The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Flyers Take a 3-0 Lead, Stars Win Thriller, and McDavid Blanked ft. Jonny Lazarus & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski for another edition of MvsW, breaking down a loaded night of Stanley Cup Playoff action. The guys dive into the Philadelphia Flyers taking a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins and what it means for Pittsburgh’s future, before shifting to an instant classic between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild that needed double overtime to decide a winner. They also unpack a surprising result out west, where the Edmonton Oilers dropped one at home to the Anaheim Ducks, with Connor McDavid held off the scoresheet yet again. It’s a full playoff pulse check with key storylines, standout performances, and growing concerns across the league as Round 1 heats up.#TheSheet #NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #MvsW #Hockey #JeffMarek #GregWyshynskiSHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach 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/@FNBarnBurner🚨 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-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

That new opens. I always forget that part. I know. I was ready to get all wound up and talk about the flyers and penguins. And then bam. Holy smokes. See, opening a lot of Star Wars movies.

Yeah, I know. It's a little bonus. It's like when you hear the full theme song from Cheers. It's like there shouldn't be this many lyrics and verses. It just had one little segment that you heard before the show. You know what it was like when I was a kid. Let me drag this into hockey. When I was a kid, the only time you really heard the full hockey night in Canada

a theme was on the last game of the Stanley Cup playoffs written by Dolores Clammon. You would only hear the real version, the extended version in the playoffs because they'd have to run through all the credits from everyone at CBC who worked on the property. And it was always, it was weird. I still think about it now and I get like sad because it was my first experience of like, wow, like it's over for the year. And now we got to wait all summer long until we can see hockey again. Like even still to this day wish It sounds like I'm going to therapy here I'll welcome the program by the way

I'm going to therapy meet my therapist Greg Wyshinsky I still when I hear the extended version of it I get a little sad I get sad when I hear the extended version of the hockey night theme I'm such a child that's still 18 years old Can I tell you something I'm obsessed with When it comes to sports television music Yeah what's up

I'm obsessed with the versions of the theme songs that they play when there are injuries. Like when you watch Fox. Yes. And it's like, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dur for like football. And then when like there's a player that's down and he's holding his knee and out comes the stretcher, you hear do-do-do-do-do-do-do as they go to commercial.

I'm obsessed with the slow injury version of theme songs. I don't know if we have a lot of them for hockey. For hockey, we might have one for ESPN now, I think about it. For injuries now, let's just play the theme from MASH. How about that? Every single time someone's hurt, it's the theme from Mashes. They're scraping them up. That's right.

You hear the helicopters overhead. Yeah. Play that. Yeah, pretty much. We got that all. You know what? I think in order to connect with Gen Z and Alan Alda Dramedy from the early 1980s and 70s is exactly where we should go.

Now, listen. I need it all the way back to the studio for you today. Wait. You want to hear my Alan Alda impression. I have an Alan Alda impression. You're the guy of impressions, but I actually have an Alan Alda impression. You want to hear it? Okay.

Well, now I'm really furious. There you go. That's my Alan Alda impression. Incredible. Thank you. Thank you. You know who actually has a good Alan Alda impression? You can look at it up on YouTube is Bill Hader, former SNL.

No way. The Star of Barry has an incredible Alan Alda. I was going to say, I drove all the way back last night to get here this morning, obviously to go on the pod with you, not to take care of my kids. And, but I was in Philly last night for game three. And I got to tell you, man. I know. I got to tell you.

That was a playoff game. Like, we watch a bunch of games every night during the playoffs. And there's like intensity and some bile and a little bit of hatred and some rivalry that we claim as a rivalry. But it's not only a rivalry in name only, a rhino, if you will, but last night. Holy she. I'll tell you, I'll tell you the moment that really got me, Merrick. It wasn't the Crosby embellishment, which will get you, the first embellishment of Crosby's 21 season career. First time he's been gone.

It wasn't. Was it the Gritty and the Penguin? It wasn't. It wasn't connecting in Rust. It was, in fact, when they showed Gritty and a penguin mascot on the Jumbotrons. I don't know if the full video has hit socials, but it started with Gritty. Gritty and a guy in a penguin suit. Yep.

And by the way, as anyone who's seen sudden death knows, kind of taking your life into your own hands if you're fighting someone in a penguin suit. Very good, very good, very good. But then Gritty like roughs up the penguin, throws the penguin onto the concourse, so you don't see the penguin. And then does the classic, just to reference as S&L again,

classic bit where you then take a dummy dressed like the person you were just fighting. And in this case, I'm like, oh, you're just going to rough him up, whatever. Gritty throws the penit. penguin off the balcony. That was the one thing. Okay, pause on that for one second because I do have a thought on this one.

Forever and ever and ever in Toronto at Maple Leaf Games, they used to run the same. This is when Mike Fairman was Carlton the Bear. And someone argued the best Carlton the Bear. So they would run the same style of visuals for every single game, whether the Maple Leafs were playing the Atlanta Thrasher's or they were playing the Boston Bruins or they were playing the LA Kings, it didn't matter. The one hype video for Carlton was always, Carlton

beats up someone in a LA King's jersey. Of course. It's a classic. So I'm watching, I'm seeing the beginning of this clip, but it's like, okay, so he's beating up a penguin, yawn, we've seen this a million times, can we please try to do it? And then the chucking of the bag,

I was like, oh, you sir, you sir have taken this to the next level. I realized the ECW arena it was in Philadelphia. But to throw the penguin off the balcony. But again, the thing that separates a Philadelphia fan from the rest of fandom is that then the penguin, the lifeless body of the penguin mascot hits the fans down in the lower bowl. And they start passing this thing around like it's an American flag at a brinkly. ruins home game.

And everybody once they get the penguin in their hands will then take the penguin down to their laps and just start punching the penguin in the face before finally the ushers took the penguin away. It was so beautiful, Merrick. I can't describe to you how happy I was with Philly fans last night. You mentioned ECW Arena. I only, no, I went twice. And there was one cyber slam where I went backstage.

Oh, wow. Yeah, it was, it was great. Lance Evers, who wrestled as Lance Storm brought me backstage. Did you meet Hayman? I think he, oh, I've met Paul a number of times. I told you about my K-Fave story with Paul Heyman, didn't I? How every week I would get an email from RVD for Prez at Hotmail.com with all the story arcs for ECW.

I asked this is you, Paul. He's like, no, not me. Oh, yeah, but met him, met him a number of times. I remember going into the ECW dressing room once. Greg, there were a lot of drugs. No. There were a lot of drugs. No.

Yes, I'm not going to. There were a lot of drugs in that dress. Don't touch my percocet and do you have any percice? Percocet. Those are the two rules. Still a great line. No, but you know what? Yeah.

Because, again, we've seen the mascot beats up rival in rival Jersey a million times. But the chucking. The chucking was the one that put it over the top. Listen, we've been saying, like, it's great to have Philadelphia back in the playoffs. We're going to get to this in a couple of moments here and dive more into it. Final thought. Eight years ago to the day, by the way, Merrick.

That was eight years ago to the day since their last playoff home game. Gritty had never appeared at a Flyers playoff home game before. Isn't that crazy? Wow. You know what yesterday was the anniversary of too? Speaking of Philadelphia, the Brian Campbell R.J. Umberger hit, which made me the best hit I've ever seen in the history of hockey. It's still reverberating.

Oh, his grandkids. kids are going to have migraines. Poor R.J. Umberger. Why, why your grandkids' ears always ringing Brian Campbell? The least-likeliest crusher on the ice. You have like two hits his entire career. Anyhow, let's get to the show. The blueprint is powered by Fandle. Download the app today and play your game on Fandul. You know him, you love him. You've heard from him. You've seen them as well, and you've probably laughed. Greg Wischinski is here from ESPN and ESPN.com. Johnny Lazarus will stop by here in a couple of moments for a morning cup of hockey. Flyers pushing the Pittsburgh penguins. How should we say it? I don't want to use like to the brink. Let's use your gritty metaphor.

Flyers have the penguins on the balcony right now up three nothing. Cona McDavid continues to put up bagels for the Edmonton Oilers as the ducks stun the oilers last night to even up their series. Some Sabres lineup changes. The Josh Norris out. Discuss amongst yourselves and the senators look to score some goals and not squander great goaltending opportunities and performances by Linus Almark. A couple of more thoughts on you last night in Philadelphia at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

What stood out for you in that game? Because there were a few things. The Crosby dive is the big one. No supplemental for Travis Kineckney. I think D.OPS looked at that and said, it's not so much a kick as it is a sweep. But nonetheless, I don't know about you, but I get touchy around blades being swung around.

whether they're high or whether they're low, but nonetheless, nothing there. But what jumped out at you on this one? See, I thought they were both doing a little tap dancing towards the end of that scrum. And I thought that that would have been interesting to see if they single dot connecting. I mean, to me, like the problem,

well, that was the crux of the game. Both teams talked about it. The penguins openly talked about the fact that that melee, which ended up with five guys in each penalty box, you know, the delay. The Zegrocelli was outstanding, by the way. Dude, we'll get to that in a second. The delay that it took for the referees to figure out the penalties was an absolute disgrace.

It killed momentum for the penguins. It exacerbated the situation. And then on top of that, Rust gets a double minor. And I agree with the penguins. They got hosed on that one. Like, Kinecti starts the entire thing by elbowing Rust in the face. And then Russ jumps on him and his mush in his face and the ice and everything. everything else. There's no way the flyers should have come out of that with a power play,

but they get one. Yep. Zegra scores to tie the game and then off we go. It's the, you know, by the time, you know, it's like six minutes later and it's three one for Philly. But to your point, like five, uh, here's the Zegra's call five flyers in the penalty box doing a ring around the Rosie basically while Zegris comes over and jumps by. Zegra said that he realized that they were all in the box. He realized that they would be celebrating, and he wanted to let him know that he was thinking about them in that moment.

He kind of preconceived coming over and saying, hey, have he scored in that power play? Pause. Pause. There's one thing that could have been better with that celebration with Trevor Zegrois. And would have been very Philadelphia. If he didn't do the selling in front of the Philly box,

but he did it in front of the Penguins box. Oh, man. Could you imagine? First of all, do you think he'd get an unsportsman like call if he went and did the they celebrated in front of the Pittsburgh Penguins penalty box. If he skated by the penguins penalty box,

the five guys in it and punched the glass. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'd get a sportsman like for that. He's allowed to. Hang on. He's allowed to sell you where he wants. I'm just going to play like, I'm going to play like dumb janitor here. He's allowed to celebrate wherever he wants.

He's allowed to punch the glass. See, I was hoping you were going to say the most Philly thing in that instance would be he scores the goal and then breaks all of the criminals out of the penalty box like Bain in the Dark Night Grises. That would have been the most Philly thing. I thought you were going to say the most filly thing he could have done would have been climbed the glass into the penalty box. Oh, like Chris Falcone.

Yeah, Ty Don'tomy style. Oh, Chris Falcone style. Very nice. Ooh, that would have been good too. Oh, nice one, Zach. I like that. That's good too. But that moment was it changed the entire complexion of the game.

Like they score on that power play. The crowd is ignited. They're already, it's already a hot room. And then you get goals from Rustalided and Seeler as, you know, the Kael McCars of the Philadelphia Flyers, Rustalainen and Sikers. Just like, it was such an incredible turn of events. And look, you are reminded at times still about what the Flyers are, which is a team that is playing with all the confidence in the world. As Eric Carlson said last night, they're hitting on all cylinders, they're getting all the bounces, they're making their own luck. But they're still so young.

And that third period was a good reminder of that because they did everything they could with two pretty bad minor penalties to try to squander what they had built. Luckily, Anthony Matha made the dumbass move of dumbass moves by dumping the puck over the glass, which then led to the Noah Kate's power play goal. But, you know, someone said before the season,

before the postseason for me when I was doing that director, GM player, anonymous poll thing that I did, you know, sometimes it's good to be young and dumb. And I think the flyers in this series have shown that. I mean, they are playing with such exuberance, and sometimes they make mistakes,

but it's okay. They're just going to put the pedal down and press forward, and they've looked so good in this series against the Penguins. Sidney Crosby from the 15-meter diving tower. Your thoughts on that one? Like, he dove.

Well, he dove. I mean, I'll say this. I don't think it was, to me it wasn't, I think we'll put it over. over and this is where a referee is only getting embarrassed. Hathaway catches him with a stick up high. That's great. He goes down.

That's cool. Staying down. That's the part. I don't mind the going down. The staying down, I just can't stand with players. For a guy who's never embellished, that was pretty good. Like, that's if I sat down at a piano and ever having played it before. And then I play an entire concerto perfectly, note for note.

Like, that was an amazing embellishment for someone who's never done it before. You have, hang on this. I've said this before to you. and everybody else. All players embellish, but there is a difference between embellishment and diving. Everybody is out there trying to draw penalties.

I assure you, every single player, when they're on the ice, they're trying to score, but they're also trying to draw penalties. Everybody embellishes. I don't think the gravity is more profound or stronger around the crease,

but you wouldn't be able to tell by watching an NHL game, how these big, strong men who are lower body, bodies are insane, especially Krosby, go down so easy when you put blue paint on ice. Blue paint on ice does something to gravity, by the way. But like the point that I've always made about this is like every player is trying to draw a penalty. The thing that I just hate is the rolling around on the ice or staying down when you don't have to stay down.

Because I know a lot of people like, oh, we don't want to turn this into soccer. Don't turn to soccer. We can't do that. The going down is the going down. That's going to happen. Even a head snap back I'm totally fine with. But I hate is the staying down. Yeah, and I mean, it was just, it was, it was egregious.

It was egregious to the point where they had to call a penalty on Sidney Crosby for it. I guess Dan Mews missed the first four or five years of Sitt's career. Which he's still apologizing to referees for, by the way. I mean, and that's okay. He was young. He was playing a certain way. He whined all the time of the officials. He dove all the time.

By his own admission. By his own admission now. He looks back, goes, I've done a lot of apologizing. I've done a lot of it. It's kind of, I mean, honestly, dude, I was saying this to my wife this morning, actually, when we were talking about the game. It is kind of amazing how he's aged into being like the example for, you know, all the things we love about hockey when you think about where he started. You and I are old enough to remember a time when, you know, it was, boy, I love this guy's game, but I just wish you'd shut the fuck up. You know, like, it was very much that about Sid.

That was Gretsky, too. Groske was the same way. Griske was the same way. That's not unique. So it is kind of amazing that that part of his history gets kind of forgotten about until it comes to something like last night where Dan Mewis sits there and says, well, you know, he hasn't been called for embellishment for 21 years. And Sid doesn't embellish.

And we're like, all right, dude. Here are all the clips of Sid embellishing. He just didn't get whistled for it. It's okay. Everybody embellishes. Stop. Everybody doesn't. So to move the ball forward a little bit here on this series,

because I mean, obviously they're going for the sweep on Saturday. I've been struggling, and I wrote about this today on ESPN, I've been struggling with the idea of whether or not this Flyers team is legitimately this good. Like we talked about Buffalo finding themselves within the season and being the St. Louis Blues of a few years ago. Or if they are just like created in a lab to beat this Penguins team. And I kind of believe it's the latter, but I wanted to hear your thoughts on that. Here's my thoughts on this.

Let's look at this series in relationship to all the other series that are going on right now. And I don't want to insult anybody here. You're all beautiful. All you're all beautiful. And I love you all. You're all great. You're all beautiful. You're all beautiful.

And I love you. Of all the series, this is the worst hockey. This series is not pretty. This is not great hockey at all. It's like the hockey. Again, it's the drama, the story, all of it, like big sort of emotional moments. But if you're just looking at like the pure hockey of it all, this is not a good series. It's fun, especially if you're a Flyers fan.

It's outstanding. It's great. And listen, I'm right here for the ride on this one. But if we're just sort of met now, now we're going to talk about like how good is the hockey? It's not. It's not. No, it's not. So first of all, I,

I will gladly accept any of the apologies that come my way from people that were aghast at the idea that I had Dan Bladar fifth of my heart ballot when you see what that guy means to this team. And that's right now my biggest concern. Like he's not at practice as we do this show. He heard his hand last time. He heard his hand. Look pretty bad. Hung in there, stayed in there, put the blocker back on and finished the game. But if he's in any way impacted, whether it's a lineup absent.

or his effectiveness gets tuned down a little bit, they're cooked. Like, he's the backbone of everything they do. But I call, hang on. They're cooked like, here comes the penguins storming back, and they're going to win four years in a row?

No, no, no, no. I think the penguins are done. Yeah, the penguins are done. All right. But, like, if he was healthy and they were flying around the ice and they were getting good offensive contributions throughout the lineup.

That's another thing about this Flyers team too. I mean, different hero every night offensively. You had guys scoring their first playoff goals ever and other guys,

you know, had carried the freight offensively before that. Like, I'd give them at least a puncher's chance against what I assume will be Carolina.

But I think the issue is that the penguins beyond their top heavy veterans are kind of a mess and Carolina is not a mess. And Caroline is not going to give you the things to work with that the fly that the penguins have and also the hurricanes don't need to get to a certain area

of the ice to be effective like the penguins need to and it's the area the flyers are very at depth at keeping you from getting to in the inner slot so i tend to believe that carolina would probably take care of them but i'm kind of enamored with this team i got to be honest the physicality with which they play the antagonism you got porter martone sticking a tongue out at the bench and stuff like that there's a lot to really kind of love about this flyers team right now insofar as how they play and the attitude that they carry. But, I mean, from a functionality standpoint, I just don't know if they're playing a team

that's a few cuts above this Penguins team if they're going to be as successful. If you're playing Carolina, the key to beating the Carolina hurricanes, well, like the Panthers last year, like bluntly, just bullied them. Like, that was sand in the face. They bullied the Carolina hurricanes

and the hurricanes did nothing about it. They couldn't. The thing about the hurricanes, If you're going to beat Carolina, because they play that man to man, when there's a turnover, you really see how much ice there is out there. Because no one's playing an area. They're playing man to like a lot of junior hockey or minor slash youth hockey. You're playing man to man.

When there are turnovers, you have a lot of ice and you have a long pathway to the net. Clear. So the way to beat Carolina is, there's no secret. You get them to turn the puck over in their own. zone. Because when you're playing man to man, you really realize how much ice is actually out there. Like when you look at a game, like when you're up in popcorn row and you look at the game, one, you notice how players have more time than they think.

And the other thing you notice is it looks like there's no ice out there, except when you're watching Carolina. And that's why I always tell people, if you go to a Carolina Hurricanes game, don't try to sit as close as possible. Try to sit back because you really see how much ice can actually be out there when, even when they're like 10 guys in the offensive zone or 10 guys in the defensive zone because they're so tight with one another.

And if you can force turnovers, that's how you beat the Carolina hurricanes because you'll get ice. And every chance is high danger. Every chance when Carolina turns it over is high danger because no one's playing zone. Everyone's playing man to man. You're kind of making the argument

that Philly could beat him then. Because I mean, Philly is really good off the rush. They can quickly transition with guys like Zegris and others. Like, I mean, you're kind of making the argument, but they might be also built to beat the Carolina Hurricanes. The thing about Carolina is they just kill you in the neutral zone. They just destroy you in the neutral zone.

And they are so fast. Like, you have to be really athletic. You have to be really athletic to beat the Carolina Hurricanes. Anyway, it might not even be the Carolina Hurricane. We shall see if all of a sudden, Travis Green gets his matchups and we'll see as early, is tonight. But I want to get to a couple more things from last night before we move it into this evening. Which game was more stunning to you last night? Dallas, Minnesota, or what

Anaheim did to the Edmonton Oilers, namely again, shutting down Connor McDavid. Now, this is Woodcroft effect, right? Like this is Jay Woodcroft, assistant coach, Anaheim, Doc saying, you know, Joel, I kind of know a thing or two about these Edmonton Oilers and I kind of know a thing or two. about number 97. That's what we're seeing here, right? I think we're seeing copious amounts of Jackson Lecombe and Jacob Truba, who played the most minutes against McDavid in the first two games of the series. You'd think that Chris Knoblock would be more adept at maybe getting him away from that matchup

if they are in fact winning it. And they are in fact winning it. When they're on the ice against McDavid, the ducks, I believe, are plus. in shot attempts at 5-on-5. So it could be the Woody effect. I know all of the secrets of the Oilers, Mr. Quenville. Or it could just be that they've got a good defensive pairing that's been able to kind of play up against McDavid's line.

I don't know if the Oilers have done enough to really, like, get him going, to be honest with you. And obviously, there's nothing you could really do on the power play. If he's not clicking on the power play, I mean, that's kind of on the players. but I don't know. This is now three straight games, three straight postseason games going back to the final game against the Panthers last year,

where McDavid hasn't scored. And if you want to forget about that game and just focus on this postseason, he's never, in his career, had three straight postseason games without a point. So if game three in Anaheim results in Connor McDavid not having hit the score sheet, then sound the sirens

because something's going on. You want to talk about an inferno of an off-season, have the ducks beat the Oilers in the first round. If you want to talk about like chaotic off-seasons with a furious owner. Again, like the expectation is conference final, conference final for this team. Or there's going to be real questions

and probably body's leaving. What is bodies leaving, though, outside of the coaching staff? It's not Stan. I don't think it would be Stan, but I would be really, really interested to see what happens with the coach.

He's gone. He's not going to be... If they lose the first round of the ducks, he's gone. There's any drama about that. But here's the thing, though. I don't even think his new contract has kicked in yet.

I think his new contract kicks in next year. I don't think that matters. Again, I don't think that matters. They're going to have to pay out because like they've, they've got a small window here with which they can, they can hire Bruce Cassidy. Like, let's be honest. Like, they're going to go out and get a guy that they believe that can win a cup in the in the time that they have left with Connor. Yeah. I don't even think, I mean, I think Noblox gone even if they make the second round and lose. Like, there's going to have to be somebody paying the price, like collecting a scalp as we talked about a few, a few weeks ago. To answer your question, I actually think the Dallas game was more shocking to me. I picked the Oilers in a sweep because sometimes you hot shot predictions. And actually, I thought it was coming a little bit close to that when they rallied in the third period. And then, you know, things went sideways as they often do with the Oilers defensively. But when I saw that Minnesota had a lead in the third period against Dallas, I thought that was a game that we could have put in the win column for a year.

old wild and I was really surprised when I flipped on the game on the way home and the Dallas Stars had tied it and I'm like oh, that's that's interesting and then at overtime let me ask you this because this is my kind of working theory right now with this series

there are a lot of really really great players on the Minnesota Wilde Kreesoff, Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldie Ericsonack and there are some really really great players in the Dallas Stars. But doesn't it feel like the players and the Dallas Stars, and this isn't simply just against Minnesota, but this is on an annual basis, kind of have that knack for coming through

in the way that other star players don't? Like a Wyatt Johnston, like a Miko Ranton, like Jason Robertson? I just kind of feel like when the game like that goes to overtime, I am supremely confident that somebody on the Dallas Stars is going to make a play to end. the game and give them the win more so than I am that any one of the Minnesota Wild Bill. And I don't know why that is. Maybe it's lack of proof of concept, but that's kind of how I feel about Dallas versus

Minnesota in the series. It's because we haven't seen Minnesota do it, right? Like, well, because they can't do it. Managers, no, no, but managers like Jim Nell, managers like Lou Lamarillo have that, the belief and the understanding is, is that you need to find like that, that, that right balance between putting a team together that's going to get you to the playoffs and give you home ice advantage. But at the same time, once you get there, it's the veteran guys that do it.

You mentioned Wyatt Johnson a second ago. He, you know, by his own admission last year, wasn't good in the postseason. That was terrible. And he was like, I don't know what the end was like with the coaching staff, like everything, to try to figure out what went wrong. but if you look at the Dallas stars and the guys that are that are getting it done it's not kids like it's not a you know bork and um i mean why johnson's been been clutch but it's their it's their veteran guys you know that was what lou would always bet on with the new york islanders all we need to do is get there right and then they stopped getting there and it didn't matter but when they got there they would get to the conference final right like that was that was the islanders um but i I think it's just because we've seen Dallas do it for so long. Now, they ultimately flame out in the conference final, but still, we've just seen Dallas do it so many times that because I'm the same way with you.

It's like, okay, so which Dallas Star is going to get the overtime winner here? Yeah. Give out your prediction. What about Minnesota? No, Minnesota's not. Yeah. But I think that is a multiple season build of a lack of confidence in this wild team. Like, it's not simply just like, you know.

Oh, no. They're the first round exit. Caprisso. Caprisso's had his chances and both of the first-time. isn't, you know, like, it's this reputation they've kind of forged. I don't know if that's just wilting in comparison to a Dallas team that has this incredible knack for coming through in the clutch or functionally, the Minnesota Wilde's top players don't find ways to win these kinds of playoff games.

I don't know. We'll see what the rest of the series brings. Johnny Lazarus is the host of Morning Cup of Hockey. He joins us on the program here to share thoughts on a number of different. You want to jump in, by the way, Johnny, thanks so much for joining us here. You want to jump in on the who's a more clutch team here or your general thoughts on Dallas, Minnesota? I don't know. I don't like to look on Greg's face when I joined, but no, I'm excited to be joined by Alex Lyons number one fan, considering he's in the crease today for the Buffalo Sayers.

Yes, that's just one point for me and negating one point for Colby. What was the question, Jeff? Sorry, I distracted. Just a general thought on Minnesota, Minnesota Dallas, what we've seen here so far. Oh, it's been awesome. I think it's lived up to every expectation that we all. expected it to. It feels like a conference final and it's in the first round.

What's better than that? Well, I don't want to say what's better than that. What's better than that would be if that was the conference final. But, you know, it's been, it's been,

you know, I do have one gripe though. It's funny. I was listening to, you know, the show so far today and just hearing the diving versus embellishment conversation, that whole game last night,

it felt like both teams were just trying to get calls. Yeah. Guys were falling. It's absolutely. So, you know, I'm firmly of the belief here that, now more so than ever.

I mean, this has always been a thing in hockey, but more teams now more so than ever are content to play 50-50 puck, five-on-five and take their chances on the power play. And part of the job is to go out there and draw penalties. I mean, it's always been. But now more so than ever, it's like, let's let our special team win this game for us.

What was the Marcus Felina line? It was like they just want to play a five-on-four, and last night they took eight penalties. Oh, I felt so bad for that. puck over the glass one that end of the game oh dena oh you're off yeah right terrible feeling that's got to be oh my god yeah um so johnny you bring up a good point though and i i wanted to mention this on the show which is that as a avowed guy who wants to change the playoff format and as a play end game guy and as a one through eight yeah oh boy it's hard to make that argument this year man

like the flyers penguins great i mean as far as the the energy in the past and goes Minnesota Dallas incredible hockey like the the first round matchups Tampa Montreal have every single one has been great every single one yeah good so even so the next so the next I mean and then I get yeah they've been one goal games like I'm sure the next time I see Gary Betman and like I'm talking about the playoff where I mean it's like oh yeah what about last season with all those bangers in the first round I'm like all right Gary you won't say bangers but you know what I'm saying yeah I mean even even last year it's

It's weird, right? Like, you know, with the Rangers being out two years in a row, I try to find some way to channel emotion in these playoffs and, like, pick a team in the east, pick a team in the West that I kind of want to, you know, jump on that bandwagon and follow and just find joy in rooting for them. I don't remember finding it last year like I found it in these first five days. Even watching Ottawa and Carolina, like that series while it's 2-0-0, it's felt much tighter than a 2-0-0 series.

While Pittsburgh and Philly being 3-0, that is the weird series where, Philly has been the most respectfully dominant team in their series, which I picked Pittsburgh in five, and I think most people would have picked Pittsburgh in that series. So it's kind of fun to have the team that everyone picked against have this sort of domination or glory. So these storylines, you know, I continue to find super interesting, even going to Colorado and L.A.

where it's like I thought the avalanche would run them out of the building and totally dominate offensively. They've been able to score two goals. What does Nathan McKinnon have? One point, if that. You know, they're holding the avalanche to two goals each game. And credit to Anton Forbesberg. He's been unbelievable.

Artemian, their deadline pickup, has the only goals in each game. Like, you know, these are things to look at that are fun storylines, you know, all the way to Anaheim and Edmonton, where Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid have been held pointless in both games on home ice. When does that happen? Never. So I think you can find something in every single series that is shocking, surprising, or something that we really haven't seen before. And I think that's kind of what's making this first round so fun.

I mean, the Dallas, Minnesota one, you know, maybe has been the only one that hasn't been a surprise yet. I'd say that six one game one is probably the biggest thing that stands out. But other than that, I really do think you can find something in every series so far that is not what we expected. So outside of every point that I make here on this program daily, I thought the best point that anyone has made so far this week, Johnny was on your show and that was Mike Johnson. Oh. Sorry. Okay.

Definitely not something I said. No, you've had some, you've had some moments. A tattoo moments. An interesting one, too. We can get to that. So when you're asking, when you and Colby were asking about like the nature of like why this is so violent this year.

Like, why like, where did all this instant hatred come from? And he focused on Goudis and Matthews and how Maple Leafs players were just derided from all over the league and everyone now in the NHL is like, I don't want to be called, I don't want to be called what Morgan Riley was called. I don't want to be called what all these guys have been called. So the minute there's any drama,

everybody's on it right now for fear of being painted with the brush that Maple Leafs players have been painted with. First of all, Greg, do you agree with that? No, I don't. I think that's, I feel I can listen to, I feel like I can listen to NHL Network Radio

with how Toronto-centric that takes. was. I think I let me tell you something right now. I think that the fact that NHL player safety has been so absolutely kid gloves with a lot of the brutality that we've seen in the last season and a half. And maybe that does tie into Judas Matthews a little bit. I think people, I think these players know that they can take liberties. And I think that everyone knows that the more liberties you take in the playoffs and the more

you physically dominate your opponent and wear down your opponent. and wear down your opponent and in the case of the flyers, Johnny, antagonize your opponent, the better you're going to be. And so if the sheriff has his feet kicked up on the desk sitting back with a ice cold sasperilla and he ain't patrol on the town, then you know you can get away with all that stuff. And I think these guys are getting away with all that stuff right now. Okay.

Let me throw another thing on log on to the fire. I'll throw it back to you on this one then, Johnny. Is this then maybe not MJ's Matthews Goudis point? maybe we just need to look in the rearview mirror and say, this is the Florida Panthers. This is the Panthers effect. They bullied their way to the Stanley Cup. Like you remember how the guys,

we were mentioning Carolina a couple of seconds ago before he came on. You remember how everybody went at Sebastian Aho last year in that series. Like it was poor Ajo was just getting fed every time he was on the ice. And Carolina couldn't do anything about it. So maybe that's what it is. But whatever it is, it's been nasty. It's been nasty this. There's a couple of things that stand out,

which actually, I think Jordan Schmaltz mentioned in our show this morning, where the young kids, too, that are coming in, they don't really give a shit about, like, the guys they're playing against. Like, Porter Martone yesterday in the first minute of the game, he's in front of the net after a whistle, and he's getting into it with Latang and Malkin. You know, this kid's been in the league for a month. He doesn't care that it's Latang and Malkin.

You know, like that to me, is part of it too where I think these younger guys now kind of have egos and confidence in what's a good way, and they channel that in a good way, where they're not phased by who they're going up. Like the fact that Sidney Crosby is getting cross-checked by Sanheim, and these guys were teammates in the Olympics a few months ago. Like Sydney Crosby doing what Cindy Crosby did yesterday with the embellishment or whatever you want to call it, I loved that because I thought that was so far gone. Like people have so much respect for Cid, and he hasn't been in the playoffs for three years.

so you don't see this kind of treatment toward him over the last three years. But nobody has necessarily treated him like he's this untouchable God. And I think we haven't seen that around Crosby since, you know, Jacob Trubo took him out of the playoffs in 2022. Like I haven't seen Crosby hit like that in three years. So, you know, I think seeing that, I think, obviously I think Mike Johnson has a great point and nobody wants to be called those things. But I look at the Buffalo Sabres all year long and they had each other's backs.

Like it wasn't anything new for Buffalo. You know, so I look at that team. And I think about Matthew Guchuk on his podcast said, he said this week, like, they had meetings before every round. And they would go one by one, first line left winger, talk about this guy, what pisses him off, how to get under his skin. And they, and Matthew said, like, I'm paraphrasing. He said they'd get deep and they'd get dirty in those conversations. So what for all of our viewers and listeners here, so what Johnny is talking about, like, this is nothing new in the NHL. I remember, who was it?

Colby Armstrong telling me the stories of getting homework before every series. Yeah. And what they would do is every player was assigned a player on the other team. And what you would do is you would get on the phone and call previous teammates, previous coaches and get like everything on that guy. Like what pisses them off, dirt, all behind the scene. And really, really personal stuff too that can set that player off. And then to Kachuk's point on his podcast, they would all get together and compare notes.

Okay. All right, Johnny Lazarus, you had Greg Wischinsky. Tell us everything you found out about. Greg Wischinski that we can all use on the ice. That is like that next level. But it's, it's, it's, it is nothing new. Like, that's been, that's been going on for a long. The idea of.

It would be like a 12 volume set, John, like stuff. That you'd have to go through with me. I just call my cousin Jason. He knows it all. That's right. Um, no. And to your point, Eric, like, that's how it used to be with guys like Claude Lemieux and Sean Avery, too.

Like, they'd have a roll of decks of taunts and a roll of, of, of taunts and a roll of decks of things that they knew that certain guys would always get, you know, set guys off. And now it's become sort of like normalized where it's become, you know, we're not studying the power play today, boys. We're studying trolling. That's, that's today's lesson here in the film room. Yeah, but I don't think everyone can do it. I don't think everyone can do it.

Like we think about or our, I think it was, it was either last year or 2024. I think it was last year's cup final in game three where you really saw the oilers try to like take it to the Panthers and beat them in their own style. but the Oilers couldn't do it. Right? Like, Corey Perry, who'd Corey Perry fight? He fought somebody at the end of that game. And I remember having the conversation with Colby

and probably listening to you guys had the same one about like, is this good that the Oilers are doing it? And it really just showed that they were kind of unraveling. And that's not their style of play. You know, you can't out Panther the Panthers. But these teams now, I think, are trying to impose their will on one another. And you're seeing the teams that can handle it and punch back

and you're seeing the teams that maybe, you know, are more talk than they are. You know what the problem? It's hard to imagine Jacob's slave and doing like a kill-tony routine You know what the problem with that is though They're going to have to make bigger buildings

Through all of this What do you mean by that? Because people freaking love this stuff Oh yeah Hockey fans gobble it up And the buildings are too small You have 25,000 people that want to buy tickets Not 18,000 now

If this is the way you're going to continue with the game how much are you going to kick out of the people trolling hurricanes fans the other night like why is it double overtime and half the building is empty like there are people who like didn't watch the game that saw the picture circling and well it's like oh because they celebrated a goal for like five minutes yeah they're getting back in the building

yeah they wanted to beat the traffic because everyone thought the game was over it's actually because Tom Dundon makes them repay for parking after two overtimes so everybody everybody left I don't know I don't know.

I was laughing at that. Can you believe how much he's, can you believe how much shit he's taking for being the owner of the Blazers right now? Like, I was listening to Sports Talk radio other day and, like, they're just chronicling all the little shortcuts he's taking on the Blazers. And the money, like they're not getting out T-shirts at a home game for the playoffs.

Like, their social media managers not traveling with the teams so they can save, like, $1,500 bucks on hotel rooms. That stuff matters. Maple Leafs have been roasted about that with Keith Pelly, with, you know, the $900.

for the kid in the flag. We were talking last week here on the show. My buddy Bob was making the point. It's only going to be a matter of time before the Maple Leafs change the 50-50 to the 80-20. He's trying to squeeze out more value from the 50-50. We're going to make it an 80-20 and stick 80% in MLSC's coffers. I think I saw the Flyers 50-50 raffle was at like 151K last night, something like that.

Yeah, it was bail money. Everybody. Everybody in Western Ontario, in Western Canada, by the way, Johnny's like, 150,000. Like in Western Canada, it gets like to a million. Like, they go crazy. The 50-50 at those crazy. It's a cup final games.

Insane. Yeah. It was insane. It was like mega millions. It was crazy. I've only bought a 50-50 like once and I was pretty drunk. It's hard to convince me that. I've never heard of like anyone winning those things.

Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres. Thoughts where we are now. Series 10. The venue shifts. Johnny Lazarus, the venue shifts. What was the stat? It was like the Sabres have only led for three minutes in this series out of 120 minutes, something like that.

Pretty concerning if you're a Buffalo fan. But I got to say, like I think, and Dan Bilesma said it this morning, like momentum does shift from game to game. Like people say it doesn't, but, you know, you can feel it. And sometimes, you know, the change of scenery from city to city, building to building, whatever you want to call it, it matters. And, you know, obviously tonight, you know, a 1-1 series. To me, there's no pressure on Boston in this game. Like, the savers have all the

pressure with everything that's got on in the past two games to get out to a lead at least at the start. They don't want to go down two-nothing for the third game in a row. But Alex Lyon, you know, I think throughout his career has been able to come in and settle things down. And people forget, like he has started the exact same amount of games this season as Ukupeka-Lukin has. You know, it's not like it's a starter backup situation. This has really been a 1-A-1B. And I said it's kind of like the way that Omerk and Swamen were handled a couple years ago. But, you know, it's two different names, right? These aren't guys who were necessarily Besenac caliber goalies, although they have been great.

But I think throwing Lion into the game at the end of the game, too, to get him, you know, into the rhythm, into the feel, into the atmosphere of the series allows him to feel more comfortable starting tonight versus, you know, how do you PL finish that game and Lion goes in cold tonight? So I think it's a good move to throw line in there in game three and see what he can do. Throw line of the Lions, as it were. I felt like it was sitting right there. It was hard to really gauge what Buffalo was in game, game two, because I mean, like, UPL couldn't stop a beach ball. And like, so you had all this momentum in your, all this win in your sales from game one and the crowd and everything else.

And then like all of a sudden adversity hits in a way you don't expect because your goaltending has not let you down like that the entire season. I think it just kind of like knocked them off their tracks. I'm with each. I'm really fascinated to see what we learned about the savers tonight because I think we've all assumed they're, were going to be a wagon and that they were going to stay on track and that and that when adversity hit they could kind of like shrug it off just because they've how good they've played but now they're going against the veteran crafty team like you said has no pressure on them that they're clear underdog in the series they've kind of outplayed them uh if you go period by period in the series

and so on the road swayman I mean it's swameman but but merrick it's also just like you can count what is it two periods basically the same have, you know, cranked up the machine and really gotten, gotten to their game. I mean, the Bruins will play really well in this series. And maybe that's partially, you know, gripping your sticks, new to the playoffs, whatever the hell with the sabers. Or it's just, you know, the Bruins just kind of knowing what to do in a series like this. Johnny. You want me to take this one?

Yeah, I don't know that was directed toward. Go for it. Go for it. Well, I was just going to see. You have some of the color. Go for it. I think Buffalo was for sure the better team in game one. despite Boston being up to nothing for the majority of it,

the Sabres, as far as coming out of the emotion of a, you know, playoff series for the first time. And over a decade, I thought they played a really strong game. And I think right now what's killing Buffalo, which is what's killing a lot of the teams that you see that aren't doing well in their series, is the power play. Like if Edmonton finds a way to score one power play goal, they're probably up to nothing in the series.

If Buffalo finds a way to score one power play goal, they're probably up to nothing in the series. You know, the power play has hindered these teams. And for Buffalo, Buffalo fans. Like, what are you bullying your power play for? You got the best team in the division playing on home ice for the first time in 14 years boost those guys up. So tonight, you know, when Buffalo goes on the road and their power play, maybe doesn't get off to a good start and goes 0 for one, that gets in your head. I mean, think about the Florida Panthers the year

they won the President's trophy. I don't think they scored a power play goal until game four that series against Tampa. And, you know, like, you hear Aaron Eckblad, we getting mic'd up saying, like, we did it, we finally did it, you know, stuff like that. That's stuff. That's a that weighs on when your power play is not clicking it really go like the negative energy kind of flows through the bench it's like oh my god are we going to get another chance like did we just ruin our one opportunity and you know where we're going to get a goal from you know like so i think buffalo if they can figure out the power play they'll be fine and if they don't they're probably going to lose a series and i think that's like a cliche low-hanging fruit thing to say but it's just a

god's honest truth speaking of power plays johnny do you are you in favor of changing the penalty shot rule where you can decline the penalty shot and get the power play instead? To be honest, I haven't put a lot of thought to that, but I think about it every morning. I guess, yeah, you should have the option. Why not? I don't know who would pick it. I'd much rather get a breakaway than a two-minute power play.

No, but the idea is like if you're up by a goal and you just want to run the clock, and so you give the team the option, like 45 seconds up, I don't need the shot. I need to run the clock. Yeah, that's a fair point. Yeah, I would probably say, take the power play, run the clock. Yeah. Even an overtime taking a four on three for two minutes over, you know, a 50-50 chance. Four on three, four on three is like almost automatic now.

It should be. I would take that over the shot. Merrick, I think that's the point. I made that point this morning on ESPN was the idea that like if you were going to adjust the rule, it couldn't be a five. on four. It couldn't be either a penalty shot or a five and four. It's like it could be a penalty shot or like a five on three or four on three. And then, and then, at least then you have the incentive for the defenseman not to go and hook the guy who's a mile ahead of him.

I think, but I, but I have time. How about, okay, how about, how about, how about this one? How about this one? Let me, let me complicate this even further. Please do. Here's, here's, here's your option. Either a penalty shot or a one minute power play. I would take the I would take the penalty shot. I mean, if you lose the offensive zone face off, that's like 30 seconds off the power play already. You take the penalty shot. Why would it only be a one-minute?

No, I'm just saying, you're not insensivizing. No, if you want to give a team, if we want to get into the, you know, choose the option of what you want here. Because, like, to me, like, the infraction is the infraction. And if you want to change the rule book, that's fine.

But the infraction, the call is a penalty shot. For taking someone down with the court's scoring chance. While we're at it, I have an idea. When it comes to overtime, overtime rules. Instead of the shootout, instead of the shootout, do college football O.T, give each team a four-on-three power play, like tit for tat. And, like, let's say, Buffalo goes first. They score.

Then Ottawa has to score to stay alive. I have a minute. I love that idea. Four on three. I love that idea. No, that was always my solution to the shoot. It's not hockey. No, that's always my solution to the shoot has always been that.

It's like my problem with the shootout, not to re-litigate this for the 100th time, but like is that it doesn't resemble the game that was played before it. It's not a team event. I mean, there's no defenseman playing his position. There's nobody feeding you a pass to put you on a breakaway. Like the idea that you're settling a team game with a one-on-one forced mechanism to make sure that you get the game done within the, uh, the TV window is, is a joke. So you and I are relying on the idea of trading power plays, but I will say this.

So like if, if the consideration is we got to get this game done and not have to go all night, then horrible idea home ice advantage if you're the home team and you get first crack and you score games over there you go hang on so if you get first advantage and you score the game is over yep the other team doesn't even get a crack at the power play that's right I don't know if I like that give the home team something for being at home you know what I mean you get you already get an advantage with the change now you get the advantage with the power play wouldn't that make the three on three even more with the visiting team knowing what's lying ahead for them in the trading of the power plays instead of the shootout?

Okay, well, why now? You know what? I'll get involved more of this shit. It's Thursday. We're having a good time. We've got more hockey on the horizon. We're the first out of the playoffs. We're talking about three-up three-over time.

You want to end it? Three-on-three overtime? Two pucks. Go. Oh, come on. If you just want to end it, two pucks, go. First one that goes in wins. Two pucks.

Two pucks. First goes in wins. You use camp. Yeah. It's like when your air hockey game has the extra puck come out and you're just like rocking and rolling. I just want to. I don't know, but you guys, I've always just wanted to see a game with two pucks. An NHL game with two pucks.

Just to see what that would look like. He hasn't never thought about that. What would hockey look like? I honestly. Really, eh? Can't say I have. Man, I got no life. Man, I really got no life.

We should touch on the one we haven't talked about yet. Do you think Vegas is in trouble, Johnny? You know what? I said today, and Colby asked me if I could change my prediction from, you know, one of the previous picks I made, what I would pick. And I said Vegas and six, but I do think Utah is much better than I thought they would be, or I've looked much better than I thought they'd be. And it's their speed, it's their skill, it's the inexperienced guys who don't seem

phased, like we talked about with Martone. You know, you see the same thing from Logan Cooley. Dylan Gunther has been excellent so far that one-time goal he had was nasty But even that play on the game-winning goal they made Like, you know, Jack Eichael just a split second Too late on a stick lift. They had one white sweater in the middle of four gold sweaters

And the white sweater wins that race and wins that battle to score the goal. Like, you know, those are little details that you'd expect Vegas to be sharper on And not expect Utah to be sharper on But Utah, I think, has shown that they can play this playoff style. They're fast. They're gritty. They're getting stops from the Melka. They got a pretty strong back end.

And, you know, Vegas has still played well. And I'm not trying to disrespect Vegas. But I think I underestimated Utah. And going home tied 1-1, like, no one knows what that building is going to look like. But I imagine it's going to be rocking. So I'm excited to see what game three and games four I look like. The best line, really quick on you, the best line that I've seen so far in the playoffs, Logan Cooley,

Kyler Yamamoto, and Dylan Gunther. Are we all on the same page that so far has been the best line in the postseason? Best line in the playoffs. The Caulfield line.

You have a Caulfield that's been pissed the drop yet. Best line. It's all right. Slavoski's carrying the freight. Honestly, I think Carlson and Terry Criter have been pretty good.

Hmm. Best line in the playoffs. That's... We're two games in it. To see Crider with a perfect screen the other game for the ducks. Crider just parked in front of the goalie. They said he couldn't do it anymore, Johnny.

They said, we got to put him out the pasture, Johnny. What about Boldie, Ericksonac and is it Johansson? Marcus Johansson, yeah. Yeah, like that lines were pretty good. I mean, Boldie's play last night. It was unbelievable. That passed. Unbelievable.

The fact that Utah's won one and played really well, I thought, in game one, and they've gotten dick from the Keller line, basically. That's a point of concern if you're Vegas. That's a really big point of concern for Vegas. Because that's not, that line's not going to stay silent much longer. Yeah. And might come alive tonight with getting the last change.

But they're like, I'm with you, Johnny. Like they're a bit better than I thought. And they're in a really good position right now to maybe take the series. One thing that I noticed too just from looking at, I love sport logic. So I try to look at like all the numbers and whatnot. And like the other night I think odd man rushes were like four for Utah, zero for Vegas.

Like the fact that Utah doesn't allow a single odd man rush against like in a must win game pretty much for them. So they don't go down to nothing. Just shows discipline. Right. Like that's just a little thing that shows discipline. How much? Super encouraging. By the way, how much do we just give the Andre Tournier on that one too?

Like whenever I see like this Seattle crack in the beginning of the season, like the one thing where, we were all like, hey, man, Lane Lambert's doing a good job. He was like, Seattle never gave up odd man rushes. Like, it just didn't happen. Like, oh, look at how disciplined Lambert has his team. How much of this is just Andre Tourne? I'd say a lot. Good amount.

You know, I think when a team, when a team is discipline, that all stems from the coach, right? Like, to me, you know, whether they don't take penalties, stay out of the box, have a responsible F3, are in on the forecheck, are aggressive on the forecheck,

backtracking, they stay in the middle of the stopping at the front of the net, protecting the house, all that kind of stuff. Like those, you know, again, like those cliche hockey terms or lingo that we use. Yeah, that all stems from coaching. But it's also, you know, the best teams I played on, the coach doesn't really say much. Like the coach just kind of has his systems, has his like two-minute little spiel. And the guys kind of hold each other accountable. And everyone, you know, it's, again, everyone's kind of pulling on the rope, right?

So it seems like Utah and all those guys are doing that. I think he's done a great job. he's going to make a great assistant coach to John Cooper when Coop gets hired by Ron Smith in Utah. Hey man, this might be four first round exits in a row for the Tampa Bay Lightning to say. By the way, let me close on this one, John. What's with you and tattoo bet?

What's with you in tattoo bets? I don't really know how it started. I think, honestly, like, the first one was like, oh, I commented on DFO Live maybe saying like if the Islanders made the playoffs, I got a tramp stamp. Yeah. which I actually don't know if you're allowed to say that.

I don't know if you're allowed to say that anymore. So we called it lower back tattoo. But I think that's just like, I don't know. I think it's fun to like do some sort of outrageous bed every year. And, you know, my mom being a Jewish mother, you know, not allowed to get tattoos. So like it's always kind of a thing that like freaks her out, which is fun for me in turn. Torture your poor mom. Yeah, no, I think, you know what?

I think, I guess the initial idea stand from like part of my take. those guys had like a, like a pink, every year they pick a team in the NFL that like they, if that team wins a Super Bowl, they have to cut off their pinky. So it's kind of like a fun way to do that. I don't want to lose a finger. So I'd rather get permanent ink than lose a finger. So I think every year I'll kind of have like this sort of tattoo bet, which this year, I think Sabers fans just kind of like forced it on me to do one.

But I will happily get the offendinggan of sliding celly on my quad. if the savers won the cup. So that's the tattoo bet for the postseason. Just get, Johnny, just get a W on each butt cheek. So we bend over it says, well, just do that. Call that one your bet and then we'll just put it all to bed. All right, bud. Zach, Jack, get me out of here.

Get me out of here. All right. Johnny, you'd be good. We're done. We're done. There he is. Johnny Lazarus. Wait, you don't like that one? I was going to say, wow.

But then I just realized you've now ruined wow for me. Or if like you're out there and your name is Bob? I don't know. Here's an idea. That's my dad's name. Free tattoo ideas. Yeah, there you go. I don't know, man.

Cut your finger off. It would be good content, though, wouldn't it? Isn't that what Yakuza does to like to demonstrate loyalty? Or what, like, I think wasn't that in casino where they took some guy's finger because he was like too deep in debt to the casino? They pick like an Owen. three are an 0 and 4 team from the beginning of the season. And then that's what they do. And they do the pinky bet?

Yes. So they say if that team comes back, we will cut off our pinky. Why don't they just pick the Jets every year? Your career as a hand model is safe. By the way, boys, NFL draft tonight, always Christmas morning for a Jets fan. How will we screw it up this time? We all go into the night wondering. It's always a wonderful time.

It's always a wonderful time of the year. Put a bow on your hockey thoughts for the day. What's on your mind? What are you thinking right now? Worried about the sabers, our beautiful sabers. I was talking to somebody at the rink last night. I'm like, you know what, if we could have reversed those results, if game one could have been UPL beach ball all night,

and then game two is cathartic first playoff win in over a decade, like we'd be feeling a lot better about life right now if you're back in the sabres, which is funny because like both of those things occurred. Like the sequence of them makes you feel the vibes have shifted. And yet both of those things occurred. So I'm generally and genuinely like tonight's a mystery for me as far as like what the sabres are. It's exciting.

It's exciting to find out what they are. And I think we'll find out tonight what they are. And then other than that, man, like I am, we didn't really go into deep on McDavid and, and the Oilers and the Ducks writ large. Like we talked about Connor, but I'm unconcerned. Like, the Ducks are still a team that can't defend on a championship. Yeah.

They can't. But doesn't mean the Oilers can. But the fact that the Oil has scored four goals in both of these first two games, I am not concerned about their fate in this series. I'm still backing them. I thought they'd win in four. They ain't going to be in four, but I still think they'll take care of the Ducks. We'll see.

All right. Great stuff. As always. Enjoy the games tonight. We got swords and Bruins. We got Keynes and Sends. And then the late one, the avalanche facing off against you.

We haven't spent a lot of time talking about that series. You have a quick thought on that one? Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings? I don't. Because we got to stop letting the Kings in the playoffs. We've just got to stop. I understand the first two games of the series were one-goal games, but was anyone really thinking that the avalanche

were going to come out of this thing up too-0? That certainly thought so. Look, I mean, they're an incredibly deep team. The kings are the kings. And someone had to play the avalanche in the first round. Maybe only two more games of Kopitar. Maybe we're seeing two last games. All right, you'll be good. Scoop.

We'll talk on Tuesday. See you, pal. Take care, everybody. Thanks. Greg Wischinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com here on MVSW Thursdays here on the sheet. Anything stand out there other than. an outrageous tattoo ideas, Zach. Well, if you're making tattoo bets over and over again, you know what that says, Jeff? You want a tattoo.

You really, like Johnny really, his mom won't let them and Johnny really wants to get a tattoo. Yeah, you know how I know? Because that's what I did before I ended up covering my arm in them. Because I wanted them badly and I was like, oh, I need to get a, oh, I'll do a tattoo bet. No way. It's just like, I was like, oh, I'll just going to get tattoos because like I'm an adult. so I can just choose to do that. So Johnny, just get a tattoo, dude.

You clearly want one here. It's your body. It's your canvas. It's okay. Go for it if you want. You could. Or maybe he just wants his like his on-ramp tattoo. It's like, well, I got the Afinaganna off.

Like, I might as well get something else now. Right. Exactly. That's, that's the progression. Mom, I already got this. I can get another one. Yeah. I've got one down.

Like, what's a note? What's a, what's a, second. What does it matter? Who cares? The one thing that stood out to me from what you guys are talking about. Two Pucks three on three. Two Pucks three on three. You love it. You love it. That stood out for different reasons. That one was shocking. I was sitting here wondering what the hell I got myself

into producing the show with you and being here every day. You chose this. You chose this, pal. You're on the hook for this. You chose. What's the line, Jeff? Oh, the Godfather? This is the Godfather. This is the life we chose. The Godfather. This is the life we This is the business we chose. Yes.

Always remember this is the business we chose. Yes. Jay Woodcroft. That stayed out to me. Because I was watching the game last night, watching Connor frustrations, I listened to DFO live today, listen to Tyler talk about it.

There's more nuance to just, Jay Woodcroft's the guy. He shut down Connor McDavid. But I thought it was a very good point because you can see the frustration coming through. from Connor in certain situations. And I think that that does play a pretty significant factor in all of it where there's a guy who's pretty familiar with Connor McDavid.

And when he got to Edmonton, which I think is part of why it works well with him being in Anaheim, he kind of unlocked a little bit of McDavid. We saw his point production tick up a little bit. Some of that probably is just McDavid getting better over time. But something Jay Woodcroft did opened it up. and he probably knows how to close that door a little bit the other way. I really do think that if Anaheim can do this,

it's the audition tape for Jay Woodcroft in the offseason as the coaching carousel gets fired up. Hello, Jay, it's the Toronto Maple Leafs. I've always thought that would be a fit. I don't know, I'll be crazy on that. There's a star player who can't figure things out offensively right now. a little bit, having some down years. Jay Woodcroft Ferry does.

Here we go. Sprinkle that on there. And we're back. And we're back. The Leafs are back. And we're back. Here we go, baby. Back on the train.

Let's go, Blue. All that money that we charged for Zambonies and flags, putting it back to Jay Woodcroft. Coming right back. And we've had to hire a couple of new people, so it's no longer $900 for the flag we've been kid. It's $1,800. plus a ticket.

How the hell do you think we're going to pay two coaches? Well, you're going to wave the flag twice, but you're only going to get to do it once, kid. No kidding. Okay, so a couple of things here. You know what? I want to do your parlay here first

before we get to anything else. And hang on a second here, because what I don't have in front of me. Oh, hang on. Here we go. we go. I got it. I'm just trying to be a professional here. Try to keep everything organized, Zach.

It's not easy. Like I just show up and start talking. You do a great job. Fantastic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lie to your dog. Don't lie to me. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season.

Fan Duel is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got your covered all season with unique promos, live offerings and more features to let you play your game. Probably coming up. Miss Pectrop, no sweat with a live same game. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download FanDual Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario.

If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact. Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor, Zach, free of charge. What bon motes, le bon mo, do you have for us tonight? Yeah, I was thinking about these series heading back home, some of them here now, transitioning what we just saw, Philly, Pittsburgh. The Flyers taking that 3-0 lead, and I was thinking how, you know, it's a tough go for the Pittsburgh Penguins here now. Looking at this uphill battle, they're on the road. It's a little bit different.

But Ottawa here tonight faces a situation against the Carolina hurricanes where if you go down 3-0, no matter what happens in game 4. even though you're at home, it just feels a little bit gross. And Jeff, I think for the Ottawa senators, if you don't want things after tonight to stank and you want to get back on Cloud 9 like the Flyers, all cogs need to be running. Oh, I thought, okay, you gave a chance to guess it because it's Stankhoven Ryan McLeod for sure.

I had those two. Cogs, I don't know what I got, Gabriel Landis Cog, even though he is my favorite player in the NHL. good job. $5.00, $5006, one cough, and $29. If you don't want things to stank and you want to get on cloud nine, all cogs need to be running. Well done, Zach Roo.

Three games on the board this evening. Zach's trying to put some money in your jeans here. Folks, pay attention to your man there. In the meantime, once again, I always love our contributions and partnerships with Airbnb. And B, here's the very latest. You know, Zach, it's that time of year again where kids hockey really starts to wind down. Bitter sweet, right?

Maybe a couple of games left. Maybe a tournament, but that's about it. You know, I've got two boys that play hockey. You played minor hockey at a high level, and I'll tell you, you know what the truth about all of it is, right? What's that? Do you remember the games or do you remember the travel tournaments? Tournaments, hands down. They were the best.

Right? For players and also for parents. And what our family started to do a few years ago is book places on Airbnb. I remember when we started. It was a baseball trip in Barry Ontario. And one of the parents asked if we wanted to book on Airbnb together. Sure, let's give it a shot. Best decision. You know why?

Why? Laundry. Baseball uniforms get dirty. Having that washer dryer right there was a godsend. Plus, the kids had an absolute ball. Pardon the pun. Been booking on Airbnb ever since. And hockey tournaments?

You need all the space you can get to air out of a hockey bag. You know that. So, yeah, you book places on Airbnb too, right? Yeah, I book places on Airbnb all the time. A bunch of my old minor hockey buddies and I are all kind of getting to that age here and now. Everybody's getting married. So we just booked a whole home together for this summer for a wedding. It makes it really easy.

It gets everybody together in one spot. You remember that place we booked on Airbnb and Muskoka last summer for work, right? How great was that? Place was gorgeous, right on the water, clean, spacious, and the big bonus, hot tub. Yeah, that place was perfect. You start the day in the water, you end the day in the water, nothing beats it. It was easy, too. We just showed up, picked up the key, and that was it.

Really simple. You know, the next time our family is away, we're looking at hosting on Airbnb. It's super flexible, practical, and helps cover the cost of a vacation or building another rink in the backyard next winter. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Thank you, as always to our friends at Airbnb. What you got your eye on tonight specifically outside of your parlay there for Fandula a couple of seconds ago? Sends response.

Yeah, that's a big. Sends response because of the obvious down to nothing, yada, yada, yada. Yep. But more because I'm concerned for Ottawa about Lina's Allmark. And I don't mean that to be too harsh. But Jeff, he's played really well through the first two games. Excellent.

Sends didn't get it done either. He's been great. Yep. I don't think in the room necessarily, they let that bubble to the surface. But I wonder if in some of the, in the back of some of those guys' minds, Because I know it's at the forefront of my mind,

did you waste your Linus OMARC performances? Does he play excellent tonight? Does he do it again in game four? Like, when does this expire? Here's the thing now. What they senators cannot afford is an Almark clunker. Right? By squandering those two opportunities with vintage and prime Allmark performances,

now he can't have a clunker. And he'd be a ton of pressure on him tonight. as hurricanes are up 2-0 in this series. I agree with you 100%. They cannot afford the clunk on this one. And we'll see what the Buffalo Sabres can come up with tonight as they face off in game three of their best of seven against the Boston Bruins.

Thanks to Greg Wischinski, as always, for stopping by here on Thursday. The Thursdays are, after all, MVS and W-Timesh times shows. Same as Tuesday. And Johnny Lazarus for stopping by to talk about tattoo bets with hockey. If you just want a tattoo, just get a tattoo. you're a grown man. You can do it. Thanks,

last, you can do it. You can do it. You gave the perfect example. You just realize, oh yeah, I'm a grown-up. I can do these things.

I can scratch stuff on my arms, my back, my leg, or wherever. You know my idea for Johnny. Anyhow, thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening.

If you have already subscribed to the channel, we thank you. If you haven't, please consider doing so. Three games tonight. Enjoy them. We're back tomorrow, 1 o'clock Eastern

to talk about them right here on the sheet. adjourned.