Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 557: Featuring Chris Pronger

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 557: Featuring Chris Pronger – Detailed Summary

Release Date: April 25, 2025

Welcome to Spittin’ Chiclets, the Barstool Sports podcast where former NHL veterans Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonette, writer Matt Murley, producer Mike Grinnelli, and co-host Biz Nasty deliver their unfiltered and humorous takes on the NHL, pop culture, and everything in between. In Episode 557, hosted by Barstool Sports, the panel dives deep into the ongoing Stanley Cup playoffs, featuring special guest and Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger. This episode is rich with insightful analysis, spirited debates, and the trademark irreverent humor that fans have come to love.

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1. Celebrating Mike Grinnelli’s Hall of Fame Induction ([00:27 - 04:35])

The episode kicks off with the hosts warmly welcoming Mike Grinnelli into the Spittin’ Chiclets Hall of Fame. Mike shares his journey through youth hockey in New York, his impressive junior and college career, and his standout season with the Albany River Rats. The hosts humorously highlight Mike's contributions and tease him about being the first silent inductee.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike Grinnelli ([03:30]): “I was a stud. I was a stud.”
• Paul Bissonette ([00:23]): “Spittin Chickfila Foreign. What is up, folks?”

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2. Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Ottawa Senators Series ([04:35 - ~31:25])

The conversation shifts to the Toronto Maple Leafs' dominant performance in their playoff series against the Ottawa Senators, leading 3-0. Paul Bissonette expresses frustration over Ottawa’s play, humorously mocking the Senators’ fan base and their struggles. The hosts commend the Leafs' improved goaltending with Matt Murray and highlight significant contributions from Morgan Rielly, Sam Bennett, and Matt Matthews. They discuss the Leafs' strategic shift to a five-forward power play unit, which has proven highly effective.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Murley ([05:38]): “We’re going to call it the Porn Elisa.”
• Ryan Whitney ([27:22]): “What's the first rule of Fight Club? What's the first rule of defense? Defenders.”
• Paul Bissonette ([05:03]): “Everything's changed.”

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3. Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings Series ([25:29 - ~36:54])

Hall of Famer Chris Pronger provides his expert analysis on the Oilers' playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings. Pronger criticizes the Oilers for their inconsistent defensive plays and struggling goaltending with Stuart Skinner. He praises the Kings' effective use of a five-forward power play unit, which has significantly boosted their offensive output. The discussion highlights the strategic adjustments and how they impact the series dynamics.

Notable Quotes:

• Chris Pronger ([25:29]): “They’re schooling them right now.”
• Mike Grinnelli ([30:07]): “That's just what we're doing in defense.”
• Paul Bissonette ([35:23]): “It’s not just him. It’s the whole team.”

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4. St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets Series ([36:54 - ~43:19])

Pronger shifts focus to the intense series between the St. Louis Blues and the Winnipeg Jets. He commends the Blues for their relentless physical play and effective pressure on the Jets, especially highlighting goaltender Camp Fowler's standout performances despite high goal concessions. The hosts discuss the Blues' strategies to disrupt the Jets' rhythm and capitalize on power plays, emphasizing the importance of solid defensive play.

Notable Quotes:

• Ryan Whitney ([55:23]): “They're driving the net hard. They’re going with a purpose.”
• Biz Nasty ([42:20]): “It hasn’t looked this good since JLO had a concert at the Air Canada Center in 1997.”

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5. Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche Series ([43:19 - ~70:14])

The discussion moves to the Dallas Stars' playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche. The hosts highlight Dallas' depth and strategic gameplay, praising key players like Marchman and Blackwell for their timely scoring. Pronger analyzes the Avalanche's struggles with goaltending and defensive lapses, contrasting it with Dallas' robust team performance. They explore how Dallas' strategic adjustments have kept them ahead in the series.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Murley ([70:35]): “He’s turning into a superstar.”
• Paul Bissonette ([74:00]): “They’re getting it done as a group.”
• Ryan Whitney ([55:23]): “They need to keep pushing forward and just pound them relentlessly.”

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6. Washington Capitals vs. Montreal Canadiens Series ([70:14 - ~121:59])

The panel examines the Capitals' matchup against the Canadiens, focusing on Alexander Ovechkin's impressive performance despite the team's overall struggles. Paul Bissonette lauds Ovechkin for his leadership and clutch goals, while critiquing the Capitals' inconsistent goaltending and lack of depth. Montreal's adaptability and emerging talents like Logan Thompson receive praise, showcasing their potential to advance further in the playoffs.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Murley ([70:35]): “They're eating them up.”
• Ryan Whitney ([100:37]): “Ovie steps up. He’s the guy who gets it done on a beautiful pass.”
• Biz Nasty ([98:04]): “They don’t have a fighting chance going in without Jack Hughes.”

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7. New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes Series ([121:59 - ~142:section])

The hosts briefly discuss the New Jersey Devils' disappointing performance against the Carolina Hurricanes, highlighting coaching strategies and player injuries. They express disappointment over the Devils' lackluster playoff run and commend the Hurricanes for their competitive edge and experienced coaching staff.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Murley ([124:24]): “We should waste no more oxygen on the New Jersey Devils.”
• Biz Nasty ([130:33]): “Stay away. Don’t do anything.”

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8. Additional NHL News and Shoutouts ([142:end])

As the episode nears its conclusion, the hosts touch on broader NHL news, including the resignation of Lou Lamoriello as GM of the New York Islanders. They reflect on Lamoriello's significant contributions and speculate on his future moves. The hosts also give shoutouts to various events, sponsor promotions, and upcoming episodes, maintaining their signature blend of humor and camaraderie.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike Grinnelli ([139:34]): “Free ad. I need a speed builder.”
• Biz Nasty ([133:58]): “Another great pickup from the deadline.”
• Matt Murley ([140:28]): “Love you listeners. Let’s go, Oilers.”

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9. Final Remarks and Sponsor Messages

Wrapping up, the hosts thank their guest Chris Pronger for his valuable insights and reflect on the excitement and intensity of the current playoff series. They promote their sponsors, including Body Armor Sports Drink and Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, maintaining their engaging and promotional flair.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Murley ([140:44]): “This is awesome. What a first round.”
• Paul Bissonette ([74:40]): “Get yours today.”
• Biz Nasty ([118:08]): “Nothing like hilarious to say hey.”

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Throughout Episode 557, the Spittin’ Chiclets team balances sharp, insightful hockey analysis with their trademark humor and playful banter. Chris Pronger's expert commentary adds depth to their discussions, offering listeners a comprehensive and entertaining overview of the NHL playoffs. Whether dissecting team strategies, player performances, or sharing lighthearted jokes, this episode delivers on all fronts, making it a must-listen for hockey enthusiasts.

Transcript

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, Spit and Chiclets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple.

[Paul Bissonette]

Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[Biz Nasty]

Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Barstool Sports.

[Paul Bissonette]

Our white whale, Sidney Crosby. Shave his head. Shave his head.

[Matt Murley]

Shave his head.

[Paul Bissonette]

Ryan Whitney.

[Matt Murley]

Paul Vincent. R.A. mike Grinelli.

[Paul Bissonette]

Spittin Chickfila Foreign. What is up, folks? We are back again after day six of the Stanley cup playoffs, and one man on this show is very happy. It disgusts me to say, and I'm upset and Merls is upset and I don't know where Yan stands, but what is going on? Welcome to episode 557, presented by Pink Whitney. There are many fan bases crushing Pink Whitney. Happy, joyful, enjoying the Stanley cup playoffs. And then there are many fan bases drinking Pink Whitney out of depression. We stink again. We're not going to win the cup, but either way, Pink Whitney's involved. And we want to thank everyone who drinks, we want to thank everyone who listens, and we want to tell anyone who's never tried Pink Whitney to go give it a shot. It's spring, summer's on the way, and we're in the middle of the Stanley cup playoffs. And I can't believe it. We're joined by a Hall of Famer. Nope, not Chris Pronger. That'll be a little bit. We're joined by Murr, the first hall of Famer in Chiclet's history and for sure probably the last.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, pretty cool honor. New York State Hockey hall of Fame. People will be like, what the hell are they talking about? Merls? He can't be hall of Fame. But I was a good youth hockey player. I was a great junior player. I did pretty well in college, all in the state of New York. And one year for the Albany River Rats in New York, where I probably had my best season ever. It might have helped. I had Keith O. Coin as my center. But yeah, really cool honor and wit. You'll be happy to know. I think it's on Sunday, July 13. Saratoga opens on Thursday, July 10. So a dream, a nice little weekend here in Troy.

[Paul Bissonette]

The problem now is if the track opens Thursday and your. Your, your hall of Fame ceremony Sunday, like, they're like, this is the first hall of Famer that can't speak. He's got no voice. From the first good Saratoga voice, but congratulations, Mertz. Awesome. Always been a. A great, amazing player.

[Matt Murley]

What does one have to do playing minor hockey in the state of New York to get in the hall of Fame. Like, what kind of numbers were you putting up? Gamble?

[Mike Grinelli]

No. Yeah, I got. Well, I had Tim Conley tried to send the tribute video. Didn't get to the G in time for our game notes, but he was talking on there, he's like, I gotta, I gotta let everybody know. Yeah, me and you played together for nine years, but you were always the best player. And he goes, you're the all time leading scorer in Syracuse Stars history. So numbers like that, it goes a lot to my father, too. My father, he started the Uncle Sam's hockey program that had travel teams, Triple A, high school club, high school league, summer clinic. So Uncle Sam's was big back in the day in New York hockey. So it's more of a family award, I would say.

[Paul Bissonette]

I love it.

[Matt Murley]

Very humble. Like, he, he, he didn't mention any numbers. Like, like, like 50 goals a year. Like, what were you putting up?

[Paul Bissonette]

We're talking a hundred goals a year.

[Mike Grinelli]

90. I had 96 one year in midgets, I think. 96.

[Matt Murley]

You were the, the Wayne Gretzky of the sers.

[Mike Grinelli]

Maybe like 70 games or something like that. Yeah, I was a stud. I was a stud. We used to play this team, New Harford, and you know, in the states you'd have your sectionals to get to see who goes to states. There was only one team, this is in the state before you get to nationals. And we play this team, New Harford, they were, they were all right. They had a couple decent players. But our coach, Don Kernan, would tell us to blackjack them. He's like, well, blackjack them tonight, matty. Like, win 21. Nothing.

[Paul Bissonette]

And I remember Ryan Kessler coached you.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, kind of like that. And I remember one game I had nine goals and seven assists.

[Biz Nasty]

So.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

So you're the one guy on this pod that knows how it feels to be like a McDavid, like, player. Like McDavid is doing in the NHL you did in minor hockey, which is very. Still amazing to do. I've never had that feeling, have you?

[Mike Grinelli]

Kind of in a different way, though, like, Conley was kind of that guy and he was playing up, but he was the guy going through everybody. And I was just, I was just going to the mixer. I was going to the mixer, put my stick down and. And they always said, like, the way I just shot it, always found the net. It was, it was something lucky.

[Paul Bissonette]

And Merles, don't, don't, don't not include the fact. All American at rpi. Like, that's, that's. I wasn't an all American, Brian Yandel. The other Yandel was I believe a two time all American. But congrats Mer. It's awesome and very happy for you. And, and what I will say about this podcast is we've been doing this for years now. Years. And throughout all of the the playoffs, specifically the last three years I've been to be. I've been the, the guy that's happy. The guy that's brave.

[Matt Murley]

Oh yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's just been able to just look at. At this idiot. I do the podcast with this guy Paul Bisson at this global superstar TNT face of everything and I've been like you stink. Your team stinks. My team's great. You're going down, I'm going up. Everything's changed. Everything's changed.

[Matt Murley]

I can't mess right now.

[Paul Bissonette]

I'm lost. You can't miss you. I drew that friggin picture of you and your huge baked potato nose. The Mona Lisa with, with the bloodshot eyes and that thing and my son might lead you to a Stanley Cup.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah. We're going to call it the Porn Elisa. That's g. That's going to be its new name. That is just incredible. I. I look forward to posting that every time the Leafs pull off a W. But go ahead Whit.

[Paul Bissonette]

My last thing.

[Matt Murley]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonette]

And I'm going to let you take over. You're three nothing and you're happy as a clam.

[Matt Murley]

We're just like the Leafs. Power play, buddy. We're snapping around here. It's not just one guy. It's goaltending back end getting it done. It's the core four. It's the bottom six.

[Paul Bissonette]

But I haven't thrown it to you yet. I feel so bad. And just for Ottawa Senators fans. And it's not because you're down three zero and it's not because two of the last two went to OT. You're the only fan base in the league. There's 32 teams. You're the only one that the Toronto Maple Leafs own. They can talk shit to you, they can ridicule you, they can make fun of you. And nobody el can take it from Toronto. But somehow you're the only team that Toronto can be like, oh no, no, no, little brother. You go. You go back to Ottawa where there's no light nightlife and nothing to do. And every time we play in the play you got. It's crazy. Like the Ottawa Senators are owned by the Leafs. How do you even say that, not laugh?

[Matt Murley]

It's been a great three games. Ok? We're not going to get ahead of ourselves.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh yeah, you haven't done that at all.

[Matt Murley]

What do you mean? I can't celebrate wins?

[Mike Grinelli]

No.

[Matt Murley]

Is that, is, is that not okay? The job's not done. That's why I keep tweeting out and saying, step on their throats. We got to end this thing in four. We got to give them no life. But everything to this point has worked out in the Toronto Maple Leafs favor. They're playing unbelievable. They're getting it done as a group. Like, I can't even just pinpoint one thing. Obviously we can start with goaltending. Like it seems like they finally found their guy and stole ours 3 and 0 right now. Like it's like a 9:30, maybe over that save percentage. He's made the big key saves. I would say the, the, the biggest surprise has been the contributions from the back end. Like not only in game one, but Samo Benoit with that drop pass to Max Domi for that OT winner and then to get the winner in game three off that face off. Incredible. Incredible. So everybody on the back end elevating their play. Obviously we discussed Morgan Riley in that first pod to kick off playoffs. Oliver looks awesome tan have wet blankets, shutting everybody down. So I said, coming in the playoffs, this is the best back end they've had in a very, very, very long time. That was even just talking defensively. They have not only met up to those expectations, but they've exceeded them so far. Keep in mind, we're three fucking games in though, Okay? I still, I still think the Leafs have not played their best hockey. I don't think they've been at the top of their game the last two games. Can we all agree on that?

[Paul Bissonette]

I thought Ottawa's controlled a lot of the game the last two games.

[Matt Murley]

I mean, I would say four of the six periods. Yans. That, that Ottawa controlled. Maybe, maybe a lot of perimeter action in the offensive zone. I still believe that Toronto's done a good job on the inside boxing out, allowing Stolars to see most of it. But yeah, it's. Ottawa's not dead yet. There is a little bit of life there.

[Paul Bissonette]

They're dead.

[Matt Murley]

There's a little life there. There's a little, there's a little heartbeat, Yan. But they've played pretty solid the last two games.

[Biz Nasty]

I think it all started when I think somewhere in the Toronto organization has been stealing J's cars and this is how they just started being. Just sunning them from the beginning of.

[Paul Bissonette]

They went early.

[Biz Nasty]

It's been since Training camp, they've just been sunning them. It might be Benoit. I don't know the guy's habits. I don't know what he does off ice, if he's jacking cars on the side, but he's playing out of his mind. But I. You know what I love about this is the Morgan Riley. You look at the last two years. People like, we gotta get Morgan Rielly out here. He's done. We don't want him anymore. Guys, the grass isn't greener. Sometimes a guy that you have that is used to playing there, that knows how to play there, he'll figure it out in the playoffs, he'll figure it out when you need him. And he's done it. He's been unbelievable. They're back in. It hasn't looked this good since JLO had a concert at fucking the Air Canada center in 1997. But it's.

[Matt Murley]

I love the way that she's still bad, though.

[Paul Bissonette]

Even my wife's like, I don't get it. Like she's like 60 almost.

[Matt Murley]

I'd suck a fart out of her ass.

[Biz Nasty]

Kid show.

[Matt Murley]

Well, she's single now, isn't she?

[Paul Bissonette]

I don't know.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. DM her.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah. Done. Already already done it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Let me ask you, because you've kind of. I feel like you root for the Leafs. I feel like you like them and you want to see them do. Well, you got the Chiclet leaf colors colored lid on right now. And Yan's, I love that gray one. What are you seeing? What, what excites you as kind of a quasi Leafs fan most about this team's possible path to the cup since, for the first time since 1967.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, you're 100% right. I don't root against them. I'm not a die hard. I don't have Maple Leafs panties on or anything like that. But going back to Yan's, talking about Riley, I think the biggest thing for him is he's not the PP1D man. And that, that was like, that wasn't like hurting him. He had a worry about that. It was taking pressure in minutes from him. Now they've gone with the five forwards. He gets to sit back, concentrate on his own game, doesn't have to worry about the big studs yelling at him, give it to me. No. Give it to me. Give it to me. He's just focused on his game, playing his minutes. And I, I think that's one of the biggest differences in the, in the Maple Leaf whole game is that now he's focused on that. And the power play is ridiculous.

[Matt Murley]

Merls, please don't mention the 5 forward power play unit. Wit's got PTSD from LA doing it to the Edmonton Oilers, which we'll get to that later.

[Paul Bissonette]

Dude, I I.

[Biz Nasty]

The secondary scoring for them right now is, is so key. Like they haven't had that in the last four years. Just contribution. You get Max only scoring in overtime the other night. Benoit, like the secondary scoring that they have, they haven't had since probably 1967, right?

[Paul Bissonette]

Biz, I'll tell you this.

[Matt Murley]

You know what? You know what though, Whit. This series actually reminds me a lot of the one against Tampa. Was it yeah, two, two years ago when they won. Was it last? Where, when they won where? I feel like Tampa from like a puck possession and play standpoint, like they were pretty solid. They could, I mean the series could have went either way if ended up ending in I believe five games.

[Paul Bissonette]

Six. I thought that Tavares scored.

[Matt Murley]

Was it six games okay in O. But yeah, but, but but Toronto was just seemed to get a lot through. They were getting timely scoring and. And once again Morgan Riley had a big series then as well. Do you guys want to talk about flipping it over to Ottawa? Like they do look like the playoff virgins though. Like some of the mistakes that they're making. Like if you go back to Game 2, like Bson, like kind of the, the soft play to the middle in the offensive zone which leads to Benoit picking it off and going the other way and then over back checking, not getting a piece of Domi with a, with, with, with a hit on the way back, considering it was your turnover. So it just looked a little sloppy there where, hey, listen, like this team does have a bright future. They do have a lot of game breakers and bright young stars. But there's just this looks like the Leafs did, you know, four or five years ago, just very raw. They need a lot of work to be done and some holes to be filled and including. I mean like as good as Olmark was towards the end of the year, boys, like he just like he kind of is getting the Hellebuck title where he's turning into a pumpkin come playoffs. The numbers are the numbers, right? The numbers are the numbers.

[Paul Bissonette]

But if you look at the did nice get credit for the one that went in off the skate last night.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, he did.

[Paul Bissonette]

So that's like nothing you can really do there. The overtime winners just like a rocket with a great screen by Matthews. And talking about Matthews Quickly, that guy. 200 foot player is. Is like, game three was a clinic. That had to be one of the best playoff games he's ever played. He was everywhere. He wins the face off, on, on. On the winning goal. He scores a beauty off one of the grossest passes that I've ever seen, like, for Marner. So Marner's getting that puck behind the net. The puck's on the way. He's already looking. He knows, I tweeted, he knows exactly what he's going to do with the puck before he gets it like that. That's probably his number one superpower, is that he never needs time to think, oh, I got to do this. When he gets it, he's like, nope, I know when I get this thing, I'm moving it, I'm skating with it. And he just gives this beautiful pass. He actually has to lift up his own leg to get it to Matthews, but he's in the right.

[Matt Murley]

No, that was him pissing on Omar while he was doing it. He was doing a little dog piss with the. With the. With the leg raise.

[Paul Bissonette]

But let me say. Quick, let me kind of.

[Matt Murley]

It kind of reminded me a little bit of the Four nations goal where he'd already had his mind made up before he got the puck right. He's so good along the wall in those areas. But to go back quickly to what you said and Pablo, he, like, he needed a performance like that. That was a huge goal for him. And hey, they're just collecting a little bit of confidence little by little. Little by little, because they're going to have a heck of a ride here, boys. But what were you going to say? Whit.

[Biz Nasty]

What.

[Paul Bissonette]

What I was going to say was as the guy who has to hold down the fort for everyone listening who despises the team on the. On the hat you're wearing, this team who's hasn't accomplished anything in 50 years. This is what you get from winning your division. So credit to them. You get. You get the eighth seed, the seventh seed, right? You don't have to deal with a top team from your division. And next round, yeah, I mean, it looks like it's going to be the Panthers. We'll get into that later. But this is what you get from having the great regular season. You mentioned Ottawa has a bright future. I really believe that. But this was no match. And I hoped it would be a match. I think I picked seven games. But Toronto is a better team. They're deeper. And you are able to. To get through the first round. And it's not over. But you're able to get through the first round with ease. The Bobby Holik message, take advantage of the weaker teams, take advantage of not having to go to six or seven. And Toronto finally did it this year. They didn't have to have a first round.

[Matt Murley]

Don't try to jinx us with the, hey, listen, they gotta play. They gotta play a full 60 minutes and close this thing out and, and do exactly what you're saying and not waste any energy. Right? But.

[Paul Bissonette]

Right, they don't. They finally didn't have to get Boston or Florida or Tampa in the first round. Right?

[Matt Murley]

Like I, I was screaming from the mountaintops when they lost the San Jose twice in the last like 20 games of the season. When they didn't win those games, I, I understood how important it was to win the Atlantic. Because listen, the way that Tampa was playing towards the end of the season, I didn't want to play them and obviously I didn't want to play Florida in the first round. That would have been way too much of, of a mental hurdle. This. I don't want to. Obviously the Leafs have been a little bit fragile in the past. When you finally end up making your run, a few things have to happen along the way, including gaining a ton of confidence and having everybody healthy and ready to go come round two. The only, I guess, nitpick, I think he's been like solid. He's obviously had some points. Nylander, why is dog at him?

[Paul Bissonette]

I was going to ask you. I saw your Twitter.

[Matt Murley]

Well, okay, so he misses the, the, the breakaway and then he's like smiling about it. Okay, whatever. Okay. Not, not crazy about that. Okay, okay. Laughing there.

[Paul Bissonette]

Nitpicking a little there, but that's nitpicking.

[Matt Murley]

Okay. What's not nitpicking is the next period where they have, I believe it was a four on four situation where NY's ended up getting the penalty at the end of the period. So Ottawa's going to go on the power play after let's say 30 seconds to open up the second period. Well, Nylander starting the period, so he has to know that, right? You got to know once I have this puck and we're around here for, for 20, 30 seconds, they're going to have a guy coming out of the box. Well, what's he do? He turns it over in the offensive zone instead of just going to the corner and maybe eating a little bit more. Clock getting healthy guy or fresh guys on the ice and then changing when he loses that puck battle. No, he turns it over and Then he trips an Ottawa settler. They go on the fucking power play five on three. And then they score that fucking goal. Like that's not fucking using your brain. Turn your fucking brain on clock. Management. I listen, we could praise his points and his scoring ability and, and, and, you know, and his dynamic offensive play, but like, bro, if I'm paying you 11 million bucks, I'm expecting all of it. Like, I, I, I, I. You're not the dog with the puck in the ozone with, with that game management situation going on. Am I crazy? Here you guys are fucking stuck out his knee.

[Paul Bissonette]

He stuck out his knee instead of tripped the guy. At that point. At that point. Just, just change, bro.

[Matt Murley]

They, they've, they've shot themselves in the foot a few times this series so far. There's a reason that Nick Robertson wasn't in the lineup. It's because he took a fucking penalty 200ft from his net when they had the game in full control in game two. That's how they ended up fucking tying it in game two. While insert Pacioretti. Bye bye Robertson. I'm going to hold fucking Nylander to the same standard. Like, bro, you missed your breakaway, smiled about it. Fine, don't care. But don't fucking do what you did at the beginning of the second. The cost is a goal because you had horrible puck management. I ain't fucking playing games, man. I'm trying to win Stanley cup here.

[Biz Nasty]

I love it.

[Paul Bissonette]

This is a manding fan.

[Biz Nasty]

This is unbelievable.

[Mike Grinelli]

And that's what the coach is definitely saying. Like, yeah, you're getting away with it against the Ottawa Senators, but you're not going to get away with it against the Florida Panthers.

[Matt Murley]

That's what I'm seeing. Thank you so much. Like, you're, you're trying to create these habits. And that's why I'm like, the last two games, I'm like, well, you kind of took three to maybe four periods off where Ottawa controlled the play. Like, do you understand that these lapses in time as you move forward in playoffs, like, cannot exist? And you saw like, like you see Florida play like it doesn't happen, and if it does, for a couple shifts, they're able to turn it back. Like Leafs, they fall into these, like the, they fall asleep a little bit sometimes, and it pisses me off. So they can't afford to be doing that and creating these bad habits. But Merls, like you said, if I was the coach, I would literally pull the video up in the room with the laser pointer and I would say, you, you that's, you know, he's doing that.

[Paul Bissonette]

You're approaching it just to.

[Matt Murley]

I say you. You know better than this. There's a reason that you got 11 sheets hitting your wire or getting wired over every year.

[Biz Nasty]

Keeping. He's keeping coaches accountable on the bench. You know, he's keeping the guys accountable on the locker room.

[Matt Murley]

Why don't.

[Biz Nasty]

This is why you need a guy like Chief at this time of year. This is why you bring him in biz. I love it.

[Matt Murley]

So for the people who might not understand what you're talking about, could you want to bring up the situation with Savard?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, so it's Savard. It was. They, you know, they get a big goal. Sard, it's his first year there, right?

[Matt Murley]

He was, yeah. Who's. And he's helped out big time with the power play. So this was in game two where they. I think they scored a power play goal pretty early.

[Paul Bissonette]

It was game one. It was game one.

[Matt Murley]

Okay, so it was game one. All right.

[Biz Nasty]

And Mark Savard, one of the all time best power play guys that I remember, like, he was unbelievable. Could dish the puck. So he's really helped him out, but he scored game one. He gets a little too excited, jumps on the. On the bench where the players are sitting, and you look over and Chief, the killer that he is is like, hey, we don't do that. Sit the down.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, the look, the look. It was just a look. He and Savard immediately was like. And then they showed a clip game of the first goal for Toronto. That's where it just stands back. He's like, well, he.

[Matt Murley]

He kind of jolted a little bit, and then he, like fixed his blazer and looked over and he was like.

[Biz Nasty]

Like a dab.

[Paul Bissonette]

And then Chief was asked about it and he's like, yeah, we ask our players to. To have composure and. And stay calm throughout. So, like, it's no different for us. Merles, I talked to Ryan Caldwell, good buddy of ours. He works for the Winnipeg Jets. He lives outside Ottawa. He was at the game, game three on. On Monday or so. Excuse me, Thursday night. He was saying, man, I kind of wish the refs would. Would kind of put the arms down a little bit. It seems at least to him and me watching guys are like, maybe get like missing a hit or getting knocked over and boom, it's like arm up for a trip. I don't know if you saw the same thing, but him being in the building made me appreciate what he was saying even more.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, I feel like the whole playoffs has kind of been like that. It's. It's gotten a little soft. The playoffs always used to be all right. We're going to, we're only call the, the major stuff, the scoring chances and, and kind of hold the guys to a, a higher standard I would say. But you're probably talking about the stutzel one. Cause he kind of like makes a move and he does get caught a little bit. But what you think was going to happen, there was only, there was only one outcome when you did that move that you're going to get, you're going to go down. And I saw the stat that he, he drew the most penalties ever in a season tied with Nazim Kadri this season. So I know people who say program and you guys asked them about the diving and soccer and everything, but I think there's a little embellishment going on up there.

[Matt Murley]

And boys, I think if we're going to shift it back over to Ottawa for a little tire pump. Brady Kachuk, it feels like he's not playing a hundred percent. Just a twisted wrister inside the blue line. Huge goal to put them into overtime. But yeah, just couldn't get the big save. And obviously Matthew Knives, we haven't really talked about him much. This pod, he's been just a fucking beast man, beyond his years. I think he's going to get a big ticket. I'm praying he doesn't get off. I think that they're going to give him what they need to give him at this point. Especially if this keeps going throughout playoffs. We're looking at probably eight and a half for an eight year deal. And you might think I'm crazy for saying that it's going to be more, but you can suck my cock.

[Paul Bissonette]

Last thing on the Leafs for me and you mentioned the defense, but they kind of figured out exactly what they wanted to do with just big bodies, man. Like they are. They're all back there and none of them besides I'd say Riley, maybe Ekman, Larson at times is like a lead at breaking the puck out. But they're almost like, all right, we're not, we're not worried as much about that because we're going to clear in front of our own net. We're going to try to have really good gaps and basically just suffocate you down low and. And you've seen like Benoit like BXO was on TV saying it's like he's the perfect number six dude.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

And he's playing way better than a number six. Just a Monster that moves pretty well. He's mean, he's big. And they have a bunch of those guys. That Carlo trade, probably not mentioned enough, but just another one of those guys, right? McCabe is kind of similar to Carlo, maybe a little more physical, but you know exactly what you're getting. And there's going to be a lot of chip off the window and out, but. But it's like, who cares? Because we're going to be battling down low so hard. These guys are not going to get inside us on the offensive side in front of Stol Arts.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, no, Just kind of like the Scotty Lawton trade, the Carlo one, like opening day of playoffs. You're like, fucking, thank God we made this move, man. This is. This is huge. He's looked great, too. Scotty Lawton's played three solid games and wait, I'll hand it over to you because I think we're moving on from the series. It's not over yet.

[Biz Nasty]

Did we leave Stolars at any love?

[Matt Murley]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay. Whole reason we're up three nothing collected. And yeah, it's time for me. It's time for me to basically do something I haven't had to do over the past few years as the Oilers have kind of had success at Western Conference final. Then they lose second round, then they go Cup Final, almost legendary comeback. And with this season, yes, it's been a different feeling. But before we get to them, we're going to bring in a man who was there quickly, but one of the greatest Oilers defensemen in all time, a Hall of Famer and a guy that's been all over Twitter lately. Given his takes watching. Watching a ton of hockey, that is Chris Prongs.

[Matt Murley]

Dum, dum, dum, dum.

[Paul Bissonette]

There he is. There he is. Prongs, what's going on? Thank you so much for joining the show.

[Matt Murley]

I'm.

[Paul Bissonette]

I'm about to get embarrassed, but what are you seeing? Like, you're la. You're. I got to give them credit. They're fast. They're all over the place. They went to the five forward power play unit, but the Oilers, man, holy, this is ugly.

[Ryan Whitney]

They're schooling them right now. When they get in their own zone, it's been don't break, but they. They find stops quickly. Their defensive core, I've been pretty impressed with, with how quickly they're able to corral McDavid and dry saddle. Yeah, they've got some in zone time and they're kind of doing what they do, but it's always on the perimeter. It's on the outside.

[Paul Bissonette]

They'll.

[Ryan Whitney]

They'll give it back to the point a little bit. But the defensive core with Edmonton is having a top. A tough playoff round so far. And then when they get on the attack, man, they drive the net hard. They funnel everything to the net. They're going with a purpose. And I think it's making Skinner and maybe Pickard, who. Who knows who's going to start in the third game, but a little uncomfortable. He looks like. He doesn't look like he's set and out on the top and comfortable. They're driving the back post. They're driving to the front of the net really hard.

[Matt Murley]

Well, I'm glad you brought it there. Like, do you make it more about goaltending or the way that they're defending right now? Because I just look at the way. Even like the way that they're d play in the offensive zone, where sometimes I feel like they're. They're congesting things a little too much, where maybe they're trying to be an option, where I feel they just need to simplify and worry about playing defense and not getting beat. And I mean, you saw the other night like they were. They were down one nothing and they got forwards blowing the zone. And Darnell Nurse is maybe getting caught a little too far, not protecting the middle. Like, I feel like these are like uncharacteristic breakdowns for a team that went to game seven of the Stanley cup finals last year and who's beat LA the last three years.

[Ryan Whitney]

I break it down like this. What's the first rule of Fight Club? What's the first rule of defense? Defenders. And. And they have not defended very well.

[Paul Bissonette]

And.

[Ryan Whitney]

And they make high risk plays all the time. Go back to game one. It's five.

[Mike Grinelli]

Five.

[Ryan Whitney]

They are humming and Bouchard just kind of lazily gets by him. He just kind of meh. And all of a sudden. Yes. Was it an egregious, terrible goal? Yes. But it didn't have to get that far. They didn't even have to get the zone. And it just. At times they just make these bonehead defensive play. Last game, Nurse goes up the wall for no reason. Highfield comes in behind him. And then Bouchard is covering the front of the net. There's a guy over on the back. Not even the back door, but he was the left hand shot. He wasn't even a one time off.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was not even a one time. You can't let a guy come in on his off weight on a breakaway. You're covering Casper the Ghost over there. He's going to have to stop it, dust it off, and then shoot it. That should give your goalie enough time.

[Matt Murley]

You're saying as a defenseman, though, you would have already looked over and known.

[Ryan Whitney]

That you know who it is. You gotta. First off, you gotta know who you're on the ice with.

[Matt Murley]

You.

[Ryan Whitney]

You already know. You've been in the zone long enough. You should know who that is. You know what hand they shoot. You know if it's a good player or not. You should already know all these things. You should be able to process stuff like that.

[Matt Murley]

To be fair, I didn't even know what hand my line mate shot, so I was just asking a Hall of Famer. Well, that's. Yeah, you can. You can attest to that.

[Paul Bissonette]

That. That's kind of what I was bringing up. This was like on Twitter. It was like, people like, you can't blame Bouchard there. No. And I. What? It's not at all Bouchard. Leon was the only guy who made the right play. He went in and hammered Gavrikov. And then Nurses standing there and it looks like he was almost looking to see if Gavrikov was going to punch Leon and like standing there to almost back him up for a possible fight or something. I don't know. All of a sudden, Byfield swoops in. My thing with Bouchard was. And prongs. You just said it. Yeah, you. It's a two on one, so you're kind of taking away the pass. But at some point, like, it's like, all right, I got to go to the guy, like once he walks in that close, like at least a stick check or something. And he's just.

[Ryan Whitney]

By the way, he's not. That's not Patrick Juan then. You know, Patrick Wa used to always say, take the back door. I have the shooter. That's Stuart Skitter. So Patrick Wall.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So if you're a boonshirt, maybe you come across and you slide.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yep.

[Ryan Whitney]

And take that pass away and not allow them to. To walk. Wow.

[Matt Murley]

They've had a lot of issues sliding, too. Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's what I was gonna ask about. The other slide. I would have slid there, probably. I remember playing some defense and you guys will know better. Instead of just long bodying straight down, aren't you supposed to kind of like long body and take his space away? And it didn't look like Nurse did that at all.

[Biz Nasty]

You would.

[Ryan Whitney]

You would have need to have come across. Well, Bouchard Would have been the one sliding. He would have been coming across and in and off to take away time and space and to take away the path.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, I was talking on the nurse. The earlier goal, too. He kind of laid down and went under his skate.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, in fairness, they've given up 12 goals.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

So, yeah, it's getting confusing.

[Paul Bissonette]

They've given up 12 goals.

[Ryan Whitney]

We can pick the D apart all we want, but the guy's got to mix in a couple saves.

[Paul Bissonette]

And. And, yes. And Skinner, Oilers fans, what I'm sensing, it's like they're just beyond done with Skinner. Like, and we've been saying we need goaltending help, and all year, you did nothing. And Skinner has not been good. The numbers. I think his career playoff numbers are near, like, the bottom of the history of the league. Like, but it's not just him. Like, I will say right now, it's not even the. The biggest problem. Yes, he's not an elite goalie, but they are playing so bad. They are giving LA everything they have. Like, they're turning it over. They're letting Kempe and Byfield. I mean, the goals they have, they're walking in, nobody near them for three seconds. And then obviously, like, these guys are picking corners. Yes, you would expect once in a while a big save to be made, but I think Oilers fans should almost realize, like, this is not all on Skinner. He's getting left out to drive. They put. They put in Picard, Pickard, and what happens? You see another Kempe walk down with nobody near him, and he picks a corner like, so it's like. It's just horrible hockey so far.

[Matt Murley]

Horrible prongs. Have you ever. Have you ever played in an away building where they had an anthem that essentially hypnotized the away team like you've seen in this series. Because we could talk about the bad defense from the Oilers. We could talk about how electric the power play has been for la, how good their neutral zones been, obviously, Darcy Kemper. But it all comes down to the harmonica version of the Star Spangled Banner at this point.

[Ryan Whitney]

So if I'm going off of that, should the Oilers break out the accordion and.

[Paul Bissonette]

Ooh, that's not bad, actually. What do we think?

[Ryan Whitney]

Wouldn't that be nice?

[Paul Bissonette]

That's not bad. And get a community center of old people. I don't know how many Koreans are in Edmonton, you know, but get an old community center pumping the harmonica. I biz. Right away, when the harmonica started, I said, I go, this ain't good. I mean, I knew I was like, this is scaring the out of me.

[Matt Murley]

So there's. There's also a little history involved here, too. So I was shocked to see that they would have launched this first game of playoffs, but apparently they did so in the regular season, where they played in a game against Boston where they kicked things off, and LA, that game put up seven or eight goals. So they put up seven. So over the course of three games with the Harmonica Ladies, they've scored 19 goals. This is like they're putting a trance on the opposition.

[Paul Bissonette]

Before game two, they pumped them all with Torto.

[Ryan Whitney]

There's a new Kate Smith from Philadelphia.

[Matt Murley]

Do you think there's a prongs?

[Biz Nasty]

I got one for you. It's like, I don't see any confidence in the Oilers. I know LA has been really good at home, but it's not like one of those. It doesn't look like one of those series. Like, all right, hey, we lost those two games. We'll be fine at home. Like, to me, they look like they're, you know, a little bit wounded. Or do you think that they can go home and rattle a couple off and feel good about themselves, play on home ice, get away from the harmonica and play their game at home?

[Ryan Whitney]

It's. It's been a long year. They've had a lot of injuries. They, you know, from losing game seven of Stanley cup, trying to come back, trying to do all the offseason changes, all the. The offer sheet stuff, the new players, the, you know, four nations, all the stuff that's kind of gone on. And then when you look at kind of where they're at, I don't look at that series being down to nothing. The same way I see St. Louis and Winnipeg. Both those games in Winnipeg were close. They were. They could have gone either way. This one, they've been dominated. Outside of that little stretch in the third where they came out at that massive comeback in the first game, they've been dominated and.

[Paul Bissonette]

And prongs. I'll. I'll say before we go on, because I'm very interested to hear about St. Louis. I think you were at the game last night, the announcer said, but, yeah, let's go into la. They've been incredible. Everything's working for them. But I'm interested in your opinion on Doughty, where he's a Hall of Fame player. He's ran that power play for 15 years. And they went to him and they said, you know, listen, we're going with five forwards. Like, that never happened to you, but would that be Something really difficult to take or is that more. Hey, on the back nine of my career, I'm willing to do anything that, that needs to be done to get our power play a little better and, and I don't have to be on it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, and I think it also gives him less minutes. You know, he's not up 30, 28, 30 minutes. You know, he's coming off the ankle injury, you know, just trying to get himself back in a form. Obviously has had a good stretch now, but Newell, Brown, their, their power play guy is, you know, you look at what he's done in the, with the teams where he's been, you know, he was with us in Anaheim, Vancouver, when he was there, they had a really good power play.

[Biz Nasty]

Phoenix, on and on and on.

[Ryan Whitney]

So Phoenix. So he's really sharp and, you know, doubt he's on the second powerplay unit. You know, those five don't get it done. He's coming right up, you know, to run that second pp. So it's not like he's not even getting minutes with, with how quickly they're scoring, they, they don't really get a chance to get to him. But it's, you know, I think for him, as you said, you know, been there, done that one, two cups, you know, I think he just wants to get the chance to win and can see what they've been doing. They've been zipping that thing around and Kuzmenko has been a great addition to that.

[Paul Bissonette]

Another thing that's been an issue with Edmonton prongs is, is discipline. Right. Like, we've seen some plays where it's just unnecessary penalties and while some of them could be considered weaker calls, there's just no need to be doing some of the stuff that, that, that they've been doing, trying to battle back into every game too well, and especially when.

[Ryan Whitney]

Their PK has been as suspect as it has thus far. You keep giving LA's power play, which is ripping it around at a pretty solid clip. You, the fewer chances you give them, the better. And so, you know, the Henry penalty, the other, the other game, just egregious. You're, you're clawing yourself back in and then you're, you're kicking yourself in the foot right off the gate. It's, you know, I think they need to get their veteran guys to lead by example, get the younger guys, the less experienced guys to understand what it's going to take to be successful and win.

[Paul Bissonette]

The Henrique play, he, he had just thrown a great hit on Byfield and you're down two goals, like that's all you needed to do. And then you grab him by the head. It's just. And what's upsetting to me, Biz, before you go ahead, is game one. I think it was one of the greatest games McDavid's ever played. Like I. He was. When he got on the ice, it was like, oh my God, he's going to get it and they're going to get a chance. A goal and three assists. And like I said, oh, they might win this in regulation. And four seconds later. Go ahead. Go ahead.

[Matt Murley]

Biz, you're pretty notorious for being vocal in the locker room and saying what needs to be said, not sugarcoating it. Like, what would you have said in that locker room after game two? Would you have gone in there or maybe you would have addressed it sooner?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I think I. Not much needs to be said, to be honest with you. They were terrible. And much like St. Louis last night, all they have to do is hold serve at home. So they need to play well at home. They need to get their two games. Then they got to look to just win one road game if they can take care of home ice. It doesn't matter when you get the road win, whether it's game one, game two, game five or game seven, it doesn't matter. They're going to have to win one on the road to come out of this series and then obviously move on in the other one. So I wouldn't be too worried about it in that sense. I would just be worried about how they're playing. Just, they're very porous. They don't. They're not. The front of the net is not theirs. I can tell you that. LA owns the front of their net. They're manhandling them. They're doing whatever they want. They're getting second, third, fourth opportunities. They're getting backdoor tap ins, they're, you know, getting partial breakaways from the.in like it just sits. If I, if I'm the all copy or knob block or whoever. I'm just looking at that. How can we tighten this up to allow Calvin Pickard or if they go back and Stuart Skinner just a little bit of, of help back there.

[Matt Murley]

I, I also feel like LA's own in the neutral zone. It seems like their plan is, is like they won't even send that F3, that high forward in the offensive zone. Even if they got back pressure, they tend to just back up and they don't want any east west play. They're trying to direct them to the same wall and eventually get a dump in where they're going to handle business from there. So how, how would you look to combat that if you're edmonton from like a neutral zone perspective or, or, or can you even do that?

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, and the issue with that is. So then they're having that high forward offensively. So now you're either drawing out your center or you're drawing out your defense. Defenseman away from the front of the net, out high just to have a little bit of coverage in case they do chip it into the middle while they have the puck. So it's posing a number of issues and it's getting them out of sync. They're going to need to either switch and have the centerman come out there or something to figure out how they're going to do that. And then in the neutral zone, when they have their top guys like McDavid and Dry so they want to skate it in, they don't want to dump it. So it's forcing the puck out of their hands and now they have to go get it. They're going to be the first one on the board. Check. They're the fastest players in that line. It's, you know, like they move Perry on that line towards the end of game two. Hyman, I don't know, he's been a.

[Matt Murley]

Little, I haven't even heard.

[Ryan Whitney]

Barely noticed them.

[Paul Bissonette]

What about Nuge? Yeah, same thing. And, and, and LA is playing, I mean basically nine forwards, right? Like they're dressed in 11 and seven and then the, the, the bottom two, the bottom, the fourth line there. It's like I think that these guys are getting three minutes, maybe four minutes. And they kind of know like it's all right because EDM with how they just have to roll out McDavid and Leon. But I'm very interested to see what happens at home. I would be shocked if, if, if Picker doesn't play, can the crowd get them into it? Can they actually just start playing? Not mistake free hockey. That's never going to happen. Just stop gifting them everything. At least make LA earn some of this. And that's the question. But going to another series and we'll hop on back into some of these other things we didn't address. But the Enterprise center last night in St. Louis looked like a madhouse. Prongs, you were in the building. I think through five minutes shots were nine nothing and it was two nothing blues and it was like holy shit. And they easily could have won Game one. So what do you see there? I think I'm so impressed personally on Camp Fowler, but five points last night. Take it away there, prongs.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, they came out firing on all cylinders. The crowd. I had people text me last night that that was the craziest day they've ever been at Enterprise. Going through their cop run in 19. Going through their. Like, that's the most fun and the loudest I've been at a Blues playoff game.

[Biz Nasty]

Wow.

[Paul Bissonette]

Which is.

[Ryan Whitney]

Which is to say something.

[Paul Bissonette]

No, they.

[Ryan Whitney]

They came out hard. I think they wanted to send a message. They played physical. They were relentless in the four check, which is what I was looking for them in. In Winnipeg. They were pretty good in Winnipeg, but they were relentless in game three, I think, realizing that their backs are against the wall.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, I got some texts this morning, too. We'll put our fan base up against anybody in St. Louis. And then you saw Monty's press conference after. He's like, they gave us all the energy. He goes, I. I haven't seen our guys skate that fast. It definitely gave us an extra gear. So shout out to the good people of St. Louis.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they were feeding off him pretty good.

[Paul Bissonette]

There is a worry. We'll go to Winnipeg. Kind of go all over this series playoff. Hellebuck is now maybe a little bit of bigger of a storyline after game three. His numbers through three games, way beneath.900, save percentage over three goals against. I don't know if he's in his own head or it's just the way St. Louis played and given up seven. Right. That's going to change those numbers big time. But I think Winnipeg right now, after being up 2 nothing, no worry. Now it's like, where's Velardi and where's Ehlers? And when are these guys coming back? I don't know if there's any noise about those two guys from any of you.

[Mike Grinelli]

I got some more Hellbach numbers for you. Allowed four plus goals in nine of his last 12 playoff games. And he's allowed five plus goals in six of 12. So it's not just that seven bomb last night throwing the numbers off. It's the long story here.

[Matt Murley]

Jesus, Mer. Coming in with the fucking game notes, eh? Jesus. This guy ain't around. This guy. Read the snap pack.

[Mike Grinelli]

I've been up since 6am digging a foundation biz. I'm buzzing here. I'm ready.

[Matt Murley]

Shout out game notes every Wednesday at what noon on the Spit and Chiclets YouTube channel that just hit 400,000 subscribers.

[Paul Bissonette]

Prongs what about Camp Fowler? As I brought him up, he played, I think he played 60 playoff games roughly with Anaheim. He had over 30 points. But then he goes years, no playoffs, gets brought over on the trade. Anaheim eats some of the money. He's only getting paid 4 million by St. Louis. 36 points in 51 games with the Blues. How excited do you think a guy like that is to just get back in the mix? Because they weren't a playoff team when he got to St. Louis, but he helped carry them in and, and he's just got this rejuvenation to his game.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, no, he's been, he's been a really steady, a really good steadying influence for, for these guys. You look at their back end, they got a lot of experience back there. You got Suiter, you got him, you got Falk, you got Preco. And then you mix in a couple of the younger guys. It's really good. Young and old fit there, but he's been excellent, you know, such a good skater. Yeah, steadying influence, makes a great first pass, defends really well. You know, he's, he's not gonna out muscle guys, but he's got a little low bite to his game and he helps him on a power play. Like he just, he simplifies things back there. He works the top of the blue line really well. You know, they found a really good fit with him and as you said, getting a third of his contract eaten by Anaheim and you know, they got him in a fourth for a second round pick. It's pretty good pickup.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, it feels, it feels like that's where like the group had even more confidence when Armstrong push the chips in a little bit more. That was right before Winter Classic. He ends up playing his thousandth game at Winter Classic. It just felt like at that moment seeing them hand out Kelly Chase's shoulder pads as the, the, the team MVP of the game, it just felt like they had something brewing. But I'll direct my question towards you, Prong. We had a debate on, on Twitter about a true number one defenseman.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Matt Murley]

And. And it was very interesting to hear your take. I was kind of trolling a little bit. You obviously hopped in. And I felt that Parenko was put in a pretty tough spot when, when they moved on from Petra Angelo and maybe he thought he had to be something that he wasn't. I feel like he's kind of settled back in to where I feel like he's a, probably a true number two on any team. How do you feel that he's kind of played okay, maybe a three. You're a little bit more harder than I am.

[Paul Bissonette]

But Merle says.

[Mike Grinelli]

He'S been horrible in this series. I had the stats on game notes Wednesday.

[Ryan Whitney]

He is coming back from a knee surgery and trying to find himself. But no, he hasn't been the Pareco of four nations and whatnot. He's, he's trying to work himself back in. So I agree with you.

[Mike Grinelli]

And also he was not on, he was not on the team for the 13 game win streak. He was up in the, up in the stands. So he, he hasn't, he hasn't been and the four nations guy at all.

[Matt Murley]

But. Well how I was going to ask how do you feel that he's been really the whole year and since moving on from a few difficult ones and how do you feel like the rest of the decor has played but he.

[Ryan Whitney]

He'S been prior, prior to, you know, him getting injured, he was fantastic. You know he, he's got a shoot first met. He's got an absolute cannon of a shot. So. And he's. So now he's shooting. In the past he'd always looked to pass it off, didn't want to shoot. Now every chance he gets he's blasting it. He's jumping in the attack. I think he had 15 goals, I think maybe this year, you know and, and had a ton of chances. Had a couple great chances last night. Defense hard. You know the issue, the issue with him and I feel for the guy is everybody wants to compare him to me. Why doesn't he hit more? Why is he more aggressive? Why is he this? Why is he that?

[Paul Bissonette]

Why is same.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And instead of just looking at what he's got, you know, it's like Owen Power in Buffalo. Stop looking at what he can do and look at what he can do. You know he defends really well. He is a big body. He, he can out muscle guys in front of the net. He defends the front of the net. He makes a good first back pass. He's a really good skater. He's got a cannon of a shot. All these things, all the positives, we always look at the negatives and just because you know when we'll go back to your trolling just because I call him a three, maybe he's a two but I call him a three because you got a one, you got a two and then you got a three. He's a great three. It's like Adam Foote goes from being a really good two in Colorado to Columbus signing him to be a number one. He's not a number one. He's not a power play guy. He can't do that. It's not his skill set.

[Paul Bissonette]

And.

[Ryan Whitney]

And we start positioning these guys. It's like Jacob sleeping these. He is the prototypical two in the league. He's not a power play guy. And they argue. Well, they don't put him in that. Well, they don't put him there because he can't be the power play guy. He's an unreal defender, probably the best in the league. Makes a great first pass, really smooth skater. That's just not his. In his wheelhouse. And it's not a knock on the player. There's very few guys that can run a power play, be the first one out on the pk, be out every shift matched up against the top line and every team. There's not that many guys in the league that do that.

[Matt Murley]

The conversation started with Darlene. Do you think that he's a true number one? And how many do you think there are actually in the league you see? Would you say under 15?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

As.

[Ryan Whitney]

As how I look at it. Like, Eric Carlson's not a number one. How I look at it, he doesn't kill penalties. You're number one. You're up by a go. You're up by a goal late in the game. Are you putting that guy on the ice? Absolutely not. You're down by a goal. You are, you know, like, you're number one. Petro in all situations. Vetro's a number one. Or was. I wouldn't maybe call him one now, but back in the day, he wasn't number one.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, what would you say to people, though? And I get like, you got to work with what you have and look at what they do. Well, but Pareco being that big, when they say, oh, he's not Pronger. He's not that mean. Like, don't you think there's an aspect of the coaching staff that needs to be. Or say. Or is it impossible to just make this guy be meaner? Like, when he fought J.T. miller, it's like, holy shit. Like, why doesn't this guy do this more? Or is it just. That's not in you?

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, did you see how the fight started? He was clueless in the beginning.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was like, oh, you actually want to fight.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just. He's. He is the nicest human alive. And you are not going to teach that kid how to be mean. It's just not in him. And, you know, and I'll go in power. Nicest kid in the world. You're not going to teach that kid to be me. You can teach somebody, compete. You can teach them to play harder.

[Matt Murley]

What about like shock therapy or something? Like there's nothing like. Nothing, nothing.

[Paul Bissonette]

I would have done it Biz. I would have done it.

[Biz Nasty]

They had to teach prong how to be nice. Like you got to teach other guys how to be mean. You know, there's a different. Some guys are wired a little different.

[Mike Grinelli]

Prongs is starting a two hander camp. You just go to this camp for a week and you just two hand guys in the back of the leg and cross check prong.

[Matt Murley]

There was never a moment where like it, you're, you're like. You flip the switch like we did. You always have that, that nastiness to your game.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I always played that way at, you know, I was, you know, let's just say so, you know. Adam, Adam Squirt minor hockey days. If somebody hit one of my teammates, I'd say, okay, we'll get this guy at some point. And ultimately I found a time or I created a time.

[Paul Bissonette]

You know who I want to shout out is, is Jordan Cairo. And it's going back to in Winnipeg. That hit that he took from Logan Stanley. Like I think Cairo's a skilled guy, obviously one of the fastest players in the league. Didn't necessarily see him popping up from that. Not missing a shift. I mean that's one of the biggest hits we'll see in the playoffs. Even going through the rest of the, the rest of the, the, the spring he got right back up. He played great after. Very impressive to see, you know, taking that bump and then just not, not missing any time.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think in years past he may have shied away and I think, I think that kind of speaks to the evolution of his game, his career, how he's performed this year. He's been really good for the Blues all season long. I think he's their top bowl scorer. 35 goals. I think this year. Ish. He's been, he's been a little grittier. Like he's been more competitive and put it himself, you know, in and around the net more. Scored a really nice goal last night. Quick release. No, but he's been excellent. And just to see again, I mean he got caught on the train tracks.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, oh.

[Ryan Whitney]

Smoked by the big rig. They're excited to see his game evolve.

[Matt Murley]

I was going to ask you about another young guy on that team. Robert Thomas. Ended up missing four nations but Led the league in points from Four nations till the start of playoffs. Like, obviously, you're the Blues insider. Walking around town like, he just seems like the best guy. He 3 seems like a few of their guys like Neighbors, their throwbacks. Yeah. You know, you hear a lot about these young guys, but these guys seem like throwbacks.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they. They love to, you know, they love.

[Matt Murley]

To play the game.

[Ryan Whitney]

And you see, you know, Neighbors is on the left with. With Thomas and Snuggerude. He's been a great addition. You know, you just look at the way Robert Thomas plays when he's down low. He's. I watch him here, I'm like, how can they not get the puck from this guy? Like, he just tight turns in around down low, grinding on teams zone possession time. You know, he's as. As you said, the most points since Four Nations. He's. I, I think you not that he wasn't upset that he didn't make the team. You know, he got injured and, you know, just was not healthy enough to play. But I think seeing how much fun they had at the Four nations and the experience, I think he was a little angry that he missed that opportunity. And Dane came back from the the break with a renewed vigor and. And kind of cough Art.

[Matt Murley]

How could they not get the puck off him? I mean, he makes Merle's ass and legs look like wits. Have you not seen this guy's lower body? He looks like Cardi B. He looks like Cardi B out there. He got quad.

[Ryan Whitney]

He did live with Kachak. So they do have similar frames.

[Matt Murley]

Oh, yeah, no doubt.

[Paul Bissonette]

Biz Another impressive number I saw after St. Louis's game three win. So in game two, Scheifele was hit one time. They got him seven times in game three. And the biggest one, it was Morrissey too, they kind of wanted to focus on. You saw Neighbors and Shen at the same time hammer Morrissey in the corner. So I think St. Louis comes back like, all right, Morrissey, Connor Scheifele, we have to be more physical on these guys. And they were. And Winnipeg jets fans could be pissed off. They're up 2:1. We're kind of more pumping up the Blues, but we're just coming off that dominating win in game three. What do you think? Biz or prongs anyone take it? Like Winnipeg has to go back to. Because they're looking at this series so far like we're. We have not. We weren't in control game one till the third, and now we just got blown out. Like they're not at the top of their game at all.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah. And, and prongs. Does that concern you? And, and have you been on a team in the past where you're saying, hey, there's a few folk guys we need to zone in on here, where any chance you get, we're trying to run them through the wall to take those guys off their game because that's the engine that drives their bus.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think that that was a renewed focus for the Blues. You know, you go into Winnipeg, they got a lot of young guys. They just. That atmosphere, the white out, how loud that building can be, you know, last line change, you don't get your matchups, etc. Come home, you're like shot out of a cannon physical.

[Matt Murley]

You.

[Ryan Whitney]

The first 30 minutes of that game, they were pounding the defense, pounding on the top guys of Winnipeg. And you know, as my concern was, as the game went along, they, they kind of got away from it. They started to sit back again until they got in the third. They started pressing again and they got a couple more chances to score some goals. You know, much like they did in that first game, they were controlling the play until they weren't. Until they sat back and we're going to defend and protect our league. They have to keep their foot on their throat and keep pushing forward and just pound them relentlessly over and over again because this one's going to be a long series. You know, Winnipeg is a good team. Hellebuck is a good goalie. You know, they'll rebound from this for sure. It's one game. You know, I remember in 90, 97 we got no. 9. Sorry, 95, 96. When Gretzky was on our team in St. Louis, we got smoked by the Red Wings 81 and came back and, and we, we were down to nothing in Detroit. Went home, won our two games, lost game five one, Game six, and then lost that Stevie Iserman's slap shot from the blue line in double overtime. I think.

[Matt Murley]

What do you blame for that one?

[Ryan Whitney]

John Casey was picking cherries. But you have to understand just the, the ebbs and flows and the momentum changes and the swings. Yeah. You know, you can't expect you're going to come in and sweep teams and think you're just going to roughshod over. Over good hockey teams.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask about, like the momentum, everything. Huge win last night, St. Louis, but now they got to wait. There's two days in between the games. Does that change anything on either side? Is it to help one team or the other or players. What do you, what are your thoughts on that?

[Matt Murley]

And, and would Holloway maybe be back or is he like week to week or something?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I heard them, I heard them say he was week to week at the beginning. So I, I'm not, I'm not sure. I haven't been around there for SK I haven't seen him skate or, or anything. I'm not, I'm not sure if he, he's available for this series at all. I know that's. I think there's 17 days. If they go to seven, which, which would help him if they get to a second round, I think he might be available or really late in the series maybe, but he was week to week at the beginning. Usually if, if you think you're going to see a guy, it'll be day to day.

[Matt Murley]

Going back to what Merle's asked, though, does the two days off in between fuck you up?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think. I think it gives Winnipeg a chance to take a breath so, you know, they can look at what they did right in all three games. They did do some things right in that game and they did kind of get back on their forecheck. Their, their bottom two lines played a lot in that third period and they, you know, scored the one goal. They played with a, you know, an edge and they started running the blues D a little bit, made it a little bit of a scrappy game. So I think from that perspective, they gained a little bit of a momentum back just in what those two lines could do and, and earn some more ice time. But, you know, it'll give Heluk a little extra day to kind of clear his head and, and allow them their bodies to recover a little bit, make sure they're fresh for a noon start on Sunday prongs.

[Biz Nasty]

I don't know if you've spent any time around Monty, but it just seems like he's got like a grasp on that team, like he's, you know, given them confidence. And I even go back to the. I think it was game two. Puck goes off Snuggerood's foot. I think Scheifele scored, but then he comes right back and scores right away. For a guy to just come out of college to like, have that switch, to be like, okay, I made a mistake. Now I'm gonna go out and try to get it. Is that you think stuff like that's coming from a guy like Monty or it's the leaders on that team?

[Ryan Whitney]

And yeah, I think it's both. You know, Monty's, you Know, been excellent with these guys from, from the outset when he came in. You know, we've talked about it countless times. I think having that four nations break allowed him to kind of really dial in his systems, dial in how he want. They wanted to play, they got a reset if you will. And, and he's just, he's got a great demeanor around these guys. I think he learned an awful lot about being in the meat grinder of Boston and that, you know, the whole, you know, playoff rigmarole, you know, the pressure packed moments I don't think he really had when he was in his short stint in Dallas. So having that opportunity in Boston, I think he learned an awful lot about himself, his coaching system, his style and, and he's able to really kind of take these young guys and put them in positions to, to really excel and succeed.

[Paul Bissonette]

The other point of contention with jets fans after game three and it, it was three nothing when, when Perfetti shot the puck. But that's probably a goal. I'm interested to hear your guys opinions. I think if it's called the goal, whatever was called on the ice was going to end up being the call. They really, the overhead couldn't prove it. I thought the view looking on the net, almost like from above the blue line showed that it's kind of obvious that, that Bennington's gloves inside the post and inside the goal line but kind of a kick in the dick for the jets fans and even Perfetti when he shot it, he kind of gets to the goal line, he starts pointing. That was in. But was it just more that they couldn't. They couldn't. It wasn't conclusive.

[Ryan Whitney]

I, I would say probably two things. One, not conclusive. I saw another angle. I think it depends on which angle you're looking at. Like from. From down this way or down this way. The one down this way looked like the glove. You know, clearly part of the glove is in the net, but you can't see the edge of the puck.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

And it looks like it might be touching the goal line. The puck has to be all the way across the goal line. So if it's inconclusive and the guy called a no goal on the ice, that's no go.

[Matt Murley]

I wouldn't mind covering another series with you prongs and I kind of want to get into The Florida Tampa 1 if you've been paying attention to that one at all.

[Ryan Whitney]

What's, what's going to happen with Hegel?

[Matt Murley]

Well, that's what I was going to ask you what was your feeling on the hit? Because what I saw was a guy who, it kind of looked like maybe he thought that Barkov had stripped McDonough of that puck and that's why it got rimmed around.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Matt Murley]

And you're so.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think he looked like he had hit it with a stick.

[Mike Grinelli]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was tracking him, he was gonna hit him and it looked like he swatted it with his stick. So then he finished his check not knowing.

[Matt Murley]

So would you deem that suspendable or, or, or do you think the five.

[Ryan Whitney]

Year interference if he, if he never touched it? Yeah, you know, he didn't touch a puck, so therefore he's not able to, to receive a check.

[Paul Bissonette]

Now, biz or anyone would, you know, would it be a suspension based on the interference or solely if he caught him in the head with his shoulder? Because I couldn't. It was hard to tell if like the principal point of contact was, was.

[Biz Nasty]

Barky's head, I think. And with anything with suspension, even if it's a slash, you know, it's not to the head. You hit someone in the hand, if you still do something to hurt someone, I think it's still a suspendable offense. Right. And to me it looked like he was going to hit him to. I mean, he's an honest player. Like he's a guy plays hard, but I don't know, it looked dirty as hell to me. I didn't like it. I mean, I obviously love Barky more than anyone, so it's tough. I don't want to get too involved in it, but it's. I think if you hit someone like that where the puck's not even close, it has nothing to do with the player. I think it's a suspendable offense.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know, I know it looked as though Barky might have had the puck and rimmed it around or taken it from McDonough, but when you see the other angle before Hagel hits him, it's, it's pretty obvious he's looking at Barkov. Like could have seen that he never touched it maybe. It's obviously happening so fast and he didn't realize his eyes could be just off the, off the pucker, off Barkov. But I'd be very surprised if he doesn't get suspended now. Barkov didn't return, so that's another aspect because they end up kind of going on if the guy's injured or not. So it was probably smart that he didn't come back.

[Ryan Whitney]

They don't go on that, that, that is an addition if they do suspend them.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

And the players injured, they don't go off that. It's more just on the act and you know, if he's tracking them and you know, I think he was hoping he touched the puck.

[Matt Murley]

So here, here's my thought though. Like, and, and considering that Bennett was the guy who ended up getting Marshaw, I feel like going into that there was more intent than there was for Hegel who followed through on the Barkov hit. Assuming that Barkov stripped McDonough of that puck. Like when I first saw it, I thought that Barkov clearly poked the puck away from McDonough. So the minute that he touches that, you could argue, hey, that wasn't his guy. And it was a split second late, therefore Hagel still ends up with a five minute interference. Major, I just think that because, because it was a hockey play, like he was going in there to make a hockey tape play with no intent. Yeah, maybe he was trying to put him through the end wall. But fuck it, you don't think Florida's trying to do that with every fucking hit that they're throwing from a, even a legal perspective. So if Bennett is tracking that puck in that point, he's following through on that hit. So let's not be hypocrites about that. That's happening. And once again, like we all know, especially the people evaluating the suspension, that Hegel clearly thought that it was stripped and that's why he followed through on it. And the time between him having to decipher on whether he did or not, there's no way you can bail out of that hit. It's a split second thing. We could slow down the tape as much as we want. I don't think he ends up getting the game. I, I definitely think that the game is going to police itself in this situation. If there's one team that's going to police it, it's going to be the team of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Brad Marshaw, and the list goes on of inmates. So this might get ugly.

[Biz Nasty]

You might ask for a four game suspension so he doesn't have to play them.

[Paul Bissonette]

Merles, I want to go to you because you texted the group what has happened to the highest scoring team in the league, the Tampa Bay Lightning. 40 shots through two games.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, I'll get to that in a second, but I wanted to finish up on Hagel. You got to remember they were on the power play at the time. It was one to nothing. He's coming back there. It's not like at the end of the Game where he's trying to hurt him, but he, he's probably thinking, all right, that's their best guy. I hit him, we turn this puck, it's a four on three going the other way. And then I think Barkov is hurt for sure. He didn't just stay in the locker room to get the suspension. Cause it was a one nothing game. And yeah, it was a one nothing game. Cause Tampa cannot score. Their power play is, it's despicable. They can't even get into the zone on this Florida Panther team. And, and, and they are just all over him. You know, the usual Kucherov, we talk about it all the time. You guys asked the guest about him picking it up off the wall and then he has all this time he's just getting it and, and just hope playing it into the middle and hoping like points there to get it.

[Matt Murley]

Well, they got a guy, they got a guy playing a pretty tight. And what's shocking about their zone entries and how brutal they've been, Florida stays pretty stagnant on the blue line. Like, it's not like they go up, up ice and chase them down. Like they, they almost hang back a little bit where it's like four, four caught across the blue. Yan's like, how are they not getting in on that? And am I right in saying that they play pretty tight to the blue line?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I think a lot of teams will have guys chased down. I like personally when a guy chased down because you beat one guy, there's more room. But for them, they got to figure out, you know, if you're struggling getting it in, you got to, okay, let's chip it and go get it. But I don't think that's the play for that team. They're a, you know, they're a possession team. But it, the Panthers are long, their D are long, their forwards do a good job of making them go to a spot that they want them to go to. It's not more looks like Florida is giving them what they want them to have. Not, you know, Tampa getting what they want. So they got a lot to figure out there. But in zone, I like how, you know, Florida is aggressive, they move hard, they, they're chasing them down, they're giving them no time and space. But for their PP to be struggling like this and not getting them chances with the, you know, with the studs that they have on it, like they can't feel good about their game right now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, one last thing on the Hagel thing, he did get a five Minute major.

[Matt Murley]

Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, so that alone is, you know, a lot of times that's, that's the right call. You know, in situations like that, if it's a hockey player, if it's deemed head, the head wasn't a principal point of contact and he could have avoided it. And on and on and on. Sometimes the five minute major is all there is.

[Matt Murley]

And I, and I love the fact that they implemented the rule when you give the five, at least they're able to review it the refs, so they don't make a, you know, a split second decision and it ends up like factoring in on, on how the game plays out. So should be interesting to see that. But all the credit to Florida. Any way that any way you want to play, they can fucking play.

[Paul Bissonette]

And you, you wrote to us. I can't believe I, I switched my decision. You were on the Cats. You ended up going with the Lightning in the previews. I don't know. Was it. Who talked you into that? I don't remember. But I went with the Lightning too. And my thought was the amount of hockey over the past two years and then the injuries with the Panthers and now it's the same thing biz. I'm like, what was I doing not believing in this team? And you look at the lineups and I think the top two lines can even, even themselves out. We saw that Jake Gensel stat. I think he's like sick all time and goals per game in the playoffs. But it's go to the third and fourth line on both teams and look at, look at Lundell loose to Ryen and MARSHawn on that third line. Like you can't answer that with Tampa. And even on the fourth line, Nico Sturm's enormous. Evan Rodriguez was a top two line player at times last year when they win the cup, he's on the fourth line and Boquist flies around. So I think it's the third and fourth line where when the top two aren't out there, Florida is just controlling play with their bottom six forwards. And that's why with the injuries, I thought they'd be too slow. I thought they wouldn't be ready. And, and Kachuk comes back and gets two in game one.

[Matt Murley]

It's like they got A.J. greer in the press box too. I thought he had a great year as well. So they, like you said, with, they are just so deep and shocker, that $49 million in the press box on the IR, all of a sudden, poof, they're back in the lineup and nowad back.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yep. And Keith and I played golf with Jovo the other day and he's. He does the pre and post game for the Panthers and he's telling us about this Sam Skewich kid. He flies. He's. He wasn't given anything in this lineup. Like he really had to work his way up. And that's a reason Rodriguez is on the fourth line. Because this kid has just gotten better and better this year. And it's another addition that wasn't even doing anything for Florida last year when they won the Cup. So it's. It just seems like anyone who thought that Florida was done is looking like a fool right now, kind of all of us included. And. And we'll see where it goes from here. But not Keith. Not.

[Biz Nasty]

Can we talk about Nate? Nate Khan, Smythe Schmidt. The guy is scoring at a fucking clip right now.

[Paul Bissonette]

He gets the most goals through two playoffs in NHL history by a defenseman.

[Matt Murley]

Wow.

[Paul Bissonette]

Schmidt got three already. Merles, anything else on this series kind of sticking out to you?

[Mike Grinelli]

Just. I'm embarrassed. I didn't. I fell for it again. I fell for the banana in the tailpipe. I'm not on Florida. I'm an idiot. Like I'm. I'm basically a season ticket holder to the elbow room. I don't know why I would like pick against that.

[Matt Murley]

Hey, boys. No, no Barkov, though. Do you think that Tampa has an opportunity to come back in the series? No. Yans, you think no matter what, even if he doesn't play?

[Biz Nasty]

I don't think so. I mean, I think, you know, Barky's obviously a presence out there. I don't think he's had his best 2G or his most dominant 2 games that he's ever played. Like, it's kind of been by com, you know, everyone kind of pitching in the first two games. Obviously he'll be missed, you know, just in the locker room and you know, like he's a number one, he's power play pk. He's doing everything. But I think that they can get it done by committee. They get Eki back for this game, so it's going to be. You're going to get that boost to have in him. I don't think they'll miss him as much this series and, you know, hopefully he's just back for next.

[Matt Murley]

One thing that did stand out on the first goal they scored was Barkov going against Gensel on the draw. Did you guys see the breakdown we did on tnt?

[Paul Bissonette]

No.

[Matt Murley]

I was surprised against those a winger, but he ended up taking like over 300 face offs this year, the most he's ever done in his career, at least by double. He's 46% in the draw, which is not good. Barky was 78% in Game 1. He's got. They got Gensel taking defensive zone face offs against Barkov.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's not gonna work.

[Matt Murley]

He's going Popeye wrists on him and snapping him back. That's how they got the first goal, where Reinhardt ended up signing over to Nate Schmidt. So those are the little things where you're gonna miss Barky like inside the dot and like the little intangibles as. As much as all the other. He does too. So that was just something that I picked up that I thought was weird that Gensel as like. I mean, maybe they have him listed as a center on. On like hockey, DB or whatever, but I feel like he's been playing wing. Not most of his career, most of the season, but for him as a winger to take over fucking 300, 350 face offs, is that not crazy?

[Paul Bissonette]

That is nuts. And he'd been with Crosby's for so long, he was never taking draws right. So I think that the other thing that that is, that is kind of hurting Florida with the Barkov health think is. Is game threes at 1:00 Saturday. So it's just an even earlier time. Like I'd be surprised with him not coming back, as Merle said, in such a close game. If he's good to go after. After just having today to rest before a quick puck drop tomorrow. My final thing on this series, unless I was seeing things when Tampa was trying to tie it up late, Cernac was on the ice.

[Mike Grinelli]

Did you see that?

[Paul Bissonette]

Was that like the Chara method of sticking the monster in front of the net? Why was Cernak on the.

[Mike Grinelli]

He ended up with like the best chance I know.

[Paul Bissonette]

Why would he have it? Well, Prongs, thank you so much for joining, man. I love that. I don't know, am I. Am I imagining in the past few months you've gotten more active on Twitter, really tweeting out your takes and. And what you're noticing from the game, but it's great nonetheless. And we appreciate you coming on, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, thanks for having me.

[Paul Bissonette]

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[Mike Grinelli]

Well, you know me, when I. I still play the beer league, and it's essential at our age not to pull something. You got to stay hydrated. I the strawberry banana. I grab one of these on the ride over. I pound it right before the game. I bring another one out to the bench because, you know, after the game, I'm probably having something else. But the next morning, I'm waking up after beer league and I'm on the body armor again. It's the best. Get yours today.

[Paul Bissonette]

I've always been a strawberry banana guy, right? You like strawberry banana smoothies? Well, try the body armor. Strawberry banana. Oh, my God. This thing's unbelievable. And it's time to rewrite your routine and get rid of the sports drink that your grandparents drank. Get your body armor today at Walmart or a local grocery store near you. Body armor. Choose better. All right, guys. Whether you're ripping clappers on the ice or making moves in the markets, you need speed, precision, and a game plan. And that's why we're rolling with Kraken, the official crypto exchange of spit and chicklets. When it comes to buying, selling, and swapping over 300 different cryptocurrencies, Kraken is the real deal. No slow plays, no laggy platforms. Just deep liquidity, fast execution, and a rock solid trading experience. And here's the best part. You can set up recurring buys and dollar cost average without the hassle. No stressing over market timing or letting emotions take over. Just link your bank in minutes. Automate your bitcoin purchases monthly, weekly, or even daily if you want to. Lower fees than card transactions. And no more manual deposits. Just stack sats like a beauty. Look, crypto is a lot like hockey. You don't just throw the puck around blind and hope for the best. You need a game plan. And whether you're stacking bitcoin for the long haul or diving into the wild world of meme coins, Kraken's got your back. And here's the cherry on top. Kraken is rewarding up to $200 in USD when you share your referral link with family and friends. Get your buddies in the game, and everybody wins. So don't be a pylon like me. Get off the bench, get on Kraken, and start stacking. Head to kraken.com barstool not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers excluding Washington, New York and Maine through PayWord Interactive. Thank you very much. Hall of Famer Chris Pronger. That guy played mean. That guy in the playoffs was an animal and just carry team. So it's interesting to hear him talk about a true number one to himself and he's just chucking around. Number, he's a number three, he's a number two. Guys are just listening like, what the fuck? Imagine what he thinks of a number six.

[Biz Nasty]

Disgusted. When my first or second year in Florida, he was working with the team and he came out one day and he was showing us how to box out because we had like younger guys. He's showing guys how to box out. He's like, he's like, yance, come from the corner and you know, I'll show you guys how to box. He hit me with a cross check. My arm was dead for two weeks. And I'm like, guy, you aren't. You're not playing, you're not on the team right now. But he just, he's one of those guys who just can't turn it off when he's on the ice. Just played so mean.

[Paul Bissonette]

But he was so fucking no, he can't play men's league. He would kill someone.

[Matt Murley]

He doesn't even get asked to play charity games. That's how hardcore he is. Oh yeah, that's.

[Mike Grinelli]

I forgot what I always used to say about prongs is he would take so many penalties that they couldn't just keep calling him on him. So he would just keep doing it all game. Slashing, cross checking. Like they put him in the box once. They couldn't just keep doing it. He was nothing. And then he would threaten the ref on the way to the box, so then they definitely weren't calling more on him.

[Matt Murley]

Oh no, boys, we still got a lot of hockey to get to. Man, this is awesome. What a first round.

[Paul Bissonette]

It is, it is. And we say it every year, but like every single night you get three or four games, the early one ends, then you're just kicking off and. And that kind of leads us into Dallas. Colorado. Boys, I don't think anyone saw this coming. I think ABS fans right now, if you told them no Robertson, no Heskin, and you'd be down 2:1 after game three, you'd be. They'd be shocked. Absolutely shocked. And. And I took Dallas. Yeah. Yup. Fair enough. You're on fire right now. This is kind of that rookie luck of the, of the first playoffs you've had as a member of the squad. I don't know where you guys want to go here. I, I think that Dallas is just showing that Game one, they did not panic right going into game two. I think right now Colorado's got to be thinking we let one slip away. Game two, man, like we had to shut the door in that game. But Rontanen in game two made that awesome strip and then he moved it up to Marchman, who made a phenomenal play. Kind of bitched. Devon Toews was driving the net, put his body into him, spun around that Sagan OT winner to kick it up to himself that quick and then go shelf over Blackwood's glove. Just an incredible goal. Nobody really saw that coming. And Dallas right now, they're laughing boys. They, they, they probably think, all right, if we're up right now two one, at some point Heskin is going to come back. And by being up to one, you can almost delay it. Like, right. If you're down to one, maybe we got to get him in game four. Nope. Nope. Now if we lose, we're tied and we're going home. And then we could bring him back in possibly. I don't know his status completely, but somebody take it away so far in this series.

[Matt Murley]

Well, I was going to say like the, the, the. Probably the most special moment in probably the last few years as far as Landiscog coming back and getting that ovation at home. It, it never felt like it was going to be real. It was like all this buildup like, is he actually going to play? And he did. And it was spoiled by. By the Dallas Stars ruining that one in overtime so quickly.

[Paul Bissonette]

The Landiscog comeback. Just to put it into perspective, it was 10:32 days between his last NHL game. In the other guys that have gone that long between playing a game. Captains in the NHL. Sil Apps for Toronto, it was a thousand and nine days. And Sid Able for the Red Wings, it was a thousand 45 days. Both of them were in World War II. That's why they missed that much time.

[Matt Murley]

That is fucking nuts. I mean, for you kids listening, okay, when you're fucking complaining, you don't got your iPad or about this or that, just remember players in the NHL stopped playing in the NHL, went and fought in a world war and then came back to action. So times have changed. But shout out to those three guys for going through what they went through and coming back to play. And just a very Inspiring story. And I'll throw it over to you to just touch on what. What Laniskog has done.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Amaz. Anytime you're mentioned in a. A sentence with guys that fought in a war and are named Sly and Sid Able, like just old school names. So just.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Couldn't. Couldn't be happier for him. Obviously it sucks they couldn't get the win for him, but just seeing his family on the glass and, you know, just how happy he looked to be back in his comfort place. Because, you know, as hockey players, that's all you know is just being in that comfort place and your comfort zone of being around the guys and driving to the rink, like getting your routine back. Like just his mental. He. He just must be so mentally clear right now and just. I'm just hoping he felt good after the game and, you know, didn't aggravate anything but great for the game that he's back in Dallas is. I think game one, we talked about it a little bit. Like, I didn't love Jamie Ben's game. He played. Didn't play the crazy. The, you know, running around hitting guys. And then game two, they. They brought the heat. Him. Marchman just bringing it to Colorado. Kind of looks like they're taking their will away. And this, that last game was the first game I've ever seen Kale Makar make more than one mistake he made. I mean, the three mistakes. I was making three mistakes a ship. So. But Kale Makar made three mistakes in that game, and I have never seen him make mistakes like that. So something's going on there. But Dallas got to give him a shot out there playing awesome.

[Matt Murley]

I mean, rope a dope with Colorado has led for the entire series other than 62 seconds of it. Right. So that's one thing that stands out where you said, ah, they should probably win game two. Now, I don't know the backstory. Great. But if you want to go back to that game two overtime winner from Colin Blackwell, gee, I'll probably call you on you posted about it, but what's the backstory with him where maybe he was almost done playing and obviously he's had a. A bit of a journeyman style career where he's bounced around, but that's a huge goal for that organization to get them right back in the series.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, Blackwell Shout Out Valley Junior warriors legend.

[Ryan Whitney]

He.

[Mike Grinelli]

He actually had to take a full year off in college because of concussions.

[Paul Bissonette]

So it took him.

[Mike Grinelli]

We posted the clip online.

[Paul Bissonette]

It.

[Mike Grinelli]

It took an internship interview. He's sitting in an internship interview. And he's like, they're going around the horn. Hey, what do you want to do when you're older?

[Paul Bissonette]

And it.

[Mike Grinelli]

And it clicked in his head like, this ain't for me. I got to go back to hockey. I got to keep working on this. And it's been a long road. So many years in the AHL, had a long career in Milwaukee. 32 years old, and he's finally getting. I mean, he got a little time in New York a couple years ago playing top line minutes there, but it's just awesome to see, like, any guy that's overcame all this and it wasn't just concussions. He's had so many injuries over the years, so it's just awesome to see.

[Paul Bissonette]

A local kid do his thing. So apparently Nick Kyprios was mentioning that he's hearing that Heskinen isn't really that close and is probably out for the series. If that's the case. That. That just shows how important Thomas Harley is to this team. I mean, you saw the pass. It's actually a great little clip of the goal that tied it up in game three with about 10 minutes left. I think Grandlin has it. Uses Ben as the bumper guy in the middle who throws it right back up to Harley, who give and goes it right back to Ben for a beautiful tip. But that's the second game in a row that they tied it up in the third with 10 minutes to go. Right? So Colorado has this series, you know, they. They could be up 3, 0, really, if they're able to close it out. It sounds crazy, but what impressed me so much from Dallas was Marchman gets the high sticking penalty on brock Nelson with 30 seconds to go, and it's a double minor. They get. They get through regulation. All right, let's just get this 30 seconds, we'll get to overtime. You can talk about things at the intermission. And they get three and a half minutes of a kill. Clean ice, clean sheet on clean ice against one of the best power plays in the league. And then they go on to get that win. Part of that kill involved Essa Lundell, who is so good and quietly good. Kind of what I was talking about with the Maple Leafs defenseman, where he's never going to. He's never really going end to end. There's not going to be a ton of, you know, goal line to redline, breakout passes, sending guys in on breakaways. Just solid, great defensively, plays a lot because DeBoer knows when he's out there. Really nothing bad Happens in that pk. You saw one of the most incredible moves. He's got his hand wide open like he's wearing a goalie glove, making saves, keeping it out of his net. But to get a 3 1/2 minute kill in OT, after you're able to get it, you're like, we got this game, guys. Like, we just got through this. We had no business just killing it against that power play in their building. We're going to get the win. And they did. So it seems like, you know, Ron didn't look better. We were kind of calling him out a little bit. And for Blackwell to get the winner in game two, I had pumped up Maverick Bork after game one. Even though it was a loss, they actually took him out of the lineup. So shows what I know. But they put Blackwell in and he's able to get that goal. I don't remember the forward. Somebody skated right by him on Colorado. I think it was Miles Wood. Was it Miles Wood? G. Can you look up the Blackwell game winner?

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, it was, it was.

[Paul Bissonette]

And it was. I think right away Wood skates behind the net like, oh my God, what did I just do? I don't really know what happened, but Blackwell stuck with it after kind of getting pushed off the puck. And all of a sudden Dallas is tying up the series and they're going to Colorado and now they're up 1. So I don't know where Colorado goes from here. Did you think McKinnon was a little quiet for himself in game three biscuits?

[Matt Murley]

Well, ask the guy who he stole his number from.

[Paul Bissonette]

Sorry, you're right, you're right.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, I, I, I've noticed this in all the playoffs. We've already talked about a couple of them, how these power plays are, are just momentum builders or killers. And it's the same with Edmonton Oilers team that always could rely on that power play. They're not getting it done. Vegas, who we're going to talk about, they can't get it done and they're behind now it's Colorado. They, they usually rely on this power play to get things done. Tampa Bay we just talked about, can't get anything done on their power play. I think when you get in these series, the coaching and the video is so good. They're taking away what's you're normally doing what you feel comfortable with. And I think Colorado just does not look comfortable with their setup. Sometimes natures is down low where McKinnon is the 15 on three early in the series that I think you talked about. It was that on ESPN. I can't remember. TNT Dan McKinnon on the wrong side. Yeah, it was Gretzky where they had McKinnon on the wrong side. They have them all all mixed up. But at the end of the day, as you guys like to say, I think Colorado took them easy just like we all did because Heiskin and Robertson were out. They will they realize what's going on now. We're going to see a different team on Saturday. I think they're going to blow the doors off them on Saturday. It's going to be 2, 2 going back to Dallas.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow. I think Ottinger right now finding a groove, man.

[Matt Murley]

I think that after Blackwood's performance in Game one, a lot of pressure was putting on Ottinger and I thought that he was tremendous in game three especially. So I as good as he's been in the playoff runs, I think that there is a little bit of a question mark on this guy right now and can he win the big ones? And I think that he has to get locked in and from what we saw in Game 3, if that's going to continue, that's the Ottinger that scares me. So they better fucking hope that Blackwood keeps playing that we that way that he's playing. Also Colorado needs to hope that natures can get going a little bit offensively getting back to the groove that he was winning when he first got moved over there. And as well as that secondary score for Colorado, they can't just expect for the big dogs to get it done. Like you need everyone along the run here and you're going to need those bottom six guys contributing. And you mentioned the mistake that Wood made on the over back chuck or lack of coverage on that Blackwell goal. Like those guys are going to have to step up to a man because the dog, he's done enough for that fucking team and he'll continue to do so. It's time for the other guys to elevate their play, including. I don't know if he's still on the power play. Merles Drew n I was.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's crazy, man.

[Matt Murley]

It's.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's all he does, bro.

[Matt Murley]

Is this like the just throwing it away? Is this like a make a wish situation? What the fuck is happening right now?

[Mike Grinelli]

That's what. They're losing momentum every time it seems they go on the power play. They've gotten a couple in the series, but that's just out of just McKinnon is so nasty. It just. It's not clicking ranting and not being on that side is a, is a difference because then Nate just wants to be over there with Nate. He keeps get, he keeps ending up over there and it's throwing off the whole dynamic. I want to see Nate in his spot put Lening on Leonin on the other half wall, put nature in at the bumper and then maybe if they.

[Matt Murley]

Eat salary maybe they can get rotten and just play the power play for Colorado and then just kind of send them back when it's back to five on five. But I a it would be very, it would be very biblical if we had a rotten and pop off in the back half of the series for the true rotten and revenge because right now it's looking like the real, the real thieves are Carolina with stagger leg. Do the stagger leg.

[Biz Nasty]

I think a little play you know and a lot of people are talking about it like the, the little play that he made to get them that overtime winner. Just you know, holding off making the good play at the blue line. Smart little chip. I think that's a little play for a guy like that to just really get going. Like it's just a little bit of.

[Paul Bissonette]

A confidence boost and a point and getting a point. It's like doesn't matter how you get.

[Biz Nasty]

The point and he did it the right way. It's not like a power play assist where it's like okay, I'm expected to have that. It's a, it's a play where it's a hard nose play. You get the puck out of the zone, you make a smart chip and you win and you win the game for your team. So I think that could really, you know, help set him off to have his offensive skill just take over next game.

[Paul Bissonette]

Merles I, I, I do I, I don't hate your call of Colorado game four because I think as Keith mentioned McCarr off night for him. You know he's going to answer the ballot and respond in a great way. It does suck. And you talk about Robertson and Heskin and Ross Colton is, I think he's day to day like that's, he's a playoff style player. He's running around all the time. He scores goals in front of the net. We'll see if he can get back in the lineup. I don't know what exactly he's battling but quickly on, on Dallas and their depth. I mean you got hints with Ronton and Grandland, you got Duchenne with Sagan and Marshman and you got Wyatt Johnson with Jamie Ben and did Donov that's without Robertson, man. Like, that is a legit top nine. Missing your best forward.

[Matt Murley]

So he's a gamer too? Yeah, he's a fucking gamer.

[Paul Bissonette]

He had.

[Biz Nasty]

He's the best.

[Paul Bissonette]

They were saying. I believe he had a hat trick or two goals in one game. But the other, like last 29, 30 games of the year, he had one goal or maybe two. He'd been cold. And then he got that big goal early in this series. So I can't wait to see what happens. Kind of feel like. And I hate doing the must win thing. If you're going back to Dallas 3 1, how are you going to beat Dallas three games in a row? So Colorado's at home, they got to get this thing done and we'll see what happens. But this has been an awesome series so far and I've been very impressed with Dallas kind of sticking by. Go ahead.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah. Why, why, why is dad not the band? What's like, how do you know?

[Biz Nasty]

I love and I play with him here. He's like, he's, he's a great guy, just always having fun. But like, I thought he was one of the best bumper players I played with at that center ice. Finding that little area, he. He relieved so much pressure for us on the power play. I think that year we were like second or third in the league. He was awesome. But going, just going back to Dallas's depth. Alex Petrovic, I want to give him a quick shout out. Played pretty much the whole year in the minors. Been in the minors the last couple years and comes in and he's playing well, he's helping them out.

[Paul Bissonette]

And he did this last year too. They just bring him up for the playoffs.

[Biz Nasty]

He should just not play all year.

[Paul Bissonette]

I remember meeting, meeting Petro. I got sent down to San Antonio and he was there and. And on that road trip, like, I became his roommate. So I came into the room, he was out. Came home late. I think we had an afternoon game too. He's beautiful. And then he just had a toothbrush or he might have even forgot the toothbrush and only had his cell phone charger. Very old school guy, tough defenseman. But yeah, it's impressive that he's in there once, toothbrush and rubbers, playing little minutes, but doing a good job. But guys, I apologized online and I'm going to say it right now in the pod. The Minnesota Wild. I underestimated you. I didn't believe in you after game one. I just was, oh, Vegas is going to have an easy walk through before they get what Looks to be la. The Minnesota Wild guys, I was reminded by a couple fans, deservedly so. Really giving it to me in my DMs. And the mentions. You don't know what you're talking about. Because this team, with everyone healthy, was a top five team in the league. One of the best teams in the league.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, they were.

[Paul Bissonette]

And Caprisov was the MVP of the league before he got hurt. And this guy missed half the season and he's come back. And Eric Sinek missed a long time, and he is dominating right now. Kaprisov, every time he's on the ice, has the puck the entire time, it's never in his own zone. He's wheeling around the offensive zone, he's finding guys, he's scoring. And he's making it look so easy for a guy. We're talking about Pareco and these people coming back from injuries and feeling their way through. Not. Not for Caprisov. It's a joke to him right now. And the Wild look incredible.

[Matt Murley]

I don't want to disrespect them anymore. I have to go take a shit right now. But I'll give him this before I go. Take a number two. They have the hottest line in the league right now with Eric Sinek, Matt Boldy and Kirill the Thrill Caprisov. Four goals for Matt Boldy. These guys are fucking electric right now. And they're going against what we thought was one of the best lines in the league in stone, Eichel and Barbashev. And they're chewing them up. They're chewing up their whole fucking team right now. So, Merles, you're the Vegas guy. You have a future on them. Your team better wake the fuck up or Minnesota is going to steal a series from them.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, talking about shit. The entire Vegas Golden Knights team is playing like shit. Game one that they won. They really didn't deserve to win that game. They snuck through that game. It's been brutal. It all starts at the top. Like, we always talk about the best players. Got to be your best players. Eichel. No points, minus five. While at the same time, Boldy and Pre off eight goals, five assists or something crazy like that. Hill awful, shaky and net. I said it last night on Twitter. You know, I'm going full Whitney mode on the Oilers. Like, I'm almost quitting on them so that they'll go to the finals like you did last year. But I said, you got to put Schmede in for the third period. If he. If he shuts the Door in net. He gets the next start. You got nothing to lose up here. Hill is. He looks like a roller hockey goalie out there. He's all over the place. He doesn't have his hand up. He's not out on. On plays. And I think you put Schme in there. He's been great for them. Remember him for the Devils a couple years ago with the playoffs was no pressure for him. It was his first starts of the year, I think. And I think when you put a backup goalie in like that, it wakes the entire team up. Yeah, because this team is asleep. They thought it was going to be easy. They got through game one not playing well. They thought it was going to be simple. We're Vegas. We were the best team. They are not good. They are in trouble. Minnesota is good. I notice me and army were the only ones that had Minnesota making the playoffs. So I was a Minnesota guy. But I did disrespect them because my.

[Paul Bissonette]

Vegas future, I. I just. Army said it last night on, on the group chat. They look so much faster. Like either Vegas looks slow or Minnesota is this fast or Vegas is just playing slow with moving the puck. But they're getting out skated out, worked like it's not even close right now. And this number, that these numbers G just sent over shots on goal were 11 nothing for Minnesota in Matt Bold. These 12 minutes and 19 seconds of five on five and they were 21 to two in Capri Soft's 21 total minutes in game three. If you're 21 to two, he was on the ice for two shots against in over 21 minutes of ice time. It shows that like nobody can match up with him. And I don't think anyone saw like, yeah, Caprisov, everyone knows when healthy MVP candidate truly one of the best players in the league. But you're looking at it like, well, Eichel can answer that. Eichel can play against anyone. And right now it's like, I don't know if maybe Stone's lack of quickness is really hurting that line. That that's unfair to maybe put it on one guy. But I'm just trying to think like how can they not answer it at all. And right now, like Boldy, it's like he's coming into his own. He just turned 24 a couple weeks ago. Imagine him in four or five years, dude, because he's long, he's like rangy. He's so skilled. The play last night, I believe to make it three to one, I will say Vegas has a legit bit.

[Matt Murley]

Should have been an icing.

[Paul Bissonette]

That was icing. Because the biggest part about it was Petro made a legit, honest effort to reach out and get it. When the defenseman does that and doesn't touch it, arm goes up, but they wave it off. But Hannifin does a couple shoulder checks. And on the. On the broadcast biz, you guys, I think he gave two left shoulder checks. But I don't know if it was Anson or yourself who mentioned he just kind of had to wheel the net and hit the winger. But he tries for the reverse to Petro. But Baldy, who chased down that forecheck, he ends up picking up that pass. And then, even then, Hannifin almost got it away from him, but he lifts his stick and just snipes that thing B. Top shelf. And boom, three one and. And like that Hartman play biz, you mentioned one of our Keith said he's a dog. What a play just to get it to the net. And that 4:1 goal was the game. Cause if it's 3:1 going into the third, you're. You're alive.

[Matt Murley]

But nope, that was it. It was actually Edzo who picked it up on the broadcast.

[Biz Nasty]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonette]

Sorry.

[Matt Murley]

When he was going to the wall, he looked up at the score clock to see what the time was. And you know, Hannifin, I love him as a player. Unbelievable guy. Tough night. I believe he was defending Capri soft in front of the net, and it ended up just banking off him. But for him to just grab that puck and throw it there, I'm sure Vegas is thinking, oh, this period's over. All right. You know, we could. We. We can manage this one. But that was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. But Baldi's turning into a superstar, man. Like. Like, he'll throw hits, he can make plays. His finishing abilities, like, the effort that he's providing out there, just incredible to watch. And. And him teamed up with Kirill the Thrill. Like, I just went and dropped a massive deuce, but I don't know how much of a tire pump that you gave him. Like, his edge work, his ability to protect the puck and take punishment. Like, probably should draw more penalties than he does, but, you know, sometimes the Russians don't always get the call.

[Paul Bissonette]

He fights through him too, though.

[Matt Murley]

He fights through him.

[Paul Bissonette]

He doesn't do.

[Matt Murley]

The bastard. He's a mutant. He's worth the price. Price of admission. And I. I don't have enough positive things to say about him. I like, I would Say for sure. Top five player in the league individually, like. Top five.

[Biz Nasty]

Yep.

[Matt Murley]

When he's going and he's healthy, it's. It's pretty remarkable. But.

[Biz Nasty]

And what he means to a team. He's top two.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, he's going to. He should get 15 million a year.

[Biz Nasty]

Stake in the team.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Also Gustafson mer quickly to give up that goal. You're up to nothing. Dream start at home. Excel centers going bananas and he gives up. I think one of the worst goals we've seen in the playoffs. A slap shot, no screen, no tip on the ice. Five holes. He's trying to, as Lundqvist mentioned, he's trying to deflect it in the corner, but he then fucking answered the bell. And that's a goal where it's like that can. That could break a goalie. Like, oh my God, we are up to nothing. I let that in. No, dude, he stood. He stood tall. I think Vegas ended up with. With 31 shots, but back to back five, two wins. You don't see. I mean, Oilers give up 12. Who saw Vegas given up 10 two games in a row?

[Mike Grinelli]

And that's why I'm looking for the goalie change, because Gustafson feels so safe in there. Any shot Vegas gets, I'm like, oh, that's not in. But what really got me going is their power play last night. All year they fed on Eichel down to Stone on the goal line, popping it into hurdle or popping a straight across to the other flank for Dorothy of who had 35 goals or something. But if you watch the games, I don't know how these coaches aren't seeing these adjustments. All they're doing is taking those away and leaving the D up top open. So they had Theodore there forever, and he's not a shooter. So he kept just. He's wide open. Eichel just gives it to him, but he. He doesn't shoot. So he's just looking to give it back. And that's all they've been doing is passing it back and forth. So last night they make the adjustment. They put Hanif in there. He's not much of a shooter either, but that's the guy who's open. It's right in the center of the ice. I want to see Olufsen go there, sneak Olufsen down, take the Kings. Who's got the best power play right now? Five forwards, the Maple Leafs, five forward, PP Magus got to go to the five forwards, get an absolute shooter right there. It's going to work. The first time. Nobody's going to cover him because they're taking everything away. Once that goes in, your normal plays will open up. So that's my coaching rant for my coach.

[Matt Murley]

Holy Faulkner. I like that.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow.

[Matt Murley]

Man, you should be. No wonder RPI wanted you.

[Paul Bissonette]

Then I got some breaking news. Apparently.

[Matt Murley]

Breaking news.

[Paul Bissonette]

We're going to throw it over to G for this breaking news.

[Mike Grinelli]

Darren Dreger just posted a little twist in the battle of Ontario. With allegations of pregame shenanigans last night. Sources say the NHL is looking at an incident in warmups prior to the game three between the Leaf Senators. Undetermined whether league discipline will follow. He then posted 20 minutes later. Source indicates this is the incident in question. Sen's players were firing pucks at stellares in warmups.

[Matt Murley]

Are you fucking kidding me? Are you kidding me? No respect those playoff fucking virgins. That is something a virgin would do. Chucking pucks down the other to try to get in Stolar's head because he fucking owns you with the fucking Inglewood chop in the leg. Game one or game two? Excuse me. That's absolute fucking bullshit. You tell Craig Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs that they can dress me in Revil for game four if they want to handle business appropriately. I'll come over the top fucking ropes and warm up. You want to fire pucks at my goalie?

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, he can defend himself. Seasons for this, he could defend himself. How about he told the refs before game three I'd have my back and I'll behave myself out there.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's just Ontario. When I played in the Metro Toronto Junior League, we first. First time the guy stole our net. They took our net for warmups and so we didn't have a net for warmups. Another game they, we. They. The guy took a slap shot. His name was Andre Ravard. I think his name was played for the Quinny Hawks. He took a slap shot, came down, hit our guy, Andrew Morley right in the neck as he's standing in line for the Horseshoe drill. That's home. Dropped like a bag of potatoes. So then the next game, in the next series, we took the other team's pucks and then we had a bench clearing brawl and warm up. So that. That's just normal Ontario activity in the playoffs.

[Matt Murley]

I'm serious though. I think that they should dress Revo and just put him in warmup and have them stand at the red line. Like why not? You're paying them a million and a half. Have him fucking work the ox court for the game. Too.

[Paul Bissonette]

But if they know he's not playing.

[Matt Murley]

Do you think Fish just wrote in the group chat he goes just ads to stole our save percentage Fishy one.

[Paul Bissonette]

Right off the test.

[Matt Murley]

Hey, jump on the bandwagon, fishy. We love you, buddy. Well, oh my God.

[Paul Bissonette]

We talked about some, some crazy in Ontario. I think Friday night we're gonna. Tonight we're gonna see some crazy, crazy things in Montreal. And I don't know how Canadiens fans feel. I mean, definitely in the series, right? Like, I mean, look, as an Oilers fan. Fuck. How much better is Montreal been and. And down 02 than the Oilers going back home? Down 02. I couldn't believe Slavkovsky's kind of interview after he looked like he was going to start crying. Like credit to the Canadiens and them not just looking at it, which players wouldn't, but them not just being like, hey, we got in. Nobody thought we could get in. We're here. No, I mean they think they can win this series. I don't know if it's possible. I will say that that Logan Thompson at the end of game two was incredible. I mean Montreal was all over them and we wondered if he even be ready to play in this series right before it started. But Washington has not been as dominant as I thought. Yes. Up two. Oh, everything's gravy for them. But Montreal has been better than I thought they'd be.

[Matt Murley]

I thought the pace has been great and it's been very entertaining hockey back and forth. I think both goaltenders have been awesome, including Montembo. Yeah. Probably leading into the series. The thing that surprised me the most was when Patrick line A was asked about Alexander Ovechkin and facing off against the greatest goal scorer of all time, him being a very Patrick line A. I'm speaking of being a very one dimensional player and only really scoring goals. I thought it was an opportunity for him to say, yeah, this is cool. You know, we got the chance to knock off the, the, the top seed in the east and the greatest goal scorer of all time. No, he's like, I could care less.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, I don't know who cares about much.

[Matt Murley]

I don't know if OVI and the boys got wind of that quote, but Ovie, two goals and an assist in Game 1, including the overtime winner, the first of his NHL career, which I was shocked to hear. That was the first overtime that line.

[Biz Nasty]

They didn't get the puck deep in on that play that OVI scored in overtime.

[Matt Murley]

Well, it just came full circle and I appreciate you bringing that up and I was perplexed by that and essentially adding fuel to Washington's fire. Like, do you think that OV caught wind of those quotes? Because it felt like after he scored that. That first goal in that game, there was a little extra on that celebration. There was a little bit of extra oomph. You think he's reading the clippings?

[Biz Nasty]

It's bulletin board material. You don't fucking give it to the other team. Patrick, Line A. Especially when you're going against a guy you've copied the way that he's played the last 20 years.

[Matt Murley]

One part of it, yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

One part of it, yeah. The one timer part of it, but it's. You do not give a street beast like Alexander Ovechkin any ammo. Stay away. Let him sleep. Don't do anything.

[Paul Bissonette]

Sure. Shit. Apparently, people said. Apparently there was a lot of noise about, hey, you ask a Finnish guy about a Russian, like, if you know the history of Finland and Russia, he might. He might not be that into the Russian.

[Matt Murley]

He doesn't control the nukes. I mean, he's just a fucking fairness.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think that Ovi's country did try invading his country. Now, granted, they weren't alive, but Line ends up not even playing in the third period of game two. I mean, St. Louis is just like, all right, you're done. Like, you're not.

[Matt Murley]

You're not.

[Paul Bissonette]

You're not doing anything out there. But back to game one, because we. We had recorded before game one biz. Anthony Bolivier has been, what, a pickup?

[Matt Murley]

No, no, that's. That's Backstrom. That's Backstrom reincarnated. I didn't know if you guys knew that.

[Paul Bissonette]

Nobody talked about him or Kuzmenko. And they've been two of the best pickups from the deadline.

[Matt Murley]

The Washington Capitals have not missed on to their team in which seems like forever. And, you know, I don't. He was a pretty streaky player with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but when they got him, I was like, you know what, man? Like, the two runs that he's been on with the Islanders, he was pretty good offensively. And then I ended up looking up his numbers. Like, I want to say, he's gotten close to 40 playoff points in close to 70 playoff games. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm going to Google it again quickly here on his hockey db, but just making plays out there, he looks incredible. So in. Sorry, in 57 playoff games, he's got 34 points. For a guy like Anthony, that's a pretty good, staggering playoff number performance so fitting in like a glove, right on that top line. And he's making 1.25. So just to go out and add a cheap ad like that, who could fit in on top line, who was maybe having a streaky year, just incredible. And it just goes to tire pump their scouting staff, who have continued to add gems in the last 12 months that have helped this team.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think it's wild to see, you know, that OT winner OV gets in game one. Like, that's an enormous goal. Dude, you're up to nothing. Montreal ties it up. Game one. You lose that game, all of a sudden it's like 2010 flashbacks. And Ovi steps up. He's the guy who gets it done on a beautiful pass. And then you go to game two. Montreal goes up one nothing in the second period. And it takes Washington about a minute. Boom. And they tie it up. Like they're just. They're not going to allow Mer Montreal to get any sort of momentum.

[Mike Grinelli]

It seems like, yeah, it's wild. The wild part of it, though, is Ovechkin, first ever playoff OT winner, which is ridiculous. Cause he's the greatest goal scorer of all time. And yeah, Capitals were something different there. But Montreal is not out of this. I feel a lot. I feel a lot like the St. Louis series where they had chances to win both those games. Yeah. That the better team one ended up winning. They're up to nothing. But I like Montreal. I like the way they've played. They don't look like Ottawa. Ottawa looks a little more like rookies in the playoffs, like you guys talked about already. I like this Montreal team. I like them. Tonight we saw the atmosphere up there. Four nations with the. With the hot dogs and the. The giant beers up in the rafters. Those fans. I like their chances to win both games at home here.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay. And G mentions on the chat that I think with what Biz said too, about the pickups and the trades, like Chris Patrick, he's. He's walking away with GM of the year, right?

[Matt Murley]

I would say him or McFarlane in. In Colorado for that over overhaul. Yeah, I mean, like, yeah, they did.

[Paul Bissonette]

They did bring in two new goalies mid season. That's a good one. But just Washington. Merle. I like that, though. I'm. I'm interested to see tonight, you know, that Washington goes into this game. And for everyone listening, if you haven't been to a Canadiens game, the pregame show, the lights, the music, there's nothing like it. Washington sitting in the locker room saying, guys, first 10, get through the first 10. And I'm talking even being down one nothing after 10 minutes. All right, fine. Game settles in. We got 50 minutes to go. It's if. It's if. What happens? Like, St. Louis, Winnipeg, Game 3. That's the disaster, that it's two goals, that the crowd's going bananas, that they're out hitting you, they're all over you. But we'll see Montreal come out very fast, very hard, and we'll see what can happen. But Logan Thompson's been the story in my mind. Game two performance, OV obviously doing his thing. I mean, it was funny. The first goal of the series for OVI was exactly like his record breaking goal. Right from the same spot, right?

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Ryder's like getting more into OVI since he broke the record. We're watching the game. He goes, that's his spot. I'm like, yup. Even you know, you're seven. He's been scoring goals for 15, 17 years. So it's. It's been. It's been cool to see Washington really kind of shut up a lot of people through the first two games. But I do agree, mur, that Montreal is not dead. Like, Edmonton is way more dead than Montreal is.

[Matt Murley]

Oh, yeah. Hey, what, like, what happened to Demidov? Like, has he even been like, I haven't noticed them at all.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know.

[Biz Nasty]

I think that you got put to the fourth line.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's the. That's the step in the. That's the up and play. That's the physicality. Like, I saw Wilson kind of falling around, giving him some cross checks. Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is not playing Sharapovitz in the first round in SKA and having 10 minutes with the puck every time. I get it. No.

[Mike Grinelli]

Having the refs in my pocket.

[Paul Bissonette]

The refs in my pocket because I'm on St. Petersburg. No, this is Tom Wilson and OVI running at me. OVI also has thrown like six enormous hits. He crushed Caulfield.

[Matt Murley]

Oh, he was chucking around like a kettlebell. He's just 10 pound kettlebell. Just buzzing him around. I thought Caulfield's played great, though. Suzuki's looked awesome.

[Paul Bissonette]

Hey, Suzuki's goal in game one, one to tie it up. That was sick because, like, I think all of us, at least most guys, are just ripping it right when you get it. He got that head up, took that one step and it's a wide open net. He has been very good.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, yeah, that was.

[Paul Bissonette]

And Ryan. Ryan Leonard looks good.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, he. He played solid. G Texit In. In. In game two. But like you said, though, the. For these guys coming in without a lot of NHL experience, like, it feels like there's 15, 20 guys on the ice. It just. It's a different level, it's a different speed. The way I described it on the broadcast is, you know when you used to go to the baseball games and they do the. The game in between the innings, the seventh inning stretch where you'd put the baseball bat on your forehead and you'd spin around 10 times and then you'd get up and try to run in a straight line. That's how it felt when I played playoff hockey. Now some guys can slow the game down and, and you know, it's like Anthony Beliva Bevillier. He seems to be fine adjusting to the pace of playoff hockey. Not the case for some guys. But anyway, I was gonna ask you about who got their jibs knocked out. Was it Produce? Who?

[Paul Bissonette]

No, he's not even played.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's not even in.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's a big loss when they get him back. I didn't know the name, actually.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Grinelli]

Thinking of that, let me tell you how you really do dizzy bat, though, Biz, because you're a Canadian. You guys probably don't have this up there, but you got the yellow wiffle ball bats. Everybody knows those. What you do is you cut the top off of that and you fill it up with the beer. So then you pound the beer, then you do the dizzy bat and you try to run as far as you can against your other buddy.

[Matt Murley]

So that is.

[Paul Bissonette]

It was a.

[Biz Nasty]

Why not just drink the beer out of the bottle?

[Matt Murley]

Ladies and gentlemen, Syracuse Stars legend Matt Murley in the New York Hockey hall of Fame.

[Paul Bissonette]

Alexia Teeth.

[Biz Nasty]

You know who I want to give a shout out to on Mont or two guys on Montreal is Gallagher and Guli. Gallagher is just a prototypical, let's say rat right in the league. Like, you know, he's always in the shit, but he's not really diving around. That guy plays so hard for how small he is. That game one, he was getting cross checked in the face, but not laying down on the ice, getting back up. It looked like he was really. I mean, he's been there a long time. He was really trying to show the young guys on that team what kind of playoff hockey is going to be like and you're going to get abused and you got to take it a little bit. And it looks like it's, you know, kind of wearing off on the rest of that group. But that cade Is Cade Cooley, Gooley, whatever the hell?

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Is he?

[Biz Nasty]

Gallagher and Gooley, like, what's his name? Prong said, like a number two. A true number two. A guy that's going to be really good on pk, do things. He's going to help out at number one. That kid's going to be a stud for a long time. He looks like he's been in the league five, six years already, the way he's been playing.

[Paul Bissonette]

Gallagher also has had about 75 injuries because of how he plays. And he just always comes back from him back to Washington quick because you mentioned Protoss, who hasn't been playing when he comes back in, I mean, dude, they got some lineup decisions. Like, does he go up with Stroman, Ovi and Pavilier drops down. But then there's McMichael, Pierre, Luke Dubois and Tom Wilson. Does he take one of the spots on that line? He's going to be on one of the top two lines. So they're able to win two games without him. Who was one of their best players all year? Washington is laughing. And that's another example like, like Heskinen. Hey, the more you win, we don't have to get him back yet. Let him rest. It's another two days rest. If we can go up three. Oh, we might not even have to play him this series. So we'll see what happens tonight in Montreal. But that leaves us with one series left, boys. And I feel bad. I feel bad for Hurricanes fans because don't worry, next round we're going to be chatting you up. We're going to be talking way more about your games. Right now you're playing. What is this? The New Jersey Devils? Yes. Injuries since January. A bottom five team in the league. They limp into the playoffs and you're now watching it. It's varsity jv and I don't even know what to say. Besides, Carolina's really good in Jersey. Stinks.

[Matt Murley]

Who's that?

[Mike Grinelli]

Secret weapons on his way there. Boots on the ground tonight.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, my God. You're going to this.

[Ryan Whitney]

Boots on the ground. I just landed in New York. I will be there.

[Biz Nasty]

Frank picked him up at the airport.

[Paul Bissonette]

There's no way you want to go.

[Matt Murley]

Even he walked him.

[Paul Bissonette]

Quickly. Before you go, can I bring up your idea? Genius. Genius idea.

[Ryan Whitney]

Sure. Okay.

[Matt Murley]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonette]

Pasha mentioned to all of us, I'm wondering what fans think if you're a team like the Devils in a playoff series, first round only, and it's so obvious that you're completely outclass, outmatched Everything you could say about domination.

[Ryan Whitney]

I only said this after Luke got her.

[Paul Bissonette]

By the way. I know. You should be allowed to then ask for certain deals from the Carolina Hurricanes or the team waxing you like, hey, we'll cancel the series now. If you give us a first rounder. You get rest. You don't have to play any more games. We get a high draft pick. I. I like it. Pasha. I don't know what the fan base would think about their GM quitting in the middle of a series, but maybe they like getting a second or first round.

[Matt Murley]

You're also. You're also essentially paying for the first rounder as well because you're losing the gate.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, it's the gate. I didn't think of the gate.

[Biz Nasty]

It's all money.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's all money. Yeah. What if you hosted it post and lose the first two and it's quite obvious you're done.

[Biz Nasty]

Then the other.

[Matt Murley]

Then you would have to compensate them for the. The money loss with the owner.

[Paul Bissonette]

Rather the money you'd get going longer in the playoffs with more rest.

[Matt Murley]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonette]

Than the gates from Checkers.

[Biz Nasty]

Guys, it's never gonna happen.

[Matt Murley]

At the end of the day, New Jersey and Posh are pathetic and I really don't think we need his services any longer.

[Ryan Whitney]

Don't make me keep that clip for next year when they're healthy biz and they're an absolute wagon. Because you can't. They didn't have a fighting chance going in without Jack Hughes. Now Luke Hughes is out like se.

[Matt Murley]

Actually the. The craziest thing about all this is this actually makes me raise questions about their actual team in depth. The new.

[Paul Bissonette]

How about Timo Meyer though?

[Matt Murley]

Like, I just. I honestly don't. The fact that when. When Jack went down, it just felt like the team was like, oh well, not our year. Like oh, the lack of fight and. And ocean. And that's not at all neighbors in that locker room. Like give me a break. I wouldn't let me play for my ball hockey team.

[Biz Nasty]

That's not at all.

[Ryan Whitney]

We talked about this. We talked about this on the last spot.

[Matt Murley]

Finish the season straw. Nobody gives A game.

[Ryan Whitney]

Game 2. The Devils competed hard. They outplayed the Hurricanes most of that game. They just have no offensive juice without the Hughes brothers. Like what team can survive their best player and their best offensive.

[Matt Murley]

Congrats. You gotta have and wax for five.

[Paul Bissonette]

I thought Hamilton was their best.

[Ryan Whitney]

This guy's. This guy's fucking team gets a lead in a series for once.

[Matt Murley]

And I was looking down on the spending time Talking about this and not Jordan Martinook and what he brings to the Carolina Hurricanes is flabbergasting to me. We're wasting oxygen on a bunch of deadbeat losers. Okay, I will.

[Ryan Whitney]

I will play this clip one year from today when the Devils are waxing teams and they'll probably play the Leafs.

[Biz Nasty]

And they're going to wax them April 25th.

[Matt Murley]

You said the same. You said the same fucking thing about bending Witt's wallet over about Jack Hughes hitting 100 points for three fucking.

[Paul Bissonette]

I like my Anaheim Ducks bet now.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, no, no, no. I was never, like, overly confident about that bet. We all agreed that was going to come down to the wire. Health was a factor. Like, that was never a bet where.

[Biz Nasty]

I was saying to wait, fuck you.

[Ryan Whitney]

You'Re going to end up paying me.

[Paul Bissonette]

Correct.

[Matt Murley]

I was all like, I needed to step in here because I been a little bit critical of the Carolina Hurricanes. We should waste no more oxygen on the New Jersey Devils. We should be tire pumping. What culture the Carolina Hurricanes have created, how they.

[Paul Bissonette]

Watch this, watch this, watch this. Get him off, G. There you go.

[Matt Murley]

Nah, nah, nah, nah.

[Paul Bissonette]

We just got to bring him on and torture him. Like, you know, him flying from Vancouver to Jersey for this game. He had to be like, oh, you.

[Matt Murley]

Know why he does it?

[Paul Bissonette]

Why is he doing fix?

[Matt Murley]

He goes in the locker room and he. He sniffs Luke's jock and then he goes over. I know there's not a lot of sweat on it because he hasn't played recently, but can I still lick it? Can I get like a little. A little tincture of his sweat so I could rub it on my body before I have sex with my gorgeous girlfriend? Hurricane Pasha does.

[Paul Bissonette]

I can always fuck to see you guys play. Next round you'll have some real competition. But right now what you're showing is that you're deep. People have always known that Brindamore rolls four lines. He's not just playing forwards 25 minutes a game. No, he's rolling his lines. We're going to probably at one point see Nikisha, I think. Unless. Unless Brinder Moore is like, I'm not ready. I'm seen in practice. But giant Russian stud defenseman, maybe he gets in at one point. But Biz brought up Martinuk and the fact of the matter is, last year this guy was on waivers.

[Matt Murley]

Waivers.

[Paul Bissonette]

They put him on waivers at the end of camp and it was all salary related. But this guy is a gamer. And that. That what. What game was it he scored that posting in? Beautiful shot was that the first game or the second?

[Matt Murley]

Second game. Gave the leg kick. Dog piss. He gave her the dog piss. It even in game one, man, the Stankhoven goal like on the forecheck, like when he's not getting the big hit, he's going stick on puck, pokes it away from the defender right to Stankhoven in the slot. Boom. Back of the net. So he does it all, man. He kills penalties. He's an emotional leader. Like you said last year. Didn't get poopy pants after getting put on waivers because of the financial situation. All he does is he shows up every day just like Rob Brindamore did and he works his dick off and he's part of that engine that moves that team and he deserves all the praise that he can get. And right now he's got three points in playoffs so far. Remarkable effort along with the rest of the group. I don't know.

[Paul Bissonette]

I got a question for you.

[Matt Murley]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonette]

You had originally mentioned going back and forth between Anderson and Kochov and now that you're up 20 with a guy like Anderson, I think, I think it was the first time this year or in a long time he'd played back to back games.

[Matt Murley]

Right.

[Paul Bissonette]

Do. Do you knowing your, your. Yes, you're going to move forward. You never admit it publicly, but knowing you're going to get by the series, do you. Do you not play him game three or maybe game four if they go up three zero, you know what I'm saying? Or do you keep them in the rhythm?

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, like I feel like when Anderson's, when he gets the rest and he gets healthy, he can go on runs like this. So I think that you probably just stick with them. I just said that going in because I guess I wasn't necessarily overconfident in one of them. And I just think that they're like, Peter Kachekov, he's pretty young, right. He's never really had the full starter role. I think he played like 57 games this year, which is what a starter would play in today's NHL. But if you went and if and told him, hey, we're going back and forth, it's not like he's going to look at you like he's Patrick Wa. Being like, I'm going to put my, my stick across your forehead if you've even mentioned that again, like he would be okay doing it. So I think if you see any, any element of fatigue for Anderson where maybe he lets in a bat then, then switch it up and tell him, hey, we Just got to get you your rest. You're our main guy. Because last year it wasn't the early rounds, it was when you got to the conference finals against the New York Rangers where it really ended up showing, right? Like in that series, like he allowed three back breaking goals. Like ones where you were like, oh no, man. Like that's, that's why you need a healthy, reliable starter. So as of right now though, buddy, he's looking good. So are the Carolina Hurricanes, but they're also playing against Albany River Rats. So yeah, that's, that's what's going on.

[Biz Nasty]

I think you just got to focus on wrapping up this series and then getting him his rest that way. Because I think with goaltending, you don't want to get them, especially if they're playing well, get them out of their rhythm, of their. What they're doing every game day. And maybe for him too, like he goes in and that, you know, the other goalie plays well. Like maybe in the back of his mind he's like, oh shit, if I have a bad period, they're going to go to this guy. So I think you ride with them and then, you know, get your rest in between the next series.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, there's not much to be said. We'll see if, if Devils can squeak out one at home with Posh in the building. Probably not, guys. This episode of Spitting Chicklets is brought to you by. Game Time. The NHL playoffs are here and the only place to buy hard to get playoff tickets is Game Time. The official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports Killer. Last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee. Game Time takes the guesswork out of buying NHL playoff tickets. For example, Mike Grenell and Pasha the deranged Devils fans will be in attendance this evening as New Jersey looks to get a win in their series against Carolina. 68 bucks a ticket because of game Time. Maybe because of the devil's looking a little bit dead, but Game Time still has the lowest prices. Easy to get the lowest price guarantee. 68 bucks a ticket. That's because of Game Time. Prices on the app actually go down the closer it gets to puck drop. So you might even be able to get in for 40 around 7 o'clock tonight. You can save up to 60% when buying last minute tickets. I was looking at tickets for the Oilers, but I can't get out there. Even though they need me. I think they need me. But if I did go out there, it'd be game time. The way I Get into the building. So what are you waiting for? I'm going to go. Maybe continue to look for Oilers tickets prices along with flights and then talking to my wife right now. Because Game Time makes it so simple. Take the guesswork out of buying NHL playoff tickets with Game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code Chiclets for $20 off. Your first purchase terms apply. Again. Create an account and redeem code Chiclets for $20 off. Download the Game Time app now. What time is it? Game time. There is some news from around the league. First off, the Islanders, they make a big decision. They're not re upping, they're not re signing Lou lamarillo. No contract extension for him seven years. He was there as the president and the gm. I think that yes, I think a lot of times we've kind of joked maybe, maybe lose time has passed. But looking back on where the Islanders were and where they got to with him at the helm, it was impressive. They were right there. Tampa broke their hearts in an incredible game seven. They had another Eastern Conference finals they were at and. And that Tampa game seven, they lost one nothing in the Cup Final. Right. You go on to play Montreal. That was done. But I don't know if you'll see Lou Libarillo again. Right. He's older. Older. He's been around forever. Does another team bring him in? I'm not sure. But I wasn't that surprised that they are moving on and it's just a time of kind of rebuilding and trying to get the Islanders out of the age of having all of these older guys signed to long term deals.

[Matt Murley]

I don't know, man. Some of These guys are 2 years old. Some of these guys boys. He's married to the game. Look at Bill Belichick. He's coaching College football. His 20 year old girlfriends in the end zone calling offensive plays for the red zone. For sakes. Like some people are just married to the game. Like I'll be doing this podcast in TNT till I'm 90. Till my ball bags hanging down past my knees like come on here. But yeah, I think it was time. Would absolutely love, love if the Buffalo Sabers brought him in. I would love to see the Buffalo Savers go get Lou Lavarella. Those would be a hundred grand. He would do it for 100 grand. He would turn that whole ship around. And I would love every. I would fucking shave every. I would shave my face every day if that was able to happen.

[Paul Bissonette]

No mustache for you. You'll go full to the wood. Shaved like a razor, like I do. If Lou gets hired by Buffalo, I'll.

[Matt Murley]

Fucking shave Lou Lamorille's butt crack. If he fucking ends up in Buffalo. That's how bad I want that to happen. I'll fucking Nair his hoop. I'll shave it all, buddy. I don't even.

[Biz Nasty]

A guy like Lou married to the game like he is, you think even him would want that gig?

[Paul Bissonette]

He's like, no, thanks. They're like, well, Lou, what do you mean? We thought you'd never. I'm not going to Buffalo.

[Matt Murley]

What if you showed up to save there? What if you showed up to the next Chicklets cup and he was the GM of the Big Deal selects?

[Paul Bissonette]

You see him just grab the pipe out of Terry Ryan's hand.

[Biz Nasty]

Senior.

[Paul Bissonette]

Sit down, Senior.

[Matt Murley]

Oh, yeah, I love. I love that one on one meeting with. With con man.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, God.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey. Definitely a time of change, though, for the Islanders. They traded Nelson to Colorado. Martin, retirement ceremony basically on the last game. And now Cal Clutterbuck. He said he didn't know what to do next.

[Paul Bissonette]

That was hilarious. Clutterbucks. Not really sure how this works, but I'm done. You know him well. You know him well. What a career.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, he had the shackles on him, so he wasn't able to come on the podcast. But we will 1000% be doing a sandbagger and interview with Cal Clutterbuck. And he's a. He's an opinionated guy. He's a funny. He knows every single movie quote on the planet. So I would imagine he would be a reoccurring guess on Chiclets. And he's already gotten himself in the media side with the Islanders. I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps running with that as well. So congrats to all those guys. Even Lou on a great run. I know we joke around about how he's like, you know, over controlling and, and, and, and he's a hockey freak. And he used to have guys, when they come back to the hotel, sign sticks for the people at the desk so he know that they came in late for curfew. Like, this guy is a madman. But he provided a lot to the game, including some dynasties for that shitbag organization that Pasha likes. So maybe a little bright spot for you, Pa, so you can, you know, rekindle the flame on all the cups you guys won.

[Paul Bissonette]

Our army says often when, when, you know, coaching Cruz growing up and coaching the young kids, he'd say, who wants to be Connor McDavid? And they'd all raise their hand and, and then he'd say, all right, well who wants to be Cal Clutterbuck? And none of them would raise their hand. And it's like, dude, you don't realize how hard it is to play like he, the way he did, how long he played. It's, it's not glamorous, right? But he played forever and he ran around killing people like a bowling ball. And he actually had an incredible shot, scored a bunch of big goals. But what he did was, it's talking about Brendan Gallagher saying it's not easy, man, to play that way and to have every person on the other team hate you and constantly be in the middle of shit after the whistle. But Clutterbuck did it and what a career he had. So congrats to him. Can't wait to interview that guy and hear all about it. Other news, Drury resigned by the New York Rangers a multi year contract extension. I don't know how Rangers fans feel. I, I think the ones that are disgusted, it's like you've had some pretty good teams. Like this year was a disaster on so many different fronts. We've talked about it a million times. Probably messed up the way he went about the Barclay Goudreau situation and then, and you know, putting out there that, that Kreider was available and Truba was available and then, but he got Shusturkin signed and I mean he got LA Frontier signed but then that, that looked like a shit deal at the end of the season or the second half of the year. So I, I obviously see why he's resigned his GM though. Like I, to me it's like after one year you're like, oh no, you're done. I wasn't surprised at all to see this.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I, I, I like him coming back. Obviously Dolan has the trust and I mean, you know, you see the quotes from Dolan saying that he's a proud Ranger and he's going to turn the ship around. I mean, realistically, they've had good years. This is the first year they didn't make the playoffs. They've, you know, won the President's Trophy, they've gone to the Eastern Conference finals and it's just because of the pressure in New York. But I think Drew's up for the, the, you know, up for the challenge. He's won at every level his whole life. And you know, he's made good trades, he's made bad trades there, but what GM hasn't, right? Like he's, you know, shit's going to happen But I think, you know, this, this summer he's going to go in to the summer. And I think they know what they need to do this summer to get their team back because it's a, it's a tough place to be a manager, a player, a coach. And I think that he's probably got that hunger inside him right now to get them to where he wants them to be. And I think hopefully they'll be okay next year.

[Paul Bissonette]

Biz, if you were to guess who, who do you think was shooting a puck at Stall Arts in warmup from Ottawa?

[Matt Murley]

Hmm. Ridley, Greg.

[Paul Bissonette]

We're going to go with Nick Cousins.

[Matt Murley]

Oh, fuck. How did I not think of that one? Jesus.

[Paul Bissonette]

The video just came up now. Stolarts is right inside the red line, like kind of like doing a warm up in front of the glass. They played together in Florida. He didn't shoot it that hard. It might have been one of those what's up, dude? Like, yeah, kind of with.

[Matt Murley]

Or there might have been anthrax on it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like any whiff that it was supposed to hit him in the neck.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Who was it on the ice? It. I can't tell the videos kind of that br Open ice just tweeted. But he just snaps it and peels to the middle and now it's being investigated. Last thing before we wrap up.

[Matt Murley]

I just watch it. I would say three years in prison would be a fair sentencing for this.

[Paul Bissonette]

Rick Talkett. The Canucks will not be exercising the team option on the final year of Rick Talkett's deal. He is free to sign with whatever team he wants, including Vancouver. That is not going to be. That's not going to happen. But I think the number one guy on the market this summer, Quenville's obviously available, but every single team who needs a head coach is like, we need to talk it. We need talk it.

[Biz Nasty]

You think Chris Drury's calling him? First call.

[Matt Murley]

Yeah, I think that. I think that. I would not be shocked if he could get like five to five and a half million per year with New York. I think that Philly needs a coach and he could probably go there. How about Bruins? Anaheim? Young core group. Who'd you say they're with? Boston Bruins. Like there's like, there's a lot. What about fucking Chicago? Right?

[Paul Bissonette]

See I. He filed, filed Biosma as well. That was news. He ain't going to Seattle.

[Matt Murley]

So I think that having the world by the nuts would be an understatement statement. As far as a coach who won the Jack Adams a year ago dealt with that horrible situation. And then also I don't know if you guys saw. Hey, listen, this also doesn't mean that he doesn't resign in Vancouver, right? Like this was him getting let out of a deal where he was set to make a certain amount where maybe now he would be provided with more security and an offer. That was Matt. Like, who knows, right? Like he's going to see everything that's coming at him. But did you guys watch like when he was interviewed after the season about the whole PD situation? Like his rawness and openness and the way that he explained the situation, like that's exactly why you need a guy like Rick talk in charge of your team. Like that's it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like, not to mention in that press conference, Rutherford.

[Matt Murley]

I love Rutherford, jokingly or not is.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like maybe we'll bring the Hughes brothers over from New Jersey.

[Matt Murley]

I loved it.

[Paul Bissonette]

I was what I was on. Did he just say that? No. I don't know if like you end up getting tampering call from the league or something, but pretty hilarious to say like just openly like, well, we want Quinn. Well, he wants to play with his brothers.

[Matt Murley]

I also bring him over. I also thought it was funny. I think it was Elliot Friedman who was like, clearly like the league knows that they have no interest in going to Vancouver. Like talking about Luke and and Jack. So I thought that that was pretty funny. That pretty much. Hey, bye, Quinn. Yeah, it's a matter of time. But yeah, it was just a wild press. Rutherford does not sugarcoat it. He'll tell you exactly how he's feeling. Same with the way that Alvine spoke when he was like about the PD stuff and like even it was like Rutherford when the J.T. miller stuff and PD stuff when they were still on the same team started calming down. Like he threw more gas on the fire. Like he genuinely does not give a flying. So guys like that are appreciated in our industry because they make for unreal quotes and and podcast discussions. So shout out to the Vancouver Canucks on a hell of a year as far as the the bulletin board.

[Paul Bissonette]

And that about wraps it up. We're going to oh a couple shout outs.

[Mike Grinelli]

As you're talking about shout outs this weekend in Albany's the Capital cup for kids. My brother's team plays. I usually coach but I've lost the last four championships coaching so I am now retired. But I'll be over there watching the games. Second all, I just got this hat sent to me for you from you guys. Gargoyles hot hockey. So looking forward to checking you guys out and then I said it on game notes. I'm putting it out there now. Free ad. I need a speed builder. I need some guy from upstate New York that knows how to speed build a house for me. So get a hold of me. Come over the Capital Cups game this weekend and come find me and build my house in record time, please.

[Paul Bissonette]

And Mer. Mer thinking of you down there. Just build on a foundation. Slaving away. You're a Hall of Famer. You don't need to be doing that stuff now. So thank you so much to Chris Pronger. Thank you so much to the Mer. Congrats on that announcement. Mer, good luck with the house. Reach out to him if you can. Build quick. And Biz has his Leafs hat. And my Oilers. Can the Oilers flip this thing around? Game three, remember, playoff schedule. Wednesday, noon game notes, YouTube channel. 400,000 subscribers. Fridays we're with you. Monday we'll be back with you. Can't wait. Got another weekend of action coming up. And new summer hats are available. You see Keith has the gray one on. Merle's has the Toronto Maple leaf blue one on. And keep an eye out for some Greensboro Gargoyles hats coming soon. I love all of you guys. Love you listeners. Let's go, Oilers.

[Biz Nasty]

Love you, boys.

[Matt Murley]

Peace.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wor.

[Matt Murley]

I don't know the other way this feeling way I get someday.

[Ryan Whitney]

Close.