The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Ducks Push Oilers to the Brink, Goal or No Goal, and Bolts Even Series with Habs ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski for another edition of MvsW on The Sheet as they break down a wild night across the Stanley Cup Playoffs, headlined by the Anaheim Ducks taking a shocking 3-1 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers following a controversial overtime winner in Game 4 that has everyone talking. Marek and Wysh dive into the fallout for Connor McDavid and the Oilers, what went wrong, and whether there’s any path back in the series. They also discuss the Tampa Bay Lightning evening things up against the Montreal Canadiens as the series shifts back to Florida, plus a look at two sweeps with the LA Kings and Ottawa Senators both getting eliminated. It’s a full playoff vibe check with storylines, pressure points, and what to watch next. Subscribe for more daily NHL coverage on The Sheet.#TheSheet #NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #Hockey #JeffMarek #GregWyshynskiReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greg Waczynski, I've come to the conclusion. We are getting a first in this year's Stanley Cup final. You know what's going to be? What's it going to be, Jeffie? Wes McCauley is going to tell us who won the Cup. You know it's coming. You know it's coming. As every single game goes by, you're like,

what if that happens in the Stanley Cup final? And every single game has something that gets us closer and closer to believing that our referee is going to award the Stanley Cup this. But the beauty of Wes is that it won't just be like explaining the play. It literally would be him being like, you know, we got a good goal. Congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes. On behalf of the NHL officials association, we'd like to, you know it's and you know some where Wes is saying, no, no, no, that's not going to happen.

But very secretly, West McCulley is writing down all of his ideas and memorizing what his script is going to be when he awards the Stanley Cup to some team because the cup, will be handed out after a video review. And once upon a time we laughed at that idea, I ain't laughing anymore. You laughing about that? I ain't laughing anymore. I never laughed to begin with.

It's a function of the game. Does it sap it if it's drama? Sure. But, you know, ultimately, what is it in service of? It's in service of what we saw in Anaheim last night. It's in service of determining what actually happened on a play and rewarding the true victor, their flowers. Yep.

We're all on the same page by now, right? That goal was a goal. That was a goal. Yeah, it was completely a goal. What I was hoping that you'd say when you were saying, I hope we're on the right page isn't necessarily, is it a goal? Because I think it absolutely was. And in fact, I really give a shout out to the people who are using AI to eliminate Jari's skate from the image,

which we can do now. We have the technology. Do the layover. Yes. Yeah. And you can see clearly the puck has white between it and the line. What I was hoping you were saying, Merrick, is that I'm hoping that we all agree that where the referee was on the play, the call on the ice, as it were, was completely immaterial. And it was completely immaterial because to the NHL's credit, they didn't simply just come back with inconclusive evidence or whatever.

They came back with the puck crossed the line. It didn't matter what the call was. It didn't matter what the call was on the ears. I was shocked when I read that. I was shocked when I read that because I thought we were going to have day two stories about how the referee was over by the boards. There's no way in hell he could see the puck and all this other stuff. But the NHL basically bailed out their officials by saying, you know, whether he calls it a goal or not, we know it's a goal. And that's all that matters.

So there is one thing, though, that I do want to address. And I know we're not going to get it. Like there's no way we're ever going to get this. Although every hockey fan wants it. And I would submit that every single NHL team wants it. The answer to that after this, the blueprint is powered. That's my old radio days. That's a hook.

That's a hookin. A, B, C, A, no, A, B, H, that was it. A, B, H, H, always be hooking. Always be cooking. That's A. Always be cooking. Always be hooking is, I guess you can, count that and how they used to go through the neutral zone in the NHL.

The blueprint is powered by Fandle. Download the app today and play your game on Fandle. It's Monday. I'm a little giddy. I haven't slept all weekend. I stayed up late watching the Anaheim Edmonton game. Shoot me. Greg Wyshinsky is already here. He's on the road, as you probably saw,

Hotel Life for our boy Greg Wichinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com. The Ducks take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the, I would submit, significantly injured Edmonton Oilers. More on that coming up in a couple of moments. The Buffalo Sabres just sticking it to the Boston Bruins. Jeremy Swainman, just barking at the bench.

Was it the players or was it at the coach too? The Kings have been swept. The Ottawa senators have been swept. Questions about both teams now, the Tampa Bay Lightning and a banger against the Montreal. Canadians, Brandon Hagel, the star of the playoffs so far. Holy smokes, has he been great.

And Utah going to play a play game again. Like Utah, Vegas. Like, what are they going to finish up. They're going to finish up right around the time we're handing out the cop. But Utah. I'm just going to stick around for the outdoor game next year. That'll be, that'll be game four.

Game four will be the outdoor game next year. Utah and Vegas is still going to be going on. Like we handed out the cup, the awards, free agency, everything. It's going to be like, oh, can the goaltending stand up for Utah here against the anyhow. So here's the one thing that I wanted. Just as a quick comment. It was the right call.

I was happy to see the NHL. put out that note. Yep. But getting there, the analogy that I raised on DFO Live today was, was like roller skating down a gravel road. It was tricky. It was tricky getting there. And at times people were angry on social media.

At other times, people were curious on social media. Hockey Twitter was hockey Twitter last night. The one thing that I would really love to have heard, which we will never get. It's when the four officials skated to the penalty box to confer and decide what their call was. In the spirit of transparency and letting people know how the sausage is made

and how they arrived at that decision. I know we're not going to get it and I know your answer is going to be yes because everybody's answer is yes. Should we be able to hear that? It would be great. Although I would caution you that having your refs miced up is a specious assignment, as I evoke a name from MVSW history who once had his mic on,

and then he discovered he was kind of making up penalties as he goes along to help out certain teams. Anyways, here's what happened probably. So there's some of this is from Dave Jackson, ESPN's rules analyst who I was texting with last. Dave's the best. Dave's the best. And Dave's contention was that, you know, they probably huddled together. And the discussion was not, do I think, the puck went in because the inciting incident is the guy on the boards believes the puck went in.

Now, did he see it? Did he see the celebration? I don't know. But Dave thought the discussion was, did anyone believe that Tristan Jari had it frozen? and if the answer is no, well then we get to the next tier of the investigation with the video review and all that. Now, the thing that Dave didn't say,

but I'll say it as a cynic, as someone who believes all these guys are at least 20% crooked, I would rather see, I would rather see when the Jumbotron showed the replay of when the puck allegedly crossed the line than hearing what the referees were talking about. Because I felt, based on the delay in there communicating to everybody that it was a good goal call on the ice,

that maybe they snuck a little sneaky peeky up top to see the big old video screen and said, you know what? Looks like that pucks over the line, boys. Because I think these guys do it all the time. They're not supposed to, but I feel like they do it all the time. The amount of time between the end of the play, Merrick and them deciding to go and go to the sin bin or announce it to the crowd was classic. Oh, I'm just stretching. I'm just stretching.

Oh, yep, there it is. See it on the video board. But as we find out subsequent from the situation room, it was irrelevant what the call on the ice was. Right. It was completely irrelevant. it. Like, I am suspicious of the initial call made on the ice. Because you can't, I'm sorry, you can't see that.

It doesn't matter. But ultimately, Ryan, Ryan, you can calm down, folks. Ryan Whitney can finally get some sleep. It didn't matter. That one was in. Ryan, Ryan Whitney was losing his mind to the point last night where I believe the last thing I saw was him shirtless in bed speaking. I saw the video. Yeah, but he said.

talking about the referee on the ice making a bad call. Now, one of the things I found interesting last night from you and I is that our minds to the shock of no one went to the same place, which is long ago, and a reader of mine looked it up, so shout out to him. Upwards of 15 years ago now, Merrick, the National Hockey League was experimenting with something called the goal verification line.

Yes. And the goal verification line for those. who don't know was going to be a green line behind the red goal line. Correct. And the thought was if any part of the puck touches the green line, then we know definitively that it is over the red line because the green line will be the width of the puck away from the red line. Hang on, hang on.

Trust me, when you see the picture, it makes a lot of sense. Just so everybody understands, it's the diameter of the puck, which is three inches. Right. So that will give you your accurate rating. So we don't have to worry about the first goal line. All we do, all we wonder. But the thing is like, pucks can be on their side. Pucks can spin.

Like it is not 100%. But in a situation like this, where there is shading from Tristan Jari's skate and we might want to play dumb janitor and say, I'll think it's him, but I'm not sure. Because that skates covering it. Well, you're forgetting the reason why they don't have it. So they were experimenting with it around the same time as they were talking about the institution of three-on-three overtime. John Shannon, our friend, Farrell-Axview.

Yeah, he mentioned. So the width of the puck is three inches, therefore logic would require the gap between the lines to be just over three inches. However, new cameras installed in the back of nets create an optical illusion when it comes to the two lines, hence the issue. In other words, the thing that was supposed to dramatically cut down on the optical illusions during a scramble near the goal line is, being delayed because it has created a new optical illusion. So you're still going to have those situations where the puck is like, you know, a millimeter onto the green line and then everybody's arguing about the parallax view and all this other stuff.

So they never instituted it, but I was always a fan of it. I think secretly Merrick, one of the reasons they didn't want to do it is because it's not aesthetically pleasing. Like you have this big red line on the goal of the puck goes over it great, but then you've got this other weird line behind it. You know, they didn't like that. So I don't know. I feel like with AI, like we saw last night, like I mentioned, people were just taking Jari's skate out of the image. I feel like we should be there right now.

I feel like we've got the clods and the Jatchy-B-T's. No, you know what we should be. If it could book a vacation for you, it should be able to tell you if the puck's over the line, Eric. No, don't just bunt to get on base here. You know what we should be at? We should have technology that tells us whether this is in or not is what we should have. tennis, football, baseball, all has technology like this to enhance their sports. I know hockey has always lagged.

I know that in hockey we are behind years on some things, decades on others. Why can we not have this in the game now? The answer is simple. The answer is simple because as much as we have cameras all over the ice for puck and player tracking, We come back to the same problem all the time, which is that our sport is a sport of constant motion. It's a sport of bodies and legs always getting in the way of these cameras. We know it's, imagine what the strike zone would be, Merrick, if you had eight guys running in front of the batter at all times. Imagine what tennis would be, Merrick, if the rest of the people in the bracket were running around the doing laps around the court.

That's the difference between hockey and these other sports. That's why you can have this technology for those other sports, but can't necessarily have it to solve our problem in hockey. So then we just settle ourselves, this is the best we're going to do. Let's not even try to aim higher. No, I'm telling you, man, my eyes were open last night when I saw people using AI to eliminate some of the things that get in the way. Because imagine if you could somehow eliminate a glove covering the puck.

That's the one we always see is when a goalie reaches back or he's got. the puck in his glove and he reaches back. Imagine if there was a way to just get the glove out of there and just see the puck hanging in the air or the puck over the line. That's what we were seeing last night with Jari Skate. Now it's cleaner last night because you can see basically like 75% of the puck. And you could extrapolate where the rest of that is. It's like 90% of the puck you can see is over the red line. You know, AI is stealing my friend's jobs.

It's it's giving people bad medical advice. But we can finally maybe use it for a force of good. if we can figure out the puck's over the line. Think of all the out-of-work goal judges. Remember gold judges? Won't anyone think of the goal judges? Well, someone please think of the gold judges behind. All right, enough on that.

Because that's 15 minutes on the puck that counted. At the end of it, the Anaheim Ducks lead three to one. I really think Edmonton is more injured than even they are letting on. Oh, by the way. By the way. Can we show the screen cap of the weekend? Oh my God. Is that not the best screen cap of anyone?

Oh, my God, right? Is that not, like, that smile on Jay Woodcroft. It looks he's about to fist bump someone. Either way, he's got like the ultimate Cheshire cat grin. I mean, that is the biggest smile I've seen on, That's the biggest smile I've seen on Jay Woodcroft since he was cast on the littlest hobo. Like that's the level of childish three that we have from Jay Woodcroft. You know that, don't you?

That's right, I too. Yeah, I also know it's a dog. It's a dog. It's a dog? Anyhow, oilers look like really beaten out. Like I was saying to Jason Greger last night on Run Now, like I expected the end of this year. They give it if slash when it ends here against the Anaheim Ducks, we are going to see a laundry list of injuries that even stuns long-term hockey fans

that are used to saying things like, I can't believe Patrice Bergeron played with two cracked ribs and a collapsed lung. Yeah. Like, we're going to see a list here that is mad. Not taking anything away from Anaheim. I'm not taking anything away from Anaheim. All I'm saying is this is not the oilers at anywhere near the height of their powers whatsoever. Well, and here's the thing, maybe because it's 3-1,

Like, you rarely hear guys kind of even nod at the idea that injuries are a factor. But I kind of got the feeling after last night's game that the Oilers are starting to understand what their lot in life is right now in this series. Like, for example, Tristan Jari finally gives you a gold-hitting effort worth a damage and you still lose the game in overtime. He was good. That's a tough one to smile. He was good. To swallow, rather. McDavid was asked about his health.

And McDavid said, and I quote, we're all doing the best we can out there we're all working trying to get it done that's as close as you're ever going to hear Connor McDavid to say I am my injured beyond belief my ankle is killing me my ankle is my foot is about to fall off that's the way it feels right now

and maybe that's just like back of your head I'm not saying Connor's given up I'm not saying any of these guys have given up but maybe there's something in the back of your head where you're just like I'm down 3-1 against the team that we simply might be overmatched by offensively right now because we just don't have it in the gas tank this season. That's the closest I've ever seen Connor nodding towards. Yeah.

I'm not good. Like normally you ask Connor that in a playoff series. Just like, I'm good. You know, I'm fine. I'm fine. It's good. No problem. And in this one, it's just like, listen, man, we're all doing the best we can out there. We're trying out there.

You got to see this. We're trying our best. We're trying to bring you a cup. Listen, I'll make a cold, but I picked the oilers in a sweep. I picked him in a sweep because I didn't think that Anaheim can fundamentally defend at a playoff level. I still kind of think they can't, but they're getting enough of it done. And I really thought that the Oilers were going to be, you know, the old hands, the old pros, the team that knows how to get out of the first round better than anybody else. Me too.

And I was extremely wrong on that. I was extremely wrong about the Oilers' health because I don't think anyone really had a handle on that. And I was very wrong about, the smartest thing I've heard in the playoffs, Merrick, came from the mouth of Kevin B. Exa. A man I've had a cigar with, a man that I think is a great commentator. And he said the Edmonton Oilers are finding out what happens when you start the playoffs slowly. You haven't gotten to your game yet. And instead of playing an L.A. King's team that you're not afraid of in any way, shape, or form that can't score to save their lives. You are going against a team that all they do is peddled down offense, firewagon score.

And that's what's killing them in this series. Meanwhile, the kings are like the first year we don't get Edmonton. They're all banged up and we get Colorado. Yeah, it's a real monkey's paw situation. Oh, man. Be careful what you wish for. Eliminated teams. I want to get there.

Do you have any more on Anaheim, Edmonton? It's three to one, both the proverbial will see what happens. You know what made me, the Kings made me think about this for a second. I was so happy, I'm so happy to see guys like Flurry and Kopitar get the send-offs that they've gotten. Because I think that you and I can agree that neither of them are Ovechkin and neither of them are Crosby. You know, neither of them are in the, should this person be on the Mount Rushmore of their era type tiers. No. But they're fantastic players.

And they meant so much to fans. And in particular, Copatar also sort of representing, you know, him and Dowdy being the last two guys to represent the Cup era for the Kings. I don't know, man. I'm watching the Kopi chance and I'm watching the send-off. And it's like it warms my heart as a hockey fan to see really, really, really good players, without question future Hall of Famers, but not necessarily the ones. that we put on the pedestal as being like top three of their generation. Because he wasn't even the best offensive board of his generation, right? Like to see those guys get lauded makes me really happy as a fan.

Me too. But the thing that I always come back to with Kopitar, there's one thing that I want everybody to at least consider when they think about his career now that it's over. In the Western Conference, as long as Kopitar has been in the NHL, it has been a murderer's row of centers. from Joe Thornton to Nathan McKinnon

to Connor McDavid go right down the Jonathan Taves like you look at all the elite elite Jack Eichol with Vegas like go all the way down Tyler Sagan at the height of his powers like you look at Joe you look at all the great centers big strong skilled

dry silent honestly keep going you can keep going on the amount of high end like elite elite centers that this guy had... I'm not so sure about Frank Frederick. Henrik Siddin. Henrik Siddin I'll throw in there.

Like, there are so many of them that he had to go up against every single night. Like every team in the Western Conference for like his entire career had one of these monsters. And Kopitar drew that assignment. Every single night. And thrived. And thrived. And became the all time, the all time scoring leader for the Los Angeles. Kings and was loved and I'll go

you one step further. There's always players that teams look at and say we're taking, like, we get a source of pride around the fact that he's one of ours. Like you know there's some players like he's a great player and all that but yes

he's on our team and we're happy to have him. Like you always got the sense that he was like the Kings always had a pride of ownership that Kopitar was theirs. Like that's, We're happy to throw this guy out there as much as possible because we're proud to have them.

But look at the most three things. First off, maybe the best dog in hockey. His dog, Goosell, I believe, was the name of the dog, was a ubiquitous member of the L.A. Kings. Second of all, Slovenia. That's what I'll always remember about Ange Copantar. Best player to ever come out of Slovenia. When does that full disclosure to it?

It's not like he grew up all the way and played in Slovenia. Certainly it's where he was on a, he grew up on a farm in Slovenia. Yes. And he used to use a pitchfork as a stick and a cow paddy as a puck. Went to play. He taught others the game. He shared the oral tradition of hockey. Okay, very good.

But no, no, no. But like Slovenia because that Olympics, what was it? I think it was so cheap, right? Oh, yeah. With those great jerseys. With those great jerseys. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah.

They played their damn hearts out. And it was such an exciting. time for Slovenian hockey because of Coppatar. But then also, obviously, with the Slovenia Merrick was Anjikopatar was the reason we had the world team in the World Cup of hockey. They had to find a way to get Copatar in the thing somehow. And because we had the world team,

we then had Team North America. So Anjikopatar indirectly responsible to Team North America in the World Cup of hockey. And then the last team ever, yes, the coolest team. And I made reference to this on Twitter last night. Copatar was also the subject of one of my favorite NHL awards screw-ups of all time. Remember the year they had the magician and his job was to spread out the card. He was going to do a card trick.

He was going to spread out the cards to reveal the winner of the Selky Trophy. And he spread out the cards to reveal the winner of the Selky Trophy. And all of the cards were not where they should have been. So you saw like Copatars stick and then his foot and then his ear. And it's just, you got to find the video of it because I'm not doing it justice. It is one of the greatest screw-ups in the history of the NHL awards. It was funny, one of my favorite things ever. It was so funny.

It was so terrible. On that note, congratulations to Anjikopatar, now retired. It's going to be weird. And it's going to be weird to see what the Los Angeles Kings look like next season when it's Quinton Byfield in between a drink campaign or Temi Panarin, unless they swing something massive in the offseason. Now, let me get you to the other eliminated team, and that is the Ottawa Senators.

If I told you the, if I told you the Ottawa Senators, we're going to get swept by the Carolina Hurricanes. You and I would have said the same thing. By the end, it sure probably wasn't Allmark in net. But guess what? Allmark Rockley, was it a 932 save? Like, he wasn't the problem.

Not only was he not the problem. he was the only guy that was like almost single-handedly willing this team into games. I have not seen Linus Allmark. This goes back to not just Buffalo, but like Rochester, Buffalo, Boston, the lion's share of his time in Ottawa. He's never been, the analogy that I raise is the bite down on the mouth guard guy. The one who says, no, boys, we're winning this thing, damn it. He's always had top five skill when it comes to his position in the NHL.

many other goal tenders look at him and drool us i wish i had skill like that but he's never been that come on boys we're doing this right we've seen these types of we saw hegel do this yesterday at the bell center except for these past four games he fought and battled everything the carolina through adam and he was not letting it he was giving his guys a chance every single night and nobody he could score. It was the offense. Now, to say nothing of, you know, Sanderson and Zubnop being there is a mitigating factor, of course. I don't know many teams that could survive the loss of their first pair, but I digress.

Good on Lina Sallmark. But now if you're Steve Steyos, you're hella confused. What really is my problem with my team? Because we've just been saying it's goal-tending. So a couple of things. First off, shout out second period game four. Best period of playoff hockey. we've had.

That was a wild. Banger. Everything you wanted out of that period. How many games you give Ridley Greg, by the way? Two. Yeah, I tend to, I think it might be like three. Like, that's one of those things where the Department of Player's Safety and the NHL's discipline people are very, very clear in delineating between stuff that happens in the flow of play

and total illegality. And in this case, you have total illegality, and you have a shattering of one of the basic tenets of hockey, which is you don't sucker punch somebody who's already engaged in a fight. Or being held by a linesman. Or being held by someone, yeah. Exactly. That's a no-go.

I still think it's going to be about three, but you might be right. It might be lower. If you are Steve Steyos, You have two paths here, which is to overreact to what's happened in the playoffs, or to realize that you went up against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Carolina Hurricanes are very adept at doing exactly what the Carolina Hurricanes did, which is to win a bunch of close games, strangle the life out of the things that you do well, and that's just what they do.

They kill penalties. They play great five-on-five. They get these little moments of heroism from an increasingly deep lineup. We'll talk about that in a second. And so I don't think the senators should overreact here. Like, I don't think their first reaction should be, we've got to get Brady Kachuk out of here. Like, it's the hurricanes. I have seen this movie so many times before and you should not overreact to what the hurricanes have done to you.

And I know the sweet parts, five would have hurt, six would have hurt. It doesn't matter. You lost the series and you lost to the better team. First thing if you're Steve Steyos that you need to do is go away. Go away, chill out. Don't think about hockey.

Don't watch hockey. Don't answer your phone. Just go away. Don't make any decisions when you're emotional or when you're angry or when you're disappointed. I'm with you. If you're the Ottawa senators right now, unless Brady Kachuk is asking out,

you don't even entertain it. You don't. You don't even entertain it. he's part of the core you've built and listen we talked about it coming into the series their underlying numbers are really good like they've made some really good strides this year as a contending team

you probably need to kind of maybe figure out a couple things about your blue line you probably could use I hate to use the term Merrick but I'll use it anyway a ring in the room up front could probably help at this point just to kind of like nudge you closer to getting you over the hump but

But overall, they're a really good hockey team. And now they're a really good hockey team that can be confident that their franchise goaltender can play a little bit in the playoffs too. I still think you need something around him, though. Can we just pause on all my? I still think, and I'm going to throw a name at you, who now is no longer playing. If you're the Ottawa Senators, are you interested in now that Rochester has been eliminated by the Toronto Marley's, Devin Levi. It doesn't look like there's any future for Devin Levi with the Buffalo Sabres. I swear to go

There are times I do the show with you And I think you're his press agent This guy's name comes up on the show One of the one that comes up on Buffalo Radio Rochester Radio You gotta do something I think that's fine Sure, that's fine

But like in thinking about What's gonna get Ottawa over the hump Into being a true contender Like what is your remedy Having now seen this series I do think you need to get You need to get deeper on the Okay a couple things

Deeper on the back end and two, and this is where Brady Kachuk needs to go with his game. You look for the evolution of this player. I think that Brendan Shanahan was perfect in that role because he was skilled, he was tough, but the thing about Brendan Shanahan was his timing was better than anybody else. He knew when to do something and he knew when not to do something. He had a sense of the game that few people,

people who have ever filled the role of power forward have ever been able to achieve. To me, Shanahan was as close to perfect in that role as anybody who's ever been a power forward in the NHL. His sense of like the moment and the time to do things was impeccable. Is Brady Kachuk anywhere close to what Brandon Shanahan was? No. Not yet. That's where Brady Kachuk needs to get to. if I'm Brady Kachuk, I'm like, I can best serve this team with my mix of skill and toughness

by figuring out and asking myself, what would Shanahan do? If you can get Brady Kachuk to play in the same way that Brendan Chanahan played, even in the series, even in the series. Not that I think they could have won against Carolina, given the injuries to Zubin Sanderson.

But still, like that's the next step, Brady could chuck. He turned yourself into Shanning. I think you also have to be honest with yourselves if you're the senators and say that it was a strange season. Yes. It was a strange season because of the Lena Solmark stuff. It was a strange season because your captain and, you know, face of the franchise happened to also captain, or not captain, but help lead the Americans to a gold medal. Which added some interesting wrinkles and then have all the aftermath to that, which then became its own story.

It was a weird year in Ottawa It was a little bit of soap opera E And maybe this is ultimately where it all had to lead Which is a quick playoff exit Because it couldn't get anywhere beyond that Based on just the journey there But it was a weird year And you're right

That's why you should Steve Staeos you should be in a beautiful Aruba right now Go to Aruba The breeze Is washing your toes It's beautiful Send your toes

and then kind of circle back and figure it out because it was just a strange season up there for a number of reasons. Do not overreact. Put it this way. If the Carolina Hurricanes have left you and your team feeling frustrated and useless, don't feel special.

They do this to a lot of teams along the way. And by along the way, you mean in the first two rounds. Yes. that's but the thing is like so here's the thing okay a couple of things like there was there's a lot you can take away from this series with the carolina hurricanes one stank over and blake and hall were outstanding that line they found something there tremendous in this series and i like when taylor hall scored that goal and then did like the hogan ear like along

the gl i'm like oh man oh man like and he had a tremendous series as well but for how many years have We've seen, even like last year with the Florida Panthers, the Carolina Hurricanes get pushed around. And I'm not just talking about, oh, now they got Nick Deloree, so things are going to be, but no, but Sean Walker. Yeah. Sean Frickin Walker. When have you ever seen Sean Walker go snappy like that? Like, there is, like, this is, this is still a different kind of Carolina Hurricane team.

The one question that I do have for you, and we'll get there, I'm sure you have other points to make. Did this series get Nick DeLoree, another contract from Carolina. Did he just earn himself because of the necessity of him? Did that just earn him another contract? I mean, let's see how far they go. I mean, that's ultimately my answer is.

Let's see how far they go. And then, you know, when things, hang on, when things, reassess all their options. Maybe I put too much into camera editorial. But how many times did things get tough physically for the Carolina hurricanes? and the first cutaway was to Nick DeLoree. Where once upon a time, if you're a camera operator or someone in the control room

and things are getting tough for Carolina and you want to cut away to the hurricane's bench to see who's going to do something about it, feathers. Yeah, all that tells me is you were definitely watching the series on Canadian television. I was. I live in Canada.

I don't know how many Nick Deloree cutaways there were on the American rights holders stations. So here's the thing. I'm dying to talk to Taylor Hall when I get a chance to cover the hurricanes this playoff to ask him one simple question which is that did corey perry light the way for you okay did the guy who was an MVP who hung around to the league forever and then became something else light the way for you Taylor hall it's not Taylor hall anymore I mean he's not the guy that that

won the heart he's not winning hearts you know an all-star player but he is extremely vital in the role that he's playing for the Carolina Hurricanes and the role that he's playing And the role that he's playing is is to help power what has been their best line in the playoffs and also be an absolute pain in the ass. And I heard from somebody because I'm on this flyer's Penguin series.

That's why I'm just lovely Marriott in Pittsburgh doing the show today. I heard I heard like Taylor Hall is one of the least like people in the Penguins locker room because of the way he plays and because of the stuff he does. And I would imagine that they're probably not alone in having been provoked by Taylor Hall.

And I find it to be a very interesting second chapter in his career that he's become the guy who delivers the hit to take out Sanderson, delivers big offensive moments, and is giving this Carolina team a little bit of snarl and in depth that they've long lacked. And I'd be interested to find out, did you ever look at Corey Perry and be like, you know what? With a little bit of moxie, I could be that guy when I get older. Uh, he's not, he may be hated, but he's not anywhere close to playing as dirty as Quarry Perry plays. Just to be, just to be blown. No. No. At all.

Having said that, but he is growing into new, he is very much growing into new skin here too. And you're not just going to lose that skill either. Is he the same. See the whole that we saw at the end of his run with Edmonton and into New Jersey? No. Not at all. But that line symbolizes what I've been saying about the Carolina hurricane since the start of the season is that they don't have Gensel and they don't have Rantaninan. But they've got more scoring depth than they've ever had.

And you look at a guy like Hall who they do pick up on Rantanin Day. And then you look at a guy like Jackson Blake who I think is extremely important to what they're building there. I mean, you know, to their credit, they still are the team that can start. smother you and win these games, you know, by one goal. But I just think that, you know, top, you know, top of the hat to, to the toes in your feet, that is a better offensive team than we've seen them be. And, you know, we'll have to see what happened with Eilers. I know.

Health considerations for Nick Eilers, ladies and gentlemen. First time for everything. But, but they're, they're a formidable team because of that depth. And that stankover line is, is, is. Exhibit A for that. All right, let me ask you about the series that you're intimate with in your bedroom, the Marriott. Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers. If I'm the Philadelphia Flyers, I'm looking at Carolina and saying, we've got to get this done fast.

Because if you're going to do anything, you need a quick series. Right? And so they squandered one on Saturday, ready for the sweep. Everybody in Philadelphia is ready for the sweep. And Crosby wakes up. And Crosby had the best game of his series. So he did, but I think more than him waking up, it was the Flyers going to sleep. That was the issue in game four, and it was inexplicable.

They weren't moving their feet. They weren't playing. They lost every board battle for 60 minutes. It was astonishing to see the team that looked like they were shot out of a cannon in game three playing in front of what was easily one of the most rabid playoff crowds I've experienced maybe the last five years. It was insane to be in Philadelphia for game three. And they just didn't meet the moment. And so much like game three of the Boston Buffalo series was going to tell us a lot about the Sabres. Now, game five of this series is going to.

tell us everything we need to know about the flyers because they allowed Pittsburgh to come back into this series based on how they played in game four they didn't meet the moment they were nervous they were gripping their sticks they weren't the same team that they had been in the previous three games can they find that again or are the penguins going to kick the door down and and now all of a sudden we're back in in philadelphia for six because i kind of think we will be you do eh you think uh i i i i think uh i i i i i I think the penguins have built a little bit of confidence here because I do think that they liked the way that they opened the game three. And I do think that they believe game three turned on all that malarkey in the second period when you had 10 guys in the poundy boxes.

Like that's when they kind of lost their wits and then all of a sudden they start playing the Flyers game. Game four, they played as effectively in the beginning of the game. And as I asked Sid about this after the game, they got it. They just stopped playing into the Flyers game. his hands with the after the whistle stuff and everything else. And it was almost, it was strangely emotionally inert that game to the point where the crowd wasn't even nearly as good as they were in game three because there was no red meat thrown to the people in the Coliseum.

You know what I mean? Like the penguins did a really good job of sucking the emotion out of that game. And now they feel good about their game. They've got a goalie worth of damn. and SIDS engaged and the Flyers are going to have this young Flyers team maybe like the youngest or maybe second to

either what I guess it would be second to Montreal Montreal. I think Montreal. I think Montreal yeah. They're going to have to show that they're ready for the moment because they certainly weren't ready for it at home on game four. I'm not there yet. It's one game. It's a young team, the Philadelphia Flyers. And to me there was an element of,

and this could all change where the penguins win. Winding their watch on their way to the electric chair. Okay, they won a game. What do you want to be your watch for? You know how are you going? I was flying for most of the day. Did they make the Mitchkoff scratch official? Or was that still in the talking stages?

I think it's done. I think he's getting scratched. Because that was the talk yesterday. Alex Bump was playing in his spot in the lineup. Yes. Listen. He will be a scratch. Anytime Rick Tuckett makes a decision around Matt Vey-Mitchcock's ice time,

be it limiting it or eliminating it, that becomes one of your classic Philadelphia talk show debates. There are so many people that are Mitchcoff fans that believe that he's been done wrong by Tockech, that this decision to healthy scratch him for game five is being treated as an offense to all the things that are good in hockey. I have watched every game of this series. This is absolutely the right call. He has been overwhelmed in this series.

He has not been a factor in this series. He doesn't have a point in this series. And if you're Rick Tocke, and to go back to what we just talked about, Merrick, and you're trying to get your team's attention, well, this is certainly a way to get there. attention, that there are ramifications and repercussions if you aren't moving your feet and playing with intention in this series and in the playoffs.

I believe Talkett's line was this is how you develop them. I guess zero problem with that. We all think the development is linear. It's a bunny hop. It's forward, backward, backward, backward, backward, backward. And that's the thing for Michkoff. And Mitchcoff got behind the eight ball at camp, even before camp, in the off season. and he's been trying to catch up all season long.

None of this is surprising. None of this is surprising. I'm not Team Tocke, necessarily, when it comes to his treatment of Mitchcoff. Like the conditioning stuff, putting that out into the world, I thought was kind of like, let's keep that behind closed doors. You know, I think the fact that his ice time has dropped significantly year over year is kind of problematic to him finding his game. But all that being said, this is the right decision. He's been a non-factor in a series where they're going to have to start being a factor. By the way, if you enjoy your boy, Gregi's writing, and maybe one or two if you do.

I did a Porter Martone feature today on ESPN.com. I saw that. I'm reading that as soon as we're done here. Give me the, the thumbnail before we get there. Yes. Dad was a nasty defense. Nasty defense. And it was really interesting to, I mean, we talked about Corey Perry before.

Like, this guy seems like he's, you know, someone. and found a strand of Corey Perry's hair and took it to a lab in Jurassic Park their way to a new player. I think he's real good. It also gave me a chance, Merrick, to start a story with talking about

who somebody chooses to be their nameplate on their jersey. I was in Philly. I was looking around. I see a lot of Clarks. I see a lot of Lindrosse's. I see a lot of, you know, Jaroos and Couturiers.

And then I saw one guy with a Martone jersey. I'm like, I got to find out about the guy that got the jersey of the kid he's played nine regular season games and two playoff games at that point. What did he just curious? I encourage everybody to go read the piece. What did this person say about Martone specifically?

He said, well, he obviously was a fan of the impact that Martone had, but ultimately he said that Martone represents hope. And I thought that was really interesting. Like he got that jersey because he felt that Martone represented. And this is kind of where I went in the story, that next era of Flyers hockey. Now, you could get Mitch Koff and feel the same way. People did. Denver Barky and feel the same way. Like, I mean, like, there's a number of guys in this roster right now where you could get the name on the back and feel like you are now representing that next era in Flyers hockey.

But Martone is different because Martone was spoken about and hushed Martones, if you will, by Flyers fans leading up to the trade deadline as the guy that the, that the man. minute he arrives, the cavalry is here. And the way he plays and his size and his charisma, like all that stuff. Like, he's got the total package to really be the face of this next era of Flyers hockey. A little bit invisible in Game 4 as many of his peers were. But so I'm again, fascinated to see what happens in this game, knowing that he is playing this game, having had his hair pulled and his neck snapped back by Brian Rust at the end of Game 4. You and I are pretty much the same vintage. Once upon a time, like, hair pulling was like,

I don't want to say a daily occurrence in fights in the NHL, but are pretty common occurrence. Now, a lot of that was because helmets weren't mandatory at that point. So I will grant everybody that concession, that when helmets are a lot more mullets, too. A lot more things you could hang on to as well. Listen, we all love, I'm going to go deep into history here. So we all, Greg, you and I are on the same page about this one player. We all loved Gary Howitt.

And what did Gary Howitt loved to do in fights? He would grab the top of your head. He would grab your hair and start filling. That is just the way that Gary Howard fought to the point where, and one of these old DVDs that I have is an Islanders Flyers game and Dave Schultz shows up to the rink with a buzz cut. He's got like nothing. He's down to the nub.

And the reporter says like, hey Dave, what's looking forward to tonight's game? And he goes, yep, I got my Gary Howitt haircuts just in time. for they match up against the islanders. So this was a common occurrence once upon a time. That's why Al Ayafradi never made sense to me. Like you didn't have anything on top and you grow out the skullet. So you're basically giving somebody a rip cord to hold on to? Come on, man.

So I was always told about Al. And now Al's bicked the whole thing. But I was always told that when Al Ayaheofrady played, he was very sensitive about losing his hair, as many men are. But if you'll notice, one thing that was drawn to my attention, was it Ron Greshner, who caught him with that hit at MSG right along the boards and he went into the station where you saw the hit

and you thought, wow, Al-A-A-A-A-Fraid just broke every bone in his body. Someone said, watch what happens when Al-Hitz the ice. What's the first thing he does? He grabs for his helmet. To put it back on... He just got completely destroyed. And his first thought is, I got to get my helmet back.

I got to get my... Go look at the hit. All-A-A-A-Fa-Faid-I-E-Rae. Or was it Tom Laidlaw? There was... Is it a Laid-Ley-Lah or Greshner that got him? But it's like one of the great boxing match recently. There was a boxing match recently.

And it was the greatest highlight I've seen maybe of the year where a guy got hit so hard that his, I went to Istanbul and got the fake hair thing, lifted up off his head briefly. It just like went whoop. He got hit so hard. There was. Okay. Cartoon fights. Sash, God, I'm just like a city geek here. Saskatoon versus Spokane. It's Link Gates against Tony Twist.

and he was Twist hit Gates so hard. And I have never seen this before. Hit him in the head in the face so hard that the helmet popped up straight. I had never seen this. I've got it somewhere. I'm like, am I watching a cartoon? The helmet went straight up in the air. Anyhow.

Tony Twist, who would then go on to sue Todd McFarlane for having used the name Tony Twist for a gangster in the spawn comics. Was it Antonio, Twistarelli. Was that the name that was, am I right about this one? You might have, yeah,

good poll if you pulled that. I think it might have been a lawsuit. Yes. Todd McFarland, who again did what? Designed one of the dopest oilers jerseys of all time. The famous oil drop jersey. Oil drop, of course.

Okay, before we hustle here, Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadians. First of all, whether it's Cornwall, whether it's Savard, that one tugs at my hockey heart. Love it.

I'll take it all day. I think we're wondering when Big Bird, Larry Robinson is going to appear. Oh my God. One of my favorite people in the history world. Right? I'm the same way. Maybe Larry's next. A true Jedi.

That would be spectacular. That would be spectacular. But like last night's game was a, that was a Brandon Hagel signature game. Like that was Brandon Hagel saying, we are not losing. We are not going to lose. this game, I am going to make sure of it single-handedly.

This one's got a nice little side dish of Uber violence at the same time, but to me, this thing is pivoting on the play of Brandon Hagel. I don't know. Do you think he's worth two firsts? I don't know, man. Tough to say. No, you know what? You put that way, like, I think you're right.

You want those first back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I think the exciting thing about Brandon Hagel is like when he had the fight with Matthew Kachuk at Four Nations, right? Because it was him and Kachuk, I think, that had the first. big fight. Correct. There was a certain amount of Kachuk is Mozart and Hagle is Salieri going on there in that

fight. You know what I mean? It kind of is like, hey, Kachuk is sort of the, the Pokemon evolution of Brandon Hagel. And I think that Hagle has now leveled up to be that level of player. Like, exerting his will on games, winning by any means necessary. The first Gordihow Hattrick and Lightning Playoff history. Like on and on and on, he has sort of become that type of player.

And again, much like I would be curious about what Taylor Hall would say about Cory Perry, if I could throw the Wonder Woman lasso of Truth to once again use the fifth or sixth pop culture reference I'm using in this answer. If I could use the lasso of truth on Brandon Hagel, I would ask him, what sort of influence in playing against Matthew Chuk and your division have on you insofar as how you play? I'd be curious about the answer. You might want to throw in a side dish of Sam Bennett too. Sure. The Panthers writ large.

How about that? Playing the Panthers, what did that do to you? Did it slowly drive you insane to the point where you become the psychopath on the ice, who is one of the best goal scores in the league, one of the best defensive forwards in the league, but now has just become just a psycho on the ice when it comes to your behavior? Has that, did that do that to you? It's a great question.

It's a great question. And yeah, I think he's worth two first round picks. I had to think about that. Oh, good. I'm glad that's settled about half a second. I'm really, I'm actually kind of astonished they're coming back to too, too. Like, we've talked about Edmonton being beat up. I think the lightning are beat up.

Once Montreal had the advantage in that game, I kind of thought they'd go back 3-1. I'm really, really kind of shocked that the Lightning found a way to get that series even and bring it

back to Tampa. And they're doing it really only with like one really top pair like radish and motion. Yeah. Yep. After that,

it's not looking great. We'll see. Like three games now. It's best two out of three. So we'll see where it goes. Now, listen. I cannot let this subject go by

without asking you about Crozier-Rons Slof-Koski. What a great thing. Holy shit. Was that one of the best open eyesets we've seen? in recent memory. Oh my God.

Okay. I don't know if you've noticed this, but since the Slavkovsky hat trick game, Tamp has been going at him hard. And it made me, one of the things that I think we've forgotten, do you remember when Slavkovsky first started in every game he was getting trucked like this?

And we just kept saying like, dude, you have to keep your head up. He is large and he's skated with his head down. his entire career. Get a little lindrasse going on early in the career. But that was him before he started in the NHL. Like he would get hit like this when he started with the Habs all the time. And I was like, oh man, this guy's going to have a short career until he learns.

But they are going to- This is on a loop right now that we're watching on. Yeah, I know. It's like this show for YouTube. And it's just like, oh my God, every time. It's an incredible. It's an incredible. The timing of that.

Like Max Crozier, brilliant. That timing. the puck. Perfect. All of it. That was just like, where's a spatula to get me up off the ice? Yeah, brilliant.

That thing should have, that thing should have tracking issues in the image from the VHS tape that it's on, from us watching it over and over again. Now, now I don't know if you have Sean Walker and Tyler Cleven on a loop as well. Oh, which is that too. Oh, my God.

Jesus. The playoffs have been, the playoffs have been brutal, man. They've been so. brutal. It's been great. Yeah. Again, first round. First round is always awesome.

And we have too tired to hit each other. Then as the playoffs go on, all of a sudden it's like, oh man, I'm just so exhausted. But the drama of everything is so great. But the first round is just like, Phil your... We haven't even touched on Dallas and Minnesota, which has been awesome here. We haven't touched

on Utah and Vegas. Hey, I'll I'll touch on Minnesota. Dallas, because I have to address something that I said on the last episode, which was the Minnesota Wilde have, it's not that they don't have anybody that can't step up in the playoffs in the same way that Dallas has players that can step up the playoffs. It is that they have one guy that can step up in the playoffs and make the big goal and score the big, and make the play, which is Matt Boldie. That guy is a gamer. He's good. Utah, Vegas.

I mean, I'll say this about the Pacific Division. Like there is a very good chance right now, Mary, that we're going to have Utah and Anaheim coming out of the Pacific. That's awesome. That's great. Like as much as Vegas trying to take on McDavid again and Vegas being star-laden and it being the Vegas of it all, like that's interesting. But it is so much more interesting for me as a hockey fan to have Generation Next, basically, on ice.

like Utah against Anaheim and two cities that haven't experienced this in one case ever in one case in a very long time like that is that is fun as shit I'm really excited about that much like as much as I'd love to see Tampa make it through because I think you know the playoffs need glamour franchises

with a little bit of Stanley Cup prestige if you give me Montreal Boston next round and you give me Utah Anaheim next round I mean, I don't know if casual Joe is watching these games. I don't think you're going to be in. But I don't care. I'm watching them. I'm watching every millisecond of these games.

I don't think you're getting Boston. I don't think you're getting Boston, Montreal. No, I said Buffalo. No, you said Boston. I think you are getting an Adams Division matchup, but it ain't going to be in Boston. I don't mean, I meant Buffalo. Buffalo, Montreal, you know, those two teams, and then Utah, Anaheim. Like, Jesus, sign me out.

No. Good, good, good, good, good. I love it. Okay. Enjoy the game. We'll see what happens. I encourage everybody to go read Greg's piece on Porter Martone, Porter being his mother Angela's maiden name.

There you go. There's a little Martone fact for everybody. His dad, Mike, was one of the nastiest bits of business. Not a great skater, but really tough. And like he comes from a family of athletes. It's like Angela was a great basketball player. His dad was an accomplished hockey player, played junior, played drafted by the Buffalo Sabres, played at St. FX.

What a national title. Like he comes by it legit, and he's a Peterborough kid, dad's from Sue St. Marie. His grandfather actually used to drive the bus for the AAA midget team in Suu Kusain as a legend in Sue St. Marie. There you go. Just emptying it all on Porter Martone. But go read Greg's piece as well.

That's what I got like the tributte. reveal things and you have an actual piece. I have the, how did this guy go from Michigan State to winning? I got grandpa stories. I got grandpa, grandpa Martone stories. I mean, that's the duality of MVSW, ladies and gentlemen. That's why we were two sides of the same coin.

You be good. Enjoy it. And we will, uh, well, we're going to, our schedule is going to be a little bit goofy this week, but we'll try to figure something out for later on this week. We got some travel coming up. So when you got some travel. Oh, yeah. Just let me know.

I'll figure it. I'll be somewhere in front of. of a camera, probably in a Marriott. We'll do it. I know. There he is. Get your points. All right. Talk soon. Be good. Bye. There is. Greg Wischinski from ESPN and ESPN. Real quick, Zach, before we get to a couple of other things, anything sticky there that you liked. Other than the Jay Woodcraft picture.

Yeah, that's my favorite thing. I was scrolling through watching clips of Jay. There was camera cutaways of him on the bench during some of the games, the last couple, like Nana Hi. Oh, yeah. It's like smiles looking over at there. their bench. And he's obviously not doing it with like a malicious intent, but I was just,

I was soaking it all in. I got one for you. I'm probably going to piss some people off with me. So here we go. So bear with me here. I'm not saying this because I don't like what happens to team A, but I don't understand why team B is getting off the hook. Okay, so team A made it to the playoffs.

Nine consecutive years. They won two playoff series total. and they were ridiculed and told to break up and this would never work. Team B has had at least their captain there for eight years. He's won two playoff games, not series, games. But yet after eight years, it's all, well, they played a hard team. You choose who you want as the scenarios of.

So you're talking about two Ontario-based teams. If that's who you want them to be. One that is in complete shambles at every single level. And then the other one is the Ottawa Senators. If that's who you want them to be, Jeff, you said that. Wow. Two completely different teams, two completely different spots in any kind of winning cycle here. Do you think, by the way, because...

I'm not talking as much about like this year's conversation. though. I am more so saying in the same points in their timelines that they were. Look, man. It feels like it was always so like, ah, they're close. They got it. I'm not complaining about the Leaf's criticism, by the way. How many first round excess have the Minnesota wild-faced? How many, like now if Montreal beats Tampa, that's four in a row for the Tampa Bay Lightning out in the first round.

We've seen trades, had walk into a plank for a coach if that happens? Yeah. Yeah, the actual answer is maybe. The difference in Tampa's, they want a couple. And yeah, the answer is probably maybe. The actual answer is maybe. We'll see. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, the one in Tampa is probably a maybe. If Colorado had lost, probably having some interesting conversations here on the show leading into the summer. The differences they won. The Minnesota one is a very fair example. But, and again, I'm not complaining about what happened with the conversation regarding the big beliefs. I think that was all fair, and I was part of it.

I just keep looking at Ottawa, and it's always like, it's like the Gordon Ramsey video. I don't know if you've ever seen it when he does it with the chef's kitchen or hell's kitchen with adults versus when he does it with kids. And he's got like the two pieces of bread on the girls. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're an idiot sandwich. And then he's got like the little kid and he's saying,

oh, no, it's okay, darling. Don't worry. You're doing amazing. That's the difference right now for me between what happens at the least. and the Sends. And I'm not asking for easier criticism on Toronto. I'm asking why it's so light for the sentence. That's the only thing for me.

Because everybody still sees optimism with the Ottawa senators. Complete optimism with the Ottawa senators. Where that's really lacking in the chaos filled, chaos filled Toronto Maple Leafs organization. Yeah, they deserve that. That's fair. It is. I guess.

I guess. Uh, okay. Let's get to your shine here to come. couple of seconds, but first this segment is a presentation of the Ninja Krispy Pro countertop glass air fryer. Shark Ninja is elevating the air fryer experience. The Ninja Krispy Pro is a family-sized cooking system that comes with a six quart, two and a half quart glassware, storage lids, crisper plates, and a modular base for any occasion. The clean, crisp glassware is designed for non-toxic cooking and storing go from frozen to crispy with the thermal shock

resistant clean crisp glassware. The Ninja Krispy Pro is powerful. It's an 1800-watt air friar that can cook seven and a half pounds of chicken that feeds up to 10 people. It is customizable with six in one functions, max crisp, air fry, bake, roast, re-chrisp, and dehydrate. For more information on the Ninja Krispy Pro, visit the link in our description or go to shark ninja.ca. Okay, in all seriousness, yes. You want to go back to Ottawa, Toronto again?

No, no. Okay, you're done with that. You moved on. Yeah, I just said Ottawa. that did not in Ottawa. Why did the Utah mammoth and the Vegas Golden Knights seemingly never play? I know you guys were joking about it, but the series is never on. It's always arena avails.

Trust me, this is not by design. This is not something that either side wants. This is all just about arena availability. That's all. Fair. Every time I'm looking at schedules, I'm trying to prep our show or like just figuring out, okay, where all the series at? It's like, well, Utah and Vegas have enough. day before they play again.

Do you remember in COVID when Vancouver and Calgary had to play all those games? Like in the last two weeks I had to play like eight games as everybody else was in the playoffs. And just because COVID was COVID. It was like, what are we? Just had to get them in contractually obligated. Nobody wanted to play them. No one wanted to air them. No one cared.

But had to get them in. Not that that is this, but there's an element of like, oh yeah, they're still playing. Yeah. And it's a good series. Like,

it's not like... It's exciting. It's not like some garbage hockey where it's like, ah, it's just on the side. I want to watch it. Just to renavails.

Just to renavails. Neither side. Neither side likes this. And then Jeff, the end of the series is going to be like, game, game, game.

We have to get through it all. Can we play two games on Saturday? This is like, a B-B tournament. Yeah, exactly. All right, the sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fandil.

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Zach, nice Rockets hat, by the way. Yes, thank you. Goes with the collection of junior hockey hats. Good. Kitchener St. John, Bulldogs. Very nice. Yes.

Yes. Well, this is my favorite time of the year. I think that goes without saying, I love golf. I know it's not your favorite sports to indulge in, but I love it. I finally got back out on the course on the weekend, played 27 holes a round and a half in one day. So, you know, I got to do that. And then you just jump right back in and sit down on the couch, watch hockey, hang out, and just continue to consume playoff hockey while also experiencing NBA playoffs, baseball.

It's the perfect time of the year for me. And part of that, Jeff, is because it's not just the sports that are on or getting to play golf, but it's the weather. I love when it's really hot. But at this time of the year right now, you do kind of find a way to get a comfy, cool breeze. And man, there's not a cloud in the sky. It's a Ryan McLeod. There's not a McLeod in the sky. Let's see what we got.

Here comes the big reveal. Logan Cooley, a comfy, cool breeze, and man, thaw, there's not a cloud in the sky. Logan Cooley, Anthony Mantha, Ryan McLeod, $5 wins. $553.43. If Zach's parlay hits tonight. Coolies. Manta McLeod is what Zach is presenting for everybody to start their week off right here with a cool 350 plus.

Good stuff. Anything you're looking forward to tonight? Anything got your eyeballs on this evening before we wrap things up here? I mean, just in general, being able to sit down. This is the one thing as well, I will say. The scheduling when it comes to playoff hockey is Chef's Kiss.

I know there's only two days. But going seven to nine-thirty, it's perfect. I'd rather see all of every game because if you get any delay or push-back You can kind of miss one. But still, it's good enough even for the casual viewer to just sit down and roll one into the next. So that's great. And looking forward to seeing what happens with Utah's speed tonight.

And if it continues to cause problems for the Vegas Golden Knights or if the Vegas Golden Knights can have any response to it. They should be rested for one. They should be rested. Be rested. Good points. No one's going to say, well, you're a little banged up, a little tired.

You ain't tired. But I'm with you. I'm looking forward to that one. And all the games that are on the board, I know we talked a lot about, and I think rightfully so, the situation between the ducks, excuse me,

the ducks and the Edmonds and others. But a pair of big games, this evening, 7 o'clock, as Zach mentioned, Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philly leaves that series 3 to 1. And then 2 to 1, Utah,

Leads of Vegas Golden Knights. Game 4 is tonight. Great stuff. Thanks to Greg Woshensky, as always, for stopping by from ESPN and ESPN.com. Check out his latest on Porter Martone in advance of maybe the flight is closing out the penguins. We shall see. On behalf of Zach Merrick signing off here, we are back tomorrow 1 o'clock Eastern for the sheet. Don't forget in the morning, it is a morning cup of hockey. So whatever happens this evening, the first voices on the network to have a whack at the pinata. We'll be our boys, Colby and Las.

Tune in to that tomorrow at 9 o'clock Eastern, we're going to get behind. We're out. We're back tomorrow. One o'clock for the shoot.