause we had a cameraman that got out there to shoot some scenics and some pepper spray was out in the crowd that got to him even so like it can be a bit of a scary scene but I think it's worth it and yeah like the contrast between the outside and feeling the building it's there but you know I think we know what this virus is all about in terms of indoor and closed spaces the other thing is like managing the building right i don't know how they've been doing it in the states uh if it's just a free-for-all or they've put in all kinds of

oh the garden was a free-for-all depends what state you're in i suppose here there's 3 500 guys there's 3 500 people in the building and you don't just get up and leave to beat traffic when the third period has five minutes left. They're calling you out by section to let you out of the bell center and everything is roped off and there's extra security everywhere. It really is quite organized, but this is everything they have to do to get this past the government and get this happening. So yeah, we've been a little stricter in Canada. There's been some positives to that and some negatives to it. So it's I hope it opens up and I hope we see people there. But like I said, I'm, if we take another step backwards in this thing,

I don't know how much I can handle it. Eric, back in March, we talked about the burger van as he's become known on the show. We talked about his job security back then. Obviously he has more than salvaged his job. I want to talk about his emotion. It's not something you typically see from GMs. I mean, it's great to watch.

It makes for great videos. But is it something that people bust his chops about just because he's so over-emotional? I don't want to call it over-emotional, just so emotional. I think he's gaining fans with that, honestly. I really think him wearing his emotions on his sleeve like that, his heart on his sleeve.

I think a lot about Marc Bergevin over the last nine years and what he's been through and trying to build a team the way he wants to have it and all the turmoil and goes through the first five years, does everything kind of the right way, doesn't make a wrong move, Petrie among them. And then he goes through a year and a half stretch where everything he does blows up in space. And Jeff Molson allowing him to set this reset into motion and keep his job,

like how many things has he done wrong since? Everyone looked at their moves in the offseason and thought they were great. They have drafted more players of any team outside of Detroit in the last three years. They have built up consensus on the best prospect pools in hockey, and you're seeing the fruits of it now with Kakeniemi and Suzuki and Caulfield and Romanov and go down the list. There's a lot of guys that are in the organization that are on their way up,

about five left-handed defensemen that are going to bolster the position and look at what they already have on the main roster there. You know, this guy has done everything he can. And I just think his read, a lot of things just needed to fall into place for him too. Like his read on what they did in the bubble last year from Suzuki and Kakeniemi stepping up to Weber and Petrie still playing, and Weber and Price still playing at the level expected of them, you know, gave him the incentive to load up in the off season. His owner has deep pockets and was willing to spend money at a time where a

lot of teams were not willing to do that. And, you know, he spent over a hundred million dollars of Jeff Molson's money, but there was re-signing Petrie and Gallagher and then getting all those new guys in and he has stopped at his own guns, right? Like he, he brought in Eric Stahl and brought in, you know, John Merrill and Eric Gustafson, and everyone was just kind of like, what the hell are you doing? And it didn't look good in the regular season,

and now it looks great in the playoffs. And, you know, to see his emotion pouring through, I think, is a sample of how much he has been through and what this means to him. And I think he's gaining fans with it, for sure. There was a lot of people who were lining up with pitchforks at his door but you know he deserves the praise too he's done a pretty great job for the majority of his tenure not a lot of people get the chances that he got like that second chance in 2018 and wow like if this team wins the stanley cup he made a joke about it saying i could retire after we win the stan Stanley Cup but I think he'll be back for a few years beyond this one uh Chris Lee you guys the fan base was all over this guy even you

were a little bit on social media that was uh that was not the best officiating we've seen and do you think that it was justified by the fan base uh yeah I think this guy has not had a playoff assignment this deep in over 20 years and you know we're a point now, I think we're at a real point where they need to do a real evaluation on officiating in the system in general, not just the officials themselves. man system there's a lot of inconsistency in what they call i also think that they're always in the way and the reason we had four guys and two linesmen when we went to officials is because there was a lot of fighting and a lot of scrum during the game and that doesn't exist anymore so uh you know get one of them out of the way give three of them the powers to call the lines and the penalties and get this thing sorted out. And in the playoffs, I think I'm like in between the old school and the new school.

But like my belief is in the corners and in front of the net, you need to fight for your ice. And if it's a battle where you're going to take a crossjack or a slash or whatever it is, I'm fine with that. I want to see that. I don't want to see that called. I don't want to see that decided. I'm fine with that. I want to see that. I don't want to see that call. I don't want to see that decided game. But if you see a guy in a second retribution, punch a guy like Nick Suzuki in the face, right in front of the net, and you're turning your head and not calling it just because the Canadians are already on a power play, you're not doing your job.

And I thought it was farcical. Like games three and four of that Vegas series were an absolute joke that they would let those two guys officiate after what happened in game three. In game four was a mockery and there's no accountability. Don Van Massenhoven was the series supervisor.

I went looking for him in the press box. I would have loved to have gotten an answer from him on what they were thinking, putting them back in. I could set up a rough and rowdy if you want the way there was another time where i did speak to a series supervisor after a playoff game he played off game in the conference finals or no it was uh first round of the playoffs montreal washington 2010 montreal washington 2010 there were three diving calls against mont Montreal in game six of that series that they were trailing 3-1 now one of them went against Max Lepere O'Hall Brian Gionta called for diving with no tripping penalty associated to it like I was trying to look like has there

how many penalties have there situation in the entire season, let alone in game six and elimination game in Montreal where you are making 53 saves or whatever it is like that was insane. And I remember speaking to the series supervisor and I'll keep his name out of it. And I remember just saying like, what the hell was that? Like we had never seen that three penalties against one team for diving. And one of them is against Brian Gionta, who's never taken a dive in his entire life.

I'd love to see these penalty calls. You're calling him by, by himself and sending him off the ice without a tripping call associated to it, which is something that never happens. And he looks at me and goes, well, I thought the officiating was even worse in Alaska. I'm like, so what are you guys doing? So there's no, I don't know. I think fans want to see accountability.

I think players want to see accountability. They have to answer for the bad penalties they take or whatever it is. And everyone has to pay a fine when they rip the officials. Let the officials or the supervisor, if you have a supervisor for a series, let him talk on the officiating if the officiating is an issue and revamp the damn system because it's broken it's not working properly when nobody knows what a penalty is and people are ignoring blatant stuff

like someone getting punched in the face right and wrong yeah it's been rough this playoffs i had a couple quick ones for you um how many stitches did cory perry end up taking in his nose and what was the extent of the damage it almost looked like his like nose might have been hanging off before they stitched them up six to eight and yeah oh that one was that one was the uh like your four officials that are allowed to call that the linesmen are allowed to call it the refs are allowed to call it and it's a play it was the worm if it wasn't the worm they probably would have called it's a play on the puck like what else are you watching if not that? It makes no sense.

The other thing that has driven me nuts about officiating over the last couple years is the disappearance of goal-pinner interference. We never call it anymore unless it involves a goal that we're trying to decide if it's a goal or not. Guys are getting run over in the crease, and nobody calls it because the play is not going to the crease i say make them fair game like carrie price got concussed getting run into on a play and there was no there's no penalty on it so i i just i don't know i just think there's a lot of stuff that needs to be looked at i'm sure our viewers are going to wonder when this goes to

youtube is that a painting or a video game behind you? And if so, what's it of? That's a painting of Saku Koivu scoring on Andrew Raycroft. Andrew Raycroft has seen it actually. And my wife painted it too. She absolutely hates hockey. But when we met, she was, she's a great painter. And I said, would you paint me something hockey related? And she's like, I've never done it before, but sure. So she picked out a picture and she knew that saka koiba was my favorite player going up and brilliant job she did a great job the question all right what was it gonna do oh yeah that's a no-brainer after you get a gift like that and i got one more too is that a bob molly t-shirt or yeah he's playing soccer yeah there we go nice i'll have to honor him after this interview there was uh two other things i had to ask you about was tochamps having to set out

through COVID protocol and Luke Richardson stepping in and doing a tremendous job. Some people have even said that, you know, this type of run and what he's done for the team might lead him or end up getting a head coaching job somewhere else. What are your thoughts on all that? I think executives would be willing to ignore the shortness of the sample size with Luke Richardson and offer him a job. How could you not? You hear what guys like Ben Sherratt said about being willing to go through a wall for Luke.

We've spoken, obviously, over the years with all the defensemen who he's been in charge of and just said, you know, like this guy will never pull out the iPad and start ripping you on the bench for a mistake you make he's gonna encourage you he won't even say anything to you if you made a mistake he'll roll you out in the next shift and then he'll take you aside in the room after the period and say hey you know like here's a couple things we need to focus on whatever it is you see it just watching on tv if you're just an average fan how calm he is back there under the most pressure possible. That was great. Ducharme, too, has really impressed me with his calmness

and the way he handled this whole situation. He obviously installed the system that the Canadians are adhering to, but both these guys are two of the most fortunate rookie interim head coaches in the NHL ever because look at their room. Look at who they have. It's Shea Weber. It's Corey Perry. Perry it's Eric Stahl it's Ben Sherrod it's Joel Edmonton who we didn't even talk about this whole time it's unbelievable uh Jake Allen go down the list Tyler Capoli Josh Anderson this is team character it says CH on the jersey and that's what it should probably stand for when it comes to this

addition of the Montreal Can. Those guys could not be luckier to have that group of guys to be coaching in their first year as head coaches. And the whole story is just nutty. It's emblematic of what this 2021 shit show has been. It's just insane.

Didn't some of your buddies have a message they wanted to relate a wit via you during this interview? They told me that I need to rip him because he's all over the Canadians. I have no idea. I kind of missed. I'm in and out. Your episodes are like four hours long, so I'm listening in my car when I'm in there. I must have missed a segment somewhere.

But Witt, what don't you like about what you're seeing? Well, you said you were going to game five in Tampa, and according to Witt, they're not going to make it there. So that's why I was a little concerned for you off the hop. Why? When did I say there was going to be a sweep? All right, all right. I back off. I back off. There you go. Good call, Biz. Minus four this interview. I just can't stand the Canadians.

I don't know. I'm from Boston. The thing is, I'm not even a Bruins fan. I guess I grew up one, but I hated the Canadians. And then when the fan – everyone wanted Chara arrested after that hit against Pacioretty. That was like, holy shit, typical Montreal. Now, I respect the hell out of this team, and I will not be disappointed to see them win the Cup

because they have so many guys that deserve it. But in the end, I'm not rooting for the Canadians. You know what I'm saying? What am I going to – I'm not a pander or like biz. No, I like that. You got to stay true to yourself. But I will say, I was thinking about it today. Like, if there was a Canadiens team that a Bruins fan would actually like,

it's this one. And when you see guys like Edmondson and Sherratt, you know, the Bash brothers on the back end, or what did Luke Richardson say, the four guys that he's got are like four Chris Pr prongers uh you know this team plays so hard they're so in your face and i asked virtually at the beginning of the year based on all the moves he made you know i said did you use the bruins as a template for how to how to build this team because i kind of see like you went for a reset instead of a full rebuild player like Anderson. Yeah. Anderson for sure.

A guy like that, but just keeping guys like Weber and price and, and Petrie and Gallagher and the known building around them instead of ripping the whole thing apart. And just, you know, I think the Bruins were a great model. I think the blues are another model that he borrowed from,

especially when you look at what he did on the backend, which is really cross-current. Like those two guys, Edmondson and Sherrod, like Bruins fans should love those guys. They should, you know, I think those guys are so underrated. Throwbacks. They're great, but the thing is, like, you're playing 4D, right? Like, good luck next series if they want to kind of continue 24 minutes

for four guys. It's just they haven't played anyone like this. It's an amazing story. I don't think they're going to win, but it's one of those things. Once I heard that Montreal and Toronto, any single time they've played in the history of the playoffs, the winners won the cup. It's like, all right, that might be the final straw.

Well, I know you're not a huge fan of the Islanders, but do you see any... They're scumbag fans. That's the only issue. Do you see any similarities between the Islanders? I hate fans. I hate fan bases more than the teams, if that makes sense. Elliott Freeman called them the Islanders' light,

didn't he? Yeah, Canadians fans hate that too, obviously. Oh, Elliott... I think they got a better goal time there. They're their own team, but I'm just wondering, do you guys not see similarities in the way the Islanders play

and the way the Canadians play? Yeah, it would have been like the Spider-Man meme if they did play each other. I don't know, the Spider-Man pointing at each other. I was watching Game 7 between Tampa and New York and thinking to myself, okay, this first period, everyone's freaking out. Tampa's got 14 shots. New York has six or seven. I'm sitting

there watching this period, saying to myself, this period is being this period is being played on new york's terms it's i don't care if there's 14 shots on net and yeah there was that one little half breakaway chance that they got from headman but like the whole period and most of the series was played on new york's terms and if they steal away the middle of the ice and the canadians i think have a better bullpenner and carry price. And I think that they are more dynamic in terms of the way they create offense and they have more guys going in depth.

It was a one-shot series with the Islanders. Like the Islanders were very close to beating the team that I, the only person at Sportsnet, chose to win the Stanley Cup again this year. And I just think, you know, the Canadians, what they've done in these playoffs, what they have found is a recipe for success. And the fact that everyone is pulling a line in the same direction, it's why they're doing it.

And I don't expect that to change in the final, but I think Tampa is, you know, the greatest team in this league. And that power play is lethal. And I don't think the Canadians can continue what they've been done on the penalty kill against them. So at five on five, they're going to have to make the difference. They're going to have to come up with power play goals,

and they're going to need their defense to step up with some scoring as well. So it's going to be an incredible challenge. But I'm not betting against the Canadians. I just – I can't at this point with everything that I've seen Mayfield already tenderized Kucherov's ribs for you guys so I'd imagine Edmondson hops on board and gives him a few right to there I don't think any of those guys are gonna have like if I was a player going up against those four guys would be a nightmare for me like I would I I didn't like that stuff to begin with when I was a player and playing at this level uh wow like those guys are just savages out there and it's

bencherot like that guy is so old school he's a throwback and edmondson you know i'll tell you this guys like toronto maple leaf scouts wanted to sign gil edmondson and they were told stop bringing up his name he doesn't fit with our style and if they had that that guy like they would still be planning on the playoffs like that was what was missing from that game so and I just think you know the analytics community hated on him and the way he moves the puck and this and that he's moved the puck better than he ever has in his career in Montreal but you got to appreciate guys for what they do and what they bring. Sherrod and Edmondson are perfect examples of that.

Good skating, huge guys who are just nasty. And I remember I texted Shea Weber after Edmondson signed in Montreal. I said, you know, what do you make of what people say about this guy? And he said, you'll see how much fun he is to play against. Like, you'll see. And that's what they've got going for them. They steal the middle of the ice away and make it really hard. And when I was watching Tampa play New York in game seven,

I saw them forcing things to the middle quite a bit against a team that does it really well too. And that's why it was a one-nothing game scored on a whole play off the bench on a penalty kill by Yanni Gord. Like that series could have gone either way. This one between Montreal and Vegas, I don't think could have gone either way with the way it went. Like the Canadians beat them soundly and they did the same thing to them

that they did to the Jets and the Leafs. They broke them physically and mentally. And that, you know, I think it's going to be hard for those guys to swallow because they look at what's on paper and say, we're better than these guys, but they don't, the Canadians clearly don't care. They found their recipe and they're going with it. Yeah. The PK versus PP kind of the old irresistible force versus

immovable object type thing. It seems like before we let you go, Eric, have you made your prediction on the series yet? I'm not making a public one, but like I said, I'm not betting against the Canadians. You guys know where I'm going. You get away with that. Well, I I'm not betting against the Canadians. Oh, sports nuts letting you get away with that? Well, I've got my own. No, because my prediction's already in that Tampa was going to win the Cup. Okay.

But I'm fine, you know, if I end up taking the L on that one, then, well, it won't be the worst thing. Then that's a win for you. I just jump-teamed the team. Me and Celine Dion, we're all over the place. Vegas, Montreal, team to team. Me and Celine Dion, we're all over the place. Vegas, Montreal, back to Vegas. Who's on your t-shirt?

What's on that t-shirt? This is the Burger Van. I think R.A. won episode. I think R.A. was being dead serious when he called him the Burger Van. And then we just figured these are probably some of the guys that he'd want on board. We got Cole Caulfield, Carey Price. Who else do we got, Grinelli?

Looks like Weber. Bergevin, Shea Weber, Carey Price, and Cole Caulfield. And we got a couple other ones. What's the other one? We got Cole Caulfield. Hablanda. Are you a fan of the boys, the show on Amazon Prime? Well, first of all, I got buddies that have already bought the Cole Caulfield

t-shirt, and I saw his brother bought it also. I think you're missing – now you need a Nick Suzuki special in there. Yeah, let's talk about him quickly before you leave. He is everything that they expected and more. Probably a little bit of a dunk considering that Vegas gave up on him, I guess. Just talk about the impact that he's had. Never forget the first conversation i had with nick suzuki at a development camp and this was

after he just ripped it up at guelph and went to the memorial cup and had 42 points in 24 games and playoffs and i turned to him i said you know speaking to an amateur scout it says he's not sure that you have the intensity because you don't play at 100 miles an hour like new school guys in the NHL and he just looked at me and said you know I may look like I have a smile on my face when I'm playing but I'm one of the most intense players you'll ever see and you're you'll you know you'll learn that about me and I just I just remember thinking to myself like here's this kid he's he's like humble Canadiana exactly what you like about Canadian kids, but he knows exactly how good he is. And he truly understands how good he can be. And, you know, his heroes, Patrice Bergeron, that's who he wants to be.

His skill set is ridiculous. He's such a genius of a player, but he does it at 200 feet. And what he's proven in these playoffs is his his competitiveness is not the thing that you turn to first when assessing his game and it maybe it should be because when you saw him get smoked by braden mcnabb and like the only reason that he got up from that hit was because he's smart enough and actually saw it at the last second because he almost got the lights turned out and the way he snapped back up and what he did after that it just speaks to how competitive he is and how intense he is and i think that's kind of a screw you to everyone because there was a lot of people that didn't

believe that he had that in him even when he was ripping it up in guelph and they came back from down three nothing in the first round against l against London and continue this run that they were on and you know he just tore it up and I think that that really got to him I think it really bothered him that people said that about him and thought that about him and I think he probably believes that it was a factor in why Vegas looked at the Max Pacioretty deal and threw Thomas Carr in a second round pick and said yeah we'll give you suzuki we want to hang on to cody glass like i think he probably looks at that and says maybe you you've made a bad decision just like everyone else who had thought that i don't have that that intensity just because i'm not skating aimlessly at 100 miles an hour here or there like he plots his way around finds the dead areas of the ice.

He's really smart like that, but he's so intense, and he's proven it in these playoffs. And he's 21. He's got 20 points. I don't know what he's at now, whether it's 27 games, 26, over 20 points at 21 years old in the playoffs, and he's raised his game completely. If this is what he's doing now,

I can't wait to see what he's going to be doing in three, four years. So that's what the whole lineup, the Habs lineup, was saying to Patch Reddy during the series, was thanking him for bringing over Nick Suzuki. It would have been what I would be saying if I was playing on that. That would have been pretty good, I think. Make a mental note. I will say, Patch left Montreal with the reputation of a guy

that couldn't perform in the playoffs, and he ripped it going into the Montreal series before they shut down everyone in that top six. And I would say that Hatch was the best player of any of the top six in Vegas there. I don't know what happened with the other guys, but they really lost up the middle. The center ice position is something that Vegas

is going to have to address, and I'm sure they're sitting there saying to themselves, man, if we had Nick Suzuki, like, wow, what a difference it would make. Oops. Yeah. His draft day photo was definitely making the rounds over the last few days. Well, thank you so much.

I know we've taken a lot of your time. Great insight as always. And go Habs. Habs and four. It was, it was fun guys you guys are great thanks Eric appreciate it very much have fun thank you very much to Eric Angles the guys is dialed in with

the Canadians is anyone else out there you could tell he's fired up to cover his first Stanley Cup final congrats to him before we move any further we need to talk about hard dicks that's right a big old hard dick. That's what guys want. And most guys have tried different ways to last longer. But thinking about playoff stats and trophy finalists doesn't always work when you're getting after it.

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eve of the Stanley Cup final, might go down as the dumbest one we've had. Does it take away, does it take over from the Eichel question I asked five years ago? Nope, because that was still like, that makes me quee. Biz made me laugh. Yours makes me throw up. But Biz, how often have we had somebody we're interviewing just laugh at a question like that?

I don't think it's happened to that degree. But I respected him. And I saw your face. And even R.A., who's probably the most sensitive guy of the bunch, even was like, oh, my God. I thought he was going to laugh. I'm the most sensitive guy of the bunch. Hey, you sound like the most sensitive guy saying, I'm the most sensitive guy. No, in a sense of like you would have like didn't want to bark at me.

Like you would have been like more understanding of it. Empathetic. Empathetic. I'm definitely the most empathetic. Yeah, yeah. Listen, I might be the most sensitive. That's my middle name. And this is a prime example because I was in my feelings about it

because I am a diehard Canadian, and there's nothing I want more for Carey Price to solidify himself as one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. Dude, that's another thing you said. What are you talking about? Greatest goaltender of all time? Well, at least I said Canadian. Okay, Patrick Watt and Martin Brodeur? Well, I'm saying that I think that

with a cup and then another gold medal, I think he enters himself in at least that top realm conversation. Am I saying he's Patrick Watt? Am I saying he's Martin Brodeur? Oh, I thought you just said, did he not just say he was going to be the number one Canadian goalie ever? I'm sorry. No, I said,

did I say that? Did you say the greatest Canadian goalie? Canadian with an A or with an E? Oh, one of them. God, jeez, now you guys got me on my heels again. I mean, I'm not. You got me on my heels again.

I was just like, no, I was having a conversation. Like, oh, like I wasn't chirping. I was more just thinking like, oh man, this is a legit argument. I completely agree. It was one of those ones where it's like, fuck, you're – I mean, me and Dator, we've had a tough postseason. The worst when I'm asking a bad question is knowing it's a bad question halfway through it.

Then you can't even get it out and you know the answer is going to be trash because the tee-up was so bad. So I feel for you. It was just so funny to see the actual interviewee laugh. I would say that sometimes I struggle with asking questions in general where I'll start going too long, and I'm like, I don't even remember what I started asking to begin with. So, yeah, that's part of it. The guy's like, land the plane, bitch, please.

I answered the answer in my question. What else was I going to quickly mention there? You want to talk about more fan idiocy, didn't you? Well, going back to the fact that happened with Engels, I feel like every time we get one of these fancy Sportsnet guys on, because I remember when we had Merrick on, I asked him why it was called 31 Thoughts. I mean, I saw the look on his face and you know him being empathetic he didn't

dunk on me like angles say well it's going to be 32 thoughts soon biz like he was like he explained it like you're younger yeah you got to respect now all right what you just brought up going back to earlier and the reason why I brought up Bartman when we were talking about the fan interference was with the Tour de France situation what are some of the worst fan fan you know interactions and interferences throughout not only just hockey what are some of the worst fan interactions and interferences throughout not only just hockey but other sports? The worst one of all time isn't even funny, but it's Monica Seles. Oh, God, that's a nightmare, yeah.

It's not. I mean, yeah, but you're saying worse. But fan interaction, number one tennis player in the world when she was like 17 years old. I don't know the age when this happened happened but she was elite world-class tennis player was down after below the baseline near the wall where the ball boys and ball girls stand she's standing there um or she might have been near the the the change table halfway court what the fuck am i talking about but either way a fan came down and stabbed her in the back yeah night i remember 94 i think I think it happened. Dude, it was fucking horrifying. Yeah, she went down screaming.

She got stabbed. I don't know if it was more than once. And she came back and played tennis. She was never the same. It was the, but when you just brought that up, I just thought of like, that is.

Was she never the same because of injury or just. And you know what? Or was it just the shock and the horror of it all? And I'm pretty sure he was a, he was a diehard fan of hers. Yeah, he had, I think he had some issues. No, no, no, no. But I the horror of it all. And I'm pretty sure he was a diehard fan of hers. Yeah, he had some issues.

No, no, no, no. But I think part of it was he was obsessed with her. Yeah. If I'm making that up, I apologize. But, yeah, that kind of takes the fun out of the question. Yeah, I didn't mean to knee Debbie down. I got one. The fucking white trash father and son at the White Sox game who attacked the first base coach of the Kansas City Royals.

Oh, my God. They were straight out of Whiskey Tango magazine. Such like white trash. They were scumbags. I haven't heard of this one either. This was probably almost 20 years ago. Players came and started pounding on them. They ran on the field. Father and son had just attacked the first base coach

of the Royals and started beating on them. And the malice at the Palace wasn't really I think it was our test first. The malice at the Palace, R.A.? Well, no, I mean the fans think that's a fan interaction, a full-blown ball. Ty Domi, too. Ty Domi pummeled the guy in the penalty box.

I would say he more accidentally fell in. We're forgetting some big-time ones for sure. He kind of pulled them in, too. It's funny, though. don't see too many. Nancy Kerrigan. That's another downer. That's not.

That's another downer. Oh, Jesus. That was a criminal conspiracy more than a fan interference. But it's funny, you don't really see football play. I mean, people. Who the hell is going to run next to one of those guys? Exactly. Exactly.

Now, speaking of fan interactions, I don't know if you guys caught the video of Patty Maroon leaving the ice after game six when the guy was just middle finger right there, got the whole thing. And I think that Patty Maroon's got the last laugh going for three fucking cups in a row now, boys. Yeah, I mean, I hate to say I told you I was right. I'm not somebody that likes to do that. But in the end, I was right. And Islanders, hell of a run, great team, scumbag fans. I just think that they're just maybe one player short.

I don't know if it's one or two, but it's one guy that goes with Barzell, another legitimate star in the league, and he is one. I don't mean to jump right into the series. All right, you could take over, but I was right. They didn't win the cup. I figured it out. I'm not waiting tables at Borelli's. I said I'm not serving Penny Oliva to sweaty, gross Islanders fans.

I'm just going to enjoy Tampa Bay winning, like I said. And the best move I had was I hammered the Islanders in game seven. It was the ultimate emotional hedge. They call it the happiness hedge. The happiness hedge. I said I either move on and am right again about the Islanders not winning the Cup, or they win and I make

a boatload of cash. So it ended up working out the way I had hoped. I'm glad to lose that money as long as they lost, but it was a hell of a series. And a great Game 7, even though it was 1-0. I had the Boston going to Vancouver for Game 7 vibes. What was another one

even the uh st louis coming into boston for game seven where just it seemed like nothing went right for the home team and they ended up figuring it out um it was at game six no no uh in the stanley cup final sorry i did a shitty job of explaining that i just had i had the feeling that the islanders pushed it to chef oh jesus i had a feeling when the islanders pushed it to seven that they were going to figure out a way to get it in game seven because i thought that lightning was just going to lay an egg at home but yeah they ended up scoring the shorthanded goal and hanging on now later in the game did the puck hit the mesh and then they didn't they didn't blow it down because i felt that a couple lightning guys were like hey that went out of place but yet they still remained calm kept the tight house and ended

up pulling out and getting the job done because there was a few chances and few cracks at it for the islanders now i don't know i don't know if you even caught that all right i did and once again once again yeah once again nbc didn't follow up on it like they've been doing a i mean piss poor job this this fucking last couple of series, I think. Terrible replays, lack of replays, that situation. Edsel mentioned it, but there was no follow-up. There was no replay. The refs didn't blow the whistle.

But, yeah, everyone was pointing. I didn't see the puck. I couldn't see if it did hit the netting or not. It did, at the end of the day, not matter. But going back to the idiot fans, that was probably the perfect segue for this series, given the way the Islanders fans thrown the shit on the ice after game six. I know it was the last game ever there, even though they didn't know at the time. I would have been

jazzed up. You know, through shit, I'm like, no, I've never thrown a fucking half full half bear in the ice, full bear, anything like it's fucking stupid, man. Like those guys are whacking them down with their sticks. You catch a guy with a nose, hit him in the eye. It's and not just to pick on the Islanders, the Tampa fans threw their fucking noisemakers on.

Yeah, but I do think that is a little different. You're a loser for throwing something on the ice, but those are like plastic air bubbles. I mean, seriously, I know it sounds fucking cool. What if a guy catches one off the fucking eye and can't, you know what I mean? I don't even think it would do anything. And not to mention, well, fuck you.

Not to mention, they're playing in the cup, man. It's like, you do that the last game of the season, you're going to act like an idiot. I don't know. I just don't know. I have to agree. And the broadcast was hard on them, too. But like, people were big mad online, too.

It was like, it was stupid. And it was trash moved by scumbag fans, Islanders. But it wasn't like. I mean, Bill Yeager said he was afraid to go out there. He didn't want to get hit by something. And that was the line where Islanders, the most sensitive fan base in the world, is still trying to... Everyone does it.

It's not going to hurt them. It's an empty can. It's like, first of all, there's no way all those were empty. No, no way. And second of all, the star player who just scored the OT winner is saying, I'm afraid to go on the ice. Exactly. What are you doing?

You can... I just don't... I'm sure there's been plenty of Islanders fans who have been like, those people are clowns. But a lot of defending going on by people who weren't there it's like what are you defending here but on the flip side it did bring some funny memories and i thought it was it was a funny send-off although yes appropriate it was appropriate i think the comment they had is you know when we were before we went in overtime when we went down the tunnel it smelled

like cigarettes and then after the game it smelled like cigarettes. And then after the game, it smelled like beer. And just in typical Coliseum fashion. And that's how it all ended. So as dangerous as it was, I thought it was very fitting. And part of me can laugh. And if I was a player on the ice, yes, you could have got clipped in the face or something, but I would have been loving that. And you know what?

That game, to go down 2-0. I would have been smoking a cigarette. You're just having a parley. I go to grab one and drink the rest of it. Oh, it's piss. Jesus Christ, these Islanders fans are actual scumbags. Thank God that arena. Oh, my God, what a dump.

But you got to credit what a dump. Like, that's done. You got to credit that team. Hey, Witt's going to be the guy with the ball. He hired the construction. No, let me tell you, though. I ended up just owning them again in terms of calling everything. I called Tampa in seven.

I said exactly what was going to happen. But there wasn't a part of me, and I would never, ever root for someone to be injured. I went through that. I would never want to see it. But when they were throwing cans, I can't lie. It was going through my head. If they injure one of their own players right now, I will own them forever. That's true.

And listen, it almost happened. You saw a couple guys dodge. It's, of course, like cans. So still, a pathetic wait for it to end. But I was about to give them credit. That game to go down 2-0 and tie it up and then get the win off a huge pizza. I wanted Coleman. And tie it up.

And then get the win. Off a huge pizza. I wanted Coleman. I wanted to just be able to go into the locker room. And rip him for that pizza. The way I got ripped for all my pizzas. But Beauvillier. Excuse me.

I always mess up his name. Just snipes that thing. And it was a great effort by them to finish off the Coliseum's shitbag career. Besides the early 80s. Before we get to Kucherov pissing blood. Because of Mayfield's lumber cross checks, how much would you pay to be the guy who hits the button that implodes the Coliseum to put it to rest? I wouldn't, dude.

It's dead in my mind as it is already. It's already blown up. I mean, empty cans don't travel. No, I was expecting a funny answer, and that was hilarious. Thank you. I wasn't trying to be. This isn't about the fans. This isn't about anyone else.

But if they get another superstar like Barzell, and they got to get Pellick signed. They have a lot of things going on. Actually, I still want to talk about Game 7 a little bit, but I interrupted you. They got Anders Lee coming back next year, too. Dude, they didn't have him. Yeah, that's your captain. I mean, but they should have thrown the cans at fucking Jimmy Fallon. I mean, he's across the street at Rangers games all the time.

And all of a sudden he shows up in Long Island with a karate kid cheering on the fucking Islanders. Like, that shit's fucking fake as fuck, man. I mean, you can't be like a Rangers fan all the time and then, like, show up and wear a Rangers shirt. I agree. If you're a bandwagon fan, you're an absolute piece of trash. Should have threw the cans at him.

I would have no problem with that. You're working with the biggest bandwagon fan of all time, R.A. This guy was a Leafs diehard. In game 6-2, Braden Point scored a goal in his 9th straight game. He didn't make it 10, but he's 2nd all-time after Reggie Leach now.

And then going to game 7, 1-0. Only one goal the whole game. Only one penalty the whole game. That's when the goal was. And it was shorthanded. Yanni Gord, shorthanded from Surly and Cologne. He jumped on the ice. People were trying to say it was too many men on the ice, but... That's a new thing, this playoffs.

If you steal that, it technically is, but that's where it's called a little different. They had nothing to do with the play. Gord was on a legal change. He was the only one that mattered. If the puck had gone out to the middle of the ice and it hit a couple of players' skates, they'd blow it dead. I feel like people are just superimposing

them from different shots. I know. I was like, wow, there is a lot of guys out there. You hit 12 guys out there. The parking lot attendance on the ice. Well, wait a minute. Mr. Borelli, what are you doing on the ice? I did see six

blue jerseys. I was like, whoa, that is a lot. But second assist goes to Killorn, but the play was made by McDonough, who had what a series, one of the best players on Tampa that entire series. And Mike Johnson on NHL Network did a great breakdown of the play, but he picked off a pass from the point. It was a read down the corner. It was a read where he knew the defenseman hadn't looked and thought he could shoot it down. He picks off the

pass and then most D-men fire it down right away, get the change. He kind of does a little head fake, waits it out, fires a pass up to Killorn, who trips it over to Sorelli. Killorn changes, Gord pops on and scores a goal after three Islanders players went to the puck. There wasn't much awareness.

I think you're not checking behind you. You think you're up a man. You got to go pressure the puck. Gord's right there, makes the perfect shot. But the play all started because of McDonough. Hedman, McDonough, and Kucherov, as their three left D, is wild. Sergachev. Sergachev. Sorry, sorry, Russian.

Well, he can play D on the power play. Yeah, he can do it all. I was figuring he would play. I didn't know if it was one of those things where he plays a shift and he's like, I can't do it. But there was moments. He looked great. I'm sure, like, physicality-wise, he was trying to stay away,

but his hands were still there. He made a couple beautiful passes. He also almost had a goal on a little delay. So to get him playing was a huge win emotionally for those guys before even the puck was dropped. I would say Yanny Gord is probably the least talked about forward, too, on Tampa. That guy's awesome. Cheaters.

There was also much talk, going back to Game 6 briefly, when Kucherov got cross-checked by Mayfield. He only played one shift all game. He did play Game 7. There was a lot of hullabaloo about that. I don't know, man. They've been letting these things go all playoffs. Oh, yeah, they have.

And it's like, you know, what he did. That one's a tough look because it's like it's it's it's blatant right in front of the ref and i don't even he hadn't had the puck for at least a couple seconds so it was it to me it seemed more of like a like an intent to injure than than making a play on the puck because if he's got the puck on a stick and you give it to him i can understand it but and listen that's not me chirping mayfield because i watched them all play off long and dude that guy if he's got the puck on his stick and you give it to him, I can understand it. And listen, that's not me chirping Mayfield because I watched them all play off long. Dude, that guy. If there's a common theme here, guys, and we know it's a copycat league, I think it's going back to getting four fucking bruiser defensemen

to just beat the wheels off of guys. Look at Vegas. Look at fucking Vegas. I know. Look at Montreal. Look at their top. I don't even think they play five and six. And look at who St. Louis had.

Look at who St. Louis had when they won. Yeah. What was I just going to mention? What we talked about? Gord. Kucherov getting crushed. Oh, Kucherov crushed. Pissing blood.

So Mayfield, first off, didn't know much about him. A few years ago, I didn't know, you know, call-up type guy. I didn't know what type of career he'd have. That player has turned into so reliable such a reliable defender and he's mean and i was gonna say about that play i some people hate to hear it it was kind of a great play in the playoffs man like you're going after guys sorry it went after their best player horrible decision by the referee to not give him a penalty no doubt give him a penalty i don't think it was suspendable it was a dirty cross check that ended up knocking the best player out of that

game. So not only did he do that, he snipes the tying goal. He had about three inches to shoot the puck, and he put it right in that spot, the size of my cock. And I think that in the end, for him to score that goal after that cross-check makes him the most valuable player of that game. Also, I tweeted Kucherov when that happened. I'm like, hey, it goes around, comes around.

Because he plays a pretty nasty game sometimes. He's a superstar, but he can be pretty dirty behind the play. So it's kind of like, hey, you do that shit, sometimes it's going to come back to haunt you. And that was probably a case of that. I was like, yeah, fuck you, Kucherov, you piece of shit. How do you like it, motherfucker? Yeah. Send tweet.

Oh, fuck, we're trying to get him on at some point. All right, pump the brakes. Do you boys have any other final notes before we send it over to Joe Smith? Tampa Island, did you guys take any more fan interruptions? Wasn't there a guy who ran out on an F1 track one time? That's a tough one. You're going to get run over in that case usually. They're going 200 miles an hour. That'd be a

ridiculous one to get involved with. I think there was a guy in... Oh, the guy in Buffalo when Rob Ray grabbed him when he was on the bench. Didn't he start beating the wheels off him? He came down and then ran across the ice and I think Rob ran and grabbed him. Oh, and a ref buried someone in a hockey game. It looked like

the 80s. Ref just comes over and bundles some guy that's running on the ice. So, folks, if you're on Twitter or Instagram, send us some of these clips. We always like reposting them. And we know they're old school style stuff. And speaking of social media, we're going to be doing live streams while we're here. So we're doing one tonight. You guys will hear this tomorrow. So obviously some of you won't be tuning in.

Wednesday, we've got some guys coming in to join us. of you won't be tuning in. Wednesday, we got some guys coming in to join us. It's going to be a surprise and also Friday. Now, some of you who maybe you're not on Twitter, maybe you're on Instagram, it's easy. All you can do is go to subscribe to our YouTube page. Spit and Chicklets YouTube page. Not only do we do these live streams, we drop

these sandbag or golf things. We, of course, drop the... Why are you laughing? I'm just so excited right now. Keep pumping it. Keep pumping it. Let me hand it over to you. What other things do we post up there? We do gaming on there.

We do Chicklet Storytimes where we animate the best stories. We post clips from the podcast. We post the full podcast as well. We have clips from the West Coast Wagon Tour. We have stuff from St. Louis, from Dallas, from every trip we've ever been on. We do behind-the-scenes vlog every trip

we do on. We have a behind-the-scenes video. Sean's following these guys around the whole time. Subscribe to the YouTube. Done. Great job. I'm into YouTube now. I follow a lot of different stuff. I can see why the youngsters are only watching YouTube. I thought of another fan at their action. This is way old school. I think it was

1976. L.A. Dodger, Rick Bundy. Some fans ran out in the field and they tried to set fire to an American flag. And just as they were about to, he came swooping in and grabbed the flag at the last second. Nice. He saved the American flag. It's a pretty legendary interaction as well. It's a little more positive one there. It started bad, but it ended.

I brought that down. I brought that down. Hey, thanks for elevating the mood back up, R.A. And that's a great story to bring up around July 4th, Canada Day, so all you Canadians and Americans enjoy your holiday weekend, and especially the cup final. Now, are we sending it over to? We're sending it over to Joe Smith.

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No matter what type of job you're interested in, experience the better way to find it at ZipRecruiter. And now, Joe Smith from The Athletic. Well, I'd like to welcome our next guest to the show. He's coming to us from Tampa where he covers the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Athletic and his first appearance on the pod. Thanks so much for joining us on such short notice. Joe Smith, how's the atmosphere before Game 1, Joe? It's pretty crazy.

I think considering all the fans that couldn't watch last year's Cup run in the bubble, you could definitely tell the energy where they opened up to 16,300 fans tonight. I'm sure there'll be probably more than that in the stands. Just kind of electric atmosphere. Game 7 against the Islanders, it was as loud as I've heard it

in a long time. So you can tell they're ready for something potentially special here with this group. Do you think the fan base down there is still sort of underrated when compared to other fan bases? I've been to plenty of games there. I think it's outstanding. I think it still might have a little of that Florida stigma, but do you think they get their proper due, the fans?

I think for the most part. I mean, sometimes people who haven't been down here or haven't watched them kind of grow the last number of years, I mean, they've sold out 250 straight games, you know, and 19,000 plus, and the whole Thunder Alley there outside is packed, and, you know, the TV ratings are through the roof. So there's a very passionate fan base here. I think because the Rays don't draw a lot of people to the stands, I think people might clump them together a bit.

But the Lightning, ever since Jeff Binnick took over in 2010 and Steve Eichmann has really been pretty much world-class, and you see the fans come out in droves to watch them play. Now, we were chatting beforehand. How long have you been covering the team for? Since my first year was the 14-15 run to the Cup Final, I was kind of like the backup writer of the paper there at the time, from 2010 to 14.

So I was there for their first run in 11 to the conference final against Boston and then took over full-time in the 14 season. What's funny is that that loss to Boston in 2011, their win was very similar in Game 7 against the Islanders. It was 1-0. It was an amazing hockey game. And it was in reading what you wrote about this team after that game, like it shows kind of the guts they have and that they can play,

you know, high flying skilled offense, but they can also buckle down and grind out, shut out wins they've proven. So you've seen this happen over time and it's a long way of asking. It all goes back to getting swept by Columbus. Everything changed after that, huh? It did.

I mean, it took, you know, John Cooper was asked after they won the Cup last year, what was the biggest, you know, what was the biggest change and what helped them the most? He goes, heartbreak. Just one word. And, you know, they had been kind of like the greatest show on ice for several years and regular season success.

And they made some runs, of course. The Cup final went 15 and then 16 conference final. But they had to learn how to win both ends of the ice and defensively. And we started to see their core players, you know, learn that and buy into it. And all the additions that they made the past couple of seasons, Barclay Goudreau and Blake Coleman were huge parts. Pat Maroon, a huge part, you know, both inside the room and out, you know, Bogosian last year, and obviously you're getting some tough guys.

So all the guys have bought into where you win a 1-0 game, 17 shots on goal, that's also going to do really much in a game seven against Islanders. I don't even think it was that close. You know, they didn't have the puck for 15 minutes. So it really shows kind of how far they've come, and that's why I think they have a chance to, you know, to win here, even though Marshall will give them a heck of a series, I think.

One of the names you mentioned, Pat Maroon, you wrote an article, and the reason why we love getting the beat writers on is because you guys have such a close connection to these players and can get stories out of them because of the access you get. This story ended up blowing up, and I'll read one of the quotes from it. I know if you're a progressive site from former teammate Troy Bode, he said, I don't think you can print a lot of them about stories about Pat Maroon. So I imagine you heard a bunch of them that you were probably jaw on the floor and some of which you printed, which, you know, was a hilarious article.

Thanks. Yeah. I mean, he's just one of the most colorful characters. You've had him on the show in the NHL and a very important kind of glue guy to every team. He was lightning. Don't want to come out there last year without a guy like that. But just all the different stories from his teammates, from the St. Louis Bandits in, obviously, the Amaham Ducks, and Trent Yanni played a huge part in him. You know, he almost quit hockey back when the Phantoms got sent home by the Flyers and, you know, thought about hanging it up.

But then he has a young son. Like, I can't not do anything else. I got to do something with, you know, and they gave it another chance. And it's amazing how the world works. You give a guy a chance and believe in him and let him be himself, his personality. And all of a sudden he's a guy who's going for three straight cups. So I think he's just a great story overall.

And obviously there's ones that you could and couldn't print on, you know, on our progressive site, but obviously there's more, more to come I think with him. When, when you described the article to anyone who hasn't read it, what's one story that kind of sticks out maybe that you could share? Oh, God. I think there was, well, other than like the bar fight in the parking lot in St. Louis Bandits where he was chirping with one of his teammates,

Mike Murray, and they were just chirping one guy there at the bar, and they end up fighting in the parking lot. And Mike Murray ended they were just tripping one guy there at the bar and they end up you know fighting the parking lot and Mike Murray you know ended up getting pretty hurt but then Pat and his brother Phil were chasing the guy down in the car and Phil had I guess a golf club and he was trying to go after him but you know I think the the one that really stuck to me was he played for the St. Louis Bandits and they won a championship in Alaska with John Cooper and they had lost the game before going to the championship game. And Kelly Chase, who you guys know really well, the day before, right at the day of the game,

came up to him and said, hey, are we okay? Are we going to do this? He goes, Mr. Chase, we didn't come up all this way to Alaska to lose. I'm not going to let that happen. And they scored three goals and they won the championship. And so it kind of shows the swagger, the confidence, and obviously the skill of Pat Maroon. How many –

That was back when he was working the half wall a little bit. That's true. I was wondering how many did you hear where they're like, ah, yeah, you probably shouldn't print that one. Yeah, I heard a few. And, like, you know, obviously, you know, it's all good fun, right? I mean, nothing crazy, so to speak. But when you're a guy who's life of the party,

a guy who's everyone's favorite teammate and can loosen things up, there are definitely the nicknames 52-50 and all that kind of stuff like that. They hadn't really heard of it before, the nicknames that have gone around. But, yeah, it's been fun to cover him the last couple years, and he'll be at least here for another one next year. And he played for Coop a long time ago, right, when he was a kid, Maroon? Yeah, he just said he was on the team. He was the coach of that team and won it.

So I was writing a question down actually leading up to Coop. He's the longest-tenured coach in the league currently. He seems extremely happy here. Why has he been so successful in Tampa, Joe? Well, I mean, I think, you know, he's been successful everywhere he's went, you know, every level from coaching in high school in Lansing, which I just read in the that back in the day. It's a USHL and AHL.

And I think he just has a strong belief in what he wants to do as a coach. He doesn't change as far as overall. He evolves, of course, but he doesn't change that kind of mindset of what kind of team you like to have. And, you know, he has support, you know, the general manager, Steve Eichmann, then Julian Brisebois and owner Jeff Vinnick. They were really a lot of synergy there where a couple of years ago they lost to Columbus in four games. You might hear people thinking, get rid of this guy or maybe his time has come to move on.

And they really were bullish on him and the team in their core. And they bet on them and they got rewarded in a big way for it. So I think part of it's obviously his success as a coach. He's a player's coach. The guys know he's probably – he always says culture over strategy is kind of his belief more than the X's and O's. And you can see it happening with this group. Process over outcomes, it's said a million times the last couple years, and it's right there.

But it's a whole organizational effort, I think, to have the coaching staff be able to stick around this long and get to see this thing through, which they have. What's the evolution of his and Kucherov's relationship ben like you know in getting him to to really buy in and playing a certain way even being his skilled and you know the player has a temper so what have you seen um that coach player relationship be like in in the years that they've been together i mean that's a good he came up and you know obviously kucherov showed up as a talented prospect he scored in his first game first shot at Henrik Lundqvist.

You knew he'd be a special player. That was my first goal, too. That was my first goal in Madison Square Garden, so I don't know where Kucherov did it. But thanks for bringing him up, Joe. Just like you, yeah. He's always a very talented player, very competitive. One of the greatest hockey minds I've ever been around.

But yeah, Coach John Cooper definitely has kind of evolved with him. And you saw him even bench Kucherov last year during the Cup season against Ottawa for overtime. And so there's, you know, he made sure that Kucherov was kind of understood why. And the players, I'm sure, got their attention as well. But you've seen Kucherov really evolve into more of a vocal leader, which I think would surprise a lot of people who don't know him well. But he was the guy behind the scenes of the bubble, talking to guys on the bench, telling the guys to play the right way.

For a guy of that stature, one of the best players in the world, in my opinion, to come speak up in the room, it makes a big difference. So I think you've seen Cooper is good at letting the talent kind of play, letting them be themselves and show their creativity. And you can't harness a guy like Kucherov. And I think you've seen the benefit of that, of kind of believing in him and letting him kind of find his way. Point.

Witt was talking about him beforehand when we hopped on with you. He's a pretty under-the-radar kind of guy, isn't he? He is. He shouldn't be by now. I mean, I think he's a bonafide superstar um i meant more so off the ice he means like personality personality you don't hear much about yeah he's a i think guys joke you still use a flip phone a couple years back you know like an old soul kind of a burner he like i tried to ask him about himself and it's almost

impossible you know and say to go to his buddies and his dad and, like, people he grew up with and stuff like that. But just a very – one of the most humble people and players I've ever kind of been around, and he's better talking about other people. But this series against the Canadians is funny. Joel Edmondson, we played with him in Boots Jaw, and they recalled the day where he scored. He was, like, 15, 16 years old, looked like, you know,

one of the kids' brothers on the team. And he led the team in scoring in the playoffs. And he scored a hat-trick or a big goal in overtime in that playoffs. And they end up putting him on their shoulders in the locker room. Like some of these first-round picks, you know, top NHL prospects, they're putting this little kid, shaggy-haired kid on their shoulders in the dressing room after the game. And they're like, this is the moment we realized this guy's doing something special.

This is going to be the last moment he scores a big goal and like here you see the last couple years he could have been a con smite last year and he'd be in the running this year i think on how many people's ballots if they do end up winning the cup i want to ask ask about vasilevsky was he expected to be this good he has he exceeded his expectations um you know i think he was a kind of a generational prospect when they drafted him. And the reason why they got him 19th overall is because two things. One, he was Russian. Two, he was a goalie. And not many Russian goalies were taken in the top five or so, like Carey Price was.

But he had that talent. He was compared to Tretiak, kind of a Russian prospect. And he just – I remember talking to Ben Bishop about this. And he said the first time he saw him skate with Tampa or just the way he was playing, he's like, I know my time is numbered here in Tampa Bay. Bishop was a heck of a goaltender just because of how good this kid could be. And you saw him gradually

with the help of Ben Bishop, too, helping mentor and groom him, turn him into the best goalie in franchise history. And you're looking at maybe another best for him tomorrow. So, you know, tremendous work ethic, tremendously competitive. He hates giving up goals, even in practice. And, you know, I've had, tremendously competitive. He hates giving out goals even in practice. And, you know, I've had him on my Hart Trophy ballot this year.

I had him on the fourth of my ballot this year because of how important he was to this team without Kucherov and Stamkos for a month and a half. Well, the third Russian that I'm interested in hearing about is Sergeyev. And just because he seems like a guy who's always in a good mood. I know I've seen clips of him stopping for fans, signing jerseys. He he seems like a guy who's always in a good mood I know I've seen clips of him stopping for fans signing jerseys just seems like a really good guy and I'm wondering is he kind of the clown of the team do guys give it to him what's his whole vibe around the locker room like he's got a great sense of humor uh obviously and um you know I know Kucherov and

Beslovsky do as well but he's a little more kind of outspoken with it and just very mature. I mean, he's only like 22 years old. He's already been in the league for three or four years, you know, and he was kind of one of the stars of those Doc Talk videos with Alex Kalorin where he'd come out there with his cat, you know, walk his cat in the neighborhood kind of thing, kind of pop on the jet ski, but

I remember talking to his Billet family and how he right away was just, he learned English in a couple months span and and he was just one of those guys that's ahead of his time in terms of maturity. But you can definitely see his quotes. He was asked today about getting traded to Tampa. He kind of bit his tongue a little bit and said, obviously it's great to be here.

That's all I'm going to say about that. That's right, because of the connection with Montreal. I was watching Killorn. He reminds me of last year's Palat, kind of that secondary guy where he's just elevated his game. Why such the impact? Is he getting more ice? What extra is he doing to make that impact?

Well, I think Killorn, if you look back, he's been usually a pretty good playoff player back to that 15-cup final run. But I think him in that line with Sorelli and Stamkos has really kind of taken off in that last round. And Killorn is, I know he doesn't have the big name as other guys, but he plays in every situation.

He plays power play, penalty kill, one of the rare power forwards on this team. And if you, I think you guys know that you know how much a player is thought about is when he plays on the ice to certain moments in certain games. And he's always there 6-9-5 at the end of the game with one goal, you try to protect it,

and another we step there 6-9-5 trying to score a goal. So a lot of trust by the coaching staff, and he's really emerged as kind of an underrated leader in the room. So interesting to see what happens this offseason with all the cap crunch expansion draft, because I think he's a guy you wouldn't want to lose, but who knows what might happen. Joe, moving over to game one tonight,

is Koop stressing to his team how much the Canadians have been disrespected seemingly every turn in this playoffs between bookmakers, the media, everybody? I think that should be brought to their attention. I think they probably know that by now, and I think it's a very, very powerful thing. We have a team that's playing like a team of destiny, basically,

and the pressure pressures on Tampa, I think, you know, and this historic chance for a repeat and you have Montreal and they have, have the stars, but they're playing their game kind of perfectly, you know,

and they have all the role players who bought in and, you know, equalizer and carry price. So I think they're, they're well aware of, of, of what the challenge is. It's the different thing is they didn't play these guys in over a

year. So playing these divisional format this year, playing guys eight times you have a good feel now i think this will be a really good feeling on process in game one to see just how they're you know the speed the rookie cold call field to see how they they play against the power play the penalty kill has been terrific for montreal so it's really going to be one of those the first time you'll see a feeling out process really in the playoffs because you haven't seen each other in a long time what do you think tampa needs to do to break through their seemingly robotic check-in?

First of all, they need to break out the zone. Once they break out the zone, they can fly through the neutral zone. They break out of their own end. I think it's just less east-west, more north-south. Get the puck up there. When they're on their game, their puck management is pretty elite. When they've been slow during the last couple of series, they've been really maybe one extra pass or trying to not,

trying to have too much chip and chase, too much kind of flip, kind of too much of a flip game, as they say. So I think overall, if they can kind of get through that initial breakout through the neutral zone, I think that that's when they can really get their forecheck and the line with the on-the-board line can really take over and create there. And given how the cup went last year, obviously Stamkos did win, but he was injured. He didn't get to participate probably as much as he wanted to,

obviously not as much as he wanted to. He must be extra geared up this year considering his health is a lot better. Oh, it's very special for him. You look at him, he's been part of the runs in previous years, but last year, you know, that other than that iconic goal, which was an important goal in the cup final, you know, he's just mostly behind the scenes and being a leader. And now just being kind of front and center and scoring some big goals last series and, you know, being, you know, being kind of leader on and off the ice. I mean, I think this is kind of a special moment for him.

He's still, I think, playing hurt, quite frankly. I mean, he had an injury late in the year, so he's still kind of battling it, just like Kucherov was. But I don't think people realize just how unique it is for a guy to have that many serious, serious injuries and not only come back but play at an elite level like he has. It probably takes a tremendous toll, I'd imagine, on him mentally and physically to come back each and every year and try to play at that elite level that they all hope he can be at. Well, thank you for coming on and teeing up Tampa's team look

before this series. What is your prediction? My prediction is lightning in six. Well, thank you for coming on and teeing up Tampa's team look before this series. What is your prediction? My prediction is Lightning in six. Lightning in six or seven. That was mine too, Joe. That was mine too. Lightning in six. It's not my thing to love you.

Yep, we'll see. So we appreciate you coming on and good job covering the team. And we'll catch up after the series, I'm sure. Sounds great. Anytime, guys. I got one last one. Does the fan base wonder why Kalorn's guys i got one last one does the fan base wonder why cologne's shoulder pads are so big compared to the other guys does that ever does

that ever come up i don't it always comes up why he always falls down on the ice he always falls slips and falls a lot so they always have to be on that question oh that's not what you want to hear oh yeah so he so he gets snipered from the crowd the most of any guy i would assume shen would have had that yeah shen's too nice of any guy. I would assume Shen would have had that. Yeah, Shen's too nice of a guy. Shen's like one of those guys that's hard to get bad at, you know, hard to give him too much crap. But, yeah, he's that.

Yeah, killer's giving it to people. All right, well, we'll check in with you later. We appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much, guys. Take care. Enjoy the series. Big thanks to Joe Smith for joining us. First time we had him on. I'm sure we'll have him back, especially ifa ends up winning back-to-back cups but that interview was brought to you by our

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This is the fourth ever postseason meeting between the two teams. Tampa beat Montreal in the second round en route to their first cup back in 2004. They played in 2014. The Canadians swept them 4-0 in the first round. And then in 2015, Tampa beat the Canadians in the second round and went on to lose the cup to the Chicago Blackhawks. Here's another interesting note you mentioned. Every single Canadian team, except for Winnipeg,

because they only got back to Winnipeg in 2011, every single Canadian team has been to the Stanley Cup final more recently than the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs have won a series in 2004. I mean, just rubbing your nose and dog shit on the sidewalk. That's crazy. It is crazy. So every team's won at least three rounds.

Yep. Since Toronto's gotten one. Calgary, 0-4. Edmonton, 0-6. Ottawa, 0-7. Vancouver, 11. And the Habs this year. Hey, he's a Canadian's fan now.

This is a no-lose for him. No, it hurts a bit. Okay. Just a little bit. Respect that. Respect that. I was just kind of dozing off there. I couldn't imagine.

Imagine that lady with the sign up, the Tour de France. She was like texting her friend. Hey, look at the TV. They're coming up. They're coming up. I'm about to go viral. Hello. Hello.

And then boom. And then you're like, oh, my God. My friend just ruined the fucking Tour de France. You just delete her number right away. If it was my wife, I'd probably divorce her. Oh, yeah. It's a divorce. That's papers the next day.

Yeah, it's definitely a tough look. Or you make her, like I said, get on the BMX. About this series. Carey Price has been so outstanding, and you can't say enough good things about how he's been. But Vasilevsky has better goals against, a better save percentage, and four shutouts compared to Price's one.

So while you have this amazing goalie in Montreal who's the best Canadian of all time, as Biz said, it's obviously the strength of your team, but you're going in and you're playing a guy who's probably better than you. Over the past few years, certainly he has been. And that's the scary thing about Tampa. That's why I picked him to repeat, the only guy on the show.

That's why I have him winning in six games this series. And in the end, if Tampa wants to play offensive, they can do it. If they want to play defensive, they can do it. And no matter when the breakdown happens, which every team has them, Vasilevsky's there. So I think it's going to be a great series. I'm very excited. I know I said I wouldn't watch if it was Islanders-Canadians.

That was one of my dumber statements. I couldn't believe I said that. I really regretted it because I knew I had to watch. You know, it's my job. So I was going to catch a ton of heat. But in the end, now I am pretty fired up. Because Tampa's offensive power play is so good, and you're going against this PK and this team defense that's been so exciting.

As exciting as defense can be, the Montreal Canadiens have have done it so I think it'll be entertaining I don't think it'll be easy you hear sweeper five I think it's going six or if not seven and it's going to be exciting to see if they can slow this lightning team down like they have every other team along the way to push back a little bit on your point Care Carey Price has went against better goaltenders, quote-unquote, over the last couple years every single round in order to... I mean,

Jack Campbell, his sample size, yes, not big enough maybe, but as far as numbers coming into playoffs, I mean, especially with Hellebuck,

I think, what did he win the Vesna last year? Yes. Yeah, so I mean like, I think he's able to put that fucking

mind torpedo from crease to crease being like, yeah, bitch, I've been here before. But the difference being, he's looking back at you. He's a little taller, too. And because I've been pumping Carey Price's tires the whole time, this is an interesting stat. All right, you may have already read this off because maybe I was dozing off worrying about the Tour de France.

Carey Price stats when his team can clinch a playoff series in six appearances since 2008 9 uh 959 save percentage seven goals allowed with a 1.17 goals against average and two shutouts so that's i just wanted to get that in there i know you're kind of like well yeah but they're starting another series yeah i want no i that's i wanted to pump his tires based on the other one i didn't mean to chirp him in the sense of just like vasilevsky is so good and he's so big and the thing is like if you look at tampa after a loss in the last few years 13 and 0 now vasilevsky has every win dude this guy if he does have an off night or the team has an off night they win the next game back it's just it's it's a machine in Tampa.

So I can't wait to see how it shakes out tonight. Another interesting point. We thought Vegas was, I guess, more of an offensive juggernaut than Montreal going into that series. Vegas was outscored 9-1 off the rush in that series by Montreal. So, I mean, and the only goal that came off a rush from Vegas was was a defenseman so I'm just saying is like you know you keep kind of believe I I I get sucked into like believing someone's ah they're gonna outscore them all they got this high flying off

it's all better goaltender but Montreal's proven time and time again in this lead to the cup that they can they can hang with the big boys yeah and yep so all right my last thing is that they can hang with the big boys. Yeah, and yep. So, Ari, my last thing is that they haven't experienced anything like this team yet in this run. And I got to give them credit, though, because since Game 4 against Toronto, they're 12-2. No, would it be 11-2?

Because they won three straight against TO, they won four straight against Winnipeg, and then they took 4-2 against Vegas. So I think that what they've done has been very special, and there is a magical feeling. I just think that Tampa's too big, too strong, too fast. My only concern for Montreal is we're getting late in the playoffs, and given the depth up front that Tampa has,

how much can you ride those top four D for Montreal? Yeah, we said that to Angles. You're right. I think the goalies are awash as far as I'm concerned. Tampa's forward's got a little too much oomph, I think, a little more oomph than Montreal's rather. And as far as the back end, Montreal, their top four has been doing great, but they don't have as much offense as Tampa's top four. I got Tampa in seven.

I think Montreal's too good. They're going to give them a battle, but I think Tampa in seven. Biz, you had? I had Habbs and seven okay i just think they've been on this magical run and i hopped on the bandwagon last round i look like a genius now and i'm going to keep riding with them i i thought i had the islanders one too that first goal has been huge too like montreal they get it and they i mean they sit on it but they can't get through them no matter what so it's going to be interesting again once again

the powell powell play versus the penalty kill, what was your prediction? I had lightning in six. Lightning in six. Yeah, all right. I said that because we wanted to go to Vegas. We wanted Vegas to win to make a trip out to the Sin City. And I just said, get the first goal, please. But they changed the entire style, and Price can lock it up. So it'll be a good one.

What are the odds right now, R.A.? Actually, I got Merle's column right here. Merle wrote his prediction preview column. Merle's on the lightning. Merle's, by the way, I got Murley's column right here. Murley wrote his prediction preview. Mur's on the lightning. Mur's, by the way, yeah, he's on tampering five. He has the shortest amount of the games. And his, let's see, his blog, Tampa minus 275, Montreal plus 225. I haven't checked it recently, so it could have changed.

I know a lot of these early series or early games, Montreal, they got a lot of late cash coming in on them, so the line did change very much before the game. So we'll keep an eye on that. We'll check what happens. But either way, let's hope for a great series, and hopefully we'll get at least six games out of it. But we got some other news and notes to get to in the hockey world.

Can I give another fun fact? Absolutely, buddy. This Jesse Granger works for Vegas Golden Knights as a beat reporter. We are going back to the power play and how shit it was for the Golden Knights. Through 18 playoff games, the Golden Knights had scored four power play goals on 41 opportunities. That's 9.8%. The last NHL team to play at least 18 playoff games with a power play percentage

below 10% was the New York Islanders in 92-93. So long story short, if your fucking power play is absolute dog shit, chances are you ain't going to go to the finals. All right. Well said, Biz. Good job, Biz. Good job. I've been dropping the fun facts today.

You're crushing it with the stats. Thank you. You're crushing it. All right. Like I said, we've got some other hockey news and notes here. Seattle named their first coach in franchise history. Former Flyers coach David Haxtall is going to be leading Seattle Kraken in their first year. After Philadelphia let him go or fight him,

he became an assistant with Toronto, and apparently he learned some lessons from whatever his mistakes in Philadelphia were, and he's going to be the first coach in Seattle. Any surprise there, boys, from either one of you? I don't know anything about him. I heard he was a bit of a hard-o as a coach coming into the NHL, and you can't be talking to guys in the NHL like you do in college, and sometimes the guys are saying, yeah, well, I'm locked in here with a no-move clause,

so pack your fucking office and scram. Take your breath here. I'm going to be here longer than you. Listen, you had the first go-around in Philly. They made the playoffs the first year. It didn't really go well or end well, but he's had some success in Toronto, and I think that sometimes your second go-around, you're able to learn from your mistakes. Look at

Bruce Cassidy. And I think it was a little longer he had to wait, but it's hard to just dog a coaching hire. People love doing that no matter what. It's like, let it at least play out. I don't know. I think in the end, though, it's good for a guy to get a second chance. 100%. Because when you

come from college, and he'd been the first guy to get a second chance. 100%. Because when you come from college, and he'd been the first guy to go directly from college for quite a while, I think, when he went from North Dakota, you got to think that it's not going to go that smooth. It's just so different. And the way you approach the players and kind of control their lives, in a sense, in college, it's just so different in the NHL. So he gets another chance, and he probably, when he was fired,

maybe thought he never would. I kind of look at the situation with Dallas Eakins when he went to edmonton and you know listen he's an awesome guy they actually just hired mike stothers as an assistant yeah the coach i want to call their cup with i wanted to get that in as well but you know i'd heard when he went to edmonton he tried to change things up and he was very strict about what the guys were eating on the plane to the point i even think he took donuts away from the media. Oh, yeah. That was right. You don't want to piss off those guys.

Yeah. You don't want to take a donut away from an Edmonton Journal beat writer. He will come after you quick. So that was just a hard-o move. Yeah, and I think he learned from that, and he stepped away from getting that coaching job with the San Diego Gulls, coached their prospects, did an unreal job, and then eventually got the nod up top.

So I look at it, similar situation to Witt. I couldn't agree more. I like second opportunities. I'd even go out on a limb to say as shitty as what I think some of the stuff that Babcock has done, if he could find a place where he makes amends with the people that he's done it to, fucking give him a second shot. He'll be back in the NHL someday.

Probably sooner rather than later. I think when all that stuff comes out about various coaches, I think on the list of transgressions, Babcock's probably on the lower end. I mean, he showed minor in that one thing, and yeah, it wasn't nice, but it was like, I mean, he didn't kick him in the fucking teeth. Well, he treated, I mean, according to Commodore, and I believe every word he said, he's like, yeah, he fucking treated him and he was spiteful

and treated him like an asshole. Now, I don't think Commie's going to forgive him. I don't know how we got off on the rails here. No, they're playing in a member guest together, I guess, at Whisper Rock. Oh, nice. They made amends. All right.

We want to send congrats off to defenseman Kyle Gunnison. He retired after a 12-year NHL career, the last seven, which he spent with the St. Louis Blues where he won a cup in 2019. Also, congrats to JT Brown, who retired after playing seven years for Tampa, Anaheim, and Minnesota. He's going to join, let's see, the Seattle Kraken as well to become their TV analyst. So good luck to him.

He retired and then took that job on the same day. Yeah, he actually went to Sweden for a year. I think he retired and then took that job on the same day. Yeah, yeah. He actually went to Sweden for a year after his NHL career and then, yeah, took that gig. So good luck to him with that. The Hockey Hall of Fame is going to induct the 2020 inductees. They obviously weren't able to do it with the COVID shit last year, so they're going to do it this year. It's going to be outside of the Hockey Hall of Fame, not outdoors, but some other facility for the first time since 1993. The year the Canadians won the Cup.

Oh, Jesus Christ. There's another sign. It's wild. It's wild. Yeah, a little of the story we talked about last week, which ugly story in hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks stuff that's been going on. There's, you know, a lot of people are reporting. Not every outlet is reporting on it. Like, for example, if you go on NHL.com, haven't seen anything on there, which is kind of shady.

Daily and Bettman discussed it quickly in terms of today at the pre-Game 1 press conference of the league. And they just mentioned once Chicago does their independent investigation, which the Wirtz announced they're going to do, the league will then come in and say or do something if they deem necessary now it's hard for them right now let the blackhawks do this independent investigation and then see where it goes because some stuff is crazy it's brutal to hear you did a good job describing it before ra but if there is people who you could figure out cover this up get them out of this league yeah absolutely there's no fucking excuse for it. There was clearly a cover-up of some sort to keep us quiet.

You spoke on it from the heart last podcast, so anybody wondering what the whole breakdown is and specifically R.A.'s thoughts on it, go back and listen to episode 340. But this is getting uglier and uglier by the day, and it's brutal. Yeah, it felt like they almost thought it was going to go away again. Well, not again. It popped back up, and it didn't like a lot of media stayed on top of it and like like

witt said today monday danny words come out and said that they they're going to hire an independent review of the situation and and yeah i know it's easy to pick on the nhl and people who might have worked for the team but you know i it's probably a good idea to like be a little patient i mean it's been for sure let's see what happens ultimately they're going to find the people who are involved, and those people are going to have to face. Before we crucify everybody, I mean, I think we know who we can crucify right now probably, but we don't need to crucify everybody yet,

so we should probably wait on that and let the Blackhawks do their review and then the league. Again, and there's also legal matters too. People don't want to say anything where it's going to interrupt any legal type shit, but either way, heads should ultimately roll whosoever they are we'll keep you uh posted when it happens i also we want to send um condolences to the family friends and the sabers family uh renee robert who i mentioned last week had had a heart attack he was the right wing on the sabers legendary french connection line passed away at 72

after said heart attack so again we extend our condolences to his family and friends and we got some even worse yeah it's a tough way down the pod it's brutal yeah it's um it's so sad and i just quickly want to mention our our heartfelt condolences and our sympathy to david poschnok and his girlfriend and the loss of their son vigo i think he was six days old. And as a parent, it's like you can't even think about it. And I don't know Posh that well, but in the times we've met, it just brings it home even more how sick to our stomach we feel.

So we're thinking of you, and nothing's worse. I could never imagine it. So our sympathies go out to him. Well said, Whit. Well said. Last NHL note, uh, Chris Chalios and Mark Messier are going to join ESPN next season, uh,

in the booth. Um, and I got to move along to an ad. I know it's, it's awkward to have to do these heartbreaking stories. I mean, I was crying reading it myself, right?

It's awful. And you know, Dave's a pal. He's become a little bit of a pal of the year. So we're, we're all heartbroken from, and again, we send our deepest and most heartfelt most heartfelt condolences to him,

his girlfriend Rebecca, and their families. Good job, Ray. Thanks. Before we get to the final notes here, say goodbye to stressful student loan payments and take charge of your future with Earnest. Earnest offers low-rate student loan refinancing, and you can check your rate risk-free in just two minutes.

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The registrations went great. We went through all the teams, and I think the team should wake up. If you were selected, you should wake up with an email tomorrow. And then later in the week, you'll get a nice little personalized surprise from the Chicklets crew. We'll say that. So what happens if somebody gets a spot? Because I think we had 140 people try to get in.

Yeah, there was a lot. There was a bit more than that. More than that? Okay, so there's 52 teams selected. If somebody has to back out of the tournament and allow another team. We selected alternates as well. Okay. So we have three or four alternates for each division.

We're holding a team in each division. So I'll say the biggest component to this is the people who didn't get selected. We're doing it in Detroit for a reason. It's a border town. At that point in time, you can come over if you're double vaccinated, if you're Canadian. It's going to be a party during the Friday and Saturday. On the Friday night, we're working out the venue. The people who end up getting into the tournament won't have

to pay to get into the venue, but we're going to have maybe a live cover band, a DJ. We're going to have some fun. We're going to have live music at the ball hockey courts when we're doing the tournament itself. So if you're in the area, 6th and 7th of August, come join us. We'll have a good time

and we're going to drink some Pig Whitney. There's going to be NHL players there. There will be current NHL players. There will be former NHL players. come join us we'll have a good time and uh we're gonna drink some pig whitney there's gonna be nhl players there there will be current nhl players there will be four former nhl players so it's gonna be a blast it's gonna be a time and a half so our friend brad jones who's setting up all the ball hockey rinks he's good buddies with dave boland and uh and uh oh geez prusty prusty so they're gonna come in too so come check it out all the information's online and uh we're looking forward to seeing all you Chicklets fans. And we are now going to end now, but we'll be back after game one.

We'll be going over what happens then tonight. We all got action, and hopefully you guys check us out on the stream. So we'll see you in a little bit. All right, well, gang, we just finished up our first live stream of the night, and I said in the first period, Biz, that— You mean of the week. Yeah. Well, it's going to be like one— I got to go to sleep. It's going to be like one long night while we're here, so, that— You mean of the week. Yeah. Well, it's going to be like one—

I've got to go to sleep. It's going to be like one long night while we're here, so yeah, I'm cutting to the chase. Wait, when's the other one tonight? But I said in the first period that Montreal can't continue to go toe-to-toe with Tampa Bay like this. It's just not the way they've been playing all playoffs, and it bore itself out. Tampa imposed their will on Montreal the way we've seen Montreal do it to the other three teams they've faced. 5-1 victory. Thorough victory by Tampa Bay.

What do you got for us, buddy? Well, I will say in that first period, the pace was awesome. And I thought Montreal did a great job of keeping up with them. But I was like, I haven't seen them move this fast all playoff long. And eventually the floodgates opened. They didn't go down without a fight, though. And what we've reiterated, is that reiterated? Reiterated.

Good job. Time over time, Tampa can play any way you want. What were the hit totals, Grinelli? Pull them up. I got it. 58 Canadians, 57 Lightning. That has to be the highest total. It's like Bisley's 15 on himself.

Lower the cage, full-on cage match. We saw for the third time, I mean, one was self-induced with Petrie blowing out his eyeballs with the, what do you call that when they? He had the finger dislocation. Finger dislocation. The other one being Corey Perry getting stuck in the face, and now Brandon Gallagher, which probably maybe the main topic,

the body slam by Khabib slash Sergeyev. That was some Iron Sheik shit. A scary moment, though. You saw that he was okay and he was up. And I say okay, he's got blood streaming down his face. I already love that image. He was going nuts over that. But it was very hockey playoff.

But then once you saw the replay and how much force he got slammed headfirst into the ice. Tom Wilson shit. Yeah, it was. play and how much force he got slammed headfirst into the ice. Tom Wilson shit. Yeah, it was. I don't know if the Canadian fans have started going nuts yet the way the Rangers fans did. I don't know if the Canadians will release a statement going after George

Paros like the Rangers did, a disgusting act of violence. But it certainly was not pleasant to watch. And I think that Gallagher probably definitely not probably definitely needed stitches. But I mean, listen, that game, I know Montreal stuck in it early. It's 2-1 going in the third, but Tampa is a lot better hockey team than they are. And I know that you can look up and down the lineups, but there's ways that Montreal can slow teams down.

But right now, Tampa looked like the class of the league, which everyone kind of knows they are. And based on our last three Stanley Cup winners, I refuse to put a lot of stock into Game 1. Travel for the Canadians, adjusting to a new team. Last three teams, I think we already mentioned on the podcast, who have won the Stanley Cup, lost Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. So just throwing that out there.

Not a great performance by the Habs and not much of a response. Kucherov, three points. Two and one. And he did so, I don't want to say quietly, but just, what? Oh, my. They just have so many weapons. Well, Sherratt's goal was a crazy bounce. Plinko?

Yeah, straight up Plinko, two deflections. And then what happens is Kucherov, like hockey karma, he gets it back. He throws a backhand to Nett. Did it hit Sherratt? Was that who the DMN was? I'm sorry, I don't remember right now. Somebody high stuck. I think Palat got a piece of it on the way.

He didn't get a piece of it. He did not? No, that's Kucherov's goal right now. Cookie monster. Ryan Smith special. The thing is, though, every cup final, you think of there's a guy who may be an unsung hero, and tonight that's Cernak. He scores his first career playoff goal, beautiful tip, soft hands on an awesome pass by Palat.

He's driving the net. I don't even know how Cernak got there, but an awesome play. Then later in the game, he runs over Coctiniemi against the boards. Clean hit. He ends up, you know, pissing off Coctiniemi he tries to, it looked like he butt-ended him in the corner, but you didn't really have proof of it. A little kidney jab. Yeah, a little kidney jab.

So that's a guy, I mean, that's a bottom pair D, and he's playing awesome. And he had a game, you know, the game of his life, I'd say, because first game in the Stanley Cup Finals to produce an effort like that, it shows how deep that team is. Yes, deep depth. Remember I talked to you about that? You did.

And Cernak, I think he was with for a game with an upper body injury so for him to step in not only to make a you know to play but to make an impact the way he did i play with him uh well for a brief period of time i don't even know if he made it past training camp with the ontario rain but i don't know la let him go i don't. I would imagine they didn't get a crazy return, and here he is making a fucking impact in the Stanley Cup Finals the way he did tonight. What a rush. I think that Tampa did a good job at giving Montreal different looks than we've seen throughout all of playoffs from other teams.

A lot of high-tip plays, a lot of east to west in the O zone. I don't think they got that too cute in the neutral zone which is something where if you do montreal is going to burn you i thought they did a good job and then ultimately they they all their creativity came out in the offensive zone what a sentence by me that was a great job that stuff that was a great job i've been fucking buzzing clark can hear me and a kid called for a high stick there too it did look like he sort of butted into them, but when he followed through, he caught his helmet. So that's what they got him for. It was the first time Montrealers looked like an underdog in a long time.

I mean, they've been an underdog, but they haven't played like it. And they've had some emotional moments here. Not that Tampa hasn't winning a game seven, but they didn't have to travel, like Biz said. And they go down. They don't have Armia, who word was that he was going to maybe make the game, take a private shut down. I don't know if he didn't get there. He went to live. Yeah, Biz said that just playing went to Miami.

He said, fuck it, I'm going out with Portnoy. Yeah, Evans got in for him. Yes, Evans got in for him. He played 11 minutes. That was the first game. Pretty impact on before you get in the building. Oh, you get pretty in the playoffs. What am I talking about?

But looking at the ice time, and this is something we mentioned, the Canadians still had four defensemen play over 24 minutes. And you got Merrill and Gustafson both playing around 10. Well, before when they were slowing down the games in the prior three rounds, they could do that. But this team is just so deep and Tampa plays so fast that it's going to be really hard for these games to continue and be this physical just rolling four. And I know there's one round left, but you're playing against the big dogs in the league and like no other team you've faced so far so kind of how i thought game one would go that's why i had tampa and regulation

and the over ra had the over and tampa money puck line so that's just that's four winners for this room and biz took the canadians no no no no and has yoga pants on. No. Sean, get him a mic. I said I don't think Montreal's going to win this game. I said I picked the money line Tampa. He did. He did? He did. He picked the money line Tampa. Game one, I'm not going to put any stock into it, and we're going to see

Canadians roll off four straight. And the penalty killing versus power play aspect we talked so much about was pretty irrelevant tonight. The only power play goal Tampa got was late on the 5-on-3 to make it 5-1. To make the game go over. It was over at that point. But going back to the Gallagher stuff with Sergeyev, you know,

I mean, it was ugly, and obviously we were sprinting the best, but I think it was just the case of a guy losing a strongman contest. It almost looked, if you watch it, like he was trying to pull him down or, you know, try to pull a guy, maybe twist him a little. It was just an unfortunate ending. But I don't think Sergachev is going to see any supplemental discipline. He just kind of – Gallagher got the wrong end of a wrestling match. I agree with you completely.

Now, also two factors that go into it is when the whole scrum begins, Gallagher cross-checks Sergachev hard. Yeah. That was the beginning of it. Coleman comes in and kind of jabs Gallagher pretty hard. Hard enough where I thought, oh, is that where he got cut? Then you see Sergeyev get back in the mix and just slam him down. So it was, you know, Gallagher got his face in the mix like he always does.

And next thing you know, you see blood dripping down his face. But the replay and the slow motion, he could have broke his neck. It's petrifying to see that. You do wince watching it. But, I mean, it was like a WWF image from the games. Like Ric Flair, like just the blood, the dramatics. Off the top rope. have broke his neck yeah it's it's petrifying to see that you do wince watching it but i mean it was like a wwf image from the games like rick flair like just the blood the dramatic top rope jimmy the fly snooker was that his name jimmy super fly snooker yeah i get some photos on my twitter feed if you want to check them out and then the other uh scrimmage we saw edmondson

and uh good and they and they were those two like whacking each other and they ended up calling the two minutes for roughing on edmondson which and it't even – it was so close, it couldn't even be retaliatory. It was like – But I think Edmondson hit him with a couple late, and Edmondson – Gord does not want – No, he doesn't want to trade off. And he taught that last week. For health's sake. For health's sake.

Edmondson's tough as shit. Yeah. We don't want anyone to die. No, no. We just want to see a competitive stand. Yeah, and at the end of the game, like, you know, we always talk about teams when they're getting dusted late in a huge game like this, they'll set the tone or send a message. And we saw a lot of that with Montreal.

They were getting some cross-checks in, some fucking late hits. And I get no problem with it. I'm not calling them out. Drag them into the mud. That's the game. Drag them into the mud. That's it. A lot of chopping, cross-checking.

Weber started getting angry. A couple last things. Vasilevsky giving off the glove and then taking it away all game long. He did it to Weber on that breakaway, which how did he get that breakaway? I don't even remember. Anderson couldn't even hit the net because he had the angle covered so hard. And what was the— No, he had another really good one.

The biggest—to me, the funniest part of the game was the hair flip-off between Maroon and Anderson. They both have nice, great hair. Maybe they start a company together like you know your cologne company with Drytel. I think that I think actually something's in the works with Maroon. Is there? For a hair product yeah. Nice mousse. When's the last

time somebody released a nice mousse? Oh mousse was big time in my 8th grade. When was the last time you heard that word said moose. Oh, moose was big time in my eighth grade. It's been a while. When was the last time you heard that word other than the animal? I was a huge moose guy. Moose. Oh, the hair product moose went away when like.

It's still around. Do you think that could tame my fro? When the internet came. What? Could it tame my fro? No. I think it might make the fro even fro-ier. Oh, yeah.

I mean, I used to put it in my hair to like stiffing it when I pat it many moons ago. I used to move before I used gel. I did that back then. And we got to talk about Vasilevsky. I mean, he's the leader in the consmite clubhouse right now to me. The only goal he gets beat on the Sheraton one, that was a Tommy pinball fucking goal. And Price wasn't awful tonight.

I mean, he only had 22 saves on 27 shots. The 5-1-3, whatever. You can't fault him much there. There was a bouncy one before that. But it wasn't his best game. I think we're going to see a stronger price next game and probably a better effort from the Canadians. And if we don't, man, this might be a quick series.

That's a pretty good way to end it. Let's hope it's not. We want seven games, at least six. But tonight was a sign that Montreal could be overmatched. We'll see what happens in game two. We'll be back there for the stream. Listen, we got some big-time people coming in. Maybe Gomez, Yandel, Hayes.

Then we're looking at possible Jose Theodore. Oh, my gosh. Come up for game three. The Hex. Save him for the weekend, please. We have another awesome interview with Drew Shore we did recently. You'll really enjoy that. So we got some great things cooking, and the rest of this week should be good.

Let's just hope for a little more competitive and entertaining hockey game come Wednesday night. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you soon. And as always, special thanks to all of our sponsors. Special thanks to Pink Whitney and New Amsterdam Baca. Special thanks to No Days Wasted. Special thanks to Roman. Special thanks to Z Whitney and New Amsterdam Baka. Special thanks to No Days Wasted. Special thanks to Roman. Special thanks to ZipRecruiter.

Special thanks to BodyArmor. And special thanks to Ernest. Have a great week, everybody.