The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: Roy's 4 Nations Theory

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

This week on The Hockey Show, it's all about the 4 Nations Face-Off! Roy, David, Rose, and Ethan chat with Adnan Virk and Anthony Di Marco about everything happening in Montreal and across the NHL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and on time each month. Rise to rewards with the BMO Clips Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to The Hockey Show. My name is Roy Bellamy. David Jorks right here. He's from The Hockey News. Rosie is in the seat and Ethan is in Montreal.

Yeah, we're gonna chisel him out of his hotel up there in a few minutes. Yeah he's on ice right now. Adnan Burke from Prime Monday Night Hockey joins us here and we're gonna get started with our snapshots. What's your hot take? My hot take is I don't know how hot it is Adnan but I think it's kind of common sense as we talked about at this point but I think that John Gibson, goaltender for the Anaheim Ducks, soon to be goaltender for somebody else, he is going to have a ginormous impact on the Stanley Cup playoffs this year is my hot take. I don't know where he ends up.

He's talked about wanting to go to Carolina and Edmonton, which obviously two of the top contenders would make sense. John Gibson and Edmonton scares the bejesus out of me because he's so consistent. I don't know if it would work there because I don't know if Stu Stenner is ready to give up his crease or if they'd do that. But John Gibson is going to have a major impact on the playoffs within the next month or so. That is my hot take. Adnan, do you agree?

Yeah, I'm with you, David. I mean, I think the Carolina one was fascinating because I'm with you. I think in Edmonton's scare they feel like it's the guy, whether or not he is or not, we shall see. Obviously, we'll see if we can get the others to come final, losing seven. But I could see that being rather uneasy. If those two are there together, I think throughout the year we've realized it's a two goalie

system. You don't have great fear of playing 70 games and somebody just pick up the scraps. So you do have a two goalie system, but then come play after them. There does have to be an alpha male. And I don't think Gibson would want to be taking a back seat. But Carolina is fascinating because Freddie Anderson's woes and injuries and obviously the fact that they swung for the fences with this rant and trade. They're trying to win right now and if they get an upgrading goal then maybe this could be their year. So I'm

surprised Gibby's 32. It's funny, I wouldn't have known off the top of my head but I was thinking about it. He has been around I think longer than people realize and could be a steadying influence for that Hurricanes team. Yeah even at 32, I don't think he's got a lot of wear on those tires. I think especially the last few years whether it's been injury or whatever, I think he's pretty fresh and he's ready to win Roy your hot take. Yeah fellas and lady I'm really starting to Think that this four nations tournament is not for the cast grab that thought it was going to be for the angel No, it was specifically created once again Sidney Crosby down our collective thoughts.

I am tired of this shit. I mean, this all started with the injury, the upper body injury that I sustained last week, and it was all, is he gonna play? Is he gonna play? Is he gonna play? And made us wait until what, the first day of practice to finally determine, yes, I am going to play.

After saying... Drop that puck. Why? What the hell was that? I mean, I'm trying to talk here. Yes, because I agree with you. Oh, okay. No Sydney Crosby.

I thought Rosie was chirping here, but she was giving me a rough answer. I thought she always choked me. No. Drop that puck. You're right, because now all I see is Sydney Crosby. And even Rose is getting sick of Sydney Crosby. Look at this, Roy. Thank you. You're're rubbing off thank you for being on my side and and the first game obviously uh... sweden versus canada

it was just three assists it's not it they made it seem like it was the greatest three assists in the history of canadian hockey yeah we had to like the assistant overtime roy the game-winning primary assist, right? He was! Roy, put some respect in my guys, David. Sydney Crosby has now won 26 straight games in a Canadian uniform. That includes the Olympics, the World Cup, the World Championship.

This and the 2026 Olympics, maybe the last we see Crosby play the best on best. He's won gold medals and championships, the most of any player in this tournament. He's playing with Brad Marshall who played back in 2016. We remember the 2010 Olympic gold medal and you're telling me you don't like the fact you're seeing Crosby's shining once again. For a 37 year old he was outstanding in that game against Sweden. And Sweden's got a great defense by the way. I think Sweden's a bit of a dark horse. I looked at their defense like man when you're talking about Victor Hedman, Eric Carlson, Ekholm, Forsling, Rasmus Delien, Jonas Berdin, Rasmus Anderson and you're

gonna crap on 37 year old Sidney Crosby. I get it. If it's any gel time, nobody likes Sidney Crosby. But playing for Team Canada, there's a reason I'm wearing the red, not just for Valentine's Day. Because you're Canadian. Whoa.

Listen, Adnan, it was a line change. It was a reset at the line, and it was offside. It did look like it was offside. It was offside. What are we doing here? Get the hustle back to the bench. Aw, get out of here. And also, I'm tired of hearing the words, best on best. Okay.

That's a f***ing point, Pyrro. We keep hearing the retarget, it's the first time we've heard a best on best. It does get a little overplayed, I guess. I'm a fan of B on B. I don't even want to say it right now. B on B. Well, I don't know. I feel like you've just pointed out that it's played out, so I don't want to say it. But I am a fan of what it is. but yeah, we've been hearing it a lot, so yeah, I'm with you on that. Yeah, I'm tired of it.

When's of the week? Wait, does Rose, do you have a hot take? Yes, Barkey's jersey's too expensive. You need to do a lower one, because we wanna buy jerseys, but with that prices, I cannot afford it. So yeah, that's my hot take. The price point was- Rose, how much is it?

It's like $225. It's up to you sir 40 and in the in the store 280. Oh Yeah, I'm with you. Okay, it's authentic though. I don't care Something cheaper even if it's not don't they offer like the different like levels of jerk like when I was you know, you had like, you know your base crappy Jersey with the iron on then you got like you're halfway there with kind of iron or patched on a little bit and then for four nations no no no for nations one Jersey off of go so if you want to give me a gift you can send me a jersey boy. Yeah, my kids don't need to eat this week. Let me get you a hockey jersey.

I mean, Jesus. Yeah, like I get paid around here. I'm doing this for free. Seriously. David. My win of the week, it's a goalie fight. It's in the cage. But I've never seen one like this. These guys were in the handshake line.

Torpedo had just beaten up Akbar's and the goalies, they're chatting in the handshake line, whatever, yeah, what are you going to do with this after the game? Yeah, well, you only gave up five goals, oh yeah, I only gave up one goal. And then all of a sudden it turns into, they're pulling each other's jerseys. They're like, what's going on? The backup goalies actually had to get in there and break it up. And bust his ass.

Oh yeah, like one guy took a blocker to the forehead. That guy eats it right now. Goalie fights generally are not pretty. It's hard to keep your balance with all that gear. It's hard to get a good punch thrown because you've got this big bulky stuff. So goalie fights generally are fun, but they're not pretty. But at the post-game handshake line, this is universally what people love about hockey. Everybody's, oh, I love the handshake line.

What the bleep? So I like this. Listen, David, I was excited when you said goalie fight, but I'm picturing like Ron Hextall, Felix Potfan. I'm picturing like Patrick Wathor and Haymakers. I agree with you. I like the fact that it was over a handshake line, but I was hoping for a little more fisticuffs there.

By the way, I love the Ochbars jersey though. Ochbars jersey's pretty sweet. I've never seen a fight in a handshake line. I can't remember either. So that was, but if it's gonna happen somewhere like the KHL and I Guess yeah too much vodka over there My win of the week is coming from the flames Jets game last week Pratt and Prashall caught a high stick from Mark Shifely and had some choice words from this has sound

Rosie so you're gonna have to put that up Are you flipping kidding me? High stick me in the flipping face, you flipping dummy. Flipping dummy. You're a flipping joke. He doesn't swear, eh? I love it. So Mark Shifely famously does not swear, unlike the three of us in this studio. Sheffley famously does not swear unlike the three of us in this studio. So initially he did use an F-bomb, but we didn't have the sound padded up there.

And then once he saw that Sheffley was there, he flipped the switch on that. So that's the win of the week because it's funny to me. Well that's straight awareness by him to like realize mid-chirp that like he's dealing with Sheffley so then he starts throwing the flip in this flip in that and then for me the best part of that was Lombie coming in at the end. Did I just hear that correct? That's just perfect. I loved every minute of that you guys used to work with Mark Osborne former may believe great guy and Also did not curse would use flip and it was it was hilarious She's just constantly like he was using it almost in excess. It was like a parody of the Holy Flip. Are you flipping kidding me? Like enough with the flip.

Jesus. No more flipping. Yeah. I mean, you know this as well as anybody, you know, back in the 90s and 80s when they played theatrical movies on television and they had to edit out the cursing, it sounded as ridiculous as flipping. Watching Goodfellas, Joe Pascius, are you flipping kidding me? Yeah, exactly. I just, snakes on a play? Mother flipping snakes on his mother flipping plane.

On this Monday to Friday. Fail of the week, David, please. Oh my God, I have two. We'll start in, I think it was in Vancouver. It was a game between Vancouver and Toronto. William Nylander, one of the best, no, okay, we're going to go with the other one. We'll go to that. The Bakersfield Condors of the AHL. Great name, great logo actually. But they decided to have an actual condor come onto the ice for the national anthem. The keeper, the birdkeeper or whatever, who was bringing the bird on the ice, ate it,

busted his ass, fell. So the bird, wings full, just flapping around the ice, no idea where to go, the bird keeper is just, you know, trying to recover, the bird goes on the bench, players are scattering everywhere. It went exactly the way that you think it would. There's definitely bird shit somewhere in the Condor's arena. Going to get a Zamboni for that. But if that's not a fail I don't

know what is. You don't bring live mascots to hockey games it does not work. It was a carpet! A carpet! Well they didn't have a carpet for the guy carrying the you know the six-foot wingspan bird on the ice like there's just so many fails but yeah we're laughing. Again cool mascot, cool jersey. Give a carpet for the guy carrying the, you know, the six foot wingspan bird on the ice. Like there's just so many fails, but yeah, we're laughing. Again, cool mascot, cool jersey. Give it up for the Condors. Yeah, all right, biggest viewer, yeah. My second fail of the week, as I mentioned before, William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs,

one of the best goal scorers, one of the most exciting players. He gets a breakaway, comes in all on on Kevin Lincoln and then forgets to shoot the puck to the point where he actually backhands it in the opposite direction. Did he forget to shoot or is it like a drop pass or something? There's nobody behind him. It was almost like he brain cramped. I gotta say it again. Roll it one more time again. I think David's right. I think he was meant to

shoot and then try to recover the back pass and no one's there. It was, oh man that was rough. And didn't we just see somebody last week try a back pass on a breakaway and it was like an awful fail But this one there's nobody with him five years. Oh, yeah, you're right. He whiffed on they tries to recover Oh my god So, you know Maybe that's just how good Kevin Lankton and has been this year that he's got like a force field around his thick And maybe he should have been playing last night against the Americans, but that was if that's not a fail I don't know what is he get a breakaway got at least a shot on goal guys

All right. I've been waiting for this one. Okay. All week, boy. All right, so by now all of you know my feelings about the New York Islanders signing of Tony D'Angelo. And you guys obviously know my feelings about the man, Tony D'Angeloelo and I won't go into it here but spicy takes right you agree with Brad Marchand basically yes yes yes the only time I will agree

with them uh Tony D'Angelo in front of his own net with an own goal it wasn't just a deflec it wasn't a deflection it was a straight-up shot into his own neck. That was worse than the Nylander thing to be honest. Yes! I mean that's a great net front one... like Matthew T'Chuck would be proud. Holy moly! He forgot what Saudi Ix is playing on. Oh my god dude. That's crazy!

That's hilarious Roy. You're right. Normally if it goes off an errand stick, a skate, a pock who knows? But that is like he there's an actual shooting motion by Tony D'Angelo. So allow me to laugh haha haha haha no ha ha ha ha you don't even care enough to like give a full belly laugh. I'm tired man all right I'm sorry but I it's been a long week. It's been a long week for me.

So, Aetnan. No. What do you mean no? My Fail of the Week. Oh. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Rose, what's your Fail of the Week? Aetnan, I don't know if you've been aware of what

is happening with Montoya. I don't know if you know all the story of Montoya. Por que? If we can play the video just the first part This is so good Is there a sound? Al Montoya, Aliga Montoya YAY!

I told you! He wants to sleep, I told you! Please, Montoya, please Please, Montoya! And he just runs Oh that man is gone It's very cinematic and I don't know if you see that and you see all of the... Montoya, please! Montoya, please! I don't know if you see that.

So Rose and Ed, Roy and Ed, man, you guys don't have the context of this. All right. Just running Montoya just takes off. It's the temptation. He's the father of something. Song and then lightning. Yeah. Rose is obsessed with the cinematography of that scene. And the girl's like Montoya, no. And then he's like, please don't come close! So he's chasing after his girlfriend who he just saw on TV cheating on him with another dude. It's

like a temptation island thing in Spain. And they, what are they, Rose? They cheated on each other, like three times during this? Yeah, so that's my fail of the week because poor Montoya, he suffered a lot. You shouldn't go on those shows. No, you're at, I mean, isn't that the definition of FOFA? Going on to a show like that? Bleep around and find out? No, it's FAFO. You know what? That's why I'm not an accurate guy. F-A-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F-O-F the terrain. All right. There you go. But that was my fail of the week. But I have one more question before you go, Adnan. And there's always in the Oscars, there is always a storyline behind it. Like the year of Argo, the storyline was, oh, USA saved the day. I don't have

an opinion here. You saved the day from terrorism. Yeah, but they did not say, they did not tell the story accurate because they told that two people like Great Britain was That's how it usually is right is based on a true story. So yeah, I saw a documentary There's some historical and I'm talking about so what do you think is the story night this time for this Oscars? Well, it's interesting. What was going into it Rose is the fact that there was no real front-runner It felt like it was Amelia Perez with 13 Oscar nominations and The Brutalist, which won best picture at the Golden Globes and Adrien Brody won best actor and Brady Corbet won best director.

But this past weekend, while we were all watching the Eagles win the Super Bowl, big news for Enora, which is my favorite of the Oscar contenders. It won the PGA, which is the Producers Guild Award, and it won the DGA, which is the Directors Guild Award. So now Enora has served the front. One of the stories with Emilia Perez's lead actress via galo gas call was a great story first trans actor ever nominated

then they found her tweets and she's got like some terrible vitriol against george floyd in this law and all these things like i like that's not what they can't vote for this cable this movie the president trouble and the vote by the way it's every eleventh of february team both going on right now and the brutalist people like it they wait how long is really three hours and fifteen minutes By the way, it's February 11th to February 18th. The vote's going on right now. And the brutalist people like it and they go, wait, how long is this movie? Three hours and 15 minutes.

Oh man. So, Anorah is also a spicy movie because it's about a sex worker in Brooklyn who falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch and all hell breaks loose. But there's a lot of sex in this movie. I mean, the first 30 seconds is set in a strip club. Is that really a movie that's going to win Best Picture?

So the story of this year's conference is a wide open Best Picture race. And David's right, I think it could be a yes to a door i don't know i have died i just heard about the thirty second opening but i think i'm in uh... i mean those better be about a lot of sex in this movie is about sex worker although pretty woman did not have a lot sex in a right

correct no it did not show girls did and show girls was a passing movie different period of time. Not that it was a lot. But maybe, Rose, listen, you loved Wicked. You know, the Oscars goes by preferential ballot, meaning you rank it one through ten. So if Wicked gets enough fourth place votes, and those other films I mentioned are polarizing, maybe we'll be singing Pretty and Cynthia Rivo's up there winning Best Picture. And celebratory hand lifts like this is the preface club over here by the way. Dancing? Yeah. Okay, there you go. And then work from Prime Monday night hockey. Thank you for joining us, Antnan.

Thank you so much guys. This was awesome and go Canada. I know, listen, Canada USA is probably giving me the file on the 20th. We're not gonna be friends that night, but tell you what man, the Sweden defense is pretty good. Finland terrible. Go Finland! Anthony DiMarco of the Daily Face-Off joins us here and he is covering the Four Nations Tournament and we're going to talk to him about that. And I want to start with the biggest fear that every NHL general manager had going into the Four Nations Tournament, which was potential injury and that happened to Shea Theodore

during the Finland Canada, the Sweden Canada game. And now he's done for the tournament and who knows how long he's going to be done for, uh, the golden nights. So, um, what would you say is the level of fear that the general managers have gone into this tournament about an injury? Well, I think it's substantial. Like, I mean, it's very reminiscent from the 2014 NHL, or the Olympics, rather, when John Tavares got knocked out. I believe he missed the end of the regular season for the New York Islanders.

And I remember then-jail manager Gar Snow being very vocal about how upset he was. But look, that's the inherent risk when you have these tournaments, especially in season, that are kind of replacing the All-Star game, but you're not going to see nearly the level of intensity in an All-Star game that we've seen thus far in the four nations or that we'll likely see next year in the Olympic games. And look, I mean, this is an HL run event. So everyone was apprised and everyone signed up on what the potential risks were. But for Shea Theodore and the Vegas Golden Knights, it was a worst case scenario.

I think he's listed as week to week, so maybe not quite as bad as the Tavares injury from 11 years ago. But hey, it is what it is. It comes with the territory. If that's the bar, the Tavares, that's not anything I don't think anybody that's dealing with NHL wants to hear right now. But that kind of leads me into the next thing I wanted to bring up, and that's just the intensity and the physicality that we've seen in the first two games. I wasn't sure what to expect in that regard because it's, I mean, it's best on best, but it's not, you know.

The fact that they're so intent on hitting, that they're taking it so seriously, that it has a playoff feel, a little bit surprised surprised but quite pleased with what I've been seeing. Have you been surprised by how into it the players have been to this point? I haven't been that surprised honestly. I know a lot of people were kind of donkey on this event. It's a fabricated event, which is true. It's a one-off event, which is true. You don't have Russia, you don't have Czechia, you don't have the Slovaks. But like, especially when it comes to the Americans and that game last night, that blowout victory over the over Finland, they were cooking man, physical physically like the Matthew Kachuk got into it with Mikala in the second period.

The Kachuk brothers with two goals each on the night were just in the kitchen of the the finished defenseman all night long. And even with the Canadian game was a little less, I guess, physical and aggressive, but the Americans built their team with a clear directive under general manager Bill Guerin. And you look at some of the names that they left off, like Cole Caulfield, Alex Debranke, Clayton Keller, guys who maybe talent wise were a bit better, you knew that they were building

a team to be intense and physical and thus far they've lived up to it. And I think that this tournament in particular is something that the Americans are really looking to use to establish themselves as potentially the new hockey superpower internationally talk about how Mike Sullivan put his lines in a blender during this game because the Kachuk boys dominated that game and it was basically because The guy paired together in the middle of the game. They weren't ex well, Mike Sullivan said he wasn't expecting to play them at all together in this game and they finally Decided to do it. Like I don't understand the logic and thinking. I guess he wanted to spread things out throughout the four lines, but

talk about his coaching in this tournament so far. Well first off he got John Tortorella to wear a suit and tie and it's the sweater vest so that's the base development for me so far. This is American. You wear a suit. You wear suits and ties at this level, young man. But back on a serious note, I found it peculiar that they weren't playing together to start the tournament, but then they get put on both wings of Jack Eichel and they just took over in that second period. And I think it was kind of essential for the Americans to do something to spark that team after the first period because the Finnish players really started coming on and the forwards in particular of Finland when they got possession in the offensive zone, like they were creating

chances like the Rantanen-Barkov-L leken in line in particular I thought was one of the better lines of all four teams through the first I guess it made five periods or so because obviously in the third period it became just a blow victory for the for the Americans but once the Kachaks got put with Jack Eichel the entire tide kind of turned. And for the Americans, you are limited a little bit because they only have two right shot forwards in Jack Eichel and Vincent Trouchek who both played down the middle of the ice. So every single winger on every single line is a left shot.

So I guess that is something that was playing in for Mike Sullivan. But for me, it was kind of the low hanging fruit as something to spark the team to put these two guys together along with a guy like Jack Eichel, who's playing second field to Austin Matthews, but still a phenomenal player in his own right. I think it was great in game coaching by Mike Sullivan, and it clearly paid off as the boys as the brothers combined four goals on the night.

So I want to talk to you now about another head coach in this tournament, and that's John Cooper behind the bench for Team Canada. I was a little taken aback when the game ended the other night, and I started looking through the stats, I started looking through the sheets, and I saw the ice sign for Team Canada, and it really threw me a little bit, just because you would think when you're building a team for something like this, like you have your choice of guys, you know how you want to build your lines, and you would think, at least I would, that they would build a team that they could roll their four lines.

And that is not what John Cooper did at all. I think like Brad Marshand played like 11 minutes, Kinect only played like 10 minutes. I mean, obviously Shay Theodore going out threw off the back line, but forward-wise, I was just confused because you would think that you'd want to keep guys fresh. It seemed like Canada maybe fell off a little bit

after a really hot start. So I'm curious, do you think that's something they're going to continue as the tournament goes on? Or maybe they'll even things out a little bit after a really hot start. So I'm curious, do you think that's something they're going to continue as the tournament goes on or maybe they'll even things out a little bit more? Well, I think they're looking to even things out because as per the line rushes today for Team Canada in practice, Konechny is coming out, Sam Bennett is coming in and they're going to go with the All Tampa line with Sorelli and Hagel now centered by Braden Point and Bennett is going to move up to I guess the third line or maybe that becomes the fourth line and center Brad

Marshawn and Seth Jarvis. So clearly there was something about that bottom six that John Cooper was not overly fond of. Um, for me personally, like I think this is the risk that Canada ran when they did leave some more talented guys off the team, like let's say a Mark Shieffley or even a Zach Hyman. Like look, I know that Mitch Marner scored the winning goal, but that top line for me wasn't nearly as effective consistently at five on five with Reinhardt, McDavid and Mitch

Marner. So, and I think that because of the role players, if you will, that we are going to see not only a lineup change, but the entire lines in the bottom six get rejigged here. Boy, that John Cooper's kind of biased, isn't he? Oh, his lightning play is the gutter. Go with what you know, right? Yeah, I guess so. The thing about Team Canada, Anthony, that scares the bejesus out of me, and I mean, this is no surprise, I guess, based off what we saw, but that power play, that top power play particularly, that's like an all-star team and then some.

Is there going to be any strategy more important when facing Team Canada other than stay out of the bleeping penalty box? No, I think that's a good strategy, and I saw like this tweet where it was like, McDavid to Crosby to McKinnon should be an illegal sentence or something. It was It's ridiculous, you know And then you have Reinhardt on the half wall on the far side as the trigger man McCarr at the top like no for sure that that power play unit is absolutely Disgusting in all the best ways possible if you're Canadian in all the worst ways possible if you're American in all the best ways possible if you're Canadian, in all the worst ways possible if you're American. But yeah, I think that that is what you guys got to do if you're facing the Canadian team. And look, credit to Sweden. I thought the Swedish defense really kind of locked things down

from the second period on two nights ago against Team Canada. And at five on five, it did kind of become a struggle in the second half of the game for the Canadians to really generate chances consistently. And I think the Americans have, well, if Quinn Hughes was there, I think they would have had the best defense. Without him, I say they're playing slightly second fiddle to the Swedes. But I think the Americans have the speed and the puck movie ability to play that way five on five. But certainly on the power play, if you're defending that Canadian power play, it is gonna be an uphill battle because of all the names we were just talking about.

You know, I really, really dislike mentioning this man. But I have no choice because the way people tell it on Wednesday, Cindy Crosby had the biggest three assists in the history of Team Canada. I mean, my entire timeline was filled with just, I was about to say the word I told you last night, I'm not gonna do that right now, but yeah, it was just a complete love fest

on Valentine's Day today for Sidney Crosby. Like, how would you grade his level of play on Wednesday? Oh, I mean, A plus from a storyline. You're asking a Canadian how Sidney Crosby played in Canada, dude. Ah, damn it. It was storybook, right? Because obviously in Montreal, it gets started off with Mario Lumiere, like a local folk hero gets brought out. And it was kind of like a passing of the torch moment. Passing of the torch moment, passing the torch.

Yes. But even on an international scale, because Crosby is kind of playing the role that Lemur was playing 23 years ago in Salt Lake City. Yes, I know for the Americans, for you guys, that's also kind of like something bad to talk about. As you exactly. But if you really look at it, like that's what the role Crosby is playing right now. And at every international on every international stage since Crosby entered the NHL, like they have always dominated like yes, 2010.

The team USA really gave them a run both in the preliminary round and in the gold medal game but from 2014 2016 they haven't lost a game since the 2010 Olympics and best on best if I'm not mistaken here and Crosby has been the face of all those Canadian teams the captain of 2014 and 2016 so I think like it's hard to the captain of 2014 and 2016. So I think like it's hard to diminish what Crosby has been able to do. And three assists in game one once again shows why he still is a player at an elite level at 37 years old. So look, hey guys, I'm someone that has covered the Flyers closely for a decade now.

So I'm no Sidney Crosby lover here, but you got to call Spade a spade. And certainly I do get a bit biased when he throws on the team Canada Jersey in international play. Yeah. That must be really weird to have a chair film on team Canada. Quite frankly, you should be feeling the same way I do. Oh, for sure. Like I would have loved it to be closed your room 10 years ago, but

Hey, it is what it is. I mean, he's someone that he's kind of like unstoppable in the way that you have to respect them. And just the way that he was able to just that play in in three on three where you hit the blue line and you throw it back to your own blue line to just have that that that hockey says it's just off the charts and look, talent wise, McKinnon's more impressive. McDavid's more impressive. Even McCarr is more impressive, but it's that hockey IQ and that sense that I still think is unmatched in the NHL to this point. So looking ahead to Saturday, we've talked about how insane it's been up there for the past couple of games and there's been a lot of talk about just the atmosphere overall, not just in the Bell Center, but just around the city of Montreal that it's been buzzing with this tournament

So now we get USA Canada, which I feel like everybody's like jacked up for at this point The Americans look great. The Canadians are stacked What do you think as somebody works in that building knows that city? What's it gonna be like on Saturday? Oh It's gonna be electric, you know and and like not to bring the political end to this But when you make Quebecois people proud to be Canadian, you know that you pissed them off real good That really seems like what's been happening here. I've never seen so many francophones like donning the the red team gandit jersey So proud to do it You know, I'm not a fan of this, but the booing of the American national anthem, I really don't. It's not

something that I even like to talk about, because it upsets me, quite frankly. But that that is something that happened. And it is a reality that we're living in, in the current political climate in North America. And I think you tie all that together. You consider the fact that the Canadians have kind of, or the Americans rather, have kind of announced themselves as the resident bullies of this tournament on the backs of Matthew and Brady Kachak. And I think that they're going to bring a level of physicality that I do think the Team Canada certainly took into consideration while

building this team. You know, Colton Pereyko from a talent perspective, I don't think should be in this tournament. I think he was the worst defenseman for Team Canada against the Swedes. But I think that he was brought in for the game against the Americans because they're not an overly large defense on Team Canada. And I think that they're expecting a very, very physical,

hard four check from Team USA from, um, team USA. So I think it's going to be an electric atmosphere from a political perspective, from a hockey perspective. And I think the way that the Americans play are certainly going to drag everyone in the building into the fight. And it's going to be an absolute nuclear type of climate inside the Bell center from the get-go on Saturday night. Anthony DiMarco covering the four nations tournament for the Daily Faceoff. Thank you for joining us.

Thanks a lot, boys. Hey, folks, it's Mike Ryan. It is Big Game Week, and I've got just the thing to make your big game time a Miller time. From fireside conversations to football Sundays, winter means more moments with the coolest people in your life. Make these moments even better with Miller Lite, the great tasting light beer for people who love beer.

A new year is a perfect time for friends, family and great tasting light beer. Tastes like Miller Time Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers and when you're hosting your ultimate game day party why don't you bring out a beautiful silver platter of that amazing white can and know you will make everybody there happy because Miller Lite is the original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash stand to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller

Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time! Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. All right, it's time to talk about how the Panthers did this week. We're going gonna start with Saturday versus Ottawa. It was the Kachuk Bowl and the Panthers won 5-1. Both Kachuks ended up scoring in that game. Matthew Kachuk also had to assist the other three-point night and they put the puck

on net in that game, man. I mean it was it was 11 shots on goal for Brady Kachuk on 13 attempts and 8 shots on goal in 11 attempts for Matthew Kachuk. And that trend would continue into last night for four nations. Yeah. Yeah, it was a dominating night for the Panthers, especially in that second period when they scored four. And Matthew Kachuk got it started with the power play goal early in that second period. And it really like the game kind of flipped on a switch because Ottawa was up 1-0 after the first despite the Panthers out shooting them. I think it was like 16 to 8, 16 to 9 something like that. Linus O'Mark was

really good as he has been most of the season for Ottawa but yeah the Panthers when they get rolling dude they're like a freight train and that second period it felt like the Panthers are really in their comfort zone. Yeah I mean it kind of reminds me now that I'm in foreign nations mode it kind of reminds me of the game we watched last night right where the Kachucks just kind of reminds me now that I'm in foreign nations mode it kind of reminds me of the game we watched last night right where the Kichucks just kind of took over the show and The Panthers have been doing this a lot recently where they just out shoot opponents like crazy They kind of fall behind early and then they take control the game in the second and third period and we know what they do With a lead in the third period they put that bow constrictor on them

so It was a good way to go into the break like the Panthers are rolling going into the break Which is something that they needed to be doing because they hadn't been playing very good hockey from like December to January. And I think I mentioned this last week, but again, it just goes to show, you know, how important Aaron Echblad is to this team because his return to the lineup pretty much lines up exactly with when the Panthers got hot and when they started looking like the Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers again. So it was good to see them going to the break with a big win against Ottawa and just

Get that momentum rolling there in first place in the division and now you know We can watch these guys here at this awesome tournament and they can the other guys can rest up at home and get ready for the Stretch run Ethan is currently in Montreal right now. So he was able to see I will hope both games Did you see both games? I did not see both games. I saw We were at USA Finland last night. I watched Sweden Canada. I didn't get up here until Yesterday afternoon that being Thursday afternoon Sweden Canada was amazing, but USA Finland was a it was a really cool atmosphere being in the building

It's an interesting rooting experience of You guys obviously know where I stand politically, so you know how I feel about the rooting for the United States right now. But obviously being in that building and hearing the Canadian anthem being booed or the US anthem being booed by the Canadian fans, it makes you feel some kind of way to be honest with you and get you fired up. Some kind of way, Ethan, is the random dudes walking around behind you while you're talking. Yeah. There's a lot of dudes in this VRBO right now. That was my buddy College Mike. He's a good dude. We love College Mike. He's a friend of the show. College Mike with his very first appearance on the hockey show. You remember that viral video of the guy who was being interviewed and his two kids end up walking in a room. Yeah, College Mike is basically my child this weekend. Yeah, we're basically taking care of him like that.

Control your kids, dude. We're not professional here and you got guys crawling in the room. Did you see how I just powered right through that, David, though? You gotta love that. Yeah. I didn't even say anything. Did you see how we weren't gonna let that go even though you powered through that? Yeah. Alright, let's go into Wednesday in the first game of the Four Nations tournament. I'm not gonna mention the other guy. The Canadian, no, Team Canada, not the Canadians. Team Canada won 4-3 in overtime, so they got two points out of the old swim and got one. We're gonna talk about the Panthers in this situation. Sam Banner was scratched. Sam Reinhardt played, he was a minus one. He was better defensively than

it was offensively obviously. Three shots on goal. He had a block of giveaway and one hit. Now Gustav Forsling is getting a lot of flack about how he played Sidney Crosby. I said I wasn't going to mention him but I have to mention him because I gotta mention Gustav Forsling getting the flack. Now the second assist that that Sidney Crosby had in the game, Gustav Forsling in the flak. Now the second assist that that Cindy Crosby had in the game, Gustav Forsling played that as perfectly as humanly possible. Unfortunately Cindy Crosby was able to pass the puck anyway. What's he supposed to do? He's defending Sydney Crosby and so he's supposed to also, excuse me, defend against the pass? Yeah. Like, excuse me? Yeah. He's playing arguably, Roy, one of the best players in the

world right now, even at his advanced age. Not saying that. No, just putting it in as a caveat. But still, he played that quite well. It's not his job to get the trailer. It's his teammate's job to get the trailer. Correct. So... Forseling also made a play in overtime that could have ended the game. Like his pass to Kempe could have ended the game. So I thought forzling had a good game. I thought that game in general was pretty amazing. My, my problem was where was Sam Reinhart in overtime? John Cooper didn't put him out there for a shift in overtime, which I find absolutely ridiculous. Like you've got a Selke award winner and a guy that's going to score 50 goals in back to back seasons. And he didn't take a single shift in overtime. That's crazy to me, but you're throwing Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel out there together. Like

that's absolutely insane. I don't know what John Cooper was doing. They ended up winning the game so I don't think he's gonna get questioned for it, right? But if they don't end up winning that game, don't you think some people are going, hey, where's that guy that scored 57 goals last year and is gonna score 50 goals again this year? Like that was an interesting decision from John Cooper. The way that he ran his lines and the way that he juggled his ice time has just

been kind of questionable for me. It's a one game sample size, so I'm not beating too much into it yet. I want to see what happens against the United States on Saturday. But with a team as stacked as Canada, like you think that they'd want to build it up in a way that they could roll four lines?

And they did not do that at all. Yeah. So we're going to start to take over in the second period. We started to see that momentum start to rise a little bit and then they had the two goal period and tied the game. That forced overtime which we got to see the new rules. 3 on 3 for 10 minutes. Dude, I've been saying for a long long time now if you just expand overtime to 10 minutes you're gonna cut out on like 90% of shootouts, which is kind of what we all want

at this point. So hopefully they're gonna take a look at, a long look at this and consider bringing it to the NHL because I don't really see the downside to this. All right, so last night, the United States beat Finland six to one. As I mentioned earlier about the Kichuk Bowl, both Kichuk boys ended up being offensive juggernauts

in that game. Both of them respectively scored two goals. They basically looked like the father out there just out there wreaking havoc. I mean it I was have to say just like most of the Panthers games all the scrums happened when they were on the line on the ice. Now what I saw though was they weren't playing together at the beginning of the game. And Mike Sullivan said that they weren't gonna play together during this game. He changed his mind. He absolutely changed his mind. The coaching by Mike Sullivan in that one like did not make sense to me. Well Roy, we were having this

discussion actually I was talking to Chris about this and I was questioning Mike Sullivan's decision-making because he didn't start the Kachucks together. He didn't start Zach Wierenski on power play one, right? And then once Wierenski went to power play one, the US scored two power play goals. Once Kachuck and Kachuck were on the same line with Jack Eichel, the US absolutely took over the game. So initially you're like, well, that's bad coaching, but it's also good coaching to, in a short tournament where you're only promised three games, make that decision on the fly

like that two periods in to just be like, no, this is clearly not working. I need to change something. And he dumped Adam Fox from PP one. He put Zach Warren ski up there and look what happened in the third period. From what I saw in the building, you could feel like Finland played a really good first two periods, right? And then what happened in the third period was the United States skill just took over. And I think the biggest part of that skill taking over was Kachuk, Eichel and Kachuk being out there together and just dominating the game completely. Really specifically those two, like Eichel was a bit of a guy that I was just kind of like,

where is he on the ice right now but the Kachaks absolutely dominated the game you know you see that shot from Matthew and then that move from Brady was absolutely filthy that was awesome and you mentioned Walt every time there his kids scored they showed Walt on the board in the arena which I thought was a really nice touch. Put him in the Hall of Fame, please. He'll be for time. Shut up. Matthew Kachuck and Nico Michal is gonna have a nice little laugh

once they get back to Panthers practice because Kachuck's first goal deflected off a Nico Michalistic. Too bad for him. Finland, Sweden, and Canada, USA tomorrow. The standings right now, the United States are leading on the table with three points. Canada has two points, Sweden with with one Finland has yet to win

so they have zero points goose egg so the big thing is United States they have to win now can't if they went on Saturday they're pretty they're guaranteed a spot in the final that's it now if Canada if Canada wins in overtime Canada wins in overtime then they'll both be tied with four points, which would be pretty cool heading into the deciding game. There's really no-goo situation for us, the fans. Yeah, if Sweden wins, they will have four points. Correct. If Sweden wins, Finland's done. Finland is must, must win on Saturday. And that's as big of a rivalry game as you get

Yeah, and those that happens the third game in this round robin the final robin round robin game. Oh That's gonna be it's gone. We're not gonna watch the Four Nations people Really? We lose is out. We're gonna be watching the Four Nations Rosie. I'm gonna be building for both games Saturday Let me tell you I'm gonna be watching the Four Nations, Rosie. I'm gonna be in the building for both games Saturday. Let me tell you, I'm so pumped. Get up my plane, Roy. Okay. Guys, you have no idea what Saturday night's gonna be like. Saturday night's gonna be unbelievable.

I cannot wait for Saturday night. The energy in the city. What about your college buddy? How excited is background guy? College Mike. All of us are absolutely buzzing right now, fired up for Saturday night. We were all talking about... Bell Center is a really, really cool arena.

The energy inside it last night was amazing. And you could just get the sense that everybody's just anticipating USA Canada. Just from walking around the city, talking to people, everybody is going to USA Canada on Saturday night and it's going to be an unreal atmosphere. You heard the boos during the anthem. I can't imagine what it's gonna sound like on Saturday night. It's gonna be something really special. Like I already told people last night was one of the coolest sporting events I've ever been to. I can already tell that barring the US getting absolutely thrashed and me being miserable in Central Bell on Saturday night. This is going to be like a top five

sporting event. I mean like a team losing a deciding Stanley Cup final game eight to one in the, in the other teams building some like that kind of feeling. Oh, you hear we go again with the complaining about being on the ice after the Stanley Cup. I'm done with this. All right. We'll see you guys next week. Happy Valentine's day. Blah, blah, blah. Okay. Goodbye. I'm done with this. All right, we'll see you guys next week.

Happy Valentine's Day, blah, blah, blah. Okay, goodbye. Hey, folks, it's Mike Ryan. It is big game week, and I've got just the thing to make your big game time a Miller time. From fireside conversations to football Sundays, winter means more moments with the coolest people in your life. Make these moments even better with Miller Lite, the great tasting light beer for people

who love beer. A new year is a perfect time for friends, family, and great tasting light beer. Tastes like Miller time. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers when you're hosting your ultimate game day party. Why don't you bring out a beautiful silver platter of that amazing white can and know you will make everybody there happy because Miller Lite is the original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash stand to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Lite

pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee,, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.