The Athletic Hockey Show - Have the Maple Leafs finally found their killer instinct?

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

Sean, Frank and Sean look back on night four of the Stanley Cup playoffs with Toronto and Carolina taking two games to none series leads over Ottawa and New Jersey, Minnesota tying their series with Vegas, and Florida destroying Tampa Bay, on Lightning ice in their game one.The boys look ahead to a three game slate in night five, with Montreal and Edmonton attempting to even their series with Washington and Los Angeles and Dallas traveling to Colorado to face the Avalanche in pivotal game three.Hosts: Sean Gentille and Sean McIndoeWith: Frankie CorradoExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. What up, what up? The athletic hockey show. Our first, fellas, this is our first post-playoff game show, I think. They weren't having playoff games last week, were they? Yeah, no, we're still regular season.

We were still doing. We were still dishing out hot takes like you wouldn't believe. Now we have hard-hitting analysis. That's right. We have hard-hit, hitting analysis of last night's games. There were four of, them. And then segment two,

we're going to preview tonight's action. We got we got three games tonight. But I take no joy in this. We're going to start as we so often do. We have a Leafs game to talk about. Leafs sends. That was the one that had the juice last night. How does this affect

the Leafs? I mean, how does it? Challenging this week as others. Directly, in fact, they beat the Sends goal from Max Domi. cement himself in Toronto lore is how I saw someone on the site phrase it last night. I think he was probably already cemented in Toronto lore in one way or another.

But yeah, what did we think of the way of the way that one ended? We'll start there. So I'm at the studio last night. I'm doing SportsCenter and talking with the producer and we got to go over our questions, right? Like we got four minutes to probably get through three questions. And the first question that always comes up with these Toronto Maple Leafs, this iteration, how is it different? How is this group different than the years past group?

And I think other fans from other markets, they see that question online and they roll their eyes because they've seen this year after year. It's the same guys. How's it different? Like you guys never get out of the first round. but I will say there are things that feel different this time. First of all,

they have a 2-0 series lead for the first time in this entire KORS era. Like, think about that. That's never happened in the last nine years. And, like, if you kind of contrast the senators that they're going up against, the SENS last time they were in the playoffs when they lost to Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference finals,

that was 2016, 2017. That feels like a lifetime ago, does it not? like they've stripped down that team. They made a million trades. They bottomed out. They tried to rebuild. They bottomed out accidentally again. And now here they are in the playoffs.

Toronto, that was the first year that core group made the playoffs. And now they still like, they haven't gotten over the hump that they've been trying to get over. And finally, after all this time, feels like, you know,

a lifetime, it does feel different. Goalie feels different. Team defense feels different. Power play is different. different. Coach is different. I don't know.

There's something about the group. I know it's only two games, but it does feel different around Toronto. And they did not play that well last night and still stomp them. Like in a lot of ways, that was a game that in a different lifetime, in a different series, maybe against a different opponent,

they lose that game. And that's kind of why I say it feels a little different. And that's as far as I'll go right now. Because here's, I've been banging this drum for years and years and years with this. team is that whenever you get a team that can't get over the hump like the leaves have not been able to everybody says they go they go right to the cliche well they they fold when the going gets tough right and i've been saying for years this leaf's team

doesn't fold when the going gets tough this leaf's team folds when things are going well as soon as they get a couple of good games or even a couple of good periods or something happens they start patting themselves on the back they start listening to you know everyone else tell them how wonderful they are. And that's when they know show. That was the story under Sheldon Keith. They had a lot of times where their backs were against the wall.

They were down three goals with five minutes left in an elimination game. Came back, tied the game, one in overtime against Columbus, and then laid an egg the next game. How many times against Boston, including last year? Matthews is out. It's 3-1. Everyone says it's over.

They come back, they fight back, and then game seven is another letdown. And so after game one, where they looked very good, everybody was kind of going, and this is different. They were going to overwhelm the Senate. They're going to do this and that. And I was sort of like, let's just wait and see how the game goes. Let's see if they show up in game two with that killer instinct or whether they just show

up and skate out there and go out, we're wonderful. We don't have to worry about it. And they had a good start. And then it kind of fell off from there. and a win is a win. And if there's anything the Leafs have learned, there's no moral victories in the playoffs. So you take the wins,

the real wins where you can get them. But they've got to get to another level to finish this off. And hopefully they've learned that. They always say they have, but they never show it. And you know what I think, like part of that is they've gotten off to these

scorching hot, like fast leads in these games. And they haven't had to open. it up. Like we've kind of just seen Toronto say, we're playing with a two nothing lead here. And this is part of what is different for this group where they're not bored playing with a two nothing lead. They don't, they don't need to make it three nothing or four nothing. But at the same time, that has allowed like in game two, it allowed Ottawa to get some traction in that game. And in the second period, like, it was kind of all Ottawa. But at the same time, you watch it and you're like, there's four or five blue jerseys around the net at any given time.

and the goaltender looks like a monster and he plays like one. And even in the third where Ottawa had the puck a lot, I think there was, there was something like 12 shot attempts that never actually got on net before Goddette scores in the third period last, last game. Like that's, I mean, that's Toronto showing that it is different for them defensively. And they're just, they're not, they're not uncomfortable with this,

which, which is a good sign for them. them because they've they've had moments where, you know, for one reason or another, it almost looks like they get bored doing the same repetitive thing over and over again. And that's what it takes to win. And it was a little bit tough to draw narratives out of regulation last night. Because at the end of the day, there were four goals. And they were all kind of fluky goals.

You know, the, you start with the Leafs, the second game in a row where they score twice on the first four shots and we're all looking at Olmarco and oh is this guy maybe he's not a playoff goalie maybe this and that but I don't know how you expect him to start like one one gets kicked in accidentally by by Morgan Riley and and another one bounces in off your own defenseman I mean those aren't those aren't sort of goals where you can necessarily say oh the least are dominating and you know they're they're running out of the building and then this this great senator's comeback this great you know oh they showed such resilience they showed this and that you know, Brady Kachuk fans on a shot and, and Brendan Carlo kicks it in his own net,

and then you get the tip in late. It's until the overtime goal, we didn't really see like a decisive play. So it is a little bit tough. I did want to ask, Frankie, you played in the NHL. You took a lot of shifts. Did you ever have a shift worse than Drake Batherson in overtime? I had some bad shifts. I don't think I had one that bad.

Wow. And I had some bad ones. Trust me. That was, here's the crazy thing about that. Like, you're a forward, you're, you enter the zone. You try and make a backhand pass backwards across the ice in overtime. That is like a complete, like no way you should be doing that. Okay, but you do it.

It gets picked off. The first thing that you think when that happens is, oh my God, I have. have to make up for this. Like right now, and I am pedal to the medal, anything I can to make up for it. And then the hockey gods present you with that opportunity. Max Domi's cutting right across the middle of the ice. You have a chance to atone for your sins, my friend. And you don't do it.

You don't bury him. You don't drop the shoulder. It's a stick fly by. It's a no body contact flyby. And Domi scores the goal. And it's crazy that Domi scores because all Craig Bureube has been asking, out of Max Domi this year is to shoot the puck. And sure enough, he scores the OT winner and shoots it.

But I don't think that play is reflective of the Ottawa senators and their game, you know, through two. Like they've been, they've been scrappy. They've hung around. They've, you know, they've, they've led in hits in these games. Like, there's just, that's not indicative of the type of game, the sends have played, but no doubt. And the crazy thing is Simone Benoit picks it off.

Defenseman goes down the other way. He throws a backhand pass backwards across the grain, except they, they pull it off because Max Domi makes the play. And Batherson doesn't finish the hit is a wild sequence. 73 shot attempts by the senators at all, in all situations. And only 33 of them actually made it, made it through. That sounds, that sounds like playoff hockey to me. I don't know. That, I look at that.

And you're always nervous whenever a team gets. you know, out attempted that dramatically. But the fact that only 33 of them made it made it to Stollars, that's a good sign. What do we think of Stolars, by the way? How do we feel about the way he played last night? We're talking about things that are different, right? About this team, things that feel different.

And look, boys, I know I've been making jokes about him getting hurt in the, in the group chat constantly, but. Yeah, you have, please stop doing that. He's not. It's not, it's, it hasn't worked. Calm down. It's fine. He's playing fine.

Ridley, Greg goes into his knee one time. Immediately. There we go. Peanut Gallery. Okay. This whole conversation about where it looks and feels different, in my opinion is this starts with the goaltender. Because if you go back and over the years, this whole nine-year stretch,

they had Freddie Anderson when Freddie was, let's call it more in his prime, but the team around him wasn't this developed, wasn't this mature. And they gave up a ton back in those days. So, like, Freddie wasn't getting this group. then you have like Jack Campbell, Ilya Sampsonoff, Joseph Wall pinch hitting in a situation where he probably shouldn't have had to. Like those guys were,

Samsonoff was swimming at times. You know, Jack Campbell looks small in the net. The Stolars is a monster and he looks every bit of it and he plays every bit of it. Like he's, he's really good, man. Like I know it's always hard to have the conversation.

Like, you know, does Toronto have the, the goaltending advantage? in any series they're going to go up against. Well, like Vasilevsky, Babrovsky, Olmark, like all these guys have won Veznos. But, like, Stolars is not a step down in any regard. He has been really good.

And that's where it does, like, it really does look and feel different compared to goaltenders of years past for this team. I remember when they signed him in the offseason, I kind of my first reaction was, are you kidding me? Like, this is, we're going to get the backup off a good team. And he's going to be here. I think it was Bernier 2.0? I thought it was even less than that.

I didn't even feel like this is a backup who's been waiting for a chance and, you know, stuck behind somebody. I thought like this is like, come on. And I remember. And I said, you know, just what being with you. I remember being with you at that awful casino we were at in or whatever it was in, in, in, in, in Vegas. And I watched you come to term, come to terms with like the fact that they'd done it again. And you know who it was? Jesse Granger.

Was Jesse? The goalie whisperer. brought me down. He said, this guy is good. He said, first of all, he's big. And he said,

this guy is good. Give him a chance. I don't know if he can play 60 games or whatever it is, but as a 1A, this is a good, this guy's a good goal. Wait and see. And as so often it's the case

when it comes to goal, is Jesse was right. And I was not. We got to move on to another series. This can't be, this can't be 45. There are other series? I know,

I know you guys want it, but it can't, it can't be the case. Hurricanes three Devils 1. Carolina is up 2-0 in that series. I watched a good chunk of that game. To me, it was about two things. Freddie Anderson, Frankie, you mentioned him earlier.

He's been fantastic. Already at almost five goals saved above expected in two games, he's leading the league and he's leading the playoffs and save percentage. He's been outstanding. And then we saw the power kill again. It was Jordan Martinukk with a huge. huge, huge,

short-handed goal. That's like Carolina Hurricanes hockey, I feel like that was like, it was like the ideal Carolina game last night against Jersey. And you know what? There's something like this Jordan Martinook loves playing the devils. Like it seems like every time he plays them, like his guy's scoring or he's having success.

And it's like that whole line works well together. Yeah. With Stan Coven, right? Like it's just small guy, but he's pesky. He's hard to play against. and he adds that element of skill to those guys.

And like, listen, man, like New Jersey, they're, it's hard to say that they're outgunned because Carolina's not full of like gunslingers as players. Like they're just, they're just a good kind of robust team. But they are undermined. Brett Pesci was doing everything he could last game. Like that guy was laying it on the line in a big way. That can't go unnoticed as like, If anyone thinks New Jersey is just like, we're just going to, you know, we're going to fold here.

That guy was not interested in folding. No. The second period was the Brett Pesci period because he almost has a goal disallowed to. Like he was just, he was all over the place. Is there a path for the devils here? Like I know nobody was picking them in this series. And in a way, it's a little bit like the senators in that game one was not good. And in game two, it's like, all right, at least they showed up.

they, you know, but it doesn't feel like it. I'm not seeing it. You got to beat them. You got to beat them four times and in five games. I don't. And like even like the cliche about you haven't lost on home ice, but I don't know. I get that too,

but like it's not like Markstrom has been the reason they lost either. Like Markstrom playing really good. Yeah, he's been fine. Yeah, he's been really good. So like when Markstrom's playing well and you've lost two in a row, I mean, start to start to do the math on who else the, the hero can be in the series for the devils.

Like you kind of run out. Like they really needed that game going back on home ice. I think that's the most got to be the most demoralizing part of the series for them is like the goalie is held up his end of the bargain. Like that was the path forward at the start of it, right? It was for Marksler to be great and for them to seal a couple based on that. And they haven't been able to seal the deal. Yeah, it's tough to. It's tough to see the road back there for them.

what are we doing next? We'll do, we'll do, we'll do, we'll do Panthers Lightning. That was a, that was a strange one. Panthers,

Panthers, Panthers 6, Lightning 2, Andre Vaseleski has been figured out. He's been broken. We can just move on with that. Stop it. Stop it.

Get out of here. Okay. I will say one thing, though. If Braden Point scores the goal to make it 5-2, And I'm like normally a 5-2 goal, it doesn't mean anything at that point in the game. But I looked at like the celebration.

And I don't usually do this, but I saw the facial expression on point. And then McDonough was there. And it just gave me a little reminder that those guys, a goal that makes it 5-2 in game one, that'll pay dividends for them at some point in the series. I just know it with Tampa. and especially those guys that have won before and kind of know what it takes because the goal went in and there was just like a mutual understanding in the celebration like a look that, okay, we just, we'll get this thing going.

But with that being said, if you thought the Florida Panthers were kind of tiptoeing into the playoffs and limping in, not the case. Like they were ready to go and they were flying and they got to Andre Vasilevsky in a big way. Yeah. And tough game for the lightning. I feel like the unofficial team of the athletics hockey crew because, man, we've done the picks in a few different places and a few different ways and lots and lots and lots of support for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Not a lot of people picking the Florida Panthers that one guy did. I can't remember his name.

He's some Canadian guy from Ottawa. I don't know. But it doesn't matter. But he was right and everyone else is wrong. And so, I mean, did this game change anything? Like, do you see anything that makes you go, wait a second? We maybe had something wrong here, or it's just one of those games. Like, I mean, I, we talked about it.

And again, I'm going to go three for three here. I'm bringing it back to the Leafs. The Leafs had a game against the Lightning in one of those playoffs series. Game one, came out, blew them away, home ice, everything's great. Lightning just came out, game two. All right, back to business. Here we go. And that could absolutely happen.

game, but it better because they don't want to be going back to Florida down to nothing. I was trying not to overreact after that one because you, you watched that night. And of course, I was one of the 85 or part of the 85% of our staff or whatever it was that picked Tampa to win that series. I'm assuming they just, you know, printed out the results of that and laminated it and hung it on the wall in the locker room. Yeah, they've got like the big major league cut out of Sean Gentile and they get

to tear one item across. clothing off every time. This guy with his beard and his hair says you guys will not win. How does that make you feel? Go have a good game. I'm going to put more more clothing on me. It's like sunglasses go on. Tossel cap goes on. Like that's it. It's going to be the reverse of major league. But yeah, I don't know. I was trying not to react to it because the Panthers, they just have that, you watch them. They have that effect. You wear like, you see them for stretches. And you're like, this is like I'm watching a perfect hockey team right now. Like did I, did I, did I, did I forget that? And there were moments last night where they just, there's something about them

aesthetically for me that just, that I, I, I, I love it. I'm a total sucker for it. And I felt like I betrayed them by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, in this, in this first round. You know what I think part of the aesthetic is for the Panthers? That was such a neat and tidy win that Matthew Kach comes in, gets two goals, gets an assist, and only has to play 1143. Mm-hmm. Like, think about that. Like, if you looked at the ice times after the game, you know, you see Sam Bennett at 1150, Matthew Kachuk's at 1143, Verhege's at 16, Barkov's at 18, like, that is a nice way to be able to

spread it around in a series where I think as much as a lot of people think the lightning will win, and that was my notion going into it. It's just, it's blank, in seven. That's what this series is. It's like you could go either way. It is such a fine line. And I think a lot of us were kind of maybe just rolling with the narrative that it's been a lot of hockey for the Panthers and hard miles and this Tampa team's rejuvenated and Vasilevsky's back and he's a beast. That might still be the case. It's only one game. But the Florida Panthers came out with a statement saying, if you think we're going anywhere to these guys of all people, you better think again.

It's blank in seven. And you're right. This feels like you go to sit down and watch a movie. And in the first 15 minutes, there's a big fight scene. And they're at, you know, the bad guys hanging off the edge of the cliff.

And you're sitting there going, dude, I know this is a two hour movie. Yeah. Like I, come on, man. Like there's some twists and turns still to come.

Let's, let's go. We got a ways to go on this one. I think you're right. I do appreciate the, Minnesota Wild for giving us an easy one last night. Like it was, the game started in the middle of the night.

We all complained about not wanting to stay up until two in the morning. And the wild were like, all right, we hear you. We'll shut this thing down by midnight. We got, we got your back. Yeah,

we had the early goal from Matt Boldy, Falunio scores, Zuccarellus. Caprizov was incredible. Caprizo and Paui were both incredible in that game. To me, that's, that's kind of the takeaways is just how much different Minnesota looks when,

when Karel Kri-Zad is cooking. That's, that's just shocking. Hard to believe that when they get their top 10th or whatever. When best player, good. When best player Chuck's four foot high sauce right through the middle of the ice,

that lands so buttery perfect onto his linemate's stick. Are you kidding me? Like, you talk about some of the best assists that we've seen the last little while. That is right up there. That is wild.

I mean, no pun intended. But the fact that he just turned, slung it, four feet in the air, landed perfectly. But Matt Boldy, like, continues, unless you really pay attention to the wild. Like, Matt Boldy is one of those names that still flies under the radar for me. And he is really good and, like, uses his body so well, good finisher around the net. But, yeah, like, that's one where that feels so much different than, the Canes Devils and Leafs Sends because everyone is taking Vegas to win that series and taken Vegas to go far. But Minnesota gets a little life with a convincing win.

And Bruce Cassidy did not look happy going down the tunnel after that first period. Not sure if you guys caught that, but I think there would have been some, it feels like he was a little ornery heading into that room. So I would imagine there were some words said. Some paint, some paint getting peeled in that room is my guess. Yeah. Well, the thing about Vegas is when you watch Vegas at their best, it's like an orchestra, man. Yeah. It's just like everyone's pushing the right notes at the right time and doing it.

It's just everything's in sync. When it's not like that, that's not Vegas. You know what I mean? So like they really have to adhere to that. And when they do, they're a really tough team to be. but credit to Minnesota, like, I think when you, when you kind of make fast decisions and play quick on them, that is what maybe can get them out of position a little bit more and maybe, you know, kind of infiltrate the middle of the ice better.

Definitely, that's just a positive outcome, I think, for all of us in that, in that series in a lot of ways. Because it, that's, Minnesota needed a win. They needed a win early. Like if they were going to, they're going to fall down really at any point in the, first in the first game or three, I think you can kind of lick the stamp on that one. And obviously, that one happened. I'm glad, glad it looks like we're going to have another competitive one out West. Because like I said, everyone loves watching games in the middle of the night.

And maybe we can get a couple, a couple more of those here. It feels like that was the first real upset of the first round. You know, like, I mean, we did the, the Lightning Panthers game. We didn't expect to go that way. And we've seen road teams win, but that was kind of the first one of, Oh, oh, wait a second. One of the favorites just got rocked a little bit. Let's see how they react.

Yep. All right, those are last night's games. We're going to come back in segment two and review what's ahead of us here on Wednesday night. You're right back. All right, we're back to Mac and Duke, Cretto. Gentilly. Let's start with Habs caps because that's the series I'm on coming to you live from a very average Marriott property in Arlington, Virginia. I want to hear what you guys thought of that

that, what you guys thought of that, that, that game. Like, what did we think of, how do we think things went for the hat? Because I'm, I'm of two mindsets here for Montreal. That was either the best possible outcome because they win, they win the third period and, you know, show that they can do it. Or it's the worst possible outcome because it felt like a game that they should have stolen and kind of, kind of couldn't, couldn't bring home. And I, I don't entirely know where I am on it.

This is, You get a few of these game ones in every playoff year where it's on paper at least a mismatch. And the underdog almost pulls it off. And I'm with you. I don't know which way the scale tips because there's there's the view that says, okay, yeah, there's no moral victories in the playoffs, blah, blah, blah, blah. But we showed them we can play. We showed them.

They've got their hands full. They've got a series. We're not backing down. All of this stuff. Great. the flip side is you say the Washington Capitals just took your best punch and they still won the game. You just got maybe the worst game you're going to get out of the caps, or at least the worst big chunk of a game, and they still got the W at the end of it. And a lot of times you don't really know which way the narrative tips until you see game two.

And then you see how it comes out. And so, you know, maybe we're a little Brodinger's playoff series right now after one game. I am more on the optimistic side of things for the HABs because, listen, as much as it was a great punch that they threw at Washington, especially in the third period, and they take over the game, like, if Montreal, you know, you're never going to control it for a full 60, but if they play the way they did in the third for 45 minutes even, like, that's, you're going to have another chance to win a game for sure. Because if you're them, you can look at that first period and just say like, all right, that we were jittery. Like that was our introduction. We found our footing after that. Like, let's roll. I remember playing like, I remember playing my first NHL playoff game at 20 years old.

And the lead up to it in your head, there's so much anticipation. There's some, there's like angst. You're just, you're picturing how it's going to go. And you're sitting on, you go through warm up, the building's full, you know, the music's juiced up. The intros are juiced up. The anthems going crazy. And then you sit on the bench waiting for puck drop. And you're like, I'm expecting this to just be in warp speed and be a million miles an hour and how am I going to keep up? Like, keep in mind. Like, you're young, first NHL playoff game. And then the puck drops. And it takes you a little while to kind of realize,

wait a second, human beings, we can only skate so fast. Like, the game can actually go, it can't actually go that much faster than it currently does. But every hit gets finished, every battle, everyone digs in a little bit more. And so once you kind of grapple with the speed being quite within your grasp, then you grapple with the fact that, you know, you're getting hit way more than you did before. And every battle, someone's digging in on you, trying to win it more than they would have. There's no flybys except, you know, in the Ottawa Senators game last night, there was a flyby on that goal. But I guess my point is the Canadians, there's a lot of players that would have been dealing with that.

And that would have been part of their mindset in the early goings of that game. And you have guys, you know, Demidoff, that was not only his first playoff game. That was his first road game in the NHL. Like that guy is green. Like he's new to this whole thing. But the way Montreal kind of got acclimated. I like, I like, I couldn't take. my eyes off him in that game, by the way. He's an interesting guy, man. He's, he's, he's got a long way to go in his own zone, doesn't he? Like, he's, I get nervous watching him when the puck is in his own zone, but you just know there's so much talent there. But I guess like, Montreal, I feel like should look at it and say, we can emulate what we did in the third period for a longer stretch of time. So we should be able to, you know, feel confident that we can, we can work ourselves into this series and assert ourselves. They just have to get off.

to better starts. Like you can't, you're playing with fire if you think you're just going to play from behind, tie it up, and then win it in overtime. At some point, you have to feel comfortable playing with a lead. You know, the Habs this year had the fourth fewest minutes leading games in the NHL. They were behind San Jose, Anaheim, and Seattle. And the habs are a playoff team.

And the next closest playoff team was the Minnesota Wild. They had the 12th fewest minutes. So I mean, that's an incredible stat. It's a crazy stat. I did not hear that one yet. Just just under 1,300 minutes leading. It's like 1292 leading and fourth few. So like at some point, you got to,

you got to play with the lead in the playoffs. You just, you can't, you can't do it from behind. Like, you can't win games coming from behind all the time. Just all that one. One other thing I want to say on that, that game one. And I'll say it only because I've had some fun with this guy over the years, you know, with, with how he's, he's viewed by Montreal fans. But Nick Suzuki on the tying goal, we see a lot of goals in the NHL, in the playoffs,

guys go end to end, you know, Connor McDavid does something crazy. We've seen a bunch of women, you go, that's an amazing goal. And you could show it to anybody who doesn't even watch hockey and go, look at this. And they'll go, that was amazing what that guy just did. This was one of those goals that, it doesn't, in the. moment look like an amazing goal. But the chaos around the net and the goalies out and guys are diving and the puck comes to Nick Suzuki and if he shoots it right away, which 99.9% of people would do,

it doesn't, it gets blocked. He stops. He just takes a fraction of a second repositions and puts it in. That is an insanely skilled play that almost nobody else would make. and it doesn't look like it because you're sitting there going, yeah, you shot it into an empty net, big deal.

I could do that. No, you couldn't because you would never, it would never occur to you to take that second and reorient to play so that you can put it in. I thought that was something else for a guy who, I don't know, maybe he is,

maybe is the best 200 foot center in the league. He's getting up there. He's getting up there for sure. And the thing, like Washington, you could see what their game plan, was right away. Let's run these guys right out of the building, whether it was Wilson or Dubois, like everyone. Just like, let's, let's try and run these guys out of the building. I think Montreal

did a good job handling it. Like, they got to the point in the game where they didn't let it get away from them. They kept it within striking distance. And at the same time, like, Spencer Carberry is going to make adjustments. He's too good of a coach not to. Like, that guy gets it. Um, so there's, there's going to be like that, that element to things as well. But I'm, I'd be optimistic about about Montreal. And that was unfortunate. Like, I don't know if you guys were talking about this Gentile in the building,

but that shouldn't have been an icing. Or maybe, like, you were there. Maybe it looked different in person, but that should not have been an icing. But Patrick Linae had a chance to get the puck in previous to that, and he turned it over.

And that led to the play. So, like, I don't know. But, but you're right. Like, it shouldn't, it shouldn't have been an icing.

And I had some, somebody pointed something out to me where, that makes sense where the, and I, And I don't remember who it was, but the guy who had the chance to touch it and maybe touched it, maybe didn't, he gets hit on the play. Yeah. So they're saying. It was lining both times.

Okay. So if he didn't touch the puck, he's not eligible to be hit. So that should be an interference penalty. But if he did touch the pot and it's not icing. So I can't. I can't handle this serious turning into like a ref fest. I'm emotionally, emotionally can't handle this. All right. I'm going to say this and I'm going to get accused of summoning or manifesting something.

But guys, we're four nights into the playoffs. There hasn't really been any big controversy. There hasn't been a dirty hit. There hasn't been a suspension debate. There hasn't, like, the most controversial thing is we've all learned the follow through rule on high sticks a couple of times. Well, also, hold on. We didn't unpack the whole Stolars, you know, slashing Ridley Gregg. defending himself against the coward Ridley Greg who had the audacity to exist. There's four slashing penalties for Stolars plus a roughing

and Ridley Greg gets roughing for standing they're taking it. Interference. He interferes. He interfered. Anthony Stollars was just trying to do a couple of windmills trying to like, you know, exercise the shoulders and all that.

And really great, he interfered out by putting his face in front of his blocker. We can't do more leaves. We can't do more leaves. That controversy. Don't challenge. You got up stores. The icing, I know I brought it up. I realized what I did here and I set things off a path that we weren't supposed to go down.

But that's one. The follow through we learned about the icing call in the Montreal series. But I mean, yeah, there hasn't been anything that has like really taken on a life of its own. Not yet. Not yet. But I got to say, boy, I love. I love watching these 18 replays of Pucks going over the glass. to see if they ticked off.

That's a great rule, man. That makes so much sense. Oh, it's so fun. I love it because it's black and white. That's why they show 97 replays after it happens because it's so so objective. Arpin got rolling on that, Arpin Pesu got rolling on that last night. And he is on the exact opposite.

And he's like on the other end of the spectrum from you. So it was like bizarre. It was like bizarre world. I'm like I've heard enough of this. Like I don't I don't want to do this again. Because I'm going to have to talk about it tomorrow. tomorrow. We've talked about it a million times. Yeah. Arpin,

Arpin, leave me alone. Dude, when you see Arpin today, you tell him I want an athletic hoodie just like him. That's what you tell him. He's got, he's got, he's got two. He's got a top two. Yeah. We'll talk about, we'll talk about that up, like. Dallas, Colorado, game three, that series is tied at one. I think we're all still on, on Landis Gogh. He was, he's active and, you know, able to play. was scratch for game too.

I think that's one of our big storylines coming in at this one. Do we know was that a decoy? Or was that, was he supposed to play and something happened in the warm-up? Because I've seen sort of both of them presented. And that's a big difference. Like if he was skating and thinking he was going to play and there's the whole thing with Devon Taves didn't have the A on his jersey that people spot it, which, you know, that was a hell of a sell job.

That was all the decoy. When he got hurt again. I honestly, I was, the A thing is I didn't even realize that was, didn't even realize that was going on. That means it's totally, I didn't realize that was part of the next.

I'll tell you what, man, that means that the equipment guys have gotten the word from up above that like, an A's got to come off because Gabe's playing. And the, the big cheese is back. And that is like, okay,

we can have the conversation about a guy that hasn't played in three years and, you know, what kind of boost that does on the ice. Like, I think no doubt Gabe Landisog, regardless of where his game is at compared to where it used to be, is going to help that team. There's just, there's no way around that. It's going to help. But the morale boost of having your captain and a captain like that back, that is huge. Like, I think that's, that's very significant.

And that is, that puts a little extra pep into. the step of everyone in that room. But, like, the Dallas stars find a way to win game two. And I shouldn't say find a way because, listen, like, we have to, as much as we kind of like, ooh and awe over Colorado and how they play and the speed and McKinnon and, you know, how that looks, Dallas is a good team. And Dallas, I think part of their, part of their, you know, strength is the depth of that group and just how many different options they have.

They get a goal from Segan. They get a goal from Harley. They get a goal from Datenoff and they get the game winner from Colin Blackwell. That is an example of the Dallas Stars' depth, like being tested and coming through. And so it's not like, it's always going to be the thing with Dallas. Like it's not a one dimensional threat. Like there's, there's a lot of different ways that they can find players to contribute. And even like if you look at the ice times last game for on the back end and I know it goes into overtime.

So like these are going to be skewed. But Thomas Harley is playing a ton like he played 35 minutes. 35 minutes for him, almost 32 minutes for Aissel and Del. For Aisle 7. 27 for Cici. That's the thing like Cici and Lubushkin are like 27 and 25. Like if you can get quality minutes out of those guys, you're in good shape. You just can't get, you can't get like third pair moments out of, out of those guys when they're playing that much time on ice because that's where Colorado can kind of expose things.

But Dallas is a deep team and depth players found a way to contribute. And this is another one of those series where it felt like we all penciled it in for seven initially. But then you saw the Dallas injuries and you saw the game one and you went of. I don't know. And even game two. I mean, that Dallas needed every, every goal they got.

They needed the overtime. Like, it would have felt like this series would have felt over. I feel like going back to Colorado 2-0. Are we still on the game seven train? Or is it, is it something else?

I think this, I think, especially with Dallas guys, maybe coming back. Yeah. Yeah. I still, I still,

I still think Colorado wins. I do think they're, They're just more explosive. And their goaltending is just as good, if not better at times. But I think Dallas will push this as far as possible. Just keep buying time for Hayskin and, man. That was what game two felt like to some extent for me. Boys, big breaking news.

We have one of those voicemails from the athletic playoff crisis line. And it is about Stars Aves. Producer Jeff. Hey there. Jen F here for Sean Gentile. to remember my name, I hope. Anyways, I'm not really panicked so much as resigned that it's the Dallas Star. Play the Colorado Evelyn. We're basically screwed. Thanks. Have a great day.

Jen F, she's correct. I think I agree with her. You think they're screwed? A little bit. It's a tough matchup, man. That's the, we're not doing the playoff. I'm putting my foot down. We're not doing the playoff format thing here, but that was tough. a tough pull. But I take full credit to them, man. They, they, they, I, I, I, I think a lot of us were kind of watching that game too going,

this is it. This is the last stand and, uh, not to be. Well, I'll tell you what. One thing that needs to go better for Dallas is Miko Ranton and has got to arrive at some point. Like this, this guy's too good of a player. Um, and like, listen, they're paying them for a long time. They obviously paid a big cost to go and get him.

I get it, man. Like you're looking at your ex right now, and it's tough to see. But, like, this guy, they rely on him. They need, they need him to be the best version of himself. And I know I made the point about depth, right?

Like, nice to get the depth goals, but like, the depth isn't going to carry the series. Like, Ranton's got to get going. And they, I don't know if they got to find a way to get him going, but like some of it's got to be on him to kind of figure this out. They're getting, they got a ton of chances when he was on the ice and in that, in that last game, score a goal. Like, that's it.

That's why you're, that's why the, the underlying numbers aren't going to do it. Nope. Especially in Logan Stan Coven's off having a good, you know, he's scoring. He's a lot of the guy, not the throwings, but the lesser piece. He's the guy who drives play and maybe doesn't score, not, not Miko Rinn. And Mika Rennon is there to, he's there to. I like, I like Lazz's,

Lazz's call him. It's understandable, but why a guy who's been bouncing around all year, but you know what, man, you got to, you got to get it done at this point. Folks, if you want to be like Jen F and leave, leave a panicked voicemail, call 321, 222-7-9-72. It's 3-1-2-2-2-7-9-2. Got one more game to talk about heading into

this evening. Oilers Kings game two. I saw the insanity of the last couple minutes while I was writing, but I didn't watch much of that one where the oilers is as bad as it seemed like they were, especially especially earlier there. The Oilers are two teams.

The Oilers are the Connor MacDavid Oilers and I'll throw dry-sidal in there as well, and the other Oilers. That's what it feels like watching them. When McDavid's on the ice, they have a chance. And that guy went superhuman mode and was going to will that team to a win. But a combination of other things, aside from McDavid, don't go well for the Oilers. And the LA Kings, like, they can have a stranglehold on this series.

If whoever's in net, like, we got to talk about who should be playing in net, whether it's Skinner or Pickard. I think that's a conversation. and it's crazy, you know, if you looked at the stat sheet from last game, you would have seen number two, Evan Bouchard, three assists, a bunch of ice time. He played well, right? He was, he was really good. Everyone's probably really happy in it.

One of the best players of the game. And then you watch the tape back and you're like, oh, no, man, that, that's not it. And like, yeah, of course, you miss your partner, Matias Eckholm. Like, that's your guy that holds you together. You don't play with Darnell Nurse. And it's just, but that like, without Eckholm, you're going to have to find a way to stabilize yourself to a certain degree. And LA's a team, like, they're not going to make things easy on you.

They never do. And it's just, it feels different when McDavid's not on the ice in that series. I feel like more than any other series and more than any other game one that I can remember seeing lately. This game terrifies me if I'm both fan bases. This is like if you made either fan base, give me a list of things that you don't want to see in game one. Regardless of who wins or loses,

this would be it, right? Because the Oilers, bad goaltending, they miss Ackholm, you know, all of that stuff. But then if you're L.A., you've got a team that's almost built to try to stop McDavid. two defensive centers. You've got home ice. You worked all year for it. So you've got the last change. You got the matchups.

And even then with a 4-0 lead, McDavid basically goes, you know what, guys, I'm going superhuman this period. And there's not a damn thing. Anyone on your team. Anze Kopitar,

one of the, you know, we joked about great 200 foot centers. This is that guy. Powerless to stop Connor McDavid when he gets to that level. So I don't know, man. the fact that, Frankie, you're right,

we were having the goaltending conversation. One game into this playoffs. You've got Connor McDavid, Leon Dre Seidel, you've got all this talent, and we're talking about is Calvin Picard, the answer, one game in to the playoff run.

I don't know, at some point, man, that we got to revisit the decision of the Oilers to roll with this. Roll with them. And maybe it's not yet. And maybe when we think, talk next week. We're talking about Oilers and won the series in five and they moved on, but

that was not the start. No. And like here's the thing with the McDavid. We know that if, if the Oilers are going to have any chance at this series and win it, McDavid's got to be McJesus for every game, every moment. If he is just great or very good and not superhuman McDavid, then significant advantage to the LA Kings. But as far as, you know, how it goes in net, Calvin, Calvin Pickard played quite well for them down the stretch. And he played quite a bit. And you go with Stuart Skinner because he was your guy last year and, you know, he played well enough in the playoffs to get you to game seven of the Stanley Cup final. So all good there. But when he has the night that he had in game one, I don't

know why you would say, I have to go back to him. And, you know, Knoblock kind of said, they're There wasn't really a, a decision made yet. But, like, it's not like he's your, like, true number one guy starter that needs to play two or three bad ones in a row in order for you to change things up. Like, this has been a back and board. This isn't Andre Vasselowski getting lit up in game one. No. No. And you want to go down to nothing?

I don't know. You want to go down to nothing? I don't. If they start Skinner, how short is the leash? Like, is it two goals? goals in game like that. I think it depends how the goals go in. Like once you,

I think once you get into the game, it's not like you're going to pull the guy just because two goals went in. I think that you have the conversation on the bench of like how did they go in, regardless of, of, you know, what your decision was going to be going into the night. If that's the,

if that's the conversation you're having and you're like, all right, he's getting, he's getting one and then we're taking them. And just like, don't start him. Like, like play someone else.

Like, You've already made your decision whether you realize it or not. The only argument I have against that is you won the conference last year. You were with one game within winning the Stanley Cup. Do you want to feel like it's a panic move already? Do you want to feel like it's already falling apart, which usually switching goalies is that, you know, not necessarily it's falling apart. But that is your way of saying, we've got to do something to change. change. We're one game in. Do you, do you not take a step back and look at the bigger picture or

you know what you do? Here's what you do. You just trick yourself into thinking you're the Boston Bruins of last year where it's like we love both guys so much. We're going back and forth, baby. It's just these guys are kicking ass and we can't keep them out of the net so we got to have an alternating rotation going. That's what you do. You trick yourself. We actually have two really good number ones in Stu Skinner and Calvin Picker. dokey. Yes. The game we are not getting tonight,

the series we're not getting tonight, is Winnipeg, St. Louis. They're up on Thursday. There was a Nelly concert in Winnipeg over the last couple days, which is extremely funny to me, wreaking havoc on the scheduling there. Yeah, that's, you know,

that series is, I don't know, it's because the scheduling or because the results are a combination of the two. That one, no one feels out of sight out of mind for me. Sorry. That series,

you know what? It's, it's quite prominent here. Like, it's getting a lot of looks. Like, it was, it was on CBC the other night.

So it's getting, like, it's getting the attention. It deserves, I think. Like, I think the Jets deserve a lot of attention. Whatever.

President's trophy. The building's bumping and stuff. Yeah. It's a, it's a function of that, of it's starting so late. Like, I think I forgot about it,

honestly. Yeah, but the, so the jets have kind of, and I, I know what's, early. I know it's two games, but they have squashed some questions that you would have had about that group early. Like the Mark Shifley thing, he's been terrific. Like really, in the third period of game

one, he took over that game and he's a big reason why they won. Connor Hellebuck, basically from the Jordan Kairu breakaway save in the second period onward, has looked more like, you know, the Connor Hellebuck that we've come to know and expect in the regular season. And I think as a team, Jets haven't deviated from their defensive kind of schemes that make them really tough to play against in the regular season. And I know it's two games. Now you got to do it on the road. And no one's expecting you to win every single night.

Like that's not a reasonable expectation. But show what you are as a team, play to your identity. And more often than not, that team will win games. But they've answered some questions and some concerns early on through two games. And Sean, you said you haven't really been noticing this series. Sometimes that's the mark of a Stanley Cup winner. That's kind of where I was. That first round series is just all business, get it out of the way.

Hey, I mean, not to get, not to get ahead of ourselves, but if you're Winnipeg, you're looking at this going. If we can finish this quick, get a week off. Everybody heals up. Meanwhile, Colorado and Dallas just bash each other out of each other. Yeah. That sets us up pretty well for round two. And Nellie's got to drop the pocket. We got to get Nellie out there with the microphone and just talk about how it's getting hot in her and drop that thing.

Does he still perform that in Winnipeg? Does that confuse the crowd? Are they like, what does that mean? It's never hot here. It looks nice. Yeah. If Nellie's not dropping the puck. Do you have to change the lyrics?

I don't know. If he's not dropping the puck, we need one of the St. Lunatic. We need Murphy Lee, Ali. city spud kaiwan somebody take care of business i feel like city sput's probably available for for the right price you can have city spud drop a hockey puck at your at your game frankie what do you what are you doing this week man you uh you back you back on for any for any stuff i got i got i got a buddy of mine we would always joke around about working nights and so let's just say i'm i'm working nights right now working working the night

shift, the late, late sports center shifts for the next week and a half or so until the first round is done. So it's all good. Love it. Yeah. Get some sleep, hang in there, hydrate. I know this is really physically taxing time of year for media folks. Like you like like like like the three of us.

So just. The unsung heroes. Here's the sad part. Here's the sad part. We are the true champions. Athletes have a routine. You know, like they know what part of the day they're napping. They're eating, snack.

etc, warm up. We all have a routine. I guarantee all three of us are living different lives right now, but we have a snack routine that we're going through. Gentilly at the rink,

I know that setup in Washington. There's some tasty treats there. DGB, I know he's got a snack routine at night, and I have my studio snack routine where I wander down after the period and grab a little tasty bag of chips to watch the second or third period,

and then I go back up and do my thing. We've all got it, but Sean, save room for those hot dogs, man. The steemies. You have one game to go. I'm going to go and not eat any of them. That was my gimmick for about 15 seconds.

Last time I was covering a game there. By the way, full-sized candy bars in Washington. Can't be it. Talk you next week, Frank. All right, there goes Frankie. Sean McIndoo. What have we learned? What have we learned, Sean?

I learned that I'm not the only one who's getting a little frustrated it with the slow and steady Steve Eisenman rebuild. Some guy, someone, what's his, oh, that's right, the captain of the team, Dylan Larkin with some, some, I would say mild, but noticeable. Leighted, is the word I would use. Yeah, at the, at the Steve Eisenman deadline or lack thereof, which I think is interesting, both on the micro level of how this affects of Red Wings is this, you know, and we're not going to blow it up and, you know,

Dylan Larkin ripped Steve Eisenman, anything like that, but express some frustration that that nothing was done at the deadline. And also the bigger level, because we always hear at the deadline, we always hear people talk about, well, you don't want to disrupt the chemistry. You don't want to disrupt this or that. Sometimes it goes the other way. Sometimes the chemistry is waiting for reinforcements to come in. And when you don't do it, it sends a message.

And it feels like the message was received and not appreciated by the Detroit, you know, by the Detroit captain. But he's not saying this for himself. This is clearly something coming from the room. And he made a choice to say it publicly. So, you know, it's that I thought that was interesting. Split yourself in those guys' shoes, too. They just got passed by the Canadians in the sense. Like that's not good.

If I'm Detroit, I can handle the senators' pass. me because we were supposed to be, you know, in the same group. But Montreal, it was supposed to be the big four in the Atlantic. Then the three teams, Buffalo included, that were on the verge. And then Montreal in the back tinkering with their rebuild. And we'll see them in a few years. The fact that Montreal is playing in the playoffs now and we're not is extraordinarily frustrating to me if I'm in Detroit.

Certainly. I learned just how much time I'm going to have for Lulamorello. not I'm trying to find the right word for this because you know who knows maybe he gets maybe he resurfaces with it with another team and he ends up running the show somewhere until he's until he's in his 90s if this is it for Lou if if this is the end of his time as an NHL executive the stories that we get about him that people are finally willing to tell are going to be incredible because Arthur Staple had one on our reaction pod yesterday um I won't spoil the entire thing but the Cliff's notes on it are,

is that at the end of, at the end of this interaction between Arthur and Lou, he said, I just don't want people to know that I use analytics. Like, like, we're, we're, we're,

we're, we're going to hear so many great stories and so much, so much stuff that people are finally, finally comfortable to share about, about the, uh, life and times of, like true,

like one of the true, singular kind of figures in the sport over the last two decades. Man, he's, he's an original and people are going to be, finally comfortable to share some of the some of the funnier stories because they were

operating under Omerita for the last hour of many years. I think that. I think it doesn't apply that. That is. And look, right move by the Islanders? Yeah, question. Absolutely. But

got to love Lou, man. Almost 40 years since this guy waltzed into New Jersey is an almost total unknown to pro hockey fans. the former the former the former the former the former math teacher himself lou lamarillo he's yeah happy trails and thanks to you sean mackendoo and thanks to frankie carato wherever he is and thanks to you dear listener for supporting our show we're back next wednesday the three of

us haley and i have the next athletic hockey show tomorrow i think if i'm if i'm done flying to montreal we'll see if that we'll see if that works take care of talk to you soon