The Athletic Hockey Show - Maple Leafs hit rock bottom in humiliating Game 5 loss

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

Hailey and Sean reunite to discuss the pathetic, predictable effort by the Maple Leafs in a pivotal Game 5 against the far superior Florida Panthers. They discuss the Edmonton Oilers eliminating the Vegas Golden Knights, punching their ticket to the Western Final, and the two potential elimination games happening Thursday night, with the Stars and Hurricanes looking to advance past the Jets and Capitals. Host: Hailey Salvian and Sean GentilleExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Jeff Domet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the athletic hockey show. It is Haley Salvean alongside Sean Jintilly. It's been a while. I think the last time I was on the show, I had a crash out about the Edmonton Oilers. That was with Max.

Sean's been traveling on the road covering the Washington Capitals for the second round of the playoffs now. But we're back. What's going on with the Oilers? What's going on with the Leafs? What's going on with Sean? How's it going? Oh, just another day at the Chevy Chase, Maryland courtyard by Marriott, preparing myself for Kane's calves, which I'm sure we'll talk about it at some point down the line. That's obviously the series that everybody wants to talk about, right? We want like 45 minutes of Kane's caps today. I want 45 minutes of Dimitri Orlov saying he was going to be. to poop his pants. He didn't say poop.

He said it a couple times too, like in that in that scrum. They had to do a lot of do a lot of bleeping on the on the hurricane's official feed. Oh man.

All right. So obviously the big series and the big topic is not Demetia Orloves fiber intake or whatever. It's the Toronto Maple Leafs they lose last night. six to one to the Florida Panthers.

It was, you know, teed up as this big opportunity for the Leafs to show that this time this team is different. They can push the defending champs to the brink, Sean. This is their moment. Mitch Marner, you can be the guy. They lose six to one. Panthers are now one win away from going to the Eastern Conference final. And it's tough. It's tough here in Toronto today.

People are crying in the streets. Yes, people are shocked by this outcome. There's stunned Toronto men and women all over the place. I saw everyone's zombie walking down King Street this morning. Sad. I mean, that's the, I've seen it. I've seen the word stunned, stunning. Like some version of that used in multiple places this morning.

And that stunts me. How can you be stunned by this? What about this is stunning? this is who they are. This is the team they've shown themselves to be. And I've said it a million times on our show with Frankie and Mac and Doe, just wherever. Like, I'm not going to pick them to do it until they do. You would have to threaten me with violence to get me to pick them in a series outside of the first round at this point.

I'm just not going to do it because they haven't shown it. I don't care if they go up 203. if they're up by four goals in the third period of the elimination game. I'm still not going to pick them. That's just the way it goes. That's the way I felt when they're up two oh. It's the way I felt after they lost the first game. It's obviously the way I feel now.

Like they keep showing us who they are in people for whatever reason expect things to be different. It ain't going to happen. It's not going to work. And I think last night is just the latest, strongest bit of proof that something has happened to that team specifically over the last five, six years that has just rendered them incapable of doing the work and getting done. They can't do it. It's not going to happen. Figure out who to keep, who to let walk and move on to the next phase of the organization's. you know, half-life here because whatever's going on ain't working.

Yeah. And I want to still talk about the game and the series and I didn't want to get too like big picture right away for myself personally. But like to your point, Sean, I think that when you say like whatever they've let happen or whatever's happened, I feel like a lot of this is on the player's shoulders. like at the end of the day, you guys make millions of dollars to play for a hockey team, like go show up in the postseason, go do it when it matters. But like there's got to be some kind of organizational thing that falls here too,

like how you let this just kind of continue for years and years, whether it's keeping guys or not changing the way that they. And I mean, to I guess their credit, they did try to change the way they played. There was maybe reason to believe this year would be different because Craig Barouba coaches differently. Like this was the way of being like, no, we're going to play different in the postseason.

And to a point they did, but right when they lost that game, that OT game, game three, after they like game three slip away right there, it was like, they're done. They're done because they can play better defensively. They can have guys who are stronger in the forecheck.

Their defenders are bigger. They're good. Chris Tanev. He's a king. My favorite defender in the league. We know this on the athletic hockey show. But all that doesn't matter if the big guys are going to just lose it when it matters. And I think that's kind of what has happened here, right?

Like they're playing different, but when push came to shove, so far, the series isn't over yet. They can prove all of us wrong with a win in game six. But when it kind of matters, the better forecheck and the better D schemes isn't changing. the kind of mental side of like they just can't hang when it matters. Mitch Marner spinning off a defenseman throwing a blind backhand pass in his own zone when they're down three nothing. Like he's like it's a January 26th game against the ducks or something. Like that mindset is baked into the point.

point now where you just you're like this is yeah it's it's past it's past the point of salvaging and you know i it does raise questions you know nature versus nurture like do you blame do you blame the parents or do you blame the kids or or or whatever right and that's kind of what i'm thinking is like how do we obviously we blame the players like this is on the player's shoulders but at what point do we need to start being like, Brendan Shanahan, like how, like, how did this happen? Or like, but,

these guys are, these, they're like, they're, they've changed, they're adults. So at some point, maybe it's just like,

you know what, actually, it's just your fault now. Like, Mitch Martin, you're, didn't want Sheldon. Here's new gym,

here's new coach. Here's better players around you. The nucleus is the same, same problems once again. 28 years old, brother. Like at some point, you just are who you are. Like the cognitive development stops and you become the adult version of yourself.

And there's no more and there's no more excuses. I miss who I was before my frontal lobe developed. Yeah, right. Mitch Marner, what that dude wouldn't give to be 24 and to be able to use that as an excuse anymore? Sorry, dude. I saw he did the like just flush it down the toilet thing and someone pulled up he said that exact thing last year after they pooped their pants in the second round. And you know, I everyone also likes to, we've hit this point with William Nealander where people exempt him from it. He is exempt. Sorry. He's not. He is. He's the best of a bad bad. He is in this.

house. He's the best of a bad badge. Like, he's the one who comes closest, but he doesn't, he doesn't get all the way either. He was part of that mess last night. We got to get,

go to break. Greg Ruby too last night. Just like, he was like, it was like, it was like it just dawned on him. What the job that he signed up for last night. Like, oh,

oh, oh, I get it. I thought I understood it now. I definitely, or I thought I understood it before. I definitely understand it now. yeah it was um it was one of those moments where it was just like oh yeah Craig Brubay just got here like yeah he's like I don't have an answer for you with sports and everyone else is being like

ooh we've got answers from our soap boxes um so we already did just talk about marner a little bit but i do think that you know Austin matthews and Mitch marner and i'm not trying to exempt William Nealander. Like he didn't show up last night either, but like this is Austin Matthews is the captain. Mitch Marner is the superstar winger who, you know, got the boatload of money. That da da da da da. Those are the guys, right? And Nealander is part of it. John Tovaras is part of it. That's the core for. I hate saying that. But I like Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner no showed again. Sean, you had a stat about Marner beyond just the qualitative

um spitting off D and backhand passes. It's not even that Mitch Marner didn't have any points like he didn't score but he didn't even shoot the puck. That's, I think that more than anything is is just indicative of

what was it one shot on goal in his last three games? The rot that said it that said a single shot on goal and three straight losses. that's incredible and that that that's where that that's like that's like a shadow of a doubt I think proof that this I mean and whatever Mitch mourner's a pass for a swim here and yada yada but like dude what yeah three straight games like did deuce do something yeah because at some point like the regardless of improved depth or whatever changes they made

the Leafs are still built to have their best players win them games. Like all this harping that we're doing here, it's not just like hater shit about Mitch Morner. The Leafs are built for Mitch Marner and Austin Matthews to win them hockey games. That is how they've been built for years. And they have not been able to do that. The Edmunds Oilers,

I crashed out about the Oilers being like, it's unfair that McDavid and Dryside will have to do it. alone, but guess what? They do it. It's not, it's a captain as the superstar, but like. And it's not, and it's not unfair. It's not unfair. Like, this is, this is

Don Draper quote. That's what the money's for. That's why you get paid. There's, there's nothing unfair about that. Once, once you sign the contract and cash the checks and you make more money than everybody else, the responsibility

comes with it. It's on you. It's not unfair. And that's true whether we're talking about Matthews and Marner and McDavid and Drysidal. That's your job. Right. Yeah. And two of those guys do it.

That was always my big issue with people using Patrick Kane as the contract comp for Mitch Marner way back when. Kane, I don't have it right in front of me. But I believe at the point in which Kane signed that contract, he'd already won a heart trophy and a Stanley Cup. Correct. That is why Patrick Kane got that contract. That is why he got that much money. Just to be clear. Mitch,

Mitch Marner and Awesome Matthews doing Taves and Kane cosplay earlier in their career. Yeah. And it's come to Roos now. Yeah. And that's where people point to, you know, Kyle Dubus. Why did you hand them those contracts also? What are you going to do? Trade them at that point?

I don't know. It's like a, it's been the big plight of a leaf. And last night at Scotia Bank Arena, they were getting booed constantly. I saw McIndoo was egging on fans to continue booing them on Twitter. He's like, keep booing and booing and boo him again. Booth him off the ice and boo them when they come back. Let me tell you. Mac and do drove to Toronto in the first intermission.

Bought a $2,000 ticket, bought a Matthews jersey in the store, and then threw it on the ice. I should probably check on him this morning. let me tell you quite an evening to be in a group chat with down goes brown Toronto Maple Leaf Superfan producer Jeff also maybe Mississauga resident Maple Leaf Superfan and former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman himself Woodbridge legend Frankie Carrato it was it was an it was interesting night in the group chat yelza and you know and again it comes back to I for me to something we said at the start of all this is you know there's nothing there there's a lot of words you can use to to describe you know this lot you can pathetic I think is

is a is at the top of the list predictable stunning is not is not one of them this was this was always going to happen because it's who they are yeah and we'll see we'll see what how because Marner, this is like rubber stamp, like, enjoys Salt Lake City. Yeah. I was going to say, is that the last image that Leaves fans are going to have of Mitch Morner at Scotia Bankerina and a Maple Leaf Jersey is him. Unless they force a game seven that they can subsequently lose. Yeah.

I think that's, I think that's it. Enjoy Chicago. Enjoy Salt Lake City. Enjoy Pittsburgh like Greg Wichenski conjured at the bar when we were having, when we were having dinner last night, he sent out a tweet of, of Crosby and Marner. Oh,

God. Hanging out and laughing at an all-star game, which I did not think was funny. But yeah, Mitch, move on, move on to wherever's next. And it's left to,

it's left to Toronto to put together the pieces with, you know, Austin and, and whoever else. Change the mix, fundamentally change it, whether that means no Shanahan, no,

no, no mourner, no Tavares, whatever, whatever ends up happening. It's over. It's over and the series isn't even over yet. What a world. Yeah. And you know, we can go to the Panthers here too because I tweeted this. It got way too much engagement.

I thought it was just kind of funny laughing at myself. And then there was a bunch of people either graying with me or calling me stupid. But I picked Tampa to win the Stanley Cup. Like I didn't have the Panthers getting out of the first round. And that was mostly just because I was like, I'm bored of picking the same stuff. I'm bored of picking Stars Panthers Cup final. So I'm going to switch it up. That was dumb of me, obviously.

But the Panthers have, like, to their credit, are showing why this is a team that has been the cut final and back-to-back years. Sergei Bobrovsky's been great over these last three games. He's been turning into, you know, the. kind of brick wall we saw last year in the playoffs. I mean, he wasn't a brick wall the whole time, but he did not surrender a goal from the third period of game three until there were 66 seconds left in game five. So he didn't allow a goal for over 143 minutes in this series. Is part of that because Mitch Marner's not shooting the puck? Maybe. But like Sergey Bobrovsky is getting the job done for the Panthers and that makes them on top of their depth and the way that they play

and the fact that they've got Brad Marshon on their team now makes the Panthers scary when it matters most once again. I don't think that the Panthers have gotten enough credit to this point in the playoffs and maybe that's because everyone was like rah-rah, the leaves are great and now it's oh my God. It's the leaves fault. It's because they're playing the Maple Leafs. But also everyone's picking Tampa. Like I saw ESPN Sportsnet, us. Most of us picked Tampa, and I think part of that is because we didn't actually see the full Panthers, like, team healthy until game one of the playoffs. So maybe it was just hard to imagine what are they going to look like when Chuck's back when Marshawn's wearing a Panthers jersey. It's been great.

I mean, they were up and down over the course of the regular season. I think people drank the Kool-Aid on Vasilevsky because he'd been fantastic down the stretch. And I think that's human nature to say like, okay, all things are, everything's looking kind of equal here. We'll go with the team that has the top three or top five goal tender. And then Bass Lips, it comes out. Plus, the guy who's not up for it. Didn't Kutrov win the Art Ross again? Or did he lose it at the end?

But he's another 100 point guy. They had like five of the top 15 scores in the league. I was like, oh. Yeah. The line and you're back. Let's go. And it was some kind of mass delusion thing that was taking place there. we all got suckered into it.

That's, that's an embarrassing moment for us as a staff. Honestly, that like 100% of us who, who voted in our little, in our little poll when went with lightning, that doesn't reflect well on us, but like you can only see the logic.

Yeah. And then, and then, yep, then you got to pick the Panthers. Because the team they're playing, don't got the juice. And the Panthers,

and the Panthers do. And I really like what Pierre wrote this morning, too, by the way. He was, Pierre LeBron was, yeah, Pierre V. I don't know why I know his middle initial, but I do. He was on Panthers duty or chose it after that game. I think he had.

I kind of love that. He was like, I'm good. I'm not doing another. Yeah, I'm going to go. Oh, the Leafs did it again. No, he's like, I think I'm going to text Peter Laviolet and get into it, have a nice conversation about what makes the Florida Panthers so good. And that's like the basis of what, of what Pierre wrote last night.

So, man, that's such, that's a fully operational death star in Florida. They do so many things so well. And this is something that Lavalette said. It's also true for anybody who, who's watched them. They can play. They can, they can dump and chase. They can, they can be a rush team. They can be a four check team.

They can bully the hell out of people. They know how to put shots on net with traffic. Like, they're, they're great. It was laughing. He was sitting on the bench last night, like watching people leave, watching the Leafs get booed and just being like, like, evil chuckling, like Chuckie on the bench laughing at the Maple Leafs. He's not even playing that.

He's evil. When playing that well. And that's the funny part of Florida too. It's like, you know, it's not, it's not Matthew. It's not Matthew could chuck. It's like Carter Hage. Great example. Carter Hage was.

snake bitten all all regular season was one of the worst shooting seasons of of his career right was just on a on a season long cold streak for for the most part it's a big part of why they didn't perform up the expectations in the regular season gets the playoffs dude snaps back into shape he's back to being he's back to being for swaggy and yeah an elite playoff player and yada yada and he's and he's a guy who's come through there's just so many dues on that team that can do it it's it's scary yeah I guess the very last thing, because I want to go to break and talk about the oilers here. Is this the worst leaf's loss and the long string of we shouldn't be shocked here?

Is this the worst most embarrassing one? It's the worst until the next one, baby. Oh. Ooh. When I first saw that, like Myrtle had a story this morning why this might be their worst one yet. At first I was like, all right, come on. That's a little. The Blue Jackets one was bad.

But then I was thinking like, that wasn't 20, 20. That was five years ago. That is when they're just like, eh, they're young. We'll try again. Here's why it's the worst. There's no excuse anymore. It's because it really is. It's the final one.

This is it. Marner's going to be gone. Tavares is going to be gone. See what happens with Shanahan. It sounds like he's in the mix for the Islanders, for the Islander's job, according to Arthur Staples and some others. Okay. Like, this is.

is we are witnessing the end of something. And I think in a lot of ways, that makes it the worst, the worst one of the bunch. Yeah. No one's hurt this time. Like, you can't be like, we just watched our captain get dangerously concussed and we got freaked out.

Nielander's not hurt. Not great. All right. That was our 20 minutes leave talk. I feel like we do a decent job of not always talking about the Leafs on the show, because there's always so much Leafs content at the athletic,

but this was the big one today. And now we're going to talk for 30 minutes about Kisbury Kappan. I got four minutes on Kisbury Kappa. That's coming up next on the Athletic Hockey Show. All right, welcome back to the athletic hockey show. The other big news and other Canadian hockey team news

on a more fun side of the spectrum. The Edmonton Oilers have a 4-1 series when they beat the Vegas Golden Knights won nothing in overtime on Wednesday night. That was in Vegas. And Kavanaugh, as we were discussing, he gets the OT winner just seven minutes into overtime. We didn't need to have like, I was worried that that was going to be like three OT or something crazy. Actually, when I woke up this morning, I saw game five OT and like it was seven 20 and I was like five OT. He woke me up quick.

I'm like, oh, my God, what I miss? Are they still playing right now? Anyways, the Oilers win, Stuart Skinner, kind of the big story. Sorry, Kasperi Kappanin, but big shootout, shutout streak here. You want to talk about Kappan? Is this, how many playoff winning goals does he have quick? I believe it's two. I think he's got two game winning games in his post.

in career, which is perfect. I, man, it's funny. I joke about it all the time. I see everything through the lens of the Pittsburgh Penguins even still. We have the, we have the, McHale Granlin's hat trick for Dallas on Tuesday night. And we have the Casperi Capitan, overtime game winner for Edmonton on Wednesday night.

Those are guys who were basically, who basically traded roster spots on the, found the banquet in in 20 in 20 23 um credit to caspari captain man i he looked so done at the end at the end in Pittsburgh didn't look like a dude who is who is going to be a playoff contributor in any meaningful way then the dude comes out he plays on line with leon dry sidel looks like he belongs and you know by the end of it of it he's uh he's pushing them through to the conference final it's wild Yeah, and it was a, it was like, you know, a lot of times the OT winner is a dirty goal and a game like that. And he jams in a rebound right on the goal line for the Oilers to win it.

It's, I don't want to go crazy and say like, this is the secondary scoring that the Oilers have needed. I mean, it kind of is, but also like dry saddle and McDavid are still very much driving the bus. I mean, we don't need to, and we don't need to overdo it with Cappanin. But it's like it's been. captain in avander kane like going back you know as they as they completely regain control of of the ship here like it's been it's been obviously mac david he's he didn't have a point yesterday but he had he had a crazy point street going i think he's got 19 already like he's he's handling business he's got it yeah yeah when you when you have the pizzas around

them that are coming up with big goals man they're they're tough to beat and we saw it last year and we're seeing it again. Yeah, what has been interesting. So we can acknowledge the crash out I had with Max. I freaked out. You keep talking about this and I didn't actually listen to it. I freaked out. I was like, this stinks.

This is a joke. How is this what the Oilers look like in year seven or eight or whatever it is now of Connor McDavid? In Edmonton, like their goaltending sucks. They should have gotten Jordan Bennington at the deadline. like I said, like just full on. And then we had something from the crisis line, like the fan line that we have.

I'm sorry, I forget the name of it. I'm a terrible host. That of my job. Fan crisis line. And someone was like, I feel like everyone's freaking out a little early. I'm like, no, we're not. And that was after two games against the Kings.

And look, those games were bad. They were very, very bad. But I guess this is the, this is the boiler's goaltending trend that I should have trusted Stuart Skinner to stink it up, sit behind Calvin Pickard for a couple games, and now be unbeatable. I mean, this is- He's now stopped the last 48 shots he's faced, and he has a 127-minute shutout streak heading into the conference final. How much this is the Jim Hiller effect?

It's like this is like the Jim Hiller butterfly effect. Game three, Kings coach. Yeah. This is a bizarre, pointless, disastrous challenge in that game. It vaults. It vaults the oilers back into the discussion. Yeah, and the Oilers win that game in overtime. And that's, and now.

And then they fire off. A few weeks later, we're talking about Edmonton putting together a very business-like short series win over the of the Vegas Golden Knights who are a team that a lot of people, myself included, had some high helps for coming into this postseason. Like they made they made light work of those dudes.

Yeah. No, I thought that I thought Vegas would I thought this would be a longer series. I thought Vegas would put up more of a fight and I will say like I think maybe some I freak out about the Oilers came from like I

felt like coming into this year's postseason, I didn't think that this was a team that could make it to the cup final. I didn't look at the Oilers and say like they improved based on last year. I was like, as someone else is going to take it either Vegas will make the conference or the cup final or the stars. I was like, this can't be the Oilers year.

And so I think I already came into what feeling a little bit like down on the oilers. I was looking for reasons to pick against them. Yeah. And I think at the start of the playoffs. Two wins by the Kings was like, oh my God, this is it. But yeah, quick work of the Golden Knights. And there was,

McDavid and Drysidl are still the guys. Bouchard is up there now too. But there's been different games where different depth players have stepped up in a meaningful way, to your point earlier. Like yesterday on Wednesday night, it's Caspareeinen. earlier in the week, it's Connor Brown with a goal in game one against the Vegas Golden Knights. You know, Corey Perry has been scoring. He leads the team in goals with five, or it's Evander Kane.

Like the Oilers have guys, their debt players aren't being world beaters, but they are stepping up in meaningful ways at important times the game. And so are their stars. And if Stuart Skinner is going to finally start stopping pucks, like maybe that's, going to be enough for them. We'll see the Dallas stars look like a wagon, but I feel like I need to start, I need to stop doubting the Oilers as much as I have been. I mean, in fairness, everybody you picked against Edmonton in this series or last, the depth player stuff is new. We just watch them lose or like not not lose a bunch of games.

They're obviously a playoff team, but the fact that they're getting meaningful contributions from death players is a is a complete pivot from everything we saw from them over the course of the regular season that was a that was a worst team yeah on the from really the second line on down for the entirety for the entirety of the schedule that we just watch play out right so the fact that they swerve now like credit to them but we had plenty of reason to think that that wasn't going to happen and that's where like some of the freco came as like how are we in 2025 and Corey Perry is the third best player on the Edmonton Oilers. Like, what happened here?

I got to calm down. Everything's fine now. But we will wait and see who the Oilers face in the conference final. Sean, you actually had a great stat, Sean, about the Oilers' ability to get it done at the end of a series. Yeah, I saw from Bob Stoffer, I think it was 14 and 2 in games 4 through 7 under Under Chris. Not Black, that's sick. I'm also, but, you know, before we move on, I'm also, I'm really excited or not excited.

I'm interested in seeing what happens next with Vegas. And Jesse Granger kind of kicked at this after, you know, in the, in the wake of the loss last night. It'll be interesting to where they go next, man. $86 million dedicated to next year's roster. They got five UFAs, you know, guys like, we see Mark Stone not play last night. injuries are always going to be an issue for him. Alex, Alex Patrangelo was dealing with something pretty serious.

It sounds like you're a problematic injury, certainly. Right. Over the last couple months, Tamas, Herod Jack, like these are all, these are all players who, you know,

full no moves. Changing is going to be tough, right? Making real change is, it is going to be a challenge. And if they don't, then what do you have? You're locked into a core that all of a sudden is, is old and expensive and hurt.

Yep. Older, expensive, injury prone in some spots. It'll be interesting. Is there cup window closing? I think the days of treating them as like, you know, a top two or three team in the Western Conference probably is. They're going to need to figure something out. They're going to need it. They're another one. They're going to need to change the mix in one way or another. And it's not going to be easy because, again, tons of money locked up. tons of no movement clauses. Like it's, it's going to be, there's some,

there's some work ahead of Kelly McCriman and those boys over there. I don't want to say I was disappointed in Jack Eichol because he was still nearly a point per game player in the postseason, but he didn't, it just didn't have the same juice as the regular season for me. Like, in the regular season,

I was like, he's a heart trophy. Definitely early, like put some respect on his name. Like first half of the season, I was like he is carrying an older, more injury, pro in Vegas Golden Knights team and it kind of maybe died off a little bit.

Four nations, we're talking to. Yeah. And the other thing. Like, oh my God. For sure. He's great. And the other thing, it's, it's real easy to win a cup with Aden Hill when he's playing fantastic and you're

paying him, you know, $1,5 or whatever it was. He was horrendous against the wild. Awful. Horrendous. He was, he was bad against, bad against Edmonton, too. Yeah. You got your save percentage down. the 870s or whatever.

And now you're signed for six million, six and a quarter million a year for six years. It's different. The math's changing in Vegas. And it's not good. I guess we can quickly, and then the third segment we can talk about Cain's Caps a little bit, because that's a series you're covering Sean.

But obviously for the Oilers, they're going to await the winner of the Dallas, Winnipeg series. The Dallas Stars have a change. to end that series tonight. They're up three to one. I was doing, I'm in like weird PWA HL series or five games. So I didn't, I keep every time I want to say three one, I get confused being like,

wait, that means the series is over. It's first to three in the PWHL. But the Dallas Stars, they're up three one in a series. That game's at 930 Eastern tonight, game five. They have a chance to boot the Winnipeg Jets and make the Western Conference final. Is it feel just like a given? and it's going to be stars, Oilers in the Western Conference Final, Sean. It is for me.

Like, I'm, that's it. Like, go start. You can't. Marat did the math. It's like 31 out of 200 teams who've gone down 3-1 have actually come back and, come back and won it or something. It was, you know, it's 7%. I, we can't, you can't pick against,

you can't pick against Dallas there. certainly can't pick against him when he's when Hallow Bucks playing the way that he did in that in that last game. Like he's just too, the performance is just too volatile on Winnipeg's on the things. Yeah, it's stars

all the way. I always believed in them. I definitely didn't pick them to win the cup at the start of the season and then move off at as soon as Miro Hayskin got hurt. I know. This is the first year I haven't picked the Dallas Stars to win the Stanley Cup. And if they win, I just want to tell

All of you, stars fans, you're welcome. You're welcome. Migo ran in nine goals. He leads the playoffs in goals and points, 19 points, nine goals. He's been unbelievable. I just, I moved off of them with Heiskenen's injury, Jason Robertson's injury. I was like, I don't know how you're going to get past the ass through that. That was it for me.

That was the smart move. But I guess I forgot about Jake Ointer. That's why they play the games, as a smart man once said. Where do you fall very quickly, the last stars thing here? Where do you fall on the whole, like at the Milan Olympics, should Jake Ottinger be the starter for Team USA over Connor Hallibuck? If he beats him in this series, I don't know how you, I don't know how you go against them. Even if Hellebuck has the better stats at the start of the regular season in the NHL next year. Do you say, you know what?

We just saw you stank it up in the playoffs. we're not going to let you do it in a gold medal game. Yeah. How about you play well in the postseason for once their brother? That's what I say. As a Canadian, I just want to know his an Olympic gold medal game the same as the first round of the playoffs for Connor Hallibuck. Like mentally, how are you feeling about the two? Yeah, we're going to watch him do his little eye exercises in the red, white and blue jersey.

You see how that plays. Okay. I think they should start him. Yeah. Coming from a truly unbiased, non-nationalistic perspective, yes, I agree. Yeah, I just think Jake Ottinger might not have it, you know? We'll see. All right, let's take a break. What are you going to say? It's Ottinger. It's McKenzie Blackwood. The gold medal's on the line. Let's go. Yeah. Terrible, terrible. We don't have to talk about the Canada crease. It'll be Logan Thompson. He's great. We can talk about him on the, oh.

Is it a cringe? We could talk about him in the final segment of the athletic hockey show. We'll be right back. All right, welcome back to the athletic hockey show. Last but certainly, certainly not least. We've got Cain's caps coming up tonight. It might be, it might be least. You don't have to, you don't have to pander to me.

I know everybody hates this series. It's fine. It's just, it's not that we hate it. It's just like, Tom Wilson's not you know punching Andre Svetnikov on the bench and he's doing that he did the

goalies aren't getting hurt that just doesn't have the same theatrics I would say Tom Wilson's mocking the storm surge prematurely in that's not doing cry cry baby memes you know it's just not as memeable is what I would say

I guess so as someone who's like a brain that's what you look for if that's what you look for in a hockey series like you're this isn't i want quick clips on ticot after the game and sphachnikov's just not really serving that for me can i interest you in already i shouldn't speak that way yeah what are what are you come on tell us about the series are the canes just gonna can't get it done tonight um i kind of think we're going back to raleigh and that's the vibe that's the vibe i've had

I've had for the last couple days. I think what Spencer Carberry is doing with his lines is A, a good idea, and B, probably a little bit overdue because you have Connor McMichael has been, you know, one of their two or three most dangerous offensive players. They're dropping him off second line wing. He's going to center a third line with Ryan Leonard, with Ryan Leonard and Andrew Mangyipani, because they have to get sustained offense from somewhere, right?

And I think that gives them a better chance, a better chance to do it. Second line is now three of three gigantic human beings. It's Pierre-Luc Dubois, Tom Wilson, and Alexi Protas, which is just, I, PLD is the little guy on that line. Alexi Proto is one of the largest hockey players I've ever. Really? He's six, six, and he is thick. He's like, he's like, more Fritzwitzweig than Ovechkin? I would say he's built a little bit differently than Ovechkin at his point in his city of their careers.

Seeing Alex Ovechkin in person is a thing that like you can't prepare yourself for. He walked by me. I was at a PWHPA event a couple years ago and we're just like in the practice rink and he just like walk by because they got off the ice and I'm standing in the rink. And I was just like, oh my God. Yeah. It was like, I don't know. Yeah. And then fridge.

Refrigerator. And it's still a Vegkin and Strom. Obviously, they're moving Anthony Pavilion back up. That's a line that had some success. Yeah. Earlier in the postseason. So I,

the upshot of all this is that Lars Eller is on the bench. And I think that's something that probably a lot of Caps fans are going to be happy to see. And I, I can, I can vouch for that. And a lot of them are also saying, again, this is a game or two games.

or one series too late because they got to figure something else. But yeah, I think if I had to put money on it, I would probably, I'd probably bet on it going to game six. Logan Thompson, you mentioned, you mentioned him in the second, at the end of the second segment there. He's been legitimately incredible at home. Like, to the point, I'm always hesitant of being like, you know, of splitting down too far where you talk about homes,

home splits, road splits, night games, you know, the last 11, 11, whatever, you can drill it down too far, right? But I think the degree to which Logan Thompson's been a completely different contender in the playoffs at home is relevant to me in this one. Yeah. Well, I think Frederick Anderson deserves some credit and, like, goalies. Carolina typically don't get enough of it because they dominate the shot share and there's so much offensive zone time. But like he leads all goalies in the postseason with a 1.41 goals against average in a 935 save percentage. Maybe he's not being tested as much as other goalies

have been in the postseason. But like he's making the saves he needs to make and he's doing his job back there. And he looks great and, you know, just as a human, it's nice to see him like healthy. and playing hockey, I think he's been a huge part of the mix for them more than he maybe gets credit for it because of the Carolina system. If Carolina gets this done, we're going to look back on the first period of game three is the pivot point for all of it. And that was all Freddie Anderson, correct? He was fantastic.

And then the canes tip the ice after that moment, but like he's the reason why they weren't a hole. 100. Like, high danger chances in this series are basically the same. If you throw out, if you throw out game one, that was when we had the ridiculous, the ridiculous shot clock stuff happening, happening with Caroline in that one. But since then, you know, each team has had basically an equal amount of, of, of prime chances in, you know, one's cashed in on them and one hasn't. And that's, that's the difference. And then you want to string it out a little bit further. That's, that's, that's Freddie Anderson. been probably the best, easy case for being the best goal in the playoffs this far. Yeah. The Capitals have just had 77 shots on goal in this series. That's an average of around 19 per game. And the canes have blocked 45 shots.

Just crazy, crazy the way, like they're doing it. And I think, I feel like it's just been an old takes exposed day for me. I thought this was maybe the year where the canes like take a step back, But maybe this is the year where they're actually going to get it done. There's a lot to like about what's going on there, right? I think, I think Svetnikov, especially in the first round, looked fantastic. You know, this is a very, this is a very, this is a very, this is a very hurricane series that we're watching play out here.

Yeah. And that's not a bad thing. That's not derogatory. No, it's not. It's not. They're, nobody should make any. I said this yesterday, but, whatever. Like, there's two sides of the coin. Like, Kane's fans need, need to, need to get over it.

They, they need to get over the fact that people maybe aren't enthralled by watching their brand hockey. And they should also just, they should also just enjoy, enjoy it, right? Like, don't, don't make apologies for it. But everyone else needs to stop, like, it's almost like people, I think that some of the people who are the loudest about like making fun of Carolina hockey like don't actually watch. They just see that people are like making fun of the canes again and like jump in. They can be a rough watch, especially on television and people are allowed to say that. Like, but at the end of the day, this is cool it too. This is an elite.

This is an elite hockey team. Right. And if you're if you're a fan of Carolina Hurricanes, like who cares if Sean Gentilea from Pittsburgh is is half asleep watching your games on? watching your games on TV. It doesn't, it doesn't matter. I think game two was the one where I was like, oh, this is a little tough.

But other than that, it's been fine. Hockey series are long, man. And not every, not every game's going to be a winner. That's just the way it goes. All right. Is there anything else to watch for tonight, John? Yeah, we might be seeing the NHL debut of Alexander Niketian.

Maybe it was the best defenseman in the KHL, this past season. He's 20, 23 or 24 top prospect. He's gigantic, huge. Cori Lavalette called him Proto. Maybe he could give him a run. Not quite. Not quite on par with the world's largest man Alexei Proto's, but that's okay.

Corey Lavlett called him hulking in his, in his story from practice yesterday. It's a fascinating story, right? Peter, Peter Baugh wrote it well. the hoops that Carolina's front office jumped through to have this guy ready and in the fold and take care of immigration and in all that stuff

in preparation for the playoffs. Hasn't been able to draw into the lineup for a variety of different reasons. But Jalen Chatfield was already dealing with something. Tweeted it in the, I believe the second period of game four. He had a two and a half minute shift and then basically, and then hit the bench.

and barely played for the rest of the game. Didn't practice yesterday. Nkishin was on a pair with Dimitri Orlov, our old, our old buddy from the top of the show. He's doing better. And man, all that, all the reports, Corey Promin's write-ups on, on Nekishian over the years have, have me completely fascinated. He's big and skilled and mean. And he's a, he's a potential difference maker. And he's, whether it's now or in three years.

years, right? And it seems like we're going to get our first look at them, or at least have a real good chance at that tonight. Seems like an interesting dynamic to throw onto the Keynes Blue Line. Well, you know, like this is. Yeah, and this is the time to see to see what it looks like. You know, not to smirts the Washington Capitals, but this is a 3-1 series. Like if you have any interest in seeing what Niketian brings in the mix, if you think he's even remotely capable of contributing this year, like this is. the time to work them in. See what happens. The stakes are as low as they're going to get in a playoff series, I think, in this one. So you might as well see what happens. All right. So that's the show. We've got two games on tap tonight. It's Canes Caps in D.C.C. And stars, Jets. And that's the athletic hockey show. I've been doing the show for four years, I think, now, and I still don't know how to end it. Thanks, Sean, for doing this while you're in

DC. Chevy Chase Maryland again. Right. Right. Right. Right. No relation to the Chevy Chase. We've been honest.

We're not going to do this on there. We can just go. Just Google it. Hash it out again later on. But thanks for doing this while you're in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Hope you have time to get to morning skate and avails and da-da-da. Thanks everyone for listening to the athletic hockey show. It was nice to be back with everyone and with Sean, not with

Max. He hated Max Bolton. The Prospect Series has a new show tomorrow. So if you do like Max Bolton, you can hear him there. Enjoy the hockey tonight. We'll be back next Thursday.