Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 441: Featuring Keith Yandle

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

On Episode 441 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Keith Yandle. Yands joins for the full episode to help recap all the series from round 1, and give predictions for Round 2. The boys also talk about some recent NHL news, including Darryl Sutter and the Calgary Flames parting ways, along with some intense comments coming out of Winnipeg. Florida Boston: 00;05;50;06 Tampa Leafs: 00;33;37;19 Seattle Colorado: 00;52;13;09 Minnesota Dallas: 01;14;07;18 Rangers Jersey: 01;28;29;12 Edmonton LA: 01;50;59;21 Jets Vegas: 02;07;19;13 Islanders: 02;15;50;14 Quick Picks start: 02;20;20;04 Edmonton Vegas: 02;20;30;15 New Jersey Carolina: 02;26;20;05 Dallas Seattle: 02;31;03;04 Leafs Panthers: 02;35;24;02You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 441 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney, from our friends at New Amsterdam Barca here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Gang, these last few days have been an incredible stretch of hockey. We've had wild shootouts, coaching head games, some absurd penalty calls and no calls, historic upsets, three game sevens and one giant monkey finally ripped off a team's back. But

as always, we say hi to the boys first. Let's go to Keith Yann, the last special guest for us. KY, how goes it, my friend? Couple clicks for Yann stepping in. How are ya? Grown man wearing a jersey. Same here, buddy. He wears on.

Be careful. Be careful. You don't want to leave the grumpy. Mr. Grumpy coming at you. No, he just had his cookies. He's good. All right, I'm good. Great intro right there. Ready to roll. All right.

All right, let's get at it. Paul, biz nasty. Biznette, you're up next. We'll go to you. We're going to get to this hockey soon. I thought I would be drained, but I'm full of energy. This new blood NHL has taken over. These games have been incredible.

Some dramatic, dramatic upsets. I can't wait to dive into it. And, of course, congratulations to the Toronto Maple Leafs on getting that monkey off the back. I mean, boys, you know what type of scrutiny these guys are under. And I could see Witt over there batting his eyes, rolling his eyes, saying who gives a shit about the Toronto Maple Leafs but they they deserve this the whole city deserve this and I'm so excited that this weight

vest is off wet weight vest is off so now I think we're going to really see them flourish you're going to really see what the Toronto Maple Leafs are made of so I'll hand it back to you all right I just had to get in that quick plug for the boys in blue. We shall see soon. Next up, the Mermin. Matt Murley over in Sweden. How you doing, pal? I'm doing great. I am done picking matchups that I want to see. I picked Boston. I picked Colorado. I picked the Rangers. I picked the Islanders. I want to see Islanders, Rangers. I'm a fool. I'm going to start picking to win money, to win bets, to win series that's it the Mika burger worked for one game did you go back for game seven or no I didn't get down there

today I was too busy building a grill and taking care of my daughter so you lost with the Mika burger yeah we lost the day we had it oh and I'm winning two days later so I didn't go today out of that but I was a little busy today but uh yeah they're they stunk they're frauds all right last but certainly not least the wit dog ryan whitney what's going on buddy how are you uh i'm doing phenomenal um bunch of bunch of things to talk about get off my chest all right um first to you i mean just the mood you're in right now i mean you should be sitting there trying not to cry sounding miserable i mean you're you're now. I mean, you should be sitting there trying not to cry, sounding miserable. I mean, you're coming in here with energy. You just got your dick punched in your stomach. You just got embarrassed to the highest level. You and Grinnelli. So you

guys, I feel bad for you a little way. Leafs fans, congratulations. Congratulations. No doubt about it you got it done you got all played but you got it done we have we have many things to talk about most importantly though the edmonton oilers are looking like an absolute goddamn wagon like a snack i'll tell you right now biz you said i'm gonna have the best record with the picks coming out of the first round you had the worst yeah the la kings are fucked they're petrified you should be scared shitless of them we worked them over in sex and your team won so you're hot you're hot 19 years finally ended uh but it's a pleasure to be here guys and. And what an insane, insane couple weeks. It's like, it is new blood. I mean, a lot of the big markets are done-zito.

See ya, smell ya later. But I like the new blood. I like seeing these new teams. I mean, God, was I wrong about the Devils. And Pasha, holy shit, Pasha. If you're a New York Rangers fan, you are owned by the man named Pasha. How do you say his last name?

Lucifer. Eschke. Pasha Eschke. Pasha Eschke is the king of Manhattan. As he calls Henrik Lundqvist the king without a crown, he is the king of Manhattan. Anything to cover that hairlineine but he is buzzing right now he's fucking firing off everything in the group chat and any of you rangers fans who doubted and even i did i thought he was going to be wrong oh i was wrong

on that one most of his predictions came to fruition and after two games man it seemed like his internet life had flashed before his eyes and he was just getting bullied on that app. I thought Elon Musk was going to have to step in. That's how bad he was getting bullied by Rangers fans. But lo and behold, the same fucking devils we saw in the regular season came in and just shut down that superstar field lineup. So I know we're not going to get to that first but oh my god this this is uh this is insanity all right yeah the new blood I'm glad you guys said that it is there's no Boston Pittsburgh Tampa Washington LA St. Louis in the final eight here uh the two newest franchises still alive two

Canadian teams still alive the best player in the world still alive or the best do you might say and interestingly of the eight teams uh the last Stanley Cup won by any of them was way back in 2006 with Carolina, with New Jersey 0-3, Dallas 99, Edmonton 90, and Toronto, I believe, was 1967. Florida, Vegas, Seattle have yet to win a cup. The road teams have been immense, 11-3 in overtime, and we're going to go right into that, what you already kind of said, Florida, Boston. Matty Kachuk called one of the biggest, I think he called the biggest upset in NHL history, if you go by playoff history, if you go by the regular season stats, okay. But the Florida Panthers, man, they came in, they got the late goal,

tied it up, and we won it over time. And they just pushed the Bruins around. They bitched them around. They outplayed them. They out-hustled them. I had some real problems with the coaching that went on. It was just a disaster from a Bruins perspective. You had three fucking chances to knock about two of them at home, and they didn't get it done. So, Whit, we'll go to

you first. Actually, let's go to Keith first. He's the Boston guy as well, and then we'll come back, and I'll go off a crazy rant for you. Yeah, so my biggest takeaway from this series was, and it's a huge upset, obviously, with what Boston did this year. But you look at the Panthers lineup, they're not a team that has guys that you don't know who they are. They got Matzikachuk, Barkov, Ekblad, Montour at a monster year, Carter Verhege, 40 goals. So it's not like they're going in as a team at the bottom of the cap. They're at the top of the cap.

They go out and spend money. um wasn't a surprise for me i mean i didn't think they'd beat them but it was you know they've been playing meaningful games for the last month and a half and uh you know they showed it and they got some absolute gamers on that team matthew kachuk sam bennett montour uh you obviously you Sam Bennett, Montour. You've got to tip your hat to Bob, too. Coming in after not playing for a long time, demanding the net, getting it, and showing what he can do to elite teams and why he's paid that money. I know people get on his back a little bit

about how much money he makes, but you win a series like that against a team like that, I think he deserves some pats on the back for that and um yeah unbelievable series all the games were fun fun to watch florida is buzzing right now like the oh i bet the buzz around town is unbelievable they got everyone at school stopping me talking about the team and it's just a great great buzz down here going for them. So, I mean, going back, of course, to that save in game five where Marchand could have closed it out in the dying seconds, it ends up being a great save. You're telling me that Bobrovsky went to Maurice and demanded the net?

No, I don't know if he did or not. Oh, you said demanded. I was like, oh, fuck, he went into the coach's office and said, I want game five. The way you said it, it seemed like that, but nice to see that you know after what Lyon had done I feel that he'd let a few distance goals go in where you know it's kind of like hey we got it at some point handed off to the veteran and see what he can do uh not I guess a result of Lyon's play just maybe those few gaffes gave Maurice an opportunity to give Bobrovsky that chance and

listen I know that things got out of hand in game six there but when he they needed the big stops when Boston was actually gaining momentum and sustained pressure he came up big and it just seems like I guess we'll talk about the the coaching decisions it doesn't, Allmark seems to have been hurt to some degree. I can't understand why they wouldn't have went to Swayman in game six first, just given the way that they've rotated the net all season. And especially that was your opportunity to do so much like there was an opportunity for Maurice to put Bob in. They could have went to Swayman after that gaffe, after that, and especially with the excuse that he wasn't playing at 100%. And I feel like this organization has already dealt with that

when they let Rask keep the net when he had the rotator cuff situation. So at least give Allmark the two days off. Allow Swayman, a guy who's been able to be an incredible 1B all season long. Let him try to get his feet wet. And lo and behold, what's the one game that Allmark ends up getting lit up? Well, I know what happened in game two, but game six, man, there were some stops that he could have had for sure. And he gets lit up.

And everybody who hadn't showed up for Boston yet in the series showed up. I mean, Marchand didn't score that goal to close things out in five, but he had four fucking apples in game six. Bertuzzi, Hall, all these guys were contributing with. Biz, if I were you, I mean, I would have started this thing. I guess I'll speak for you. I mean, R.A. said, yeah, the Leafs will be lucky to win just to get swept by the Bruins.

Like, if I'm you, that's the first thing I'm saying. I said swept. I'm going to keep it classy. I don't need to. You're playing with the house's money now. I remember being like, wow, you're like, just trying to get it done against Tampa only to get swept by the Bruins.

And wow. It is so shocking to see how it went down because if you really look at it, the Bruins, without lying, and letting in some complete stinkers early, the Bruins were lucky to get to game seven. They got outplayed at least four of the games, if not five. And Keith mentioned the Panthers, who I showed no respect for, have dogs. They have playoff dogs. Hyenas. They have playoff dogs. Hyenas.

They're the hyenas. And I'm not talking about Bruins players not being like that. Like this series they weren't. But in the past, Bergeron, Krejci, Marshall, those guys have proven. They know how to play. They know how to go long in the playoffs. They weren't doing it. The Panthers were chipping every puck in. Chipping every puck out.

They were going to the blue paint. As Merles calls it. Throw it. What is it, Merles? Where do you throw it? Throw it in the mixer. The mixer. Right in front of the crease. They were just. The blender. They were going to the blue paint, as Merles calls it. What is it, Merles? Where do you throw it? Throw it in the mixer. The mixer, right in front of the crease. They were just, they were playing layoff battles, making the easy play every single time. It didn't matter. They weren't. And then they have guys that are tenacious. And if I could pick a defenseman

to get on my hockey team to try to win a Stanley Cup, Radko Gudis is right there. That guy is a complete belligerent on the ice. He never at one moment watches the puck as a defender, which is, no, seriously, like I was a puck watcher. That's why I was getting walked and my guy was scoring. I was watching the puck. That dude don't look at the puck. He looks at your chest, and he's going to put his shoulder right through it. And they had players like that. And Kachuk, I mean, Jesus Christ, Biz, you tweeted it. The best American player in the National Hockey League right now.

He brings everything. Matthew's probably overall skill level's higher. Last year MVP. Right now, Matthew Kachuk is a problem. And that team just completely outwilled the Bruins and create... Okay, here's another thing I want to say. The worst part of this job as a former player is some of the things you have to say about guys' performances in the playoffs. I hate talking about it because I know how hard it is and I know doing this now how easy the game is sitting on the couch and sitting in the stands. The game is slow and easy and when the playoffs

start, it's not. And some guys step up and some guys don't. Grinelli had a good point. Bergeron and Krejci are 37 turning 38 years old. That's hard, man. It's a long year, dude. You're grinding through and all of a sudden the playoffs come and these young legs, it's just different now. And the Bruins, Bertuzzi was a beast. Hall had a good series, but in game seven, those guys shit the bed, man. The start first five minutes was great. And then it just completely went downhill. I mean, they gave up chance after chance. You're like, what are they doing? My wife never watches hockey. She's sitting with me in overtime. She's like, that was the worst overtime split of hockey I've ever seen in my life. They had seven neutral zone turnovers. They were trying to stretch play every time. I don't understand why they just didn't adjust to

gaining lines, gaining zones. And they have that cycle type team. They just need to get to the offensive zone. They tried this run and gun. Everything was off. The timing was off. It seems like there was always split second hesitation before they would make their play where Florida with the hyena type four check they have were reading and on their toes in every situation. They made no adjustments there. They had five on five.

They looked terrible. And just to quickly go back and you mentioned kachuk i feel like game two when sam bennett got introduced to the series it felt it felt like kachuk had his bash brother back and these guys were just feeding off each other was it whether it was net front scrums uh getting shit started in game six 19 seconds in and hyenas on the four check and it trickled down the lineup guys let's think about what kachuk did playing and no no disregard to sam bennett in game seven it was sam bennett nick cousins on his line like five goals six assists when kachuk shows up to the rink it's

like everybody's just like hey boys we're fucking putting the work boots on let's go buddy that's that's their emotional, spiritual leader. And it feels like since All-Star break, everybody was like, I'm following that guy. And they just fucking, they were relentless, even to the point where I didn't even think that Barkov necessarily looked dominant at the beginning of the series.

But because Kachuk and those other guys were going Montour as well, it gave him a chance to get his legs underneath him where I felt like in the last two games, Barkov then became a factor. Way more so than we saw in the first five games, no? Okay, maybe a little bit, but if you told me Barkov was going to play like that and they'd win the series, I'd be like, what are you smoking? There you go. He was, that's why, yeah, Kachaka. Montour, holy shit, what a story. Wow. So apparently in November, Montour, holy shit, what a story Wow

So apparently in November, Maurice went to him And he's like, hey, the reins are off Just go Or maybe even a little, he's like, just go He realized how good he was, he saw what he had And this guy is a freak Dude, he was playing forward For the Buffalo Sabres

They traded him for a third round pick I mean, granted, he was unrestricted They had him play forward It's just like amazing, different chances, different cities Different opportunities for a third round pick. I mean, granted, he was unrestricted. They had him play forward. It's just like amazing. Different chances, different cities, different opportunities. And what a fuck.

He had five goals. Like, you tie it up late. And on the Bruins end, I couldn't believe the season Lindholm had. Like, what a player. It was just Norris Trophy caliber defense. My buddy Beef said it was like the movie Sudden Death and somebody else was in his gear like when Jean-Claude Van Damme's playing the

Penguins goalie. He couldn't. Every time he got the puck, he was falling over and then he would just throw it away. Now, guys could be injured and stuff's coming out. And yeah, it came out. Kevin Wheat said the story. Allmark was battling a debilitating injury and they don't

play Swayman game five just it was a master class of domination and every single aspect of the game and the series i mean why did monty keep switching the lines ra that's the thing that's the other thing i had written down it feels like he kept putting the lines in a blender to um to his defense as guys kept coming back in obviously the lines are going to change and you have to reestablish chemistry. But I want to say it was in game six, the first like seven, eight minutes, he'd already changed or he'd changed the lines. And then finally he put Bergeron and Marchand back together where it's just like you can't keep shuffling lines.

It wasn't really like that all season long. And I also wrote down Sweeney like I feel like you mentioned the fact that he was lucky to even get the seven like if Bertuzzi and Orlov don't play the way that they played like they were their two best players on top of maybe Hall in those first four games it just it didn't look like the Boston team that we saw all season and it just seems like they're all of all like all the shit just kind of hit the fan at the worst possible time from their side. I got a question for you about the Panthers.

But before I ask you, Biz, you just mentioned they didn't look like the Bruins. For Hagee, after that goal, which was a snipe, by the way, and so was Reinhardt in Game 7, he said, like, it doesn't mean anything like look at what we did last year we we crushed everyone and we got warped over like the president's trophy and the NHL regular season it really does not matter it's proven more and more every single year 10 years now in a row the President's Cup winners haven't won the Cup. Only one of them has gone to the conference finals, and it was the Rangers in 2015. So

at this point, you have to look at the Panthers playing playoff games for a month, and then you're rolling in. It's like, you can't compare that to the Bruins. Just, yeah, they're trying to break a record, but they were already doing that. They were already in the mix. But Keith, for you, you mentioned Bennett, and you told me at one point in the series when he came in you're like he's gonna either score a big goal have big assists or he'll get suspended like you just he's always doing something huh rafi torres 2.0 take somebody's head off he he's an absolute warrior on the ice love playing with him unbelievable guy off the ice yeah and just when that especially playoff time when that switch like it was against Tampa for us he ran somebody from behind we were up in the series we ended up was not that it was his fault at all I'm not

saying that but he is just one of those guys when he sees red it doesn't come back to normal you know he's just go go go but has a motor on him like we were talking about with matthew kachuk he brings his teammates into the fight just a guy you want on your team especially in playoff time um but going going back to what do you think there's got to be a lot of pressure on those guys too especially in a big market like boston you come in you get you're playing a team that barely gets into the playoffs. It's up to their last game. They're playing with zero pressure and the fact that they play in Florida as well, they don't have as much pressure. Like I feel like the pressure of teams nowadays is

getting to, to players, getting to teams. And I don't know if it's media or whatever it is, but it just seems like the pressure is just more and more every year for good teams. I agree. Yeah. And for good teams, let alone teams who broke every record in the book and you're just gripping the stick. And you guys brought up Bobrovsky. Is it crazy to say that that series win basically makes the contract worth it? It's obviously a ridiculous argument. It's an eight-year deal of 10 million a year, but he just beat the best regular season team of all time and who knows what else he's going to do. And he was a part of the other greatest upset in NHL history in 2019. So that guy just picks it up when it matters. And let me ask you this, Keith. I feel like since Montours picked it up offensively, it's maybe allowed Ekblad to focus less on that and be able to just kind of round

out his game a little bit better where I felt that he was very physical and just focused on really closing guys down and forcing them to make plays in tight areas, getting them closed off against the wall. And then just overall from the beginning of the season, Florida's defensive zone, I feel like they really cut the ice in half and they really pressure the puck and then really close things down and shut down plays I just I didn't see the same dominance of sustained pressure from Boston as we did in the regular season where they turned guys shift over shift where I felt like they had a hard time really setting things up I mean even like going back to later in the series where they Boston relied so much on their power play and even there in

game seven where it was two power play goals that really kept the minute yeah I and I will say this and I you got to give Mark Stahl a lot of credit because he's played with Montour a lot of the year this year and just having a steady veteran guy like Stahlsy who's seen it all he's played with a ton of good players he's been huge for him I. But they also, I think the Panthers do a great job with their pairings. Like I said, having Molitor with Stahl, having Eke with Forsling, having Gudis with Mahara. It's like you have one stay-at-home guy and one offensive guy. So I think they do a great job with that. Back to Eke, Eke's one of those guys, he's really gifted offensively. He's got all the skill in the world, but he's also one of those guys that takes a lot of pride in shutting down teams, big lines, being that number one shutdown guy.

I think he's a guy he'd rather shut down a team's best line for the game than go out and score a goal. You know what I mean? I think he's probably playing a little bit, like you said, better defensively because he doesn't have to worry about the offense as much with Monty playing as good as he did i looked at it like when you were the the offensive defensive for the coyotes where when all of reckman larson came in he didn't have to be worried about being that first unit power play guy where he could just kind of focus more on

shutting guys down and worrying about the defensive side of the puck so i just feel like it really like it's like adam fox in New York as well, where that takes the pressure off, you know, it did off Trouba for sure, the way that he was producing points in Winnipeg, but even Keiondre Miller, for instance. So having that guy who we can be that power play specialist that you can just worry about the all-around game,

I felt played a huge factor into Ekblad being able to also play that shutdown role. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. And he was banged up this series too he missed what do you miss a game or two at least one I'm not sure I heard Gudis is banged up too and so these guys look like it Gudis is you wouldn't that guy his body would be like a car wreck after every game he is I think he's made a deal knock on wood like he is this guy will play through anything complete warrior gives it 110 even in a game in november you know what i mean so he does he doesn't change for anything and uh you know just the guy you don't want to be you don't want to get caught in his tracks because when he gets that stick on the ice and he's just

going forward out of guy it's it's lights out usually hey uh biz do you remember or did you play when we went when we went as the clown gestures to blues camp did you go play the game in orlando against the lightning the preseason game no so yeah i got sent on that one and um gudis was on tampa bay i knew nothing about him i'd never even heard of him and he truck stick tarasenko and i was like oh the hell is that guy and then and it's yes it's never changed just a true playoff beast but i don't know what else we're forgetting i mean i was just gonna throw it to art well one thing i did have noted down was like are we gonna see the confidence building bobrovsky where we get vesna bobrovsky because you know i

don't know how much playing under his value fucks with his head. He is in Florida, so maybe he's not seeing as much of the noise as he would in a big market. But then obviously to throw it back to R.A., we talk about the pressure of Boston and that entire market. Do you feel that maybe that impacted some decisions being made by the head coach and also some odd quotes, and we'll dive deeper into it.

Oh, that was not good. But I just want to know if maybe reporters were being persistent about the goaltending situation, and then which he said, if you want more of a detailed answer, go and ask the goalie coach. Yeah, the sound bite sounds like he's throwing them under the bus, but if he's been asked five or six times in the presser, he might say, hey, listen, I've told you what my answer is. If you want a more detailed answer, go talk to him.

I don't know the context of it, R.A., but you're the Boston OG. You're the godfather of the podcast. How hard does this hit you? I mean, you know, I left the arena. I wasn't crying my eyes out. I say it before. I'm an old fuck. I mean, you know, you get life experiences. It doesn't affect you as much.

They didn't deserve it, man. I watched the whole thing. Florida played them, out-muscled them. They beat them to every puck. They outplayed them pretty much every game. First off, full props to Florida, man. Matty Kachuk, I know obviously we were fans of his. Our families are friends or whatever, but he's fucking immense, man. 11.7 games, drags him into the playoffs. He set that unbelievable screen on the game winner, too.

Swayman had no look at it whatsoever. You mentioned Montreux. The two Sam's, Bennett and Reinhardt, they killed the Bruins all series as well. But for the whole series, the Panthers just flat out hungrier, grittier. And to get to Monty Biz, I mean, he's probably going to win the Jack Adams, but what was he thinking a lot of these times? The constant line juggling. He didn't do that all year. Then the breakup, like Bergeron and Marchand, that's like splitting up like a Batman and Robin.

The constant lineup changes that, you know, kills any consistency. Guys don't know if they're in or out. And the team, I thought a couple of times they weren't ready to play playoff hockey at the beginning of the game. Now, I don't know how much of that is on the coach or the individual players or whatever, but, you know, Florida was taking it to them right from the jump. And then, of course, the goaltending. Most curiously, they abandoned this rotation they had all year. Now, Allmark didn't play more than four games in a row the whole season. And then they play him six fucking games in a row.

But wait, there's more. Kevin Weeks comes out today. Like you said, he was playing through a debilitating and painful injury that limited his mobility and technique. Well, what the fuck is he playing six games in a row for? Why wouldn't he step up and maybe – Why wouldn't maybe he step up and say, listen, I'm not 100%.

Swayman's been helping me out all year with the one-two punch. Like, even – like, I get that guys are stubborn about it, but why not step up yourself? If you're a forward and maybe dealing with a slight groin pull, yeah, you can go play fourth line, third third line and you can get limited minutes and still to contribute to some regard but your goaltender the most important position a position against a high-flying offense like Florida they knew he was hurt he was hurt at the end of the season the last week of the season he missed a few games right all right yeah I mean but you play as a wire that way you always want to play you know i don't think guys are gonna beg out too much but that's

what a fucking coach is for to say no you can't play and we go back to game 82 at bergeron i mean i'm not gonna get the specifics of it but you know he maybe should have said i i you know i know there was an emotional element to that but the other coach man you gotta tell these guys they're not gonna play uh and then you wait to game seven to throw swayman and the guy hasn't started a game since fucking april 13. I thought he played well. The first goal, it was a dud, but he made the two huge saves in overtime before the game winner. It was just like,

it was the opposite of what we watched all year, Biz. It was just, it was awful to watch. And as far as the goaltending thing, it reminded me of Cassidy sticking with Rask. Everybody knew he was hurt instead of putting Allmark in last year. It's like, what are you fucking doing? It's like they're getting emotionally attached.

They're not being coaches. They're letting their emotions get involved with something. And then the quote, yeah, I got it right here. We thought he, Swayman, was going to give us the best chance tonight. You'd have to ask goalie Bob a little more detail about that. Now, whatever he was asked the first time, the eighth time, the tenth time, it's still kind of throwing a guy under the bus a little. I mean, you're the coach, dude.

It's your final decision. So I don't know what the fuck he was thinking a lot of times. It just puts a huge – not even a damper. It ruins the season. I mean, the record means nothing. First round, they're out. People are going to think of this year the Bruins and they're going to just fucking make a big fucking raspberry.

Yeah, or cry. Yeah. Other fans, like fan bases, are laughing. Oh, 100%. 100%. Still kind of them credit for what they did during the year it was amazing but obviously it hurts and those guys are feeling it more than anyone but what they did during the regular season was insane

and to be honest guys I was hoping for a better ending at least a conference final visit because of it looked like it's going to be Bergeron's last year and that was an emotional exit leaving the ice, embraced each teammate for a lengthy period of time. The tears

just felt like maybe this is it and I guess that's why I didn't want to come in swinging on R.A. Witt is because I just feel like there was just That's what we do up in Canada wit is because I just feel like there was just... That's what we do up in Canada, buddy. But it's just such a shitty ending for a guy who put his heart and soul into a franchise where I feel you look at these players who made monumental impacts, and I feel like everybody

at least got their two cups. You look at like Aze Kopitar in LA, like a guy like that, they got their two cups with that core group. It's just going to be, I feel like given the amount of runs they've had. Getze only got one. I feel like they're kind of similar. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he never wanted to get moved though later. But the thing is Bertrand went to three finals and then this year, so yeah, I know what you're saying. It's just, I feel like based on the body of work, only coming out with one cup just seems like a major letdown, especially with the way it was set up for this year. And it had that last dance feel to it where it just felt like it was going to be a special season or at least a trip to the final where, oh my God, to fizzle out the way they did.

And as you guys keep mentioning credit, all the credit goes to Florida peakingaking at the right time and i don't really have much else than that um it sucks if that's it for bergeron i would imagine uh first ballot hall of fame i would imagine jersey and the rafters merles does he get a statue uh wits in charge of the statue he doesn't give anybody you know i don't think that's for city council wit does he get the statue bergeron i don't know man i'm not my statue i i'm i think there should be like 10 statues in pro sports i don't know what you want me to say i i'm the same i'll give you a list guy i've we've done this before it's like brady gretzky jordan like i'm not I'm not a handout the statue trophy guy Merle's was there anything you wanted to follow up with to put a put kind of put a final note on that series

yeah and you guys talked about it the will they outwilled them and over time I'm sitting here watching that game I knew there was no question that Matthew Kachuk was not going to come out of that with that puck from behind the net I just just knew it. He was going to out-will them. And then the puck comes out to Verhege. I don't know what Gryzlik was doing, but do you think Radek Gudis would have approached that shot like that? No, he would have thrown his face in front of it and blocked it. That's the playoff will. They had none. They gave into the pressure. Every sports center and thing was asking, what if you lose? if you lose what if you don't win the cup is it a letdown they've heard that for months now and and it showed up

in those last few games the last few periods they couldn't even make a pass and before we move on last thing i mean matthew kachuk right now um mvp of that series but maybe the true mvp of the kachuk family was big walt when he completely ridiculed the Florida Panthers on radio in Canada. And since then, it was boom. It was a light switch. Ironically, it was before they ended up playing the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that was the game where Paul Maurice snapped, took his glasses off, and said,

you guys are playing like a bunch of pussies. So in the course of 48 hours not only did big wall but maurice finally using that that you can't use that card too much paul maurice seems like a player's coach but the one time he picked the snap this season it really turned things around and here we are uh murray's gl point i thought that last goal was like a perfect metaphor for the series just the bruins kind of being lazy and florida just outworking them to get that goal and and biz i might pull a little bit of a muscle here, but do you remember what I said, though, my one concern was going into this series?

I didn't know that he was hurt, but I don't know if you remember what, do you remember what I said? Goaltending. In Borelli's, you said goaltending. Specifically, oh, Mark, zero playoff wins, two starts, and, you know, until you prove in the playoffs, you're unproven in the playoffs. And, again, I didn't know he was hurt, but it ended up coming. Believe me, I'm not happy I was fucking right about it, but it ended up fucking showing its true face.

What do you got, Chief? You also said to pull him a lot earlier than they did. I think you were saying that after game two. Yeah, he was. I did. Before we continue, guys, I'm here to talk to you about Pink Whitney. And no matter where you are, Sweden, where Merle's is, where the sun's already up, or Boston, where the weather's finally turned, nothing beats being outside,

being on the golf course, being at the beach. That's coming soon. Sipping on some Pink Whitney. Watching a playoff game, pouring a nice cold Pink Whitney over ice, maybe throwing a little soda water in there. That's what it's all about come springtime. I was just playing golf the past two days. We had Pink Whitney flowing.

We had the nips going for the birdies. That's what it's all about, the birdie juice, Pink Whitney. And we appreciate you guys drinking it and enjoying it just like we do here on this podcast. So shout out to Pink Whitney and go get some today. Sailor V, it's over, it's done, and we'll move on. And Paul, shout out to Pick Whitney. And go get some today. Sailor V it's over. It's done. And we'll move on.

And Paul you can probably take your pants off right now. And get ready. Because Tampa Bay versus Toronto. Yo Adrian they did it. After losing eight straight series. And getting bounced in the first round for the last six seasons. The Toronto Maple Leafs won their first closeout game in 12 tries. Beating Tampa 2-1.

And a great game six OT thriller. Tavares got his fourth goal of the playoffs appropriately, 436 in overtime. First series they went in 18 years. They knocked off a Lightning team. That team fought to the frigging end. I mean, Tampa's been, you know, running ragged the last few years, obviously three times for the Cup, two wins. You got to tip their cap before you get to Toronto, Biz.

Like, just, you know, they don't quit that frigging team. They were in it all fucking series, all game until the end. Just like I did on national TV, I went right to Coop They don't quit that freaking team. They were in it all fucking series, all game until the end. Just like I did on national TV, I went right to Coop and the Tampa Bay Lightning and give them praise. The run they've been on, not only Coop, but management, the trades they've made to revamp the lineup. I mean, you go back to the Coleman one. I thought the Hagel trade was excellent,

although they didn't end up winning a cup with him. They just made so many good moves to keep this team relevant. That core, I mean, I know Kooch didn't really look like himself this series, man, but the amount of playoff hockey all those guys have played and the sacrifices they've made, laying their bodies on the line to go to the finals in three straight seasons. So really them, obviously Vazzy. Vazzy looked like a human being. He looked somewhat normal for most of that series up until at least game six where he really stood on his head, gave him a chance to win in game seven too. So I really thought from an overall standpoint, Tampa Bay deserved to win this series.

I think that they outplayed Toronto. I think that they exposed Toronto in a lot of areas. Example, the four check. I feel like Toronto had a very difficult time breaking out. I feel like they did a really good job in their own end even. The only real problem they had was maybe getting in lanes and blocking point shots, which those far shots seemed to be getting past Vazzy.

And if Vazzy plays to Vazzy's standards, I think that the Tampa Bay Lightning take this in six. And I even go back and I believe it was game three Tampa Bay was up 3-2 and Braden Point scores that goal where the puck is loose in between Samsonov's five hole and that was such a pivotal pivotal moment in the series where they were able to get that tying goal by Ryan O'Reilly off of the Nylander pass and then sure as shit they go into overtime and it seemed like they were just very opportunistic Toronto at the right times all series long you go back to the the tying goal in game four and you go back to the winner in game three Riley ends up getting both of them. They're just those greasy point shots off of face-offs,

one in the offensive zone. And even the game, they were down 4-1 in the third period. Just the big boys for Toronto, obviously led by O'Reilly. But think about Matthews, Marner, Tavares, and Nylander and the amount of scrutiny they face year over year being called losers, never showing up, you're not built for playoff hockey. Well, I tell you what, maybe at some points they didn't look as dominant as they did in the regular season, but they showed up when they mattered. And I would say that the Marner and specifically Nylander's skill really came through. I thought that Matthews from an overall defensive perspective, I want to say he led the entire series in block

shots in which before he got injured in the regular season, like everybody wants to talk about Matthews sniping ability. Before he got injured this season where he got pulled out of the lineup, he was leading all forwards in block shots. We're talking about the reigning MVP and the reigning Rocket Richard winner here. Like how often do you see a guy who impacts his team on the score sheet, who's willing to sacrifice his body like that? So just everything, how Austin Matthews has evolved into becoming such a complete player, I think really shined through this series. And I think in some cases he had to really elevate the team on his own in certain situations and he did. And I know JT, although has lost a step and doesn't

look as fast as he once was, I thought that he really made the intangible plays. He really stepped up in times where he needed to win a face-off. He needed to win a battle. Was he dominant? No, but he came through when he needed to along with the rest of those core guys. And the last guy I had written down was Morgan Riley like he's been there the longest he's I don't think that people truly understand the pressure that it is to play in Toronto and I think that the biggest and I've said enough about Riley in the way that he was scrutinized during the regular season to some cases where media was saying oh maybe he's the guy we should move because he wasn't as offensive as he was in years past. Well, he showed up offensively in a huge way when this

team needed it. And just to go to the shot of the Matthews family and probably an understanding of how much pressure is on these guys, maybe Matthews can remain calm, cool, and collected in the post game interviews. But to get that monkey off their back, to take this weight off their shoulders, I think it's going to be a huge step because now I feel like they can just go play hockey and not constantly worry about what you guys just talked about with the Bruins, answering these questions about, hey, why has it been 19 years? Why can't you guys get over the hump? Why do you keep blowing these 3-1 series lead?

Why aren't you guys built for playoff hockey? So just an incredible job in staying resilient and getting past this. do you keep blowing these 3-1 series lead why aren't you guys built for playoff hockey so just an incredible job uh in in staying resilient and getting past this and wit you fucking tweeted a bunch about it i'll throw it over to you samsonov they finally got the goaltending they needed i i didn't think you were going to mention him and i was going to be all over you i have some for you buddy yeah yeah yeah i got plenty that was how it was going to have to happen, the way that series went down. Like, it was never going to be easy. Every Maple Leafs fan knew that.

And I said it at the beginning, congrats, Maple Leafs fans. I love giving it to you, but all of my ammunition, or a lot of it, because you still haven't won the Cups in 67, but a lot of the ammunition is now gone. You got out. And I am very happy for a fan base that while being completely psychotic, are loyal ass lunatics. Samsonov was the best player for the Maple Leafs by a mile. And game six is when it really showed. And I said to Merles,

I'm like, Merles, if they start getting chances on them and they don't score, that's when you know Toronto's going to win. I knew Toronto was going to win. I put five grand on them. I woke up. I go, it's their time. It's their time. And then I knew Tampa would bring it, but I didn't think they'd.

That was Tampa's best game of the series. And you said it. Tampa outplayed them. They really did. But that's how the Maple Leafs were going to win a first round series. They were actually going to get dominated and they were going to get stand up, outstanding goaltending. The exact opposite from everything else that they've ever dealt with.

They never can get the save, dude. They never get the clutch goal. They never get the tying goal late. They never get the big save. They never get the OT winner. And it all changed while getting dominated. So Tampa Bay, what, I mean, you talk about a championship team and guys who will do anything to win. Like they were not going down without the biggest battle of their lives. And they ran into a goalie who stole a series flat out. And I was super happy for John Tavares because, I mean, that guy, like,

he basically ended a similar type streak for the Islanders advancing in the playoffs. And then he leaves the Islanders and he becomes public enemy number one there. People make fun of the picture. I don't know. Maybe as a little kid who dreamed of playing in the NHL, I never had NHL teams bed sheets, but he tweeted out the picture. Not every day you can make a childhood dream come true when he signed with them. And he's been dealing with the same bullshit that 19 years for since he's been there and he's the captain and he gets the winner, man. And granted it went off Radish's right foot and left foot and then

in the net, but it was Tavares went off Radish's right foot and left foot and then in the net. But it was Tavares, the guy, skating through center ice with everyone running after him. And it was just something that I really didn't ever think would happen. I was like, I don't know if these guys are ever going to win. But Matthews, right after the game, he said, I'm going to mess up the quote. It's something like it's actually like a mental release. It was a hindrance. was how are you not supposed to think about it it's impossible and you say the pressure yeah you're in an absolute pressure cooker environment and you can't win big games you got this core that's making all this money

and they finally did it and i think i'm on record as saying if they ever got out of the first round they'll probably go win the stanley cup, Edmonton's playing in the same playoffs, so that's not going to happen. But they are going to be loose and free and flying. I actually was all about 99% picking them, and we'll get to the picks later. But after our discussion on Florida, now I'm like, I don't know, man. There's people thinking Florida is going to run them out of the building. I want to go to

either Merle's or Keith here about Keith's adjustments. From a defensive perspective, I thought Hall really struggled that series. A lot of slow breakout passes, not gapping up properly. You go back to the lunge on that goal.

That was 25 seconds after they'd gotten that opening goal in the first period i want to say that was of game five where there was just no need to lunge and then in game six i mean we talk about the waiting to game seven to make adjustments where he did a good job of taking hall out gussefson went in lilgren went in um he didn't he i wrote down not being slow to give Nize his rope I felt like as soon as he noticed that Nize had his legs and he was this fucking young stallion he didn't limit his ice time he just fucking kept hammering it down where I felt that Nize from a four check perspective from a one battle perspective he was one of their best overall players and he really

had an impact and then of course putting back in bunting after he sat him out for game five so i just felt that that keith although he loves hall did the right thing and taking him out and then they also had lilgren who i thought made some offensive plays i thought he joined in well when he had to and just overall loved loved loved the adjustments by uh by keith uh i'll take nize um i love they put him in i was calling for him to go in the guys uh hobie baker candidate the college players are the best players now if you look at the last drafts and everything the major junior guys are just not coming up as the good players it's all about the college guys these guys are ready to go in they've only played

30 games all year so they're fresh. So I love inserting him into the lineup and I'll pass it over to Keith to cover the D side of it. Yeah, I agree with you on that Knives too. And I think what helps him is they're not relying on him to come in and score goals and be a guy that's going to win them games. They got those guys with Matthews, Marner. So he's built to be a guy that can get on the forecheck, disrupt plays in the offensive zone, make plays getting out of his zone. So I think he fits perfect for that third, you know, fourth line role, especially playing with a guy like O'Reilly and Achari, who I saw him with a little bit. So it's like you have two veteran guys that know what they're doing.

They're playoff guys. Yeah, you definitely got to tip your cap to the key for making the adjustments that like like already said are tough they're tough adjustments to make during the season you you don't want to go away from the guys that got you to where you are but they're hard decisions and and you know looking back it really helped them out but one thing i want to touch on on tampa with is i just i'd love to know the details of why they traded Ryan McDonough. I think they missed him so much. Obviously, it's never going to come out, but it's like that guy is an absolute workhorse. He's brutish, but better.

Yeah, and the big thing is he gets the puck out of his own better than 90% of the defensemen in the league, and he gets it to those guys like Point, Stamkos, Kucherov. So I think they really missed him this year. This might be crazy, Keith, but I felt like in tight situations late in games when McDonough was there, he would be on the ice sometimes instead of Hedman. Oh, yeah. He was that guy that they relied on in that situation because of it, because of his,

his like percentages as far as making the right play and getting it out of danger. And I, and right next to McDonough, I have Cernak written down where I felt like from a box out and block shots perspective, especially early in the series, that's where they missed those two guys. I felt they cleaned it up better as the series wore on but those were the where the the battles were won by toronto earlier in the season or series to get those chintzy wins um another thing i had written down was uh that high stick no call on haggle going into overtime that was another another uh another call that toronto avoided so you look to the no goal that would have made it 4-2,

had that point scored and then to that call going into overtime with fresh ice. And then in all the years past where they went to the finals, I feel like the deadline moves that they'd done had really helped them. Hagel maybe not so much in the first round last year, but once he got used to the team, I felt his impact come more and more as the games went on, where given the load that they gave up for Janot, I just didn't see that impact. Now that's not saying that it won't come in the future. He was hurt too. He was banged up. It just didn't have that immediate impact. Whereas you wonder if they go give a boatload for somebody else, who could they have gotten in return to help them get over this hump?

You know, that one more factoring player where maybe Kucherov was a little fatigued, where if he didn't have the impact he had. Well, like for Toronto on the opposite side of it, the new additions that Dubas had provided, they're the ones who elevated the team in those vulnerable times. Like O'Reilly helped them in that vulnerable time when they needed that tying goal, when they needed that face-off, when they needed that big save. It was Samsonov, the addition in the summertime, and moving away from Jack Campbell to say, between him and Murray, these are my guys.

So every addition that he had made had really contributed whereas Tampa's just didn't for the first time so I thought that that was a huge impact for them especially when Toronto was vulnerable now if Toronto goes and gets whacked in the second round like that that puts a complete stink on this right are you guys just going to play the, no, no, no, we get out of the first round. We're good now. So Tampa played them so smart, exactly how they needed to, to win. You would imagine that with the four check, the way Tampa did it, giving Toronto problems, if they come with the same four check we saw against the B's, Toronto better be fucking ready and better be working on that every day leading up snapping those breakouts and figuring it out and getting on the same page. Whether at the start,

it's just hard rim and then win the battle up top and play chippy, greasy hockey. And if you want to try to activate the net front and start making plays and refuse to make adjustments and stay stubborn in the way they were trying to do it against Tampa, I don't think that they have a fighting chance. The reason why I do like them against Tampa, if they figure that out and the four check, is also I feel like Florida is going to be willing to open it up a little bit more where Tampa didn't do that as much as Toronto would have liked. Toronto loves playing that up and down game, especially when they have those first two lines on the ice. And then they have the other lines who can shut down

big lines, but they like that north-south hockey. They want to get moving. They want to stretch the ice. They want to do the cross and drop. They want to play that fucking run and gun game. So if Florida opens it up and wants to try to compete with them there i like toronto's chances if they're gonna lock it down like tampa did toronto better fucking look out and we got to give our picks later but we just saw the panthers completely bully the bruins i get it and there's not much difference up front in terms of toughness for the meat beliefs so that's okay so so so i know we're going to get to the breakdown later that's why i believe that the moves that dubas made even more

so with mccabe luke shen he ain't scared of no one he'll fight you know they need those guys for when they're trying to start those skirmishes i think that luke shen's going to be an x factor in this series coming up okay i think i've already i've already got i already knew you's going to be an X factor in this series coming up. Okay, okay. I think I've already, I've already got, I already knew you were going to come at me with that. And I, and I know, but they, they built themselves that way because Tampa could play that style and even more so with Florida. But that's why they beefed up on the back end and remind you, they have Lil' Grin as a backup if he ends up getting taken out.

Hall, I would imagine stays out, but they still got that Gustafson if they go to 60 and they can have Lil' Grin out. Hall, I would imagine, stays out, but they still got that Gustafson if they go to 6D and they can have Lilligren out. That's a big fucking decor if Lilligren's out and Gustafson's in instead of Hall. You got Brody, you got McCabe. Go ahead to the next series. Alright, alright. Sorry, sorry. I'm getting excited. Sorry. A couple

other notes. Yandel, I think it was McDonough. I think that was just a cap casualty. That was the only thing. I don't think there was any real mystery or scandal behind that. The Leafs were the first team in NHL history to win three OT games as a road team in a single series. And Matt Nyes, he was on the ice for all three overtime, one of his pretty interesting quirk. And Sam Sudoff, not a bad little sign.

And Abiz, free agent-wise? You, ARA, that was another one. You're on fire this pod, not only with your intro. Yeah, he's on fire besides his favorite team blowing the biggest lead, point differential choke of the history of the league. But, yeah. I want to go back to Koop. So classy.

He spent like 30 seconds a minute with each player for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Like, obviously probably gave him props. They keep going. He's just – I just feel like the way that he handles himself in the media and the way he's able to motivate his team, just that was a modern day dynasty. I think that there'll be back. Just,

just all the credit in the world goes to him, what he's been able to do to turn things around in Tampa and handle himself with class on the way out. And I believe you had a missed call from him the other night, didn't you, R.A.? Yeah, I got right back to him.

It wasn't exactly a condolence call like it was from my parents calling me after the game. It was a buck dial. No, he called. I missed it. I called him back. We chatted for a few minutes. Had some laughs. Actually, when I was in the box with Jake Tebow, so I threw him on the phone.

He got to talk to Coop for a few minutes. So pretty nice to have those guys share that. So, yeah, boys, we can move along. Seattle, Colorado, talk about another episode. I mean, history in Denver Sunday night. The Kraken became the first NHL team to win its first ever playoff series against the defending champions. They beat the Avalanche 2-1 in Game 7.

All of them, Bjorkstrang got a pair of goals. That's all they need. Mikko Reitling got one for Colorado. It wasn't quite enough. But you know what? Despite the series odds, I don't think we can really say Colorado choked here. Given the injury situation they had, they had over 450 man games lost the injury uh no gabriel landis cog it was just a tough ride from they turned it on late but uh let's go to

you merles first on this one what's your take on the series overall especially as colorado yeah i'm disappointed i had to put the abs 29 jersey away in the closet for the rest of the year but um yeah i mean the nakushkin they lost in the closet for the rest of the year but yeah I mean the Nikushkin they lost Nikushkin during the series that was the major problem because he was their secondary scoring all the scoring came from McKinnon and Rantanen basically and McCarr missing the one game suspension was huge they're just they just aren't the Stanley Cup team that they were last year no Codry no Landeskog no nakushkin i think manson missed all the series or most of the series so they just weren't the same team that we followed along last year to

the cup and seattle seattle's a different kind of team they just play four they basically have four maybe second lines i would call it and they just keep rolling at you they got no egos a couple big d men they got the right coach in there that coach is is pretty demanding the old college coach so all those all those cast offs are are ready to play for him and uh i gotta give a shout out to the assistant coach jay leach he's an up-and-coming coach um he was in the bruins organization for a while i saw him drawing up the plays at the end of the game so shout out to seattle and to Seattle and the nice little team they got. Merles, you fucking said at the depth compared to no depth,

16 goals from the top six for the Colorado Avalanche. Guess how many for the bottom six went? The bagel. Zero fucking goals from the bottom six. Zero. Wow. Seven goals for Rotten and four for Mack. Just no supporting cast where you look at the other side and the team that not a lot of people gave a chance to, the team that's probably getting the least amount of respect

coming into these playoffs, 15 separate goal scorers. Not one player on the team had more than two goals. And that just speaks volume to the fact that they have so many guys up and down that lineup where, yeah, they don't really have a first line compared to most of these teams that are in the league, but you said it, Merles. They have four second lines, no egos, next man up mentality. They lose McCann, their 40 goal man, just send a rookie and he ends up contributing a goal. It's that next man up. And I think we could all agree, probably the star of the team through the first seven games of these playoffs has been grubauer and i thought hank did an unreal job breaking down why he's been so good uh standing up not just fucking going down like we saw on that goal that swayman let in like they use this reverse reverse v8 they call it that's what hank was calling on the demo where most of

these guys are down it felt like he just was making every big save that they needed scathing off the big three and i agree with you merles this wasn't a uh this wasn't a uh like a like a shit the bed type moment this was not having any other secondary scoring and mccarr mckinnon and randon putting on a fucking show and i think i think the dog proved a lot in this series. Yeah. The dog is a sicko. I took them live, like, plus 375 when they were down 2-0. Boom, they get one. He ties it up. I don't know what Arturi Lekkonen's doing. He was off sides by a foot.

Adam Oates was sitting at home smashing a hammer off the wall. I don't know how the hell you go that off sides. So that was upsetting, but I don't think I've ever been more wrong about a hockey team in my life. And this is coming from a guy whose voice was used the first year of the Vegas Golden Knights over the loud speaker before games saying they were going to beat the doormat of the entire NHL as they walked into the Stanley Cup final. But I have shown this team little to no respect. I called out Haxtell as like a sacrificial lamb, as the kind of coach you have the first years you let go. This guy's been unreal. And they play nonstop hockey that never ever is an intent

and quick. And Kevin Hayes told me the other day, I was talking to him, he said in his eight or nine years, however long he's been in the NHL, the games in Seattle have been the hardest games he's played at. He's like, they don't stop coming. And all night long, they're chipping it in, layoff style hockey, Brandon Tanev style hockey, right? And they got all these guys. You said nobody had more than two goals. Bjorkstrand could have had 11 goals in game 7 he hit the post 6 times I think every time he got the puck he's twisted wrist

ding ding and Grubauer started jumping for joy right when the buzzer went off like man you got they didn't want you there right they wouldn't come to his term and do his money he wanted 6 years same thing you know what he went in there and he beat him They didn't want you there, right? They wouldn't come to his term and do his money. He wanted six years. He didn't want him there.

Same thing. You know what? He went in there and he beat him. And I do have to mention this. Feel just sick to my stomach for Andrew Cogliano. And I don't know who, Biz, I don't know if it was you or Anson Carter. I heard some. I actually don't know.

Somebody said that shouldn't have been a suspension. Biz, that was the definition of how you say they go about if you're injured but cogliano came back and played in the game right yeah that was what i was talking about the guy came back with a broken neck right and and they didn't suspend everly who's not a dirty player but it was a dirty fucking hit neither is mccarr and his his hit ended up hurting him, hurting McCann. So I figured that he would be getting the same treatment. And that's a big piece for Seattle. He's on their top line, right? And like you said, he's not a dirty player, but it's like, well, the way that it was called earlier in the series and to lose Makar in game five as an impactful player as he is,

they lost game five. So it's such a, such a, I guess, a weird call where the standard had seemed to have been set where now all of a sudden, and people might say, well, Cogliano is a little bit different than the leading goal scorer, but he's an emotional leader in that locker room. You look back to the run last year. And when the guys were asked about who were the guys to step up and really calm the nerves in the locker room, it was Cogliano. Well, what'd they fuck? They found themselves in a very stressful game seven they could have used his body and his wheels and going back to seattle incredible starts they scored the first goal in every single game of the series so they were they were always playing with the lead they were chasing the game all the

bruins were chasing the game every game so were were chasing the game. So was Colorado, right? And so they had to overextend themselves. I want to say the amount of odd man rushes that Colorado gave up compared to Seattle must have been at least two to one throughout the entire series, if not more, right? They just stay in structure. And on top of that, in three games, they had two or less penalties. And in the one game they won, they had three, which if you could stay out of the box against Colorado,

you're going to give yourself a fighting chance, as we saw in the opposite situation with L.A. putting fucking Edmonton on the power play. So they're just such a disciplined team throughout. They're not taking penalties through their structure, through getting off to good starts, to never taking a shift off because they have these second lines they can keep rolling over and over so just a just an incredible series from the

Seattle Kraken and from that city perspective if they were to get swept in this round they'd still be thrilled with the way the season turned out they have zero pressure going into this round against Dallas zero zero like Merle. Like Merle said about them having a bunch of second liners and obviously you got to tip your cap to them, what they did, where it showed is on the power play. They were 14.3% on the power play and they win a series, which is insane to me, especially when you got other teams like Edmonton clicking at a 56% rate. So I think that's where they miss it a little bit but it's also i played a long time in the same division with uh

against uh yanni gourd in that whole team it looks like you're playing a bunch of yanni gourd just disrupting everything has to play against but at the end of the day, they came together all year in what they proved from last year with bringing in a couple guys, guys having better years, guys getting – we talked to Eberle, Biz, after their overtime win, and he was just saying you get more comfortable in the city. You know your way around. It's not your first year there.

You've got to find your places to go, restaurants like it that takes a little while for guys and they figured it out this year and along with the being a tough build in the playing that they brought it and they brought the energy and set off their crowd in their city and uh yeah and what you said it too no one gave them any credit or expectations to move on. Everyone thought they were just going to get worked over by Colorado, the defending champs. But credit to Haxtell and his crew for moving on. Boys, they're the castaways. They're the redheaded stepchild of the NHL with guys who were passed over.

Who assists on the game winner? A guy that Nashville put on waivers who makes the play to chip it past the defenseman so fucking dork strand could go down ellie tolvanen he makes that play along the wall so the the last thing i need to touch on is ron francis looks like an absolute genius zero deadline moves zero zero leveraging of the future to get the production of what he's gotten out of this team. Think about the hauls that other teams gave up to dream about

being in this situation. Zero deadline moves. It's going to be a dangerous team for years to come. And what an inspiring group. My last thing is had to bring up Carl Galeano. Comes back with a broken net. Just mind-blowing stuff.

And Seattle, Adam Larson was kind of a little bit of a punchline when he got traded straight up for Taylor Hall. I don't know if you guys remember that. Remember, that's it. That's it. Adam Larson, this guy, Edmonton. He had to get it put.

He's put pretty well there at times, but he ends up, I think he was their first signing. I think he signed with Seattle that summer they came into the league. He was awesome. And Oleksiak was in Dallas. He's now going against his old team, but he's, dude, talk about a big body. Talk about a playoff guy. So, yeah, I've been wrong.

I'm picking against you again. I think Dallas is a sneaky cup favorite. But what a series for the city of Seattle. And I wish we were getting out there to a game. We'll be out there next year for the Winter Classic. But like I said, Hazy said the atmosphere is out of this world. Yeah, they're basically playing with house money. Like you mentioned, Francis, no deadline moves.

And they don't have to give up any draft picks. And that was huge for them. Keith, you mentioned the power play the only team with the worst power play than uh colorado and seattle was the islanders uh so far in the playoffs and uh right uh and also last week we mentioned uh with uh ty cardi i believe you say his name you know we come in and got that goal well there's a great story that come out uh nhl.com the next day he texted his parents he said one word playing and they're like we're gonna get out there 1600 miles away they were in kingston ontario uh they made plans they got out of work early blah blah blah they got on the plane they missed his first shift at one of the relatives but i showed it on facetime for them uh but they

got there in time for his goal and it was just a great celebration that's awesome yeah pretty cool little story man i thought it was a nice thing to share. That's a little nugget on, right? Fucking right. Fucking A nugget, man. There he is. There he is, buzzing. I think that right now we should play the audio

for those Canadian viewers who didn't get to see the TNT broadcast of Hank's breakdown of Grubauer because he's going to be such a big component going into next series. He describes his style of play. If it's a little hard to understand without seeing the demo that we did on tnt you can then go check it out online to make it to make it make a little bit more sense but i think it's it's you know it's such an important

position especially come playoff time and it's a great teaching clip from a guy who's a hall of famer so hopefully you guys enjoy this and once again if you don't understand it go check it out with the breakdown from him on the internet. Before we continue, folks, you know that we've been part of the Chevy EV family, but we've got big news, great news. You've seen it before. The first ever all-electric Silverado

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where a lot of goalies play on inside edge, pretty wide, gloves out. He's more together, gloves close to his body. And that save you talked about, even when he moves side to side, he keeps his glove close to his body. And that save you talked about, even when he moves side to side, he keeps his glove tight to his body. And what you wanna do when you go side to side, you don't wanna reach,

because it becomes a very hard save when you reach, and then you have to react again. You can see on the replay where he comes together, the gloves close to the body and then react. And your first instinct a lot of times when you go side to side and you're late and you see the shot coming, you reach and then it's very hard to react from there.

But he's so compact. He's kind of like a square moving around. Another thing I notice is play around the net. There's an over usage around the league right now. Reverse VH where guys are down, they stay down, the puck ends up in the slot. We've seen a couple of goals from the, the puck ends up in the slot. We've seen a couple goals from the slot,

from the corners in these playoffs. I think you have to find a good mix, where sometimes you need to be on your feet to make sure you're in a good position for that play in the slot or even a rebound play. So I love his mix of old and new. Wayne's yelling at the TV right now saying, Thank you, thank you, because he wants goalies standing up more.

I saw it on the Yamamoto goal where he ended up rolling up up top. And I mean, I know there was bodies in front, but he's already down like this where the whole top of the net is available. So Grubauer tends to wait to drop that low or really never? I mean, you can see it at times he's down low,

but I think he works really hard with his positioning of the gloves, where how you put them, if it's far from your body, far in front, for him it's tight to his body all the time. And even when he moves side to side, he keeps it very tight so it looks like a square out there. But the biggest thing for me, because he stands, he becomes more patient. And to me, that's the most important thing for goalies he stands he becomes more patient and to me that's the most important thing for goalies to be patient and read the shot and you see he makes a lot of

good reads because of that i'll just say do you think it's more important as a goalie that's six foot one he's not six four six five like a lot of these massive goalies we're seeing today to stay on his feet and be more patient that makes a huge difference we talked about reverse vh to whoever's watching i can't even do it with pads too tight yeah too stiff but that's when you're down with this leg on the post like this and you sit down here right if you're six one six two you're gonna open up a lot of room up here right but if you're 6'1", 6'2", you're going to open up a lot of room up here, right? But if you're 6'5", 6'6", you can get away with it. But even when you're 6'5", if you stay down a lot, it's harder to attack the shot from the slot, and it's also harder to recover from a broken play.

And also you saw Swayman today, very similar situation, where the shot came from the opposite side and it was up there. It was down, and the puck ended up kind of over there and he was just sitting down, right? I would love to see goalies be more on their feet and kind of pick and choose when it's time to be down reverse VH or be on your feet. Not all the time. There's a place for everything. I don't know how much time we have, but what are the benefits to that V v8 the reverse well you tighter down low right and

there's so many plays around the net so you need to make sure you're tight around the around the crease down low because a lot of plays happens down there and broken place right you cover a lot with your pads yeah okay and that's the biggest change it changed a lot over the last 10 years how much guys use it and guys are getting very good at it i just think it's a little bit You're doing a lot with your pads. Yeah, okay. And that's the biggest change. It changed a lot over the last 10 years, how much guys use it and guys are getting very good at it. I just think it's a little bit of an overuse of it. Overkill. Overkill at times.

That's why I love Grubauer. It's a great mix. Don't look at me. Don't look at me. I don't have to read the prompt. Biz 20 promo code for this? No, there's no fucking promo code. I'm just trying to teach the kids, man. Wow, yeah, though. That's a great call. When's the last time you had a no fucking promo code i'm just trying to teach the kids may wow yeah though

that's a great call i i don't when's the last time you had a biz 20 promo code i feel like since we've upped our brands we don't get too many biz 20 promo codes anymore because you can't get one for a car for us or what we're gonna be getting uh biz 30 promo codes for all uh florida panthers gear after the second round when we fucking bend them over no spit no loop sandpaper finish how about that cats fans because they're about to choke there's some action yeah okay yeah let's talk a little bit you're like you like the cats say can i quickly say i mean it scared me out of a bet because I was like, Toronto's going to win, and Keith goes, all right, let's make a bet. You lose.

Toronto loses. You got to go spend two nights, 48 hours at Pearson Airport. I started shaking and twitching. Six-minute abs, and I back. I just said, no, I'm done. That's a long time at Pearson. I said you had to go to Daytona Beach For a weekend with R.A. And he set the itinerary

Keep that would be fun buddy Stay in the same hotel room too You gotta cut R.A.'s toenails Yeah Now you grossed everybody out Even myself for Christ's sake My wife looked at my feet the other day She said what's wrong with your feet

I was like I'm fucking middle-aged, honey. Just go fucking look like a caveman at a certain point. You have to apply a lotion on his skin because it's the driest, pastiest skin I've ever seen in my life. It puts the lotion in the bloodstream. You almost agreed. Hey, it's the scene from It's the scene from Dumb and Dumber when he's got that

that trying to drill his fucking toenails off. Hey, what about, what about instead of Daytona, Key West? We'll do a better location. Ah, dude, I went to Key West. He goes to Key West every year. Oh, you like RA? That's a wrong move first.

Oh, you haven't been yet? RA, you went solo? Yeah, yeah. Shocker. I was in Tampa for a buddy's wedding, and there was a lot of time to kill, and I looked flights and i saw that on the key west i always wanted to go so i went by myself and uh had a great time and uh fat bruds and hookers and mopeds oh my fat bruds and hookers and mopeds oh my what a fucking wild place that was i went fishing on my birthday it was awesome

dude it was a fucking phenomenal spot highly recommend you don't feel like you're in florida man like everything's kind of loosey-goosey there but how is it you feel like you're in a you feel like you're like in a nascar bali kind of is it nascar bali well it's like a tropical feel like the beaches aren't great there but the bars are unreal and it's just like a real festive vibe but yeah i definitely want to get back there kind of a pain in the ass to get to if you're you know a little far away like b away dude i went out and i didn't get a chatted by myself but i paid like 150 bucks there was only one other couple on it i must have caught like 30 mahi mahi man because it was just put the hook boom boom boom and i couldn't keep them all obviously i said i'll keep you know keep the

catch i tipped the guy out i took a couple fillets took my moped rented moped right to the restaurant and it's great you pay like three bucks put in the bar and they cook your fish right there for you. Throw in some like corn on the cob, some veggies and shit. So yeah, fucking great time. I can't wait to go back, man. I would say how about the bet is you got to lick R.A.'s fingers after he eats corn on the cob. Oh. I mean, if you like butter, you're good.

Let's move it along here. R.A. was actually catching like little jellyfish. He was so banged up. They're like, yeah, that's a good. Let's move it along here. So he was actually catching little jellyfish. He was so banged up. They're like, yeah, that's a salmon. That's a tuna fish. Don't make me dig up my pitches. What do you want to bet? Huh?

What do you want to bet, Keith? How about a chain? Because you're in the chain gang. What? Back in the chain gang. A nice one, too. What's a nice chain cost? God, no idea.

Herringbone? I don't know. Biz wants to, Biz will bet you 50 bucks worth of a chain. I'll bet you more than 50 bucks. One piece of the chain. How about this? How about,

how about we bet 500 bucks? Straight up. Done? That'll get you, Shane. Toronto's minus 180. Just so you know, Keith.

I didn't know. That's, that Vegas. The cats are plus 152. Vegas is. Well, he's also made 50 sheets. I think he can fucking afford it. It's like a penny farm. 70.

He says, unbelievable. Who do we got to get to next, boys? Oh, my God. Minnesota-Dallas. Dallas, they went down 2-1 in the series. Then they rattled off three wins in a row. They knocked off Minnesota. Outscored them 11-3 in those games. Matt Dumb has hit on Pavelski. It seemed to kind of galvanize the team because

it was a great article on The Athletic. And Pete DeBoer, the way he handled it, instead of like focus on it or even mentioning it, he just looked forward. He praised the officials and didn't mention it. And that kind of like carried over to the team. And like I said, they won three in a row after that. The Wilds scored only 14 goals during the series. After a 40-goal season, Kirill Kaprizov had just one goal, no assist. Matt Boldy had 31 goals in the season, none of the playoffs. Freddie Goudreau had the team with three. Of course, they were missing Joel Eriksson-Eck. He was hurt.

He only played like one shift for 19 seconds. But, you know, Minnesota, like, it's not a kind of, eh. Second year in a row, they go up 2-1 in the series, only to lose three straight. They've lost 14 of their last 19 home playoff games uh it's the fourth season under dean evason that they had not advanced so uh biz does this beg the question uh of a wild the american maple leafs uh i feel like they're cursed definitely as of late and you just mentioned those 2-1 leads back-to-back years and then you thought at some point that Kaprizov was going to find his game, in which we saw during the last couple regular seasons. And I thought 100% after the series was over, they were going to say,

yeah, he came back early and played through something. But even he said, he said, no, I just really couldn't find my game and get back into my offensive rhythm. And that just really come to hurt them. and get back into my offensive rhythm and that just really come to hurt them and you saw Boldy and what he did with Kaprizov going down and how he was able to contribute and just those two young guys getting shut down the way they did and then obviously Ottinger being a big reason for that it just they just couldn't get that secondary scoring. Eriksson was a beast all season long and through that season in which they

did deal with injuries he provided a lot of their good two-way play and a lot of their offense especially with hartman early on not really contributing i want to say what felino finished with seven goals after finishing with 23 the year before um but for me i look at this series and i just look at that horribly officiated game four in which you talk about Dallas not using the excuse of the Dumba hit. I feel like they just felt sorry for themselves. I've never seen a player face worse luck with those two calls to cost them because both power plays were scored on in game three. And then to start game four on that five-minute disadvantage

because of the Foligno hit on Faxa. Is it Faxa? Yeah. Yeah. Radek Faxa. Yep. That was when I felt that everything had shifted and it was kind of this woe is me mentality and they couldn't fucking figure it out. the way that Gustafson played in game one, I don't think we really saw that ever again. Goes back to last year's goalie decision making where I felt that he should have played game two. I understand maybe why they went to flower, but when you have a goalie that red hot and he's that young, he can handle back-to-back games. Like just to throw him in there. In some cases, they don't even know the pressure they're under. And he seemed calm as a cucumber in game one and then to take him out and take him out of rhythm and then go to flower and then flower gets lit up and then it's back to gustason

it just seemed like i don't know it just seemed like that was a weird weird coaching move but other than that i just i felt that uh i felt that yeah the last three games, Minnesota just really couldn't establish anything. It was very disappointing. And I don't know, four years in a row now, they've been able to get out of the first round. It was through two games where I said- With Dean Everson, sorry. With Dean Everson, sorry. Through two games, I was like, I kind of want to switch my pick.

I had Dallas and yeah, everything just switched. Now, there is not a chance in hell Kaprizov was anywhere close to healthy that was that was not the same player and that someone that young and dynamic doesn't all of a sudden have nothing he had no legs it was a knee injury I believe and there was just probably no chance that he would have been playing had it not been the playoffs that coupled with the Eriksson act being out, the big playoff type centerman that could shut people down, it was just too much for them to handle. Dallas really did rally around the Pavelski injury because what did Sagan do? He took the net

front spot and he had four goals in the series and he stepped it up. And Dallas is like, I don't know how. Their odds right now to win the Stanley Cup, that's not a bad bet, I don't think, because this Ottinger is the best goalie in the NHL right now. This kid is a freak. In any sort of breakdown they have, what was the one game? I don't know if it was game three or four. I think there was five breakaways or two-on-ones combined. And he's sitting there.

He's not even having to make amazing saves. He's perfect positionally. And the puck's just hitting them. No rebound. It's like when you have Heskinen and Robertson and this kid, it's like Dallas is with Jersey in terms of had they lost, they both moved on, which is even scarier. Had they lost, they're the two teams that I feel like are almost saying,

that's all right, our window's kind of just opening. And Dallas already with these young studs, and now Ben and Sagan, yes, they're making $10 million, but they don't have to be the guys. Who did we already bring up already in this podcast? Rupe Hintz was a beast. Oh, this kid is a freak. He's a freak. And he's got

so much speed and energy, so they were able to somehow retool quickly through the draft and have these young studs come up and make the big money guys who are on the back nine not have to be the number one players. And that's why this team's so scary.

Minnesota, I also want to give them a little respect because, yeah, it fell apart. And Mike Russo had some harsh tweets in terms of how ugly it's gotten in the playoffs. He was hard on them, which you understand. It's been a while since they've had success. But they're in cap hell. They were in cap hell this year. They're going to be in cap hell next year. And then finally, at least they're able to get out of this jail that was the right decision in terms of the violence of Suter and Parisi. But to even kind of have the team that they had this year going through this cap crisis, I'll call it, it's pretty impressive. So you get

healthy. I still think bright things ahead for them. But yeah, the putting Fleury in, messed with the mojo a little bit. But at the same time, they'd been doing that. You know, Bruins fans wish they did it sooner. So it was just a team that is built to win and like prepared to go on a little bit of a run here,

taking over as the series went longer with one of their top players out and i felt physically early it was minnesota dominating whereas the series went on you like look at jamie ben uh marchment i feel like dolmy can add some of that physicality hawk and paw uh suitor was a piece of shit to play against especially early on and i go back to that game one where he was cross-checking uh capri soft and getting on him and i wonder how much that deterred him from getting involved more physically and if wit is right at the fact that he had an injury um yeah have you had teammates where they were battling stuff after the series just be like no

i wasn't battling anything that was just i just couldn't figure it out because it's his he he talked to the media he said no i was a hundred percent yeah um no because usually it's but he's been all right since you know for the last few weeks so you usually it is guys battling stuff whether maybe he's not admitting it and doesn't want to put put a uh excuse on something uh about his play I don't know but yeah you could tell he definitely wasn't himself and you just wish he was 100% healthy to see what he can do in the playoffs and you know what an electric player he is and going back to Ottinger I said it I think on TNT he he reminds me of Carey Price when Carey Price was who he was, just made everything look so easy, making saves. I remember taking a slap shot on Kerry,

not that I had a hard slap shot or anything, but hit it as good as I could, and he just went like this, just quick little save. Perfect mechanics. On to the next play. Thanks for the muffin. Everything, just, yeah, exactly. And the one guy I do want to show some love to in Minnesota is Matt Zuccarello.

He is a gamer, that guy. And obviously not a ton of help around them in this series with, you know, some of their big guys having a little bit of a cold series, which obviously happens. But, yeah, I thought he was great. I mean, as much as you see, like, 10-15 years it's all right whoever's got the best goal he's gonna win and last year kind of proved it a little different with colorado winning being able to you know high fly and scoring goals but if this ottinger plays the

way he did and we saw in that game uh in minnesota with his family in in the uh in the building after a loss just coming back and playing so good and i think i think that's going to be his you know his moment where he looks at himself and he's like okay i know i'm the best in the game right now and uh especially what he did last year too against calgary he was unbelievable but that's the goal he looks like looked like in the last three games of the series and that's what should scare other teams and i know that it's going to be a great goalie matchup with grubauer playing the way that he's playing but i think that it's fair to say everybody agrees that ottinger is the the number one right now in net in the playoffs he's the guy if you were if you were drafting a

team of the guys available who are still playing you're picking him to start in that yeah it's also i was a little worried when pavulski got out just obviously the the veteran leadership that he brings to that team and what he did this year producing and helping those young guys on his line but those guys man i think they're a different breed that rupe hansen and robinson those guys bring it every night i don't think they kid i think it goes back a little bit too like they're playing in dallas they're flying under the radar a little bit it's not hockey heaven like it is in toronto edmonton like these guys are just out there playing the game they love having fun obviously being big contributors every night too but uh what what they've done with their young guys and you got to give a lot of credit to the old guys too of not being grumpy old men and not letting those guys take over the team like they're helping these guys along they're

showing them the way they're playing good hockey as well but they're just taking a little bit lesser of a role and it's it's helping them win and at this point in the year and this time all you care about is getting those 16 wins. Merles what do you make of their resilience-ness? Yeah I missed that. I thought that was fine when you said that. You know, Biz? I thought it was a word, too. Yeah, so I think you're right there. I look at Dallas. I looked

at their bottom six. I noticed those guys. They were so fast. They're flying up and down the ice. They're putting the pressure on the other team the whole time, so I really like them. I noticed the same thing as you guys on during that game four it was like oh he's back and uh so i took him actually to to shut out i didn't i said take the shutout i bet under two and a half goals but you knew he was back he goes and

has the shutout he's so calm gotta shout out the coach pete deborah he's been there before he gets teams there and um little moves like that with the referee and goes a long way in the playoffs you be nice to them you catch a call here or there you say something in the paper so veteran coach like that um I really like their chances in this next series how many times has Pete the Boer been to uh been to the conference final three different teams he I want to say he went to the he's went to the finals with the Sharks. In New Jersey. New Jersey.

And then did he go to the conference finals with Vegas? Shit. I don't know off the top of my head. I know he's been to the Cup twice. He's looking for his third time now. But just the type of guy where he steps into a new team and he always has instant success. So he's really good at getting in touch with his players and getting the most out of them.

And very, very impressive. Whit, did you have anything on to wrap up Mini Dallas? We already gave Ottinger a double wrister at the Western Garden. Whit, does Ottinger not remind you of Carey Price when Carey Price was just the calm, cool. Yeah, just hits him. He's so good. And, Jesus Christ, the shmeet, too, in New Jersey.

We'll get into that one. A couple of other notes here. Matt Dumba really actually said this a little while ago. Matt Dumba, he had a concussion that kept him out of the third period in Game 6. He said, definitely wasn't the way I wanted it to end. I thought it would be different this year. I love Minnie. My heart's in Minnie.

Says he hopes it isn it to end. I thought it would be different this year. I love Mitty. My heart's in Mitty. Says he hopes it isn't the end. And then Michael Russo said that he talked about his best friend, Jonas Brodine, on the team. He said, Brodine, come up to him during the admission and said, I'm not going to let you play because he was in such dire straits because of the concussion. So, I mean, those are nice stories to hear. I mean, you hear these, you know, a concussion spot is missing stuff.

But for your own team to come up and say, hey, buddy, sit down. You're all done. I mean, it's nice to hear guys looking out for each other like that, you know? Dumb but really turned things around. He was a healthy scratch late in the season, and I thought he was probably overall one of their most impactful, if not the most impactful D in the lineup.

I thought he was very physical. I thought he did a great job of jumping in the play, getting shots through. You know, he was probably the most noticeable. Yeah, I'm sure he'll have no problem getting a contract for next season uh also joe pavelski is going to be in the lineup for game one uh versus seattle he was practiced on the line with domian marchman so good for dallas man after what happened to him in the first round it's good to see him back out there and yeah you mentioned rupe hints leading leading scoring after the first round with 12 points i

don't think too many people uh would have hit bet. How many else? Not against Rupe Hintz, just so many goddamn stars in the league these days. No, no, no way. But he does fly. He's awesome. He flies. He can score. He's on the power play.

He's playing with that Robertson. This Robertson, he's like a robot. It doesn't really show emotion. I saw one thing today, he can't even grow facial hair yet. But he throws everything out. He's like, I'm trying. Everything he throws everything out he's like i'm trying yeah everything he throws at the net ends up going in it's it's it's really amazing

uh also uh dallas uh 37.5 power play percentage uh second among the remaining teams of course we'll get to the number one team in a little bit but tonight was another game seven uh the rangers in jersey uh we had pasha boots on the ground there uh look like the rangers might have solved out schmidt in game uh six but ah jesus there he is the menace the menace pash you were there tonight how'd it go by the way you know how the game went well tell us give us your take here buddy did you drink are you a little buzzed up uh i i wasn't drinking during the game but uh once the game started kind of winding down i had a couple pops and uh got one of these in my hands and listen i don't want to sit here and gloat but the devil's absolute wagon the rangers suck patrick kane is a liability next question question. Oh, I mean, go ahead, guys.

I can tell he's buzzed. I can tell he's buzzed already. Good call. I actually am at the office in American Whiskey. I'm down below here. Got a good Wi-Fi. Eric and this. Pasha.

Pasha might get his pee-pee wet tonight. That's the only need of the Rangers to pull off an upset win to introduce himself to women for the first time in a while. No, the devil's actually roasting him underneath the camera right now. We just can't see it. But I'll tell you, Pasha. Oh, shout out to NJ Devil. Beauty.

I was wrong. He dialed in the tickets. I was wrong. We were all wrong, Pasha. We were all wrong. I got no problem saying that. I texted you. I said, Pasha, 0 to 10. How nervous are you? You said,

on the record, zero. Off the record, 15. But game seven comes around. That was the biggest shit kicking in a game seven I can ever remember. From the opening puck drop, it was every single thing you said would happen. It all came together in game seven. The team speed, the relentlessness, the team that could break out the puck so easily. The Rangers, at one point in the game, shot slots were 11 to 1. Rangers, I mean Devils, the Rangers got in the zone, one pass on the wall, turnover out of the zone. There was no sustained pressure, and Jesus Christ, this Jack Hughes, you know what sometimes the difference is? The Rangers get the first overall pick. They get Alex

Lafreniere. And I think he'll have a really good NHL career. The Devils get the first overall pick and got the next Patrick Kane. Listen, there's a lot of guys that Rangers all chirp. Lafreniere had a terrible series, but he's a good guy. He's not on my hit list. But listen, Patty Kane, I don't have to say another word about him. Okay. He had that big goal in game two and every rat, every greasy New York Rangers fan came out of their fucking basement, got on their Twitter to DM me and let me know, oh, Patty Kane's the man. Well, what did he do since then? I think two secondary assists, dash five, bunch of minor penalties. The guy, listen, one of the best American players of all time. I never chirped his legacy. I said, in this series, he'll

be a liability. And guess what? He was a liability. He was just, he was getting toasted wide left and right, taking minor penalties. Listen, Kane is over the hill. The Rangers suck. The Devils are a wagon. What are some positive things you saw from Jersey that they adjusted well to starting in game three? I look at the penalty kill where they got torched in the first couple games. I think since the start of game three, they allowed one power play goal for the new york rangers they killed 17 of 18 what did they do differently other than put asia akira schmidt in that with this kid's fucking kicking like crazy i think it was two things like you said biz yeah they were way more aggressive the first couple of games their whole game was

timid not just their penalty kill their whole game was timid second youngest team in the league i believe the nerves got to them they just they were sloppy i mean murals and i were there they were missing every pass they were just like they looked very sloppy they looked like the berlins last night yeah and then that really was accentuated on their power play because like they just they were they were just timid they were timid they were letting the play come to them and that's the last thing you can do in the PK. That's why Kreider was, you know, busted us not too early. He got four power play goals in the first period of being one, and then disappeared. Sick, man. Awesome.

Anyways, they did a good job on the PK. I see you laughing. Good job on the PK. But, yeah, that's the biggest thing. They adjusted. They got over the nerves. If you take the first two games out of that, they dominated the whole series. And Shesterkin, one guy,

this one guy didn't want to trip on the Rangers because he showed up every night and he's probably one of the only good players on the team. But after what he did to Timo Meier, the guy's laid out on the floor, hands in the air, and Shesterkin skates over. I don't know if you guys saw this.

Skates over him and starts chirping him. Okay, Pasha, they had been battling all series. And earlier in the game, Meyer put it in the net after the whistle or whatever it was. I don't remember. And Shostakovich fired the puck at him. So there obviously was something there. But yeah,

seeing a guy pretty much dead on the ice and having the goalie come... There was definitely something there. And listen, I get it in the heat of the moment i probably do the same thing i'm just saying i was gonna pump shisterkin's tires after he did that no love for shisterkin um going back to that kid line i thought that they were completely irrelevant uh compared to last year where they had a major it was the biggest buff in angela street well i mean pump the brakes here uh lafreniere uh there's a couple bigger ones on this podcast

right now um alex lafreniere lafreniere in the seven games zero goals zero assists uh no pims plus minus was even uh devon didn't take any face off uh face off zero net takeaways and finished a series with nine shots on net so you can see him a little bit out there tonight, but even in the shots that he had, I think I have a fucking harder wrist shot than that guy. I completely agree. They were the blueberry muffins heading in there. Lafreniere was a complete ghost,

but that's not the Rangers' biggest problem. You're paying a guy like Tommy Panera $12 million. Did he have a point? He had two points in the first game and then he went the last six without a point. He's never gone, I think, four games in his NHL career without getting a point. He went six.

Let's read the list here. Zibanejad, one goal. Kane, one goal. Kocko, one goal. Hedl, one goal. Panarin, zero goals. Lafreniere, zero goals. That is an ugly fucking... And the fact that they were able to get by New Jersey where did Jesper Brad have a goal the whole series okay did Timo Meyer have a goal the whole series he did not he did he

didn't have a point oh my god and then who's the other big name guy for that he sure didn't have a goal he sure didn They have a goal. He's here. They have a goal. He's here. And then what about Palat? Did he have only one goal? Palat had one empty number, yeah. Which is like, if I would have told you that heading into the series for the New Jersey Devils. I'd say they got swept, right? I would have said they got swept.

Exactly. The biggest difference being this kid in net who seems to have alligator blood. The way you described Ottinger is the way that I see this Schmidt guy in net who seems to have alligator blood he he the way you described ottinger is the way that i see this schmidt guy in net now too where he's he's even bigger and he just seems like he's on his fucking angle every time where there was no rebounds tonight and if there were they were going right to the corner and it looked like a vintage martin brodeur just directing anything where he wanted to with that rebound control schmidt wasied was definitely dialed. He was dialed. There was all this talk online about who should start the next game. I know.

I was like, what are they talking about? Yeah, it was crazy. No. B-Tech, honestly, had a great season. He did a good job. But Schmied's the guy. You've got to ride him. But I've got to come for you a little bit here, Witt.

Eric Holland. A couple of things to say about him. First of all, you chirped all season when the Bruins were doing their old, okay, it's a regular season, we're buzzing, we're buzzing, whatever. Oh, Pavel Zaka's going to get, oh my God. Pavel Zaka in that game seven missed the net probably 500 times on that one shift on the power play. He was ripping it high and wide every time.

And then you look at a guy like Eric Holland, who stepped up, I think he had three goals, a couple assists this series, big-time goals, and the cherry on top, after the game tonight, the mascot, shout-out NJ Devil, absolute great, best mascot in the league.

Hope to stop me and Grinelli with tickets the first game. Yeah, I'm going to have a tattoo of him on my ass in two weeks. Oh, yeah, yeah. We'll get to that. We're downstairs, we're by the ring, we're down underneath, and we're walking by, and like one of the ice guys is like, yo, Pasha, fuck it, right? It's like, thanks for supporting the Devils. As Hall is

walking by, and Hall goes, hey, you better give him hell on Twitter. No shit. Yeah. He goes, Pasha, you better. look at you getting HGs from the fucking Devils guys in the hallways of the rink. They hear your chirps. The Hall of Zaka thing was more about you saying how horrible Zaka was.

I said he's not a big game player and he disappears from a lot of stretches. No, you said he was horrible. Your exact words were, he'll be good for three games, horrible for seven. Exactly. How was he in the last three games that lost that series? Oh, no.

Holland was way better than him in the first round. But throughout the season, obviously, I'm going to be like, yo, you've been dogging this Zaka guy to me for three years. He looks pretty good for the Bruins. Well, why do you think I've been dogging him? Every time he's in a big game, he disappears. And you text me and you go, what's your sample size? He didn't play any big games for Jersey, dude.

Exactly. That was your chirp in December when you texted me that. And then now how did he do in the playoffs? He didn't win his team a series. Let's keep it a little bit more positive. Why don't you put your mascara on and give a big gummer to your boy, Jack Hughes. What did you think of him in the first series? And then we're going to kick your ass off of here, you chirper.

I thought Hughes was awesome. I thought he was skating circles around people, dominating. The Devils are just a much faster team than the Rangers. I thought Hughes was kind of a prime example of that. I thought for him, he honestly didn't even have the best series that he could. None of the Devils did. I think they're going to handle the Canes pretty well. Canes are a great team, but they're going to handle the Canes pretty well. Canes are a great team, but they're missing Pacioretty, Svetljikov, Tervainen. That's over 100 goals right there. They're struggling to score.

They're struggling to score. Jesus Christ, Mason, a water posture. Have another water posture. Big deal. Get a big deal on you, buddy. Now you're missing Meyer, though. Not that he did anything. No, Meyer's fine. Oh, okay.

What did you do? Give him a mouth-to-mouth after the game in the trainer room? Don't worry about that. Don't worry about that. But I can't help notice the guy in the bottom right of my screen here, Keith Gettle. Great guy. Absolute legend. But I can't help

remember a certain sentence he said, saying the Devils are going to miss the playoffs. Oh, here we go. Now you deal with them, Keith. All right. So I apologize for that on SportsNet a couple weeks after I said it. I'll explain to you later why I said it. But, yeah, no, you know what New Jersey Devils remind me of?

It was the Florida Panthers last year, and it's because of Andrew Brunette. I think he has them playing a run-and-gun game. I think he has them playing exactly how he had, not that he's the head coach, but I'm sure he has a lot to say. And the way that he had Florida clicking last year, knowing the young guys in the league, knowing that it's a different game than it was than it was you know five ten years ago he has them clicking at a rapid pace right now and they were amazing tonight deserved to win that series

what what is lindy ruff like joe biden he just he's the puppet master and then and then it's actually brunette called he's a handler just to find the bench you see how old he looks now you don't you don't think l Lindy Ruff been around for 50 years is going to say to his assistant coach, hey, what did your team do that won the President's Trophy last year? What did they do well? Let's try to bring some of that into our group. So Andrew Burnett's going to be gone.

He'll be a head coach next year. Lindy looks like the type of guy who would use the word resilience-ness. So that's probably what... Okay, okay, Pasha. Why don't you maybe... Why don't you maybe apologize for your Devils fans chanting fire Lindy

for the first game of the year? Yeah. That's such a reach right now. Yeah, we're grasping at straws. I think we're grasping at straws. They already did they apologized by chanting a fully sorry Lindy game 15 after

a 15 game heater like that's what you're grasping at right now come on looking for anything I think that's pretty much it boys as far as the devil stroke off session it was the Jekyll and Hyde show they didn't show up the first two games Jens do you have any

final words to Pasha before the second round? I think he's frozen. Oh, he just signed off. Yikes, Jens. Come on. I'll say congrats on your win, Pasha. I was wrong. I'm just happy I didn't get in on the $500 wager with you. I mean, yeah. Well, listen. Army, you guys have

my Venmo, but you guys were all talking Rangers. You owe me $500, so we're even. No, I already vended you $500 for that bet, so you can send it right back. Thanks. Fuck. Either way, we're even. Well, spend that money on a new hairline and now get off the screen and go cut the sandbagger, the Portnoy Josh Richard sandbagger

that's coming out in a couple weeks. Thanks for having me, boys. Love all you boys. Congrats, Pasha. Congratulations. On to the second round baby we don't need any second round babies popping out i'm sure about resilience in this biz but i believe the cucumber is the calmest of all the vegetables as you alluded to earlier oh okay okay thank you

all right next up all right did you have anything for that series or was that we pretty much summarized everything yeah i mean i i people asked me who i liked i mean you know i got friends on both sides obviously jimmy veezy a friend of the family and i know frosty on the devil so i was kind of torn watching it i didn't have any action on i just kind of said i'll be happy for whoever wins and sad for whoever lost tonight so i i uh yeah i mean schmidt i've been i've been stroking him off for two weeks man that kid is is uh what are wisconsin my thoughts right now, Marls? I'm going to have to jump on them. When he first came in, they were 125 to one

because I looked it up the one night trying to do a mush on him. So some kid put it in and he sent it to me, 125 to one. They're not up yet now for today because the new games and stuff. I'll ask you a controversial question. Here we go. What did you think of DeLon? What did you think of the way, I felt like he just leaned to the work harder, work harder pep talk rather than maybe, I don't know, changing things up.

What do you think? I think Gallant gets fired. Wow, really? It was that bad of a non-adjustment to changing anything. Now, you saw him change the lies in game seven. By the way, I don't want him to get fired, dude. I would never want somebody to lose their job. There's a couple people out there, but not him.

But I'm saying the way that went down, and you can't take a 2-0 series lead like that going home and perform the way they did. Dude, they lost 4-5, and as Pasha said, Game 6, the Rangers, they took that one over, did dude they lost four or five and as pasha said like they were i mean game six through the rangers they were the rangers they took that one over but they were down one nothing got a really lucky bounce off crider's leg to make it one one and and other than that it was domination and then you see the game seven it's like maybe i'm reaching on getting fired but there's something

about everywhere he goes after a couple years i don't know what the gmc but there's something that's there in terms of like all right we're not changing like nothing's different and and you don't always like want to blame the coach i mean you talked about the lack of production i mean but baron's the number one dog there and then lafreniere with that series that was numbers zeros across the board first overall but something about the way the series went i didn't you said it i didn't see any sort of now we're not in the room but publicly didn't say anything in terms of like what we need to switch and then they didn't switch anything and and game seven they switched the lines up they got a little going but anytime they did it was schmied the save

the glove save he made on trochek when it was two nothing was unreal i thought it was check looked like the best player up front for new york from from from games one to seven i'd say cried or but but after that yeah yeah well as far as execution i just noticed trochek five on five a lot more but you know this John Marino kid got traded for Ty Smith who played the minors most of the year for Pittsburgh in Wilkes-Barre John Marino the play on that second goal he walks Mikula and as I pump Kreider's tires Kreider's just like standing there pushes him and then skates right by um who got the second. Tatar.

It was like, what do you do? It was just boneheaded mistakes. So that's not the coach's fault. But the Devils had guys step up. And like I mentioned, Jack Hughes is, this guy is so fucking fast. It's amazing when he gets buzzing through the neutral zone. There's nothing... Now maybe Carolina's D's better skaters.

You're going to see Slavin. You know what I mean? You're going to see a different type of defense you're trying to wheel through, but he looks unstoppable right now when he gets the puck with speed, besides his amazing fall at the blue line today, which is one of the best balls I've ever seen. I think it just feeds into the conversation of these eight teams

that are remaining. It's almost like the American takeover. You have the four best American-born players in the game right now still in playoffs. And it might even go deeper than that. I was just thinking off the top, Jason Robertson, Matthew Kachuk, Jack Hughes, and Austin Matthews. Those are the face-of-the-league type players that are still involved, and we keep talking and reinforcing this new blood. It's new blood time where you talked about all these kids coming out of universities. Most of the time, it's American kids that are going to these universities

and developing at a rate faster than they ever have been before Murrells and coming in more NHL-ready. So from what we've seen as far as advancement from these four kids and what they look like for the American side of things, it just makes me even more excited moving forward for these World Cup of Hockeys because you know the league at some point is going to come up with a best on best. We're going to see best on best in the next couple of years and these American born players are at the front and center of it all. So I look forward for the race of who wants to peacock out the most

when the games and the chips are on the table, and I'm throwing it over to you. What do you got a stat for us, a little nugget? Well, yeah, you guys asked for the Kira Schmid-Kantz-Meithaus, and it's plus 1600s. Yeah, plus 1600 for him. Jack Hughes, plus 1700 on the Barstool Sportsbook. Matthew Kachuk plus 1800.

The Rangers were quite noticeably maybe one of the slowest teams in the playoffs. Would you guys agree? Agreed. Like so slow. Well, now Carolina's not slow. They're quick and they play quick. So I don't hate the idea of a big burly defenseman. What was his name for jersey ball ball oh yeah he's so so i'll take the l on that one big bruising no but but i'm actually gonna say maybe you look to luke hughes now with a quicker carolina team and a little bit better well you better go into witness protection because i already said that and devil's fans want me dead so i know but it was a different series man it's different i i agree with, but after he got in that fight, I think it was in game six.

Oh, he played great. Played great. Yeah, good shutdown guy, good at clearing out the net front, and that lineup has been doing a good job of keeping pucks out of their net. Keith, we just are wrapping up the Devils-Rangers. Was there any final notes? We talked about Gallant keeping his job he's been pigeon tossed by Florida you got pigeon tossed by Vegas with short stints does the message

run dry quick with him and do you think he stays I didn't have enough time with him to know really if the message doesn't get through but the only thing I'd say about that I didn't notice a lot of changes in their game from game one to seven. It just kind of seemed like they were trying the exact same stuff, whether it was breakouts, their neutral zone, four check. Everything that they did kind of looked like the same they've been doing all year. Kind of the only thing I would say might need a little change, especially when you're playing a team that's as fast as Jersey, that can create offense like Jersey. They needed to do something. Obviously, I'm not a coach. I don't know what that is.

To slow them down in the neutral zone. Yeah, big time because they were just getting through with such speed, and then that's just taken away from the Rangers' time in the offensive zone, which they were good at all year, is holding on to pucks and playing teams down low. Yeah, that's kind of the only thing I could see on that with them from a coaching aspect. But at the end of the day, it's, you know, if you're the Rangers,

you saw this group, especially adding Tarasenko and Kane, you probably saw them at least going to the Eastern Conference Finals. So it's going to be tough to be a Rangers fan right now. And obviously I played for the Rangers once a Ranger, always a Ranger. So I hate to see them lose to that team. And I mean, you sound like a player, but it's on to next year for those guys. The Fugazis showed up in Game 7. Hey guys, before we go any further, I want's on to next year for those guys. The Fugazi showed up in game seven. Hey guys, before we go any further, I want to talk to you about GameTime.

GameTime is the exclusive ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. Created by fans for fans, GameTime is the ticketing app that makes it easier than ever to score last minute deals on tickets to sports, concerts, and shows, and they guarantee the lowest price. Me and Grinnelli have been taking advantage of this a long time now. Playoff games, concerts, whatever you want to go see, use GameTime. It's possible to snag those seats with the GameTime app. The biggest last-minute price drops can be found on the seats you thought you could never buy. The purchase process takes just two taps and 10 seconds. And once you buy your tickets, they're delivered directly to your phone, no printer needed.

The app also allows you to easily share tickets with friends via text so you can get to the game seamlessly. Skip the hassle and enjoy the moment. Download the Game Time app or go to the website, enter your email and redeem code CHICKLETS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. I think that's a perfect transition to get into the final series we haven't broken down in Edmonton, LA, where LA knew they were playing against a speedy team like Edmonton. So I think the fact that they've played at that neutral zone the way they play the 1-3-1 all season long definitely was a good opponent for them, but they couldn't shut them down on the power play and that's ultimately was the straw that broke the camel's back the the best power play in a single

series of nhl playoffs ever 56 just over 56 percent ra yeah but we have to start with a particular tweet for this one though biz uh from uh buddy ryan whitney there it is oil won't need to celebrate and be shipping in cases of being in the locker room it's just business as usual onto the second round again much bigger goals in mind bring on vegas hashtag yeah i know i know that's a shot at the leafs about celebrating their first round win and that's just how wit is and he's a grumpy fucking gills all the time and can't let other people celebrate that they want to celebrate. Heck, even the New Jersey Devil fan was going at you with a sign for your jersey comment.

Yeah, that kind of proved my point decently, actually, but go ahead. Yeah, we'll let you take it over because it's your Edmonton Oilers. You got the floor, buddy. This team, what has everyone questioned about this team for so long? Well, a lot of things. Bottom six. It's been a tough goal. The bottom six. The bottom six. What has everyone questioned about this team for so long? Well, a lot of things. A lot of things. Bottom six. It's been a tough call.

The bottom six. Goal tending, too. The bottom six, goal tending, and defense. So every single aspect besides 29 and 97. The bottom six showed up in spades, boys. Oh, yeah. And if you want to talk about a GM who made some deadline moves, we've talked about Ekholm enough.

Nick Bugstad. Keith played with this guy. He loved him too. Bugie. This guy scored big goal. And what happened is you have a power play that is legitimately unstoppable. Like, correct me if I'm wrong here. You mentioned the best percentage in one series in NHL history.

That's coming off the best percentage in the history of the NHL during the regular season, where it's not even a power play you can study or replicate. Because you have two guys like that that are unlike, who are the two best players in the world with McKinnon, those three. They move around and shake around and there's no position and Bouchard's up top and he lets the cannons go. And Bouchard, oh, that's what I asked McDavid about first question we got with him. Yeah, I saw what he said. He said, we've always known how good he is. And just with Barry going out and he's gotten his chance to step into the role, confidence. Confidence is everything. This is a coming out party. So we've had the power play. That wasn't a worry. Now we have this bottom six. We have guys

who aren't just scoring big goals, but they're playing dirty bottom six hockey. And Derek Ryan doesn't get enough respect. That's a fourth line guy, but he's got a brain. He's got the hockey IQ that you need to have to be an undersized guy and play on a bottom six role and understand always being on the defensive side of the puck and never turning the puck over. And that's what he did. How about the swap out of Pauly Harvey for Koskin? Dude, he is a

thoroughbred. Austin Koston? You see those goals? First round pick. I mean, the pedigree's there. And he showed up those goals in game 6 I mean you get scoring from guys like that like you're getting

a well rounded team offense no longer is it just these two by the way Newt didn't even have a great series so watch him explode against Vegas this is going to be another battle the Oilers have the toughest run I mean they, Vegas is sick. Very difficult. We'll get into that for the preview and how good they are. But man, you lose game three in a heartbreaker, okay? You lose game one in a heartbreaker. You

lose two overtime games. A game four comes around, you're down three call call what felt like six minutes into the game the old edmonton oilers dude they're losing that game seven one that game's done nope they come back they tie it up then they give up the fourth goal they actually go down again i'm like oh the comeback and then they still evander kane who's playing injured who's another playoff type prick I believe you described Cousins on Florida as a real piece of shit to play against Biz what a compliment Evander Kane's the same way and he's talking shit he's in your face he's non-stop and that goal to tie up that game was so big we go on to get the win in that game and then go home and trounce them in game five with a sick effort and in game six we have to grind it out on the road we don't even need to go to seven i said it would be seven they didn't even need to and stewart skinner man for a rookie to show up and play like that

but what happens there's obviously bumps in every road and Jack Campbell we talked about on the episode coming in and saving that game when they went down three nothing that is that it's just a complete team effort it's a different Oilers every guy's doing something you can't give me the it's Dreisaitl and McDavid it's our whole team yeah dude they are the two best players they are an enormous part of the team. Without them, they're not in the playoffs. But it's no longer just them two. And so just to see everything turn around

and have the momentum building and have the craziest city in the fucking world for hockey. They're selling out Rexall for away games. Or it's now Rogers. They're selling out the arena, dude. They could probably sell out both. Yeah, they are.

No shit. And how many fans are outside in the mosh pit? It's just we went to the Western Conference final. Merle saw it. All you guys saw it. I got to shave your head in front of everyone, Biz. It was the atmosphere, and it's getting crazier. And I finally got to put out the

tweet of the video of the boys coming on the ice for home games. It's just, it's an electric crowd. And you go back to 06 and like the run to the cup finals game seven is like, holy shit, people just want to watch those games to see the crowd. I know that sounds ridiculous. The reactions, the goals. So it was a hell of a series. Everyone chipped in. Everyone did their part. And I'm just very fired up that they're continuing to go on with a legit chance to win the Stanley Cup. So the big two were huge early on. You mentioned the lack of offense from the bottom six. Actually, in the first three games of the series, two goals, one assist for the bottom six. In the last three games in this series they had 11

points five goals and six assists so that talks about how much they stepped up when they needed to 11 points for Dreisaitl 10 for McDavid they weren't as dominant maybe as last year's first round where I want to say against LA they each had fucking like 17 or 18 points but definitely when they had their opportunities on the power play, and they needed to because I felt LA, for the better part, were the better team five on five. They're good. They were a very good team. And when you look back to the last two years where LA had very good teams who could have made runs, they just so happened to bump into the Oilers when they had these two guys who would put the team on their back and then finally are given these other guys in order to contribute and you mentioned the

goaltending that gif of him choking it up and then to come back and have the mental strength to fucking lock it in after giving up that pizza well his stick was broken that's not fair but still dude like I don't know who was the defenseman on the bench but he was like hey let fucking shake it off we got you like buddy that's hey other goal like all marked it didn't seem like he shook off his fucking blunder from game five so um also biz yeah i was hard on darnell nurse started playing a lot better as that series went on a lot lot better. Simplified it. That's the key to this episode. It's playoffs, dude. Simplify everything. Stop trying to make crazy plays unless you're one of the best players in the world. Hughes, you want to try something, go ahead. But even if these great players end up not simplifying the game, you don't end up winning. But bottom six forwards,

Kaler Yamamoto has had a tough season, right? And he got dropped down in the lineup. And he gets that winner. And the boys were so fired up for him. They love the guy. I think McDavid after goes, ah, the little guy got the big goal. It's just something where you deal with adversity

and you get dropped in the lineup and you still show up and you play and you score the biggest goal of your life, series clincher. And Koston, game three or four, I think game four he played three minutes, dude. Three minutes. There's no sulking. There's no whining. There's no woe is me.

I got to step up. I got to be better. And he did it. And so it's like guys that are dealing with adversity and bouncing back the way these guys have on Edmonton. Skinner, you just mentioned that, all these, Nurse, it's like, that's the sign of a great team. You cannot wither when things aren't going your way. And that's coming from somebody who withered into a little dead flower every time adversity hit him. That's me. No, this is the new Oilers. So I can't wait for this next round.

I was going to ask Keith if he was able to see the talk we had on TNT about how McDavid's able to process the box and process the information so quickly. You were a power play specialist, maybe break down what you saw from Bouchard at the top and then Dreisaitl and McDavid and give maybe fans a deeper dive into why it's so electric? I think with Bouchard, he's figured out. I think when Barry first got traded, he was trying to shoot it a little too much on the top of that power play. You've got to realize when you're that top guy, your best option is to give it to McDavid or give it to Dreisaitl. But now he's figured out when to shoot it, and he shoots it when he's open, and he's got an absolute cannon. So very excited for him.

He stepped up his game so much. And a guy, I'm sure he was feeling the heat a little bit earlier in the year, being a high pick. He's playing bad too. Yeah, so it's to see what he's done. And then I think too, going back to McDavid and Dreisaitl and not having 17, 18 points in a series, I think they've finally figured out that, okay,

if we take care of other things in our own end, in the neutral zone, getting pucks deep, not trying to beat guys one-on-one, whatever the case is. I mean, they can still do that, obviously, but they've got that winning mentality right now which you saw from a guy like like nate dog uh in colorado where in the years before he's just full board trying to go offense but i think i think dry sidle and mcdavid have figured out that they need to play in all three zones they'll play their 25 minutes a night they'll dominate no matter what they're doing.

The power play is just something special, like 56% clip. Have you ever seen a team penetrate the box like that or what? No, and the thing is with McDavid, because especially this year, he's brought that aspect of his game where he's a threat to shoot, and he can score from anywhere he's shown that this year with his shot um so you have to respect you have to respect his shot and also his passing ability which there's not too many guys that are dual threat like he is so when he when he's penetrating that box because obviously they have you know they could they

could play four on four and it's still dominate that way but when he has an extra guy out there it's it's something special and it's something i've never seen on the power play where he can just kind of do whatever he wants wherever he gets the he can start with the puck in the corner come all the way up dance through the middle and you also too when you're playing against a guy of his caliber it's you do get a little bit puck watching because you know how good he is so he's created all that that space for himself on the power play and um just the absolute specimen of what he's doing out there well i was gonna flip it over to la and we've got to give a double double barrel to uh adrian kempe and i know i saw a bunch of tweets coming out of your account and i would love to get merle's

uh feeling on that but what were you gonna say right right before? I was going to say that Jay Woodcroft is quietly putting together like maybe like the best resume to start a career as a head coach in the history of the league. I don't know I don't have the stats to back that up but ever since he's gotten there this team's been unreal. So he's obviously pushing the right buttons and when you talk about guys who are coming back from adversity and getting sat down and getting dropped in lineups, for them to come back and play that well, that has something to do with the coach in my mind. The way he's talking to you, the way he's telling you, listen, right now it's not good enough. We're going to need you. He's obviously doing something that has created not only like a winning atmosphere there, but an attitude where guys are able to get sat down and get pee-pee whacked and bounce back and play that well. So Woodcroft's right there too, in terms of top coach in the league. Yeah. As far as Adrian Kempe, Biz, he played over in Modo where the wit was. And they're back. Modo's back, baby. Yeah. That's why I brought it up. They're back in the SHL, but he got to grow up watching the great ryan whitney there for two games but um he's awesome he flies he knows how to score i i really like watching him

he's a he's a top top end player i just got to touch on the oil because i said in the preview i wasn't too sure about the goaltending and and skinner he he looks like he can do the job he can bring him there and i got a little nugget for you with kentucky derby on saturday the nine horse named skinner there's a horse named skinner so could be his year if the horse wins on saturday then we know it's really could be the oilers year so let's go skinner i would say overall though like la they they look good they had players to stick it arvidsson looked great i thought that corpus solo maybe he didn't look great at the end he faltered towards the end They look good. They had players to stick it. Arvidsson looked great. I thought that Corpus Salo maybe. He didn't look great at the end.

He faltered towards the end. I think he was just maybe fatigued, rattled. There were a lot of cases where he almost looked like early days Jonathan Quick, but maybe didn't get enough of the box outs and the block shots where he played really low. We also got into that with Hank and that breakdown and he mentioned, or I did on the Yamamoto goal. As he spun around, there was a little bit of net front traffic, but it's not like he roofed that top, top cheese underneath the bar. I just felt like there was so much space up top that they were able to expose. I mean, you even saw it on those power play McDavid goals where he went glove side when he scored two goals that one game on the power play. That was the dowdy chaos with Dreisaitl when power plays were going back and forth. But he just, they really exposed the top of the net with a lot of their shooting where I felt like he was, I don't know, either fatigued by the end of it or just couldn't find a way to stop shots up top. And maybe it was derived from goalie scouting

and just where they were putting it early on where they couldn't figure him out. But I went from after three games saying Corpozalo was probably the best goalie in all of playoffs to saying that, fuck, he got yanked once and then didn't really look like himself. Yeah, you're going to wonder, Biz, if they're going to try to re-sign him.

I know he only made like 1.3 mil last year. He looked like gangbusters early. He ended up 2-4, 8-9-2 save percentage, 3-7-7 goals against. I don't know. You're probably going to take a look at some other goalies on the market maybe before going to him. But LA's turnaround has been pretty good, though. Kind of rebuilding on the fly.

Yeah, rebuild on the fly. They're basically contenders again, but your buddy Jeff Jacobson said, whereas Edmonton is to LA asA. as Tampa was to Toronto. They're going to be this hump that they need to get over to get back to the finals. So keep an eye on that. Yeah, Edmonton ain't going anywhere. Maybe not a bad tie-in goaltending-wise in terms of L.A.

Will they resign him or not to another goaltender in Canada, possibly wanting out in Connor Hellebuck and that series. And you know what, before I throw it over to R.A., there's not much to be said about the on ice, just an amazing display of hockey by Vegas. They dominated. It's more about what happened after that series, I'd say. Yeah, no doubt. The only series that didn't reach six games, I mean, Jets rolled them game one and then Vegas just blew them out of the building. It's almost like there was a wake-up call and game one for Vegas.

But like you said, it was afterwards. Rick Bonas, a very candid in his post-game comments. Gee, why don't you roll those? Overall thoughts on that one. Overall thoughts? I'm so disappointed and disgusted right now. That's my thoughts. Where does the disgust come from?

Pardon me? Where does the disgust come from? No pushback. But it's the same crap we saw in February. It was. That's why. As soon as we were challenging for first place and teams were coming after us, we had no pushback.

This series, we had no pushback. There are better players. They're so much better than ours ours it's not even close. It's like you've been holding these feelings on for a bit is it just out of tonight's game or finally wanted to release that? It started back in January February. What is it about this team's leadership core that are the top end players? We've talked all... We got to push back there's got to be a push back it's gonna be pride you got to be able to push back when things aren't going your

way. We had no push back when things aren't going your way. We had no pushback. They're better players. They're so much better than ours tonight. They deserve to win. They were the better team in the regular season. They were the better team in this series. Anything else?

Good. Thanks. My thing on that is I don't remember. One time I remember, and it was the AHL with Michelle Tarian. Other than that, when a season ends it's never usually like that the coach comes out listen we got out played things like that but it's almost

like alright that'll be left for the player meetings that'll be left for the exit interviews I talk to the team and when a season's over it's not usually like cut throat he came out in a 56 second clip whatever it was guns a blazing and i was i was taken aback and when he said yeah since january february right when team

right when we got first and team started pushing back we had nothing we had no pushback we gave in and just like to speak openly about the disdain and that's straight up disdain for that team like he was disgusted to the point that was half-baked fuck you fuck you fuck you you're cool fuck you i'm out that was one of those ones hellebook was cool so it was just and and i don't know keith what's your opinion on like right when the season ends in terms of a coach just like shriveling the entire squad? Yeah, like you said, you never see that. It's usually behind closed doors. And I got nothing but respect for Rick Bonas.

Met him a few times. Unbelievable guy. Guys love him. He's been around forever. I do like what Blake Wheeler did. I like that he came back and that he stuck up for his teammates and in wheels was a guy that you know got the sea taken away from him this year you know he could have maybe not said anything but you know he's a guy lived by the sword died

by the sword had his things to say i don't disagree with him at all on that um it obviously could have not got to that point if they just handled it behind closed doors do you think bonus's comments were fair in saying that they didn't have a push or were you just more of like listen they they they were thin on d they lost their best defenseman and maybe there was a lot of a lot of weight on the on the top six guys to produce because they did have years out for a little bit there so like what what do you what did you see as the problem for them or did you see a push I know honestly I didn't see a push and even during the season he he is right he's 100%

right during the season when they were struggling a little bit when teams were coming at them knowing that they were for real they kind of they didn't yeah they didn't push back i would say but it's um i don't think that's what wheels was mad about i'm sure he knows that it wasn't their best effort um but it's it's just one of those things that i think probably could have been handled behind closed doors whether they did or not but it's it also goes to show you the passion that Bones has for the game, his team, wanting to win, being disappointed in the loss. I'm sure he's not happy with himself. It's not just him. It's not just the team, right?

Everyone's part of the same thing, whether the coaching staff or the players. Everyone's a part of the same goal at the end of the year. But honestly, if they didn't have Connor Hollenbach all year, we wouldn't be talking about them right now in the playoffs. He's unbelievable. He's played unbelievable since he got into the league. You just don't know how to take that as a player. It's kind of, do I think he's going to lose guys because of that? I don't think so because he's such a good

guy and they'll patch things up i would imagine in these next couple days and once the dust settles a little bit but it's uh it is definitely one of those things where you you kind of scratch your head where you're like okay they could have handled it behind closed doors we would have never heard about it and uh on to next year it feel it feels like it might be rebuild time there where i was gonna say the same thing it feels like it could be ugly for a little while hella buck said he's not interested in a rebuild but with maybe the direction of shifley um and maybe getting rid of him uh once out well i shouldn't say that but it's pretty clear i think the writing's on the wall that he's going to go to Montreal.

And with him being restricted, I want to say, he's in the last year of restricted free agency. I feel like they can at least get a decent return. People keep throwing the name Doc, Kirby Doc, out there. I think that with his cap hit and the way that he showed growth this year, from my understanding, is there's no way that Montreal's partnered with Kirby Doc at his tag given with what they're probably going to have to pay Dubois but to have Suzuki and Dubois as your first two centers as Montreal all of a sudden you start looking dangerous with the with the pedigree they have of their young guys so I know we're getting ahead of ourselves should be interesting to see what happens with this Winnipeg organization, but all credit goes to Vegas and the way they adjusted. Their D were way more involved. Their four check was 10 times

better than it was in game one. And I feel like their speed through the middle of the ice and one of the more underrated players in the league and Chandler Stevenson, between him, Jack Eichel, and some of the other stars they have on this team, they are going to give, I believe, Edmonton just as many problems as LA did. But here's a nugget for you. I believe Vegas is the least penalized team in the league. Correct me if I'm wrong. Gee, help me out here. So they're going to be going against a very disciplined team who didn't take penalties like LA. And they also, like LA, have some very smart defensive forwards who can shut guys down mark stone being a selkie winner who can also put the puck in the

back of the net so uh great great matchups here coming up and i feel like is that pretty much it boys what else you guys got to do amazing buildings that both of those atmospheres are gonna be insane insane insaneane. Insane. No, not quite done yet, Biz. We still got kind of glossed over the aisles, Canes. We got to get to them. But a couple more notes on Winnipeg. Hellebuck said he's not interested in a rebuild.

I just want to compete. I enjoyed myself more in five playoff games than I did all year. It's like a tie you got to chase. You can't replicate that anywhere else except in the playoffs. He has one more year on this current deal that'll be a ufa uh and another thing excuse me uh bonus mentioned no pushback in his quote well i don't know if you saw it today the jets sent out an email uh that a lot of people felt undermined rick bonus uh and it said in the in the email the jets had plenty of pushback against vegas in round one and then it kind of made a bunch of like i guess excuses or

reasons why they did it's just kind of odd like to take his you know his word and use that almost against them in a weird way so he is coming back next year so we'll see what happens. Fucking organizations turn into an episode of the Kardashians you know your hands will be tuning in 16 and pregnant shit going on all the drama and oh yeah

going back to the Vegas comment yes I was actually texting with that Gary Lawless and he mentioned he said a little nugget for you. So it's going to be a different look for Edmonton going on this round with the least penalized team in the NHL this season, the Vegas Golden Knights. Just keep that in mind, Whit, before you start fucking celebrating and playing on the parade.

Yeah. Penalties are a death wish against that team. Hey, Whit, is Vegas the least penalized team? Just hopefully there'll be commas, cucumbers out there. You just make sure to have my 500 cent when the Leafs fucking spank the cats. In terms of Carolina Islanders, I mean, the Islanders talk about zero offensive punch. Do you actually have to talk about them right now I know I mean fear is fear I mean they are he was five percent that should mean that we

like what is that that's like they're all just blood alcohol and road trip like against that the way the Carolina kills you can't just hold on to the puck for five ten seconds you have to move it around get them tired they were just trying the same stuff trying to wheel around stagnant power play and and just dusting off every puck there was no quick movement it was like oh I got it let's stick handle twice and then telegraph my pass over to my d partner okay here it comes oh shocker that guy's breathing down your neck it is in your shot lane you can't make a play and get it there oh okay let's move it down to barzell okay back the other

way and then on top of that there's zone entries i mean finally at one point they did the zone entry where they kicked it out to the wall and then got some time and space but for the whole series they were just leaving barzell to go in by himself all four other guys are standing flat-footed at the line he would skate into traffic they'd go stick on clear it down and in a few cases ended up scoring shorthanded goals because of it just a path and what was the one goal they scored on the power play d to d shot through palmeri tip it was a game winner in the third period of game three and that was the only power play goal

they scored the entire fucking series. To the point where they ended up having a closed door practice to practice the power play before game six. And what do you know?

Shooting blanks again. Yeah, you know that shooting blanks for Bedard. That five on O power play practice always works well. I always thought it was hilarious.

Sticks turned over. You're on a team and you're like, all right, let's practice the power play practice always works well. I always thought it was hilarious. Sticks turned over. You're on a team, and you're like, all right, let's practice the power play with no killers. Get the dummies out there. This is awesome. Get the pilots. I was out killing penalties in practice. I mean, we just mentioned Winnipeg on a possible crossroads.

You've got to think the same for the Islanders, possibly, Biz. You know, they kind of backslid since the Eastern Conference Finals, back-to-back appearances. You know, 11 players on that team, 30 years or older. So I don't possibly, Biz. You know, they kind of backslid since the Eastern Conference Finals, back-to-back appearances. You know, 11 players on that team, 30 years or older. So I don't know, man. I don't know what the future's going to hold for that squad. I mean, look at the moves. Look at the moves.

Devon Taves, two second-rounders. Ouch. He looks like a poor man's McCarr now, the way that he can move and provide offense. I mean, I just try not to be too critical, though. I mean, Borja Horvat didn't do great when he came over. It's like the Eberle comments. You get to a new city, you can't get adjusted.

Let's wait to see what he can do the next couple years. But if it's anything like we saw down the stretch in the playoffs, they're in trouble with handing over eight to him. So as far as rebuild time, I think it might be time in a new direction where you got to remember, man, I feel like Trotz wanted to stay there and wanted to move into management. And I believe that they moved on from him because I don't think Lou is going to be willing to give up the job.

So I don't know how much longer Lou lasts if these are the types of moves he's making while sipping margaritas on his yacht come summertime, not making deals. For Carolina, my thing is like, they just keep doing it. They got their top three forwards out, or no, three of their top four, because Ajo's still playing, thank God for them. And they're still winning series. How many years in a row have the Hurricanes advanced in the playoffs? I mean- I think I saw Rod set a record for advancing every year his first five years or six years coaching or something crazy like that. Only the second head coach to win a series

in each of his first five seasons with the same team. He joins Toe Blake, ever heard of him? So it's a pretty lofty company for Hot Rod there. And game six, they changed to Anderson instead of Ranta because he was healthy. And they did it in game six, not game seven. So great call by him. Ranta had not started more than five straight games all season long.

And I want to say he only played about 30 regular season games. So once Anderson was healthy and ready to go, he went to the fresh guy. Great call. Only allows one goal in that game. And how about the way that the season ends for the islanders on that turnover by um pellets and a greasy greasy goal from the side the goal line goal by paul stastny just embodies how shit the fucking islanders weren't boring to play no offense and that was our freddie's first playoff game in three years, Biz, too, and a very impressive stop, 33-34 shots.

So Carolina marches on, and now we have our quick picks we're going to get to, Charlie. We got four series. Merle, thanks for sending over those lines. Guys, we're going to spend a minute or less on who you like and why. Merle, we'll go to you first. Edmonton versus Vegas. Edmonton is roughly a 7-8 favorite, which is minus 160.

The Edmonton plus 140 Vegas. Yeah, what's your one-8 favorite, which is minus 160. Edmonton plus 140, Vegas. Yeah, what's your one-minute pitch, Merle? You give me the toughest one. You come out of the gates with the toughest series for me. I've been an Oilers guy. I love going up to Edmonton, but I'm a Vegas guy. I want to get past Vegas. I got to get us to Vegas.

But I want to see 97 play more games. I'm going Edmonton in seven. Okay, that was definitely less than a minute. Yandel, what do you got on this one? Well, I know Witt's going to go Edmonton, and I know Biz is going to go Vegas. Merle's just went Edmonton. I'm going to go Vegas.

Really? Yeah, I know. How many games? I think no matter what, it's going seven, and if it goes seven, I don't know. I'm not built for this. Jeez. You can do it.

I'll go Vegas. I have no reason why. I just think that the way that they dominated the first round, they're going to be feeling good. They got some time to rest. Yeah, Vegas and seven. Wow. I'm actually going to be feeling good. They got some, some time to rest. Yeah. Vegas and seven. Wow.

Uh, I'm actually going to pick. Ian, sorry. They're the least penalized team. Oh, no shit, eh? Great nugget. Great nugget. No way. It's not like that nugget matters against the best power play the world's ever seen.

I guess it was a stupid thing for me to bring up. I guess I'm just a moron here. I think you said it six times, but it was a good nugget. Should I log off? Should I log off? Should I log off? Going back to my pick, Vegas, they're going to be a lot to handle. Least penalized team in the regular season. Not going to allow Edmonton to have as many power plays, but I feel like this is going to be the series where Dreisaitl and McDavid, the biggest dynamic duo in sports right now, actually the most dynamic duo since Pippen and Jordan. Keith, I've said that a few times on the pod now. I think that they're going to be a different beast. I think that the bottom

six and all the other guys are going to even themselves out. I think the goaltending is pretty even. I just have a hard time believing with the steam that Edmonton picked up there in that series against LA that anything's going to slow down McDavid from going for his Stanley Cup. I feel like the time is now, and this is more of a coin flip, but I have to go with the busy gut on this one, and I'm actually going to say Edmonton in six games. Wow.

I love Vegas. I love a lot of things about them. I just don't know if mcdavid and dry saddle can be stopped right now and i feel like there's a lot more gas left in the tank after what we saw in the first round i think it's going to be an incredible series i think these games are going to be unreal back and forth mcdavid first overall eichel second overall he really found his game he got in the playoffs he had the struggle in game one and boom he took off um my man bob stoffer everyone knows about the yeah the most

dialed in man in edmonton in the edmonton area wit they cannot and will not underestimate the vegas golden knights brossois is healthy and far better than when he was in edmonton vegas is strong at center they have d that can make plays and they know how to win Vegas Golden Knights. Brassois is healthy and far better than when he was in Edmonton. Vegas is strong at center. They have D that can make plays and they know how to win. Think about this. They finished first in the Western Conference, despite not being top 10 in the NHL in goals for, goals against, power play, PK, shots for, or shots against during the regular season.

They're deep up front and good five on five. But I'll tell you right now, nothing's stopping the oil. Nothing. And I think it's going seven. And I think it's going to be back and forth. And I think it's going to be one of those series where if the most unpenalized team in the regular season is somehow getting off their game and not necessarily taking dumb penalties, but taking penalties because of the speed of Edmonton that you just cannot handle at times, no matter what in the offensive zone, they get buzzing. Penalties get called. It doesn't matter how good you are discipline-wise. It doesn't matter how good you are discipline-wise.

It's speed and speed kills. And because of that, the Oilers move on in seven. On the road, they win that game. Yeah, I don't know. I think they're men on a mission right now. I agree with you guys. I mean, the goaltending, I don't know if it's a washout. Broussard's been great.

An awesome story, too. I mean, he got waived earlier in the year, and he's leading his team well into the playoffs. But I don't know, man. The way Leon and Carter are going, the penalties, if they take any penalties, they're dead. I know they're the least penalized team in the regular season. But, yeah, I'm going to stick with Edmonton, and partially because I want to see McDavid in the Stanley Cup final. I mean, I think everybody does. You want to see the best at the highest level.

So I'm going to go Edmonton in six. I'll go. And let's see what Mr. G has. Our producer, what do you like buddy i had edmonton in seven but i that's stoffer text just it's got me thinking it's got my head all messed up so i hate to say it i'm gonna go i'm gonna go vegas in seven fuck you g wow i'm sorry you should have told stoffer to send you the most the best text of all time for the vegas golden knights it was he was saying they're a good team and that it's a huge test in store that's You should have told Stauffer to send you the best text of all time for the Vegas Golden Knights.

He was saying they're a good team and that it's a huge test in store. That's what he was saying. I just love the defense in Vegas as well. Yes. Shea Theodore, Petrangelo. I mean, it's just you can't beat that. How about the Ducks getting rid of Shea Theodore, Manson, and Montour? That's tough. Who did they keep? They kept someone

in the... They kept Fowler and they kept Lindholm for a little bit. Lindholm was there a while. Where's he been since? No, in the expansion draft. In the expansion draft, they kept someone over. No, but did they keep Montour over... Oh, when they let Theodore go?

Yeah, they kept someone. Fuck, I don't know. That's a good question. Not sure, but we will move along to the next series. New Jersey versus Carolina. Jersey a slight favorite here, even six. Excuse me, minus 120. Carolina even money.

Merles, what you got, buddy? Oh, another. These are all tough, obviously. But, God, after listening to Pasha, I i was gonna go on the devils but i don't think i can team up with that guy he's just too much on the devil shit he's crippled too right now i can't team up with him we were down in carolina for the outdoor series i'm gonna show the carolina fans some love i'm on the hurricanes in seven wow carolina in seven ky what you have for us i'm going with the merman on this one i'm going carolina um i actually want jersey to win because i think it would be an easier matchup for florida

in the eastern conference finals but i think carolina just the way that their coach that their depth their um you know obviously obviously missing those big guys on their team hurts them, but they're a type of team that they can get scoring from anyone. They have guys like Jordan Stahl, Jordan Martinuk, just guys grinding away out there. So I'm going Carolina. I think that they'll be able to slow them down a little bit, especially the way that Rod the Bod coaches,

he'll figure it out and say Carolina in six. One other thing about Edmonton I wanted to mention though is I always, I'm going to pick an X factor in the series for each of these series and going back to Darnell Nurse, he's my X factor for the Oilers. He was not good in the first four or five games of that LA series. If they have any chance of beating the Golden Knights, given the fact that not only do the

Golden Knights have those two awesome shot blockers on the left side defense in Martinez and McNabb, they have the offensive prowess of Theodore and Petraggelo. Bouchard can't be on an island by himself. He needs a couple other defensemen other than just Ekholm and Bouchard doing it. They need their three big dogs making the money on the back end, getting it done. So Darnell Nurse, my X factor. Going on to New Jersey and Carolina. I love Carolina. I love the way they play as a five-man unit. They pressure all over the ice. They have a great one-two tandem. Burns and Slavin are like the best shutdown pairing in the league overall, in my assumption. Maybe not analytically, but so far in these playoffs, they've looked like it, with Burns also providing offense. But given the due

to the injuries up top for Carolina, I just see no way that they can outscore New Jersey, especially knowing that at a certain point, Bratt's going to show up, Palat's going to show up, Timo Meier's going to show up. And I think there's a few other guys on that lineup who can also contribute offensively for the Devils that didn't show up in the first round. I actually think they're going to fucking pop off this round. And I actually got the Devils winning in six games. I'm with you. I thought you were going to end up taking the Hurricanes, and God knows my takes aren't exactly money, but I think what I just saw from the Devils

and the lack of depth for Carolina and the lack of scoring and a team that can match their speed, I think the Devils win in five games. I think the Devils are going to fucking trounce them. I think they're going to trounce them too. And that's no disrespect at all to Carolina, but what I just saw and the speed that they play at and the fact

that Heashier, Bratt, and Meyer didn't have a goal, like I think the Devils are going to truck them. Gee, what do you got for us, buddy? I am riding Shmito the Torpedo and I got Devils in seven. Yeah, I mean, they just beat Shusterkin, man. One of the best

goalies in the league. Schmid, this kid's playing out of his mind right now, and I'm not sure that the goaltender of Carolina is going to be able to match that, and I think the loss of what's his, Teraviden, what's Ajo, and what's his name? Shresthnikov. Ajo's playing. I always get him confused. Ajo's playing. Yeah, because I can't

say Shresthnikov.kov. I want to try that. But either way, that's going to catch up on those losses. And yeah, Jersey at six, man. Just like I said, the fact they beat you, Sterkin, this kid Schmidt, he's kind of got that Camberwood, Kendride, and Flava going right now. So I'm going Jersey at six. Here's my X factor for this series. If Sebastian Ajo can go to superstardom level, even though in the first round he was incredible,

especially that tying goal he scored in game six, grabbing out of midair and then bat-hatting it in, if they have a snowball chance in hell of beating the New Jersey Devils, he is going to have to pop off to likes we've never seen and go nuclear on them. So he is my X factor if the carolina hurricanes are able to pull this off there is the weight of the world on his shoulders right now offensively no pressure uh next up dallas and seattle dallas is eight and a half two uh minus 200 seattle 100 to make 170 mr merles in sweden what do you have for us my friend i'm on the on the Otter train. I love Ottinger. I love Dallas. They have so much team speed. Heisken in the back end can play 30, 35 minutes like our boy Yans here

without breaking a sweat. And I know I'm betting against Seattle again, but I got Dallas. I'm going Dallas in five. They're going to make quick work of them. Wow. Dallas in five. Mr. Yandel, what do you have for us? Dallas in four. Oh, myandel, what do you have for us? Dallas and four.

Oh, my God. No respect to Seattle. No, I know. I'm sorry. I haven't had any respect for them all year, which I probably should by now, but I don't see it. I think they beat up a team that was vulnerable in Colorado, and they were hurt.

Obviously losing McCarver for a game. Hopefully Jared McCann can come back, especially after taking a nasty hit like that and after the great year that he had. But the way the Ottinger is playing, I don't see it. I don't see them scoring many goals on him. I mean, I know we mentioned the depth that they have and having contributions throughout their lineup,

but I just don't see them solving Ottinger. And you said Popowski's back. That's a huge thing for me. That had me worried for a little bit, but with him being back, just being, even if he plays a little bit lesser of a role um it it just having him on the ice on the power play is going to be huge for them and yeah like i said dallas and four all right what do you got for us busy boy um i think that the one thing that with the lack of depth that colorado wasn't able to do was pound Seattle down. And I think that Dallas is built different because they have the ace in net.

They have that ace on the back end. They got the superstars up front, but they also have guys like Hawk and Paw. They got the Mason Marchments. They have Jamie Benn. Even Max Domi, to some regard, can add that chippiness. Marchment. Yeah, I just said that. I don't know if you were paying attention.

Also, Vegas, least penalized team in the National Hockey League all season long. But going back to what I was saying before I was interrupted here, they just have that physical element along with all those other intangibles that I don't think that Seattle saw in that first-round series against Colorado because they were missing the Lannis Cogs, the Nachushkins, and the bigger bodies, like the Caudry, how much that missed, the Manson.

Those type players are in Dallas' lineup right now. So I'm going to say my X factor going into this is Mason Marchman, and I have the Dallas Stars winning this series in six games. What about Marchman? He's playing. He's playing. He ain't playing. He's suspended.

He's actually Biz's X Factor. Oh, don't be fucking mad, because I fucking thought of something new coming in with the X Factors for round two. I like to spice it up. Add in 15 extra minutes to the show. Oh, yeah. Fuck you.

Oh, for what? For saying one X factor? Each team? All right. What the hell? Don't be so sensitive. Don't be so sensitive. I just said it was your X factor.

I didn't even chirp you and you went banana lands. Who's your X factor? I was going to say Dallas in five, but I'll show Seattle a little respect, and I think they get it to six. But, yeah, too much toots. That is such an emotional win. It took so much out of them, I'm sure, to get that. You beat the cup champs, seven games. It's just this unreal run. And I think now you're running into just an overall better team with their depth and goalie. And so Dallas in six. G, what do we got?

I have Dallas in seven. I think Seattle plays him tough. I think Seattle takes him the distance, but I am not. I'm a smart enough man to not bet against Jake Ottinger the way he's playing right now. So Dallas in seven. Yeah. Ottinger's going to be too much. I think Dallas just got a little bit more depth, but, you know, Seattle's got that vibe going right now.

They're going to steal a couple games, but I have Dallas in six myself. Seattle fans, you should be very happy. We all picked against you. Unbelievable. Seriously, go bet the mortgage on fucking Seattle. The last one. This is Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Florida Panthers.

Toronto, let's see, they're 8-9, which is about 180 to make 100 or 100 to make 160 on Florida. Merles, what you got you got yeah this is another another coin toss i flip-flopped after talking to you guys on this podcast i'm a leafs guy i like the leafs i love toronto i want to get to toronto but i started thinking about their decor and how hard florida pressed on uh the bruins decor bru' decor is much better at moving the puck than the Leafs, and they couldn't do it.

So I'm going Carolina Panthers. Jesus, I've got to get some sleep. Florida Panthers, 7.30 a.m. here, by the way. Florida Panthers in seven. Florida in seven. KY, what do you got? Yeah, I think we all know where I'm going with this one, eh, Biz? Pew! Meow! That was a pretty good imitation of the goal.

Oh, he's got the best one, him and Ace. Yeah, I'm going, because I'm going Cats, obviously. I would love to see Toronto move on. I hate to see it. It has to be against my Cats, and I can't root for them. But I just think the way that they played in the first round, the confidence that they have after beating the best team in the history of the game.

My X factor is Barkov. He didn't play the way that he can play in the first series, and I know the way he is. He's going to be back in the lab yesterday working on his game getting ready so he'll have a bigger series and you can't expect much drop off from a gamer like Matthew Kachuk, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhardt those guys you can't count them out or even say it was a fluke of what they did in the first series because i think that those guys are built for playoffs so i'm going i'm going cats in seven uh it's going to be a great series i

think obviously with the the high-end skill on both ends um a lot of fun fun hockey to be watched for sure i got my x factor is the state of florida not allowing canadian citizens to buy tickets to the game pretty powerful play right there i mean i didn't even know like that's legal but they pulled off the ability and and we all know i mean that could have been 50 percent fans it might be cheaper for them to fly down to lickerdale buy a ticket to that game than go to go to a lease game but um I think it's going the distance. I just think the weight of getting by that first round and just somehow finally playing loose as a team,

and what Biz mentioned in terms of running gun and Florida being willing to open it up, I think it's going seven, but I think the Leafs get the win at home in game seven. Yeah, well, Trudeau is going to block any florida panthers fans coming into the the toronto rink with having to get a booster shot for the new variant the kodak black variant no one from florida is going up there they're gonna have to spend three days at pearson getting two kodak black variant booster shots um that's where the golden bars went when he showed up. That's where they disappeared. Um, I just, I think that the Leafs are going to adjust from the mistakes they were making

in the first series, especially knowing that Florida has this vicious attack on the four check. Um, they're going to be able to break through that. The run and gun more so from Florida is going to benefit Toronto. We're going to see the core four activate like the fucking power Rangers do when they go up against whatever the fuck they fight in those silly shows. Um, and the last thing I'll say is my X factor because Matthew could Chuck and the big bad Panthers like to try to bully teams around is going to have to be the likes of Luke Chen. And I just have this weird feeling that he's going to come up and pull a rabbit out of his ass offensively where he's going to get a couple squeakers. He's going to

have a big moment in the series that's going to throw it all off and help the Toronto Maple Leafs win it. And I believe that they're going to do so in seven games. It's not going to be easy. This is going to be a full-fledged war. Dubas has prepared them for it. They're ready to go. Core four assemble. the factor is going to be there let's go boys in blue go leaves go leave skull baby mr g what you got uh i think i have a gentleman sweep uh i have toronto in five i think this is light light work for toronto i think like like we said before toronto didn't play their best series last series. I think Marner, Matthews, all the big dogs like Bish just said, the core four,

the core four, I think they come to play. And I think this is a very, very easy series for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jesus Christ. I don't know, man. I think Florida has a distinct coaching advantage with Paul Maurice. He's been around forever. Keith's been around for a little bit, but not quite as long. And I don't know. After what I just saw with Florida, it's my squad. Plus, I got a fucking future on them, too. My last future, 40-1.

I'm going Florida in seven. Why not? I'm not going to root for the fucking Leafs this time. Does that shock you, Keith? He's got a future on them? Yeah. My last one left. Only one left.

Yeah. Yeah, seriously. The rest of them lost in the first round. Who did you change? Ottawa. We'll talk about it later. Anaheim. Boston, L.A., Winnipeg, Islanders, and I think that is it.

Yeah, whatever. What are you going to do? All right, that wraps up the series. We're going to wrap up very shortly, but there was some big news out of Calgary today. The Flames fired head coach Daryl Sutter. Don Maloney, the president of Hockey Ops, the interim GM, said, it became clear to me we needed a new voice. Unless you have winning, changes are made. And he said he interviewed 25 players, assistant coaches, and agents of prominent free agents to arrive at the decision. So I don't know. It seems like a clusterfuck, Paul, to do it after they let tree live and left i don't know i don't know what

are they doing up there man before don't ask me i don't fucking know harvey the hound must be on vacation i haven't been getting any inside scoops from from what's happened but you said it like the fact that they let tree go because it seemed like it was one or the other given the headaches that he had to deal with all season long where he's like fuck this. I don't think players should be treated like this from a day to day basis. Yans you might have more to say because you're closer with Huberto than I am without throwing under the bus but I believe his agent already did that to a certain degree. It was time to move on, but for Sutter, it's bag secured, chestnut checkers. His deal hasn't even kicked in yet. Two years at $4 million a year, he gets to go back to the farm. It's like Robin Hood stealing from the rich. A couple new tractors, Avis.

A couple new John Deere's. He's going to have the baddest tractor in fucking Alberta. How much hay can you roll and sell for that? What kind of hay are we talking? How many potatoes? Yeah, exactly, all right. Exhibits going to make him a John Deere with the rims. Hit my rides.

And a fish tank in there. Yeah. The fact that we just talked about this for two, three minutes, and you guys didn't bring up the biggest storyline. I hadn't seen Don Maloney in quite a while. The hair dye job he's got going right now he was my gm that is the most incredible he looks like eminem did back when he had the white that is the biggest storyline maybe in the nhl right now is don maloney's hair dye job looking like that so he's still at least he's

still got it i mean oh look he looks great he looks like phenomenal looks least he's still gutted. He looks great. He looks phenomenal. Looks like he's 30 years old with that hair dye job. Smell you later, Daryl. Honestly, the biggest thing was I think after talking to every player, every player was like,

I basically dreaded going to work every day. This guy made it so miserable and so uncomfortable for us that I don't really want to play for him anymore. And the fact that Hubie's deal hasn't even kicked in, he just had the worst year of his career, that's something where it's like, all right, we're giving this guy,

this guy's got 90 million coming to him. We got to do something here. I heard they did it survivor style in the locker room where they put out his torch. Like, they read all the cards out of the box. Darryl would have burned them all alive if that was the case. If that was a one-on-20 battle, Darryl's walking out of that with a couple stitches and a pitchfork. What was the necklace they would get?

The Vito necklace? The immunity necklace? Yeah, he didn't have the immunity chain. Tree Living took it on the way out. Oh, the immunity? Yeah, yeah. He didn't have the immunity chain. Tree Living took it on the way out. Oh, fuck. The final note, Snoop Dogg has joined businessman Nico Spock's bid to buy the Senators. So Snoop could be possibly a- Not a chance.

Ryan Reynolds' team's going to get it, and they're going to develop the entire area downtown, and he's going to make another fucking billion dollars. There's no way with the bid that's already at a billion dollars for the Ottawa Senators and the PR that Ryan Reynolds could drive to that team, along with the fact that he's with a bunch of developers, they're going to develop a new rink downtown. They're not going to be in the rink in Kanata where they are for much longer. It's not sustainable. They need to get the party district going back in Ottawa in the rink in Kanata where they are for much longer. It's not sustainable. They need to get the party district going back in Ottawa and the way it belongs. And I think that Ryan Reynolds is

getting it with that crew. And then it's all of a sudden going to pop off a heavy tag to pay for the Ottawa senators, but with a development play, like most of these owners are going for coyotes owners doing it. Uh, who, it. Who's Vancouver's owner? Aquilini. Aquilini. I mean, that's the reason he bought the team at the price that he did when he did it. They developed all the area around it. That's where the money's at.

The Dallas owner, didn't he develop that whole LA lifestyle thing in Dallas as well? I'm not sure if he did or didn't, but either way, there's nothing. Stoop will be a pot owner. And one last thing on the ticket thing, Whit, the secondary market is not affected by that. So if you are from Toronto and you want to get tickets, you should not have a problem getting them on the secondary market. Biz, who would you rather have as an owner, Snoop? Who would I rather have as an owner?

Yeah, Snoop or Ryan Reynolds. I would, like, no offense to Snoop. I love Snoop, but I think that the play is Ryan Reynolds through and through. Like, not even, like, 100%. And I'm Canadian, so I'm biased. What about you? Snoop all day. Oh. That's crack-a-lacking.

All right, boys, any final thoughts you want to share before we wrap this long episode up? I want to say Yans and Merle's drop. I was a little quick on all my predictions, but me and Army will be on Game Notes Daily tomorrow at 12 Eastern. We'll get all Army's picks. We'll dig into the series a little more, give you a little more feedback on that.

And I'm sure these guys, since their teams are in it, still are going to pop through throughout the week and the next two weeks. So thanks for having me. Let's go Oilers. Let's go Boys of Blue. Let's go Boys of Blue. Let's go Boys of Blue. All right, everybody. Have a great week.