The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Habs & Sabres Game 7 Tonight ft. Shayna Goldman & Michael Augello

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

The Sheet rolls on as Jeff Marek is joined by Shayna Goldman and Michael Augello for a massive Game 7 preview between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens. The crew breaks down the biggest storylines heading into the winner take all showdown, including the pressure on both franchises, key players to watch, X factors that could decide the series, and what’s at stake moving forward. Plus, they dive into the latest news from around the NHL, including coaching searches across the league, recent fines making headlines, front office chatter, and more as the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue to deliver nonstop drama. Don’t miss this jam packed edition of The Sheet covering everything happening around the hockey world. Subscribe for more daily NHL coverage, analysis, interviews, and breaking news.#TheSheet #NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #BuffaloSabres #MontrealCanadiens #JeffMarek #ShaynaGoldman #MichaelAugello #HockeySHOUTOUT 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.

Okay, welcome once again to the sheet, kicking off this Monday here. Happy Victoria Day to all my friends and neighbors here in Canada. Monday, May the 18th, otherwise known today as Game 7 Day between the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens. Enjoy that one, all of those and all of you who celebrate. A couple of things off the top before we get to the blueprint and what's on the program today specifically. I was talking to Jason Greger about something last night. Zach, you might want to hear this one, so I'm curious. if you want to weigh in on it. I don't know that we've ever seen a defenseman in the NHL like Rasmus Dahlane for one very

specific reason. We've seen skilled defensemen, very skilled defensemen. Rasmus Deline is a highly skilled defenseman. But when have we seen a defenseman who has an element of being, and I say this complementary, element of being a rat to him? We've seen tough defensemen. We've seen physical defensemen. We've seen rough defensemen.

We've seen violent defensemen. We've seen skill defensemen. We've seen all of those in combination. When have you ever seen a defenseman who marries high skill with high annoyance? Okay. I got one for you. Maybe this isn't quite it, but Drew Doughty. Not like this.

Not like this. And that's only really with Matthew Kach and him had that feud back and forth. But not like this. Doughty's a skater. W. Hitcher every now and then, but he's not like, just to be blunt, Deline's dirty and annoying to play against. When have we seen that from someone who gets Norris Trophy votes as he will, as he has this year? Okay, I'll come back to you throughout the course of the show and maybe chat can weigh in on this one as well. I'm interested to see, but that's the only one that can come, that's coming to my mind right now.

Gregor said Chelyos. Okay, Ryan B in the chat says Pronger, General Sorness. No, not Pronger. Alph Samuison was dirty, but he wasn't as skilled as Rasmus Dahlene. He was dirty by going after knees, but he wasn't, he wasn't as skilled as Rasmus Daly. I'll ask him Neely. He still won't let it go. Who was the, who was the, Pronger?

Pronger wasn't, Pronger was nasty, but he wasn't a rat. Like there's a rat quality to Rasmus Dalline, don't you think? And again, I'm saying all this as a compliment. Like he is under the skin of the Montreal Canadian. Much like this year he got under the skin of Brad Marchand. We all remember that was a Saturday afternoon game in Boston. No, Florida. Is it a Saturday afternoon?

It was an afternoon game in Florida where he got under Marchand's skin so much that Marchand took his helmet to the penalty box and tore it apart. Yeah. To drive Brad Marchand that crazy, you've got to really be about something. Have we seen a player like this before? With that level of skill. With that level of skill. Like here we are in this era of Kail McCar and Quinn Hughes and Evan Bouchard and Matthew Schaefer.

Like highly, it was Zach Wrenzky, highly skilled defenseman. They do that shit? I still come back to Doughty. That's the one that resonates with me. But I get what you're saying like it wasn't the ratiness isn't the same. So fair enough, I will concede on that aspect of it. But I don't know, maybe we'll see if I can find some throughout the course of the. show today.

I mean, hopefully the chat can as well. Keep it to the, yeah. Went in, when in doubt, get the chat to do our work for us. Exactly. So everybody in the chat, do our work for us. The other thing I wanted to mention here before we get to the blueprint, for the hockey lifers podcast that I do with Monumental, this morning I sat down and had an hour-long conversation with the great Michael Farber.

S.I. Montreal Gazette, the reporters, RIP on TSN, long-time hockey observer and documentary, etc. And we were talking about Buffalo. I went a lot about Buffalo Tane, a lot about Montreal today for the obvious reason. And I said, like, when I started watching hockey as a kid in southwestern Ontario, you know, what I think Buffalo Sabres, I think Ted Darling and the French connection. That's just what my head goes.

I said, what is it for you? And he said, the rink. And I thought he meant the odd. And like, oh, the old barn straight up, not laid back. I don't know how people didn't tumble, but nonetheless, especially the over-served ones up top. But there it was, great atmosphere. and he said, no, I'm talking about KeyBank Arena. He said, the reason I like KeyBank is because there's an atrium.

So everybody comes in the exact same way. Everybody starts in the exact same spot. It doesn't matter which seat you're sitting in. Doesn't matter if you've paid $500 for the seat or $55 for the seat. Everybody's coming in in the same spot. So there's more of a feeling of identity and community the minute you walk into the rank. That is great observation by the great Michael Farber. Anyhow, if you have a thought on that one, go for it.

Here's what's coming up on the program today. The blueprint is powered by Fandil. Download the app today and play your game on Fandall. She's already here. She's probably rolling her eyes at all the dumb points I've made already, including Rasmus Dalline. But nonetheless, here we go. Sheena Goldman from the Athletic and the Too Many Men podcast.

We'll stop by here in a couple of seconds from the hockey news. Micah Jello. We'll catch us up on everything Lindy Ruff and the Buffalo Savings. Game 6 reacts, game 7 previews, and we'll talk more about coaching and coaches and Barubi talking to Edmonton and Bruce Cassidy talking to. Survey says nobody. Vegas is still not allowing it. We're paying him to do two things.

Keep his mouth shut and like it. That's my biggest golden knight's impression right now. Let's get the Shana. She's one of our favorites. and as we always do, we kick off every conversation with Shannon by getting a pickle update. I was thinking in the history of hockey, there's been no one named pickle, like in the NHL. There is in the OHL a center for the sarniest thing by the name of Ben Pickle. There was a very famous New York Ranger, famous because he got beaten up by Rocket

Richard, a guy with the name of Bob Dill. Rocket Richard beat him up so badly. They referred to it as the pickling of Bob. but that's what I've got for you for pickles and hockey do you have a pickle update from elsewhere be it alcoholic beverages or snacks well that's a brilliant headline that they came up with um this was the most you intro i could have ever imagined oh my god uh yes yes we have an update uh i updated you we did try the pickle pbrr's loved and how was it the more the more i drank it the least the less i liked But it's really.

It was a lot of garlic. It was a lot of garlic in there. So garlic beer. Yeah, I like a garlic pickle. And like this is like the perfect way I think to explain it. If you're at a picnic, you're having a nice sandwich. It has cold cuts and pickles on and things like that. This is the perfect drink to go with it.

But in a vacuum, you have it on its own. And you're like, I like the dill, the sweetness of it. All of that's fine. You add in the garlic and the garlic aftertaste. And you're like, okay, this is too much for me. Okay. I understand it's a PBR, it's not the highest in beer. That's not my issue here.

It's the garlic after taste way too much. How many did you give a chance to? Or did you make your mind up after one? So tried one. And then the next day we had friends over. So we like to get all of these weird drinks. And whatever we don't like, we're like, we're going to pawn off on the world. We're going to make everyone else try them.

But we're idiots and we'll try them a second time. So I did try the next day a second time. And I liked it less. I kept lowering my rating. So this weekend, I'll give it another shot. I'm sure. I have someone who wants to try it coming over this weekend. All right.

So I'll give it one more taste, but not my favorite. Rather just pour, like, actual pickle juice and a pickle sweet year in, like, a bud light. That is a refreshing drink. Mm. So make your own is better than what's happening in the PBR right now with the pickles. All right. Well, stay tuned for our update next week. In the meantime, do you have a thought on the uniqueness of Rasmus Dahlene that we've never seen a play, never seen a defender, Mary high skill, which Dahlene has?

and an element of snot in his game that we don't see at that level. We don't see it from Hughes. We don't see it from McCar. We don't. Werensky go right down the list of elite level defensemen in the NHL. I really do think like he's a rare bird. Like I don't, I'm racking my brain. Eddie Shore was dirty.

But like he's not like annoying like bamboo shoots under the fingernails like Rasmus Daly. Like there have been like nasty defenseman. Chris Pronger was a nasty bit of business. But I wouldn't say that he had like a rat. element about him. Like, this guy just drives people crazy. And normally that's forwards.

That's forwards. We don't see it out of a defenseman. You have a thought on that one? Yeah, like you expect that out of Zach Benson. You're getting that out of Zach Benson in Buffalo. Yeah. With, Dahlene, it's a quieter approach, right?

And it's like, it's slowly gaining more traction of who can draw, not just penalties against him, but who is drawing a suspension. Yeah. After dealing with Rasmus Dahlene, it's multiple times now. So I think there's a uniqueness to it because of the, quiet nature of it. Like, we don't know what he's saying.

We're not seeing anything super obvious in the moment. A lot of the time, it's just you're seeing everybody go wild after the fact. So I think, was it Zach who mentioned Drew Dowdy before? I just that one, but I think Dowdy's a little louder with it. Like, you know that's a part of it. You see him smirking afterwards. You see him involved. And I think we also, when it was like the Matthew could Chuck, Drew Dowdy of those

Kings Flames days, a little different here. I think this one's much more subtle to it. but like do I think it's fun and Ed's a bit of spice to every game he's in absolutely like I'm here for that I am too I'm glad you mentioned Zach Benson so here's my question I was asking Gregor this last night on on rundown um is he going to be the next Cory Perry or the next Brad Marchand I don't think Cory Perry is a fair comparison to make because of like the physical attributes are so different the high no but here no but here's the thing like with though because he's he's got great hands like no no Corey Perry is like a beanstalk. He's got him by way of height. But as far as like he's annoying to play against, like Benson's miserable to play against and that like poke behind the knees kind of miserable facewash.

We don't see face washes anymore, by the way, but like he's the kind of guy that that does stuff like that. And marries that with like a high level of production, which I think we're going to see for the next however many years out of Zach Benson. And the Marchand thing is obvious. Stature. Yeah. Stature.

Yeah. The Marchand thing. we're going to think of because it's the Rack King energy, the short stature, but also there's stylistic trends that are similar. So I looked at this last week when I wrote about it and was going through his comps by the number. And I was a little surprised Martian didn't come up in terms of similarity score in, you know, that top percentage. Yeah. So it's because we filter down by age. We go six months, older, six months younger, right? Because what a player is doing at that point in their career is very important when you're trying to pinpoint their trajectory going forward.

you can't just say, let's compare a 21-year-old to a 24-year-old, right? Marchand didn't hit his stride until a couple of years later than Benson. Benson's a little bit ahead of the curve. So if you take out the age filters, Marciaan does come up as a comp, and then once, you know, he's there, he's so effective after I'd say those first two seasons. So that trajectory is definitely there if Benson stays on this track

because they're similarities. It's the two-way game. I don't think he gets enough credit for how good he is defensively. He's great in transition. He's a sneaky good passer. super smart player, which I know we hear, you know, the comments of, oh, he's so dumb and things like that. But like outright reads the plays really well, also spots those trigger points and if not creates his own to be jumping at plays and forcing, you know, takeaways and constantly hounding the puck. A lot of Brad Marsh and for those reasons, the other comp that came up, the highest one on his list, though, by the numbers at this point in his career with Seth Jarvis, which I love the comp.

when we did player tears, someone had said to us that Hagle and Jarvis are little assholes who play the game the way it's supposed to be played. And I think that's a perfect way to describe a guy like Don, who is on that Brandon Hagel path and Benson, who's very similar to Seth Jarvis. They're two-way impacts at this point in their careers, plus the physical attributes are so similar. So high comp on the list would be a really great pathway to follow. Anything in between, obviously, is a home run for the Sabres too. because it's that third line mentality. He has that dog in him, but he also is true top six skill. It's marvelous to watch.

Playoffs always reveal this, right? And you start to see what players are really made of. And some guys run and hide, some wilt and others succeed. Regardless of what happens tonight. Like we're going to look at this and say, okay, this is the emergence of Donne and Benson, specifically with the Buffalo Sabres. But did you think this thing was over?

Three to one, Montreal, Olao, Leo, Le, L.A. Here we go. Larry Robinson's bringing out the torch. The place is lit on fire. It's incredible. They're loving it in Montreal. The goalie's hard to hit. It was originally three goals on three shots. Generously, the NHL saved him the

embarrassment of safe percentage of bagels and added an extra shot, which got him up to 250. Lion gets chased and in comes Uka Pekalukinen who puts up the proverbial wall. But before that, it's three to one of the goalies getting the hook. Did you think

this thing is over. Done. Yeah, who wouldn't? Who wouldn't? But hold on let me go back to your first point. With Don and Benson and this being their coming out party, what I think makes this so much more important is everything they're doing. Like we look at comps, it's all based on regular season play. The playoffs, I think we can get out of control with when players have breakouts. In their cases specifically, it just adds more substance to what we're seeing and adds

more like weight behind it. So that's a real plus. But going into it, game six, you know, you think about it. You go, well, they're in Montreal and the vibes. And it's like, but they lost in Montreal in round one and then one on the road. So I was torn on that. I thought they were going to shake up the lines. I actually did agree with breaking up Benson and Done because you know they work together.

Well, you know they work together apart. And they're the spark that the rest of the lineup was missing. I didn't agree with going with Alex Lyon, though. I didn't think he'd have that bad of a start. And when he did, it did feel like this is quickly getting out of control because it's not just that the goaltending is a problem. The Sabers looked very panicked in their own zone. zone. And you just, they just looked overwhelmed out there. It looked like the Canadians had a lot of pressure as they're going up, three nothing. No, they're not getting shots, but they're in

control. And, you know, it felt like they had their grasp on this game and we're starting to take over. Did I think we were going to see the Sabres rebound in that way? Honestly, no. I really didn't, based on what we've seen so far in this series and just how poor of a start it was. It was such a turnaround. It was so dominant. You can see. see that when you're watching it, you could look at the charts and you can see it, right? Like there's an expected goal chart out there. I know I tweeted out from Moneypuck. And it shows this, you know, little progression.

They're tight together. You're seeing where the goals are. And all of a sudden, it explodes for the sabres going into the third period. Tage Thompson's individual expected goal total in all situations, it was better than the Canadians as a whole. It was absolutely ridiculous. The split that we happen here. Okay, let's draw down on a couple of things here. How much do we chalk this up to?

And again, full credit to the Buffalo Sabres for doing. what they did. One of the reasons by playoffs is I think at least somehow instructive. Buffalo's given every reason to quit. We've seen teams quit before especially like what you try to do in any series is make the other team quit and there's always

moments in a series where a team will say, we knew we had them here. Like at this point they're thinking about golf. At this point they're thinking about you know locker clean and there's moments in series where you know you have them. Buffalo Sabres had that moment. and they didn't.

Like, that's massive for the future. Even if they lose tonight, which could happen. We know how this series goes. I think that was huge for them. But how much do we chalk this up to? Dobish has never played this mini-games in a row before. He's never had, like, a run like this,

and he was do a clunker. Do we just look at this one and say, that's a goalie clunker? No, actually don't. do I think he was perfect the last two games to open? No. Do I think the workload could be a part of it? Absolutely. And that's why sometimes

you go, okay, maybe you do give him the hook just to let him reset and rest because this is a lot. He played a ton down the stretch. He was absolutely incredible. Like, no doubt about that has been really good so far this postseason. But when you look at the way the game was being played in front of the net for both teams, right? And the way the Sabers just took control,

I don't put the loss, the game 6 loss on him. And obviously, we'll see how it goes here. And the fact that he doesn't get that time to rest at all. But then again, sometimes that's not the best thing, right? Like, if you let the adrenaline die down at all, it might be hard to dial it back up if you had this massive break. If you're a young player, I think if you're a season team, like say the hurricanes or, you know, even the aves on the Western side of it, it's a little bit different here. You know the difference between going and, you know, keeping the energy up. You know how to stop and go

a little bit more here. But it's not, it hasn't been perfect from Dobish. I don't think he's really been what I expected at all in the series, to be honest, because I expected him to be a little bit more disruptive against the Sabres 4 check. I was expecting that to be the storyline here, not these early starts back and forth goals galore. Like, I didn't see that one happening at all. But, I mean, that's what makes, that's why we play the game, right? That's what makes it interesting. So we'll see what we get from him tonight. Because if the, if the Canadians play a tighter game in front of him, I expect him to stand tall. If he has a total clunkering, the team's playing

well in front of him, then I think that argument has more weight, but I'm not at that point yet. Okay, let's bracket this conversation for a second. You mentioned that West and Colorado specifically. Carolina waits the winners of this one. We'll finally get the Eastern Conference final going here on Thursday. Meantime, Wednesday, it's the Avalanche

and the Vegas Golden Knights. It's having a conversation with someone over the weekend because the last few days I've been talking a lot about efficiency. You always talk about this. Like teams that find the inefficiencies around the NHL, exploit it, sign the players to good contracts, and all of a sudden these add up over the course of years, and then voila, wow, how come Colorado has all this depth?

Wow, look at all the depth that Carolina has. Wow, it's incredible. No, if you're paying attention, you see these small moves that eventually add up. Yeah, I pay attention when you talk, Shana. And we're talking about a couple of players, and we're talking about Parker Kelly specifically, and that contract that he has, which is just fantastic, given the production that Colorado is getting out of Parker Kelly. And this person said to me, ideally, you know, teams, you know,

should go out and try to find their own version of Parker Kelly. And maybe Colorado has another one here that another team should maybe look at offer sheeting in Jack Drury at 4.6, so it only costs his second round draft pick. But then part of me says, I don't know that Colorado lets it get there with Jack Drury. And the real answer is you find another version of Jack Drury and sign Jack Drury to the Parker Kelly contract at $1.6 million a season. Easier said than done, but teams like Colorado always do it.

And teams like Carolina always do it. And what's the common denominator or Shana? What's the secret sauce that both these two teams have? They have people that find inefficiencies all over the place. Yeah, they, yeah, they're two really smart front offices. And that's the key of it. A lot of times you would say it's so much easier to just get the established version of this player. We see it all the time in the postseason.

It happens more often than not with depth players than the top six guys, right? It's not, oh, go find your own Pavl Dorothea ever. Go find your own Arturie Lachnan. It's go find your own Blake Coleman. Go find your own Yanni Gord. Or overpay and bring them in yourself. And we see how that goes. Because a lot of the times that these teams have them,

they have them in their prime of the careers. You want the back half of whatever contract they're on or you want to sign them to a huge deal because they have the battle-tested playoff mentality or Stanley Cup brings to show for it, depending on which player we're talking about. You can do that. But the best way to do it is to find your own version of that, right?

Like you think of years past its guys like Connor Brown that come up as the, you know, was that the next Blake Coleman or Brandon Hagel, finding him who was a hidden gem at the time for the Blackhawks. In this case, I would say, if you're the abs, you let a team overpay him. You absolutely love a team overpay him because you have other big contracts to balance out, right? The nature's extension kicking in, McCar's next deal, whatever. Other deals are coming into place. And it's not like they have a ton of entry-level talent to balance everything out.

You're going to have guys like Gavin Brinley playing bigger roles and they're going to help balance out the cause. But you can't be sinking money into your bottom six. You have to be so careful about it. So when teams want to pay a bottom six player, you know, four plus million and say, that's fine because we got someone we know is battle tested, you could do that, but it's probably going to cost you in some other way. And if any team's going to find that replacement, it's absolutely Colorado. It's absolutely Carolina. And I would say even, you know, Vegas to an extent has done a good job with it. Almost every player they bring into their team and into their system

on defense and upfront has done well, I think Rasmus Anderson is like kind of the outlier. Yes, he's been better in the playoffs, but he hasn't been up to the level. I think we all expected him to just jump in and all of a sudden. It's like, yep, that's a top six guy right there. So, yeah, If you're Colorado, you kind of just roll with the punches of that and then find your own replacement because they are way too good at spotting those players. There's a discipline in Colorado. Put it this way. They let go of Miko Ranton over $500,000. Like there's that kind of discipline.

Like this is the number. This is what works for us. This is how we're still going to be well compensated. But this is what makes sense to us. and we're not going past that, which is why, and I'll swing this back to Buffalo on this note, it's really going to be interesting to see

how much discipline Yarmou Kekyllian has around Alex Tuck. Yeah. That's, it's a totally different degree because now we're talking top six winger, but like in a perfect world, and this is what the conversation needs to be. And I think we're going to have to have it a lot this summer with some of the RFA's two on the market.

And it's like front of mind for me with like a Dorofiev because I literally before this was working on the story and tuck in Dorofiev's contracts I was just looking at is do you want to pay them like a number one winger? Are they number one winger caliber? And I would make the argument in a perfect world, those are your two and three guys. And it's not a knock on them, right? It's just the reality of it. If you're looking at the Colorado Avalanche and Alex Tuck joins them tomorrow, he's not the number one guy.

He's probably close to the number three. And that's fine. But what's that going to cost this summer when the market? is absolutely terrible the free agent market there is only a handful of players actually available for trade and who is to say the trades even happen and there's only a handful of options to target with offer sheets which we don't see that often even though we tease it every single year it just doesn't happen so you're going to see teams overpay their own guys we saw it throughout this year right you look at the kyle conner deal and you could say is he a 12 million dollar guy you could have that

conversation maybe he's not if miko ranson it is and they're tear apart you know in terms of on ice impact on both sends the ice and playoff pedigree and everything and more. But sometimes you do have to overpay your own guys because you're not going to find that replacement elsewhere and that's going to work in the player's favor. It's more palatable to do it though with a top six guy versus say a Parker Kelly, right? If you're going to be paying surplus value on any player,

let it be someone with more of a difference-making caliber. Bouncing on the NHL here really quickly. One of your thoughts on what you expect out of Vancouver now. So Ryan Johnson gets the general manager chair and the Vancouver Canucks promote Henrik and Daniel Sidene. I thought one of the funniest moments in the press conference was when someone asked, and I apologize, I can't remember the person's name, you know, what happens when Henrik and Daniel disagree on something?

Who gets the final say, who gets to make the decision? And it seemed to confuse both of them because they're not used to like one person has a hammer over the other one. Like they will choose conversation over confrontation there all day long and they will arrive at an answer, which I don't know about you, but I've never seen that at a press conference. Like the idea of like, what are you talking about? We're grownups.

What do you mean like we won't be able to arrive at an answer? I don't know. I found it refreshing the fact that like it seemed like such a foreign concept. Like, what do you mean we can't arrive at an answer together? Anyway, I don't know if you have a thought on any of it or all of it or what you would do if you were in charge of the Vancouver connects here. But the whole Vancouver is of Vancouver right now. Shannon Goldman, the floor is yours.

Always fascinating, Vancouver. But with the Siddines, too, like, I expect them to be in sync, but I do wonder, do those differences ever come up? How do they come to a solution? You're going to have to have some sort of tiebreaker there. But I think more than that, it kind of stresses the need for having different mindsets in the front office, right? Because I expect the two of them to be mostly in lockstep, right? At this point, it makes a ton of sense. And I think even the general manager pick, they could all be in lockstep together.

That's great and wonderful. But you need different viewpoints to widen the conversation. And you can't have it that everyone's just a yes man and everyone likes everyone's ideas because that's never going to happen. It shouldn't be that way. You should want all varying points to say, hold on, even if you're right, let's play devil's advocate. Okay, hang on a second.

What about this? Just to widen the conversation, widen the scope of it and try to look at every angle and be more prepared than ever. My biggest question in all of this is obviously the Jim Rutherford of it all. Like how much is he truly stepping back? How much are his hands going to be off here? Because that might be your differing opinion, if not. But I just see this opening for Vancouver to just widen the lens of different thinkers, right?

Because you have the former players. You have the players who have chemistry. You have the Siddines of it all. What's going to be different? And I think that there are some really smart people. And obviously, I'm biased. I'm a nerd. And I'm going to own this, right?

By saying, widen your analytics department. I understand that. I'm going bigger than that. I'm saying bring in someone maybe at the assistant general manager level who has a different viewpoint to just keep adding different opinions in the mix. even if they never side with them because that's the whole thing. You can build a department, but it doesn't matter if you don't listen, but just to have a little bit of pushback or just to bring in fresh ideas to be considered, so you have every single option to you possible.

And, you know, their names we've seen come up. I saw some discussion about someone like Cam Lawrence, you know, from Vancouver with that numbers-based perspective. You look at the work he did in Florida. And you hear that and you go, yeah, that makes perfect sense. That absolutely makes perfect sense here. You know, not just the city. of Vancouver and that connection alone,

it's just having someone that can think a little bit differently, whether it's from the draft and development process, and that's something he's done a lot of work into spotting those hidden gems, the Carter-Hagis of the world, the Jonathan Marchesos, you're going to need to have different opinions here. So while I think it's great to have this harmony across the front office and it feels very different and it feels a lot less chaotic and they can settle the waters, which they absolutely need,

I'd like to just see them keep building from here and just make that front office a little bit more diverse. Social capital theory is what you think about. It allows different ideas at the table and allows different ideas to travel further faster is the one thing that I keep coming back to. What do you expect tonight? You know, let you go on this one. What does this look like to you?

What do you watch for early? First shot on Dobish, first of all. Yeah. You know what? I'm going to be curious about how Lukinen does in a start because he's had some ups and downs. I think it was on your show in particular. You had Marty Barana talking about why Luton was a good pick to be the starter because

when you're having defensive breakdowns, which we've seen the Sabers have, you need someone who can come up with that big save and Lukin's that guy. I'm looking for that early. Can he make the early saves to separate himself in this game from what we saw from him earlier this year and from Lyon last game, obviously?

And I'm looking at that the Caulfield line to do some damage. I think we saw the Demadoff line absolutely buzzing. He looked great over the last few games and now we're seeing that call field line get the juice a bit more. And we've seen the bottom six contribute. It's going to be who gets the big guns going, gets them early.

But I'm hoping it's a great game. You know, I feel like we're starting to get that playoff tension back a little bit. There's been too many lopsided games this round. Maybe this will be a tight one that it's like to the buzzer that we don't know who's going to win. Here's that's what I'm hoping for. Three real hockey periods. I don't think that's too much to ask in a legit game seven here. Okay.

Listen, always did the light. Thanks for the pickle update. And all the hockey info and knowledge in that big brain of yours, we will chat soon. Thanks for having me. Bye you. Shana Goldman from the Athletic and from the Too Many Men podcast, where she is excellence. And I want to pick up the conversation here about Uka Pekalukinen specifically and how much tonight's game will define his future.

Dundan, da, da, with the Buffalo Sabres. And for that answer, we go to the co-editor for the hockey news and someone that we watch and listen to on Hockey Hot Stove. He's Mike Jello, and he joins me now. So, Michael, how much does this game for Uka Pekulukinen factor into his future with the Buffalo Sabres? Or is that too heavy across to bear here for Luchanan in one game, albeit a game seven against the Habs?

Does a lot ride on this one for his future? Well, I was saying that after he got pulled in Buffalo in Game 5, that that might have been the last time we saw Lukanin, but then Alex Lyon said, hold my beer and gives up three goals on four shots. And by the way, it was like, it was three goals on three shots.

And I think they threw him a save just to make sure that it was safe. It wasn't zero. Where did that extra shot come from? Like it was awarded after the game. Which one was it? They said it was a Demodolph shot, but I didn't see it. I mean,

all I know is I remember three shots and three goals. So, but I, you know, You got me. But as for Lukinen, I look at the his situation is, you know, he's got multiple years left at a little under $5 million. The goaltending market stinks this summer. The only problem with the Sabres is who is your number one? I don't know if it's Colton Ellis. I don't think it's Alex Lyon because Alex Lion is a good 1B. And we've talked at Nozium about Devin Levi. So, you know, unless they're going to trade Luken and then go out and get another goaltender,

a.k.a. somebody like Jordan Bennington, I don't know whether this is his last opportunity with the Sabres or they just stay status quo next year. Florida might need a goaltender. Bobrovsky leaves. The Edmonton Oilers are always looking for a goaltender, no matter what time of day it is. Those are just a couple off the top of my head here.

What did you make of Saturday? I don't believe that the momentum exists from game to game. These are like seven individual games in a series. I always am a little bit concerned when I see a blowout. I'm always concerned for the team that is blowing out the other team. So the Buffalo's come in, Buffalo Sabres come in with like false confidence about where the Montreal Canadians are at.

And let's face it too. Even though Montreal was in the postseason last year, flamed that against the Washington Capitals, it's not as if this is a wizened bunch, right? Like we're not looking at like, you know, the 1977 habs here. these are still two young inexperienced teams, right? Which just sort of adds another layer to the fun of all of this. I'll ask you the same thing that I just asked, Shana.

What do you expect tonight? Because I have zero clue. Zero clue. Yeah. If you're saying, I know what's going on. You're a liar because these are two very young, very inexperienced teams playoff-wise. I know the Canadians played in the playoffs last year, but nobody expected them to be, you know, to win around. And they played well.

but, and, you know, obviously the Sabres have not, this is their first kick at the can in the postseason since 2011. So they're playing like inexperienced teams. I mean, Buffalo came up against Boston and Boston was, I think, fairly lucky to get into the postseason, whereas Tampa, you know, I thought Tampa was going to be the representative of the Eastern Conference, and I forgot that they can't get out of the first round. So, yeah, I mean, I expect a chaotic game seven. I don't expect like a one-nothing game or something like that. I think it's probably going to be closer to four, three or six, five.

You know, it's funny. I always look for examples in history. Game six, 1993, first round, Detroit, Toronto. Detroit comes in to Toronto and kicks the Leaf's butt. But then Toronto goes back in game seven at Joe Lewis Arena and wins the Nikki Borashefsky game seven overtime goal. It could go to overtime. unbelievable.

It could go to overtime. Yeah, exactly. That was the interview. That was the interview. Yeah, yeah. Ron McLean is like, oh, great, thanks. But yeah, no, thanks for expounding on that, Nicolai. But, yeah, no, I mean, I think this is going to be incredibly tight.

I don't think that, you know, I'm pretty sure Buffalo has scored the opening goal in the last four games, and it's been meaningless. Buffalo is pulling out all the superstitious stop. They stayed at the hotel last night to treat it like a road game. The record on the road is incredible and their record at home is wanting. They've switched up the anthem singer, Cammy Clooney, the anthem singer. I saw that. Yeah. Doug Allen, who was their anthem singer pre-COVID, he is going to do the anthem, and he's been doing Thursday nights regularly throughout the season.

So they're, you know, they didn't do a morning skate. Lindy held his media availability at the Marriott. And, you know, he commented, somebody asked him, who's going to start? He says, well, it's going to be one of my three goalies. You know, he's not going to answer the question. And he talked about, you know, yeah, well, I'll let you know about my starting goalie in the first game of the next series. So he's talking optimistic.

He's trying to be light. But I'm sure the pressure is just as much on Buffalo as it is on Montreal. And I think these young guys, you know, they're going to. feel it, but I think it's going to be a good game and an entertaining game. I really hope, because I've always felt that this is just sort of a side road that we're going to go down here for, I don't know if you have a thought on this when you can say like Merrick, like only you think about shit like this. I've always felt that 4-3 was a perfect hockey score.

4-3 in regulation. You get essentially two goals of period. One period has three. I want each team to have two power plays over the course of the night. And it's close. So you're getting it, you're getting like three full periods. I don't know if you have like a perfect hockey score ever in your mind.

Four three to me has always been the one that I look at and go like, that's a good entertaining game where everybody is out of it. And each goalie faces 30 shots. So like you get good goal tending to. It's like one team has like nine shots. And boy, how do they get away with stealing that one? Like if you're designing your own fantasy hockey game,

like, okay, this is going to be good. To me the final score is four to three. each goalie faces 30 and each team has two power plays. Well, I know what the most imperfect score would be, which is 1-0 or 2-1 because all you get out of that is tension. All you get out of it is, oh, we can't wait for the first, you know, whoever scores the first goal, if it's 0-0 in the third period,

or 1-1 in the third period. You're just, it's not quality of play. It's just you're waiting for a mistake that will lead to the game-winning goal. Yeah, 4-3 or, you know, I know that I remember you, talking about, wasn't it 6-5, wasn't the score in the 87 game, Canada, Russia, and Ron. Yeah, I was- 72.

72, game 8 was 6-5. Like, that seems like historically the Canadian score. Right. Now, you know, you can say Ken Dryden wasn't great in game eight. He was awful. Well, actually, Dryden was good in game eight. Everything, everywhere else he was terrible. Dryden was awful.

I want a quick, quick one on that one. Did an event with Paul Henderson this year. And I was like, we surprised that they went to Dryden in Game 8. He goes, we all thought Espo was starting because Ken was terrible. Sorry, folks,

like Dryden was awful internationally, specifically against Soviets. He was terrible goaltender. And everybody, now, he had a great game eight, full credit. But getting there,

whof, that was a bumpy road. Anyhow, sorry, back to the floor for you. What I, what I expect, and I have no reason to predict this,

but, you know, they've, you know, the Canadians, have pretty much stayed static throughout the first six games. I mean, if you look at it, that Suzuki-Kofield-Slefkowski line, you know, they're all minus. They're great players and they're great on the power play.

But I think five on five, they might, you know, Marty San Luis may shake it up and may break up that line for, for game seven and make the match up a little tougher on the road. You know, there's been some talk, you know, is Gallagher going to come back in the lineup or Oliver Cappening going to come back in the lineup? There has to be some little shakeup similar to what Buffalo did. in game six. They broke up that top line and it did work. I mean, they got a lot out of

you know, Tuck and Benson and mixing up things. And there was a Jack Quinn sighting. And, you know, Jack Quinn scores two goals when he had no goals in 11 games in the playoffs. So I think Marty might try to shake things up and for a positive effect

for the halves. A couple of things. One, when did Consta Heleneas change his name to Consta Hellenus? And second, am I pronouncing it incorrectly, but somewhere this thing has changed. Third of all, they have a really good one there. And I know that his name was all over a lot of the trade talks, deadline, most notably Colton Pereko with the St. Louis Blues.

Sometimes the trades that don't happen end up being the best ones. Given how he's played, it's a good thing they didn't make that move. Yeah, no, I mean, it was his name, I believe, was in the Robert Thomas talks as well. And, you know, I don't know how far that got, but, you know, he seemed to be the centerpiece of any of the big trades that Yarmou was talking about at the deadline. And yeah, you're right. At the draft, when he was drafted, it was Hellenius. Now he has straightened it out and said it's Hellenus. I'm sticking with Heleneas because that's what it was said.

I hate this stuff. It's Frontesec Cabrilla and it's Thomas Caberle. Once it's said once, that's where I'm sticking with. I'm sorry. But, you know, he, yes, he had a great year in the American Hockey League. He was at a point per game, and the kid is, you know, he could have gone to the world juniors. He's 19, now 20. Yeah.

Yeah, he's now, I think he's a keeper. I think in terms of, you know, they have him and they have Yuri Kulich. You know, Josh Norris's health situation is always a question. He's not exactly the most durable player in the world, but he has been durable in the playoffs. and they've needed him. But, you know, the strength up the middle, I mean, I think last game was an indication. Tage Thompson is more effective on the wing than he is at center. Yes.

But, you know, ever since Norris got injured, they moved Thompson to center. And then he wants to play center, so they kept him there. My favorite pronunciation story, you've probably heard this one before. And you mentioned Cabellet. that year where the Maple Leafs had three rookie defensemen, Cabrillet, Yanuk Tromblay, and Danny Markov. One of the reporters in Toronto kept calling him Tomash Caberla. Tomas Cabrilla.

And my old radio partner, Bill Waters, I went up to this report. He was an assistant GM at that point and said, like, hey, how are you pronouncing number 15? I don't even know if Cabellet was wearing 15 at that point, but for sake of argument. What are he calling 15? And he saw him calling him Tomash Caberla.

And Billy said, well, his name's Thomas Cabrillet. He says, no, no, no, Bill. I went and talked to him in the room, and he told me his name is Tomash Cabela. He said, really, go ask him how he effing pronounces cheeseburger. His name is Thomas Cabrle. That's what we're, remember that era, because you're old enough to remember this, too.

Remember that era where Ilya Kovulchuk all of a sudden became Ilya Kovalchuk? Or Kovalchuk. Elie Kovych as well, yeah. Yeah, I know. There's a, you know, with the Russian players, there's always the, you know, accent on the second syllable, as Bill used to say. But, but yeah, no, I mean, I mean, okay, they, I am all for pronouncing a person's name the way they wanted to be pronounced. You know, it's, I've had many people call me Michael Angelo over the years.

And I had somebody call my name at school once. I went up to the person and said, you're the first person in five years who's pronounced my name. and the person said, well, I live next door to somebody whose name is a jello. So, you know, it's that type of thing. It's like, you know, okay, but you would think that they get the pronunciation right at the draft or when they have their opening press conference at rookie development camp. And then all of a sudden two years later, oh, no, it's Hellenus. It's not Hellenius.

It's, you know, come on. I mean, okay. I don't know what to do now. To be quite honest with you about calling him either. Helleneas or Hellenus. We'll settle on something here. But this guy's a really good player. You mentioned Yulich a couple of seconds ago.

Is there any update? Like, is there any chance? Like, God, he's a good player. The medical situation is quite serious. I understand that. But have you heard anything? Like, he's there for the games, but obviously not playing. Like, is there any whispers about Kulich here?

Like, what are we doing? Before the playoffs, they pretty much ruled him out for this season because of the blood clotting issue. It was something that, you know, somebody asked and they said, yeah, more than, you know, they didn't completely close the door, just like they didn't completely close the door to Justin Fentworth, who has been out since, I think, mid-October, but they're essentially saying don't count on it. So I think once they had some injuries up the middle, and Sam Carrick got hurt again, they, you know, the, they opted to go to Hellenius. And right now he's got two goals and he's playing fantastic.

And, you know, he's not a liability defensively, unlike some of the other players on the Sabres roster. So, yeah, I think that that was the move. And I don't think we'll see Kulich. I'd be surprised if we see Danforth unless they get to the Stanley Cup final. Real quick, before I let you go, give us a scene set in Buffalo. What is the town of Buffalo, the city of Buffalo? So, no offense.

What's the city of Buffalo doing with this game seven? I think there's sort of a feeling of playing with house money, so to speak, because I still don't think a lot of people expected this team to make the playoffs. And, you know, they were the worst team in the Eastern Conference before December the 9th and then the best team in the NHL afterwards. So somewhere in between is where this team really is. All I look at is history. And we know history doesn't mean anything other than it's history,

but they're one in six in game sevens. And the one game seven that they won was Derek Plant in overtime game seven against the auto senators. They owe and six other than that game. So if history means anything, that's not a good indicator. But, you know, just go out and play well and you can win this game. That's got to be the focus and the talking point for Lindy Roth. Jump ball as far as I'm concerned. Like what's it?

What's it was it? Mark Twain who said history doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. That's it. Yeah. That's it. Jump ball. Jump ball. No idea.

Enjoy the games. Enjoy the games. Mike Colangelo. Mike O'Shello. Mike, my friend, whose middle name can often be confused with in Buffalo. Thanks as always for stopping by, pal. You'd be good. Enjoy the game tonight, man.

My pleasure. Thanks. Thanks, Jeff. There is Mike Ogelo from the hockey news covering the Buffalo Sabres. Swords and Habs tonight, Zacharoo, Swords and Habs tonight. Anything catch your mind or anything that you. think we've left out of the conversation that we shouldn't leave out of the conversation.

Like Mike mentioned playing with house money. Do you think both teams look at this and say, this is gravy time for both of us. If Habs lose, still a successful season. Certainly if Buffalo loses, still a very successful season for the swords. I think not to the same extent in Montreal, and I don't say this disrespectfully or I try not to,

but because of the opponent. Like I think in Montreal There should be looking at there's an element of looking across And saying we're playing the Buffalo Sabres We have an opportunity here We should be on to the Eastern Conference Finals Now I say that like there's a grain of salt in there Where based on where they're at in their trajectory

Of these kids coming through then yes There is an element of house money So I'm not trying to take all of that away from them Or the season that the Buffalo Sabres have had But as Mike put it you know before December 9th, worst team in the, I think it was just the Atlantic division,

and then the best team in the NHL after, they're probably not either of those. They're somewhere in between. So if you're the Montreal Canadians, probably look across and say, this is one we should have here. I don't think both teams can walk away and say, well, we're playing with house money.

He's like, who's playing with their own? Like at some point, somebody has to have something on the line. And the winner gets the reward of playing the Carolina. hurricanes bus saw here come Thursday. All right.

The well-rested Carolina hurricanes. I'm surprised that Rod Brindamore hasn't held like a full training camp. Just knowing like Brindamore, Gregor told me he had Taylor Hall on last week and Hall was just saying like, no, we just do like we work on the things we need to work on. Like we'd keep it routine. Like they had a couple of days off. But it's just like, it's just business as usual for the Carolina Hurricanes. We saw what happened last time. They had a layoff.

Nothing. They went back to being the Carolina Hurricanes. This segment is a presentation of the Ninja Crispy Pro countertop glass air fryer. Shark Ninja is elevating the airfire experience. The Ninja Krispy Pro is a family-sized cooking system that comes with a 6 quart and 2.5 quart glassware storage lids, crisper plates, modular base for any occasion.

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about to unleash on us here? Because The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season, and Fandul is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Batslip, we've got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck drop, no sweat, the live same game parlay. 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, 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Field? It is nice to see game sevens, Jeff, without having my own team involved in them.

Because it's mentally and emotionally draining. You know, you go through them. the whole day, stressing out about the game coming and traditionally in Toronto. Things don't go so well as a leaf fan for those game sevens. How was that? Last year, it didn't go well. No, it did not. It's nice to sit down on the sidelines and enjoy the hockey without being so involved in it.

Because I don't get all bent out of shape. And most of all, I don't leave feeling great. green in the face. Oh, very good. That's the obvious one there at the end. Let's see the big reveal here, knowing that Field's not going to make the cut. Rasmus Dahlene, sit, Don.

Don. It's like I'm from Pittsburgh. I was stealing from Pat McAfee there. On the sidelines and enjoy the hockey. You don't get all bent, Zach Ben, son. See, you're kind of really fudging this one here. Like, it's got to have, like, the, anyway. Dude, I have one game to work with each time.

I'm struggling. I gave you the layup in Coff Field the other day. Like, come on, man. Rosemus Dahline, Zach Benson, Jordan Greenway, all Buffalo Sabres players have to hit tonights. If they do, it's probably going to be a blowout, and the third is not going to be worth watching. But nonetheless, you could be $790 and $96 richer

if you lay down $5 here on Zach's parley. Rasmus Dahlene, Zach Benson, and Jordan Greenaway. Two of the great pests. ones a winger, one's a D. Zach Benson and. Yeah. Rasmus Deline. Did you come up with anyone, by the way?

Or did the chat come up with anyone? No, actually, much like the NHL coaching carousel, it's being rehashes and retreads in the chat. Now, they all just said, they just said all the same names that we had already talked about. There was some Scott Stevens mentions, but I don't think he fits the category just based on skill. He was just vicious.

Like he's not like, Yeah. Like, think like Brad Marshan, but a defenseman, a young Brad Marshan. It's all like Old Samuelson, uh, Doughty, as I had mentioned, Pronger. Those were the names that just continued to get brought up throughout the course of the show in the chat. So, uh, no one really knew that got thrown out there. All right. So we didn't really get any new information.

It's a good, uh, that's a good thought, though. Something to take away from today. I'll see if there's anybody like, elite D don't play like that. Elite D don't play like that. They don't play like that anymore. He's such a rare berth. Like, again, like, look at the company that he keeps. Kail McCar, Quinn Hughes, Evan Bouchard,

Zach Werensky, like, go down the list. None of those guys have any of that in their game. And historically, elite-level defensemen like that, don't. You know, like Bobby Orr was tough and skilled, but not, like, dirty like this. General says Casperitis, but short on skill. That's it. Darius Casperitis, 100% agree with you.

But the problem is, yeah, he doesn't have the same. Rasmus Delene's got him lick. Like, Rasmus Deline runs around the block five times before Darius Casperitis gets his running shoes on. Like, no way, man. Not even close. Not even close as far as skill goes. But I did love Casperitis. Oh, and guys used to chase him around the ice too.

But he's never going to get Norris votes. Love them. He ain't getting Norris votes. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. The late Brian Marchment would drive guys crazy too, but he didn't have this skill. It's either one or the other.

Dalien's got both. See, the thing about it is, too, I really do wonder if this ends up, if Dalene does something that sticks Montreal and the power play, and that's the difference in the game. Because that's always a possibility. Always a possibility.

Now this is going to be bad hockey commentary comments from myself. But wasn't it, was it a game six last night, like the last game where it was Dahlene and Tage Thompson? Yeah, was it on Saturday night where both of them took penalties that Montreal scored on to lead to that early lead? Was that on Saturday night where that happened? Are my confusing games? Let me go to my notes.

They all run together. Sorry. They all, no, no, they all run together after a while. Because I just remember there was a point where I was there watching, and that's where I'm just saying, like, I confused the games here. But I remember sitting there watching and going, you have had two of your best players now put you behind the eight ball with penalties. And I remember Berkey talking about it on Wednesday saying these guys got to clean it up.

Like, it's the leaders. It's the best players who were setting them back. So Demadoff was a power play goal. That made it two to one. And the jack-eye rister from the point, which was just a weird one. I think that one was five on five. The Evans goal was a short-a. He actually drew a penalty because that was Dolbis and Dalyan in front that put Buffalo

shorthanded, but didn't matter because Evans scored. Okay. So not that one of the power play. Evans scored the shorthanded goal. And that was the three shots on the three goals. And then somehow there was a mystery shot that the NHL found to save his safe percentage. Yeah. By taking it up to $2.50.

take it up to a 250 that game Yeah When you finish a game With a 250 Save percentage And we all walk away Saying that was generous

Well NHL did him a solid Getting it up to 250 Yeah that was a tough one That was a tough one Listen man No one really knows what's going to happen tonight Two young teams Two inexperienced teams

One team hasn't been there in 14 seasons And the other one They're just continuing to rebuild And even though they got their last year They're back in a tough one here against the Buffalo Sabres. And that's, of course, Montreal. Canadians, one game on the go this evening.

So park it, watch it, and we'll talk about it here tomorrow on the sheet. Thanks to Shannon Goldman. Just a question for you, Jeff. Yeah, what's up? I want to know one thing because I can't ask you this tomorrow. What is the one thing you're looking for tonight in the first five minutes? Whether it tells you something's going to happen one way or the other or one thing you're anticipating, what's that thing in the first five minutes of tonight's game

you're going to be paying attention for? Those Buffalo Sabres fans are going to be nuts. They are going to be insane. That is going to be such a cool building to be in tonight. Do the Buffalo Sabres have the discipline not to get caught up in the emotion of all of it? Lindy Ruff has gone out the door and around the block. There's that same analogy again. Lindy Ruff has done a lot to try to treat this like a road game.

But there's going to be one thing that reminds all those Sabres players that this is not a road game and that is the fan. are going to be bonkers tonight at KeyBank? Did they get caught up in the emotion of it? Or even though it says a young team, can they be disciplined enough, even though we know like that first 10 minutes is going to be saver, saver, savers, savers, savers, savers, savers, are they going to be disciplined enough

not to get cut up in the emotion? And don't do anything dumb. Like they do have some players that are prone to the dumb penalty. And today's not the night to do it. But then again, like, how do you tell Rasmus Delling not to play his game? How do you tell Zach Benson? Yeah, exactly. That's the trick there.

What do you look for tonight? Anything specific? Yeah, that's a very good one to be looking out. For General in the chat says he's going to be looking for officiating and to determine how this is going to be called, which I think is fair. Hang on. Pause on that for one second. Again, I'll always remind people that watch the first call. The first call is the line.

to both teams, that is like, that's the standard. And if it's a weak one, the game could be stupid. Because then you start chasing and the players don't know where the line is. And a game like this is going to be obviously everything on the line for both teams. Watch the first call. That's a really good point by soreness on this one. That's a good point. Sorry, Zach, go ahead.

No, all good. The one I'm kind of looking for here tonight is going to be dobish and it's more so emotions. Not necessarily saves and poise, like how he's doing goaltending-wise, emotions. I want to see what's going on between his years. If he's yapping at guys, if he's getting in guys' grill who come into that blue ice area. Yeah, what's going on there with him? And is he overdoing it and he's not being himself? Or is he overdoing it?

And he's going nuts and wild, which I don't think happens in the first five. But just kind of what's going on between that guy's years, I think it'll be interesting. either way is honestly pretty interesting tonight based on way of the series gun. I know that Marty is kind of like hands off the goaltenders. I'll just talk to the coach. Skate away from scrums. Yeah. Don't stand. Don't stand in there.

Don't get in there. None of it. Skate away from scrums. Skate away. Let the players sort it out. Skate away from scrums. All right. Enjoy the game tonight. Thanks to the great Shannon Goldman for stopping by. Thanks to Mike Gisello for stopping by as well. Shana, of course, from the Athletic.

And the Too Many Men podcast, Mike, you can read at the hot. hockey news and freaking contributor to this program and also when the Maple Leafs are in action, Zach's post game show as well, Leaves After Dark. You guys get a coach yet or what? Working on it. Working on it. Lots of candidates.

We're asking everybody. You guys got to get there. You guys got to fix the power play. Yeah, we're working on it. Yeah, we're working on it. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. Thanks to everybody in the chat as well.

If you've subscribed to our daily face off YouTube, thank you. If you haven't, please consider doing so. We are back tomorrow, 1 o'clock to talk about all of it with Greg Wyshinski from ESPN and ESPN.com. Right here, one Eastern on the sheet. Enjoy game seven. We'll talk to you tomorrow.