The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: Get Off Rose's Plane

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Rose has hijacked the plane today as she starts the show in the big chair to kick us off on our hot takes, winners and losers of the week. This week's edition features some great goaltending, injury concerns for Sweden at The Four Nations Challenge and big-time fights between some of the league's heavyweights. Then, Avry Lewis-McDougall of Avry's Sports Show and The Hockey News joins the show to discuss Connor McDavid's suspension for his cross check of Conor Garland, Leon Draisatil's incredible season and whether or not Nathan MacKinnon has stolen the mantle from McDavid. The show wraps up with our Panthers recap of a week in which the reigning Stanley Cup Champion, Florida Panthers, went 2-1 with two wins over the Anaheim Ducks and a loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And I was able to buy reserve tickets for my favorite band. It's not just you. With T-Mobile, everyone can get VIP status. That means access to exclusive events and experiences just for being a customer. At T-Mobile, VIP means Y-O-U. Check out the VIP treatment at tmobile.com slash benefits. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, So David, how about some hockey today? Hi Rose. Hi.

You're not Roy. No, Roy, sorry. Roy has been demoted. Roy's been demoted? Yeah. Where's Roy? He's on the other side. Hey Roy.

I don't understand how I'm able to be demoted considering I'm the goddamn executive producer of the f***ing show. Apparently, Rose, what's the deal? Apparently I'm gonna have to mute that part because you don't know how to produce but... What?! Hi everybody, I am Rose and here I have David from the Hacking News

to my left there I have Ethan Badowski and there I have Roy! Oh, this is gonna be fun watching you try to do traffic here. Yeah so as you know we start with our hot takes and today I want to give you my hot take because we just not only talk about hockey so I have a video of my hot take. I'm taking over the hockey show.

This is like that 70s show when they would all get high in a circle and the zoom, that's what that reminded me of right there. What is your take Rose? I don't understand. I'm taking over the hockey show. I thought you said that just now. Rose playing with the English language a little bit. I like it.

How about that? What is yours, Dave? My win hot take? What am I doing? Your hot take. My hot take. Okay. I've got two.

My first one, players need to stop crashing into goalies and defensemen need to stop helping players crash into goalies. It's happening all the time. I get you need to defend. I get you need to play hard, but you got to be aware of your goaltender and you got to protect your goaltender. Stop. Of course, bias. It was going to be a goaltending thing. Thank you. Thank you, Roy. She's fitting right in. She's just like Roy, dude. Fits right in.

This is plagiarism. Am I wrong? Am I wrong that players players that defensemen are pushing guys into gold? Like it's not a stop. Well David. I mean Jacob March from going down for something actually happened Rose. Oh Okay Yes, I do agree, but um just go tending I was hoping you were gonna say something barky and this is a big loss David just to touch on this Markstrom loss He's probably gonna miss the He's probably gonna miss the four nations. I don't know if we're gonna be able to get any hockey analysis

This is a mess with his eligibility for the Vezina, which he was probably number two behind Connor Hellebuyck I mean Connor Hellebuck's gonna run away with the Vezina this year But yeah Markstrom I was listening to 32 thoughts this morning and Elliott Friedman was basically saying He's gonna be out a minute and it's probably gonna throw off his four nations, which for Sweden, they're now down Markstrom, they're probably down Olmark, so they're gonna be on their third, fourth, fifth choice goalie possibly, and that could throw off

their entire tournament, like the Swedes have a solid team that could be really competitive, and all of a sudden, injuries might get in their way here. As far as defensemen pushing the opponent into their own goaltenders, that's something that they should actually teach you. Well, there's no checking the mites, but they should absolutely teach you that in mites. You don't do that to your own goaltender. Right? Doesn't make any sense to me. Just to finish Ethan's thought, behind Markstrom and Olmark, NHL goalies from Sweden, Anton Forsberg, Philip Gustafsson, Sam Erson in Philly, Jojo,

everybody loves little Jonas Johansson. But yeah, it kind of falls off a cliff a little bit after the top end, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. Freach was saying they're gonna have to call Erson, and then he made the joke of, you know, getting Joey DeCord to get some Swedish nationality. My detective test determined that was a lie.

So now you're playing because Miami Carts now? What are you doing? What are you doing? I'm trying to tell Ethan that that was a lie. Okay. What's your hot take? How do you know that? Oh, I don't know.

I'm just guessing here. What's your hot take, Roy? Thank you, Rose. My hot take is let's never lose this. In the Maple Leafs Blue Jackets game, we got ourselves an old school tilt. Look at this, this is Ryan Reeves. Finally.

This is the good stuff here. Finally, getting into his first fight of the season. Finally. Oh yeah. In that right hand. Look at that, this is against Matthew Olivier. I love that. I love how all of his extremities

kind of went in a different direction there for a beat. Ooh, I love these swings. Look at these swings right here. He caught himself and where's the here comes the fun part right? Where they just start wailing. Oh they wailed already. Oh did I miss the whales? My hot take here is there's nothing more try hard than not wearing a visor in 2024. Like just put a visor on. No well that's mandated now. You have to write. It's grandfathered in. It's the shield that goes over your eyes and it was mandated that everybody after 2013-14 has to wear one, but there are certain guys that because they played a certain amount of games before a certain date. No, no, if

you were in the league before the rule was made then you're kind of grandfathered in. Correct. It was like we're talking about this poor Craig Metavish back when Roy and I were growing up watching hockey, you guys probably have no idea, but he was like the only guy in the league for years that didn't wear a helmet. He had this big curly haired thing and like it must have been like 10 years maybe about that. He was like literally the only guy in the NHL that didn't wear a helmet. Yeah, I think there's only four guys left that don't wear visors and they're all just like, just do it man.

Jamie Ben, I don't get it. Protect your eyes. Get over yourself, Jamie Ben. You guys have hijacked my hot take. Like legitimately hijacked the hot take. And you over here soon in my seat. It sucks being on that side. Yeah, Rose hijacked your seat, man. Don't get mad at me. That's today's- Bullshit, man.

Today's show is- I'm not done. I'm not done. And as much as people over the past 20 years had wanted to get fighting out of the game, you can't. You absolutely can't. Fighting is very much needed in this sport. 100%. 100%.

They need this in the sport So the sport can never really fully get rid of fighting they can regulate it But I don't even want to think about a world where hockey tries to like take out fighting from hockey Can you imagine like just the response? Imagine all the stick work because I mean they're playing with dangerous objects out there you get angry enough You're gonna see some strings out there. That's why fat fighting is they need to let out that aggression right yes absolutely yeah actually had a second hot take can we can we get back to that for a second well the Rose has the direct traffic so she's the host yes go to your second

hot take okay so the other night in Toronto Toronto was playing Columbus and Columbus one which was you know nice but um so when a goalie loses their stick Okay, so the other night in Toronto, Toronto was playing Columbus and Columbus won, which was nice. So when a goalie loses their stick, generally, they are able to take a player's stick instead, if a goalie's stick gets broken or whatever. So in this case, Columbus Goaltenders, is that Merzelieckens, I think, lost their stick, picked up Austin Matthews, whose stick was on the ice for some reason, and then Matthews decides, well, bleep you, I'm gonna take your goalie stick,

and he tried to play with his goalie stick. My hot take is, why is this illegal? If the goalie- Why is it illegal? Why is it illegal? Because it's interference. If the goalie drops his stick and can pick up a player's stick-

Did he get a penalty for this? Yes. I didn't know that. They both did, actually. Then it was a hot cake. You're making yourself laugh over it. I don't know they both did actually then it was a hot cake You're making yourself laugh, I don't understand what You interrupted his take for that. Let's move on. You want to move on sad now. All right hosts, please traffic. What's next Rose?

Next turn on your mic. It's Winds of the week and I'm gonna start with Dave because we cut him off. What's your win of the week? Okay. Well well thank you. My win of the week and I kind of dedicate it to Roy and to Ethan because you guys give me crap for crapping on the Sabres, but my win of the week is for UPL. Uko Pekaluken and Buffalo's goalie for making this ridiculous save on our buddy little Connor Garland as Buffalo won in Vancouver the other night. Buffalo is actually, since they went on that 13 game losing streak, they're actually above 500, which is interesting. That's amazing.

Seven, six, and one, however, to be fair, they have lost four of six and seven of 11, so they are still the Sabers. But, some love for Buffalo, above 500 since the losing streak, and UPL with a pretty ridiculous save for a big win in Vancouver. Yes, Laughing Cow? Yeah.

Turn your mic on! Rose, rose, try and say, Oopa pek- Ooka peka- Lukanen. Oopa lukanen. Ooka peka- Ooka peka-

Pek- Lukanen. Lukanen. Ooka peka- Lukanen. There you go. You make it sound like a Polynesian chant. No, it's not a Polynesian chant.

I was trying to find words to talk to Mally, but I couldn't find my button. I see. I know. Okay. All right. Next. Next. So my win of the week.

No, Roy, we're going to go to you. So what's your win of the week? My win of the week. This has sound. My win of the week comes from... Roy! Darren Pang Experience. Can't experience experience until you experience the experience in this link. What?

Well, it's just math. Clearly. See, all it takes is experience and bullshit. So come experience some of my bullshit. That's right. You can't have, you can't experience experience until you experience the experience because when you experience the experience the only thing Will be the experience of learning the experience That will be experience you are now experiencing the strength of hockey knowledge Ethan. I

Don't I don't got anything right? You don't have any experience I've got some That was harder than- I'm getting there. I've got some experience. Your trabalenguas was harder than upa uka baluga. My cun- Uka, peka, My cun-galingas? What are you talking about?

What? Trabalinguas, find it in Spanish. Uka? Why? We speak English on this one. Uka? Uga culabilla. So my win of the week goes to our girl 22

Where's my video Why are we showing basketball? 23 on the 22nd you see my trawling was there look at her That's a nice assist Because that's my win of the week, it's called the hockey show, not the Caitlin Clark show. Also the WNBA season has not started yet. I had jacked the thing, so it's the Rose saying happy birthday to Caitlin.

Happy birthday Caitlin, my win of the week. I want you to look behind you at that screen. What does it say? The Rosie show. We need to make one, Rosie. We need to make a graphic. The Rosie show. And I want also the hotcake. You want a hotcake?

Yeah, because instead of a hotcake, hotcake. Okay, so there's no wins without loses. Losses. Losses, sorry. Linguists. Yeah, kind of whatever you said. No hay ganancias sin perdida. I'm getting uncomfortable. English. English. Next.

What? HR is going to come for this. We have HR? I don't know, but all this talk about stuff, I don't know. Rose is trying to find the button to push. Roy's talking about Cuney Lingus back there. And I'm just sitting here like, what? Can we just talk about hockey?

Hey, listen. I just repeated what I thought I heard. David, what is your win of the week? Wait. Fail of the week. win of the week? Wait. Fail of the week. Fail of the week, sorry. I think I'm living it right now. My fail of the week is not the Buffalo Sabres, Roy.

It is the San Jose Sharks, because they were winning 5 to 1 in Nashville the other night with like 7 minutes to go in the second period and lost in regulation It's not just that they lost in regulation They were down 6-5 with 11 minutes left in the third period so from seven minutes in the second period that's seven about 16 minutes of game time it took for them to go from up 5-1 to down 6-5 Right I feel bad like what do you do if you're a coach? As you got a big lead. You just stay in there.

But no, for your goaltender. Because Georgiev just got pummeled. And they were pumping goal after goal after goal. But he's got the lead. But do you switch your goal even though he's ahead and maybe try to give your team a boost? Because they're obviously getting shelled. And the wave of the Predators is coming on top of them.

And that whole sentence is something I'm not comfortable with. But the whole issue with the San Jose Sharks, stop laughing. I can't. The whole thing with the Sharks, I really thought for a minute, for a beat, that maybe they were turning things around.

And then they traded Mackenzie Blackwood and it's just been falling apart a little bit since. But that right there there that was rough. Microphone please. That's what you were saying. Stop turning your mic off you're not Dan stop that. Oh I'm not supposed to turn it off? No! Oh okay. You're the host chair your mic is supposed to be on all times during the segment. Okay beautiful don't give me a mic because if not, let's see what happens.

Yeah, I'm watching it right now. I'm loving it. I'm loving it. Roy, what's your fail of the week? My fail of the week is coming from Albert Jackeye. We're getting back to fighting here. During the Maple Leafs-Canadians game last week, Montreal got out to a three-nil lead

and Ryan Reeves wanted to fight he wanted to get into a fight and uh Albert Jack I all he did was point at the scoreboard and then skid it away and then later in the game delivered a check on Ryan Reeves uh and just insult the injury there you know laying the hit and not fighting. That's not cool. Now, there's a code, there's an unwritten rule here, and I would like to get somebody like Stu Grimson on the show, Stu Grimson right now is working for NHL Network, and he's a noted pugilist.

He knows what the fight game is about and what should happen in these situations, and we really should get them on. But maybe he should have fought, though, because he should have fought. He was saying, no, he's pointing to the scoreboard that they were up three to nothing at the time. Well, what happened? Roy missed the best part. Yeah, it is the best part of all of this at the time, by the way,

because he's pointing to the scoreboard and then they go on and lose seven three. Thank you, Ethan. That's why I was trying to get you. You were. You didn't get to it. I thought you were letting us get to it. I thought you were letting us get to it. I thought you were letting us get to it. I was supposed to be the host of this show, except I got kicked out of the goddamn studio by Rose. Because the name of the show is hijack. Royce gets hijacked. Roy!

That is karma though. The Maple Leafs came back to win 7-3. That's karma. Yeah. Fight. Fight your fights, Arbor Jacki. You learned a lesson. It doesn't end there because the very next game, the Canadians played the Rangers and Arbor Jacki had zero problem fighting Matt Rampy.

Now as big as Rampy is, and this is technically a mismatch in size, I mean this is a heavyweight tilt but Rampy is tall and got some girth to him. Let's be honest, Rampy is not a good fighter. Is he good at anything besides being big? This is what I always say about Rampy. His only thing is he's big. He's slow. He's not a great offensive player.

We know he's a fourth-line guy. He hits people and gets suspended every time he hits somebody, and he gets in a fight with Jacques and he gets his ass kicked Yeah, and this clearly means to me That Jack guy ducked Ryan Reeves. Well and look what happened this time though He ducked Ryan Reeves and they got dunked on they lost seven to three this time. He fights Fight their fights. They're losing when he fights and then they came back in one for your fights fight your fights and you win your games like there's a lesson to be learned here

ryan reese was uh... axed uh... why jack i'd talked to me in the canadians maple leaves came this way have to say was your perspective on interaction with jack i played on saturday well unfortunately uh... for the day we look look at, who's perspective, but unfortunately we rattled off seven after that, I guess. I guess so, yeah. I mean, you

know, I think when you're a younger guy and you do that to somebody who's been in the league for that long, you know, maybe that guy's not going to give you one when you need one. You know that anytime there's a fight now you know somebody needs some momentum and you know if you need a momentum and asked me and I give it to him and you know I expect it back and I would have I would have obliged if he would have done it there but you know you want to point the scoreboard and then get rattled off for seven and it's tough luck he's absolutely right. Absolutely right.

Lessons learned. What the hell are you doing, Rose? Well, Ryan Reeves was talking. She took out Scotch tape and taped her mouth shut. You're supposed to talk as the host of the show. Why are you taking your mouth shut? Because I don't have any fails of the week because it's just win-win-win for me. Okay, get out of the studio. I'm done with this. Avery Lewis McDougal of the Hockey News, of Avery's Sports Show, and of the Third Intermission podcast. He's going to talk about the oldest

and what's going on in the league coming up next. Get the f*** out of the studio. What? I'm gonna have to blip that. This is a message from sponsor Intuit Turbo Tax. Guys, Taxes was dealing with piles of paperwork and frustrating forms, and then waiting and wondering and worrying if you're going to get any money back. Now, Taxis is easily uploading your forms to a TurboTax expert who's matched to your

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Okay, we are joined by Avery Lewis McDougall. He is the host of Avery's sports show and the third intermission podcast. He also writes for the Hiking News covering the Edmonton Earlers. And I'm going to get started with what happened last week between Conor McDavid and also with Tyler Myers because they both got suspended for three games. Let's show the video of Conor McDavid's cross check to the face of Conor Garland. This happened during the Ole's-Conucks game. As you can see, Conor Garland was hassling him

a little bit. I mean, there was like three penalties for Conor Garland there, holding, holding, holding, and then, oh! There's a cross check to the penalties for Conor Gallin there holding holding holding and then oh There's a cross check to the face by Conor McDavid Who was then tossed out of the game and on the other side of the ice? Well, not on the other side of the ice on the for the other team for the Canucks tally Myers Near the corner ended up cross checking Emma Bouchard in the face much similar to Conor McDavidavis cross check and yeah both guys got suspended for three games they will be back relatively soon

now the amateur Orlers and this is just embarrassing in fact Ethan thinks this is pretty much a big-time L as he told me our loser of the week but yeah I wanted to ask Avery about it, so. Yeah, let's put the press release on the screen for Avery, and I'll read it out loud for audio. The oldest organization is disappointed, and we share in our fans' frustration over the three-game suspension of our captain,

Conor McDavid. We support him through this process, and the organization, and our fans look forward to having him back in the lineup versus Seattle next week. That's embarrassing. It's a little bit. That's embarrassing.

Avery, you cover the Edmonton All-Urs. I don't think you're going to have any bias in this situation. That was clearly a suspendable offense, even though he's most definitely not a 30 player. He was defending himself, but you know, you got to do a better job than that. And the Edmonton Oilers press release. What do you think about what happened in that situation? Okay, I'll start with the press release first of all, guys. And to me, what did that solve?

We all know you're mad. We all know you're mad at the suspension, which yes, was warranted. You can't cross-check a guy in the face, no matter who you are, no matter if you're mad at the suspension which yes was warranted. You can't cross-check a guy in the face no matter who you are. No matter if you're Connor McDavid, if you're a third-line guy, you played in simple cannot do that. It'll be a suspension every single time. But the statement I thought was you already know you're mad. That was kind of a pointless thing to put out there. I don't understand what you really accomplished with that and to me personally gang with that play this is more blame to go on the officials.

They let that Falamander play turn into a gong show. That is on West McCauley and his crew losing control of that game. And I am so done with West McCauley and how they call games. Call the rule book, call a penalty on Connor Garland, because Connor Garland was right out there trying to sack Big David like he's Max Crosby. You can't do that. Call a penalty, dude. Yeah, that just seemed like,

as far as Conor McDavid is concerned, that seems like some Sidney Crosby shit. I think Conor McDavid was really pissed at the end of that play, and rightly so, but I think McDavid may have been trying to draw a penalty, because he wasn't really fighting back that much. Look, Conor Garland, 5'10", 170. Connor McDavid, 6'1", 195.

Dave, I don't think they're gonna call penalties that late in the game. No, but I'm saying Connor McDavid is not gonna get manhandled by Connor Garland unless he wants to get manhandled by Connor Garland. So he's saying he was flopping. Why couldn't Connor McDavid stand up for himself, throw him off?

You're clearly got a size and weight advantage there. You're saying he was flopping. I'm saying he was, I don't know, I'm saying he could have thrown him off if You're clearly got a size and weight advantage there. You're saying he was flopping I'm saying he was I don't know I'm saying he could have thrown him off if he wanted to it He really looked like the submissive as we watched that video over and over again He looked like he was just taking it from Connor Island and then he got pissed off when nothing happened at the end So that's just my two sides I was watching this game live and it had the feel of a playoff game at the end of it and to me like is

This something that's getting called in the playoffs when it's a one goal game, there's an empty net already, and guys are just out there scrapping, trying to do anything they can to keep the puck away from the start player? I don't think you're gonna see that in the playoffs because A, McDavid isn't gonna let himself get taken out of a play for 30 seconds with a playoff game

on the line. I just don't see that happening in another situation. The more I watch it, the more I'm wondering why was Connor McDavid not fighting back harder? It really looked like he was just taking it. Dude, quite frankly, and we've seen this, I don't think they're calling it penalty the entire period in the playoffs, let alone in that last minute situation. For a cross check to the face out of nowhere, they'll call that. But for all that dipsy-doodling, gripping, clutching, all that, I don't think so.

But I also think you gotta fight back. Like, Connor Garland wasn't doing all that much, like they were literally just sitting there on the ice for a good five seconds, barely moving. Like, what are we doing, guys? Avery, I think you're right. The officiating, at least this season, has been pretty lackluster.

And in that situation, it was pretty lackluster as well. I mean, you gotta, obviously, you gotta give gamers conduct to both McDavid and Tyler Myers, but you pretty much, I think you're pretty much calling for Russ McAuley's firing at this point. I mean, there's got to be some level of, if not discipline, transparency with the officials in this league. There's got to be a level of, okay, like other leagues have a pool reporter like in Major League Soccer, like the NBA. What's McAuley should then talk have a pool reporter like in Major League Soccer, like the NBA, Wes McCauley should then talk to a pool reporter and say, hey, this is what I saw. This is why we didn't call penalties on Connor Garland for this, for ABCD. Referees shouldn't be allowed to escape without any

scrutiny from the media or the fans after a game. They shouldn't be allowed to. You should be caught forced to account for why you didn't call for demolition during what happened in Vancouver. So Avery, I want to move a little bit past our frustrations with what happened against the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks. I want to talk to you about the trade deadline that's coming up in less than a month, or just over a month now. I think maybe five weeks. It's on March 7th. There's been a lot of talk up in that neighborhood, speaking of Vancouver, of JT Miller, as he's probably on 7th, there's been a lot of talk up in that neighborhood speaking of Vancouver of J.T. Miller, as he's probably on the top of everybody's

trade deadline list, you're hearing a lot about Brock Nelson. The Goli Market, maybe not as high in demand, I think John Gibson's probably the best one out there, but as we get closer, and as somebody who's up in that neck of the woods, what are you hearing about J.T. Miller, and just what's your take on the deadline as it's coming up? So, sorry, J.T. Miller, it sounds like a trade will eventually happen, but it's not like the teams

that have been mentioned have been teams in the Eastern Conference in Eastern USA. A possible deal to New York was discussed, the Devils, Carolina. So it sounds like if there's a deal for JT Miller happening, it is going to send him back to the Eastern Conference. I know Elliott Friedman has suggested that he didn't want to be traded to another team in Canada. Not sure how true that is, but it does sound more like JT Miller if and when he does get dealt, it's going to be back to a team in the Eastern Conference gang. Avery, I heard a few weeks ago Elliott Friedman report that there's a scenario where one gets traded, none get traded, or both get traded. So it seems like at least one is definitely going to get traded. But what's the possibility that both JT Miller and Elias

Pedersen get moved at this deadline? Right. Right now, it sounds low. It sounds like the move to make is more JT Miller. And I think that's what it should be. Elias Pedersen is younger. There is more upside. There's a brighter future long term. If you stick by Pedtersson in Vancouver. I mean, yes, JT Miller is a guy who has given the Canucks in the past 90 point seasons,

been a solid player, but in terms of you're looking for the future in three, four or five years, then you only win by keeping Elias Pettersson. You do not thrive by dealing both Miller and Pettersson. You're kind of restarting things. You're kind of telling people you would know to have success or to win is fully close if you trade both guys in my mind. Avery, I want to switch gears and go out east now. I don't know if any of us can answer this question, but I'm just going to put it out into the atmosphere as I talk about it.

Has a goalie making the lead minimum ever won the Vezina or the heart? Probably not, right? We got a guy this year who is definitely in that conversation, and his name is Logan Thompson. When he's not distracted by nachos. Look, who's not gonna get distracted by nachos? I feel for him there. I'd get distracted by nachos if I was in the crease,

or any real snack food when you're on the ice, to be honest. Logan Thompson's making 776K this year, which to us is a lot of money. To an NHL guy, not quite as much. Well, now it's not quite as much. For real. This is a guy who I saw him get traded at the draft last year. He was at the sphere signing autographs as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. And while at the table

signing autographs, he gets traded to the Washington Capitals. Now the Capitals are one of the best teams in the league this year. Thompson is certainly in the conversation for the Vezina. Obviously Connor Hellebuyck is kind of running away with it but as we saw Jacob Markstrom got injured you never know what could happen but either way Thompson's having an incredible year and I just wanted to get your take on such a such an unique situation where Goaltender not thought of is a whole lot heading into this season obviously not and really taking the league over one of the best teams in the east this year. No, it's a really cool story. You know, when the season began, I didn't really know what Washington's direction was going to be on an older team,

wasn't sure what their direction was going to be after missing the playoffs. But to see Logan Thompson coming in, as you mentioned, David, traded out the draft, the funny situation guy who endured himself to the Vegas fan base gets dealt goes in it's a really great Story if you're making most of opportunity in Vegas and you see the Capitals are now the best team in each I look like a real juggernaut going forward here in January Every you covered it all is and we've all seen the disappointing start, but they have now Scratched and clawed their way to a point out of the Pacific Division League. Was there a switch that got flipped?

What happened there? I would say honestly, it was a matter of guys not named McDavid and Dry-Cytle stepping up as well too, but also Leon. Leon is a guy who is leading the league in goals. He's probably going to hit the 60 goal barrier for the first time, but it's been more than just him and McDavid stepping up. You've been getting production from again, guys like Zach Hyman. You've been getting scoring from the back end.

This is a team that after many, many years, people always wonder what is the production going to come up from guys beyond those two players? And they're finally getting it now from other guys, like I mentioned, like Hyman. And the game again, they gave me one last night. You got goals from guys like Kessbury Kaepernick. You're seeing role players stepping up more and more. So Edmonton finding ways to be a well balanced team is a major factor in this team being one point out of the division lead.

As somebody who's been covering the lead for a while, Avery, I wanted to get your opinion on something that I read in the athletic. I don't know if it was yesterday. Maybe it was this morning. It's hard to keep track. Apparently communal hangouts and drinking is down in the NHL and gaming and THC gummies are up in the NHL. And this may be a sign of the times, but I can remember as like a, you know, a teenager going after Panthers games across the street to the Wolfgang Puck restaurant and like following like I think Lance Pitlick, got his autograph in the bathroom once like it was just the coolest thing because you had access to players as they were out hanging out now we don't have that

anymore and it was just kind of saddening to me and as somebody who's covered the lead for a while I just wanted to get your take on whether you think this is kind of the sign of the times now. I think it is you're seeing players now in large part taking care of their bodies more. They're not going to those vices like alcohol as much. And gaming is really the thing that bonds all players together now, especially the younger players. And I saw it myself. I started covering hockey at the WHL level at 16 years old, and I covered my first NHL game at 18. So I relate to a lot of guys who were in that category who were gamers. I was really the first generation of guys who were diehard gamers, be it NHL, FIFA, Madden, Fortnite, Call of Duty. And that's really the thing now is not going out in large part drinking.

It's more, yeah, gaming. And again, you're imaging THC, cannabis use. I think the times are changing. I think it's for the better in my mind, really. Before we close this out really quickly, and I might even add another Ola to the situation for the hard trophy this year, McKinnon, McDavid, or Dry Cytol?

Someone else. That's not the question I wanted to ask. I gotta ask. This is the question I wanted to ask. Avery, I've got a take recently. You get to watch Conor McDavid every night. You're very lucky. It's harder for us to watch him every night over here. No direct flights. I really love I watch Nathan McKinnon and I say is that Is that guy really that like?

Best play and really on a different level so so best player in the league. Okay, McDavid or McKinnon Okay. McDavid or McKinnon. Oh, that's for me to answer. Oh man, I still think it's Connor McDavid. I still think it's coming David because when he's not scoring, he's probably one of the best playmakers in the NHL. He finds ways to be effective when he's not scoring. He's the kind of guy who can go out there and say, Oh, you know what? I may not be able to have a 40 goal year. I'm going to have 100 assists. Like he is still a guy who can think the game better than 99.9% of the league. And Nathan McKinnon is a beast as well too. That's a guy who in 15 years will be in the Hall of Fame in Toronto, but I might be a little bit biased still, but I am still going to go Connor McDavid in my mind.

I'm going to take his hesitation as a win because the fact that he had to even but I am still gonna go Connor McDavid in my mind or Nathan McKinnon. That's why I said like you have to crush him. I'm gonna take his hesitation as a win because the fact that he had to even think about it means we're getting to a point where I'm not crazy for thinking that McKinnon might be better. No, you're just crazy. I think we're seeing the bias though because to your point Avery,

Connor McDavid right now, 20 goals, 45 assists, Nathan McKinnon, 19 goals, 56 assists. So who's the playmaker now? Pfft. By the way, Dry Settle has 35 goals already. It's crazy. Well yeah. And 74 points.

Get off my plane. They got some good, good players in Edmonton. Hey, this is not the Dan Lovatore show. Why are we playing that sound? Just, cause Rose is producing now. Rose is pushing buttons. This is why we can't trust Rose in the big chair. Rose is just, she's taking over today,

for better or worse. Stewardess over here. Avery Lewis McDougal. Oh my God. Avery's sports show and the third intermission podcast and he covers the oldest for the hockey show. Avery. Thank you No pleasure gang anytime. It was a blast and we apologize for Rose. Yes, we apologize for Rose

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They won twice against the same team. Yes, that's exactly what happened. It started at home against the Anaheim Ducks. First half of the home and home series against him. Spence the night and had 34 saves, got his knife win in his second shutout of the season. He played very well, except in this situation, Sam Reinhardt got himself into a bit of trouble, very uncharacteristic hit by him. He ended up banging knees with Isaac Liddestrom

and got a knee in major in a game of misconduct. That was pretty surprising. That's something that he doesn't usually do. No, and I don't think if you watch the replay that there was any kind of ill will or intent there. I think it was a funky angled hit because they were going into the corner. Reinhardt was coming from up the ice.

Lunderstrom was coming from behind the net. And he moved right at the last second. So it was was just a funky play the penalty was deserved. It happened it should have been like that but I don't think that I think nothing supplemental from the lead was right because it's Sam Reinhardt he has zero reputation for that kind of thing. Yeah so his night ended in 16 minutes so that was it for him but the Panthers ended up winning three nothing. The Ducks ended their six game road trip losing three straight, going 1-4 in one day and not having a good season. No, it's rough for a few teams.

It's funny because so many teams right now are in the playoff race, whether it's in the East or the West, but the bottom of the Western standings, it's getting a little murky down there between the Sharks and the Blackhawks. But you got Nashville, you got Anaheim, Seattle, are they gonna get their stuff together? Utah's trying to figure out if they're gonna be a playoff team or if they're gonna be what, but it's not quite as compact as the East right now.

As you mentioned, no retribution for Sam Reinhardt from the league, no punishment from the league, and no retribution from the players because they know better. No, it's Sam Reinhardt. He's not a guy that's out there headhunting. He's not a guy that's a big hit guy. He's not like a Barkov. Yeah, and we're talking about the second game of this home and home as the Panthers went to Anaheim. They won 5-2 and maybe they should have some retribution because he ended up

scoring in this game. It was a little concerning at first as the Panthers took a couple penalties. They gave up the power play goal to fall behind, which are things that they've been trying to avoid, but they snapped into form rather quickly. It was Reinhardt that actually got the first goal of the game for Florida to get things moving, and they kind of did well in Anaheim.

Five goals was strong. It was a tighter game, I think, than the score would allude to, but overall, when you beat the same team twice in a row by an eight to two combined score, and one in each building, it kind of shows how Florida is used to the travel, they've had some playoff success, so I thought I took that as a good sign heading into the trip. So Gabriel Braske with 28 saves, and Carter Verhege loves, absolutely loves playing against

the Anaheim Ducks because he had a golden assist in this one and now has a point in 10 straight games against Anaheim. Nice. You missed the biggest storyline from this one for me, Roy, and it's Sam Bennett get back on the score sheet. Yes, that was huge. He hadn't scored in, sorry, he hadn't scored in 21 straight games and they really needed him to start getting scoring again because their scoring has been too concentrated. You know, if Reinhardt's not scoring, you know, Boquist has been the guy that's been stepping up or even like, you know, some ofinhardt's not scoring, you know, Boquist has been the guy that's been stepping up

or even like, you know, some of the guys down the order, but they really need guys like Bennett, Barkey, Chucky, start putting the puck in the net again. And Chucky, Barkey, and Rhino have been great on the first line together, but they really needed to get Sam Bennett going. So seeing him, see one go in, I think will be huge for his confidence

and could get him back in his scoring ways. And we know he can score, because he had eight goals in the first 11 games of the season. We know that the guy can put the puck in the net. So him getting that one, hopefully that'll get him going again for Florida, because they could use a little offense on that line.

That line, by the way, with Bennett and Luster-Einen and Samuskavich. We need to talk about Samuskavich. It's been fun to watch. And what I've really liked about Mackay Samuskavich, it's not the scoring, his defensive play has gotten so good. He's been fun to watch. And what I've really liked about Mackay Samuskevich, he's a player, dude. It's not the scoring. His defensive play has gotten so good. He's taking the puck away in the neutral zone.

He's back checking like a beast. He's really rounding out well. I'm excited for what he's going to do. And he has an element that something, I feel like the Panthers kind of miss from the rest of like maybe the elite teams like Colorado, at Edmonton. Like they don't have as many guys

that just kind of fly up the ice. Mackay brings this speed dimension to the second line that feels like the Panthers are missing sometimes You know the way he gets the puck going up ice like anytime and Bennett says he's been mentoring him He loves playing with them. So that line I Pomo he shook up all the lines erod's been great on the fourth line He scored twice recently the third line has been good with Verhege down there and Boquist has been a great scoring threat for the Panthers. So I like the way the lines are playing right now for the Panthers. I actually think they've got something going with them. Putting those lines in a blender because for the majority of the season we've seen on the

second line Sam Bennett and Matthew Kachuk and flip-flopping of the other wing. Now we're seeing this combination of lines and obviously dealing with an injury, but hopefully, because they are, I mean, this has been a tough stretch for them. Hopefully we'll see them actually play well with what we're seeing right now on the ice. Yeah, it's what Paul Maurice has not done much of in his two plus years as a coach is play Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk together consistently. It's something thatock-Tick-Tuck, excuse me, together, uh, consistently. Like, it's something that they'll go too late in games if they need to, but now we're seeing it, you know, for what, like seven or eight games at this point?

And they've been overpowering. Yeah, they're starting to really click. Like, Chucky, Rhino, and Barkey. I think it was the, it was the Rhino goal against Anaheim. The play where Barkey makes an interception, dishes it off to Kachuk, Kachuk finds Reinhardt down low, Reinhardt finishes. Like that line, the way they control the puck, the way they control the play, like that's something that needs to stick together because it just throw your three best players out there. McDavid and Dryside are

together all the time. Yeah, but I like that they have kind of the options. I wouldn't want to play that consistently throughout because you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. I like the idea of spreading the wealth when you have a team that's deep enough to do it But I do like that they're doing it now for the time being get them acclimated to one each other So that way when you do go to this whether it's in the playoffs or down the stretch, they're that much better at it They're that much more familiar. Yeah. Alright, so we saw Carter Verhege. We saw Sam Bidditt score to the both of these players have been in slumps and Finally, hopefully to be consistently playing well from here on out.

But unfortunately, the entire team did not play well. Wednesday at the Los Angeles Kings, that was an emotional game for the city of Los Angeles. We see the Kings are going to do a benefit uh... hockey game with celebrities and alumni to benefit uh... firefighters and everybody out there affected uh... with the the fires out there on the on the left coast uh... the panthers had a one nothing lead going into the third period now normally shut down city when the panthers have a lead in the third period that's not what happened here they gave up the lead in the third period

uh... and it started with smithsonite when the Panthers have a lead in the third period. That's not what happened here. They gave up the lead in the third period and it started with Smith tonight diving for a puck to try to cover and completely failing. And Samuel Hellenius got his first career goal. Good for him. Congratulations to him. Adrian Kempi was the game winner. And the Panthers are now 18-2-0

when leading after two periods. That's a big two, because that was, as you said, Shutdown City was like their bread and butter. So to see those struggles, but again, midway through the season, if you're gonna have it happening, this is kind of the time to do it, because this is when you're gonna work through your kinks or whatever, but yeah, a little bit concerning,

considering that's been an area that they've been so good for a while now. Yeah, and they also scored first in this game. It's the sixth loss in 26 games which they scored first. Sixth losses in 26 games in which they scored first. I think it's the back-to-back games that's getting to them. Yeah, well, now they're what, five and two on the second end of back-to-backs

after that loss to the Canes. And there have been a lot of games this year, I don't have the number in front of me, but where they haven't scored first and they've been able to come back and win the game. Yeah. I think what my takeaway from this week is so far is Spencer Knight is rounding into form that I love. This kid is playing lights out since, what is it,

I guess since the start of the year. Four starts, three and one, five appearances, but his goals against is 1.12 and his safe percentage is 960. That's like elite, elite numbers. And granted, it's small sample size, but this is Spencer Knight, this is what we've kind of expected him to become. So if this is him kind of getting on that runway,

I'm very excited for what the future could bring. Safe percentage on the season up to 907, I just saw on ESPN in the stats department. But going back to the third period lead stuff, you're talking about how it's concerning. You're talking about 18 and two or whatever it is, five and two on back on the second end of back to backs, like it's concerning. We're nitpicking here, you know what I mean? We know the Panthers are really good, we know they're going to turn it on in playoff time, and we're just kind of nitpicking and it's concerning because it doesn't happen to the

Panthers very often, but when you take a step back and you look at it, and sometimes you're gonna lose when you have a lead going into the third period. You're not always gonna win. Like sometimes it goes to overtime, whatever. Obviously, you want those regulation losses to be limited when you have a lead in going into the third period. But I thought the Panthers in that Kings game

at the start of the game looked like a team on the back-to-back, and then I fell asleep, to be honest with you, but waking up and seeing what happened clearly that back to back got to them because it was just they just kind of ran out of gas so you know Vegas coming up on Saturday and then San Jose I think before coming home. No that's flipped. Flipped the other way around sorry San Jose on Saturday and then Vegas. San Jose's first?

Vegas to close out the trip on Sunday. Another back toto-back, am I right, Roy? Yes, it is another back-to-back. I mean, too many. Too many back-to-backs, man. Now, the Panthers are playing in the Worcester League, San Jose Sharks, before sliding into Las Vegas to play the Vegas Golden Knights. The Sharks are coming off, as you said, blowing a 5-1 lead to lose 7-5 against the Nashville Predators. So that tells you what type of season that San Jose is having, but they're having fun.

Yeah, I mean, I'm excited. I'm hoping that we get to see Yaroslav Iskarov in goal when Florida plays San Jose, just as he's one of my favorite young goalies to watch. But yeah, it's been a rough season for the Sharks. Better than last year. And Macklin Celebrini has been a lot of fun to watch. He's a really good player. He's a great two-way player. They're hopefully getting their stuff done. They're a bad fun team. They're really fun to watch. They play like an up style hockey and Celebrini's great. Did the Panthers ever have a bad fun team?

No, no, no. It was just bad, right? It was just bad. Yeah. Don't make me remember these things, man. Like we just won a Stanley Cup, I say we. I'm an unbiased journalist, even though I'm not a journalist at all, I don't have a degree in journalism, but I am very much supposed to be an unbiased professional.

And yeah, I'm not supposed to say we in this situation, but we won a Stanley Cup last season. So, that's that. Rose. We were on the ice with the Stanley Cup as Ethan loves to remind us. Yes! We were.

Thank you. Thank you for finally embracing that. Thank you guys. I'm not shied away from it. I've just not. I've been on the ice for Stanley Cup celebrations three times already. Rose.

Okay. Rose. So beautiful. No, we all agree, Barkey is beautiful. This all agree Barkie is beautiful. This was two minutes in the panther then. It went to ten minutes more. So we just want to say thank you for listening to us. And David do you want to say thank you?

Who am I thanking? I don't know. Thank you to whoever, to you, the listener, the viewer. Thank you for not turning the show off when you saw Rose in the main chair today. Thank you for riding it out with us as we go through this trial period. Trial period, what? Sorry, Roy.

This is not happening again. Thank you to Roy for his patience as we navigate this situation. Thank you everybody, see you next week. Rose, say ukepekelukedin. Upekekelukedin. This is never happening again. Hey Jeremy. Yes Mike?

Have you ever had a fireside conversation during a football sunday during the winter? Sure. We don't have a lot of fireplaces down here, but I've had the premise of it. I wish I could, but it's South Florida. When it gets down to the 60s, we're like, we're bundled up, but certainly no fireplaces. Still too warm for that. But we do have our football Sundays. one thing that always makes football Sunday is good And I know you've had plenty of experience in life with this Miller time Oh, yeah, Miller light makes the winter better. It makes football Sundays better It makes even hanging out around you better. Thanks Mike. That was kind. I appreciate that

You're my friend when I have a Miller light in my hand pretty much everybody is my friend because we are like-minded. Because we like beer that actually tastes like beer. Oh, and now the new year, it's the perfect time to have a Miller time. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. People out there, I want you to listen to me. And Jeremy, you too, because you know it hits you just different than other light beers. The original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Light. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to MillerLight.com slash stand to find delivery options for you. Or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller

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