The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Penguins Stay Alive + Bruins and Oilers Look to Avoid Elimination ft. Pierre McGuire

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

Jeff Marek is joined by Pierre McGuire for a loaded playoff edition of The Sheet as the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue to deliver drama across the league. They kick things off with Sidney Crosby leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a crucial Game 5 win to stay alive against the Philadelphia Flyers, breaking down what it means for the series now sitting at 3-2. Then, they dive into the wild back-and-forth battle between the Mammoth and the Vegas Golden Knights, capped by a dramatic overtime winner to even that series. Plus, a huge night ahead as the Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins both fight to keep their seasons alive — Marek and McGuire preview the key storylines and pressure points heading into those elimination games. They also take a spin around the league with updates, insights, and analysis from every series as the playoff picture continues to shift. Don’t miss this full breakdown of everything happening across the Stanley Cup Playoffs.#NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #SidneyCrosby #Penguins #Flyers #GoldenKnights #Oilers #Bruins #Hockey #NHLPlayoffs #JeffMarek #PierreMcGuire #TheSheet #VegasGoldenKnights #EdmontonOilers #BostonBruins #PittsburghPenguins #PhiladelphiaFlyersSHOUTOUT 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 on the program once again. Jeff Merrick along with you, as always here, 1 o'clock Eastern, Monday to Friday. This is indeed the sheet for this Tuesday, April the 28th. And we have a lot of playoff talk to get to. We do want to spend the first part of the program, though, talking about John Garrett. Pierre McGuire is a board again. It gets to Pierre in a second. So let's get right to the outline of the program today.

And we have a lot to get to and a lot of wonderful stories as well. The Blueprints is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game. coming up on the show today. As I mentioned, Pierre is aboard. He will join us here in a couple of moments. We'll talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins. Staying alive.

Are the Pittsburgh Penguins going to do to the Flyers, what the Flyers did once upon a time, to the Boston Bruins? The Oilers, speaking of the Bruins, the Oilers and the Bruins on the brink of elimination here. Vegas, evening things up in their series against Utah last night and more of a peak around the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the meantime, let's bring him aboard.

One of the finest analysts the game has ever seen and heard he is Pierre McGuire. He joins me on the sheet today. Pierre, I wish it was a better story to start with today. But I want to frame it this way. When I was a kid, I was six years old, went to my very first professional hockey. Actually, my first live hockey game.

It's Toronto's. Okay? It's in 1975. And I sat right with me and my dad. We sat right behind the net and the golds. And John Garrett was a goaltender. John Garrett passed away today. at the age of 71.

And I got to work with John later on in life at Rogers. And we used to always talk about old WHA stories. And I would always admonished. I can't believe. Like I love that Toro slash Bulls mask that he had. I think Zach's got a picture of it. We can fire it. But that to me was the best.

Dave Dryden had a great one in Chicago with the Cougars too. But like that John Garrett mask to me was the best. It was a Toros slash Bulls when they moved to Birmingham. And I remember asking John about it. Like, John, where's that mask now? It was my favorite mask. I think that's the best painted goalie mask I've ever seen. He said, when I got traded to New England, I painted over it.

Like, oh, you're breaking my heart. We'd always laugh about that and tell stories. And he would regale me with the hot dog story when he was playing in Quebec. Michelle Bershaw would have been the coach. And he wasn't going to get in. Dan Bouchard was the starting netminder. And Bouchard pulled him out after, pulled himself out of the game after some story. but he had the trainer.

I'd already fetched him a couple of hot dogs. So he stuffed the hot dogs in his pants and played a period of NHL hockey with hot dogs in his pants. I think of George Morrison who did something similar thrown hot dogs in his wrists for Scotty Bowman, St. Louis Blues, and there was a collision and the hot dog and the relish went everywhere. Anyhow, the reason I bring this all up is John Garrett, who is unfortunately no longer with us, working right up until the end. He was one of those guys from me, Pierre, that I wished everybody could have met. Like, you know, there's just some people in your life where you're like, I want everybody in the world to know this guy.

John Garrett was one of those guys for me. Your thoughts on shit. Yeah, that's such a good story, too. I love the mass. I think the mass is so good. Oh, so good. I'm smiling because I only have great memories of John. If you were doing the loop back in the day, you go Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, you go Vancouver, Calgary, Hamilton, or you do that Bermuda Triangle of Western Canada.

Yeah. And you'd see John and Calgary, you'd do a game. Then you'd see John in Edmonton he'd be doing the game. Then you get to Vancouver and see John in Vancouver. And it was amazing. He knew all the teams. He knew all the players. He was never a homer.

He had passion, obviously, for the teams that he'd been doing the games for. But he was all, you gentlemen. He'd always want to ask you, hey, how you do it? What's it like? And, you know, later on in my career, I'd been with the Hartford Whalers as a coach. I'd been in Ottawa as a coach. I'd been in, obviously, Pittsburgh as a coach. You go on TV and he'd ask, hey, how you doing?

Everything okay? you know, how do you like it? What's up in your life? I always thought that was really neat of them. And I remember 06 like it was yesterday. We spent a lot of time back in the day. I was at TSN. We were in Vancouver a lot doing games. And we were off of that year. And I saw John a ton. And he could not have been nicer and more outgoing and willing to share information and want to help you out. So I have nothing but great feelings. But what always blew me away about him. I got to tell you is you see him in Calgary. you see him in Edmonton, you see him in Vancouver, and you're like, dude, that's three and three. What do you do?

I work for these people. You know, so I always had good thoughts about him. Condolences to the family and the friends of the late John Garrett, one of the best, as Pierre mentioned, tremendous broadcaster and just a marvelous person as well, always had everybody's best interests in mind and was a friendly face no matter wherever he was or you were. one of the things I wanted to ask you about and we're still not through the first round even though a couple of teams have already been eliminated

you know Colorado eliminates Los Angeles and then Carolina Hurricanes take care of the Ottawa Senators I always wonder at the end of every season what are we learning and I wonder about in the playoffs what are we learning the first round of the playoffs is like nothing else that is like this is the best hockey of the year the Stanley Cup has all the drama

and the gravity of it and the guys are all beaten up and the Civil War soldiers with heads bandaged and drummers coming home. And it's hard, man. It's such a hard trophy to win. But I always look at the first round and say, this is the best that hockey has to offer. If that is true, Pierre, and if you agree with that,

what is it teaching us right now about where the game is at right now, how it's played, what we should learn, anything jumping out at you. We lost a lot of good officials. And we've had a lot of guys retire. And because of that, I think that's part of the problem. a lot of post whistle stuff that usually see early on in the first round, but not continually through the first round. I think that's something they're going to have to address. I think part of

that is because we do have a lot of younger officials that are just getting their feet wet or don't have a lot of playoff experience. And also because of the parity in the league, we haven't had expansion in a long time. So the parity, everybody's looking for an edge. So I think that's one of the things that stood out. But the other part is the tempo of the games. The tempo of the games has been phenomenal. And I would say more than anything, because of the tempo being the way it is, the stick violations are up. Guys just aren't used to the tempo of this. And because of that, we're seeing a lot of slashing. We're seeing a lot of crossshed.

We're seeing a lot of high sticking. And I think that's part of a byproduct of the tempo of the games. But all in all, I think the hockey's been phenomenal. And by the time these guys get a little bit older and more mature talking about the officials, I think we'll go back to having great hockey without having to talk about the referee. But I think it's been fantastic. Simon Schemberg pointed this out. I had a conversation on the program yesterday.

This goes back to the Anaheim Edmonton series. Let me just grab the Schemberg tweet here. So Simon is the long-time media relations director for the double IHF in a previous lifetime and pays attention to everything that's happening everywhere. His stuff on European hockey is always tremendous. put up a tweet here, and this is in the Swiss League. And we talked about this on the program yesterday, this coming off of Sunday's games, about, you know, Tristan Jari and the puck, the skate shading the puck and is it in.

And the Swiss seem to have the technology down. It's not really technology. It's a line of paint. If the puck hits that secondary line of paint, it's in. You don't have to worry about the primary goal line. You just have to worry about the second line. If the puck hits it, guess what? The three-inch diameter puck has hit that.

That means that it is officially. crossed the initial goal line. Do you ever thought on what we saw Sunday with this one and all the drama around it? When Paling shoots the puck, originally I think it deflects in. I don't see it the initial shot because of the camera angle I'm looking at and then I see it going or towards a net off Darnell Nurse's skate. And so I don't really see it and I don't see a movement from the official, the lead official who's working the icing line, obviously the goal line and being.

behind the net. I don't see them make a gesture. And so, and then I've obviously, I get this look at it, and you can just tell with common sense it's going to keep going. And you call it the three-inch puck. You're absolutely right. I think the puck is in. I'll just tell you this, Jeff. One of the, there's the initial shot that I saw, but it wasn't from that angle. It was from a different angle. It was from the game camera. It wasn't from the behind the net camera. I remember when they used to talk about it in the league, where they were talking about putting cameras in the goalpost facing in and cameras on the crossbar facing down.

They said they had the technology to do it and that they were going to be doing it. And then for whatever reason, it hasn't happened yet. So I don't know if they just thought they couldn't do that type of technology or not. I just don't know. The one thing that, and I mentioned this on the show yesterday, kind of half jokingly, but really serious. at the same time.

In the playoffs, I look at every single goal the same way and ask myself the same question. Am I good if this is the Stanley Cup winning goal? Or how do I feel about it if this is the Stanley Cup

winning goal? And I'm said sort of half jokingly, this is the year where it feels like Wes McCauley is going to award the Stanley Cup on a microphone outside the penalty box.

Like, Pierre, like, does it not feel that way to you, whether it's an offside review, whether it's a situation, like Ryan Pailing and Tristan Jari, does it not feel like somewhere along the way here, a referee is going to tell us who won the Stanley Cup. And the way that this season is gone, it feels like it's going to be this year. I see your point.

I can understand how you can think that way. I hope that's not the case. I've talked about this a lot. I think with you both on and off the air, and I mean it about the offside because we're getting to that point where these guys are so good in the video room. They're seeing it better than – because it games so fast. It's what I was talking about before. Yeah.

I really believe if the puck touches the top of the blue, everything's on side. It makes it so much. We don't have to worry. We're talking about minuscule amounts of data and space. If it just touches the top of the blue, it should be on site. Now, we're not going to be able to do that now on the place, but it's something I think they need to talk about. The other thing I think that really needs to be talked about,

and I think it would make it a lot easier for the guys to have longer careers as officials. One referee upstairs in a box with video, and the ability to communicate with the on-ice referee. So you got three guys on the ice, not four, two Lionsmen, one ref. The other refs upstairs. He is directly communicating with the official on the ice, not the Lionsman who just call off-sides, icings, and break-up fights and can call major penalties.

But outside of that, I think that would fix the system. It would prolong the careers of the players that wouldn't have any additional cost because you still have to send four guys to every game. I think it would be so much better. and the players would have more room to move. They'd have more room. And it would probably catch things like the Ridley Greg sucker punch. Like there are things that people may.

There are things that officials just miss. There's so many bodies out there. You're so good at this. So think about it for one second, Jeff. If you're a player and you know there's an I in the sky and every player's been up there. So they know you can see a lot better from a better. You can see all of it.

You think, like you watch Ridley before that. And I want to just qualify it. I'm a big Ridley guy. I was there when we brought him in. And I coach his father, I know his sister, Dara, really well. She plays in the PWHL now. So all that stuff,

I'm just telling you, if they knew that there was a guy upstairs, you think they would be looking around to say, nobody sees me now? They know somebody's going to see it. They know they're upstairs. I just think it's so much more efficient. I really do.

I just don't know if it would be like in that situation, because the temperature was so high, I don't know if he thought for one second that he wasn't going to be seen doing that. Just because I always... Did you see him look to see if anybody's looking? I get it, but here's the thing that I wonder about. How aware are players that there are cameras at the rank?

Like, you know, it's going to... You're not going to hide anything, right? And everybody's got phones. And when a scrum breaks out or a line brawl breaks out like that, everybody in the building is busting out their phone to get their own angle on it. And it all appears on social media. That's the thing that I keep wondering about like, do players really not think that there are cameras on them already?

It's not just like the broadcaster, but like the fans at the same time. I do think that it is an extra layer of deterrent. Like you're not going to get away with something. But I just don't know. that in that situation where the temperature is that hot, that people are thinking about consequences. So let's talk about the temperature getting hot last night. Okay.

Connect me on, connect me on Crosby at the end of the game. Yep. What do you think? That's unacceptable. That's not hockey. That's not hockey. And I don't care. If Crosby had done that to connect me, I would have said the same thing.

Like, come on. You know, Jake, Jake Evans, the other night, who's an amazingly reliable player from my Montreal. The cross-chit to the back on Kuturov to put his team down five men to three, that's not a smart play. That's a right call. Kutrov tried to work it to sell it for maybe a major penalty, didn't get it. But I don't know why all the sticking fractions, I don't know if you agree with me, but there have been more of these like cross-checks slash high sticks. This play, this first round of the playoffs than I've ever seen. I think part of it is because the games is so darn fast. I really do. That's a great. I never put those two things together.

the elevated rate of speed and more stick infractions, but it does make sense. Like, it's like I really got, that's a really good perspective by you because I never put those two things together. And you know what it's like. Like when, when you can't catch someone, what's the first thing you use? You're stick. You're sick, right? So that's, I find that really interesting, that that's, that that's the reason for it.

Like I, I think we're all wondering now, I know, Mike Johnson was, was on our morning show last week of the week before saying that we're all wondering where is all this violence coming from here now like every single whistle there's something i'm not complaining about it like this is this is wonderful first round hockey bring it on this is great but where's it all coming from and mj's point was uh the austin matthews radical gudas response was so overwhelmingly negative for every every maple leaf on the ice and they were painted with a certain brush that nobody around the league wants to be painted with. So when there's a foul on any of your players, now everybody attacks.

And then I think to myself, well, hold on a second. This is a copycat league, and that's how Tampa behaved and still behaves. That's how Florida behaved and still behaves. And that's how these teams won four cups amongst them. Maybe I just think that, you know what, that's what it takes to win in the playoffs, that kind of pack mentality. Like, do you have a thought on where all of this is coming from right now? You know? Like, it's more violent. It's more violent than it's been for years.

And I say this with respect, because I think what Paul has done down there with the Florida Panthers and Billy Zito is unbelievable. But they turn every shift into a street fight. Yep. And so, and I talked to people around Tampa, and I said to them, I said, hey, you've carried over that Florida mentality, even though you're on the West Coast into the first round of Montreal. Where's that coming from? And the answer was pretty simple. We play the Florida Panthers a lot. And one of the things we do is we play them three times in the preseason.

People don't even talk about that. They play three preseason games, Tampa versus Florida. What do you think is going to happen in those? That's when all the Hegel stuff and the Eckblatt stuff started to really build up. And then they played back-to-back years in the playoffs in the first round, and Florida knocks them out. So you got all kinds of that. And then Tampa says, you know what? It worked for those guys.

We're going to do it to these guys. And so then Montreal, who got pushed around last year by Washington, they're like, not so fast. we're going to push back. We learn what it's like. And so you see Montreal now pushing back. And when Montreal is not as good at it as Tampa. Tampa is very good at it. And I say that with respect.

It's not a derogatory way of looking at it. Because Tampa is a heck of a team. But Montreal is not as good at it. And they lose their game four at home because they're not as good at it. And they end up in the box at the wrong time. And then obviously, Hagle and Point and Kutrovko go wild, running wild. And they beat them. This is a tight series, but I'll tell you what, you can see where Tampa gets.

I think a lot of the teams get it from watching Florida. And Florida is so darn good at it. Yeah. And you know what? I mean, you know all these players and these coaches. Like, everybody wants to play like that. Like, everybody wants to, like, have, like, that combination of speed and skill. And it's not, I'm not saying as a pejorative, be a dirty hockey player.

And be tough. Same time. We had for the younger people in our audience that weren't alive in the early 90s, it was a really rough time in the NHL. Like there were some very big, bad, mean people that played in the NHL. And coaches were big and bad and mean, too. There were some really nasty guys. And that's just how the game was played.

But when you had teams like we had in Pittsburgh, they had a lot of star players, you needed nuclear deterrence. And we had nuclear deterrence. And that's where Craig Patrick and Bob Johnson, Scottie Bowner, we're so smart about it. They didn't go out and yell and scream about it. We just, you know, I'll never forget Bob telling me the story. We brought Nicky Fatio to Calgary.

He said to me, and he said, once we got Nicky Fatio in Calgary, our team came really good because guys knew they could play. And he never forgot that. As a college coach, he never had to worry about that. Then he gets in the NHO, is like, holy moly, this isn't. too good. And our Pittsburgh, like, we had tough guys. Troy Loney was a tough guy. Phil Borg was a tough guy. We had tough guys. And Bob and Scotty knew how to use them. And so people didn't mess around with our star players because they knew if they did, it wasn't so much the

tough guy that was going to get it. The other team's star player was going to get it. So we kind of, the vigilante and justice thing balanced us. That was the art of building a team. That's why Craig Patrick was so darn good at it. One of the things that I've been wondering about now, going back to Saturday afternoon, because the Carolina hurricanes have never really, you know, in this era, carried a slugger. But given what happened on Saturday, did Nick Dolore? Did he just get himself another contract with the Carolina Hurricanes? Did you see him on the bench trying to get at the attention of Brady?

So I'll tell you what, last year when Carolina went out against Florida. You know, there was, you know, Matthew Kachuk going at Sebastian Aho nonstop and just like, and with the mouth too, said, I'm going to do whatever I want to you and nobody's going to do a thing about it. How do you feel about that? And Ajo would look up and down the bench and go like, he's right. But that's not true now. No. So they brought a guy in that really like, not only does he understand his role, he likes his role.

There's not a lot of cars that like doing that. So that's a good thing. You see Rod, Rod's got him on a tight leash. You can probably tell. Rod's done such a good job with that team. So again, well, I'm just going to go quickly. That's coaching staff with Jeff Daniels and Timmy Gleason with Rod Brinamore. Most underrated coaching staff in the National Hockey League.

It's not even close. Nobody even knows who Gleason and Daniels are. They're phenomenal hockey guys, and they've done a great job. People say, how did Jaden Chatfield get so good? Well, him Gleason help him get so good. He's a really good player. Go watch the penalty killer Carolina. A lot of that's Jeff Daniels ideology along with Rod Brinnamore.

I coached Jeff Daniels in Pittsburgh. I know what kind of hockey brain he has. So you add that coaching component to the speed with which they play and the forecheck ability with which they have. And then you put Nick DeLorey in it as a nuclear deterrent. Not fun to play against that team. Nope. Not at all.

It used to be fun to play against them. No fun to play against them. Hey, while we're on that sort of Carolina Ottawa series here, I want to ask you about Hegel in a couple of seconds, but let me swing back to Ottawa, Carolina here. We're bouncing all over the place, and that's part for the course. When you and I get together,

what happened? What happened there? And maybe the bigger question is, in Ottawa, what happens next? Now, I've been saying, if you're Steve Steyhouse, the best thing to do right now is go away and don't overreact to what just happened.

I know it sucks getting swept. I get it. It's going to be tough when you don't have your first pair when, you know, when Sanderson and Zub go down, like, good luck. but you got four tremendous performances out of Linus Allmark. That is the best I've ever seen Linus Allmark play.

That was the hardest I've ever seen him compete. And that was the best I've ever seen him play. What do you think happens with Ottawa now? What do you think they do? First of all, I'm with you on Steve. He should go to the World Championships in the Memorial Cup and just do some evaluation, get away from the noise in Ottawa. Secondly, he's going to have to have a heart to heart with Brady

about whether Brady really wants to be there or not. I'm not saying he doesn't want to be there. He needs to have a heart to heart with him and find out. One of the things that happened is the frustration points for Timmy Stutzler. You could see it throughout the entire series. Timmy, who I can tell you right now, having worked with him, one of the hardest working kids I've ever been around. Very proud hockey man, very proud person.

I think he's really ashamed of how this all ended, and I think he's going to work to make adjustments. I'm not showing as much frustration, not just with himself, but with his entire teammate core. So I think that's something to pay attention to. They're going to have to have, I think, an ideology about what they're going to do with the backup goaltending position because they need to be better. They got to make their right side of their defense more physical and deeper because you saw what happened when they didn't have Zubb. It was really tough for them to play on the right side.

They got to have a long talk with Dylan Cousins. His play in the playoffs wasn't good enough. And it was kind of like this the whole year, Jeff. I don't know if you agree, but he meandered all over the same. year and if he's going to be their second center he's got to be a whole lot better and then they got to make some decisions that doesn't look like large ellers coming back they got to get stephen holiday in the lineup so there's a lot going in there but if i're steve steos i'd get out of there a little bit it's hot right now in ottawa and i would probably go scouting and i do they don't obviously

on their belville didn't make the playoffs this year so they're going to have to deal with that as well but they've got some stuff to figure out but one of the biggest things you got to sit down and talk to Brady. That's probably the number one thing you got to do. You know, Brady's fascinating, the combination of skill and toughness. I always look at, you know, my measuring stick, let me know, I'm curious if you think this is right or wrong. My measuring stick for players like Brady Kachuk and his brother Matthews is the same way. My measuring stick is Brendan Shanahan. And here's why. Super skilled, super tough. But the one thing that always impressed me about Shanahan was his sense of

understanding the moment and understanding the game and understanding what to do given the reality of the moment that you were in and never tried to make it about himself and never wanted everything that he did was in service of the team Brady's not there few are like that's an almost impossibly high standard but if I'm using Brendan Shanahan as the measuring stick where in your estimation is Brady Kachuk on that ladder? Well, he's not close because of what you just said, but Brady has the ability to be there. There's really never been a role model for him in Ottawa as a leader, if you think about it. So I remember sitting in some of these meetings with obviously the late ownership group

and with the general manager at the time. My title was Senior Vice President, Director of Hockey Operations. and I remember sitting in some meetings. And one of the things I would say is, it's great to name Brady captain, but who's taught them how to be the captain of this team in this marketplace? You know, usually guys that become captains in different cities, they learn from somebody that's been through it.

There was nobody there at the time. You know, Ottawa was devoid of internal leadership because they were going through a massive overhaul and rebuild, and they just didn't have anybody internally that could teach him. I know his father very well. Keith, I used to have him in hockey school and buy. Austin when he's a young kid playing up Mald and Catholic. So, I mean, I can go that far back with the Cucks.

But he's not his dad. His dad was a way different guy. And his dad was ferocious. And I think Brady's more to happy-go-luck-a-gay. I think Brady's actually a really nice kid. I like him a lot. But I don't think anybody really internally taught him how to be a captain of that NHL team.

I just don't think that ever happened. Let me swing back to Tampa here. I'll just ask you point-blank. The answer for me is yes. I'm curious what you think. Is Brandon Hegel, again, like I don't want to award the Kansomite Trophy in the first week, but here I am. Right now, yes. Is Brandon Hegel the best player in the NHL right now?

Yeah. I love the fact that I did this yet. I was really disappointed. Some of your fans would probably be mad at me. I couldn't believe that Slavkowski took the bait in game two and fought him. Hager was trying to rally his team. Yep. And he knew he knew he was going to dust him.

He knew. And I made the point. Here's a guy coming from Kossica, which is in Slovakia. They're not a whole lot of fighting on the ice there. I've been there many times. There's a lot of fighting in the streets, but not a lot of fighting on the ice. And then he goes and plays in Turku, Finland, where there's virtually no fighting. And he's fighting a guy that played in the Sutter program in Red Deer, Alberta.

Four years. Yeah, four years is right. And there's some mayhem. That wasn't, he knew exactly what he's doing. this guy's he's a multi-dimensional weapon brandon hago there's a reason why he was on in canada there's a reason why he can do that he can score he can kill penalties he can drive people nuts he can check he can do everything he just talked him right into that like where's the linemen get in there no he lets him go and then now it's trouble now it's just trouble and slofkoski thinks he's going to overpower him

size twice but he doesn't understand this guy knows how to fight watch this you just got to boom see you later alligator he knows how to fight the other guy doesn't And that's But here's That just changed the whole dynamic Look at it. He changed the whole dynamic of that game. Yeah.

See, here's the thing about it too. And we've just, we've just come off a conversation about Brady Kachuk. And all the things that you want, in some ways, all the things you want Brady Kachuk to be, you see in Brandon Hagle.

Like, I talk about like the timing and knowing when to do certain things and the vibe check, like all those things. That's perfect. That's ideal right there. That's a great example, Pierre. Let's do the math because you just raise a great point. And I set in on Ottawa radio.

I wasn't really happy about it. But I didn't like Brady starting a fight against Jordan Stahl to start the series in Carolina. You know why? Because he didn't beat them up. If you're going to do that, if you're going to do that, you've got to win. And I know it takes courage to do that. And I'm never questioned his courage. But Jordan Stahl hung in there.

Do you see the reaction of the Carolina? He's so strong. Oh, they went crazy. Oh, yeah. They were crazy. He's so strong. These guys think they're going to run us out of the building. Not so fast.

We're not the soft touch anymore. And then Nikki DeLore is there. And all of a sudden, that physical impact that you thought you might have had, it went away really fast. And you're down three nothing in the series pretty quick. Edmonton Oilers. They face elimination tonight against the Anaheim. Ducks down three to one.

Now, I look at Edmonton. And again, nobody wants. wants to hear this, it's, oh, stop making excuses for the Oilers. This team looks so hurt right now. Man to man. They look, and it's not just, you know, Connor and you wonder if it's the ankle and you watch the skating way on the Leon said. It looks like there are so many guys that are so injured right now. Nobody in Edmonton wants to give anybody a pass. I get it. They want to win the Stanley Cup, but I look at this and I say, man, this is not the Edmonton Oilers. How do you feel about this? I agree. I agree. So Edmonton, obviously, in

big trouble going into this game five tonight. But here's something. I know I've said it to you, and I talked to Zach about it before we came on. The best free agent signing last summer was Joel Quinville in Anaheim. He is totally retooled what that team is about. They play fast. They play in your face. The additions by Pat for Beak bringing in, obviously, Truba, veteran guy to help their young defensemen, bringing in a kid, I'm not a kid anymore. Chris Kreider, that made a massive difference. You look at, you know, Alex Colorn a couple years ago. They got all these guys that got street credit around the league.

Now you're turning, you know, all these young guys lose. Leo Carlson is a crazy good player. Cutter Boce is unbelievably good. You know, Mason McTavis now starting to get in the good graces of the coaching staff and upper management. So then you look at the mobility in their defense and they're doing this without Radco Goudis. I mean, this is a very

dangerous team. So I'm going to give Evanton a little bit of a pass, but this is where I won't give him a pass, Jeff. They didn't identify the need for better goaltending. You can say whatever you want, and they just didn't do it. And it's just a problem. And the total team defense concept, they have not grasped that. They have not grasped that ideology at all.

And you can never win if you don't have total team defense concepts. Never win. No chance. The goaltending thing has been the Achilles going back to when Ken Holland thought he had Jacob Markstrom, and then that morning, and said, Calgary offered me one more year and I'm going. And I just can't help but think how things, again, how things would be different if. And here's the thing.

Like at this point, too, no one's going to help Edmonton out. Everybody knows they have this. But no one is. These pirates are going to be. You know, I mean, Brian Burke always brings up the point that back when he, when he started, they judged trades by did the other guy get fired? Like, if the other general manager got fired, it was a good trade. Like, you really rinse somebody.

They don't do that anymore. But when it comes to Edmonton goaltending, nobody is doing. No one is doing Stan a favor here. Everybody knows. Everybody knows. Berkey used to say this line too all the time. I remember he says in the NHL, they throw you in the deep end, but they don't throw you a life jacket. They throw you an anchor.

You know, nobody will save you. They're trying to drown you. And that's how it works. It's not a very, they all nice to you, but they're nobody's really nice to you. They just nice to your face behind your back. They're nice to you. It's pro sports. That's how it is.

It's a tough league and it's really proud men. A lot of really proud people. Let me get back to Pittsburgh here. Are they about to do to Philadelphia what Philadelphia did to Boston in 2010? I did that series. That whole series turned when Mike Richards stepped up on David Crachie. It happened right in front of me. He didn't break its wrist, dislocated his wrist, major surgery, totally changed the complex of that series.

And that was because of Mike. Mike was such a good player at the time, and they did come back and win that series. And obviously, they went to the Stanley Cup final. They lost to Chicago in the final, and the Patrick Kane, Patrick Kane game winning goal. But I don't know if Pittsburgh obviously doesn't win game six, they can't. But if they win game six, then I'll say, yeah, they can do it. Actually, I'll say they will do it. But I don't think it's going to be that easy.

Rick's coach, Rick Talk, it's coached fantastically well. Can the people in Philadelphia take a break, too? Like, what do you have? You guys stop. I know. It's, listen, watch Alex

Bump play last night. Bumps awesome. Bumps awesome. I know. Kof is on the whole series. Like, can we just stop with this Mischkoff stuff seriously? But here's the thing.

You know hockey fans. Like they, you know, the two biggest, you know, one of the biggest protein shakes you can give a hockey fan or a sports fan in general is hope. And that's what Michikov sort of represents here too.

It's like, yeah, we love Bump and, you know, we love Tyson Forrester. and look at Porter Martone is doing, but they still see Mietchkov as like a great hope for this team. Like I, from a fan's point of you, I get it, but you're right.

He's not there. He's not. Like, I'm sorry. He's not there at all. If he was there, I wouldn't even bring his name up, but the truth is he's not there. Like, I remember when Nikki Baxter broke in the league,

and he played on a line with Obechkin and Federov. And you know what? It was really good. But if he wasn't playing on a line with those guys, I'm not sure Nicky had the pace at that point in his career, at the hockey sense, he had the passing ability, he had all that other stuff. He just didn't have the pace.

Those guys insulated him for a couple years. Then he just babooned. He took off and he was a phenomenal player. Like, Mishkov's a really talented kid, but right now he's not there. Like this Alex Pump is something else. Oh, yeah. I'll give Keith Jones and Danny Brewer a lot of credit.

Like, I know he went to Jones's alma mater, Western Michigan University. He's coming off at, you know, an NCAA, championship, that kid's a heck of a player. Yep. And he's just going to keep getting better all the time. So, you know, anyways, do I think Philly can win in game six? I do.

I just think it's tough now because now they got all the pressure. Pat. Pittsburgh's playing with how money. Pittsburgh's playing with Alice money. Pat Furschweiler. He's a coach at Western Michigan, long, long time assistant in Detroit. But he's done a heck of a job. Western Michigan.

It should be a head coach in the NHL one day. I know everybody, I know everybody loves David Carl too, but like First Wilder in here? Well, I'm going to give you a plug on another guy that doesn't get nearly enough. Greg Carville at UMass Amherst.

Oh, yeah. He is off the charts good. As much as David Carl's great and as much as First Wilder's good, Carvel's won a national championship too. He helped create Kail McCar. I mean, there are a lot of guys. If you look at all the NHL guys from UMass Amherst,

like look at guys, like Ryan Ufko, look at guys like John Leonard. I can go around the league. He'd done a heck of a job. This guy, Cole O'Hara, who's part of Nashville right now, you go look at some of the guys he's produced. Just had the defenseman of the year in the American Hockey League playing in Rochester. So, you know, he's done some good, but there's some really,

I'll just say this, whomever gets expansion teams, and I think it's probably going to be Atlanta and Houston to start. There'll be no shortage of good young coaches. 100%. 100%. There'll be no shortage. No shortage. Absolutely.

Oh, hang on, Zach's in here. Just a jump in here. Sorry. Brennan Escott tweeted 29 minutes ago here from Oilers Morning Skate. McDavid and Dickinson, who both missed Morning Skate today, are game time decisions for game five, according to Chris Nauvel. You want to talk again, you want to talk about a team that's been, and by the way, they look, man, Jason Dickinson to me is one of my favorite players. It's been a great story. Oh, what a wonderful story.

everything just sort of fits when he's in the lineup. You want to talk about a team that we just had the conversation about how banged up they are when you're at the point where Cona McDavid is a game time. And for me, when I hear Conna McDavid is game time, that means he's playing, but he's going to be in pain. But we'll see. And that would be a tough loss on home ice for the oilers. That would not be nice.

There could be collateral damage if they lose tonight. Yes. There could be serious collateral damage. The expectation is, conference final yeah for for for this team that is a that is a massive one Zach thanks for that from the chat great update Jack really good yeah um let me ask about the swords

buffalo's got boss a old Adams division matchup you know I always love to bring up the fact that these it's one of like the lost rivalries in the NHL as you remember the old Adams division Boston and Buffalo never made a trade until the Danny pie deal in like 2009 Sabres came in in 1970 there was like an Andre Savard, Peter McNabb, but that was a free agent compensation, was an actual business between the two teams. And here are the swords poised to eliminate the Boston Bruins.

We last saw Jeremy Swamond barking at the bench and calling his attorney and suing for non-support for everybody on the bench. What happens tonight? What happens tonight in game five? I mean, everything's lined up here perfectly for the Sabres. Can you imagine what the atmosphere like outside the building today in buffalo this is this is like super bowl excitement for these fans um

i'd be i'm really happy for them i know you're a big buffaloan guy i know you like to cheer for them and i appreciate that i know you know i spent a lot of time in that city for a lot of years playing coaching and broadcasting and so i've seen it on all fronts and uh really respect the people there and and uh i do think they'll be boston tonight i know boston's talking about talking really well. I think Marco Stern's done a great job this year. Most people didn't have Boston in the playoffs when the season started, but they found the way. I don't blame swimming at all for being angry the other day in that lost to Buffalo on home ice. I couldn't believe the puck management of the Boston Burns. I could not believe it, Jeff. I won't even try to

pretend. They've got a lot of work to do in Boston. They got holes in their lineup. There's no question about it. But I think they'll go down with a fight tonight, but I don't think they'll beat Buffalo in Buffalo tonight. Let me ask about, I mentioned Brandon Hagel, about a million minutes ago here now, but I want to swing back to Montreal because, you know, you're there to do all the, all the post games and pregames as well for HABs. What do you make of Montreal? Like I know the top line's been quiet, you know, shades of, you know, the Lynn Home Line in Calgary once upon a time in the playoffs, but I digress. How do you see Montreal right now? Like, first of all, like I always talk about the Montreal experience and all of it is like the best.

in the NHL. But what do you think of the, what do you think of the HABs here? This one thing that stands out is there's still no second line center. And that's a big problem when you're playing a team like Tampa that's got Braden Boyin and Sorrelli, one two, boom, boom.

So So Sorrelli's done a magnificent job. Doesn't matter who his wingers are because he's just got one job. And that's a shut down Nikki Suzuki. And he's done a phenomenal job at it. And it's disjointed that line. Slav Koski hasn't been the same since he got a hat trick in game one. And the reason why is, chose to fight Brandon Hagle, and Hagle gave him a shot right in the left side of the face,

put him down, he's never been the same. And then the big hit the other night by Max Crozier in the neutral zone. You can just see he's not right. So that's a bit of a problem from Montreal. But the second center position is a problem. The lack of consistent five-on-five offense from the top lines of problem. And I hope they get Dobson back. If they get Dobson back, that makes a big difference for them.

And it sounds like he might have a chance to play tomorrow night in game. which would be huge. But by and large, I think Montreal has done really well in this series. Every game's been so tight. You know, basically the first three were overtime games. And then you had a one goal decision in, you know, the last game in game four. So I expect Montreal to make it tough. But the biggest thing is that you can see now more than ever,

the need for a second center is massive in Montreal. It's massive. I don't know if I mentioned. No, I don't think I did. One of my favorite things to do and you're uniquely qualified to talk about. about this. Being a hockey observer, someone who also speaks French,

someone who has worked between the benches and heard everything and kept his finger on the mute button. I love watching, and I wish I could read lips, and I really wish I could read lips in French, in Francaise. I love watching Marty Saint-Louis, give it to French Canadian referees. Francois Saint-Laureen comes by

and just, and watching French Canadian referees and Marty St. Louis go back at each other in French. And I'm just curious. Like, in all your time between the benches. Did you ever see a battery like this? Because I just, again, like, I just wish I could read lips and know what Marty was saying to the Quebeco officials. Is there one that comes to mind for you?

Maybe Michel Bergeron is an obvious one, I think, to a lot of people. Is there someone that comes to mind for you, someone who delighted in giving it to French-Canadian officials en Francaque, Comonde? Bernsie. Pat Burns was really good at it. Oh, yeah? coach against Bernsey. And in Montreal, back in the day, you know, there was no glass behind the bench. That's right.

The fans could touch you. And you were on the same side and you could hear everything that was going on. And Bernie was really good. So I'll give you a quick one. I'm coaching Hartford and Dougie Gilmore's the MVP of the league that year. And Dougie was so darn good that year. It was 93-94. He was just good.

He was so good. It's crazy. So we're playing. Toronto and Hartford. And Bernsey's it. He and I've always had a really good relationship. We're talk all the time and both from Montreal, all kind of stuff. And he starts yelling at the bench, our bench.

So I'm going, what the heck? And he's just like not looking at me, but he's dreaming at our bench. So the next day I called Toronto, the training room and I get Chris Broadhurst. Oh, yeah. And I said, hey, Chris, can you ask Bernie? Like, was he yelling at me or was he yelling at somebody on my bench? I need to know. And so he says, I'll get right back to you.

So he goes, and he goes, no, Burns, he's not mad at you. He's mad at one of your assistants because it was Paul Gillis. I'll tell you who it was. Oh, yeah. Real good guy. He goes, he still was mad at him from when he and Dale Hunter were running around in Quebec City. That's what he was. He was still hanging on to that?

He was killing. And I just, I was like, you got to be kidding me. man, I thought you were yell on me. I was ready to jump over the class. Wow. That's incredible. But Bernie, I try to make it a funny story, but Bernie was really funny when he'd go after some of the Francophone referees.

It's one of my favorite sidebars to any Montreal Canadiens game, just watching Marty, Marty go at the French Canadian officials. If the Dallas will end on this one. If the Dallas Stars are going to beat the Minnesota Wild, they have to score five on five. They have not been able to do that in like 145, 150 minutes now consecutively. If they can't find that, I'm guessing this series is over in a couple more games. Now it's the best two out of three.

What Billy Garon's done team building-wise is such a good exercise. People need to pay attention to it. Michael McCarran, not a big name. Oh, man. Yes. You see the Falino boys. Obviously, Marcus has always been there, but you get Nikki in there. I know they're an injury situation, so you never know from day to day.

Yakoff, Trennan's another one. Like you see Middleton on the back end. Like they got big, nasty guys. And that takes away a lot of the opposition's five-on-five offense. And if they can't start going five-on-five, I don't see how they can win the series, especially with the way Yesper Walsstad is playing. Yesper's been so darn good. And then finally, the acquisition of Quinn Hughes.

Right now, you know, you're on that's a baller better than anybody got. Is there a better tandem in the league than Faber and Quinn Hughes? Not right now. Not right now. I don't think so. Not right now. No, no, no, no. And we all know what you're getting out of.

I think that Faber has just been fantastic. Like I know the big story is Matt Boldy and the clutch and the emerging superstar, etc. But like, Brock Faber, man. How about that? That was a trade with L.A. for Kevin Fiala. Sure was. Just thought I bring that up. Not to say Kevin is not a good player.

but that's one of those. I'll take Brock Faber. Give me the right shot, D, man, all day long. All day. By the, yeah, so here's the one. Like, if Dallas, you always wonder about, like, first round exits here, and we'll see about Edmonton,

you know, there'll be some, some tempers. What happens if Dallas goes out in the first round here? I don't think much. I don't think much. New coach, you don't think, like, I mean, I guess I'm trying to lead the witness here. Bluntly, what happens to Jason Robertson? They go out in the first round.

I think he goes to market. Yeah. I don't disagree. I think that my thought is like if Dallas wins a cup and he's a Kuntzmyth trophy winner, like you give him what he wants. Yeah. But if they go out in the first round. I think he goes to market.

I mean, that's just the way it works. It's unfortunate. It really is. All right. We shall see three big games tonight. Bruins Swords, Wild and Stars and the Anaheim Ducks, to, this is going to sound weird saying, it close out the Edmonton Oilers,

up three to one. I'll tell you in advance. I took Edmont to the movie three. I thought Edmonton would win the series. Just from experience. Yeah. I don't think it's going to happen. So I got that one wrong.

And I'm up three to one in this one. Peerty the best. Thanks for all the, listen, all the, all the stories, all the great analysis of all the series and the kind and thoughtful and entertaining words. About the late John Garrett's. Boy, we're going to miss Cheech.

Thanks, pal. You'll be good. You're the best. Keep selling the game, my friend. Take care. Enjoy the playoffs, everybody. Thanks, but there is. Pierre McGuire, one of the best hockey analysts.

This game has ever seen and heard. Zach, anything from that ping pong ball conversation that sort of went all over the place? By the way, nice see you dogs at. Always appreciate that. Anything jump out at you? Well, I love the Pat Burns story

where he's losing his mind and assistant coach from something that happened back. the Quebec League. Oh, Quebec Nordiques. Yeah, Himadale Hunter running around. I remember that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was Pat. Yeah. That was great. I mean, the one thing that's really interesting to watch is the Sydney Crosby story here. I don't know if you caught the video

where the visual of him on the bench last night where he was just staring straight ahead and could not be. bothered by anything that was going on and everyone was kind of taking this like the oh no sid is locked in and he's not robo said this series yeah i thought that was kind of funny because it's uh the other thing that was being thrown out was you know there's obviously the whole flyers components of this and the youngness and and okay handling this pushback by the penguins but you know in a more lighter matter here jeff the final thing sidney crosbie needs to do to complete the career like he's

done everything yeah he's not never come back from a series down 3-0. Like this is the final one where he's got to call out the last infinity. It's only happened four times in the history of the NHL. So like, right, right. There's the final opportunity for Sid to do this here. So I think that's kind of interesting just seeing how Flyers, the team, the Flyers fans, the fan-based organization are handling the pushback from the Penguins, just knowing the veteran

leadership that you have on the other side, while Sidney Crosby is going to just will the penguins to victory as best he can every night. The guy for me that's been the story for the Pittsburgh Penguins, where where does this come from at this stage of his career is Chris LaTang? When's the last time we saw Chris LaTang play this well? He's been awesome. Le Tang's been, I know that this series hasn't been the best hockey. Like, we've talked about that.

But still, like, Le Tang's been awesome. And I can't remember the last time we saw Chris LaTang playing this well. But he's been tremendous. It's been tremendous for the Pittsburgh Penguins. story like again the games haven't been great but still like it's a wonderful it's a wonderful story it really is yeah it was uh the environment was more so something i was looking forward to in this one and it's kind of played out how i thought it was like the hockey is the hockey the environment and the fans no you know what it is the excitement of having them back is what's excited yeah but that's

it's it's it's a nostalgia play that's what we're all right that's what we're all all in love with here. We're like, we're loving. This is like, hey, Malkin the Tank, Crosby. I know you're on the back nine, but it's nostalgia. You're back. And that's okay. Playing the flyers.

Keystone State. Okay, before we get to your shine spot here, once again, always good to welcome aboard our good friends at Airbnb. You know, Zach, it's that time of year again where kids hockey really starts to wind down. Bittersweet, right? Maybe a couple of games. 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 hockey back. 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 in Muscoca 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.ca. And don't forget three big games on the board this evening, starting at 7.30 Eastern, with the Boston Bruins facing off against the Buffalo Sabres, half an hour later, 8 p.m. Eastern the Wild and the Stars. And then your late one, which nobody is going to bed early on,

the Anaheim Ducks facing off against the Edmonton Oilers. Gentlemen, start your video review. All right, Zach, I know, he can't resist that. But after what we saw, come on. 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 you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. If you missed Puck Drop, don't sweat it. With a live same game parlay, you can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download Fan Duel Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly. 19 plus 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 free of charge, Zach. Well, Jeff, a lot of games around the NHL tonight. Here we go, three of them. Yes. Playoffs, three games around the NHL. And a couple of teams on the brink of elimination.

Oh, jeez. I'm heading to Buffalo, will the Sabres be? At home be too powerful for the Bruins to overcome. Tune in tonight to find out. And Ed Edmonton has the oil finally dried up. We shall see in our late game tonight. That is must-see TV. Bobby Brink, Owen Power, Leon Dry, Sightle.

I get it. There you go. All right. $5. Five smackers to win $663 and a quarter, courtesy of our friends at Fanduel. Brink Owen Power and Leon Dreissel. That is your trifecta.

For this evening, well played, sir, well played. I don't know if you have a thought on John Garrett, who we talked about off the top of the broadcast. I want to end it by talking about Cheach 2. Was a wonderful goaltender, really colorful goaltender. Always remember him talking about how Wayne Grosky stole a car from him at the All-Star game because he was trending to be the first star at the All-Star game and win the MVP and the prize was a car. and then Wayne Gretzky went off in the third period and had a Gretzky period

and ended up scooping the whole thing. John was a delight to see on the road. He was a delight. First of all, he was a delight to sit and watch games with. You know, at SportsNet, whenever John was in town, there'd be a sort of, you know,

buffet of finger foods, you know, John and low, like chicken wings and fries and everything. Wasn't a big believer in forks. You know, he wanted to grab it and eat it my hand as a fork. Loved them.

And yeah, had a good, healthy, love for ketchup as well. And just like a really genuine, nice guy who love to laugh, never took things too seriously. And I say this like legitimately. I'm sure you have the same type of people in your life. Everybody does.

The kind of people that you want everybody in the world to meet because he makes every relationship better and every conversation better because you're just entertained and you're happy when he's around. That was John Garrett. I got to know John as a professional and someone that turned into a friend. As I mentioned, he was the first goaltender I ever saw as a kid, Toronto Toros against. I think it was the Calgary Cowboys of the WHA and me and my dad sitting behind the Toros net at Maple Leaf Gardens. And there it was Garrett's on the nameplate and that beautiful mask.

Oh, Birmingham Bulls, which, oh, Johnny broke my heart when he told me he painted over it. I wanted that mask to be somewhere. But nonetheless, that's what happened with masks back in the day. do you have a thought on on john garrett who unfortunately we lost today yeah my my relationship i guess of sorts of with him is very different i experience him as solely a broadcaster for me but like in my mind john garrett was always the voice of in a way like west coast hockey and whether it was tuning in to kinnucks games or flames games at times uh oilers games i feel like throughout my childhood

listening to him on the broadcast. I always loved listening to him. I can think of games this season that I've listened to him and had memorable calls from him for. So he's somebody that I will miss listening to. That's obviously the extent of my relationship with him, but definitely a voice that will be missed for myself watching hockey games. It was never shy to be critical.

right like we and we live in an era where you know everything's got to be you know cleaned up and painted up and presented in a very positive light and really the only two questions you're asking are are things great or are things really great that wasn't john like if something stunk john would say like mistakes like john wasn't shy about that and i think hockey fans always appreciated that about him and I still maintain one of the best booths we've ever seen in hockey, John Garrett and John Shorthouse. Vancouver, you were blessed for a lot of years by having one of,

and at times the best booth in all of hockey in John Shorthouse and the late John Garrett. Again, we'll close on this. Condolences to the family and the friends of John Garrett. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow afternoon, 1 o'clock Eastern for the show. last night as months I can't get

because you can call it