Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 501: Featuring Kevin Bieksa

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

On Episode 501 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Kevin Bieksa (00:17:40) to discuss the impending Edmonton Vancouver Game 7. Who will face off against Dallas in the Western conference finals? The guys recap the closing of the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and set the stage for the Eastern Conference Finals. As one of the most exciting seasons of hockey on and off the ice soon comes to a close, we offer our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of both legendary broadcaster Darren Dutchyshen, as well as 1980 Team USA member Mark Wells. Support the Show: PINK WHITNEY: Take Your Shot with Pink Whitney GAMETIME: Download the Gametime app or go to https://gametime.co, enter your email, and redeem code CHICLETS for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply). DRAFTKINGS: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app NOW and use code CHICLETS. That’s code CHICLETS for new customers to get a NO SWEAT BET up to fifteen-hundred bucks if your first bet doesn’t hit. Only on DraftKings. The Crown Is Yours. VIATOR: Download the VIATOR app NOW and use code VIATOR10 for 10% off your first booking in the app! ESPN: Watch on Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ SPORTCLIPS:  Sport Clips. It’s a Game Changer. https://barstool.link/SportClipsBSS VERIZON: Visit http://Verizon.com/barstool to learn more.  GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (AZ/CO/IA/IL/IN/KS/KY/LA/MD/ME/MI/NC/NH/NJ/OH/OR/PA/TN/VA/VT/WV/WY), [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.1800gambler.net (WV). 21+ (18+ KY/NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/KY/LA(select parishes)/MA/MD/ME/MI/NC/NJ/NY/OH/PA/TN/VA/VT/WV/WY only. Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). Valid 1 per new customer. Min $5 deposit. No Sweat Bet awarded upon deposit. No Sweat Bet automatically applied to qualifying first bet. Min. $1 bet. First bet after opting-in must lose. Reward issued as 1 Bonus Bet upon first bet settlement and in amount of losing bet. Max. $1,500 Bonus Bet. Bonus bets expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. Bonus bets must be wagered 1x before any resulting cash winnings can be withdrawn and stake is not included in winnings. Ends 6/23/24 @ 11:59PM ET. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Sponsored by DK.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Cheers, you love They say you're drunk at speech It's just so the thought I like to poke the bear I like to stir the pot But then you come on in And take it up a notch You hit me with a cheap shot, a cheap shot

Hello everybody, welcome to episode 501 of Spittin' Chicklets Presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka Here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family Boys, we finally got a day to catch our breath Because today is the first day in exactly one month that we did not have a playoff game. Can you believe that? Crazy stretch, but we do have a game seven coming up.

But first, we say howdy to the boys. Let's go to the wit dog for us, Ryan Whitney. How's it going, buddy? What's going on, boys? Yeah, hopefully the Wi-Fi stays strong. I saw when Keith Yandel came in for me. He had Wi-Fi issues too. Us money when Keith Yandel came in for me. He had Wi-Fi issues too. Us money guys got to get off our wallet.

Only $70 million in career earnings. I actually got a quote to upgrade the entire internet in my house. Like $7,000. I'm like, what the hell? Are you building me a new house? Same guy who installed your basement? Yeah, exactly. The basement's doing phenomenal now.

The basement's doing great. But what a time. What a time. It was crazy. No hockey today. It was kind of nice that it was the PGA final at Valhalla, which turned into some interesting drama coming down the stretch. It was nice. I'm a little surprised that after game seven tonight, there's another day off.

I thought the East would maybe hop right in Tuesday and then the West could get going Wednesday to really build on the momentum from tonight's game seven, which should be an incredible, incredible game and atmosphere in Vancouver. But quickly, I just wanted to mention you guys. I know, I know, I know that sometimes you don't want to hear me talk about it, but it's Pink Whitney time. This show is presented by Pink Whitney, New Amsterdam's own flavored pink lemonade vodka. That's Pink Whitney. So thank you so much.

You know what, guys? New York and Florida, they're advanced to the Eastern Conference Final. Those are Pink Whitney places. Those are Pink Whitney towns, Pink Whitney areas. So I know that those drinks are going to be ripping before the Eastern Conference Finals in both cities. And then out west, Dallasallas everything's bigger in texas so they like that big 1.75 liter bottle down in big old texas with their guns and i'll tell you right now edmonton

and van back and forth tomorrow if you're in edmonton or vanna you're at a cactus club i don't think they sell it but maybe snip a nipping maybe snip snip a nipping and send me a picture of you just chugging your pink whitney before the game So a great time of year to drink the Pink Whitney. That's how they baptize the kids in Edmonton now. They use the Pink Whitney. Yeah, exactly. The blood of Christ. Exactly.

Amen. So we're presented by Pink Whitney. Thank you to New Amsterdam. Thank you to all you guys for listening and drinking it. What an interesting, interesting show we have in store because this Edmonton Van Game, this Edmonton Van Game tonight, guys, I got a lot riding on this one and it ain't financial. It's just basically my

livelihood. And I haven't been on social media. Kind of get into that maybe at another time. But I have not been on social media and I really am probably happy about that overall. Although it would have been nice after game six to be in the mix. But what a series. What a series what a series well we're gonna get into the weeds about it uh

pretty soon but all right i'll throw it back over to you i'm looking forward to getting your take on who you think it's been the jekyll and hyde show wit whether the big stars show up on one team whether they show up on the next like how are you feeling about the big guys going into game seven i'm very confident. I actually love the fact that they've exchanged wins throughout this series because it's like that is not going to last forever. Now, I think Edmonton's going to get the job done. I think it was an incredible move putting Skinner back in by Knobloch. I didn't think – I was shocked.

I was surprised because Pickard had done such a good job, really. I mean, overall, he came in, did really well, but Knobloch's all about giving guys a second chance. I think Skinner, he could see, he could tell, he wanted another crack at it. You saw the discussion that Gagne was having on the bench with Skinner after practice before game four when he found out he wasn't starting.

That's a veteran probably going over things and realizing, telling him, you're going to get another chance. And sure enough, he did. Only had to make 15 saves. Edmonton's best game of the series, and the big dogs came. The big dogs came to play. Leon became, I think, only the fourth player in NHL history to record 60 assists in 60 games,

and also the third fastest to get 100 career points in the playoffs, right after Lemieux and Gretzky so I've talked about Leon in the playoffs almost maybe being better than McDavid but McDavid with the bounce back game game one he was bad game two he dominated game five I thought was one of the worst games I've seen him play game six he was electric so in that same in that same vein talk called out those guys after game four he got he said we got passengers and he was electric. So in that same vein, Talk called out those guys after game four. He said, we got passengers. And he was talking about Pedersen.

And Pedersen had that press conference where he's asked about his lack of productivity. And he had no interest in answering the question. But game five was his best game. He was physical. They put that Swedish line together with Lindholm and Hoglander got back in. And they were great and dominated. So two totally different games. Love the bounce back by Edmonton the crowds at these games have been so ridiculous like you can just tell watching on TV I had a bunch of videos sent to me from the

Oilers the other night and they were just incredible texts from buddies and the best moment was the whole arena it's 4-1 the game's got the game's over they're singing living on a prayer as the puck's ready to drop Bon Jovi banger puck drops Kane snipes so in the midst of the entire arena singing they celebrate the fifth goal a dominating effort but it's not going to be it's not going to be a shit kicking in game seven it doesn't matter who's going to win it's going to be a close one it's going to be a memorable one uh Superstein and Pasha were at game six in Edmonton. That's the type of night where, like, you know, nine months from now, there's probably going to be an influx of pregnancies,

babies popping out. No doubt. Just the mojo was going. The whole town was buzzing after all the big dogs showed up. Ari, I'll throw it back over to you. I've just been taken in playoffs. It's been hockey, hockey, hockey. I don't have much going on in my personal life.

We had the fortunate ability to have game six of that Rangers-Carolina series and then also the Dallas-Colorado game six as well. So it's been great. The second round has delivered. I think we all expected it to ramp up because I felt like last year maybe there was a little bit of a drop-off off round one where this year we expected it to ramp up because I felt like last year maybe there was a little bit of a drop-off off round one where this year we expected it to, hey, at least every series went to six, right?

Yeah, we had a chance for four game sevens. I thought we might get two. You knew Edmonton Van was going. And I should say, we do have Kevin Bieksa coming on. We interviewed him. We're going to go to him right after this because he's such a Canucks legend, and he follows the team. He's doing a great job with Hockey Night in Canada.

And so he brings his point of view to everything. And we were all laughing. Even he thought Edmonton would get it done in five or six. I've already been made to look a fool the way I was ranting and raving about us dominating Vancouver. I did not think that their defense would be as good and reliable and hard to play against as they are. Great coaching. I think Toc's getting a ton

of credit, which he deserves. I think Knobloch's done a good job, too. The way they've answered to all these losses and come back with wins, some different lineup changes. Let's talk about Holloway. Putting Holloway in. Holy shit, what a goal in Game 6. That guy looked like McDavid out there. He went McJesus

mode. I saw the Spittin' Chicklets Instagram mentioned McJesus mode, and that's what you need. You needed some depth scoring. You talked about the Stars cannot just carry the load every single time for Edmonton, and for him to go out and get that goal, make it 1-0, oh my God. And at a scary time of when Vance figured out Edmonton's greatest power play to ever be created, they were able to dominate five on five in game six. So just an amazing effort by the Oilers. But going back to game five, Vancouver, man, I was writing down stuff in my notes app on my phone. J.T. Miller.

Oh, my God. It's not going to happen. J.T. Miller. That place is screaming. They started going. The year from hell for Pasha continues. They started saying, fuck you, Pasha. J.T. Miller.

But I wrote down during game five, I said, Van's just got like a tougher team. They are so just mean and angry and in your face. And I thought Edmonton did a really good job. Carrick coming in, he adds some of that for Edmonton game six. But game five, I'm like, this team just wants it more out there. They had their most shots they'd had in a playoff game this season. And more than anything, physically, they just looked hungrier. They looked like they wanted it more. And Edmonton just kind of looked lost. I thought that was their worst game, even after blowing a huge lead in game

one. So the last two games have been so different. As an Edmonton Oilers fan, I'm a little more excited that even when Edmonton had a brutal game five, they were still winning two to one, and they still had a good chance of winning that game. And so it's like, to me, all right, you play that bad, Van plays that good, and then we still lose with 30 seconds left to go. I think that they can get this thing done on the road in Game 7. Whit, I don't know if you saw this, but Leon and Connor have combined for 30 points in nine games and facing elimination since 2017.

That's a pretty good bump right there. That's got to make you feel good. Oh, that's another point already that I want to bring up. Another reason I am optimistic is the Van guys, they had the bubble little run, but it almost doesn't count. Edmonton, they had a Game 7 two years ago against LA. They went to the conference finals. Last year, they go to the second round.

I just feel like they're a little more experienced in the playoffs, which really can help in a Game 7. Juice will talk about possibly putting Perry back in the lineup just because of his experience of being a veteran and being around for so long. I don't know what's going to happen if he gets put back in it's hard to switch a winning lineup but yeah Leon and Connor to show up the way they did in game six after tough game fives that just shows what they're made of and when you talk about stars around the league and need to perform in playoffs these guys are every regular season dominant and then come playoffs they're even

better so it's like when you want to want to get paid and you want to be the guy look at these two and yes they don't have a stanley cup yet it's not on them though it's been about depth and issues that have come back to haunt them a little bit so far in this second round and hopefully they can figure it out in game seven tonight a big moment for uh nugent hopkins getting that insurance one but i think that that Bouchard man that shot it's such a weapon it just the way it just fucking pops off his stick like that goal that he had like how many d-men from the point can just find corners like that and pick off goals I know it was a snipe and and what was cool about that was that turnover he had to

D Giuseppe in game five. I mean, that's a tough one. We had the pizza out on the broadcast. The big sausage pizza. We had it out on the broadcast. Yeah, after you guys dummied a couple more mascots. Yance said he hit you in the face with the pie container. He was all butthurt and pissed at me.

No. He told me beforehand. He said something. He said you were crying. He said he's going like hops no i was fucking pissed because when buoy did it he kept pushing it in my face and the aluminum was cutting my forehead i still have cuts on my forehead it had nothing to do with yans i thought it was actually funny like yans after i already gotten pied yans hum chuckled one from like 15 away and it got me with like a double layer.

That motherfucker. So I wasn't, what does he mean I'm rattled? I went home and smoked a J after. He was like calling his agent Jeff. Shut the fuck up. Was Boo yelling under his mask biz because you were beating the fuck out of him so bad?

You were like fucking Kung Fu kicking him and shit. Oh, we don't hold punches. As soon as I opened, I had no clue that he was coming and as soon as I cleared my eyes had no clue that he was coming. And as soon as I cleared my eyes out, I gave him a right jab right to the button. And then he started coming at me. And then after I got Blooper in the headlock, because I don't know what his... I don't know what his...

What's his riff with Big Cat? Why does he hate Blooper specifically so much? I don't know what that stems from, but he's always always been going they've always been going at each other online so he got Liam and then I I had no clue that that buoy was there so when it was buoy and it already scratched my forehead that's when my blood pressure and my wires crossed and after I had blooper in the headlock I I tomahawk what do you want to call it like a judo him? Tomahawk chop? Tomahawk chop judo kicked him right in the jugular and got him on the ground. So they ended up moving away to the

replays. We were going at it for a good minute there until we got counted out by the wrestling ref. Well, he just got out of the hospital after you broke his ribs at the Winter Classic. He wanted payback. He flew cross-country just to try to get you. Cross-country to put a pie in my face and cut me with aluminum

serious i was like who fucking paid for that yeah that freight but i mean dude that's how he he's done a great job this year in really simplifying his game because he's so skilled in his shot and his ability on the power play like you don't need him to try to do crazy things and he wasn't necessarily trying anything crazy on that turnover just fumble fucked it D Giuseppe with a nice kind of backhander that finds the five hole and how are you going to respond it's all about how you're going to respond and both teams have had guys have really bad games and come back with way better efforts that's a sign of a champion that's a sign of a professional that's willing to kind of take accountability. You look at what JT Miller did in Game 5 after he talked about his mess up in Game 4. So the amount of comeback stories in this series has been great.

Skinner's another one. So it's just the perfect drama. It's exactly what this series needed. And it's going to be like it's a game, R.A., that you know in your past as a Bruins fan. And you enjoy it, but you don't. Like, watching the game, it's just like, I don't even enjoy this game right now. I'm so stressed out.

So it's going to be one of those things where whoever scores first tonight, that fan base is like, we got it, and the other fan base is shaking in their boots, but they know they're one goal away from tying it, so you're just always in the mix, always in the fight, and I don't see it not being a one goal game. Especially when you got 59 mini, mini sheets on it too.

Sorry, Biz. The what? Especially when you have 59 mini, mini sheets. They need to win eight more games after this. So it's like. Yeah, I know. I know. I know.

R.A., if you win that future, will you put the money towards a membership at the Arbutus Club? I mean, I have to go to Vancouver to stop banging people in cars. You don't think it's worth it? That's a long way to go to just stop banging people in their Volvo front seat. No, you've got to have kids first to drop them off at Learn to Skate to then get freaky in the parking lot with another parent. If they win the second round here in Game 7,

they're going to bump the memberships another 50K up. That's how horned up people are for hockey right now in Vancouver. But, guys, we have juice coming on. I don't think there was anything else that we needed to personally dissect. As you said, it's going to be an electric Game 7. Oh, actually, one more thing. We had DiGiuseppe on after, I believe it was Game 5, and he'd been going through some issues with childbirth and his wife,

and obviously the kid's doing well now. And he gave a very emotional post-game interview and Liam asked him about it and he got choked up. And I just thought it was such a special moment, especially at the fact of, you know, you have all these unsung heroes come playoff time. And I really think he stepped up and had a big game considering he'd been going on and dealing with everything

he'd been dealing with off the ice. So it was emotional and yeah, I just wanted to make sure we mentioned it good good job is yeah he got his first career playoff goal and yeah he was getting emotional i thought you did a great thing there because you kind of segued that you know move the conversation along to ball hockey because i mean it was you know it's obviously an emotional subject and you did a good thing there but kind of well yeah no i mean liam asked the Like, sometimes those aren't easy to ask, but he, you know, you see his lip quivering, and you're like, oh, God. You know, he kept it together, though, and he hit it out of the park

and had an excellent game. So that's what the playoff's about. It's special moments like that, and I just wanted to give him his flowers on that. All right, just before we send it over to Juice, just a couple of numbers for you we haven't gotten to yet. This is the 197th Game 7 in our Stanley Cup playoff history, the third this year, and this is the 17th straight postseason that we've had at least three Game 7s.

It'll be the first time two Canadian teams will meet in a Game 7 with a trip to the conference final on the line since 2002 when Toronto beat Ottawa 3-0 to go into the conference finals. And the third time in the McDavid era that the Oilers have forced the Game 7 when facing elimination. They're 1-1 in those two games. They beat LA back in 2022. The Oilers have yet to lose back-to-back games in these playoffs.

They're 7-4 all-time in Game 7. Canucks 6-6. So we'll see what happens. And without further ado, let's throw it over to Kevin Bieksa. This game review segment is presented by ESPN. ABC and ESPN Plus are the home of the Stanley Cup Final. Stanley Cup Playoffs and Final on ESPN, ABC and ESPN Plus. Oh, we got a doozy coming up this week.

Game 1, Rangers-Panthers at MSG. Oh man, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Cannot wait for that. Watch on Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN, ABC, ESPN+. All right, it's time to bring on one of our fan favorites. I believe this is his fourth time on the show, and he's also a Sandbagger alumni, if you weren't familiar with that. How are you?

Yeah, took an L. Took a big, fat fucking L, this guy. I was drooling on him. Our secret weapon. To bring this guy on the pod, the Superman Punch himself, Kevin Biexa. How the hell are you, my friend? Good, boys. Always a pleasure to be on Chicklets.

Looking forward to this. Well, you know why we brought you on. Let's get right to it, man. Vancouver, Edmonton, we're going into game seven. We knew it was going seven, right? Or at least we over here at Chicklets did. Did you guys expect that? I picked him in six.

You picked him in five, Biz, so I don't think we could say we knew. Well, for the drama aspect, we knew for Canada's series, it had to go seven games. What did you think before, Juice? What was your thoughts going into it? Going into it, into it honestly just by judging the first round i thought edmonton would take care of them in five or six as well and but then after you watch the first two games you forget how how competitive vancouver is and how

well they're coached and how well they defend and they turned it into the series that they needed it to be the low scoring and i know edmonton going into game five they'd scored 50 of their power play but vancouver only gave them like two to three power plays a game that's it and then game five oh for five then last game old for four so you you got to give your guys your boy talk biz some credit like they're they're slowing connor down and they're slowing leon down and yeah i know they won five one last night last night and Connor had three and Leon had two, but I wouldn't feel super confident if I was the Oilers going into this game seven. I don't think that either fan base feels that confident.

They may try to act a different way, but it's been such a crapshoot of a series where both teams have dominated at times. Like you say say and after game two at least even the first period of game one Edmonton's up to nothing second period Lindholm scores late to make it 4-2 but even then I'm like all right I totally underestimated Vancouver I underestimated that I thought some of their bigger D was slow and weren't gonna be able to compete no they've been in everyone's face and I think that it's just been a war of attrition, Omoch, where you've also seen Edmonton's stars bounce back from bad games.

And then also Vancouver's stars, after talk calls them out in Game 4, Game 5 was easily the best game of their entire playoff. So it's been so back and forth. I think it's been the most, and I'm biased, I think it's been the most enjoyable series to watch, most enjoyable to watch in the playoffs so far so think about this way did you think susie and myers would do this good of a job again against connor and honestly i don't think edmonton and knoblock thought that so you you know what it's like when you have a hard matchup and you're connor and you don't really respect the matchup you're like these guys can't shut me like i remember patrick kane skating by her bench when we played them in the

playoffs three years in a row and the one the one night it was me and andrew alberts against them and he skated by her bench he goes oh here we go elaine bino was our coach he goes really elaine really andrew alberts like i think connor kind of felt that way too like these guys like can't cover me these guys can't shut me down but then they did because they're both tall long rangy guys and they've done a good job so now i thought going into last game especially in edmonton when knoblock had last change give them give the match up a little bit of respect and get connor away from jt and the big boys just just once a while. Like, when you want them to play against them, like after Vancouver scored the – or Edmonton scored the goal,

like on your terms, but get them away from them. But now going back into Vancouver, Vancouver's going to get that hard matchup against Conor. Yeah. They're going to get Miller's line. They're going to get – without Besser, which is a huge loss, but they're going to have Miller's line, and they're going to have the two big boys.

So Conor will earn his money in game seven. We'll see what he can do. I think it was a bit disrespectful not assuming that they would do the same thing they did to Edmonton in the regular season. Talk always had success, even when he was with the Coyotes and defending McDavid. The way you talked about always getting – Calm down, Bez.

No, he didn't. What do you mean? Buddy, I'm telling you right now he would not defend mcdavid yeah they did a good job we need to see the numbers g pull up his numbers i would have a conversation i would have conversations with talk about it and he would talk about how to defend him and he would put brad richardson on him who was a fourth liner but a kg veteran he'd won stanley cups or at least one with the la kings and buddy i was in the radio booth watching i thought forgiven how good mcdavid was and against the coyotes they did a good job and they would actually pull out some wins and slow him down a

little bit so he kind of had a game plan obviously going into the season at the beginning of the year and he's brought that into playoffs with that matchup why are you laughing right now i i respect your opinion biz i respect what you saw and i play with brad richardson you cannot tell me he shut down mcdavid g what are the numbers conor mcdavid has 18 goals and 20 assists in a plus five games five in 26 games against the coyotes yeah how many under rick talk though? 18 goals in five games, Biz. Against the Coyotes. I'm trying to pump Talk's tires for fuck's sake. They did every rookie party in Scottsdale, too. I'm trying to fucking give Talk a double wrister right now.

But Talk is doing a job, and Adam Foote is doing a job. And you're never going to stop, Connor. You're never going to stop Leon. But they're giving themselves a chance. They're on home to stop, Connor. You're never going to stop Leon. But they're doing as good. They're giving themselves a chance. They're on home ice with Game 7. You tell Canucks fans at the beginning of the season, hey, you guys are going to be in the second round in Game 7 on home ice.

Take it or leave it. Boom, take it. So I actually think that Game 1, McDavid was bad. He bounces back, dominates Game 2. Game 5, I thought, was one of the worst games I've seen him play. Enough where I'm like, is something wrong with him? Game six, he was excellent, but he won't shoot right now. And I was texting a couple of buddies that were at the game. I'm like, I think he has an injury, maybe wrist or hand or something, because he's having

wide open looks. It was funny, too, because Sam Gagne was gagne was like yeah well he did have 100 assists this season so i think there's an argument as to why he dishes but do you notice that juice that mcdavid isn't really shooting at all i notice on the power play he he doesn't want to take that shot when he walks the goal line on a strong side he's looking hyman back door or he's looking dry sidle seam but the canucks have if finally figure that out finally after three games of getting scored on every other time so now last game you saw him take a couple of those short side shots yeah he doesn't want to take them the goalies teed up he sees them he knows if he makes that pass as a tap in but you're right like what what do you do when when players

and teams start really cheating on the pass? You've got to fire the puck. Like, Bouchard's going to have to fire the puck from the top, and they're going to have to open up that whole PK again. 0 for 9, the power play for the Oilers, they're probably going to have to score one or two in Game 7 if you think they're going to win. But again, give the Canucks and Talk it a little credit. They're forcing him.

They're forcing Conor to beat them the way he doesn't want to. They're giving him. So he's got his first and second option in his head canucks are taken out of the way and he's taking option three right now which he doesn't like so yeah that's a good job i think how about leon's game in game six i thought he came out just fucking running guys winning every battle i thought he was a fucking monster so we're thinking about how like what leon's gonna show up in game six down three to two and i'm like oh i know like i played against leon game six up three to two going into edmonton and he had three goals and two assists and they won seven one so like this guy is just a gamer like you knew he was gonna show up on home ice and a do or die and you should

probably expect the same thing from a game seven although he gets the penalty early and you're thinking okay is this the leon that sometimes becomes a little unhinged on the ice gets a little bit emotional can't quite but you know he gets the penalty on garland garland a little embellishment but then he gathered himself and he kept it together and he was an impact player what was your opinion um on pedersen's game i i was kind of disgusted by the press conference he's just like next question or whatever like he just seemed so disinterested but i thought games game game five he was incredible like he was really good and they put that swedish line together that penalty he got in that game what did you think of that call they call it charging which is technically when you leave your feet to hit someone did you agree with that call no i thought it was about and i wasn't working that

game i was watching it from the u.s and i i thought it was a terrible call initially i sometimes when you see something first and you're like okay you have an opinion i re-watched it a bunch of times you think about all the guys like i play with rafi torres like the the captain of the reverse hit alex edler the cap like the the he guys didn't want to finish him on the four check cause he would leave the puck and reverse hit him. I've never seen that call a charging before, let alone in the playoffs. Like I thought it was a really interesting time for the official to make a ballsy call to make a precedent call. And if he jumps up and his shoulder hits who was it um was it yarmark or fogel is a lefty so if he jumps up and he hits fogel in the head with his shoulder i get that

but he didn't he jumped up as the hit was coming and he kind of knocked fogel down nothing hot like i cannot imagine why they called that a penalty it was just it was a very it was a very soft call in a very big game in the playoffs. I didn't think that was the time for a precedent call. I thought Vancouver could have been a little bit more disciplined in Game 6. I also thought that Carrick penalty that Zdorov had was bullshit too. It feels like Carrick just came into him and took his eye. So in Game 7, I hope the refs just stay the fuck out of it.

But I want to see when you came on last time or the time before, you talked about when you were in the Stanley Cup finals, when you guys went on the road in game six, didn't you say that you guys felt a little tight, like more so than usual? Was that what you said? Yeah, and the RRA is going to love this. But yeah, when we went to Boston, I don't know why because, and I thought the Canucks, I don't think they approached last game the right way. You're going into Edmonton, you're up three to two, you're playing with the house's money, right? So you have like a game, you have a buffer. They should have went into that game and just full speed attack mode, right? You don't need to play that game safe. Like maybe game seven's a little bit different, but in that situation, they should have went right at them, attack mode mode make edmonton feel the pressure of it being a tie game or being down a goal

and it was the same thing for us like we went into boston in game six we were up three to two we had a chance to win we flew in all of our family we had the charter with the other ones with the family members and we went in like and we like dipped our toe in the water and i always thought that was such a big mistake. We should have just dove into the deep end, all in. Remember Reeves in Boston, you go for the hit and you give up a two-on-one the other way. I felt like we should have been that type of aggressiveness. And then if shit happens, shit happens because you're playing with the house's money. Now, you play a very passive, timid game.

Connor and Leon take over. Now, all of a a sudden you're going back home in game seven kevin how you feeling about uh she loves and game seven he had a rough one last time but he's been pretty steady all throughout the playoffs since they put him you know better about she loves and skinner put it put it that way wow i would so i was very surprised that they started skinner and i looked into it a little bit more in talking to people. Apparently, Knoblox made it very clear through his actions all season that he gives guys a big-time chance to rebound. Guys who've had tough games, yeah, they may sit down for a little bit, but it's not like you're buried with this coach.

And I looked at it like once I found out, even though I was shocked because Picard, I don't know how you say his name. Excuse me. No, I fuck it up too. He was great. That's what they needed. But he was almost looking at it like, all right, now it's like such a challenge to Skinner.

Like, what do you have? What are you made out of? And also, how hard are these guys going to play for Skinner now? They love him. I think after having that game, his confidence has to be sky high. The only thing I would say is he only had 15 shots the only thing what i'll say is he swam around a little bit in the first period it's been a tough series for for goalies um and especially the oiler goalies because there hasn't been the cocks haven't shot a lot of pucks they got like four shots after one

you know three of their games is sure they have like under five shots on net so if you're a goalie you want to feel the puck and you want to get some confidence from making some saves what i will say is like when you guys think about like a backup goalie so pickards really he's a true backup goalie like skinner is your number one for me and pickards way below he's your backup so when shit happens in the playoffs and your number one doesn't quite get the job done and you want to put the backup in so you put him in for game three then he starts game four and you get your win out of that that's almost where as a coach and it's really hard because you just won but it's like okay we got as much as we're going to get out of our backup we just got a relief and then we got a win at a start. Like, okay, now we've given our starter a rest, a chance to reset.

Let's put him back in for game five. But it's a tough decision because you just won. So they didn't. They keep Peckard in, and then they lose that game, and then next thing you know, it's back to Skinner. I think when your number one is your number one, you ride him. You can give him a little break if you want, but he's got to be your guy. I don't like it when it goes back and forth at the endecision that's that's just a personal thing for me i like knob

lock giving him the chance someone did mention that uh pickard hadn't started back-to-back games since like 2021 or maybe it was 2022 so all of a sudden to put them three in a row too and you know as much as anyone to kind of turn the brain on as a starter like that's kind of part of what what the challenge is in game over game over game right that's why not a lot of goalies now do it 60 65 times so i kind of like the move to go back to him because i believe high-end skinner is going to give you more than what picard can and i like the fact now that he's got his confidence going into game seven do you did you guys put on the broadcast that save that he made in the second though that blocker save oh that was that that was labeled

too that was came out of nowhere i think it was quinn hughes where they showed it again on the replay the perfect angle where i'm like that's the save that he needed to make to get all this confidence back and i felt after that he looked comfortable yeah that's exactly what it is you need one of those saves where it's a it's a goal that maybe goes in if you don't make a great save and then you feel good about yourself especially after like the first period what i said he gets limited shots and there was the one power play when the canucks had the puck and all if you remember they were passing around nicely and if you iso cam skinner he goes from he pushes from side from his right

side to his left falls and then the canucks don't even try to shoot the puck then he gets up then he tries to get to the other side then it comes to jt miller and he passes it through the goalie and goes back door and almost bad skate sharpening you remember that sequence yeah bad over it looked like his blade fell out of his skate right and he was just on the plastic. On the rollerblades? Well, when that happens, Biz, you know better than anyone. You must not feel confident. You must not have the confidence. So when you get a skate the other way, hey, you're feeling good about yourself.

Oh, yeah. Oh, fuck. Those guys would be licking their chops when they saw me backpedaling. Oh, oh, damn. Relax. There he goes. Got him. He's skating backwards.

Got him. Old winning one-timer over here had a couple of those. A couple of those on ESPN. So I was panicked. I was panicked game six, getting that five on three chance to put them away. They don't. Then all of a sudden they take a too many men on the ice. Well, they're killing.

Van has a five on three. Usually you don't score on a five on three. The saying is you don't deserve to win. Right after they were able to kill Vancouver's, I was like, oh, thank God it was even. But bad power plays on both sides of those five on threes for both teams. Yeah, I think for sure. Like five on threes, I always feel like when you have a lot of time,

you're passive, right? Like I always thought like the best five on threes that I saw and I was a part of, you're like attack mode right away you're like shot recovery shot recovery rather than trying to set up the perfect opportunity and if it doesn't work and then they clear it you've just wasted 40 40 seconds and you've gotten nothing out of it so like guilty both both power plays guilty in your right way like it's such a critical advantage of a game where you can really influence the game and i remember like we're playing san jose the one year in the third round it was an afternoon game and there was a couple really weak calls and we got three five on threes

in the first period we scored on every single one and it was it was like the interchange like daniel sitting down to his brother and he would go through and Sammy Sal will come over the top on his one timer and just absolutely 120 mile an hour pound it he pounded two for goals and then the third one he one touched the cast for a one timer and boom three five on three goals and that was essentially the series so it can be such a turning point but when it doesn't work usually from my experience it's because you're too passive all right before we go any further here's a few words from our friends over at DraftKings we are this close to crowning the Stanley Cup champion and with the action heating up on the ice it's even hotter at DraftKings Sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the NHL there's only so

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Florida, man, I can't believe they're at minus 150 in that series over the Rangers. Wow. If I actually like the Rangers, I might consider that. Then you got the big game tonight. What do we got? Edmonton, big favorite over Vancouver. I don't know. Lots of action out there.

But if you're new to DraftKings, listen up. New customers can get a no-sweat bet up to $1,500. Just deposit at least $5, and you'll get a bonus bet back equal to your first bet if it doesn't hit. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code CHICKLETS. That's code CHICKLETS for new customers to get a no sweat bet up to 1500 bucks if your first bet doesn't hit. Only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. dot org please play responsibly on behalf of boot hill casino and resort in kansas 21 and over age varies by jurisdiction void in ontario one no sweat bet per new customer issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance see dkng.co

slash ice for eligibility wagering and deposit restrictions terms and responsible gaming resources uh some horrible news just broke about, what, two hours ago that Brock Besser may not play. It might be confirmed that he's not due to a blood clot. Horrible, right? This guy's been so clutch for them. He's had a few games where he just takes over. He's a game changer.

Who needs to step up, and do you think that they move Petey to where he was? And obviously, Petey, that's got to be his game tomorrow. yeah on home ice because they control the last change I think they're probably going to put Lindholm back with Garland and Dakota Joshua and now they have a line they can trust against Connor other than JT Miller's line so you kind of have to have two lines just in case you miss the matchup so they'll have two lines right there and i don't know biz it's a good question it depends on how they're feeling about peterson's game at center like they kind of need him to carry a line at center and then you plug in you know who they should plug

in is mckea the guy that they're paying all this money to to be at the body he just he just moves fast out there and he just does it i watch them with the leafs and it looks really good it's like all the tools no toolbox i agree with you i love his speed if he could be a four check hound and then get the puck to pd no problem but wit are you on are you on my program here where i feel like he just doesn't do anything with the time he's out there like nothing ever happens yeah he's kind of like um a little similar to uh who's the jack swede on the islanders who skates around really fast that was ang ang ang ball ang ball they're like kind of similar together mckay has a little bit more uh skilled but i don't see why you

wouldn't put garland up on that first line where besseresser was. And then you could have Lafferty play on that line with, because Lafferty's strong enough and a good enough skater to be on that third line, and Garland's been one of their best players. The exit of Hoppin here, that's one of the best attributes I feel like the Canucks have had, and also coaching as well, is if a guy's not playing well, like Lafferty hasn't been playing, right?

He's out of the lineup. It's next man up, where I felt the one game, they didn't feel hoglander's game or where where is it what should be so he was out as a healthy scratch next man up so i feel like they're deep and and that's able to keep the guys accountable but as we kind of keep throwing around here who do you trust to put in what positions where on the lines i actually like i really like what you just said there wet i didn't think about that because you got to think like bester besters solid defensively but his attribute his biggest skill is that he's he's a natural scorer and he's got really good touch and offensive instincts you got to give because jt miller's job's not just to shut down connor it's all it's also to provide some offense so you got to give them a right winger who can make plays and hold on to the puck.

And I agree, Garland's been one of their best forwards. And because Pugh's shooter is not really, he's the third, you know, he's the third strongest guy on that line, no matter who's on that line. He's not going to be like an offensive guy. He's just a really solid third guy that goes with the top two. So I kind of think, yeahfferty although he hasn't his numbers don't show anything he's still a good player and you think he could be able to check in a big game like that he was a bulldog all season that's not a bad that's not a bad idea

i might steal that way for tomorrow night all right steal it hey juice um on edmonton side uh pretty ballsy maybe not ballsy but a gutsy decision by Knobloch. He takes Perry out of the lineup. He's older. He's been trying his best, but it just kind of wasn't working, and he puts Carrick in. I think a lot of Oilers fans are like, you trade for this guy. I don't know why he doesn't play.

Made a great impact. I think 7 of 12 on the draws. He's physical. Did you ever play with him in Anaheim? Did you know him at all? Yeah, I know Sammy. I played with him uh a little bit not much but like up and down training camps for three years so know him very well what i know about him is he's a great teammate everybody likes him low maintenance and just like a tough kid like he's he's a tough guy in the new day nhl but back in when we played he would be a

middleweight for sure he's not a big guy he just plays way bigger than he is like yeah you guys would love his game i'm sure you love his game now um so when they picked him up i really like that and he's a good teammate where if he's not playing he's not the guy in the dressing room complaining and pulling a you know why like we all know guys like that the teammates that when they weren't playing was all about that no there's other guys too that i'll tell you afterwards that we all mutually know but uh he's he's he's a good teammate and he's great for big games because he'll do the little things he'll block shots he'll hit it when face offs that's what you need out of your fourth line centerman he'll penalty kill so perry coming out is interesting because i think you

really have to think about putting him back in the lineup for game seven and maybe you take out connor brown who's been okay for them i know but i really think the experience and having him in the room on the bench on the second unit power play like the reason for me and i i so can perry a lot out there because i'm like watching him you know he's my friend and everything's the worm he hasn't been getting the puck in favorable situations he's not good off the rush he's good down low and if you watch him in games he's always pointing at the guy like put it down low put it down low so then he can go get it and he can worm his way and weasel it to the net and make slippery plays he hasn't been getting the puck a lot guys have been trying to make whole passes and that's why him and kane went after at the one time he's yelling at Kane's like and when you're

walking up the half wall instead of walking the seam and throwing a whole pass cycle it down low and let me do my thing like I'm a hall of famer let me do what I'm good at he hasn't been getting that so that's why he's been invisible and actually game five in it it was the exact situation you're talking about the worm got up behind the net and he somehow got between Hughes and the net and ended up getting a good chance that was saved. But it was interesting to see him come out. My other question on the van side, because you see them a lot. You mentioned already, Susie Myers never thought they'd be this reliable

and this hard to play against. And in Myers' case like the past few years wasn't he bad wasn't he kind of like getting ripped on by the fans there and stuff like he's had a turnaround in his career i feel like i think they just simplified all those guys well i never thought he was bad but he he's like like toronto tends to run one defenseman out of the team like larry murphy you know luke shen and vancouver vancouver has always been the same way man like keith baller lucas visa vancouver's get branson who's revived his career since leaving there vancouver is hard on defensemen too and especially if you're that kind

of defense when you're a tough stay-at-home guy you make one or two bad passes a pizza here a pizza there and it really seems like it snowballs some of those media guys like some of those you know weasels that write start making fun of you a little bit and they think it's cool so Myers has been a little bit of a victim of that but I've played with Myers the world championships he's a good NHL defenseman man and especially when he stays within himself is he a power like he was rookie of the year his rookie year he was an offensive guy in Buffalo offensive second defenseman play with morrissey and winnipeg at this point of his career he's definitely a shutdown guy he's not an offensive guy he's an 18 minute a night shutdown

guy and when he plays like that and he's tough and he's big and he's mean and he's another good teammate he's at his most effective self and he's been awesome for the playoffs so kind of of like uh true ball a little bit where like they started out early in their career and they put up points so i feel like it was like the expectation but deep down they're more more effective in the roles that they're in now like where they don't have to be that guy and uh i was sticking with d i was going to ask you about quinn hughes and you had an interesting take and i i loved it when you broke it down you almost convinced me where you thought maybe Quinn Hughes should have gotten serious consideration for the heart this year, just based on his body of work and what he does and how he's the engine that runs that team in Vancouver. Yeah. I just think when, when you're talking about some of these individual awards and I actually proposed this to Elliot, I said, why, like who votes on these awards?

Like, I know you had to vote this year biz, but I know a lot of know a lot i declined it i don't even think i have the credentials to vote so i voted i voted a couple years and then i was told i couldn't vote anymore because i'm on a my agent's website or something and they thought i was biased and i'm like okay that's the most i agree with them i go i watched you're corrupt well everybody's a bias to a certain extent you know what i mean a lot of the people that vote for these awards work for teams and are writers. And you guys know the writers. Do the writers watch the game or do they kind of watch it? Then they look at the stat line after.

Then they look at Twitter and they kind of formulate their opinion from everything. So when I'm thinking about Quinn Hughes and the heart, I'm thinking the heart is the most valuable player. You have a team in Vancouver who wasn't supposed to make the playoffs. They basically are leading their division the whole year long. He's a 24-year-old captain taking over a team with a new head coach, a new culture, had turmoil the year before, the whole Bruce Boudreaux thing. There's just so many things going on.

And he leads your team with 91 points and just consistently is your best player night in, night out. Like, is that not the most valuable player like you're not in the playoff if he gets hurt for two months vancouver's on the playoff so what you tell me if you think this is good what i propose is in the future why don't you have a committee of 20 to 25 retired nhl players alumni from spread out across the board from different teams living in different cities and you make a commitment to these 20 guys and you say your job at the beginning of the year is to vote for vesna norris hard trophy all these like awards selkie and you have to watch as many games

as you can and take pride in this and now you have players that know the game that are watching it for the right like i don't want to get into this that's why i declined it that's why i declined it like i watch a decent amount of hockey and i still don't felt i watched enough hockey to have a true opinion but but like you you watched probably a lot of quinn hughes and saw what he did game over game the entire year another point you brought up too is the fact of how important winning their division was and obviously now going to game seven against the oilers like he helped them win the division as well and that's why you added more points on top of what he's done rather than kucherov and biz we talked about the heart and kucherov kucherov had an amazing year

he's he's nasty out there he's dirty but his team barely made the playoffs that that has to factor in a little bit for me if they were a team that was supposed to finish dead last it was the san jose sharks and he helped them elevate them to the eighth seed hey mvp but when you're like the tampa bay lightning one of the best teams in the league you squeak into the playoffs barely yeah you have a lot of points for me that's not the most valuable player it's it's consideration it's top three top five but it's not the most valuable to me but that's my opinion so what do you think of him so far in playoffs that's that's i was just my follow-up on quinn hughes yeah he he's been quiet i'm gonna do a thing tomorrow like one of the best things about him is how good he is on the offensive blue

line and how he's able to beat guys like it's a mismatch if you're that winger coming out to him you're so scared i haven't seen him be one guy on the offensive blue line and I haven't seen him create one chance from doing that I'd really like to see that in game seven yeah no goals yet through 12 games which is shocking um thinking thinking you know what you saw regular season but having played on a on a bunch of really good teams in van like you said not many expectations going into this season game seven tomorrow six o'clock start out there. Is that whole city from noon on, all the bars buzzing, everyone ready to go or what? Yeah.

What do you mean in Vancouver? I'm in Toronto right now. No, no. I just mean like the city after you play in there. Like how alive is that place going to be tomorrow? When I played Witt and we had all of our runs, people weren't selling out Rogers Arena when we were on the road. And these guys are selling out the arena when they're playing at edmonton and and even going back to the nashville series they're in nashville and the whole rink is sold out the

whole downtown is packed so the city has just been waiting for this for so long it's one of the best cities when it's playoff time all the bars and restaurants are bumping when we made our runs but the streets after games there was 100 000 people in the streets like in the first second third round after the game we would leave the rink and we would drive back to our hotels in our apartments and there honestly would take me 45 minutes to go like five miles because there's people just walking everywhere partying everyone's got canuck jerseys it's really one of the most passionate fan bases and you see it on both ends.

Oh, Whitsey's not aligned. They're not afraid to attack you. They'll stick up for their players and their team. Well, they actually, I just want to make it clear. Apparently, I've been told that they're selling out Rogers for the Oilers as well when they're on the road. I haven't seen any images of that, but Vancouver's has gotten a little bit

more play. It's just so sick. The last two Canadian teams left a game seven, the only one of the second round. It was meant to be. It's going to be amazing theater tonight. I can't wait. I think as Canadians, like Biz, we want to see a Canadian team

win and just be in the fight. I don't care what Canadian team it is, but it's just so nice that we had two playing in this round. So we're guaranteed one in the third, third round. And then who knows what happens like for the country where we've been waiting for this for a long time. You don't understand what an RA you guys are spoiled.

You win the cup every year. Our country needs this right now. We need this big time. Oh, what's your prediction? How do you think the game's going to play out? I don't know. I'm not a big prediction guy.

I think home ice advantage might factor in for the game seven for the Canucks. That's what I'll say. Juice, one last question here for you. I want to ask about Zdorov. I mean, this guy, I think, was one of the best pickups before the deadline, well before the deadline. What's he meant to the team, not only on the ice, but off the ice as well? So when he came in, you remember, he uh he was a big time wild card right he still was and

some fans and some people didn't really quite know how to take him all this guy like he kind of runs out of position he kind of makes some weird plays and he's takes some some bad penalties and i remember talking to somebody in the canucks organization and just saying hey just wait like you need one wild card on your team especially on the back like maybe i'm biased right but you need one one wild card on the back oh yeah one guy who's gonna keep the other team honest right and just be a wild card knucklehead and then you you reel a man and you kind of direct them and you try to get them to stay out of the box and not throw pizzas up the middle. But you'll appreciate this one guy. And has he not paid off? He's been not only their best defenseman, their most entertaining player.

Like, think about it from the fans' perspective. This guy's been entertaining. Quote machine, willing to fight anyone. He must have the biggest head in the world. His neck is about this thick in the back i will not for a looking man that's the funny i shouldn't tell the story but uh no i went out for dinner with him a few years ago when he was playing for calgary and they were in anaheim and i we i had some friends on the team so we all went out for dinner and uh he he's so mouthy and

chirpy like i love it right he's so he's his mouth. And one of the other guys on the table, a teammate is a big, tough guy. And he's just like, shut up. And they almost went toe to toe. They both stood up and they almost went toe to toe over the table at Javier's.

Right. I'm just sitting back like this. I'm like, this team's awesome. Like I love this team. That that's the Dora, man. He's a feisty guy.

I love it. You flashback to you and Federov at the, at the Earl's. That's 20 years ago, biz. That's a long time ago. Well, that's why's the door of man he's a feisty guy i love your flashbacks are you in federov at the at the earls that's 20 years ago biz that's a long time ago well that's why you loved it that's why you loved it so much you're probably cranking oh yeah teammates fighting each other it's like the st louis run a couple show hl guys going at it uh buddy thank you so much for coming on and doing this obviously a canucks legend and and no one knows more about this experience this is the biggest moment since the boston game in vancouver's uh what last 10 15 years so this is huge it's gonna be uh it'll be a huge game for for canada the biggest game ratings wise was uh boston toronto game seven this year we had uh five

million on average over 11 million total that's like% of Canada. I'm thinking that this game is going to crush that. So looking forward to everybody from Canada tuning in and watching this game. Great job on TV, Juice. You're crushing it. We appreciate you coming on, man. Thanks, boys. Thanks for having me on. Thank you, buddy.

Our pleasure. Talk to you, Juice. All right, before we go any further, here's a few words from our friends over at Game Time. Did you know that you can get tickets to Pearl Jam for about $200 right now on Game Time? They're coming to Fenway September 15th, September 17th. I am all over this. That's right, thanks to Game Time, the official ticketing partner of Boston Old Sports.

Going to see one of the greatest bands ever in a couple months over at Fenway. And you shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your next big event as well. Game Time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets to all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you. They have flash deals for sudden discounts. Zone deals for when you're feeling flexible. And their lowest price guarantee means that if you can find the same seats for less anywhere else, GameTime will credit you 110% of the difference. GameTime is the best place for last minute seats with up to 60% off of your favorite events. What are you waiting for? I'm snagging these Pearl Jam tickets right now a few

months away, but be here before you know it. Get to enjoy the summer in the meantime. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code CHICKLETS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download the GameTime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Thank you so much to Juice. What a legend. Great guy.

Great commentator. Always has great ideas. And Biz, I think we did a little research against talk in Arizona. McDavid was right around two points per game. I guess one game he didn't have any points, though. So maybe that's the one game you were thinking of. Last thing before we move on to the Bruins and the Panthers is tomorrow morning

we're going to come back to you guys again. We're going to recap Game 7 after the game tonight, and then we'll be able to come back. Probably be a shorter episode where we recap game seven and then we preview the Western Conference final with whoever wins against Dallas. So chicklets back-to-back days, game notes Friday, then we'll be back to you next week. So just

want to remind everyone, you get to listen to our goofy-ass voices again tomorrow morning if you want. On top of that, you guys might actually get sick of us. Gee, we have a live stream going on. We're actually going to do a watch for Game 7. So if you guys are around for Game 7 on your couches and you're not at the game, come join us,

especially you Edmonton fans. You can see Witt sweat it out and see if McJesus and Dreisaitl can get the job done for him. So come join us on the live stream all night. And then as Witt said, right after, we'll hit the record button and it should be a short pod, but we want to keep up to date and on the pulse of everything going down we love you guys and it's been a fun start to playoffs man coming at you guys three times a week with game notes on friday and uh we love you and again i know yans you always turps me with the thank yous

thank you to all the hard-working guys behind the scenes chopping all this shit up so you guys can get it on time we We love you, Fish. We love you, Pasha. We love you, G. But fuck you, Yans. Biz, piggyback on that. I just want to thank everyone also for the nice words and well wishes we got for the 500th episode last week. I mean, too many tweets and messages to write back to.

But thanks so much to everybody. I mean, you know, I've got more messages. I've been here since day one or episode one. I've got more messages. I've been here since day one or episode one. I've heard everyone. And the idea that someone will listen to not only our voice, but my voice voluntarily more than 500 times. I mean, thank you so much. I don't know how you do it. It feels like torture.

How about the Terry Ryan poem that he gave to us? That was the one on top. Yeah. Incredible. It was a special day, a special episode. So I just really quickly wanted to say thanks to everybody there. We appreciate it very much. And, well, for the second straight year the florida panthers knocked off the boston bruins uh this time via a round two game six two one victory that sends the panthers to the eastern

conference finals for the second year in a row where they'll face the new york rangers starting wednesday night eight o'clock down madison square garden they've only faced each other once in the playoffs back in i believe 97 r Rangers won that four games to one. We got to talk about this Gustav Forsling, I think, Whit. He got the series winner the other night. Kind of a blind shot. Just threw it at the net. Florida picked this guy up off on waivers back on January 9th, 2021.

He got traded a couple times. And this guy, I mean, he's a top caliber defenseman in the league, Whit, no? At this point, I mean, what he's been doing in the playoffs. He's an amazing skater. He does amazing things with his legs that makes the game so easy to him because even when he's out of position, which doesn't happen often, he's so good at skating and getting right back where he needs to be. He's always between his man and the net, and it seems like while being undersized, his skating,

it doesn't really affect him. Also, they have some bigger guys on D, so he doesn't have to be over-physical. That's not the type of player he is. But jumping up into the rush, you see him get so many chances. Had a goal early, I think, game two of this series, the leg drop one-timer from the point that was a rocket. And then that goal was a beauty.

I mean, it didn't look that great. And maybe Swayman said after he should have had it. Still, he getting it on net and look at how low down low he was he's down low he's beneath the face off dog because he knows he can get right back I mean the best part about him is for the Florida Panthers is the deal they signed him to this season on the extension the number is like oh my god and that's that's that goes back to I wish they could figure out these no state tax teams maybe getting a little bit lower of a cap or the tax. They got to even that out. That's a totally different argument.

But the Panthers are lucky enough to be in Florida, a great place to play as they've become such a good team. And now they got this guy locked up in a bargain with the minutes he plays. He eats minutes. He's able to play against other teams' top lines. It's just an awesome player and a crazy story because if you're him and you're getting put on waivers after Chicago and Carolina and you're like, I don't know where I'm going in my career,

and boom, you find a coach who loves you, you figure out your role, and you're able to just flourish. So he's been a phenomenal player for them. So in going back to the press conference when they signed him to that extension, like Bill Zito, I don't know if it was a scout or was Bill Zito himself who was very persistent, adamant about when he went on waivers. It's like, get this guy. And then even when he started out in Florida, I don't think that he was getting the ice time that the management and people up top thought he deserved based on how good he is. And you talked about some of his qualities as a player like I think if you look at every analytic from a defending standpoint so far in playoffs especially his defensive game five on five like he kills

plays like better than anybody going right now so five on five he's just a machine and you can you know sick him against any team's top dogs And obviously with what he did through the first two rounds, it just proves that. And, you know, Bill Zito got emotional at that press conference when he signed him, and he said, man, like, this is a guy who persevered, picked up off waivers every day in the gym. Like, they call him the Greek god off the ice, right? Like, he's in the gym.

He's like a maniac. Seems like they have quite a few guys in their lineup that are that dedicated. Like, Bobrovsky always gets talked about. So just to see the turnaround from going on waivers to putting up that type of production and being that guy who I think he led all skaters from the Panthers in that closeout game with close to 26, maybe over 26 minutes in ice. So bravo to him and, of course, the Florida Panthers for locking him in.

And if Montour is able to stick around as well and they get him under the cap, that's why, man. You need guys taking better deals. And you mentioned state tax has something to do with it. But nonetheless, bravo. Because I think on the open market as a free agent, he's probably worth close to eight, if not more. Yeah, and the Panthers, just such a deep team.

I will give the Bruins credit. I don't think anyone saw them having this season. Going into the year after last year's debacle and losing Krejci and Hall and Bertuzzi and Bergeron, it was like I didn't have any expectations for them.

And they go down and win a huge Game 5 on the road to force a Game 6 at home. And they get out to a 1-0 lead there. Zaka finally gets his first playoff goal. So I know Bruins fans were disappointed, but if I'm looking at the Bruins, you got Pasta locked up, you got McAvoy locked up, you're going to get Swayman locked up, you're going to trade Allmark, and you got a ton of money.

And I know you build Stanley Cup winners through the draft, and they haven't had great draft success but they at least have dough it's a city where people want to play and they had a ballsy effort this season they win a game 7 against Toronto they forced 6 to a way better Florida team and so

it wasn't what Bruins fans were hoping for but it was way better than I think most people expected going into the season for the Panthers, Barkov's reached another level. The Selke Award winner, the guy who's able to, on both sides of the ice, dominate. He's so big and strong. I thought he upped his level from the first series. He got even better. The Rangers, they haven't played a player as good as Barkov yet. No disrespect to anyone in Carolina. I know Gensel's a hell of a player.

I know Ajo's awesome. Barkov's a different beast. He's so big and strong, and he's so good on the defensive side of the puck. He's not going to be giving up chances. And I think that the Panthers are just, they've basically gone from last year right into this year, not really lost a beat, and they're healthy right now. I know Bennett's battled an injury and he missed time. He doesn't look injured out there.

Barkov looks great. Kachuk's healthy right now, even though he was a little reserved at the end of that series, so you wonder if he might be battling something. Most people are this time of year, but the Panthers are going to be a tough out. I think that's going to be an incredible series. No, I agree with giving the praise to Boston. I think that you going to be an incredible series. No, I agree with the giving the praise to Boston.

I think that you, like, R.A., are you pumped with the season that was based on consideration coming in with losing the two top centers? Yeah, absolutely. It was gravy. I mean, you know, you get in the playoffs, you get excited, you want your team to advance. But, yeah, stepping back, it's like, hey, man, a lot of people didn't think they were going to be in the playoffs.

They lost Bergeron, they lost Crecce. I mean, now we know Swayman's that guy I mean like the only reason they were in the series I mean they were outshot an average of 12.2 shots per game versus Florida I mean they should have been blown out in three games the way the way they were getting dummied but Swayman is the real deal should be lining up to trade for Olmark this summer yeah I mean five mil for a goalie who won the Vez in the last year and let's's not, I mean, we, we talked about how Boston doesn't have great draft picks. I thought one of the big storylines of this season was the emergence of young guys,

Mason, Laura, what a draft pick. He was Matt Poitras, second round gold right there. We think we don't know yet, but I think from Bruins fans, we're very,

very pleased with how this season went. Ton of money to spend this off season, go get Steven Stamkos, make a hockey trade for all Mark. And we're running, very pleased with how this season went. Ton of money to spend this offseason. Go get Stephen Stamkos, make a hockey trade for Olmark, and we're running this thing back. Oh, yeah. Hey, and another thing, too, is a lot of those younger guys who are coming up are big, and I think

if there's one thing we've figured out in this league, you gotta be big to win, and it's kind of the passing of the guard and going back over to Florida. Couldn't agree more, and it's why for many, many years that Barkov was kind of known as like the, what, the best kept secret in the NHL. And he should be getting those flowers all the time. He was a fucking beast up the middle of that entire series,

even down to the wire when he makes that block too. Like he is just, his wingspan, he's like a fucking pterodactyl out there. You can't cover, he covers the whole middle of the ice. wingspan he's like a fucking pterodactyl out there you can't cover he covers the whole middle of the ice how about uh in that series five on five uh scoring chances when he's on the ice 54 25 against so two to one you're getting scoring chances with him on the ice for the panthers um right now the panthers are averaging nine more shots a game than than other team against Tampa and Boston. So it's definitely the Rangers' hardest series. They had a cakewalk in the first round. And now they're dealing with a monster who's got a goalie.

I think it's going to be great. I think actually Shuster gets a better goalie. But it's just the depth that Florida has. They can insert guys on that fourth line. You saw a couple guys come out that were playing great. Then they throw in the Lamborghini. It's going to be a lot harder physically i think carolina is a puck control team but they're not looking to take your head off and i think that should kind of lead into marshawn's quotes because we haven't talked uh as a group since he came out with the the press

conference where he talked about it's it's it's not said it's not popular and the truth of the matter is that you're trying to injure guys in the playoffs. And we've kind of talked about this, and there's been blowback where people can't believe it, but it isn't unplayed. I mean, some guys do. I don't think you're hitting guys out there in playoffs to hurt guys. No, but I think if you're looking to get a slash on the wrist, you're like, I don't care if I break his wrist. Correct, correct.

But certain guys are going out there with the mentality where they're hitting to hurt. Other guys' main focus isn't that, where they're like, yeah, I'd like to create some momentum here and knock the guy off the puck. I don't think Kale McCarver's going out there saying, I'm going to fucking line up Jamie Benn here and try to put him out of the series.

I think he's probably trying to avoid those trolley tracks, to be quite honest. Yeah. You know what he meant. No, no, 100%. It's a violent, violent, mean game. And the more violent and the meaner you are in the playoffs, the better you are.

War of attrition. It's kind of crazy because there's not many sports like that. I guess football is definitely like that, but with the rule changes in football, I mean, it's really hard to throw some of these hits now that used to be so common in the game. And hockey's changed as well, but you get to this second season, you get to the end of April, May, and into June,

and you see vicious, vicious attacks on players that is just part of the game. Florida's moving on. Bennett's not suspended. He's going to do something against the Rangers, and nobody will be surprised, and the Panthers could move on in that series. I actually am going to pick the Rangers to get that done. Team of destiny this year. We can get into that in a little bit, but an amazing effort by Florida, and Bobrovsky wasn't even that good. I know he made some great saves, but Swayman outplayed him, and

I don't think it's the Bobrovsky of last year's run where you saw him steal games for the Panthers. I think his save percentage right now is below 900, or at least it was in that last series, but his goals against is pretty good. Yeah, 8-3, 2-3-7 goals against, 9-0-2 save percentage, and what I was saying to Yandel

the other day, it seems like as the game gets later, he gets better. Like his save percentage isn't good, but he's been making all the major saves he's need to make in the third period. Like huge saves. So I'm almost like I'm a big save percentage guy, but you can almost throw it out when it comes to Bob. What do you got, Busy?

Looking ahead, if you were looking at that Rangers-Panthers matchup, I would have said, you know, on the back end, I would have gave the slight edge to maybe Rangers because of Fox. But, fuck, the way that Montour, it's like he's last year's Montour again because he came back injured to begin the season. Didn't really have the offensive numbers. But in that last round, you saw him join the rush way more, way more involved.

That shot came back where he looks fucking poised to have a big round against them. And he talks a lot of shit out there too. He's mouthy. He's yappy. That's part of his game. Him and Forsling are very similar in that they can jump up to the play and they're so fast they can get back.

Forsling, I would say, is a little bit more responsible in his own end. And then Montour on his side is just maybe a little meaner, a little more cocky a little mouthier so they complement each other well I know they don't know play together but you did say say about Fox though interesting enough Fox averaged 24 minutes a game this season I think 23 57 only twice in the Carolina series did he get over 23 minutes. If you remember that knee-on-knee hit he took from Jensen in the Washington series, he had a couple maintenance days where he didn't skate in the Carolina series on the off days.

So I don't know if Adam Fox is at 100% right now, but we can get into that series. I think it goes back to the season, though, where he injured that same knee, right? That was a collision that he had with Aho as well it was same side same same same side i think it was his left knee and it was it kind of opened up it looked like maybe it was mcl so that was a a pretty nasty one he had in the regular season i want to say it was sebastian aho where he missed i want to say he missed 8 to 12 games maybe even more so uh something to look for moving forward. And I agree with you. He doesn't look like himself out there. So advantage to Florida in that department, R.A.

Yeah, I was disappointed. The last two years at home, Bruins are 3-8 at home in the last two playoffs. I mean, that's just bad. The Cats went 3-0 in Boston this year. They've won six straight at TD Guide going back to game two last year. And I guess there was a fire alarm. I don't know if someone pulled it when they were having that pregame nap the other day at the hotel. Listen, if a fan pulled it.

All right, where were you? Buddy, listen. All right, where were you? Buddy. Well, he didn't pull the fire alarm. He was smoking a joint, and the smoke actually sent off the fire alarm. Did I do that? No, listen.

Don't pull fucking fire alarms. I've been saying it since this show started. My old man, retired fireman, don't pull fucking fire alarms. I've been saying it since this show started. My old man, retired fireman, don't do that shit. You've got to send guys out on a fucking rush out on a trip. They can get hurt. Don't pull fucking fire alarms anytime, especially hotels during the playoffs. It's a donkey move. Crack the whip, R.A.

I agree with you, buddy. Come on. I don't know if that's what happened, Paul. I don't know if it was a hotel situation, but don't do that shit. Bernal, where were you? Don't do that shit. Where were you, G? I actually cleared out my entire dorm my sophomore year of college

because I broke in and pulled the fire alarm, and I tried to light my roommate up with a fire extinguisher. And, yeah, it cleared out the whole dorm at like 3 a.m. Everyone was pretty pissed at me. What did you think? Yeah. No, no,. Did you get kicked out? No, I didn't get kicked out. The school never found out it was me.

You went to Plymouth State. They'll give you a degree for that. Yeah, they'll give you a line of blow for that. Oh, it was a heavy cocaine use school? Oh, tons of drugs at Plymouth. Big, big drug school. Great school. Did you go there for a semester?

I went to North Adams State. Or North Adams State. I went to school. No, I didn't. I don't need drugs to get drug school. Great school. Did you go there for a semester? I went to North Adams State. Or North Adams State. Party school. No, I didn't. I don't eat drugs to get up school. Weed and mushrooms up North Adams. For real. Hand on the Bible. All right, before we go any further,

here's some words from our friends over at Sport Clips. Hey, guys. Your hair may grow fast, but after going to Sport Clips Haircuts, you'll wish it grew even faster. That's because Sport Clips has the best seats in hair, and that may or may not be because they happen to be right in front of TVs playing sports all day, every day. We know watching sports while getting a haircut sure beats watching your reflection getting a haircut. I can vouch for that myself, which is why at Sport Clips, every day is clippers and curveballs, high tops and Hail Marys, and even waves and wickets. You know,

if you're into that kind of thing. At Sport Clips, you can check in with the pros in men's hair and totally check out with pure, uninterrupted relaxation. So yeah, come watch an endless stream of sports on TV while getting an awesome haircut. And folks, you know, whether you're getting a feather, a little fade, or just old-fashioned baldy like myself, you can't beat it. Sport Clips, nice and relaxing, great price, you can't beat it. Sport Clips, it's a game changer. Actually, Biz, I got one more question for you. The Bruins, they set a record, seven fucking penalties for too many men on the ice.

They only played two rounds. How does this happen so much and so frequently, and why the fuck does it happen? So Merle's already covered it and got ahead of it. I think he tweeted out because people were trying to blame Monty for it. Now, I have played for coaches who sometimes are a little bit oblivious and not on the ball, and they get caught watching the play, and then they don't call out the next lines,

and then it maybe creates a little bit of confusion. I don't see Monanny as that guy. I think Merle knows him even better, and he definitely doesn't think he's that guy. I would say 90% of the time, Onus is on the players, where I said it. Remember when I talked about getting my sussy?

I made eye contact with the guy, with Max Domi, and then all of a sudden something changed where he altered his route, but considering he was coming, his skates were facing the bench, and I made eye contact with him, I hopped and didn't look behind me. Sometimes that type of shit happens. Sometimes a line was changed where he calls out the three guys

and the guy who thought he was still on the original line jumps over. That creates the confusion. So I think this is on the players and obviously a string of bad luck because when you think about preparation and how well dialed the Bruins are from like structure, special teams usually, maybe not the power play this playoffs, seven is astonishing if they went to the Stanley Cup final.

Brutal. Brutal. Seven fucking times. Seven's a lot for 82 games in the regular season. That's a lot for a sport team. It's a lot for 82 games in the regular season. That's a lot for a sport team. It's a lot for a peewee team. I had him five times and he's still alive. So brutal.

I wish they had four or five in the first round last year, somebody. They did. Five last year. And obviously, an older guy like me, it's just like triggering because of 1979, too many men in the ice. It goes back to that all the time. I wonder if you watch all the tape, who was the most that did it? Imagine, I'm just throwing the name out there.

Imagine DeBrusque had five of them. Lindler had two. Lindler had two in the playoffs. He did fail his driver's test like four times. It could be Spidey's fault. So not to throw anybody under the bus. I don't know if they were showing them on the Canadian broadcast for all you people listening up north.

You guys had that game, right? TNT was at ESPN. Yeah, TNT had game six. Yeah, so they showed Louis DeBrusque a bunch. Oh, yeah. He's a great broadcaster for all the Oilers games and Sportsnet. But he's just watching it as a dad and a fan. He's so into it.

You could tell the stresses he was dealing with. And I thought DeBrusowski had another solid playoff. I'm very interested to see if they re-sign him. What's he going to want? I would think they'd try to. Because even though sometimes in the regular season people are left wanting more, at least this year. Last year was great.

Playoff time. He comes to play, dude. Yeah, he does. He's a perfect playoff-type player. He can skate, gets in on the forecheck, can score. So I would think that they'd make him an offer at least. That he made to zaka the no look backhand right on his tape he just gunned it to his own barkov wasn't expecting it he wasn't thinking he could even get it to him the craziest part was zaka was last guy back in support of wotherspoon if that's how you say his

name who went right up with it and then next thing thing you know, Zaka's on the breakaway. You're like, what the fuck just happened there? On DeBrusque real quick, over the last three postseasons, he has 11 goals, 10 assists, 21 points in 27 games. That's 7.78 points per game. And that's tied with Artemi Panarin and Elias Lindholm for top 30 in the league. Sounds like McDavid numbers against the Coyotes during the talk era.

But hey, I think considering we're wrapping up this Boston-Florida series, we got to hop over to that Carolina-Fugazi, depending on which game it is. The range is just an absolutely insane game six comeback, thanks to a third period natty-hatie from Chris Kreider. They beat Carolina 5-3, advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three seasons. Canes looked like it was going to be a game seven. Their biz had a 3-1 lead heading to the third. Goals from

Natchez, Jarvis, and Ajo. Then Kreider, man, absolutely turned it on, but a key part of this, the penalty on Jordan Stahl. I know you thought it was chintzy. A lot of people thought it was chintzy, but it's also like... P-fucking-U. P-U. Before we get to that,

Witt, before we started recording, posted an old... Was it a TikTok or a Vine? No, it was a Vine. A Vine. Remember Vine? I retired... Oh, I love Vine.

I quit in Sweden two games in until September 2014. So then naturally, it's... No. Maybe I'm still playing that. I don't even remember. It was 10 years ago. I made a vine.

It doesn't even exist anymore. It's maybe the dumbest, worst offside I've ever seen an NHL player make. There's never been a bigger offside. It's crazy. It's the goat of offsides. Adam Oates wanted to fucking punch himself in the face when he saw this. I remember they were playing the Islanders, and I'm watching,

and I was like, yeah, and I was into Vine then. And look at where this guy's come now. He's going to get his jersey in the stands. Oh, he's getting his jersey retired. Most goals in the history of the New York Rangers in the playoffs. He's been there. I think this is his 13th season, if not his 12th. The guy is a horse in front of the net.

You know what was great about that? One of the goals in the hat trick, I believe it was the third one. The tip? No, the pass by Lindgren, dude. Oh, my God. Lindgren wheels the net. He looked like a forward. Yeah, that was the winner.

And Kreider, he was kind of speechless in the postgame interview with Jody Shelley. He's like, I don't know what to say. I go was the winner. And Kreider was kind of speechless in the post-game interview with Jody Shelley. He's like, I don't know what to say. I go to the paint. That's where I do my work. And that guy is a master in there. The Panarin shot, he tips that one, and that's a beauty. The first one, you got to think that's a win for them.

Buddy, they had nothing. They had nothing. I know. Rangers were dead to rights. And I said in the group chat, I think it was the first game. I said, it's going to be special teams and goaltending is going to be the demise of the Carolina Hurricanes. Like, he'd already let in that bad one on that side to Lafreniere. They had the fucking game.

We were going to seven. I was so fucking angry in the back when he let that in because I knew it was going to end, and it was going to end in regulation. And then Kreider, that face, and then the energy out of the building, and I'm like, oh my God. And the fact that it was Kreider to get all three fucking goals in a row,

that fucking tip from the Panarin shot, that penalty on Jordan Stahl, though, along with the goal, was bullshit, dude. That, like, I don't want to... It was a sell. Call him both. I was going to say I don't want to call Zibanejad a diver, but he jumped into the boards. The fact that they didn't at least even him up is a fucking joke.

That is a classic case of a referee getting in the way of a game. Bullshit. They'd already gotten one like that in the overtime i think it was of game what game one yeah but you liked that call i didn't like that one okay i did i did because it was an open play he actually got him in the hip and to throw him off and he was in more of a threatening area the fact that you're going in for a wall battle, and boys, it was less of a cross check than what Shea had put on Trocek. It was a push.

It was a little push. And the look on Stahl's face, and I don't think he complained or said boo-hoo. He was just sad. He was just sad. He was on the bench and he was like, they're going to score here. And then on the bench after they did,

at the end of the game when they got the empty netter they went right back to him he was still like this so i like i don't know what i just feel so bad for rod the bod and that team because like they go out and make those two huge deadline moves and like i would i just wanted to see go to seven games they were the better team five on five. And I'm not taking anything away from Shusterkin's performance. I'm not taking anything away from the Rangers and how are they able to capitalize at the right times. Their power play was excellent. It was great when it had to be. Again, tying it up with that shot by Panarin and Kreider.

But just a complete fumble job by the Carolina Hurricanes at home to four seven games, and it came down to special teams and goaltending. But what was amazing, too, was Trocek gets him back in that game, dude. It's 2-0. Carolina's controlling everything. We're going back to Madison Square Garden for game seven, and Trocek gets that goal. But Ajo comes back. All right, 3-1. We're going back to Madison Square Garden for game seven, and Troach gets that goal. But Ajo comes back.

All right, 3-1. We're good. We got the two-goal lead back. We're going to the third at home. And this Rangers team. And when I say team of destiny, everything's falling into place. Everything's happening. 7-0 to start the playoffs in 94.

Same as this year. A natural hat trick on the road in game six. Yes, it was the conference final against the Devils when Mark Messier did it. But the second round, Chris Kreider does it. All these things are happening. You got the best goalie left in the playoffs. Mike Richter was the best goalie in the playoffs in 94. It's just, there's a crazy

crazy hot ball around New York City. And Rangers fans will tell you game 7 they would have not had a ton of confidence. If a team even forces game 6 when you're up 3-0 you're panicking. If they get to 7 you're like

we're not winning. We can't win this game. We done we've seen this as the baseball team in this city do this they're down 3-0 to the socks and and they just Chris Kreider man he fucking does it that tip was so sick cross body I know we talk about Pavelski a lot we can't do that without mentioning Kreider in front of the net it It was pretty cool, too, to see Goudreau get the empty netter to make it 5-3. He's right in front of the bench, too, and that bench celebration was great. A lot of respect between

LaViolette and Rod the Bot after, and shout out Rod the Bot. Got a five year extension, I read. Oh, did he? That's what he got. Good for him. And all his assistants got extensions. I don't know if those were all five years. I'm guessing not. Got the family fed. The question for Carolina Hurricanes fans. Oh, last thing.

Kreider. Awesome. He did the interview with Jody Shelley. He's getting off the ice. And there was a little kid sitting there. He gave him his stick. I mean, that's a pretty memorable stick. Ottinger did the same thing.

Carolina fan, too. It was a Carolina. I know the mom had a Carolina. Did the kid have? Was it the crying kid they put on the broadcast? Oh, that's what I was going to say. Just showing these Hurricanes fans after the little kids crying. They showed a couple college-age kids.

They were just shaking their head because where do the Hurricanes go from here? How do they get over the mountain here? What do they do? This was their season. They finally grabbed deadline acquisitions, and something's missing there. And now they've got a lot of questions, dude. They've got a lot of guys that need to be signed, Gensel being the most important one.

Then you talk about Pesci. It's just, I don't know what they're going to do. Go get Allmark. Yeah. I mean, they do get $27.3 million in cap space they can spend. Just to go back to Kreider, this stat was crazy biz. And just the last three playoffs alone, now he's played in 10 separate playoffs,

he's had 23 goals in 37 games the last three playoffs. Just these last three years alone would put him eighth all time on the Rangers playoff goal list. Just the last three years alone. Remarkable. 47 total in 117 playoff games. And they're also the last team of destiny, last

President's Trophy winner to advance to the conference finals since the L.A. Kings did it. Or was it the Blackhawks? I think it was the Blackhawks in one of the cups they won. So there's some crazy things. And the lunar eclipse same year. And they had an earthquake same year. And those are both. Are you off?

Yeah. No, I'm not fucking around, dude. This is crazy. And that's why I'm also picking them in the next round. Oh, man. No, no. I picked them in five against Washington, and then I picked them in six against Carolina.

These people think I flip-flop because a clip comes out saying that I believe that Carolina could come back. No, they believe that you flip-flop because you picked them to miss the playoffs. I know, but we're past that. The playoffs is a new season. Okay, but there's the flip-flop. They played the full 82 games,

and I'm like, you know what? Yes, I am a clown in the regular season, but I'm not in the playoffs. I'm kind of like the brusque. I just turn it on. What did you think about leaving all the hats on as long? I want my fucking bag too, bitch. I want my deal.

Wait, did you see that? All his neighbors left a bunch of hats on his lawn, Kryda? Oh, yeah. He was outside picking them up. He had headphones in. He looked like a homeless guy too. He was dressing like a weirdo. But who cares how you dress when you're a New York Rangers legend?

He's got the robe on with the hog hanging out going to get the newspaper. What the hell is all these hats here? The hell? Get off my lawn! All right, before we go any further, here's a few words from our friends at Viator. Viator is a tool you can use to plan and book travel experiences around the world. The Viator app and website make it easy to explore 300,000 plus travel experiences so you can discover what's out there no matter where you're traveling or what

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at any hour if things aren't going as planned. So download the Viator app now and use code Viator10 for 10% off your first booking in the app. Find the perfect travel experiences for you. Do more with Viator. Yeah, the Rangers question mark going into the conference finals would be, I was reading, I think it was Daily Faceoff, Frank Cervelli's website, is who the 12th forward will be. So they have all these different options. Rempy. Well, Rempy, they got Brodzinski's played two games.

They got Hedl. He could go back in. They got Rempy, I think, against the Panthers. There's only one answer for the hyenas, buddy. Oh, it is. You're forgetting. Blake Wheeler's now skating with the non-contact jersey off. 1,200 games, buddy.

He was playing on the top line, a veteran. Is he a possibility to get put into the lineup? I might be by myself here, but I'm picking the Empire State building fucking torpedo missile, just like the Truba train at the Hyena Pack. You got to go. You got to go with the Empire State at MSG to open. I would start him game one and say, you guys want to come in here and try to bully us around

with the Hyena Pack? We got a Truba train and a torpedo missile up front, bitches. We're at war, motherfucker. Yeah, it should be an unbelievable Eastern Conference Finals. But that's also why I'm not coaching. Like I said, just the second time these two have played in the playoffs, way back in 97, the Rangers beat them four games to one. Game one, Wednesday night.

Then they'll be playing every other night. The season series, Florida was 2-0-1. Rangers were 1-2-0. Florida went minus 150. I was kind of surprised when I saw that line. A little much bigger than I thought. Well Rangers fans love that alright because I believe that was the same number the Hurricanes were going into that series.

Oh okay. And the same as 94. Same line as going into the conference finals against their opponent. What else is going to happen? Was there a birth at MSG that year or something? What's going to be next? I'm not going to another prom. I don't care what you say because last time I went

to a prom, the Rangers were in the Steelers. That was your 11th. Yeah, you're going to have to find a 26-year-old high school grad, which I'm sure in your town you could. My prom was 94. Don't want to make it any tougher on the Chiefs than it already is. Yeah, no, it was 94 because they called the principles first game.

Oh, another thing, too, that really sucked about not at least pushing it to seven games, that Martinuk moment of him diving and saving that goal, it still will be autographed and put in many Canes fans' fan caves. But could you have imagined if they would have came back in the series how iconic that photo? That's a photo that's going to be put. You know when you go up to the team press boxes and they always have those iconic photos

throughout playoff runs of all the players? Like Ray Whitney, when we went there, had one. You see Arthur Zerbe's got one. Was that their old goalie? He used to like do his sewing on his own pads. Arthur Zerbe, was he there? Arthur Zerbe. Yeah.

Hurricanes. But that was such a cool photo. You saw the net cam image of it. And Martinuk has meant so much to that team and being like a heart and soul guy. Kind of like his own Forsling moment of when he got put on waivers. Anybody could have picked him them up they said they didn't do it because they didn't want them there they just gotten kind of jammed up but ultimately any team could have had that guy and

picked them up off waivers and he was lucky enough to stay in the organization and he's been unbelievable ever since had a career year offensively last year and did what he did this year in playoff with with so many moments along with that one that i feel like it just i felt like i was part of their fucking cane fandom that i felt bad uh for burns uh brent burns after like just one of the camera views tony d'angelo went went over to him right after the handshake line you know running out of time to win a cup been in the league for what 20 what, 20 years now, if not 18 seasons. It's like, oh, that's the type of guy you're like, I'd love to see Brent Burns win a Stanley Cup.

And just probably heartbreaking for him, along with the rest of the team in Carolina, who this year they talked after. They believed they had the team that could do it. But goaltending didn't really show up for them in the biggest moments. And cup winners, they always do. And it's not to say he played poorly. It was just that one save.

It was the crider off to the side of the net. You know, what was the other bad one? The Lafreniere one was bad, but there was one other bad one too on top of that. I'm forgetting it. I'm drawing a blank right now. Oh, the Pan was a, Oh, the Panarin one game one that, that ended up being the eventual game winner.

So there's four goals in that series where you're like, ah, and just Durkin, man, he wouldn't let in that next goal. And what, what, what now it's only one time in the last 32 tries that he's led up more than

three goals in a playoff game. He's kicking right now, man. So I think we're pretty much, and the Pesci injury, I thought played a bit of a factor as well. Tough loss. Oh yeah. No doubt.

Yeah. That third period too, Biz. Igor, he stopped all 16 Carolina shots and, you know, Freddie gave up three goals on nine shots. And that, you know, that was obviously a huge difference right there in the series. So yeah, Shusterkin, the real deal, Holyfield there. Moving right along here. The Rangers' defense, though, they've only

scored two goals in the playoffs so far, one from Miller, one from Trubu, whereas Florida's defense has scored seven thus far. Let's go to predictions. Whit, who do you like and how many? So I like the Rangers in seven. I think it's going to be an incredible series. I think Holmeis is really going to help them out in the end. In the end, boys,

I'm back. But I just think, like, the vibe with the Rangers, I think there's something about that team. And I've picked against the Panthers so often in these last two years that I'm the fool, and Panthers fans love hearing it. And I think it's going to be an incredible back-and-forth series, kind of like Edmonton Van, win one, lose one, one win one lose one maybe maybe home team wins game five and six you go to seven and then with Shostakhin that's my biggest thing I think Bobrovsky's awesome and it's a real tough matchup

it's not lopsided in any way the way it was with Anderson versus Shostakhin but it's just this Rangers team and I don't see Trochek slowing down I think the way the Panthers play in your face hockey Trocek has the ability to do that Panarin's proved this year that playoff hockey doesn't slow him down he gets in the mix I think he had a tough little goal where I believe he was only had two shots in games four and five really went cold and then was able to pick it up in game six and the Rangers go a lot with how Panarin goes, but he's answered the bell. It'll come down to if Florida can bully him.

That's how they win. That's how they've won these last two years. They bully teams. They punch you in the face. They out-chance you. And the Rangers have a goalie they can withstand to it. And I think the team toughness on the Rangers can withstand it as well. I just think it's going to be a classic series.

I want to see if Fox can... Fox is going to have to be good. Like I brought up, is he battling an injury? Is that knee bugging him? Possibly, but he's going to have to play big minutes. And I know he really didn't against Carolina, but being up 3-0, he didn't really have to. He's going to be an enormous part. I know Keiondre Miller was playing with the Braden – is it Schneider?

And they broke that pairing up. They broke him up one game. So, I don't know what the pairings will be to start. But Keiondre Miller, he can skate, he can move. The teams are so evenly matched. But the Rangers. It's the year of the New York Rangers, I think. And Pasha's year from hell will continue.

The year of the eclipse. I agree with a lot of you're saying, Witt. I think that home ice advantage is going to play such a massive factor. And in saying that, I want to bring it back to game five at home against the Canes when the Rangers fans have been spoiled to this season of becoming President's Trophy winners and then rattling off seven in a row to start playoffs. And then they start booing their team the minute that they fall behind in the

third period because they gave up a couple goals. That is fucking pathetic fandom. You're supposed to cheer them on regardless of what's going on in the circumstances in a playoff series that they're ahead in. That was fucking bullshit. Do you not agree? Oh, a thousand percent. And percent and people like oh they their ref it wasn't good it's like motherfucker they hadn't lost the game all playoffs like give a

little leeway here i mean you're fucking booing them for real i got it booing him booing them so i i expect that those fans those idiots will smarten up from this round because they are going to need those fans i think it's going to go the distance in seven. I think that full body and from position to position overall, Florida is the better team on paper, but it's just coming back to that magic. And the fact that they were able to do last round without Fox playing to the capability in which he is, he's going to have to play.

He's going to have to match up against Montour. Cause we talked about how big of a game or Montour is and how he's bringing the fucking offense. He's going to have to play up against Montour. Because we talked about how big of a gamer Montour is and how he's bringing the fucking offense. He's going to have to play like a dog like him. He ain't going to be mucking it up like Montour, but he's got to be making those plays. Every time that puck comes to him on the blue line, especially the power play, he's got to be setting up those teammates. And the high-end talent is going to have to come play for the Rangers

because when you look at the bottom six, Florida's got them there. And you look at a guy like Lundell, he was fucking buzzing last round, man. But they got the big forwards, the hyena pack on the fourth line, and if those guys aren't going, they got other options as well. They're like Dallas. They got five lines, basically. So it's going to be a hell of a series. I think that if you could have hand-picked this

the matchup for the Eastern Conference finals if you had no skin in the game you were wanting to see these two teams go at it along with if the players on the ice ain't enough for you how about these coaches how about Paul Maurice he's a fucking every press conference now it's like he's taking fucking mushrooms

Colin like Michael it's like he's taking fucking mushrooms. Like Judge Collin lately. It's like he's taking mushrooms like Michael Bublé before the All-Star game every fucking post-game press conference now. He's doing 30 minutes of stand-up, for fuck's sakes. Whatever he's making, double it. How about dropping the F-bombs, too? How about, and I don't want this to happen, but if Van does go on to win tonight,

you got all the division champs as the final four, which would be kind of crazy. Come on. With so much parody. Jeez. I'm wondering, that's probably a long time, I would imagine. But Florida and New York, all year, they're the best two teams in the East. So it makes sense that they're facing off to go to the Stanley Cup final. What else?

Oh, final thing. Ekblad had a real tough start to that Bruins series, and then he picked it up. He came along, though. He picked it up. So, yeah, if you have Montour, Forsling, and Ekblad playing like he did at the end of that series against the Bruins, it's going to be a battle.

It's going to be great hockey. I can't wait. I'm just – I'm not picking against the Rangers. I won't this season. Biz, we didn't get your prediction. I said't wait. I'm just, I'm not picking against the Rangers. I won't this season. Biz, we didn't get your prediction. I said Rangers in seven unless I skipped out. I said I was piggybacking basically

everything that Witt said. People think that I'm trolling and I'm trying to reverse jinx it. I had Rangers to win the first two rounds. I predicted it perfectly other than one game. I'm still riding with them. As much as I hate their guts, they are a team of destiny.

Okay. G, what do you have for us, buddy? Florida wins games by bullying teams, kind of like Witt said. I just don't think Florida is going to be able to bully the Rangers between guys like Trouba and Rempe and Miller. They got some big boys,

and selfishly, I really want a cup here in New York City, a Stanley Cup here, so I don't have to travel. So I got Rangers in seven. This team has proved me wrong. You live in Jersey, and you're a Bruins fan. I live in Boston. I think it'd be awesome to have a Stanley Cup here. I think, one, I don't want to travel right now

with all the shitstorm I have going on in my personal life. That's true. Just being able to pop over a 15-minute Uber instead of driving a JFK would be awesome. I kind of just am also partly getting on the Rangers' good side because if it does end up there for the Stanley Cup Finals, we don't have it with TNT, so I'll be going. I just don't want to get shanked or punched out

like that Lightning fan a few years ago in the subway because they're like the scum of the scum for Ranger fandom, like Cowbell Lady. You think I want to run into Cowbell Lady in the subway because they're like the scum of the scum for ranger fandom like cowbell lady you think i run i want to run into cowbell lady in the subway you'll probably end up banging her oh no i'm gonna say just worry about not getting nasty a video comes out it's me and bang guy double team and cowbell lady just like what the fuck is going on here these this year's been crazy we got all the division champs going head-to-head. Craziest regular season ever. Year of the Eclipse.

Now we got two on one, no back checker. And Bang Guy's giving biz directions in the bedroom. What is happening in this league? I'm buck naked. I got his white blazer on. Buck naked. Gee, Rangers and how many, obviously? Yeah, what do you got, Gee?

Rangers and seven. I got Rangers and seven. Fuck naked. Gee, Rangers in how many, obviously? Yeah, what do you got, Gee? Rangers in seven. I got Rangers in seven. All right. I think the Russian goalies are pretty much awash at this stage. I think Florida's a little bit more gristle, a lot more back alley street fight. I am a little torn. I got friends on both sides. Matty Kachuk on one side, Jimmy Vizio on the other.

I hate being torn, but I got Florida in six. Woo! I think they were there last year. I think they know what it takes to get there. They're hungry. They're going to be punchy. And yeah, Pan Florida in six. I think they were there last year. I think they know what it takes to get there. They're hungry. They're going to be punchy. And yeah, Panthers in six.

Mark my words. Florida's going to get fucked on calls in this series. Oh, you wait for this. You wait for it. They're going to get fucking hosed, especially at MSG. That crowd can bully the officials and they bully their own players.

I'll tell you, guys who are not in the playoffs, NHL players, hockey-related revenue, you want the Rangers in the cup finals. You want the Rangers in, and you want the ratings. The ratings will be through the roof. Oh, absolutely. This is an interesting note, too, about the coaches. Paul Maurice was fired by Carolina on December 15, 2003, replaced by Peter Laviolette.

Five years later, on December 3, 2008, Laviolette was fired by Carolina and replaced by Paul Maurice. Interesting little thing. A couple of former Carolina coaches. R.A., hey, boys, a couple of clicks for R.A. bringing all these nuggets today. You are on your fucking A game right now, buddy. Appreciate it.

Appreciate it, boys. You're like Dreisaitl in game six. No. I know. Shop is a tech. Boys, anyone else have the hose, dude? I know it's fucking. Why don't you take a little break, R.A.?

We'll keep it going here. You deserve it. It's been two hours and I'm 52. Go pee and we'll keep talking. I'm all full, Max. You deserve it, buddy. Go pee. Let's see your cornhole while we're at it, too.

Please get up with the boxers on. Oh, he's got shorts on today. He hides it now. He hides it. Dude, that guy wears those old cloth Hanes. Oh, yeah. The old school ones. You know the boxers that give you the worst wedgies?

I wore them in eighth grade. He still has them. That's why you get the worst skid marks in them, and I bet you he's got them too. Oh, he's for sure got skid marks. Just a big bacon strip. Dude, he hasn't had a ghost wipe since 82 taking a shit. He's eating baby food. Just squirting everywhere.

By the way, we pumped his tires because he's crushing it with the stats today, so he probably is like, I'm going to go smoke a bowl right now. These guys love me. He's going to come back. He's coming back hammered. Marble mouth. He's like, I look at the Dallas lost to Colorado. He doesn't come back. He just ends up

at a party. Where did he go? That's the hard thing about R.A. The minute you pump his tire, he goes off the deep end. He thinks he deserves a seven day trip to Vegas. It's like why old coaches like sometimes coaches don't like giving up compliments because they're like then the guy's not on his

toes oh yeah just too loosey goosey uh was there anything else uh hockey wise or even outside oh yeah you wanted to talk about wit i mean amazing um amazing uh pga today xander shoffley who's i think he's the number two player in the world. The world golf rankings are kind of fucked up because the guys from Liv can't get any rankings points, but he'd been on the banging on the door of a major for a long time. Just held

off Bryson DeChambeau. He actually birdied the final hole to win his first ever major at Valhalla. Pretty exciting. Sounds like an evil place. Valhalla. That sounds like an evil place. Valhalla. Sounds like a made-up name. Tiger Woods won a PGA there.

Rory McIlroy won a PGA there. I think it was his last one, maybe. And then Xander Schauffele, 21 under. Just insane what these guys do. Nowadays in golf, if you don't make the course, which is weather dependent, if you don't make it firm and fast, if the greens are soft,

it doesn't matter if it's 8,000 yards, these guys will just eat it up. Just chucking darts. Darts. It's crazy how good they are. And Tracy DeChambeau, who's a very, he's like a lightning rod.

People love him. People hate him. He came flying on the scene, 20 under, birdied the final hole. Thought there might be a playoff, but Xander Shoffley. Fish just wrote Valhalla is a banquet hall in Odin's Palace in Asgard. The realm of the gods where Viking warriors who die in battle. That's such a fish.

Hop on here. Hop on. What the fuck was was that fish has a picture of valhalla in his bedroom i was just saying it's like you were saying valhalla is like a like a chaotic place like it's like the afterlife for the vikings i think the vikings did some bad things the vikings were bad mama jam is like i don't know if people vikings would be canceled these days i'm not going to defend very quickly so so would the Vikings be getting arrested going into Valhalla like Scotty Scheffler? I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

Considering like he's a I want to say a Bible thumper, like it's a bad thing. Like he's very committed to his faith and like a very straight, narrow guy. very committed to his faith and like a very straight narrow guy when i woke up and saw that before all the shit storm had been cleared i thought that had another tiger woods scandal written all over it like this guy was like running a sex ring and like all of it like he was on the epstein list and shit i saw the i woke up and saw scottie and columbian cocaine first i thought it was a joke and then i was was like, oh, my God. Right away, Ben's like, yo, I was like, oh, is he a sociopath? It's all been fake.

But he would have been the number one professional athlete, I would guess, to never be arrested. Like, just a wild. Dude, the funniest thing is after he's talking about it in his press conference. Yeah, I was in the jail cell. I started doing my pre-round stretching routine. just a crazy story kind of yeah i just couldn't believe it it sounded like the cop might have been a little bit of a hard-o like the cop but then also i think the cop was like holding on to his car and he kept driving he was dragging him so so the confusion was i think everybody knows the story by now unfortunately somebody was struck

and killed by one of the shuttle buses yeah so everyone was probably on edge and this cop obviously had no idea who he was and he'd gotten instruction from another cop and just a terrible shit storm but i i follow these like i don't want to say no-name comedians but guys you know try to make it and i follow this one guy on instagram i forget with a name of him but he did a skit of where there was a college kid who was shown thrown in the clink for like drunken disorderly waking up to scotty scheffler like doing his stretches in the jail cell and he just crushed it where he's like yeah like you black out you wake up in jail and then Scottie Schaaf looks in right next to you. Doing his stretch routine, his yoga breathing.

You're like, hey, Scottie, I'm struggling with my wedges. You got any tips? Just a crazy story, though. Speaking of golf, the Toronto Maple Leafs, they hired their new coach, Craig Berube, 32nd coach in franchise history. So Dallas fans and Colorado fans are probably losing their minds right now. But yes, considering you brought it up organically, G, let's get into it quick.

I go back to talking about Keefe first. I thought that Sheldon Keefe did a tremendous job under the circumstances. And some people will say, I think that the team maybe needed to move on and try the route that they're trying with Chief. And I agree. Like, I think that Chief is an answer and it is a change of what they've seen the last couple of years. I think that if you ask the fan base, they maybe would have even rather start, tried another year under Keith and maybe parted ways with Marner or try to move on from a personnel standpoint. But nonetheless, they get the new coach, and I'm fired up. The guy just won a Stanley Cup.

He was a nail-gun player. He's going to have the respect of the players as soon as he walks in that door. And I assume all of them are like, whatever you think it is we need to do in order to change our game or mold ourselves or buy into in order to win a Stanley Cup tell us what it is chief and that to me is you know walking in with that type of respect and I don't know why you have that grin on your face gee as I say this and I vouch for the guy they're bringing in to bring us to the promised land did you see the clip did you see the clip that's going

viral amongst Leafs fans where it's like Sheldon Keith before a game and he's like, guys, let's go out there and have some fun. Shut up! I don't want to talk about that. Let's go out there and win a fucking hockey game, you fucking pussies. No. So Grinnelli can party with loud luxury later. Listen. Sorry, that was a lie. They're taking Chiefs game

seven speech, going in the locker room, running on pure adrenaline, and it was an incredible one. It wasn't long, but it got right to the point and it makes me want to run through a brick wall everybody's different everybody handles their pre-game speeches and approaches different we ain't gonna hang keith to the cross because they have one clip of him saying hey enjoy the moment you know don't get too nervous out there mitchie i know it's getting a little difficult and you know if you only bail out of a few hits we're not going to hold it against you too bad shut the fuck up okay but now that the fact that they got berube you guys are going to think i'm

crazy rude awakening buddy for a lot i want them to roll it back one more year with everybody you shake your head with hey hey if they give Marner a contract extension in the midst of this year or before the year starts I am giving back my ambassador blazer to uh Brandon Shanahan and I'm happy that he got to keep his job also because there were rumblings that they were potentially going to move on from that that position he's staying on board let's go baby run it back. And he's been very kind to us, even though he doesn't let his fucking players come on our podcast.

He will let the other ambassador, Will Arnett. But make Mitch Marner make an $11 million. Go have a contract here. You're not going to waive your no-move clause? Fucking rights, guy. I want Mitchie Marner in a contract year, chips on the table, show me what the fuck you got. You don't think that you deserve the scrutiny

that you got this year based on your performance? Oh, why aren't other guys taking the heat? All right, let's say we didn't watch the fucking game tape and we didn't see you bailing out game tape and we didn't see you bailing out of hits and we didn't see you have your moment in game seven against the bees austin matthews injured came back he had his moment when he moved it over to nylander uh nylander had the two goals in game six he got us there he also had his moment in game seven where was yours oh we don't have the the the right personnel on d to move it up to us easy enough

and therefore we might point the finger but also we'd be able to afford one of those guys if you weren't fucking making 11 million dollars okay so let's roll it back one more time with mitchie marner double m showtime baby and let's go you got the new coach he's gonna mold him into what he is i don't give a flying fuck about your 100 points in regular season let's go baby contract time let's go let's go earn that 11 million bucks on your next one buddy let's go core four bring it back with me i am yes yes what what else am I supposed to do? You think Mitch Marner's going to leave? Get a new coach and see what you can do to change the makeup of a team

without just relying on the coach changing these people on his own. What if Berube's like, yeah, I want to see changes? Would you change your mind? Oh, you're saying if Chief is like, I don't want Marner? Yeah, not necessarily even marner if he's just like we need to change something i just think that it's hard just to go into a season and see what's happening all these playoff runs and get a new coach and be like we're good because the players play and right but i mean he so that's why i said at the beginning he's got a no move clause right so mitch marner because my from my understanding and this might be completely rumor boy this might

be and some of you might be like we don't want to fucking hear about the leafs but you are going to hear about the leafs that there was an opportunity before his no move clause kicked in in the last remaining year of his deal or excuse me last july so it would have been with two full years left basically they had the opportunity to move them and there was an argument about moving them or not moving off them based on the giving these young talented players a little bit of patience let's see if they can eventually figure it out it goes back to pd all the way out in vancouver as well I believe the Sedin brothers didn't really figure it out playoff wise till year about nine and ten and faced a lot of scrutiny they didn't

hit the quote-unquote panic button and they kept them and they figured it out so that's why to that's why to me I'm okay if he doesn't want to move it something was done you have a new coach who's probably going to be a lot harder than what keith was on him he's going to mold him into that he's going to make his life a miserable hell if he doesn't and then maybe you address it halfway through the year to the point where the relationship doesn't work maybe he loves him i don't know i don't i don't know what that is but you don't have any control over it now because the decision to keep him past that was was made and now he he has the control

he marner might say based on the media coverage and how the the fans or majority of them feel about me get me the fuck out of here get me on a utah or get me where to somewhere where my skills and my talent is going to be appreciated at the money I'm making regardless of playoffs or whether that place even exists or not or there might be somebody who's willing to the sign and trade we saw it with tree living before he's the guy who kind of I

think the first ever sign and trade was Matthew Kachuk he was in the midst of that deal and he was on the you know on the other side of it with Huberto. So I've been long-winded about this, but this is obviously a major component to what's happening moving forward with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

G, I'll hand it over to you. Yeah, Frank Cervelli said this week on the Daily Faceoff rundown that he believes there's a 5% chance or less Mitch Marner is back with the Leafs next season. So I think that's pretty... So there you go. So who knows what's going to happen,

but if he moves on and they're able to have that cap space, I think with him gone and Chief in a new direction, those are two important pieces that have been figured out. That's a lot of money they can spend on two, three guys next year, too, to bring guys in if they get rid of that 10.9. If you spend it wisely, absolutely. So I was long-winded. I appreciate you Dallas fans who deserve major props

and also Colorado fans a little bit of time to spend on your teams. Excuse me for my Leafs banter. No problem, Biz. He did sign a four-year deal. They didn't disclose the dollar amount. One other coaching note, Penn's coach Mike Sullivan, he's going to be head coach of Team USA at the 2025 Four Nations Faceoff tourney and also at the 2026 Olympics as well.

Alright, before we go any further, here's a few words from our friends at Verizon. With Verizon's fast, reliable network, you can stream playoff games on the go or at home and keep up with all the action. Verizon has you covered 24-7, whether you're staying up late doing a little work like I tend to do, staying up late watching the West Coast games, whether it's baseball, hockey, basketball, whatever. Verizon has you covered no matter what you're watching, whether it's hoops, football, baseball, anything, sports, who cares, TV shows.

And right now, it's Red Hot Deal Days at Verizon. Their biggest deals of the season on phones, tablets, smartwatches, and more, so you can catch the Stanley Cup playoffs, NBA playoffs, whatever tickles your fancy, whenever and wherever. And it's only until May 29th, so head to verizon.com slash barstool to get it while it's hot. But we got to talk about the Dallas Stars. They offed the Colorado Avalanche in six games. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Looked like they won the game in the first overtime. Mason Marchment goal.

Beat Yorgiev, but they said there was goaltender deference. A lot of people didn't agree with it. It was brutal. And I think people thought it was poetic justice in the second overtime when Duchesne ended it. No controversy. Dallas became the first team to reach the conference finals. Did you see that clip I sent with Marchmont?

Marchmont was skating around the net. He kicked fucking Nate Dogg's stick right next to him, just like a little, out of my way, bitch. I was like, holy shit, hadn't seen that before. Godless. But that's for the no-goal explanation. Marchmont, he said he was told that Dutchie's ass was over the line, his feet were outside, but his ass was over the line.

Then he got pushed in. And then he said, think honestly, they didn't want to make it a deciding goal, which, you know, I thought that was pretty candid comment. I don't understand that the OT goals are automatically reviewed. So as a referee, if you're there, why wouldn't you just right away? I think Merle's texted the group chat, go Euro style, put your hands in the air. We're going to watch it. But do you have to

make a signal whether you say no goal and or goal? You might have to because if you can't tell, it ends up going with the call on the ice. Sure, but I will say based on all the other ones we've seen, this was by far

the worst. He barely touches his stick. Neither of his feet are even inside the crease and then the only contact to his body that's made is after Makar pushes him in so it goes back to what Koop was saying is like these goalies got to fight a little bit for their positioning where they they called the fucking the when Heinen's stick went down and interfered with Bobrovsky's skate, that to me was worse than what I saw right there. And then that was allowed a goal. So how the fuck was that not allowed a goal?

I thought they completely missed it. And this is kind of a storyline of the playoffs right now, is the inconsistency of these goal calls. Whit, would you not agree? Yeah. And the problem is, as fans and even players, they don't know. And so I guess it creates somewhat of an excitement

as they go to review because everyone watching this, half the people say goal, half the people say no goal, and then you're just waiting. It's just like waiting for the Wizard of Oz. You're like, what's he going to decide? No goal. Holy shit. How is that one no goal?

How do they fix it? Like, how do they fix this giant issue? I don't know, man. That is a tough one because they're so similar. So many similar plays end up having different results on the goal call

that you can't even figure it out. So anyone watching that's new, actually forget being new to the game. None of us are new to the game and we're all confused. So it's like, I don't know how you go about fixing it. I really don't. I just hope all I do is hope that

one of these goals doesn't decide the Stanley Cup. Oh no, it's going to. It's going to. Especially if Dallas is in the finals. The season of greatest regular season in hockey history. Does it end in madness with a goalie interference? Here's my prediction.

The Rangers beat the Dallas Stars in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final where a goal shouldn't have counted, but the Rangers get it because it's just the year of the fucking eclipse and all this other crazy shit. And then the Buffalo Sabres fans are then happy for the Rangers get it because it's just the year of the fucking eclipse and all this other crazy. And then the Buffalo Sabres fans are there. And then happy for the Rangers somehow, because they get their payback. And I just want to quickly say, I don't think that the Heinen situation with Bobrovsky is the same play.

What I'm saying is, is that it felt like there was more contact initiated by Heinen on Bobrovsky skate than there was based on Duchesne on Gorgiev that was him related like him just skating to get position and like moving his stick back like six inches isn't that's his space just as much as Gorgiev's and he can fight to go back to the other side so it was bullshit but like guys said, we don't need to spend much more time on it because they eventually scored, and Duchesne, I mean, against his old team,

after the game had a lot of great words to say about Colorado and his time there, I think when you bust out the heartbreaker, Selly, I think there might be a little bit of past emotion. A little bit. Maybe a little bit in there. Well, even the emotion of being bought out last year. Exactly.

All of it. You get such a slap in the face, and you're bought out, and then Dallas brings you in. Was that his third series clinching goal, R.A.? Duchesne? Yeah. He already got his praise. We don't – R.A.'s gone for the night.

We don't want more stuff. No, I'm not sure what, to be honest with you. All right, maybe I'm messing that up. But my storyline of this series is the greatest home ice advantage team in the league doesn't win a game at home. So you're like Colorado just thrived on playing in their building with the altitude and running the score up and never stop coming in the four check on the power play, and three games at home, and they lose all three. It was shocking.

I couldn't believe that. The odds of that happening were ridiculous. There was no chance that Colorado didn't get the job done at home. And after you lose the first two games, three and four, okay, we get a huge win on the road game five. We're going back home. We're forcing seven, and they can't get it done again. It was just the Nachushkin thing, as sad of a story as it is,

that's kind of the series in a nutshell. Colorado loses one of their big guns and just can't recover, even though they were able to get that one game five victory. And Dallas was too heavy, too strong, had too much going on, and they just have production from every single line. Were you talking about this one, Duchesne being the fourth player in franchise history to score the series-clinching goal in a game that required multiple overtimes?

Maybe. I legit don't sleep right now, so I have no idea what I'm talking about. Back to the goaltender interference. Five out of the six goaltender interference instant replay calls uh this postseason have been upheld so only one of them has been overturned again no one knows what it is it's been i mean this ain't new this is what 10 15 years we've been talking about this shit with it definitely since the show started for sure but uh how about this from uh dimitri filipovich chris tanner we talked about him last week how good of a pickup he was. Round one, 46 minutes, 34 seconds versus

Eichel, 5-on-5. Stars outscored 3-0. Chris Tana, round two, 68 minutes, 43 seconds versus McKinnon, 5-on-5. Stars outscored 3-1 with Tana versus him. Wow. Impressive as hell. I also want to tip the cap, Pete DeBoer, he earned his 17th series

win. He's tied for second most among active coaches. He trails Coop. Coop's got 18. And also, too, we want to talk about that really nice moment at the end of the handshake line when he went over with Zach Brise and had, you know, a few extra special words from him. I know he coached him one year back in Jersey a few years ago. But just one of those nice moments you like to see during the playoffs, you know? How about how many Western Conference Finals the Boar's been to in the last six years?

What, like five? Five of the last six, I think Boar's been to in the last six years? What, like five? Five of the last six, I think. He's been to three different teams. If you go to game seven, you're winning. Did you have a chance to listen to Dutchie's post-game interview? No, I didn't. Oh, buddy.

It was an all-timer. This guy put on an Academy Award performance as far as you threw him a softball, he would talk for two minutes. I think it was a 10 minute, it felt like a podcast for fuck's sakes. But he hit it out of the park. So if you didn't get a chance to listen to that,

go check it out on social media. I thought it just summarized the team perfectly and how he said as much as he wants to win it for himself, like there's plenty of older guys in that locker room. He mentioned Pavelski, of course. How about Jamie Benn in the game that he had? That goal was sick. He oh lying through the middle there buddy him just I mean fuck that went from the d-zone Colorado gets a chance he kind of windmills middle stat and it just beats him up ice and another guy too like you talked about how deep Dallas is and I think we've mentioned

him every podcast since playoffs started uh uh theov, and that hustle that he made on that slash, he's just working his bag off out there, and he's earning everything that he's getting. So it just feels like every forward for Dallas has had a big moment and stepped up at a big time. And I just mentioned Jamie Benn. I feel the same way about Tyler Sagan. He had a couple games here this series

where he was huge for them. So the kid who stepped in on the back end where Dallas was playing majority 5D the whole series, right? And that Nils Lundqvist was playing like three, four minutes. And that could eventually take a pretty big toll on you, especially at the pace that Colorado plays with.

I forget the kid's name. Is it... Not Pudlick. Come on. Jesus Christ. I forget the kid's name. Is it not puddle? Come on. Jesus Christ. I had him. He ended up lugging 16 minutes in that game six. And I thought he played well filling in.

It was his first game that he's played for the Dallas stars. Petrovic Petrovic in three months. Oh, Petro Petro. Yeah. Petrovic stepped in. He played 16 minutes in that game where you're going in deep, man. Like the fact that he was able to alleviate a little bit of stress off those other five guys who've been carrying the load,

specifically Tanev and Haskinen. Holy fuck, boys, man. This guy, I think, on average, played like 27 minutes a game throughout the course of the whole series. He played 30- something in that last game obviously because it went to double ot so i honestly to a man you could even say that he outperformed full body of work that series kale mccarr just based on the offense he provided how well he was defensively or at least they were neck and neck and he he's showing the world right now

that kind of like barkov put some fucking respect on my name i'm a world-class talent here and and i don't get talked about enough and and it was uh it was a performance for the ages so if you can keep this thing going man he's another guy look out for the con smite based on what he's done so the hints the hints injury is a little scary yeah i don't know i don't know if he'll be okay and ready to go, but he's such a cog for them. So, I mean, we're going to be covering plenty of Dallas when we drop tomorrow's pod after we summarize the preview

for whether it's Edmonton or Vancouver. And, I mean, Dallas is a wagon. We knew that coming in. No surprise. For Colorado, I mean, the dog MVP type season. I like the middle stab. I don Um, I, I liked middle stab. I don't know if, if maybe he's the answer at the second line position. I think that he does maybe need to get a little bit faster and he didn't have that type of impact that Caudry had, but nonetheless, I thought he played solid for them.

Um, but I don't really know where Colorado goes from here. I mean, hopefully they get Landis Gog back next year too. I think that'd be a huge addition. He'd come back and still be the same player he was. At least he's skating. So, you know, next season, you know, the way it looks now, he'll be able to play and make an impact. At least he's on the ice.

So you see what happens there. And, I mean, their D's good. I think they do have to figure out the goaltending. I don't think Georgiev was as bad as we made him sound at the beginning of that Winnipeg series, but I don't know if you're going to win a Stanley Cup with them. I don't know if maybe they're a team that looks to all Mark, if they're trying to make a deal, I don't know what they would be willing to give up, but their, their team with McKinnon and Rontanen and macar they're going to be in the mix for a long time so i don't think it's a panic by any means it just seemed like

this year they they did have a team that could win it nachushkin's the other question mark i think he'd be able to come back in november if if gary betman lets him play again do the avalanche trust him enough to even bring him in he's got a deal. That's a hard thing for a locker room wit. Back-to-back years to deal with that. They lost the next game because they lost him and Tabes. To come back from that emotionally, the guy had nine fucking goals too, man. Trust is such a big factor with families, and these teams are families. It's really hard to think about if we bring him

back does it happen again but then he's so good so there's different arguments on both sides and remember we're not being inconsiderate to the to the human element of this obviously we want this guy to get better but yeah especially with like his not expensive cap hit and with what he can be as a player and provide to that team man it's hard that's going to be a hard decision that they have to make if they're saying, hey, we can't risk the fact that we have this distraction and a guy let us down in this important time of the year once again. So, you know, fool me once, fool me twice kind of thing. So hopefully he gets the help he needs and he comes back better and stronger.

Yeah, a fair amount of the UFAs, obviously a few of these guys they brought in late. Cogliano, Drouin, Duhame, Kivaranta, Trennan, Jack Johnson, Caleb Jones, and Sean Walker. One major RFA they have, Casey Middlestad. And they do have just under 16 men in cap space, so I would expect them to be right back in the mix

next year, no doubt about that. I like that Walker. Yeah. Yeah, he's... I know. He's going to make good dough. He can move. And like you said, Biz, we'll know who wins the game know. He's going to make good dough. He can move. And like you said, Biz, we'll know who wins the game tonight. We'll have the preview after that. And a couple more notes, a couple of sad notes, unfortunately, on both sides of the border here.

Sports Center's Darren Dutition, affectionately known to all as Dutch up in Canada, passed away just 57 years old. Biz, a cause was not given, but he had battled prostate cancer a few years ago. And I think the speculation is that might have been what caused it. But either way, I didn't see this guy a bunch. But every time I was in Canada, Paul, and I put sports around,

this guy just had that sort of swagger, Jenny Sequa, or whatever it was. He just like, this guy's a funny bastard, man. He was just a well-loved guy. Everybody just spoke so highly of him. R.A., a beloved Canadian. I believe when I went and worked TSN early days, I only had the chance of bumping into him like one, maybe two times. But all the messages you read on Twitter after his passing

are exactly how I would describe him, just full of energy, full of love, an incredible teammate, and a joy to work with. Like one of those guys, and you read like James Duffy, like you would go through the list of all these guys that he's worked with where it made your job so much easier going in to work with a guy that enjoyable and that funny and that charismatic and just an incredible human being. So the sports world lost a giant. It's been a very difficult time for Canada with the sports thing,

with Bob Cole passing and now Darren Detition. But just my condolences to his family and any of his friends that sent a message out on social media just talking about how of an incredible human that we've lost way too early. Like you kind of mentioned, R of mentioned ra grew up listening to him and just made watching sports so much more fun especially with the highlights and uh kind of doing it his own amazing way um so i don't think there's enough words i could say on this podcast to do him justice and uh once again my condolences to his family and friends and all the people he touched throughout the years yeah there was one clip i i guess we can't use it and uh he

was he said it was thanksgiving he was 12 years old and uh yeah he says i was going to like you know what is it cop the turkey and his grandfather says oh you know what you're doing he says you you do it like you treat uh touching a woman he's like i've never been with a woman before he's like well my grandfather come over he's like hands like a surgeon 12 kids and he's a legend his own mind the way he worded it was just like yeah yeah yeah i wish we could play because he does much better version of me no i got him just the way you're talking about yeah i feel like guys like him and him in particular were at the forefront of in sports broadcasting of making it fun for the for the viewer because there was so much stale yeah where it was just that stale,

like, I'm coming to you live from outside the Coliseum. But then they added humor and jokes. And I just thought Dutchie did an amazing job at that. It seemed like he was like a Stuart Scott at the forefront. I was just going to say, it's kind of Canada's version of Stuart Scott. And they just did it with so much passion

and and kind of reinvented the wheel and uh and and so many incredible memories you nailed it G with that comparison I think a lot of people when you were talking were like I know that's that's Americans version of Stuart Scott or Canada's version excuse me yeah so we extend out you know our deepest condolences to his family friends and, and coworkers, of course, and some sad news down stateside. 1980 Team USA member Mark Wells passed away Friday at 66 years old. No cause was given. He was the last player added to the roster. He was described as a friend to everyone, simply a great man,

and the family asked for privacy at this time during their sorrow. But our condolences to his family, friends, and, of course, teammates of the 1980 Olympic team and an American hero, Mark Wells. We salute you, and, again, our condolences to everybody. And we want to finish on a sad note here. I want to congratulate my pals, Biz, on the PWHL Boston team. Game one of the finals tonight. They beat Minnesota 4-3 up the street in Lowell.

Got to go to game two Tuesday, so let's go, gals. Shout-out Babs. Shout-out Babs. Let's go, gals. Get the, Babs. Shout out, Babs. Let's go, gals. Get the next one. Hey. The championship of Boston, hopefully. Can you be a little bit more specific about that?

It's Kelly Babstock, correct? Oh, yeah. Kelly Babstock, maybe. Yep. Kelly Babstock. They're like, what? Babs is coaching in the PWHL? What the fuck?

The business I got. That was quick. Give me that phone over there. Pass me the phone. Yeah. Hey, the Women's League is gaining tons of steam, guys, along with the WNBA. It's fucking awesome to see that they're getting the support and the salaries are starting to get to where these women deserve to be paid. The return.

Did you guys hear Amanda Kessel is coming out of retirement? She is officially declared for the PWHL draft, so she's going to be in it next year. That's huge. She's a massive name she's been working for the pittsburgh penguins for the past few years good for her so did did she retire oh so she like she didn't like give a childbirth or nothing like that what kept her out of the game no no so she she retired and she actually has been working in the pittsburgh penguins front office she wanted i knew she was there for a little bit yeah yeah so she hung them

up and now she's now she's coming back. So that'll be awesome for the game. She's Olympic gold medal winner. She's one of the biggest names out there. Oh, I mean, that's huge, and that's another big boost for the league. And the reason I said that is I think Natalie Spooner, who led the regular season in scoring in the PWHL, she was like nine months recovered from childbirth and then did that

so that's fucking insane what these women are doing and uh stick taps for them man it'd be uh it'd be cool to see that league keep growing and hit up new cities as well so absolutely good luck to the ladies and we'll be we'll be uh chiming in and one last thing before we go guys we mentioned it at the beginning of the pod tuesday we'll be dropping another episode on Tuesday we have the live stream Monday night for Vancouver and Edmonton and then game notes will be coming to you on Friday so Monday Tuesday Friday for

pods a lot coming on and subscribe to the YouTube channel that's where you can view us watching that game seven we're going to have some fun we'll have some pink Whitney and celebrate in style for what I think to be a big Canucks game seven. We're going to have some fun. We'll have some Pink Whitney and celebrate in style for what I think to be a big Canucks game seven victory. Let's fucking go, buddy.

Let's go, baby. What a show. Another awesome one. Love you, boys. And we'll see you guys tomorrow. All right. First star today with all those nuggets, baby.

Couple clicks. Appreciate it, boys. Appreciate it. Giggity. I do love you. You can get liquor and shit But how much is your love? Appreciate it. Giggity. Thank you. Thank you. I like to stir the pot But then you come on in And take it up a notch

You hit me with a cheap shot A cheap shot She hit me with a cheap shot A cheap shot I bet she needs a detox To cleanse her mind. Another week rolls in, we're on the road again. Thought I was safe and sound in my minivan.

But I said something that crossed the line when I know she felt it. We'll be you next time.