[MUSIC PLAYING] Would you make the same sense of this game? I thought, you know, I thought I'd categorize each of the air goals from his perspective as good goals. You know, there's a tough, tough chances, tough shots. You meet a couple of cities that won flurry in the first period towards the end area. And stuff happened on the goal line. We battled, kept it out. So, you know, I don't put this one on him, for sure. Obviously, you know, on the other side, you only get one. So that's not good enough to help any goal you win. [MUSIC PLAYING] Fan Morning Show Sports Set 5.9 of the fan, Ben and Es prank gunning. I mean, like, factually, you can win, only scoring a goal. Yeah, that's true. It's very difficult to win. It's so hard. Not advisable to only score one goal, if you're attempting to win a hockey game. Also, yeah, sure, good goals. Like, there's no 200-footer, like, Vesta Tosco. I'm walking through that door. No, Dan Kluche in here. I mean, there's, like, a blue-line screenshot. Yeah, OK? Like, I don't know. We're not supposed to criticize that. God, just give me the clip of a key feel in it. I think it's Sanford now, the goalie coach. I don't care. Stop one. Yeah, he gave up four. How do you-- well, I mean, we've also heard this evaluation of your goal done. And hey, what did you think of Ilya Sampsonov's performance? He led in four. It's too many. Also true. It's actually the reverse grandfure is, I think, what we're going to call that. It's like, grandfure was always like, well, we didn't let him the six. It's like, Ilya Sampsonov always lets in the fourth. All right, let's talk to your friend and mine. Oh, definitely my friend. The great Gord Stella. How's it going, Gordo? Hakuna Matata, guys. OK, you're the second person, closest to the least that I'll allow to say that. When I saw that quote, I was like, oh, come on. Who said that? And then I was like, oh, OK, Ryan Reeves. It's like, he's kind of allowed. I'll also accept it from you, Gordo. Yeah, well, there is some truth to it. You know, it doesn't change what happened Saturday. Because as you guys are discussing, you couldn't have written a more imperfect script. I would not have included a fourth line goal against you at an odd man rush within the first two minutes of the game to start. I mean, that's another kick in the onions, as Chuck Swersky would say. I mean, geez. So yeah. But then there are positives you can glean from it, but it doesn't matter. And you guys are talking about it. It's-- we'll find out tonight if a kuna matata applies, because we have to do the talking on the ice. And we'll see what gives. Yeah, because it means no worries for the rest of your days. You lose tonight. There's going to be worries. And yeah, for the rest of the offseason. If the least lose in this first round series. All right, I'm going to do-- I'm going to frame this conversation with you the same way we started the show, Gordo, because it's so easy to talk about the negatives from that game on Saturday. All right, find the positives then. Give me one of your positives. They did get some chances. Matthew's hitting the post, and some other chances. But it also showed the disparity in the goaltending, which is, you know, I mean, you look at Thatcher Demko, making a huge early save last night for the Vancouver Canucks. And even though Nashville scored the first goal of the game, he made that big save, right? You want that big save in the playoffs. So Boston got some of those, which meant the least did have some chances that, you know, so that really, though, is about it. I mean, there's parts of how you could say they competed, played whatever it may be. I mean, they outshot them. But no, it's reminding me of my time there, making excuses afterwards when it's all said and done. But that's a positive I'm going to take out of it. But you guys talked about it. Eight consecutive playoff games have not scored more than two goals. I mean, that's where it gets more and more baffling, because you're supposed to beat the grant for your days. You're supposed to lose like Colorado did last night 7-6. You know, not you'd be the team that can't find that third goal. Because the Toronto Maple Leafs, all their money, is invested in scoring and the biggest part of their strength is big offense from a small number of players. Yeah, a couple of things there. I mean, you mentioned you mentioned a good swam and was. And I think a lot of times you'd say, OK, you're confident asking that guy to be that good three more times, but not with him. I think he could kind of easily be that good in three more games of the next six here. Just the last one on goaltending so much more to pick out here. Do you go back to Samsonov tonight? I didn't like the game from him, but I think you have to go back to him tonight. And then if he falters again, you go Joe Wall back at home. How would you handle things for tonight, Gordo? Well, I wish it was the Joe Wall of what it was. Was it a month ago, or whatever it was, or just what he was playing well, not the Joe Wall that got hurt and has been ordinary since, you know? So I'm big on Joe Wall. He'll ultimately be the number one guy set even up to I forget what. So hey, what's 100% healthy, and particularly for a goaltender? It starts, you know, you assume when they're ready to play, it means they're all good to go and go in elite level. I think probably the safe thing is to give Samsonov another start. Either way, I'm not really excited. So this is not agreed as well. Yes, let me agree with that, Gordo. This is the second highest scoring team in the regular season. The Toronto Maple Leafs are eight consecutive postseason games now, Gordo, two goals are fewer. Why can't this team score on the playoffs? Yeah, well, I mean, goals are hard to come by. They're hard to come by in the playoffs. So the commitment to a different kind of game or whether you're ability to play that kind of game or whatever you want to call it, I don't know why. And again, we could end up eating our words, so that's why I'm choosing them carefully. I did pick the Leafs in six, and we'll see how this thing does play out, but historically, they've been proven, they can't get the big goal when they've needed it. Nick Paul will get it. They can make the big Gilchennyak like the mistake when needed, whatever. I'm not going to complain about officiating, but you get the Tavares factor that one game, the penalty. I mean, again, that's all part of the game, but just whatever it's taken not to win has happened to them. And what I've liked in the regular season over the last number of years is the way they found ways to win games. Never mind the statistics, how you go about winning games where it's coming from a two-goal deficit, whether it's getting a critical goal late in the game and that. And it's almost inexplicable. So last year, you got five games against Florida, and then you had two against Tampa Bay. So I'm OK with the final two, because you won the series against Tampa Bay Lightning. And one of those games you won when you didn't score more than two goals. So then Florida, you flat out didn't show up the first three games, and you could say the same last night. So you got four out of six games that you didn't score more than two goals that are just flat out. Subpar playoff performance is almost from the puck drop. So that's it. So it's simple to analyze. It should be simple to be able to figure a different way to compete at a better pace place in the playoffs, but that's what's eluded them. Yeah, you mentioned the officiate in there, and this isn't me going, oh, oh, but the refs, and they did the Leafs so dirty. Why do you think it is the Leafs are-- I shouldn't say never, but rarely able to find the right side of the ledger. I mean, we've seen-- and this isn't just in the Saturday game, but we've seen a million times of other teams try to come out to the Leafs, be it the Florida Panthers last year, and say we're going to take a physical bent and bring it at you. It seems like when the Leafs try to take that tact, they can never seem to do it without crossing the line, without having the slashing penalty like Gomi took. What do you think it is about the, I don't know, makeup of this team, the way the rosters put together? It just seems like they have such trouble kind of finding the ability to, I guess, walk the line is kind of what I'm saying. Do you see that as well with this group court? Well, it's funny because the guy that we'd be very useful, Nazim Qadri, two consecutive years, like he just, he wasn't able to walk the line to say the Leafs, Michael Bunting, although taking out a critical defense on Tampa Bay was a big factor about winning, but yeah, same thing, but again-- So we should have broken Bradmarshan's hand, if you're going to take that penalty. Well, Geez, you know what? I mean, yeah, you know, that it's-- Yeah, it ends up being-- It's the voice about that. You're still like a break-cutting do-not-coast on that comment. [LAUGHTER] Just shut down. But you know what he was trying to do, but again, it all gets-- Yeah, you're right, it's the whole thing. I mean, it all comes together, like, when you're not scoring more than two goals, when you're not getting great goals heading, when the fourth line gets an odd man, rushing scores against you, everything goes south. I mean, John Cooper talked about that last night, Tampa Bay and Florida just said, in his case, his team didn't play the right way the first 15 minutes. Did the last 45, but it was too little, too late against the Florida Panthers. So, you know, it's just-- yeah, it's-- I hate to say broken record, because I'm tired of being a broken record as you are in discussing it. But just everything just goes to hell in a hand basket when this kind of playoff game comes together for the Maple Leafs, including a lack of discipline, including going over the line when you're trying to be physical, including unneeded penalties and suspensions. No, it's-- I mean, it's honestly-- it's ridiculous how similar the scripts are to so many postseason games of recent vintage for this team. Included in that is the poor special teams play, both on the penalty kill, allowing to Bruins power play goals against. But getting the opportunity on the four on three to start the second period felt like, man, that we live in an alternate reality if they score on that power play. And I know they're missing William Nielander who we can get to in just a second here. But like, at a certain point, with the sample that we've gotten, with these group of guys on that top unit, and how bad it's been, like, do you just go nuclear with it? How do you approach it if you're Sheldon Keefe? So I'm wondering, just listening to-- and again, I understand the playoffs. There's a different mantra. He faces the media and their top secret about Willie Nielander, their top secret about Colton. And I almost wonder sometimes this kind of environment that everything is so straight and buttoned down and serious and tense. I don't know. Are they too tense? Are they too tense? It's a fun, loosen up team, you know, during the season. It's a fun team. It's an entertaining team. It's a skilled team. Do they almost-- like, is that a factor that comes into play that you're starting the game so much more nervously, intentively than, say, the way Adam Lowry and the Winnipeg Jets played last night, how they went out against the Colorado Avalanche? So I guess your question was, four on 3D. Do you stack the big guns, or the big guns, or the one big-- Like, do you mess with-- I mean, how do you get the power play going? Because what they've got going right now-- and I know it's a different personnel group by necessity, because there's no William Nielander. But like, we've seen the thing with the top four forwards and Morgan Riley for the last couple of months in the season. That power play has looked awful. It hasn't looked at all like it looked during the seven games, I guess, or the five games when Morgan Riley was out where it looked like it was at its best. Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, you had that ridiculous stretch for Pittsburgh that the Sydney Crosby and Company, they had an over-complete, 70 minutes of not scoring a power play goal during the regular season, which is unbelievable, playing a man short for 70 minutes, and you get shut out, that kind of power play. You've got to play the big guns. You can't-- you can't-- you know what, like, they-- you know, these are who you go to the dance with. These are who you've committed with. They have to find a way, whether it's the players themselves, whether it's the many assistant coaches, whatever, that-- what was it that made that power play work? And you've got to get it working in the playoffs. Like, I wouldn't just put a bunch of new guys in there. Yeah, I don't think you want to do that. It's just-- I mean, and God, no one's sitting here. Well, I mean, maybe we'll be having a different conversation if he doesn't score tonight. But no one's sitting here going, you know who's faulted is? It's that Austin Matthews. He doesn't score enough goals. But it is remarkable for a guy who is a-- you know, he walks into the league as the clubhouse leader in goals every single year. It's like, we all expect him to win the rocket. But he doesn't do-- I mean, he does some damage on the power play, but he's not a power play merchant in the way a dry title is or an ovechkin is. And he'll love that about him. I mean, Austin Matthews being dominant at 5 on 5 is what takes the transcendent goals scoring and makes it special. But it is just so jarring that that guy specifically, with a shot the way he has, has never really found that spot to operate. You know, it felt like a little bit this year. There was the kind of-- almost the bumper spot and the bottom part of that right circle where he was able to get like a little quick one-timers. But it never feels like he's had a spot like ovechkin does or like Stamco's does. And, you know, maybe you don't want a power play to be that static, but it's just so jarring to have that thing be what is always going dormant at this time of year and to have the most dangerous goals score of his generation. It just-- it almost doesn't compute in the brain, Gordon. Well, you know, who's your Sam Reinhardt? Well, you know, like, because Mitch Barnard's not a guy who shoots a ton either. So I, you know, I see your point there. Just like, there's just so many things that the power, you know, that, you know, just just-- maybe that factors into all of it, just when you don't seem to start the game in a manner that you're ready to compete in an NHL playoff game. And I go back to three, the first three games against Florida last year. And that's how the result ends up, whether it's a pedestrian power play, whether it's, you know, all these things are the consequences about whatever that it factor that he just didn't seem to show up to play real playoff hockey. William Neelander didn't show up either for reasons unknown. Do you know? Like, you're close to the organization? Come on. Give us the lowdown, Gordon. Where is William Neelander? Why are you holding him out? That's the question. Yeah, it could have been a rotator cuff injury doing the foam commercials from the subway. I don't know, maybe too much. I thought you were going to say he's playing pickleball with you and that was the problem, Gordon. I'm a big, I'm a big, William Neelander fan. And, you know, we're not going to get back to that. Oh, my God, lost the Columbus because there was no Jake Muslim, OK? We got to get away from that always about making excuses. But boy, the most durable leaf-- and he hasn't played so great at the end of the season. We know that. I mean, we did talk so much about resting, guys. Was he a guy that could have been rested game 81 and 82 then? Like, I mean, how the hell do you play game 82 and not game one of the playoffs? Yeah, that's nuts. Without a distinctive visual injury that we would know at that point. So, man, oh, man, you've got to hope he's ready. It's not a lot of turnaround time tonight. And then also, can he be affected? Because he's not been affected the last what? Eight or nine games the regular season? Yeah, no, he hasn't. And sometimes I think, I'm as guilty of this as anybody, when I'm listening to-- when I'm not talking, when I'm listening to other people talk, I go, oh, wait. Was that part where you have your life or you're not talking? I listen to podcasts when I drive home. That's it. And then I talk. But I might-- I assume you talk to the podcast. I am. I'm the third guest. Like, I'm listening to 32 thoughts. And I'm like, honestly, frigid, just let me get in here for a second. But when I'm listening to other people talk, I will be as guilty as anyone. So, oh, stop making excuses for these guys. But what does it do to a team to-- look, this isn't Bobby McMahon, all of a sudden, not being available. And hey, they could have used Bobby McMahon in that game. But what does it do to not have William Nylander again? This isn't me saying, oh, there's no way they could have won. Look at this curve ball. Guys get injured all the time. But I-- and, you know, we're trying to read the tea leaves here. It seems like the team is surprised about this as well. It seems like they are a little caught off guard. Like, what do you think it does to the psychology of the group to, again, this isn't David Camp. I shouldn't use the only guy who scored a goal. But this isn't David Camp, missing game one. It's William Nylander, who also, outside of COVID, never misses time. It has to throw them for a loop in a certain way. Well, you look at that first game, Morgan Riley's suspension. And then you turned on not expecting Riley, but there was no marner in Tavares. And, again, regular season. And why not in the playoffs? Like, you just-- you mentioned Stephen Stamkos. We know the whole bubble story, right? They want to Stanley Cup without him until that won game. So the part is, I got to think teammates are plugged in. I mean, Willie Neeliner hangs with them all and would, internally, discuss whatever. So it couldn't have been a total surprise that when it started. So anyway, it's a strange one for everybody. But the same old thing. You love to have men there. I like to have all the elite players in the league in there. But that's a part of the game that you've got to be able to withstand. And, again, they did it. They've done it the last couple of years in the regular season. They played some of the best hockey when they've been the most entry depleted. Yeah, yeah, it's true. It is absolutely true. We'll see. Probably going to have to do it again tonight in game two in Boston. Gordo, always a pleasure. Thanks, man. Circle of life, guys. Catch you later. That's right. See you, man. Well done. Yeah, that's a good one, too. All right. It's almost like he's done this for longer than I've been alive. Yeah, he's so good at this. Here's the thing. When the Leafs lose this series-- Sorry, if the Leafs lose this series, I got distracted a little bit as a Freudian slip. Yeah, I was going to say the truth came out. If the Leafs lose this series, it won't even be, yeah, the Columbus, hey, no Jake Muzzin. It'll be issue number six or seven that William Neelander didn't play in this series because I don't care. Like, I understand how impactful he is to this team and how much you miss him and how he's one of the few guys whose numbers don't fall off a cliff come the postseason, we've looked at him as if he's like some just superhuman in the postseason because what his numbers are like, not that dissimilar to the regular season numbers, considering some of the other guys in the massive drop-offs you see specifically with Mitch Marner and the pucks over the glass. This is not, honestly, I just envision a moment where like Leafs lose in seven games to the Bruins and William Neelander doesn't play in any of the games and it's like, man, that's disappointing and you got a fire shell then Keith, but look how close they were without one of their key contributors. This happens. I mean, where is that conversation about Eric Chernak a season ago? Well, I think, and I don't want to undercut what Chernak means, his defense has been the eight a lot of time, but you, like, William Neelander was a nearly 100-point guy whose player of the month I think twice in the league this season, definitely at least once. I think they're two different conversations. I think when we're sitting here, let's say, let's say Neelander never gets in this series and the Leafs lose in six and that feels pretty plausible to me. The Neelander part less so, but who knows? But if that happens, I think when we're having a conversation about John Tavares and Austin Matthews and Morgan Riley and Mitch Marner and, well, not William Neelander because he's not playing, but the guys that matter on this team, they don't, we don't get to say about them. Oh, well, there's no Neelander. What are you going to do? No, you're still going to have the exact referendum, whatever it was you thought you were going to have heading into this series on them. That conversation does not change because Neelander is not in the lineup. But I think from a team perspective, if, and again, I do tend to believe, because he was on the ice yesterday, that he gets in, maybe not tonight, but in this series, I do tend to believe that again. No information, just gut feel. Maybe I'm trying to speak it into existence. I don't know, but I don't think you can just paper over losing a guy who carried your team for parts of it. This isn't to say, well, there's no way they could have won the series or you take all the expectations off of them, but I do think the idea of, oh, that's issue, like, that's way, way down the pecking order. I don't know. That's still pretty. And we got to see how it plays out, right? Yeah, I mean. If Matthews rips five, no one's criticizing him. If Marner has 10 points like Tyler Bertuzzi did in a game seven series loss, I'm not saying no one's criticizing him, but that will shield him a little from it. But yeah, those guys are dormant. We don't, we're not sitting here having a William Neelander conversation because those guys weren't able to carry it without him. So I think part of it is how it plays out, but I do, I want to get ahead of this, that this isn't making an excuse. But if Neelander doesn't play in the series, that kind of matters. If you're doing a draft, the players in this series, how high is he in it? At worst sixth, like just quickly off the top of your head, something like that. Okay. Martian. Yeah. Astronaut. Yeah. No, don't count. I feel like that goes to those. Matthew's pasternac. McAvoy. Lindholm. Lindholm. You've taken Lindholm over to you, Andrew? I think that's six or one half doesn't. Okay. But he's a top six or seven player in the series losing him for the entirety of it. Would matter. Again, I don't want, I don't need to pre-make excuses. You can also still win a series without him. It's not to say it's a death knell, but I do think we have to have proper perspective on this. Look, I love to bury the leafs as much as anyone else. I wish I like it better when they win. I could just talk about how great they are. That is my favorite, but I'm happy to bury them when it's deserved. But if they lose a series in which once again, we're talking about a lack of offense, yes, point to the stars, for sure. Still have the conversation, the exact same one. You want to have about all the stars, but if you're going to talk about it, oh, you can't win with this team, with all their million dollar forwards. Well, if one of them didn't play, that kind of matters. It does. And again, this is this is apples to oranges, but it would also be the second time in what the last three years that they went through a series without one of their cajillion dollar forwards. John Tamara is much better. Yeah. I mean, they went up. No, no, no, no. I guess, yeah, okay, it'll be on the list. I put it top 10, I put it six, it's higher than six, here's the thing. I think if they lose this series, it's because they're not scoring enough, which you're right. Yeah, William Neelander is a part of, but it's, I think they should be able to score enough without him. There's enough firepower on this team. Again, second highest scoring team in the National Hockey League during the regular season. The highest scoring team put up what was it, seven, six, or eight, seven, six, they put up six in a losing effort against the Vesna winner yesterday in the Colorado Avalanche. I mean, what we're building towards here now after the five games without a goal in the Panther series and after the no goals in one game against the Boston Bruins, after a 69 goal campaign in which so much was made, even after the coach said we don't care about 70 goals, about his individual regular season counting statistics is a real Austin Matthews conversation. Yeah, that's why I think I think it's two conversations. I think the Neelander absence, it can be like a little parsley on top of the Matthews Marner Tavares conversation. That doesn't change because Neelander's not there because it also would be different to if Neelander and Marner had been stapled to Tavares and Matthews all year long, but they haven't. Matthews, he hasn't lost the line mate, you know, but usually still there, got me still there. Nothing's changed for him. So that's why I think of the elite upper echelon of this team, the Neelander injury, again, who knows how much he plays doesn't play in this series. It changes that conversation very little, but I think if you're talking about the way the Leafs are built and the road forward for this, not having that guy has to matter. And it can't be the seventh rate thing, it's got to be like a top one or two thing to take out of this series. Well, like we've talked about before, I think the conversation about how this Leafs team is built is it's over anyways. That's true. Also, just like who's having that conversation? What can you do? You can't undo anything. Well, Mitch Marner, you've been paying to watch him disappear for nothing. The Kipper article from last week that we talked about, that was illuminating. I don't think Mitch Marner is getting traded this off season, but that was interesting. Also just to put a point on this, he's, he was 10th in the league and scoring this year. Okay. You don't get to take. And again, who knows what happened? Maybe place the night and this conversation sounds ridiculous. You don't get to take away the 10th leading scorer, not on their team in the league from somebody and go, wow, that's just an excuse. You know, again, we have no information. So we're just trying to figure it out here. If it is just like he woke up one day and was like, I'm broken, I broke my body. Hard to imagine that, yeah, the guy that's played so many games that played down the stretch who played in game number 82, there was no like, there was no inkling that he was the guy that needed the day off, like that, that he wouldn't have indicated to you or you with your one billion staff members. So many of them with PhDs and MDs, I'm thinking, yeah, we joke about the khakis man. Yeah, I don't know. There's no device that he wears or some testing that he goes through that indicated at all that the body was on the verge of collapse. It's weird that he played all the games down the stretch, including the final meaningless game, like all the final four games were all meaningless. He played in all of them and game one of the playoffs. The most important game of the season, that's the one he misses after eight years of playing all the games. Yeah, I mean, I guess you could say that it's the cursed thing, but it's hard to imagine that a guy just wakes up one day and is broken. Yeah, it's almost like the team is cursed or something. And if that happened, I just, I will say, I was about to say this is so leafy, but this is a new one. We have had a million wrinkles and playoff pain in the past and Gord brought up my favorite log to throw on the fire of Leafs playoff pain of the Justin Hall pick penalty when it appeared like John Tavares had scored the goal and then the hockey gods gave him the goal next year and overtime. So it kind of washed itself out. But think about all the different versions of this we've had. We've had the mole gal Cheniac with the spinning backhand feed to his former team to let them win in overtime. John Tavares bleeding from his ears on center ice, 10 minutes into a playoff. The least blowing for one leads coming back against it. This is just like only the Leafs could find another wrinkle. We have had them all over this Matthews, Babs, Keith, Eira, whatever you want to call it. You going up in the capitals when you had no business, so many different wrinkles. And they found a new one for us. Honestly, we joke about the NFL script writers all the time. Not even NHLs. And there's a lot of good stuff from the NHL this weekend. We'll talk about it more. But just whoever's writing the script for the Toronto Maple Leafs, it's like M. Night Shyamalan stuff. It's just like twist. Twist. What about this at the end? It's nuts. Yeah. You're a movie guy who was offended by me using that reference. No, I'm not offended. No, M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie out that was filmed in Milton. Oh, okay. Anyway. Good for the people of Milton. Yeah. And him, I guess. That's the last thing for me before we take the break now. And talk about more hockey in the playoffs. What I remember from the power play being good. Oh. Tell me. Rigge, I mean, they just shot the puck. Like it was a lot of like screenshots from the blue line. It was like, it's just you fire a million shots. It's moving the puck quickly. Get it on net. It's banging some rebounds. It's deflect some pucks. Let's screen some goalies. Like, well, what are we doing here? Like, just, again, you have the guy who's literally, because sometimes you do the like literally, but it's not literally the best person in the world that firing the puck. And he should have more space to do it. He should have more time. And this isn't, I'm not saying this is like, this is a critical flaw of math. This is a problem with the power play as a whole. But it is just, it's so, the last two guys that scored 60. Well, okay, sorry, damn Pasternak and McDavid ruined this. But before them, the last two guys who had scored 60, all we think of them is setting up shop in one spot on the power play and just blast off every time. And I don't think that I don't want the least power play to be that. They have too many other weapons for it to be that. But it's just so jarring that Matthews is the goal scorer he is. And I do feel like at one point this year, he did kind of develop that little spot on his one timer side, not quite on the flank, kind of more bottom half of the dots. And it feels like he was doing some damage there. And again, it's not to say he's not been in that part of the ice, but it just seemed like that was kind of his ovechkin, stammer spot. And it just hasn't, hasn't taken hold the way it did for a fleeting moment this year. I mean, maybe this is dumbahocky fan thought. Generally speaking comes out at this time. Yeah, no, you're like, shoot, right? Like shoot. And that's the, yeah, you know what though, sometimes people are right. I remember watching a game when I was a kid and it was like two seconds left in the period and Ken Clee had the puck and he was yelling shoot at him. And guess what? He did. And it went in. And it was clean. Okay. All I want to see on the power plays a million shots. I mean, look at the two Bruins power play goals yesterday, sort of like innocuous looking shots, nine shots inside the post, but yeah, just get bodies in front. Yeah. Yeah. Father the goalie. That's what you're going to have to do with Jeremy Swamin too. I mean, good goal tending gets beaten by getting in his face. Yeah. You're not going to score a clean goal probably on Jeremy Swamin. I would not. Well, other than Matthews, I feel like it's like, yeah, he could rip one by him. But other than that, not banking on it. Saturday was frustrating. Also, oh, one other thing. If Max Omi, like, hey, again, like if you want to cook up another hype video, go for it. I love that. If you want to go get and grab Mershan's face. I love that. This is greasy. It's playoff stuff. You got to start falling on Swamin. You do. You've got to start laughing around the net all the time. You've got to start falling on. You've got to make him uncomfortable. Yes. And again, this isn't like not calling for war crimes like you were earlier on in GIS. That's a joke. Yeah. Of course. No, it's like, I definitely, I definitely didn't like reach across the table and fist bump you when you told that joke. No, no, no, but you have to get in this kitchen. You got to get in his face and that should be per choosy. That should be a little domey. Matthew Nye is the love of this game. He could be a little more in that area as well. So I think that's as much. If the least wanted, take it to Boston. Be physical. Be nasty. And like I'm saying that that way, but I want to see that. That has to be part of it as well as getting in Swamin's kitchen. Yep. Easier said than done. I know like Boston would, you know, like do some stuff to stop that, but you're going to fight them. Go fight them over there. Yeah. And in Carlo, he's a large fellow and he likes to remove people from that area of the ice. You know, Ryan Reeves is a large fellow himself and not the most easily removed object. I would imagine. I would imagine. I could tell you I wouldn't have much luck. Anywho. Again, maybe it all gets reversed tonight. I'm not ruling that out. I'm not calling for it either, but like, you know, no, no, no, leave show up and one goes in early balance. They didn't look like they were blown out of the building. Nope. Obviously. Oh, God, we got the sweet deserved to win a meter again. God, I didn't see that. I hadn't seen that since like the bad days that took me way back. Can I tell you the true reason for optimism in my messed up sports brain? I'm so excited. Bruins have won five consecutive games over the least this season. You can't. You're not going to win all the games. Well, this is trending. It might be. No, it's just it doesn't happen yet. They're not going to win all the games. Okay. Just it's it's a mathematical certainty. Well, I will hold you to that. Yeah. Anyway, game two tonight when we come back, though, we're we're in it. We're the best part of the sporting calendar. There's just no debate about it. Yes, agreed. I love you. But I do not miss it one second right now. That's the thing that jumps out is how little I miss the NFL Stanley Cup playoffs NBA playoffs has started. I mean, baseball is well. We already talked about baseball. We had a we had an elevated event in golf. I'm going to get to watch the finish of it during the last hour of the show this morning. It's wonderful. Yeah, golf is being dominated by individuals and just two men's and women's just shuffler and court. I love golf. Oh, thank you. All right. We come back. As the fan morning show continues, Ben and his brand counting Sportsnet 590, the fan. Hey, it's Alish for a fire, and I'm Justin Cuthbury. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet Sportsnet 590, the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Going pretty well for the other Canadian teams that have played so far. All right. Just what everyone here wants to hear. Who is this a take you could take that tape, take over to like Gertie and see it's a fire. You could take it to sit on the way. Hey, aren't we all rooting? Wouldn't we all love to root root root for a Canadian team? Ew. By the way, we can do this because well, one, I know he's on the air and he's not listening right now. And two, he's my buddy. Yeah. But anything news about this for you, I like meant to tell you, but go ahead. Okay. We're leaving the building on Friday. And we usually chat him up. If we see him. We'll fist pound. He's like, oh, he did the classic sports radio topic that's been done many times, but it's been a while since he's been in sports radio. So he's like, I can't wear a jersey of somebody younger than me, right? It has to be like historic leaf. Yeah. He was wearing. This is insane. Okay. And number 13 leaves Jersey, which are like, Oh, well, maybe that's his number. Had the sea on it, captains see with Alawalia as the nameplate. So a Matt Sundine jersey, but instead of Matt Sundine, greatest leaf of all time, at least that he saw. Yeah. It's his own last name on the back of the jersey, which there are like this and teach their own and I'm not going to. That's egregious. I've never even seen that before. Well, and to have the like, for him to come up to us and be like, this is so cool, right guys? I again, pulling back the curtain. As we saw it, I was walking over there going, I can't believe this. I don't want to talk about this. And then he's like, your opinion? And I'm like, well, you've asked, I have news for you on this though. Okay. I walked by. We walked by the illustrious CHF studios every day coming in here. I don't know who it is. I'm assuming Matthews, but he has on like the Justin Bieber jersey today with an A on the front. So I don't know. Maybe he's made himself the assistant captain. Wait, does it have Alawalia on the front? I didn't see it. I just saw from the front. Okay. And I think I saw three. So I'm going to assume it's Austin Matthews with the Justin Bieber jersey, but I would love. Alawalia on the back. But I love the bit. It would be 34. Alawalia. Now he's the assistant captain. I would love that though. Oh God. I love it. And like, again, he's obviously not listening because, you know, like doing his job now, but we love you. You're deep. Yeah. I hate the jersey. It's horrific. Obviously. Horrific. And hate things. Horrific people. There's a guy that's a real sports fan. Yeah. It's been too long since he worked in this industry. He forgot what it's like to be real sports nut. It's true. Yeah. Anyways, yeah, you're right. That's the sect of people who are like, well, Leaf fans, your team's eliminated, aren't you? Obviously you're cheering for the Vancouver Canucks. Oh, you. Not quite. You. I will say though, like, you know, share a bracelet. Yeah. Okay. Well, there's that. Yeah. But nothing does it quite like leaps going deep. Like, if we could just pick for us and everybody knows, like Leaf soilers. Oh my God. Yeah. You think you're invested in the Leafs run, you Leaf fans for a lifetime? We have real financial incentive for the Leafs going on an extended postseason run. I'm both. Yeah. Anyway. And I would like to see the country, not that it's not doing this in a myriad of other ways, but rip a shelf to shreds over Leaf soilers. I would like to see that. Yeah. That would be great. So, like, you don't want it to go this way, like, you'd rather have the league's longest run of being in the postseason. But what the Canucks have done, I mean, they were in the postseason that the weirdo, yeah. Well, yeah. Whatever. There's no fans there. But having the extended break between home playoff games, yeah, that's, it'll be, they'll be jaded probably by the end of the series if they don't win it. Certainly next year. But yeah, something you forget to get, you forget that you forget the feeling if you're a Leaf fan, what that first home game felt like, yeah, against the Washington Capitals in a series, you're like, oh, we were just going to be cannon fodder. Oh, no, I got a chance to win it. I've got one of the best up and coming young stars in the league, certainly Stanley cups of plenty are coming. Well, it's interesting, right? Because the Canucks are in a slightly different spot because it's like they were running away with the president's trophy at one point in time. Like, do they get to just enjoy it? And the Preds are, the, the Preds are not the capitals, but like they're closer to the Capitals than the Bruins, like you should win that series. They're in a really interesting spot that you're right. They never got the, they never really got the, oh, hey, this is fun. Let's go for a ride and see what happens. Like, not heads will roll, like so many people are locked up and the team's kind of built and it's, you know, a stepping stone season, it is what it is. But they almost didn't get that year that the Leafs got of just pure how the, the Leafs could have got smoked in four games and it would have went, I mean, that wasn't good. Oh, well, that learned. It was like game one of the season losing it overtime to the Senators, but Austin Matthews scoring four goals. Exactly what it was. It was just all process results didn't matter. And the Canucks, because of the way their build has gone, they never really got that. And this year is kind of kind of included in that, I think. Do you not think? Yeah. I mean, they're certainly more pressure than there was on the Leafs, but Quinn Hughes is like a baby. Yeah. I don't know. I see what you're saying, but OK, like the Quinn Hughes, he's actually an interesting guy because I think like the forward you could do it more with. But if Quinn Hughes struggles defensively in a series against the Predators, like what's going to happen when he plays a team with real forwards? Yeah. Sorry, Phillip Forsberg. No offense. Real offense, right? Yeah. Anyways, yeah, they win game one in comeback fashion after, oh man, the two fastest goals in team history as well. And Thatcher Demko with the savor of the postseason so far in the first period they're going post to post with his pad. Tremendous tremendous save Winnipeg Jets with the game of the postseason so far. Oh my god. Hair on fire. Seven six. My favorite tweet. Oh, I got to get the, the. Oh, is this the, oh no, because we haven't had overtime yet. No, the Tim Reynolds tweet about, hey, there, here's the number of games playoff games in which a team by the name Jets has scored seven in one of those games. And it's like Winnipeg Jets twice, New York Jets, zero over the last decade or so. That's an amazing, I didn't see that. Yeah. So the avalanche, they make a game of it and boy, they probably weren't going to score in the final 30 seconds, but they were down seven five and score like the most random goal of the postseason so far to make it a seven six score line. But yeah, this is, I think just on balance the avalanche, maybe the most talented team in the playoffs, but the right there with the Leafs as far as team save percentage during the regular season, Gorgiev was real bad had a state percentage under 900. They could be completely undone and they've already got a cup to show for it, but like yeah, this is a, this is a team not dissimilar talent wise to the one that won it all. And they could be completely undone by their goal turning and that being said, they are the highest scoring team in the NHL and they put up six against the guy that's going to win the Vesna. Yeah. It's, I mean, you can go two ways of that in terms of their thinking, right? You can say, yeah, great. We popped six past Hellebuk, we, there is no layer of infallibility, but how many times you're going to do that? You have literally nothing to show for it in this series. I mean, Gorgiev, this is the thing about evaluating goalies. Remember when he was backing up Schusterk and in New York and man, it's like, this is funny how long ago this was. But it was like, I remember having conversations of like, okay, Angvall and what to get Gorgiev in Toronto. And it's like, oh, that would have made literally no difference at all, losing pair Angvall and getting Alex Gorgiev. It just, it's so hard to find the answer. And especially what your team is versus what it's been. The other thing about this with the abs is there, if any team has belief that they could do it with a goal tending, it's them, like Darcy Kemper was good enough. And then they said, see ya. And he went like kind of blind partway through that postseason running, like poked in the eye. Weird stuff that happened with them. So I think that's the thing about the avalanche is that they got to be sitting there going, Oh my God, if we get a save, we're laughing to another cup. But they also are sitting there going, we've done this with ho hum goal tending. It wasn't as bad as Gorgiev. Not this bad. But I think that the much like the Leafs, they've been shot in the foot in goal tending and that is what happening game one, but we've seen the Hutchins and starts pass where the first shot goes in and they say, okay, there's no point in playing. The avalanche, no, they can overcome pedestrian goal tending and not overcome it Thursday against the stars in the regular season. But in the playoffs, when it matters, they do have the muscle memory of being able to overcome this. Not this, but substandard goal tending. Yeah. I mean, also just like, thank you, Jets and abolition. It's wonderful. Yeah. They just need Gorgiev to last six and then they go to overtime and be grandfhere. All right, lastly, for me at least here, by the way, just like I know, every time there's a bad goal, you're like, I did the grandfhere, though. I need the Matt Renbe being a playoff contributor narrative for all the people that hated him being the sideshow of the regular season. Yeah. He plays. But yeah, no, he was not a guarantee to be in the lineup for game one, scores the postseason opening goal to the managers stuck with them. Oh my goodness. And yeah, this is, yeah, you'd rather be Austin Matthews as far as having a rookie season, right? But this, yeah. But if you can't, like how high is this on the list? It's unbelievable. They were talking to him postgame. That was the first time his mom had ever seen him play. I don't know if it was in the national hockey league, but definitely at MSG. It was just your all-time awe-shucks postgame interview. They're like asking him about going to dinner with his mom. He's like, I don't, I don't, I'm not so good at making reservations. So I had to go to like the 10th place. He's somebody asked him, like, Oh, did your mom give you some more juice? He goes, Oh, come on, baby. I always got juice. Like this kid, he just has a moxie. There's something about him. There was even a moment late at a camera. I was at the end of the game or at the end of one of the periods, but the entire capital's team is leaving the ice. And for some reason, Trevor Van Reemsdike decided he was just going to go full Chihuahua and start barking at the entirety of the Rangers team. And Rempeh just came in and it was obviously in a threatening way, but he just put his arm around him like, what do you want to do here, pal? And guess what? TVR wanted to go skate back with the team, is what he wanted to do in that spot. Obviously the Rangers are going to go as far and like Panerin score, that's big for them. It's like, they're going to go as far as, you know, Schusterken takes them and Panerin goes, but having this guy have that moment, it's awesome for him. And again, like, Damo will disagree with us in 15 minutes here, but it's awesome for the game. You know what? Let's just not bring it up. I agree. We'll probably talk Leafs, yeah, with Damon Cox. Speaking of which, time now for the Wakenrake presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly. Well, Leafs, Bruins, game two tonight from Boston. This was pretty much a coin flip series to start the series. No, not so much. Bruins favorite to win it now, minus 250, Leafs plus 200. In tonight's game, it is the Leafs plus 115 underdogs, the Bruins minus 135, the total like it was in game one, five and a half, Brent. This is dicey, given how good Swamin was in game one, I'm going to go over. Five and a half, it's a low total. And with the firepower that both these teams have, and quite frankly, the somewhat shaking nature of the Leafs saves it off at this very moment, I think that's the thing I'm most confident in. Over five and a half, you've got to pay a little vague on it, but minus 120, I like that. Okay, here's what I like in this game. Oh, no. So, I've been to Vegas, and my favorite game to play in Vegas is Casino War, okay? Because it's like coin flip, right? And if you just keep losing, like eventually you're going to win, so you just double your bet. Just double your bet. That's why they build the Casino War, but go ahead. Eventually, the Maple Leafs will beat the Bruins this season. Some guy in Vegas is just licking his chops, being like, can't wait until then comes back. Anyways, again, like eventually this is going to work out, and boy, it just, when you think things are at, they're bleakest, maybe there's some light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it's an oncoming train. But yeah, the Leafs at plus 1.15 eventually going to win a hockey game, change the narrative. By the way, this game is live on 6.80, 6.80, a City News Radio 7PM, and streaming on the SportsNet app. And that was the Wakenrake presented by SportsInteraction, your homegrown Sportsbook 19 plus bet responsibly. Oh, man, I took them in the first game, so that was my fault. You get to be the mush tonight, although, hey, I'd love to have you be a good luck charm here and ride, and the Leafs riding your coattails of you feeling things out for when they win games. Like, glad they do it. I took them to win game one. There was no way I was going to do it again. Here's my guess that I mentioned that the William Kneelander excuse is like 6 down the list. Like, I'm 606 down the list, if the Leafs lose the series, that I suggested people wager on the Toronto Maple Leafs in a postseason game. But yeah, being heartened by the fact that that won game two, like, again, yeah, is okay, that was bleak on Saturday. I'll tell you, having lived through it, it wasn't as bleak as game one against the Lightning last year. You're right. And a big part of it was was the, I don't think this can be overstated. You were smart to bring it up early, neither has it brought it up since. They now know a postseason series can end successfully. Like, there is a difference of coming back and going, okay, come back win our game and we'll lose in six or seven, but they won. Like, that has to, I don't know that it means much, but it has to mean something. Has to. Please. All right. We'll come back. The aforementioned Damian Cox is the fan morning show continues. Ben Ennis, Brent Counting, Sportsnet 590, the fan.
