Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 646: Featuring Murls, Army & Bob Stauffer

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 646: Featuring Murls, Army & Bob Stauffer

Date: May 14, 2026
Host(s): Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette (Biz), Rear Admiral (RA), Mike Grinnell
Guests: Murls, Army (Checking in from the Ryan Malone Golf Tournament), Bob Stauffer

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Episode Overview

Main Theme:
This episode of Spittin’ Chiclets is a post-playoff roundtable overflowing with bold opinions, playoff breakdowns, guest insights, and the show’s trademark irreverent banter. The core theme is a deep dive into the current state of the NHL playoffs focusing on the Minnesota Wild-Colorado Avalanche series, Buffalo Sabres-Montreal Canadiens drama, Vegas-Anaheim, and the latest turbulence in Edmonton with a feature interview with Oilers insider Bob Stauffer. Along the way: fan meltdowns, inside jokes, legendary hockey stories, and listener Q&A.

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Key Discussion Segments & Insights

1. Minnesota Wild vs. Colorado Avalanche: The Meltdown Heard 'Round the State

[02:19 - 14:39]

• Colorado Advances, Wild Fans Erupt: Colorado eliminated Minnesota in five, sparking massive fan outrage at Biz for "cheering" against the Wild. Biz clarifies he just wanted to go home and was rooting for a seven-game series for TV, not against Minnesota.
  • Quote (Biz, 04:14): "They want biz dead, which really cracks me up."
• Injuries as the Defining Narrative: All sides battle injuries, but Wild fans uniquely sensitive; loss of Ek and Brodin is pivotal.
• Wild’s Core Issues:
  • Lack of a true #1 center—Ek is only a 'high-quality #2.'
  • Reliance on over-minutes for their top two defensemen (Faber, Hughes); creates breakdowns.
  • Caprizov $17M Contract: Outrage over next year’s payday—Merls calls it "fraudulent" for a guy with one shot in Game 4 and zero in Game 5 ([11:07]).
    • Quote (Murls, 11:05): "Nobody needs to be making $17 million... It ruins the balance of a team."
  • Cap implications and the need to "make less so others make less," referencing Crosby/McDavid.
• Missed Opportunity & What’s Next:
  • Couldn’t justify deadline overpayment for Trocheck—tough to leverage future with Avs playing like a 'wagon.'
  • What does the future hold? Keeping Quinn Hughes is top priority; if he leaves, alarms go off.
• Colorado Praise:
  • Deeper, faster, tougher—14 different goal scorers in playoffs, Colton, Kelly, Drury, etc.
  • McKinnon’s playoff scoring stats compared to legends (Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy).

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2. Game 5 Breakdown – How It Fell Apart

[18:01 - 28:49]

• 3-0 Lead Lost:
  • Wild got up 3-0 but fell into ‘Kings Mode,’ stopped attacking, and let Colorado back.
  • Stat: First NHL team to lead by 3+ at first intermission, then record <10 SOG rest of the way and lose (Opta Stats, 25:34).
  • Parker Kelly and Drury’s world-class tips fuel comeback.
• Postgame Critique:
  • Defensive breakdown: Middleton ‘turning like an 18 wheeler’ vs. Nate.
  • Goalie analysis: Wallstedt didn’t challenge enough—McKinnon’s OT brilliance.
  • Memorable Chat (Murls, 29:05): “Nature’s realized there were only four Avs, just hopped on the ice. Crazy.”
• Fan Narrative:
  • Caprizov (again) defers in OT with the puck on his stick; Manson’s heady defensive play praised.
• Avs as Juggernaut:
  • “I don’t see anyone beating them…” – Biz ([34:11]).
  • They play with Carolina’s relentless energy, but more skill.
• Wild’s Window:
  • Center depth is everything; hard to win without it.

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3. Buffalo Sabres vs. Montreal Canadiens: Controversy, Chaos, and Rhonda

[37:56 - 56:55]

• Buffalo Comes of Age:
  • Game 4 – “They didn’t just beat Montreal, they beat the refs.” ([38:41], Biz)
  • Buffalo stares down adversity, finally gets lucky bounce, Benson scores winner on 21st birthday.
  • RA’s accidental jinx with his first in-person game of the year.
• Officiating Chaos:
  • High-profile disallowed goal—debate over whether glove (or Helenius) was pushed in by Quinn.
  • Quote (Ryan Gagnon, 45:19): "He pushes Dobush's glove and pushes it in the net.”
• Montreal’s Diving Reputation:
  • Consensus: Canadiens’ embellishment is getting noticed by refs—expect backlash in Game 5.
  • “The boy who cried wolf—eventually the refs stop buying it.” ([53:44], Merls)
• Sabres’ New Core & Depth:
  • Praise for Josh Doan, Benson.
  • Newhook “on fire,” trade lauded as a steal.
  • UPL (Luukkonen) is a stabilizing force – having two good goalies is critical.
• Building Drama:
  • Lindy Ruff’s poise; lineup changes (Luke Schenn) add backbone.
  • Owen Power needs nastiness; suggested he “live with Chris Pronger to learn to hate.”
• Ongoing Bet & Buffalo Lore:
  • Buffalo fans, Rhonda, and the ongoing wedding memes.
  • RA nearly gets beat up in the Hurley’s bathroom and accidentally takes Canadiens’ legend Yvan Cournoyer’s seat ([106:09]).

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4. Vegas Golden Knights vs. Anaheim Ducks: Depth, Suspensions, and Celebrations

[61:59 - 76:18]

• Dorofeyev’s Heroics:
  • 7 playoff goals; his defensive stick-lift, then OT-winner showed raw skill.
• Vegas Playoff Pattern:
  • Historically close-out specialists in Game 6 after winning Game 5.
  • Anaheim’s depth tested with injuries (Paling, McTavish). Vegas thin up the middle too.
• McNabb Hit:
  • 1-game suspension for his first ever—possibly a huge factor with his high PK/shots blocked.
  • Speculation on coach and lineup adjustments required for both teams.
• Anaheim’s X-factor Youth:
  • Zellweger’s resilience highlighted after losing his spot to Tyson Hinds.

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5. Edmonton Oilers Drama: The Knobloch Firing & the Oilers Soap Opera

[76:32 - 99:57]

Guest: Bob Stauffer

• Knobloch Out, Craziness In:
  • Edmonton sought permission to talk to Vegas’ Bruce Cassidy (denied), then firing of Knobloch breaks publicly.
  • Stauffer: Different personality needed—more 'gravitas' and structure, likely a known cup-winning coach (names: Barube, Laviolette).
  • Quote (Stauffer, 82:13): "You want to look a guy between the antlers"—reference to firing etiquette.
• Oilers’ Identity Crisis:
  • Regression as a theme; last two years' playoff runs not enough.
  • Management under microscope; calls for even bigger changes (GM, goaltending).
• Player Power:
  • McDavid & Draisaitl’s public criticism after last game may have accelerated changes.
  • Stauffer: "You got to listen to your players... they didn't even have to read between the lines." ([93:27])
• Panel Banter:
  • Toronto/Edmonton “wife swap” (Barube to EDM, Knobloch to TOR).
  • Nostalgic for Ken Holland, GM drama, hypothetical future candidates (Doan, Ray Whitney).
  • Mocking Toronto fans’ usual fate, and Bissonnette’s “dirty work” in accusations/defensive rationale.

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6. Banters, Golf Course Check-in & Notable Moments

• Army's Check-in from Malone's Golf Tourney:
  • Live cam with Army and ex-NHLers.
  • Army accused of “diving” in charity game.
  • Army’s plans for HNIC panel work and freezing on the greens.
• Ongoing Group Bits:
  • Murls and Biz’s ongoing feud with Wild fans and Avs fans (both fanbases want them “dead”).
  • Raising the classic Caprisoft contract debate; laughter at NHL “salary fairness.”
• Montreal In-Person:
  • RA’s stories of nearly getting jumped in the Hurley's WC, sitting in the wrong legend’s seat, and Montreal nightlife.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Biz on Wild fans ([04:14]): “They want biz dead, which really cracks me up.”
• Murls on Caprizov’s next contract ([11:05]): “It ruins the balance of a team. It just doesn’t create a team atmosphere when one guy’s making 17 million... That is not a $17 million player.”
• Whitney on Wild’s window ([14:39]): “You might have to get a little bit faster and a little bit younger.”
• Stat Blister:
  • “The Wild are the first team in NHL history to have a 3+ goal lead at the first intermission of a playoff game but then have fewer than 10 shots on goal the rest of the way and end up losing.” ([25:34])
• Gagnon on busted call ([38:41]): “They didn’t just beat the Canadiens, they beat the refs. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
• Gagnon to RA ([41:58]): "Might be not only did they beat the Habs and the refs? They also beat the ESPN announcers."
• Army on Eichel vs. Carlson ([71:39]): “When Eichel turns it up, he is easily top five.”
• Stauffer on Oilers’ pulse ([81:10]): "There is an expectation to win right now and he can't have the regression that Edmonton had."
• Whitney on old-school vs. new-school player power ([93:27]): "That’s that new school era that didn’t happen 10, 15 years ago. But you see how much these guys put into their craft, how bad they want to Win."
• RA’s travel saga ([103:33]): "It was literally cheaper to stay another night in Montreal than it was to fly home. That’s the one we’re saying."
• Gagnon’s Buffalo wedding bit ([49:54]): "If you’re able to get to the finals, I will marry Rhonda in the Blade Gang’s backyard."

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Important Timestamps

• Wild-Avs Fallout / Caprisoft Salary Rant: 02:19 – 14:39, repeated at 08:27, 11:05
• Game 5 Collapse Analysis: 18:01 – 28:49
• Buffalo-Montreal Ref/Replay Debate: 37:56 – 56:55, 45:19, 47:57
• Vegas-Anaheim Key Moments: 61:59 – 76:18
• Army Golf Check-in: 67:27 – 75:43
• Bob Stauffer on Edmonton Crisis: 76:32 – 99:57, key comments 81:10, 82:13, 93:27
• RA’s Montreal Adventure: 103:09 – 113:18, Cournoyer’s seat 106:09

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Hockey Talk By Topic

• Playoff Emotional Swings:
  Highly interactive, emotional commentary around blown leads, fan passion, and gut-punch losses.
• Roster/Cap Team Construction:
  Deep dives into cap management, honest takes on front office moves (or lack thereof), player contracts, and next steps for teams locked in mediocrity.
• Refereeing & Challenges:
  Heated, in-depth debates on what constitutes goalie interference, embellishment, and how reffing is shaping series outcomes.
• Insider Analysis:
  Bob Stauffer brings authoritative insight on the Oilers’ next steps, franchise psychology, and the landscape of NHL head coaching.
• Inside Jokes & Camaraderie:
  Laughter over group texts, army's charity game “dive,” bar fight near-misses, and wedding plans with Buffalo’s “Rhonda.”

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Final Thoughts

This episode is classic Chiclets—relentless energy, pointed insider hockey analysis, and no shortage of running jokes. Fans who missed the debate will find a thorough, sometimes raucous run-through of the week’s biggest playoff storylines, plus a window into the NHL’s off-ice drama and dynamics.
If you want to understand exactly how and why Colorado toppled Minnesota, how Buffalo’s luck may have finally turned, why Edmonton is at a crossroads, and what team-building actually means in today’s NHL, this episode is a must-listen.

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For more info and past episodes: barstool.link/schiclets

Transcript

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey Spit and Chiclets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

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[Paul Bissonnette]

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[Ryan Whitney]

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

[Ryan Gagnon]

I brought it toward the coyotes and I asked him if it was okay if I joined the Spit Chickens podcast full time.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Ryan Whitney Got a pink Whitney out there now.

[Merles]

Sandbagger.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Get that on camera.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The song man is a full time member. My religious guy got an assist from Chris B. Whoa.

[Whitney]

We're buzzing right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What is up folks? Welcome to episode 646 of the Spitting Chiclets Pinkies up podcast. Let's go. Get them up Mur. Let's get him up. If anyone wants them up right? Oh, you were getting the bottle right there. Mer's ready. He's going to take a victory lap. Wild fans, you don't deserve what you're about to hear from many. We got plenty to catch up on. The abs are moving on. What a series. We got In Montreal. Buffalo. I got some takes in that one. I know you guys do as well. Vegas looking to close it out tonight. And the Oilers.

[Whitney]

Hey, the Toronto Oil Kings.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I would say Toronto and Edmonton are teams that are discussed quite often on this show. Are not exactly. Things aren't exactly going smooth in either spot.

[Ryan Gagnon]

But Gar are running a tighter operation than them. What do you mean smooth?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, the Savannah Bananas. It's like, what the. Like, oh, my God, boys. Holy. But we got way bigger stuff to get.

[Stan Bowman]

Too.

[Ryan Gagnon]

True.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Merls is here. I think we're going to get a little arm dog mix in here. He's at the Ryan Malone golf tournament right now. Amazing foundation and event he's got going on right now. He's in Pittsburgh, so he's going to check in. And I think we got to start. We got to start, boys. In. In Colorado, I mean, it's over five games. Five games. And I wanted seven. I hope for seven. I pictured seven. I think the abs are just. They're too good. They're. They're too dominant. They're too fast, they're too quick. They have McKinnon. And we'll get into some takes that wild fans seem to be furious about. They want biz dead, which really cracks me up. For anyone who doesn't know a clip went, I'd say a little viral of B celebrating as Colorado scored in overtime.

[Whitney]

I think he just wanted to go home.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's what it was. He didn't want. He didn't want a late night and he wanted to get. Get a weekend off of work. But wild fans thought that he was celebrating Colorado moving on.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I had Hartman. I had Hartman scoring the OT winner now, like, like I said. So if that series would have gone seven games, I would have had to stick around for Friday, Saturday in Atlanta. I've been here for basically a month, bunker down in a hotel room. So I was like, okay, well, I'd rather just have the weekend off, recharge and get ready to travel for the whatever conference finals we end up doing on the road with tnt. And I think a lot of fans, like, no matter who or what you say on the broadcast, they automatically think you're rooting against their team. I would have totally been okay seeing seven games in the series, but you can't hold a three nothing lead. You don't deserve to get seven games. And according to Merle's, you're a fraud squad. So tough scene there. But they probably shouldn't have posted that clip because I guess it does show a Little bit of bias, but I was just happy the series was over and I get to go home. So my apologies to all the wild fans. I, as I said going into the series, boys, if Eric Sinek and Boldy would have been a lineup, I actually would have picked Mini to win that series in seven games. Who did I say?

[Whitney]

Baldi.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Baldi.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Our Baldy. I meant Brody. My apologies. Thanks for the correction. But I just, Yeah, I think that those two pieces would have made such a massive difference based on the goals I was seeing, based on the breakdowns. And it's unfortunate because I actually thought that like when Walstead came back in that I thought he was going to be kicking and they would still be a problem. But as, as you guys said, Colorado at the depth, like the depth in the last two games really showed up. Parker Kelly, I mean, Drury, who was a throw in on the Natures trade. Like he was huge, great fourth line center. And then Kulak Kak.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, this is.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Kulak lugged more five on five ice than Kale Makar in that series. Boys in five games. So to the Edmonton Oilers. You guys are, you guys are stupid. You guys are stupid.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah, we'll get into them later. So it's funny because I, I, I, I sent a tweet out after just kind of like, oh, wild fans. And nobody, nobody gets their dicks kicked in and their hearts ripped out more than Minnesota sports fans. I'm telling you, it doesn't matter. We got the Vikings, the Timberwolves, the Twins, the Wild.

[Whitney]

It's. The links are nasty.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's what?

[Whitney]

The links are nasty.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's awesome. Are there scores on ESPN.com?

[Ryan Whitney]

i don't know.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I believe their PWHL team won the championship the last two years, didn't they?

[Paul Bissonnette]

There we go.

[Whitney]

You got something mini.

[Ryan Gagnon]

They got a hockey building there.

[Whitney]

Building.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But the message I said was it just, you know, it sucks. You lose your number one center, Caprio next season. What?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Catherine Capri soft next season. So he can.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, he's taking some heat. He's taken to me and Merles in classic Merles fashion's like, yep, making 18 million next year. It was like Merles was ready. Now I. What I said was, these poor wild fans. You lose your number one center, you lose an incredible top four defensive defenseman. Then I got, well, all of a sudden I got Dallas Stars fans coming at me and I respect them. They're like, well, we didn't have our number one center and we had one of our best defensemen battle and injury and then ABS fans are coming at me. Well, we have our number one defenseman injured. And. And I, I guess that is good points. Like, everyone battles injuries, but for Minnesota, it just was such a different feeling. I mean, the way Eric Sinek got hurt in the final game against Dallas back. I'm like, oh, I remember. I think we were streaming that game or we were at least chatting, all of us. And I was like, thank God he came back because they got him for the while the next one. Pretty impressive that he was able to come back and play in that game six because obviously he was mangled. Now, Brodine, I don't really know. I'm sure we'll find out today or tomorrow what the injuries were. But, Mer, would you say they're not frauds? Like, are you going to continue that they're frauds.

[Merles]

Well, I'm happy to see that you guys are understanding how crazy these wild fans are.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes.

[Merles]

But let me give you a little definition of consumer fraud. Deceiving customers through false claims, such as selling a defective product as high quality. High quality is not. Eric is not a high quality number one centerman. Can we agree on that?

[Paul Bissonnette]

High quality number two.

[Merles]

Yes. So they don't have a number one centerman. And then second of all, let me ask you.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Okay, so let me ask you this. So. So would you say that he's better or. Or same as like a Dylan Larkin? Like, where do you. Where do you put him?

[Merles]

Yeah, I put him in there.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So you're saying that second line, Stanley

[Merles]

cup winning team centerman. Okay, where I put him there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So every statement you give, we're able to maybe question, that's it.

[Ryan Gagnon]

That's all I'm going to do.

[Whitney]

All right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Merles]

Next up is the. Is when you're trying to rely on two players, two defensemen to play the entire game for you, it just, it doesn't build team camaraderie. Number one. When you're relying on two guys that heavily and then you just can't last that long in a playoff series playing guys 30 minutes and expecting them to do everything.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So for context to. Before game five was played, Quinn Hughes was averaging 29:57 throughout the series. And I believe that Brock Faber was averaging about just a minute below that first and second in the. In the second round, like far and above as far as average ice time lugged. And it was 10 minutes more than the third defenseman on the Minnesota Wild.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So point counterpoint, Pronger, Niedermeyer, Anaheim Ducks

[Merles]

size. The size of those two compared to the Size of the two we're talking about, I would say.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And Faber are the same. And then you're just saying you're missing your pronger.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, I'm just gonna look for counterpoints here.

[Merles]

Next. Next one up. And I'm telling you, I talk about the team and the. In the chemistry and how you build a team. And we've been through it with Sidney Crosby. If I make less, then everybody's got to make less. If you want to win. Matthew Kachuk went down to Florida, did the same thing. If you want to win Barov, you want to make less. Everybody's got to make less. During the season. Capriof goes and signs for $17 million. Nobody needs to be making $17 million. And it just. It just. It doesn't feel right in a team if some guy's making 750. I got this guy making 17 million. And then it's. He's fraudulent for $17 million. Even though we've never seen someone make that much. One shot in game four, zero shots in game five. Puck on his stick to win the game in overtime, passes it off. That is not a $17 million player.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Wow.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I mean, k. So I. Bro, I did a breakdown during one of the intermissions. Like. Like, I. I thought he played pretty well. Like, he did a lot of good things. Like, he was boxing out defensively. Like, he made that play along the wall, got an assist on the first goal, I believe led the team in points and playoffs. Like, what did he finish with as far as points? Probably, like 13, 14 points. So it's not like he was, like, invisible. I. I do agree that 17 is a. Is a very high number. It's. It's like, almost like you're saying the precedent was set. So it kind of make things awkward, like, for the playoff run, where it's like, now you're really kicked in the dick because it kicks in next year. I. I will say 15 points in 11 games.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Correct me, Mir, Is it not even personal to Caprisov? It's like, nobody should be making 17 million.

[Merles]

No. Yeah, nobody. Sidney Crosby making 8.7 million. He's the perfect hockey player.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That is the argument that McDavid even

[Merles]

just took less, and he's the most skilled hockey player. So it just ruins the balance of a team. It's all about a team. You hear all these quotes coming out from the avalanche. They got 16 different guys that scored goals. It's all about team stats. It just. It doesn't create a team atmosphere when one guy's making 17 million and. And then you have two guys playing 35 minutes basically every night.

[Ryan Whitney]

It.

[Merles]

It's got to be a team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

If you.

[Whitney]

You got to pay guys extra to go to mini. No.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Ah. I think Min's a hell of a place to play hockey.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, Great hockey.

[Merles]

Awesome GM to play for and cost of living there.

[Ryan Gagnon]

17 million. You could buy up every leering center in the state.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Here's the thing.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Imagine the commercial real estate play you could have with 17 million. Jesus Christ.

[Paul Bissonnette]

If he just took 14 and a half, it's like, oh, my God. You know, you got. What is it, three and a half or two and a half million more for a player. So I. I get that. I just look at. I think it was. I think they were a hell of, like, a team when you look at their. And by the way, we're talking Wild first. Because of the storyline and the expectations and what went on this year, we're gonna pump Colorado. But, yeah, in terms of the Wild, like, they did seem very cohesive. They had the Polino brothers.

[Ryan Gagnon]

They loved each other.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They loved each other. And it was just. Everyone hits injuries. But for me, I'm looking at. It's like, that is a different series with those two guys playing. Now, is that a stupid argument? Because, like, every single team's going through this. Maybe, but I'm not looking at the Wild as, like a fraudulent team. I don't know. Maybe I'm just a Billy Garon homer.

[Whitney]

I. Yeah, I think they can fix it. It's fixable. Like, they have the pieces. Obviously, if they can keep Quinn Hughes, he is a complete stud Faber. Complete stud Caprisov. Like, I don't know what they're going to do with Zook, but if you can get a center, it may be two. Another D man, maybe a couple guys that can move a little better. And I love Bogosian and middle. What is this?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Middleton.

[Whitney]

Middleton. Like, I love those guys, but you might have to get a little bit faster and a little bit younger to kind of go on these runs, but I think it's right there. And especially with Billy G at the helm, he's a guy that can get guys to come there. He can go out and make trades. So I think it's a successful year for many. I don't think they were going to win it this year. I knew obviously beating Dallas was big, but Dallas was beat up. And, you know, it's just one of those years. You're playing Colorado, who's such a wagon right now, like, no one was going to Beat them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, Biz, let me ask you this then. The Wild fans. I've seen a couple people pretty upset that Billy G didn't pay for what it was going to cost to get Trocheck over. And I think the ask was outrageous from, from Chris Drury. What do you think in terms of like I can't pay that right? Do you know what I mean?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Like I think the last thing I would be doing right now is. Is criticizing anything Billy G did because he even like he made them so Merles, like you would say that he didn't make them a contender because I think if that, that line, if that lineup's healthy I think they could, could have brought abs the distance. Like I don't want to. It sucks a single guy out. But like Middleton playing top 4D minutes. He's a number six on a Stanley cup winning team. Like because of the Brodine injury. Like that was, that was a very forgettable series for him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I felt bad for him.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I felt terrible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Goal and tying goal.

[Ryan Gagnon]

The, the. The winning goal. Like around the net. Like he could, he could. Nate just takes the corner around the net. He's turning like an 18 wheeler. Like I would be too. I mean you know, I think Billy

[Merles]

did everything he can do. Like I mean the Foligno brothers were the best. McCarron that was their best players. But there's, there's no first line centerman out there.

[Whitney]

Right?

[Merles]

Like what else. What was he going to do? But that's why they, they weren't set up to win. You got to have the first line center. Got to have the second line center. Look at everybody that keeps winning. Vegas Edmonton has two first line centers.

[Whitney]

They still can't win Carolina.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So that's, that's where it's going to be tough moving forward. Forward with Capriof making what he makes. It's like what type of first. If like let's say Matthews, let's just throw out that name if you are able to afford him and throw him in the mix at making 13 and a half for the next two years and slide him in there. Eric s playing the two slot. That is a, that is a, a Stanley cup contending team. That's a top four team in the league with that back end and having two great goalies and I think that they're both locked in for pretty good numbers. So that was. But going back to like Billy G and, and maybe not doing that at the deadline. Maybe wasn't this, this year wasn't the time too. And overpaying for that TR for trick. Now he's probably looking. Colorado is this big of a wagon right now. Like, why would I leverage the future that bad? I don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Because. Because the argument would be. And the main storyline to me is not Caprisoft's deal. It's like, can you get Quinn Hughes signed? And if you can't and he leaves, like, they could. They could be in one. Like, you watch that guy. Like, I mean, he was. He was the best player.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Boldy's incredible and Wallstead had moments and I love Faber, but you take Quinn Hughes off that team if he decides not to sign there. Like, they're in one.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So they have 13 and a half million come this offseason to spend who they must have to lock in a few more guys, but we can. Do you have the. Do you have the guys who they have to resign?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I do not have that.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Probably Zuccarello is one of them, right?

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, they got to resign Teresenko,

[Merles]

Foligno, Zuccarillo, McCarron, Johansson.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And you mean Nick Felino. Because Marcus is locked in at a good. A pretty reasonable deal.

[Whitney]

That's a lot of guys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Two goals, 38 years old. I mean, let's get into the game five. And obviously we streamed game four. It's like. Feels like two weeks ago, boys, they came out. I was like, I actually texted you guys. I'm like, this team deserves a lot of credit. Like the balls they're shown in this game. I also mentioned. And Keith, I think you said Landiscog might have said winning game five at home up three one. That's. It's. It's so hard to do. It feels like, like, you know, there's all the pressure. You want to end it, you're at home. Don't want to fly back to. To Mini or whatever other city it is. And they're down three nothing. Minnesota, the perfect period. I mean, the pass by Boldy to Johansson, he makes 900. What a deal. That guy, Marcus Johansson. So then they keep coming. They keep coming. And Felino and they stopped playing hockey.

[Ryan Gagnon]

How many times have they went LA Kings on us?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Why is it. Is it. I don't think it's like coaching where the coaches are like, sit back. It's like a mentality of all right, we have enough goals. When I think you're playing somebody like Colorado, you got to be like, we need five. Merles. You said it on the chat. You're like, if they don't get another one, this thing's done. And I was like, what you end up being, right?

[Merles]

Yeah, I know my abs boys. And what happened was I was actually at my nephew's birthday party last night for the first period. So I'm a loser. I didn't wear my jersey over there. That's why I watched the first period. I come back over here, I like you biz with the goat head. I threw the jersey on and I actually poured a little glass of, of rouge. You know, the abs color, put the jersey on, glass of rouge. Boom, boom, boom. Tie game.

[Whitney]

Have they called you and thank you yet?

[Merles]

No, I'm, I'm waiting for my watch from number 29 for giving them the shirt.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, man. I mean, you go back to that, the play, the first shift of the game, Boldy, that when he goes to the backhand and he banks it off the ball to himself. Nelson, hook, line and sinker. And that backhand pass to Johannes, who was covering for Quinn Hughes after they scored that one. And then I was like, oh, okay. Like they're coming out like game three right now that this is going back to mini. And then all of a sudden they get the, the, the, the grinders chipping in offensively with Nick Felino having two tucks. I'm like, okay, we're for sure going back. But when, when did they get that first goal? It was, was it Parker Kelly who tipped it with the, the fruit ninja slice?

[Merles]

Yeah, like nine minutes left in the second round.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So let's talk about Kulak. And Edzo pointed this out on the broadcast. There's a bit of a doggy pile along the wall. And so if you're, if you're, if you're, let's say, let's say you're going north, south angle and you're behind Minnesota's net. Your bottom right corner. There's like three guys from each team digging away, digging away. And you could even see Edzo points it out. The ref kind of gets closer to the pile and you know how they're like, keep it moving, keep it moving. So instead of blowing it, eventually it comes loose. And as that was happening, Kulak starts backing up and he gets kicked to him. It opens up that lane D to D. And then they send a sifter in and, and going back to that and the second goal. Those are, those are world class tips. Who had the second one? Was it Drury?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Did that, did he tip that or did it hit his, hit his leg?

[Ryan Gagnon]

I thought, I thought he tipped it like with his stick, like basically between his legs. Tipped it like his big schlong was hanging down like Barry during company.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And mind you, like, Leonin's not playing either. We haven't mentioned that. So I think the the ABS fans are like, shut up about injuries. Shut your mouth, Whitney, you dumb big ear. We got plenty of injuries. One of our best playoff players, Leonin isn't playing and Maar's shoulders hanging by a thread. He still played 25 minutes in that game.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Now he's dealing with a couple things I think with.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, I, I was. Well we talked about when when he was rubbing the the stuff on his left hip, but I think it is mainly the right shoulder.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's what he missed time with after the hit from. Was it Klepka on what's the guy's name on Calgary?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, the big dinosaur.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, he hit him. He get the right shoulder. He missed a little time. Obviously that looked very innocent with Zuccarello right to the locker room. So he's battling something. But let's get into the the third goal. The the still images that people are posting of the open net McKinnon missed in the Olympics and then the where Wallstead is on this goal is very funny. I got. Yeah, Middleton. I don't know what he's doing. I. I biz you already said it. I, you know, you don't want to carve a guy. He's kind of covering air, maybe give a little pressure but at the same time like wall sets, he's sitting back in his net. And then, and then I think even he said maybe I went down a little early. I don't think that goal can go in. I, I don't think that that go like great shot right by his right ear. But challenge, you gotta challenge the shooter. I don't know about goaltending, but am I crazy?

[Whitney]

No. Especially when Middleton's taking away pass like he's low. I some teams run things differently. Like I remember Mike Smith would be like just take away the far pass. I got anything short side. So maybe that's how they play. But if the, if the defenseman's taken away that passing lane, he's got to be standing up looking at him at least like a wrist shot. And I know it's Nate, he's got great deception. He's thick handling and then just like gets it there and puts it in a tiny area. But I think the goal, he's got to be out and challenging that shot. If you get beat back door by a pass, then you almost got to blame the demon on that.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I Think that that is like a microcosm of what we saw in the last two periods. You see Wallstead battling and playing in his own end and having to be in a squat position the entire time. And it's six on five and all of a sudden you have to go post to post. It gets put weak side to McKinnon and you're. When he gets it, I get why Middleton holds there, but that strong side forward drops down and takes away that pass. So like you said, Whit, he's covering air. If he goes in pressures, McKinnon's got a move and. Or get rid of that thing right away. He doesn't. So McKinnon's able to wait, wait, wait. Sometimes when the goalie comes over and his momentum's there, you're kind of just like waiting, waiting. And then eventually you finally drop because you got no energy left because you've been in a squat position the last two periods, stopping pucks because the ice been tilted. So it's just a microcosm of everything that happened as far as sitting back and basically playing LA Kings hockey for two periods. That's what they did. That's what they did. Go ahead.

[Whitney]

It also shows, like, the skill set of Nate, because as a D man, you see him like baiting you in almost. You're like, if I go out to him, he's going to put me in the spin cycle and beat me to the net or if I don't. So he's like, just with how good he is as a defenseman, you're thinking like, this guy can do whatever he wants. And then. And then at the end of the day, he's in no man's land cover.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The way his stick was down, it's like he's saucing it over that anyways

[Stan Bowman]

if he wants to.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I think. I think that when the Minnesota fan leaked that video of him doing the pool, it was inevitable that. That that moment was going to happen.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Minnesota Wild made their own bed with their PI. Same one who. Who was with that Diana Rossini following them around. Was the guy who was in the hotel in Minnesota filming.

[Whitney]

Really?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, same one. That's what I'm hearing, at least from tmz. I don't dig, though. I don't dig.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The Wild are the first team in NHL, this is Opta Stats. First team in NHL history to have a three plus goal leading at the first intermission of a playoff game, but then have fewer than 10 shots on goal the rest of the way and

[Merles]

end up losing shots four in the third zero.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And here's the thing. So McKinnon scores, and I'm like, they may win this thing in regulation. Like, it was, it was so dominant. I'm like, all right, well, here we what? They have a minute and a half left and then they get out of the third period. I'm like, okay, go regroup, get your legs back. And what happens first shift of overtime? You got Scott. I said, almost said Scott McCarron, the PGA Senior Tour golfer. Michael.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He looked like that with the backswing, buddy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, I felt, I mean, like, I think you just gotta stop that with your backhand. This is happening so quick. I would have whiffed and I'd probably fallen over, but I'm like, oh, my God. And at this point, he's centering boldy, like, so it's like that's part of the depth and the injuries. And you're like, oh, my God. The guy had the game on his stick. He whiffs. And then after that, it was all Colorado. I was like, oh, my God, they have nothing again. Like, it's not like intermission helped him. I thought that first shift in that chance, they're gonna say, all right, Minnie's back. Nope. And. And I've never been watching an overtime more and been like, oh, this thing's done now. A lot of times that happens in ot and then the other team gets a dirty one and like, the team dominating loses that one. It was just, it was over. And Murray, you brought up the Caprisoft play. I. You hated the past that much.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, I hated the past.

[Merles]

Yeah. You could see that it was getting taken away and you're the 17 million dollar guy, come in and rip it.

[Whitney]

But it's, it's. I think Manson made such a good play. He was back checking. And a lot of guys, like the Demon will just stay closer to the shooter. But Manson was pointing at Kulak to take the far side, and he did. And Manson was able to at least get close enough to him to force him to make that pass or shoot it. And he made the pass and Kulak was already over. So I think Manson made the play of the game. They're telling, he's coming back, yelling, pointing, go wide, go wide. And he did. And it was a great heads up play by him.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I sent it to the video, to the, to the group chat. And I agree with Army. That's a, that's a dry saddle swipe. You just swipe at that one. You know what I'm saying? McCarrons, McCarran's like the first chance over from Boldy. I don't even think you need to that thing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think Joy saying it's a dry swipe makes it sound like he's like one of what four guys that can do it.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What? Just swipe. Just go like that.

[Merles]

He say no hide back swing buddy.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He. He brought it back like a slap shot.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like that's.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And then he to picked just literally just like just boom. Just swipe it through like where it was. You know you don't need a big backswing like 2ft and then just swipe, swipe away like a bubble hockey stick going back to the winner. I mean like you said Yan's between the communication of Manson and Kulak and Kulak getting his stick on that and then it goes back to the depth. Guys. I think it was Parker Kelly who ends up putting his head up. He knew ex natures must have came off the bench then.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You don't know. Did you see what happened? Nature's realized there was only four halves on the ice. Not called up. Just hopped on the ice. Crazy. He was just like oh my God, we only have four and just went which nice.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Like Bednar never tapped him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No. There was a. A total miscommunication and natures realized oh my God, we only got four and just hopped.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He. He thought Capri soft was going to put it in the back of the net and didn't want to eat the minus. And then he saw Kulak. God. And he's like I'm. I'm going now. And but for Parker Kelly to just send that and send them and then Middleton he's probably like my God, I gotta deal with last guy. You want last guy. Last guy. I got a fresh nature and he's gonna turn the corner on a dime and I gotta go 18 wheeler status. And he finds Kulak back door. And shout out to Drury on that one too buddy. Middle lane drive. Pushes that D right off of the net and the it part of the seas and he puts it in the open net. Unbelievable sequence.

[Whitney]

I like how n just didn't like. I feel like nowadays guys turn up with that especially like at like the top of the circle where Nat just kept going around the net because they knew he had the Winnebago trace chasing him. So it's like he just kept. He kept going. But if you turn up there, you give the back checkers time to get back and then you're making a play. He goes around the net and then it's just chaos and he finds this guy. And it was great shot too. Great goal.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Here's a stat for you. Nathan McKinnon has scored a goal in 46.2% of his career playoff games, 48 goals and 104 games played, tied with Craig Simpson 31 goals and 67 games played, which is at 46% for the third highest rate in NHL history, behind Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossi.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How many guys shoot that puck that Nate just like dished over to Kulak too?

[Ryan Gagnon]

So. So I think that it bobbles off his stick ever so slightly and that forces him not to shoot it. If you go watch it when he rounds the net, it looks like he's about to make a play on his forehand and he loses control just a little bit. And I think by that time then Kulak comes in sight and he finds him. I might be crazy and just seeing we're not able to. To replay the goals on here until Gary Bettman gives us permission, which that's why I'm wearing the NHL bucket for. See if we can get him on our good side. I'm gonna watch it one more time and see. See if that's true.

[Ryan Whitney]

What about.

[Merles]

We gotta talk about the goalie change. Good move by Bedner sparked the whole thing that.

[Whitney]

The wedgie chance at the end too. Oh, was there wedgie chance at the end of the game? So you know who they want.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Kind of felt bad for Blackwood a little bit. I mean, they're moving on and, and the way things are going. The current NHL, we probably see him again.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Well, hey, he, he, he. He played incredible in game four. Like unbelievable. Like game four was the clo. Other than the ot that was the closest game right? Like that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, it was if it was five, two and two empty netters. But yeah, it's 210 minutes left.

[Ryan Gagnon]

The one that he kicked out with the left pad. When it was coming back to the crease, there was a lot of plays in around the post area where he stayed strong. He looked agile. Hey, wasn't his night, but you're gonna. When they won it last time, buddy, it was, it was. It was Kemper and then who's the backup who came in and played well? Francos. So he, He. I think the sticks in the lane and he. And he like somewhat bobbles it but then pushes the puck nature. So he didn't bobble it that bad. But he just.

[Stan Bowman]

He.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He didn't have the opportunity to shoot with. With when he rounded. When Middleton was kind of back in his kitchen after turning The Winnebago was the answer.

[Merles]

Also I need to clear something up. A lot of people, I don't know why they don't understand it yet but you gave us the stat that they've never clinched a series at home in 18 years.

[Whitney]

Crazy.

[Merles]

So I immediately put that up on Twitter when it went 3 nothing to do to reverse push and I got all these avalanche people. How'd that one age? Nice take old takes exposing my guys did that all you know you don't

[Paul Bissonnette]

get my my life yet.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah. Welcome to the party.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Welcome to the Merles World.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Merls leaves that series having two fan bases wanting them dead.

[Whitney]

Yeah. He didn't even stay for cake for his nephew's birthday.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. So I mean as we wrap up this series everyone was expecting for you know, more games. No doubt. But my, my, my thought is like I, I don't see Colorado losing. I don't I h who how are you going to beat them? Maybe if Maar is too banged up. I mean I know Vegas has a chance to end their series tonight. That I think would be an amazing series but I thought this one would be too and now if they don't have Mark Stone and I I just think the depth on Colorado we haven't even mentioned Ross Colton. You see that hit he put on Quinn Hughes. He buries him, he punches him in the face. It's like they got a bunch of nasty guys. They got guys who can fly. They backtrack like maniacs. It's, it's similar. I feel like they're similar to Carolina and how they play energy wise with more skill. Now that series could be incredible if somehow they meet in the cup final. But Colorado is a complete wagon and, and at this point I don't see anyone beating them.

[Whitney]

Wasn't Ross Colton the center in Tampa?

[Ryan Gagnon]

I don't know. He was a fourth line guy there for, for quite a bit and Right.

[Whitney]

But it's like for them it's like you build through the middle of the ice like if he's playing wing like a guy that is a center like good for them for having all those guys.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh yeah.

[Whitney]

Minnesota could have used a guy like that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, I mean is he coming back?

[Merles]

It's like if they get him back and like Nelson hasn't even woken up yet. He hasn't really done much. And then I gotta say when it was three nothing and they're going back to Mini I said you know what they gotta do? They're gonna have to let Nachin out of the boza for one.

[Whitney]

Yeah, I agree.

[Merles]

I need him going. He's only got one goal. So I think maybe on this break they might have to let him out for one night.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Merles]

And see if that can spark him. But it's a slippery slope with him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You think? Yeah.

[Whitney]

It's worth taking though.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Definitely a slope. Definitely a slope.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, Colorado, any other thoughts on. On what we witnessed, boys, Are we ready to move on?

[Ryan Gagnon]

I think that from Quinn Hughes's comments like it looks promising that he would consider a future and a life in Minnesota. And you talk about needing centerman if, if New Jersey doesn't clean things up. I could, I would. I could much rather see Jack going there than them going to New Jersey. I'll do it that way.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. The rumor being that Quinn sign. Signs what I think 3 year extension would make them both UFAs at the same time. If, if that happens, I think it's panic time with the Devils because then it's like, oh my God, they're going to be making choices together and they could go anywhere like it that. You know, if you see Quinn sign a long term deal there. Yeah. I mean he's not going to New Jersey, but it doesn't necessarily mean Jack's going to Minnesota. If they're both finishing as a UFA the same year, it's. It's game on.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I'll promise you this. Jack's going to Minnesota before Quinn's going to New Jersey. That's a fact. Is probably losing his mind back there. But without Pasha hopping on, there will be consequences next season if the New Jersey Devils do not make playoffs. And I'm talking actual consequences. Wow, buddy. This guy's been talking about this team like they're going to be a cup contender year over year over year. It's a show.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's not a serious person. Guys.

[Ryan Gagnon]

The Toronto Devils, just like the Toronto Oilers, running throughout the league just because they got their his cousin as gm now he thinks that they're going to bring. He's going to bring him to the promised land.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, you hear it all the time in sports. You get out what you put in. Boys, if you're eating right, training right, doing all the little things, you're going to perform better. Everybody knows that. And it's the exact same dynamic with your car, with your whip. You might just pull up, fill up and go. Not thinking about what you're actually putting into it. But it turns out it matters a lot. Shell V Power Nitro plus is designed to help remove up to 100 of performance robbing deposits from your engine. So instead of the car working through all that buildup, it's actually able to perform the way it's supposed to on the road. And that's where you feel it. More people, more power. Excuse me, when you need it. And more performance every time you drive. If you're putting better fuel in, you're gonna get a better drive out of it. So Shell V Power Nitro Plus Premium Gasoline. More power, more performance in gasoline. Direct injection engine fuel injectors with continuous use of Shell V Power Nitro plus Premium Gasoline. Compared to lower octane fuels. Actual effects and benefits may vary according to vehicle type, driving conditions and driving style. See Shell us slash more for more details.

[Stan Bowman]

Wow.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What a read.

[Whitney]

Unbelievable.

[Ryan Gagnon]

If I did that, we would have been kicked off Netflix.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah, I'm still. My brain's in a pretzel right now, but shout out Shell. And now Merle's other team. We're back in Buffalo tonight, boys. And before I throw it to any of you guys, there is a chance we saw a team truly coming of age in Game 4 for the Buffalo Sabres because you had calls going against you. You had every reason in the world to think it wasn't your night and wasn't your series. And did they get one of the luckiest bounces I've ever seen? Yes. But man, no quit. And they end up winning a game that I, I, I like both these teams a lot.

[Stan Bowman]

This same.

[Whitney]

I think we all do.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But they won a game in which they didn't just beat the Canadians, they beat the refs. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[Whitney]

Like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I got Canadians fans telling me, you're full of. You don't know what you're talking about. Look at this cross.

[Ryan Gagnon]

They're ruthless.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Look at this cross chick on Caulfield that wasn't called. And I, I, I never. The diving from the Canadiens the other

[Ryan Gagnon]

night, guys, there's a little bit going on for sure.

[Paul Bissonnette]

A little bit going on there. So why don't you take it away from your, your takeaways from game four. An electric game four, though.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, I, well, I mean, I guess if we're talking about that specifically, I thought that Goulet went down very, very easy on the page. Thompson little. And, and then sure enough, Caulfield ended up making it 2:1 after that. So you had a team in, in, in Buffalo who I thought drastically outplayed Montreal in the first period, and all of a sudden, they're going into the locker room down, right? So, but like, like, I think that that, that bounce that they got was the hockey gods rewarding them for sticking with it, playing through it, and. And figuring things out. And of course, on his 21st birthday, Benson ends up getting the winner in front of the net. Now, I don't want to take full credit for the victory, but they were getting no puck luck, no saves, no calls. Their special teams were dogs. And then it came to my head, after some Sabre fans thought I was rooting against him, I said, I'm not rooting against you. I'm not rooting against Montreal either. What I'm rooting for is a seven game series. Because like you said, Whit, I love both these teams. I want to see one more game in Montreal. I want to see Scheme 7 in Buffalo. Could you imagine, like, what are the. What. What are the Blade gang? What kind of tricks do they have up their sleeve? If we go seven with Montreal, how many. How many Montreal Canadiens fans are we going to see in the lower bowl? There's so many questions to be answered if we do get seven games, and I can't say all. Every single call has gone Montreal's way. I thought that Mallenstein running over Doish was like, that was. That was pretty egregious. Like, that was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I more meant game four.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Not the entire series, no doubt, but definitely game four. They were getting hosed. They were getting the rubber fist up the hoop and Buffalo prevailed. So I'm just happy this thing's tied up. Two, two.

[Stan Bowman]

Yeah.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And. And yeah. Overall, boys, it's. It's electric series. Electric.

[Whitney]

I think everybody had this going seven before it even started, right? And we need seven more than we need oxygen. This series has been awesome. Josh Doane has been incredible. The play that he made over to Ben on that goal, the first play that he made coming in on their

[Ryan Gagnon]

first goal, who it was Samuelson. Yeah.

[Whitney]

Comes over the blue line, loses control, but still has the puck. Makes a pass over to Norris. And then the play that he makes to Benson. Benson, unbelievable. Hands like to do that. That tight with bodies around you get it up that quick. The kid's a stud. What did you say? His jersey is the number one selling jersey in the NHL right now.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I think. Now. No, I think I said once Porter, Martone and Zegras are eliminated. Now I think that his is going to be. It's been selling like hotcakes in Buffalo. I think it's the number one jersey going in Buffalo. Oh, I got a phone call, boys. Oh, I got a phone call.

[Merles]

Might be not only did they beat the Habs and the refs? They also beat the ESPN announcers. I don't know if you had that volume on those guys. They're trying to say Darlene was scratching an old cut to get the blood out.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I took that as a. Like, I thought that was kind of tongue in cheek. I think it was McDonough. Right? Like, I didn't. I didn't think he was seriously saying that.

[Merles]

And then Dave Jackson agreeing with every call when Goulet. That's all he does at Darlene on the power play. Throws himself, then lays on the ice like, you got to disagree and say, oh, they should have called embellishment there or only embellishment.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So, okay, we know the reason.

[Whitney]

We know the real reason why the Habs lost.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, we haven't addressed Rear Admiral comes

[Whitney]

out of the dungeon to go to this first game of the year and decides to go up to my team, the Montreal Canadiens, in their own building. I said it as soon as he came on the, on the, on the last stream. I said, he has the Montreal Canadiens. And I go, well, they're losing next game. There was no chance they were winning that game, so Montreal had to beat the Sabres, not the refs. But ra. And they couldn't do it. But I'm praying, praying he goes to Buffalo to put on. He'll put on a buffalo hat and root for them. So I'm praying he goes to Buffalo and Montreal can get a win on the road.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I. I want to talk about the. The no goal. It was Jack Quinn. Correct. And that kid.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Is it Helenius?

[Paul Bissonnette]

What is it?

[Merles]

They were saying it weird on the broadcast, but I can't trust anything.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Everybody knows who we're talking about.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Let's call him Helenius Young.

[Merles]

Finn.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What the hell was he doing not playing? Where the hell's this guy been? What's he been just black acing the entire playoffs? This guy, he looked electric. So he drives the net. I mean, if you have a 10 minute review, that's where it's like we gotta. I don't. Can we figure this out somehow? Like.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Well, the original review was whether the puck in his glove had actually crossed

[Paul Bissonnette]

the line, but I knew it crossed the line way sooner than they did and so did you. You saw White in between the puck in the goal line in his glove.

[Merles]

Fair.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Fair.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Now. Okay, forget. Forget the goaltender. Interference call. Have you seen the view of where Helenius is skating at Jack? Ey. Cross checks him directly in the temple. I don't know how that didn't get called. That was where I think Buffalo fans once. Once they saw that, they're losing their mind because they end up with a penalty, no goal, and a cross check to the head of this new young stud who's flying around like McKinnon. And he hadn't even been in the lineup. So that's where I was. Like, this might not be their night. Like, this series. I don't. This is like. It was like the old magic of the Montreal Canadiens back in the the 70s.

[Whitney]

He was also out there at the end of the game to. To ice the game. Like, usually when a guy comes in that hasn't played, he's not out there the last minute or two of the game. But these fins, Merles, you know, like, they're so irresponsible.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So I gotta hand. I gotta hand up Maya CPA here. Okay, so they were calling Martin St. Louis. It was called a goal because it clearly crossed the goal line. So then Martin St. Louis says, I want to challenge for goalie interference.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, your video.

[Ryan Gagnon]

There's discrepancy on Helenius and. And whether he was pushed in and interfered and vice versa. I thought, regardless of that, if you're watching that and you're going over goalie interference for a goal scored. Can we not agree on when Quinn backhands that puck in the net on the follow through, he hits Dobush's glove and pushes it in the net.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I will disagree with you.

[Whitney]

I won't. I'm with you on this.

[Ryan Gagnon]

It's clear that he pushes his glove back. It's clear.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I. I know. And maybe, and maybe the rule states it doesn't matter, but I'm not looking at that as a purposeful or on purpose.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Doesn't matter.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's not a high follow through. It was so innocent. The fault of it where I thought. I didn't. I was like, wow, I'm surprised. I didn't even know they were checking.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. If the puck sitting in the crease, right, and the goalies pad is before it, and you go and you make direct contact with the puck to jam it in and it pushes his pad back, what do they deem it?

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's no goal. But are you talking about. Okay, are you talking about spearing at the puck or you're.

[Ryan Gagnon]

That's it. You're pushing the puck into the net, regardless if it's a shot, you're trying to push the object into the net. Okay? So when he does that, if he doesn't if he, if he shoots that backhand and he doesn't touch his glove and the, the, I mean, keep in mind the velocity of that little backhand is not going to push his glove back in the net like that. That's not going to happen. What did it is the fact that when he follows through the follow through, hits his glove right here and it pushes his glove into the net, to me, that's no goal. So that's.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But are you saying. But have they said that that would have been a goal, like, without the Helenius bumping into him? Like, that's what they were reviewing.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I understand that you're, you're reviewing goaltender interference was the goalie interfered with for the puck to cross the line. So obviously they, they ended up deeming it where Helenius was the one who, they thought he was the one who initiated contact by going through the crease, regardless if he was pushed by Jackey. Okay, what I'm saying is, is if I'm video reviewing that and I'm saying, okay, let's look for Helenius here, it's kind of a 50, 50, but it's like, oh, well, Quinn Hughes backhands that and hits his glove into the net. That's the goalie interference. That, that is it right now, if you're saying, oh, If I'm Martin St. Louis, I have to deliberately challenge whether it's Helenius or, or not.

[Whitney]

Yeah, I think you do.

[Merles]

Yes, you have to.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Okay, well, then hold on.

[Whitney]

Let's bring in Dave Jackson.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Let's bring in Dave.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Let's bring in that, that, that's what the ref say going, yeah, that's going interference, guys. No doubt.

[Whitney]

Yeah, you have to, you have to tell them which, which play it is. They come over and ask you, are you challenging this one or this one? So it's a ballsy call, but it could have been on both of them.

[Merles]

So now that's what I'm wondering. If they said no interference on Lenius, could he have challenged again?

[Whitney]

Oh, you lose your challenge.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right, so, so that's what, that's what made me think. We've seen a ton of spearing at the goalies pad and, and yes, no goal. The pad was pushed in. The glove was pushed in. That to me was just like, it was like the follow, barely any follow through of the, of a soft backhander. And I was like, oh, that's not enough to say he pushed his glove in.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Can you agree that, that, that the velocity of that backhand, if he doesn't touch his glove is not enough to like. Like. It's not like you're going like that from a slap shot. It's a little. Little like he's just swiping at it from a backhand. It would just go in his glove. It wouldn't push his glove back in.

[Whitney]

And the goalie's arms extended be so hard. Like a little tap is going to move it back.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So. So regardless of. Of all the. The. The release that came out, Helenius is the one who interfere with him. I think overall that goal should not have counted for the reason that the goalie was interfered with and the puck was pushing. Buffalo fans will scream till that's fine, but the hockey gods took care of him in the end. Yeah, so did I. By throwing on the goat head. I'm not a. I'm not hopping on the bandwagon. I'm not. I just did you guys a solid because I thought you deserved it.

[Whitney]

So you just won game seven.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So Rhonda should be eating my cornhole out when we get the Buffalo. What do you mean? That's my wife. I could talk about her any way I want to.

[Whitney]

That's true. That's true.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Hey, by the way. By the way, Rhonda has reached out. Can I read? Can I. I'm gonna read you.

[Whitney]

Can't wait for the bachelor party.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I'm gonna. Oh, buddy. Oh, buddy. I was even gonna dangle the carrot.

[Stan Bowman]

And she's gone.

[Ryan Gagnon]

All you Buffalo fans and the team that if you're able to get to the finals, we don't have TNT this year, I will marry Rhonda and the Blade Gang's backyard. And we will. The celebration of a lifetime before the first game of that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Missed the net. What a wedding that would be.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I'm gonna read you what she wrote. I'm gonna find it here.

[Merles]

While Biz is looking that up, people, we had Andrew Peters on game notes yesterday. Former Buffalo Saber enforcer. He gave us some good inside scoops on everything that went on this year with the Sabres. What it's like playing for Lindy Ruff. So if you need something to do after listening to this, go over there and listen to pd. He's pretty funny.

[Whitney]

What's he up to, Meros?

[Merles]

He's got his podcast out there with Craig Revey, so they're covering the Sabers. And, you know, he's just. He's living in Buffalo, living a clean life.

[Whitney]

And it's a scary dude, man.

[Merles]

We talked about when he fought Ray Emery and that whole brawl.

[Whitney]

And they don't make the fighters like that anymore. He was a huge man. Holy.

[Merles]

He would throw the punches from back here.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Ryan Gagnon]

She goes, I'll. I'll start it off. I'll back this up to Monday. Rhonda apologizes. We are loose cannons in Buffalo. And obviously I sent the. The kiss emoji.

[Whitney]

Hey girl. What up?

[Ryan Gagnon]

She goes, rob's dead. When I see him for calling me Rhonda a Tinder or bumble chick. I wrote hahaha. Obviously. And then after the game she writes me right away. She goes in capital letters. Thanks for changing the saber's luck last night, you sweet angel baby. Rhonda appreciates you. I wrote, of course, my love. Anything for you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Stop doing like the sex voice.

[Whitney]

Is she calling herself Rhonda?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, you think she isn't legally changing her name.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Went to the courthouse in. In a goat head jersey and did it just because that's what biz called her.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And we, we described her last pod. I looked at her profile. Bill's jersey, Bill's hats, like she is all in. And yeah, if you don't think that the Bill's cheerleaders will be there as her her. What do you call the girls that hang out with the girl? The girl rides and I'm cheers are

[Merles]

called the Buffalo Jills.

[Ryan Gagnon]

The Buffalo Jills will be there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm called.

[Whitney]

They're all named Jill.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah. I'm gonna have the Blade Gang as my, my groomsman. And are we gonna have a celebration if the boys can pull it out.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I was so surprised that Montreal, they got that four minute power play into the second right. And did it go into the third period? Yeah. Yes. And they had the good ice. They had.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I think it was Bo Byram high stick.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. And they weren't able to get one there. I was like I had to go head on that Benson play though. Just using his skate and then beautiful goal. And that kid. I also shout out new hook. Who's this guy's on fire right now. He's playing amazing.

[Whitney]

I whoever, whoever made the call to make that trade should get a fucking raise. That because that like to bring in a guy like that for what he's done. Because Slaff hasn't been great. Demidov hasn't been great or at least scoring. And Caulfield obviously just got one. What's he now you get two. But like to bring in a guy that can score depth, that has the Stanley cup pedigree. What. What an absolute steal of a trade Slap.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We talk about the goie dives the slap one. I mean, he looked like he got shot from the. The ballot. Who hit him that. That play was. Was it Thompson or was it the goalie?

[Merles]

I think he got the goalie's butt end. The one where.

[Whitney]

Oh, in front of the net.

[Merles]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. But all of a sudden it was just like.

[Whitney]

But was that even a penalty?

[Merles]

No, they didn't call. They had enough of the diving and everything. They. They gave up on it. You guys think the boy that cried wolf? Because I had a guy saying that,

[Ryan Whitney]

he's like, oh, you missed that one.

[Merles]

I'm like, you ever hear the story, the boy that cried wolf? You keep diving, eventually they're going to think it's a dive. Lindy.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Lindy Ruff tiptoed around it and. And addressed it in the perfect way, like the veteran he is. There's no chance that they don't up end up with the better end of the calls in Game 5 at home.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's what I was just. No chance.

[Ryan Gagnon]

No chance. I think Montreal better be prepared.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The refs leave that game and they see a couple replays, and that. That pisses refs off, you know, because. Oh, yeah, kind of looking bad. And they're like that. Like, I'm not. We're not giving them anything. Even if it's a different crew. It's like we just saw a bunch of theatrics there in game four, so you better be fighting through checks in game five.

[Whitney]

You noticed that in the Minnesota, Colorado game because, you know, all the refs have the phone calls. There was, what, one power play each?

[Ryan Gagnon]

I. So I like that about that game where they just let them play, and it was. There was flow and everything. And I'm sure most of you people listening know this. Every series has a referee, supervisor. So after the game, you know, Lindy Ruff and the Buffalo Sabres are going, hey, listen, we won. No, hard. No, no, like, you know, no hard feelings here, but watch those replays, like Whit said. And all of a sudden, they're going to be on high alert for Goulet and Slaff and whoever's flopping around for the Montreal Canadiens. And it could come back to bite you in the ass. So.

[Whitney]

And they took care of their power plays. They went 2 for 4, Buffalo and Montreal was 7.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I got to admit, I was completely wrong, because I'm thinking, game three, get upl in there. Get him used to the building. Get him used to the crowd. They didn't. He was phenomenal. He was awesome. And to be able. It's just I. I went on the. The. I mentioned you guys. I was going on the Trap Draw podcast. I did it yesterday. A lot of hockey talk. Kind of teaching these guys maybe a little bit. And they asked about goaltending and how now it. So many teams have two. And when we were all younger, it was just. You had a stud and then if the stud had to got injured or something was like, oh no, our backups coming in. Well, look at Colorado. Look at Buffalo now. I mean Lionel probably play again if they somehow win this series and move on. It's just to have two guys is just so valuable. And UPL credit to him. That was not an easy game to play.

[Merles]

People forget UPL turned the whole season around when he got caught out at that bar. 40 thieves and their record has just been ridiculous. 36 and 2 or something ridiculous. So the guys love him for flipping the season. You knew he was going to come in and have a good game. But there is something about this Montreal. I don't know if it's their whole organization, but we caught a clip of army, who is a former Montreal Canadian. He dove in the. In the charity game yesterday.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right, I saw that.

[Merles]

It's all. I don't know if it's an organizational thing, is it taught it at all levels of martial Canadians, but Arm Dog

[Paul Bissonnette]

is even diving the biggest you've ever seen. Bugsy gave him a little hook and he literally dove like it was a diving board.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, no.

[Whitney]

Hey, Montreal is one of those buildings, though. You always knew you were going to get, you know, the raw end of the calls. Like, I don't know if it's because the crowd gets so into it and gets on the refs, but you always knew going in you were going to get the short end of the stick with the power plays.

[Merles]

Yeah, they're guys real quick before we. Before we move on to Vegas Anaheim,

[Ryan Whitney]

I feel like we kind of bury

[Merles]

the lead in the first series. Nathan McKinnon will not take p. Take questions from biz in the scuba gear.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, that was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He ended up taking some.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He took one at the end. I saw your nose.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You're so different looking. I was like, whoa, yeah, you can see your face. That's what his face looks like in

[Ryan Gagnon]

a Michael Jackson type way. You mean you should do.

[Whitney]

You should do the Michael Jackson nose, dude.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Get the K. Anthony Kim.

[Paul Bissonnette]

As he was saying no and just look so miserable after just dominating another series and moving on. I was like, I think we might. We might be blackballed.

[Whitney]

He got him to Smile, though.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I saw his teeth for the first time. I mean, I'm. I'm just proud of getting to see his teeth. He was. He cracked up. He came on and we had the monitor out for him. And I, I once. Once that video came out, I texted the. The producers. I said, I. I was like, I'm. If we get him pregame, should I do it? No. He would have been blank face.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And he walked off.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He would have walked off. Would not be. So it was the perfect time. He scores that tying goal. He was in the best mood ever. So I'm. I'm very thankful to the Hawkins for also taking care of us in that regard.

[Whitney]

If you get. If you guys get the Western Conference finals and you guys stay at the same hotel, you just gotta spend all day in the pool waiting for them.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, buddy. I was already.

[Whitney]

You and Rhonda.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I was already thinking of a skit in my head. If we can get Wayne and Panger involved, they're gonna have like those tanning things out, the Panger Peptide tan going. And I'm gonna ask Wayne to get in with the snorkeler and. And maybe McKinnon would be a part of it, but probably not because it's playoffs and they have one goal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We also had to get it out there. He's like, there was 10 other guys in the pool like me at the end. Like, he was like, I'm throwing everyone. I was not the only guy in the pool. I think he mentioned proprioception is a part of it. It was.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I was like, what's proprioception?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No clue. No clue. I might not even be saying the right word. He said some word that begins with a P about what he gets done in the pool. And he's like, it was 10 minutes, basically, shut the up is. Put an NHL hat on.

[Merles]

I don't know if you guys follow Twitter. I don't know if I'm allowed to show it, but I'll show it anyway. Right?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, what's that?

[Merles]

But Montreal is taking a. A page out of McKinnon's playbook, so they're. They're. Okay.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Okay. The diving team. I saw an AI image of the four of. I think it was Suzuki was one of them. Although he. I don't think he's do. Or he's not a diver.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I haven't seen Hudson dive.

[Ryan Gagnon]

No. No.

[Merles]

How. How about Hudson skating for that loose puck?

[Whitney]

Dude, that was incredible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, my God. I. I think someone texted the group chat. Jesus Christ. Hudson me. Yeah, he looks like shot out of

[Whitney]

a can that just fly across the water.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How about that save? We didn't bring up that save Upl made on Caulfield. I was like, was that, that was game four, right? Was that game three? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Because Upl played. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, that was, I mean that's, that's a goal. Caulfield gets a one time dish like that. It's like it's in the net. That was, I know it kind of hit him, but still incredible to get across and get a piece of that one.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So two more things. Need a little bit more from Owen Power. Not, not saying he's been playing horrible, just a little meaner. And because of the show in game three and game two, them getting bullied around. Luke Shen gets put in the lineup. He played seven minutes, not a ton, but stick taps for him, man. And I, I, I, I didn't think that, that Montreal was nearly as physical and there wasn't as much bullshit as there was in the two prior games. So I don't know if that was necessarily a deterrent. I don't know if there was any conversation that happened at the red line or maybe in the midst of the game, but nice to see Shannon getting the lineup and, and then pull out a victory.

[Merles]

Yeah, I, I had it in my notes. Owen Power, I think it was his first shift of the game. He's in on the four check. So he's going 200ft and he doesn't finish the check. He curls and comes back like as well.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Run him at that point you're six

[Merles]

four, you're already there. Go run the guy. Yeah, but yes, I love that. I love you. Shout out those, the lineup changes they made Lindy Russell, that was, that was

[Paul Bissonnette]

called at one point I think in Pittsburgh, the Whitney, you know, six four, defenseman, caught up ice, doesn't even hit the guy. You might as well do something and then chase it back. A two on one in the position.

[Ryan Gagnon]

If you could put half of, of Jack eyes like, like squirreliness and intensity and physical into Power, I think you, you might have Chris pr.

[Whitney]

He should literally live with prongs for a summer and just be like, okay, man, how do I hate everybody? How do I be so mean? How do I like. Because he's gutted. He's got all the tools. You just, you got to be more than a minute cruncher out there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I couldn't believe Montreal lost. Did you see Jack Gu's gear walking in? Do you see his fit?

[Ryan Gagnon]

No, he's always got the fun outfits. They got Some guys in that team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He looked phenomenal. He looked phenomenal. I gotta be honest with you. I don't know if we could find that. But the one other series going on, boys. Vegas, Anaheim, the Vegas Golden Knights and Pavel Dorothev. What a game by this kid. Now once again, I'll remind everyone our guy Liam Blutman said he cannot play in the playoffs. Word for word, bar for bar. He. This guy can't play in the playoffs. What does he have? Seven goals now and his first goal of the game. One of the best defensive plays I've seen in the playoffs. I. I think Kreider thought he was kind of alone. And he's going up ice. Possible odd man rush.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Whoop.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Dorothy have lifts the stick. Then he brings it to the middle. Complete snipe. And the OT winner. He batted that thing out of midair. I couldn't tell. And then you see the replay. That goal, once you see a replay was way more impressive than. Than what you thought happened Live pass off the pads. Oh, so. Yeah, you think. I think Eichel's trying to score that one bit. So that's not a pop the mixer.

[Merles]

Throw it to the mixer. Good things will happen.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I think he owes me a commission.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But takeaways from that game. Once again, Anaheim. And they dominated a lot of that game. I think early on the Vegas looked way better. And then all of a sudden, here comes Anaheim. And here's a stat that kind of rattles me because I'm wanting seven in this series. Vegas is. I think they're 50 in their career as a franchise. When winning game five, Will tied 2 2. And in each one, they've actually closed it out in six.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yep.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So that's. It's exactly what they did to Utah. So it's like if Vegas is going to keep rolling in like they haven't in their past, they're gonna. They're gonna get it done in game six.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And I should have bet my life on Vegas. And six. I knew it was coming. And the paling loss. Concussion. We can get into that hit that. That. That hurts. Because if they're thin anywhere, I think they're a little thin up the middle. And that just puts their sentiment on a bit of an island. Leo's a young guy. He's lugging a lot of minutes right now. They have Washy. And then who's the other guy that would be in the middle there? Like, who's. Who's another guy who's gonna have to step up and play for. For Anaheim with Paling out. That's the fact that you guys don't even have a name. Ready is exactly all you need to know.

[Merles]

Where's McTavishman playing? They could use him to step up his game.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I think he would be exposed in the middle of the ice right now. He's not ready.

[Whitney]

He looked good last game. I thought he played. Played better last game because he played with a little bit more snarl.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, he was. I think he was a healthy the game prior or at least has been in the series. My issue with McTavish is just consistency. Like, sometimes, like, he'll be. He'll be great. And other times you're like, oh, is that biz out there?

[Whitney]

But, yeah, Vegas did this too, with. Against Utah. Like, Utah looked dominant at times. Like, they looked like they were the better team. Just might be. The way Vegas plays. Like, they play that rope a dope style. They're like, okay, you can dominate for a couple, you know, 10 minutes a game. You can do your thing, but we're gonna find a way to win these games. And they do. And Dora felt like, how big was that goal? I know. And I didn't like the fact that they didn't celebrate hard enough. When Hurdle got his goal in. Or would that have been game three?

[Paul Bissonnette]

That was the end.

[Ryan Gagnon]

But it was. But they were still in it. It made it 4 3. Anaheim was still ahead.

[Whitney]

Yeah. And then they almost scored right after that. Dorothy have almost scored right after that. But, like, it wasn't that big of a celebration. But, like, when you're a goal scorer and you see a puck go in, you get that confidence. And he gets a beautiful goal the night after. And he went absolutely insane. It was such a good celebration. His teammates were so happy for him. Like, they showed the bench. They were going nuts. So that. That was. That was a good, great goal by him. But you got to see him. He'll be getting going even more now, and watch out for him.

[Ryan Gagnon]

The biggest thing, though, is with McNabb, by the way, first time he's been suspended in his 14 years. He plays hard. That I was suspendable hit.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Suspendable hit.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah. Gary was kind of bitching. We were going back and forth, like, via text, and I'm like, oh, no way.

[Army]

Lawless.

[Whitney]

Lawless. You mean not Batman?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, not bad. And I'm like, well, like, you got like, they're. They're basically their second, if not third best center, I would say second best center who helps kill penalties out for next game. And I think it's a huge, obviously Loss for Vegas because I think that their penalty kill and I think their shot blocking leader in McNabb is now going to be out. So it's basically a one for one. So if anything, I could see Anaheim. I would actually bet Power play. Goal for Anaheim.

[Whitney]

Got to win this one. Anaheim.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Got to win it.

[Merles]

McNabb has been looking to do that to somebody for all playoffs. How many times have we chirped in our group chat like, oh look, she's trying to put him to sleep like the arm dog used to.

[Whitney]

He's great. Oh yeah, used to. Now he's diving. Arm dog.

[Merles]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, he's been playing 22 minutes a game.

[Ryan Gagnon]

McNab's a beast, buddy. Yeah, he's a beast. He's a, he's a champion.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But that hit, I, I, I, I literally could feel like I was like, oh, like it's just, it was like he collapsed his sternum and the puck was, the puck was like they hadn't

[Whitney]

even dropped it yet.

[Paul Bissonnette]

15ft away.

[Whitney]

When you get hit when there's no puck, it hurts 7,000 times more.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, it's because you let down your guard. You're like, oh, it's nowhere near me. Should we bring in the diver?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, let's bring him in. He's driving around on a golf cart. Oh, he's Maddie for calling him a diver. Bring this guy in right now. I think he just mouth what the are they talking about?

[Whitney]

He might pull him up out of that golf cart.

[Merles]

What do you mean?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm diving, buddy. We saw the clip. Looked like friggin goolie on the Canadians.

[Army]

Goulet, as Merles calls him, the French.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah. Robert Goulet.

[Army]

Goulet.

[Ryan Whitney]

No way, man.

[Army]

That was a hook. I wasn't going fast, but that's brutal. Is the wind bad out here? Oh my God.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, you sound great.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Amazing.

[Whitney]

Sound phenomenal.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Amazing. Who's, who's next to you?

[Army]

Well, just a member here. Guess where we are, where me and

[Paul Bissonnette]

Biz beat you and Bugsy.

[Whitney]

Hey, what's his name? What's his name?

[Army]

Julian. Mikola. Mikola, who doesn't love Mika. But I'm here with these guys here. I'll show you these guys here. But we played in Bugsy's event and little game last night. Little golf today with the boys. Saw Kopitar. He's retired, of course. We know that. Congratulated him on a great career. But we got these knuckleheads right here. Let's go.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I'm on your team, boys.

[Army]

Game winning Goal last night right here.

[Whitney]

Hell yeah.

[Army]

Game winning goal in jeans too.

[Whitney]

How's their golf game?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Kid rocks on our stream right now, boys.

[Army]

They, they said they, they said be ready for them. Big deal. Selects. They're ready to roll trainings.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I've never heard that one before.

[Ryan Whitney]

Putting a lot of work in the off season. I don't know if un has cut us yet, but we're putting in the work.

[Whitney]

Weather looks beautiful, huh?

[Army]

It's horrible. It's horrible. This is not my style. I'm like, I need, I'm so bad at golf. You guys know this. That I need like good weather at least and be boozing like pretty heavily. It's freezing cold here right now.

[Whitney]

But we are on the whiskey.

[Army]

We are at the scene of the crime biz where you and Bugsy. We're coming up on that hole after this one. Yeah. Were you scrapped and you made Bugsy bleed his own blood?

[Ryan Gagnon]

I made him bleed his own blood.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Can you hand the camera to someone so we can see your hot. Are you about to hit?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I'm not.

[Army]

I, I didn't play this hole because I set him out for this hole because I got to come on with you guys.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I was going to ask Ollie and Jacob what they make of the the knob block situation because I think that they're Calgary.

[Army]

Calgary guys. Yeah, I'll ask him. Hold on. You guys want to see him shoot here?

[Whitney]

Hey, he goes. We got a pretty, pretty big chip coming up here.

[Army]

Here he is. Let's see.

[Merles]

Yeah, I watched the clips of those. It's insane. Those guys play with zero equipment on. Just in jeans.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They don't give a though.

[Merles]

And there's like non skaters out there.

[Army]

Oh, look at this. Look at this. I think I did this when I was here with YouTube guys.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, it's going all the way back down.

[Army]

It's going all the way back.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What a loser.

[Paul Bissonnette]

See you later. Who needs the PGA Championship on the bench? Boys playing Pittsburgh.

[Whitney]

Army.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Do you think quickly. Army. Do you think Vegas ends it tonight?

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Army]

I don't think so, man. Senaki has five goals. That kid's a weapon.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Army]

I love that kid. Like they're just so dangerous. Their power plays can save them. I, I, I just don't think they're gonna go quietly into the night against Vegas. I think we'll push it to another game here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What do you.

[Army]

You guys don't think so?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Just really wishes he bet on Vega. Vegas and six. He'd said that prior to the series and now it looks Like I, I, I didn't mention yet, I think before the series I mentioned it was if Carlson could outplay Eichel. I think Eichel's outplayed him. You know, no slight on Carlson. Eichel's just not good.

[Army]

Yeah, I like, I love Leo. I love a lot of their young guys, you know, like I, I think they're, they're in a good spot obviously, but it's, it's tough to go head to head against a monster like that. Like what Eichel can do at both ends of the ice. And, and I think Leo's in kind of that learning phase right now. Like they're, he's taking this all in like first time playoffs, first time head to head in a seven game series against a weapon like Eichel. Like that's, that's a challenge.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Hey, like I think he was a little upset at himself after that OT goal the other night. Just maybe not staying enough on the defensive side. But like that's, that's what Eichel. When Eichel turns it up, he is easily top five.

[Army]

Does Eichel not look like super casual at times? But it's just the way, it's just the way he looks.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He did early in the Utah series and then he ramped it up and they won in six and he did maybe at the beginning of this series and then he ramped it up again and look where they're at. I think he's gonna have a hell of a game six to close out.

[Army]

Yeah.

[Ryan Gagnon]

One of the main reasons I wanted to get Yarna on Army is you texted me and you said you're going to be joining the, the Hockey night in Canada panel, which is awesome.

[Army]

So yeah, maybe up there. I'm waiting to hear from them about scheduling for the conference final. So I got that going on coming up here right now and I'm waiting in the wing so if they're watching or listening, got my phone on. Even when I'm golfing, I'm ready to roll.

[Ryan Gagnon]

At least a couple games. Get you in the mix, buddy. Come on. Check the game notes.

[Army]

Check the game notes. Check the game notes. Ready to roll. I'm drinking transfusions. I'm freezing my ass off on the course right now, boys. But playoffs wit, are you still down on playoffs a bit?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, I think Montreal, Buffalo, last game, Colorado Mini last game has gotten me.

[Army]

That was insane last night.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Insane. What a comeback. We went over that series already. If I can get a great two games tonight, then I will take back what I said about the second round through two to three games of each series because, you know, it was basically like Biz said it. The only real close game. Game three was a little close. Or game four in mini Colorado, and it ends up five.

[Stan Bowman]

Two.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Game five. Phenomenal. The past two games, or at least the. The last game. Montreal, Buffalo. Great. So we're on the right track here.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, we are.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right, Arm Dog. We'll let you go, buddy.

[Army]

I'm here, boys.

[Stan Bowman]

I'm here.

[Army]

I want to show you this right here, boys.

[Whitney]

We're going to see a swing.

[Army]

No, I think we're going in to get drinks.

[Ryan Gagnon]

That's where me and Bugsy teed off on each other. And if you haven't seen that scarecrow, here's the clubhouse.

[Army]

Here's a clubhouse, too. They were fighting on this tee box

[Paul Bissonnette]

right in front of the clubhouse.

[Army]

I'm like. I'm like, bugsy, I live here. What the hell are you guys doing? Just animals out here on the clubhouse. Shout out. Swickley Heights Golf Course caught us out here. Mark. Mark Barkowski and Bugsy put it all together. Jeff Carter's here. Copies here.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Kopitar came out.

[Army]

Yeah, copies in the group ahead of us. I don't know if I can find him. If I find him, maybe I'll. I'll text G and try to get back on 100.

[Ryan Gagnon]

We'll say hi to him. They'll come on, say hi to friends, and we'll. We'll congratulate him on a hell of a run.

[Army]

Yeah, he's in dad mode. He's ready to roll. He's doing, like, hockey tournaments, figure skating stuff with his kids. He's. He said his schedule for travel right now is like no other. I said, buddy, get in line. Good luck.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Army]

All right, join the club.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right.

[Army]

Thanks for having me on, boys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

See you, buddy.

[Ryan Gagnon]

You're the best. See Army.

[Army]

See you, boys. Love you guys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Another cool thing we saw in Anaheim. Well, I mean, depending on how you. You look at it. So Olen Zellweger, he played 76 games this year, right? Like, pretty good season. He's young defenseman. He can skate. They put in Tyson Hins. Get Army. Oh, he's off. They put in Tyson Hints, who played basically all year in the AHL for the. For the playoffs, which has got to be hard for Zellweger, right? He's. He's smaller. They're looking for a little more size, but they put Zellweger back in. He's looked great. He had the tying goal in game. What was that Game four or was it game five? Yeah, game five. He tied it up. He's had an assist as well. He's flying around. So pretty cool for him to get back in and then actually show like, hey, I was up here playing all year. Like, don't. That's got to hurt. You play all season and then you lose your job to a guy had been in the AHL for 60 games this year. It was kind of a surprising decision that I'd been working. But he's back in and looked good. So arm dog doesn't think it's over. He thinks done at home tonight.

[Merles]

I like Anaheim. I like Anaheim tonight too, especially with McNabb out. You talked how much he's playing Yan we got any word on the Butcher? Any chance he shows up tonight?

[Whitney]

I don't know. I haven't done done any digging biz style, but I'm not sure that would be a huge ad for him. But then does that mean Zellweger's out? Like he's got to stay in now?

[Merles]

Yeah, true. Yeah.

[Whitney]

So who. Who would come out?

[Merles]

The Ducks. I think the Ducks get it done at home. They've been great at home all year. Coach Q will make some adjustments and. And they find a way to get it back to Vegas.

[Whitney]

Maybe they put the Butcher at forward like they did with more. Let him get in on the floor check.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Kamakazi mission.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, we got some quick hits.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh yeah, we do.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, we got some big time quick hits. I'll start with Biz's old team. Craig Baruby Fire. I mean, what a disaster of a season. Not these bros ain't bro. The gym accident, the. The picture, his forehead, his stitches. I saw a picture of. I think an AI generated of him doing the. He's on the boat. Like, was that Sheldon?

[Whitney]

Sheldon Keefe.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He's had to send off, but it

[Paul Bissonnette]

looked like the shark just bit.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He's getting memed to death.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's getting meme to death. I've been there, Craig. I've been there. If you need any advice. Actually, we'll go into Toronto in a second because I think we go to Edmonton. I think we go to Edmonton. Chris Knobloch has been let go by the Edmonton Oilers and there's a man I'd love to chat to about this and. And I need to hear his opinion. For anyone who doesn't know, the news breaks that the Oilers asked to talk to Bruce Cassidy. The Vegas Golden Knights did not give them permission. All of A sudden. Oh my God. Like Knobloch is still your coach. This is now news. This was supposed to remain private. It doesn't remain private.

[Whitney]

Day and age lawless.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Who leaked it?

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's a great question. It wasn't the Oilers, I'll tell you that. Because in my opinion, if Cassidy wasn't interested or they couldn't figure it out, they were gonna keep Chris Knobloch.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What?

[Paul Bissonnette]

You can't. That's what I thought. Because why wouldn't they have fired him prior?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Basically he just. Just wanted to get his kind of like the weane sucked on the road, come back to the old lady and

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't think appreciate that talk as stuff comes on. Bob, what's going on? Crazy day in Edmonton.

[Stan Bowman]

Yeah, just say the least. Stan Bowman's doing his availability right now, guys, you know, and there's a lot to unpack here during the course of the season. There's no other way to say it. It was an underwhelming year. I think that it's entirely possible that Chris Knobloch was the right guy at the right time. When he came in In November of 23, he settled things down. He was relaxed. He had a tremendous assistant coach by the name of Glenn Gulletson that was experienced, that had a long history with Connor McDavid and Leon Dry Settle that helped him out with the nuances of being an NHL head coach. And then he had a dynamic force come in with him. And Paul Coffey, who's old school, you know, he's not a guy that's going to sit there and pull out the iPad on the bench, but he knows how to breed confidence in players. And I think that that tandem certainly helped Chris. And if you look at the 23, 24 and 24, 25 seasons, they were completely different than this year. You know, in 23:24, Edmonton went 24 and three during one stretch, an eight game winning streak and a 16 game winning streak. People forget last year in 24:25, from November 9th until the Four nations face off. For three months the Oilers had the best record in the NHL. Okay. They didn't come close to anything like that with a new staff. This year they didn't have one three game winning streak until March. Got a five game winning streak late in the year, got injured in the playoffs, regressed in several areas and. And the organizations, this is a critical time. They got Connor McDavid. Two years left in a deal. They gotta win. And so I think the feeling was

[Ryan Gagnon]

they needed a different voice and I was Just gonna stop. Are you okay? Like, how are you?

[Whitney]

No, he's not.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Are you all right? Like I. No. I don't see anybody this depressed on this show in my life.

[Stan Bowman]

Well, Paul, I mean, I've known Chris Knobloch for 25 years, right. So you know, we, you know, I used to have him when, when Ryan was an oiler. He used to come on my show and people go, why the hell would you have the coach from the Kootenay Ice on your show? And I'm like, because this guy is going to be an NHL coach one day. There wasn't an accident. He ended up with Yuri. Okay. The owners were helping Sherry Bassett out. He was the GM and owner of the team at that time. And Sherry like Chris. But it wasn't an accident that he ended up there. And his career took off in area where he became the first major junior coach in history to win four straight 50 plus win seasons. That's hard to do. People go, oh, he was a byproduct of McDavid. He won 50 games two more years after Connor was playing with the Oilers. So, you know, I've watched this guy's journey. You know, I'm in year 18 doing the orders. We've had some coaches, but when you have a Conor, David and Leon dry settle we. And by the way, the orders have three superstars now. I don't have two because I'm adding Evan Boucher. He's a superstar player.

[Whitney]

Yep.

[Stan Bowman]

There is an expectation to win right now and he can't have the regression that Edmonton had. Chris found a way to integrate all the players in 23, 24. He'd be, I'm sure be the first to tell you he wished he could have got more guys engaged and involved this year. And yes, Edmonton had injuries in center and just like Minnesota, Bill Garrett's not going to sit there and say, well, I didn't have Erickson and Rodine, my shutdown tandem. Which gives McDavid 40 fits to go up against McKinnon's line. The order, you know, the orders got beat by the Ducks just like the apps beat the Wild. You respect your opponent. Lots of people think the orders wrote coach that series Anaheim. Look at the juice. Anaheim got out of the watching line with Jeffy L. You know, those guys are. They weren't even in the NHL start of the year, you know, and so you. Edmonton has a window. I feel bad for Chris. I feel bad for Chris's family. It's a tough business someday some days saying that I have a full Expectation that the orders will look for a completely different type of coach here carrying

[Ryan Gagnon]

forward these hoes ain't loyal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That was my, my, my main takeaway was somebody with a little bit more piss and vinegar. But I, I trust no one more than you in terms of the Oilers. And I'm wondering your opinion on the way everything was approached. So in, in the grand scheme of things, you're looking at it like if we don't get Cassidy, and this is just my thoughts or ideas, we don't get Cassidy, Knobloch can be back. Fine. Now what?

[Stan Bowman]

He's, I don't know about that, Ryan.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, sure. Okay. Then Bob. Then Bob. Why don't you let Knoblock go before?

[Stan Bowman]

Well, for one, you got, you, you, you want to deliver the news face to face. I have no idea how the, you know, how the report got out,

[Ryan Gagnon]

and

[Stan Bowman]

Stan Bowman would not comment on that, but it was Mother's Day weekend and the guys flew back into Edmonton yesterday.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Okay.

[Stan Bowman]

And got delayed during the course of the day, which, Ryan, you played here. That's not uncommon. So you want to, you know, you want to look a guy between the antlers. And so they needed to have that conversation that took place last night with Jeff Jackson and Stan Bowman and, and Chris Knobach, and then the announcement was made today. So off.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What about calling him and saying, listen, like things are, yeah, I, I'm not gonna, I don't know about the protocol on that.

[Stan Bowman]

I gotta tell you. Right, like it's, Is there a right way to do it? I mean, I can remember going Back to Craig McTavish telling us at the end of the 1213 season when he just taken over from GM, that coaching wasn't an issue. And then they pivoted to Dallas Aikens, basically meeting him at the combine, and Ralph Krueger was over in Europe, and so they had to tell him via Zoom. Right. Or however they did it at that time. So, you know, I, I, I don't have the, the full rundown on this. All I'm going to tell you is I'm going to tell you exactly the type of coach they're going to go get. And it's a different coach than Knobloch. And it's going to be an experienced coach with gravitas that can put structure and process in the team's game, probably help the penalty kill and has won before. So it's going to be the type of guy they're looking for.

[Ryan Gagnon]

So outside of Cassidy, who would that be?

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's the panic, in my opinion. Stuff is if you don't get them,

[Stan Bowman]

if you don't get Cassie, well, that's. There's no guarantee they will. Yeah, he's. He's gonna have options and we'll see what Vegas ultimately, I mean, Vegas has some control in this as well. Right. I don't know where. And I have no idea where this is at at this time. He, you know, is technically of their employee.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What do you think of Vegas doing that? The way they handled it?

[Stan Bowman]

I don't know all the aspects of it. I know that Vegas. When Oilers. When the Edmonton Oilers fired Peter Chelli, I put a tweet out with my top five candidates. Kelly McCrimmon was the assistant GM to George McFee at that time. And I had Kelly number one. I mean, I told guys when they bought WHL teams, when, when that call comes in from Kelly McCrimmon, you hang up the phone because you've already lost the trade, he's going to kick your ass. Okay. So I, I like. I think Vegas is a pretty. Well, I'm going to say this. Yeah. The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Edmonton orders in the margins in 2023 when they won that series. Okay. I said it last year with you guys when I was on with Gary, you know, and I have tremendous. I was actually surprised. Edmonton won the series in five games last year, and the orders really got going around two and three. I mean, they beat Vegas in five and Dallas in five and. But, you know, the Hyman injury was massive. And then Nuge busted his head in Game 2 against Florida, and Florida was so deep that it appeared as though Edmonton was further away from winning than the year before. They probably were. And they were different teams. That's another factor here. Like Stan Bowman just took personal accountability. So this is not all on Chris. We made some bets on players. Has not worked out to this point, and players didn't perform at the level that we thought they would. That's. And he said, that's on me. I made the call there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So.

[Stan Bowman]

But I do think we're looking at an experienced veteran coach. So, I mean, there's. There's some guys out there, obviously. Peter Lav, who.

[Whitney]

What about Chief? He's one. Chief's one. He's an old.

[Stan Bowman]

Yeah. Craig Barubi, right? Sure.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Do you think it's more of a coaching issue or a personnel issue with all this turnover and all the play? Like, when does management take a look in the mirror?

[Stan Bowman]

I think management is taking a look in the mirror.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Merles]

I was going to say you could Bring in Al Arbor or Scotty Bowman with that goaltending and all, right, 5 million D, man, that has to play all the time. That can't play. You're not going to win.

[Stan Bowman]

Yeah, well, they did get to the seventh and sixth game of the Stanley cup final with what people thought was 10 different players average here to below average goaltending. But the, the goaltenders, the question's fair. I mean, they ranked the goalies of the 16 playoff teams, you know, TNT did the quarters, but not rank highly. And it was clear Chris Connor Ingram was Chris's guy. And Tristan, Jerry. Tristan's got to have a massive bounce back here. And if for all of you guys to sit there and say stuff, you can't count on that, that is a fair perspective to have.

[Whitney]

Now, do you think it's loser talk? Kind of like all you hear is like Edmonton hanging their hat on going to back to back finals, obviously not winning. And I know how hard it is to get to the Stanley cup finals. But like, when you just say, oh, we got to the finals two years in a row, it doesn't really mean

[Stan Bowman]

I think you know exactly what you're talking about. I think it sucks for those guys and I think that the players think they're in a window and damn it, they have to win now. And so you can't change out all the players, but what you can do is change out the staff a bit. So it sucks for Chris and they're going to bring in a different type of coach. Chris.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Chris.

[Stan Bowman]

You know, the refs would love Chris because he was, you know, I'll give you an example. That was a tough call in game four against Anaheim, right? Remember the puck that squeaked through? Jerry. Jerry played pretty well. Puck was shot from the side of the net, the line. Both officials did not look like they were in great position on the plate. They don't. They don't blow the play dead. And the explanation is, well, we got the call right at the end anyways because the puck was marginally over the line. Game 5. Edmonton's up 41 and Leon dry settle, who has been a beast in the playoffs his entire career, right? Absolute beast. Gets cross checked from behind, right in front of the referee. That is a major penalty in a regular season game. I'm thinking I'm looking at Chris going, you got a freebie there, man, Especially after what happened in game four. Let her rip. You know, I watched Rod Brindermore go after the officials, Joel Quinville, and I wonder whether or not maybe a Missed opportunity. Sometimes you got to show a little bit emotion.

[Merles]

Yeah.

[Stan Bowman]

And you know, you know what I'm saying?

[Whitney]

I agree.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's what was lacking at times is, and, and I think that was the disconnect. Maybe I'm wrong between him and Paul Coffey and cough comes back after the Olympics. Because this year the scary part is that you said it. I mean this is the biggest off season maybe in the history of the Oilers organization. And the start it's off to is like it's just a tough, it's an ugly start. Now if they end up getting Cassidy, whoever they get, like we'll see what happens with, with the roster. But I do wonder if McDavid and Leon don't speak so freely in that postseason press conference if, if this is, if this would have all gone down because they were, I mean to sit there and say we took a big step backwards. It's like, you know, people were like holy, you don't hear that often. And, and they didn't just say it's the roster. They, they put stuff on themselves. And I think Leon mentioned I, I got to be more defensive. That is the thing. Like they have to play defense. Stuff that you can't, you can't win if you're not going to play D. You get. They have bad team defense at least.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And if, and, and if he's such a good coach, like why are they mentioning like and structure and stuff like that? Like, is it like.

[Stan Bowman]

Well, let's, let's, let's work backwards here. Okay. Connor McDavid after the orders lost game six of a Stanley cup final, made some comments about Edmonton's inability to deal with what fortune, what Florida was doing.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Adjust. Yeah.

[Stan Bowman]

And adjust. Right. And then just before the Olympic break. Okay, Leander. I settle after a game against Calgary in which. And I, I criticize Chris on the air for healthy scratch and Trent Frederick. I know Freddie had a, he had a bad year. I don't care. He's on an eight year deal. His coaches. At the end of the day, coaching is to me and it's not an easy job. But the best coaches are the ones that can get the most out of all their players.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah. You got to install confidence in your guys.

[Stan Bowman]

Right. And they signed Trent Frederick to an eight year deal to give him some jam and a bigger presence and, and they never got nothing out of them the entire year. And I didn't agree with him being scratched in Calgary against a team like the Flames that they're a tough team at home. I mean you know, that's a team that's got a little bit of bite. And the orders lost tonight. And Leon went off and right away said, coaching's got to be better. And I, you know, we're flying back to Calgary as we're heading off to the Olympic break from Calgary, and I'm thinking, this is probably not a good. And the eight previous games, the order should have gone 2 and 6. They were 4 and 4. And they had the worst goals against the league over those eight games and the worst penalty killer. So something had to give coming out of the Olympic break, and that was Paul Coffey returning, and they did play better in the regular season. Then when Leon got hurt, they played Tampa Bay and the Lightning came in and kicked the snot out of the orders for nothing. And that night it was Connor McDavid talking about John Cooper, who has gravitas, who has a big personality. That said, he's 2 and 10 at home in the playoffs in the last four years after they went to the final three years in a row winning two cups. But he's won the Cups. And, you know, as you guys said, you'll win changes everything. So the. There was commentary during the course of the year from your two best players, your two leaders. And then they circled back to it in the exit interviews at the end of the year, or not the exit, but with the media saying, look, we regressed. And I think that's the biggest takeaway here is, with all due respect to Chris, he's got a pretty good record, got a team to a Stanley cup final, first NHL coach since Scotty Bowman to get the Stanley cup in his first two years. I think there was regression, and I think that they felt they need a different voice carrying forward and. Absolutely, you listen to the players. We're all here because of the players. Yeah, you got Keith, you know, a lot of Ryan, you know that. Paul, you know that, like rule number one, it doesn't matter if you're a manager, a scout, a broadcaster. You know, we're here guys in the equipment room. Everyone's here because of the players. And you got to listen to your players and you got to read between the lines sometimes with what the players are saying. And frankly, they didn't even have to read between the lights. It was pretty obvious.

[Whitney]

That's why I love the fact that they came out, because that's. That's that new school era that didn't happen 10, 15 years ago. But you see how much these guys put into their craft, how bad they want to Win. And they're like, listen, we need everyone. We need the management, the coaches, the players, because at the end of the day, they're going to bring it every single game, every year they play because they're that good. But, like, they need help. Like, you need help to win in the NHL. Two guys, three guys can't win you a Stanley Cup.

[Ryan Gagnon]

And the whole Paul Coffey, like, coming back halfway through dynamic. Like we joked about it when the podcast started. I feel like Edmonton's turned into a bit of a soap opera. It feels like Toronto Oilers. The Toronto Oilers sto.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This is what I deal with stuff. Just don't even worry about it.

[Stan Bowman]

What's that?

[Paul Bissonnette]

This is what I deal with, with these.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What do you mean you're done?

[Whitney]

You're not even a fan anymore.

[Ryan Gagnon]

When half of this type of stuff happens in Toronto, this guy's coming, signing on the podcast, like, oh, Christmas in July. And then like, it's a full blown shit show. The exact same way with the Oilers. And then he gets you to come on and do his dirty work.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I can't disagree.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I don't, I don't even get it. I don't even have a staff. I have to deal with this myself internally.

[Stan Bowman]

Well, I take that, I take that as a compliment. Obviously. Guys should go, no, you know what, it's. It's tough, right? Like, you see somebody and you, you know, like, we spent a lot of time with Chris over the last three years. You know, as you know, you have a broadcaster's availability. Every coach handles those differently. You know, I'm still friends with Todd McClellan. I really like Todd. In fact, Todd interviewed Chris twice. Once in Edmonton and once in la. You can figure out maybe how that happens, right? So, you know that happens.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Here's my hot take, okay? Toronto Maple Leafs should go get knob lock. They should get him. They just had a hard nose, Craig. They need. They need some guys who could connect with those players over there. Tell me a better coach available. You just stroked them off, telling me he's the next. He's the exile arbor. Let's get him in Toronto.

[Stan Bowman]

I. I don't think I quite use that terminology, but yes, I like that biz.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Well, you got the lotion in the drawer. You might as well.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right, stop. We know you. We appreciate you coming along with the Galato.

[Stan Bowman]

I'll leave you with this. I gotta tell you, got to tell you. So I had Chris Johnson on yesterday talking about Barubi being fired. I go, is it out of the realm of possib? Craig Barubi is from Calahoo, Alberta. Okay. He played on a line. He played on a line with Todd Yan in. In junior. The only man ever to drop Proby straight out, knock him the blank out. And, and Cliff Ronnie. Cliff Ronning was the safest man in New Westminster on that team. Like Barubi's from Callahoo. And I, I sat there and said to Chris, could you imagine if the two head coaches ended up in each other's cities? Would it be the craziest thing? I don't think it's a bad, Paul. I don't think it's a bad.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I love a wild swap. I mean, Toronto and Edmonton, wife swap would be.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I talk about a story. Oh. Oh. It's like the end.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I do this job for free. If that happened stuff.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We appreciate it, buddy. I know you're kind of running around with all the news breaking there, so thank you. You're our guy.

[Ryan Gagnon]

You should be there for.

[Whitney]

You should interview for the job.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna lie. Like, not a huge fan of Bowman and what he's done there. I would, I would gladly have stuff as my gm. I'm not putting you in a weird position.

[Stan Bowman]

I'll stop that right now.

[Merles]

Okay. I'll do the job for, for the both of you. Go over to Russia. Go to locomotive. Get Danny Ecf, the goaltender, 26 years old. He'll cover all your problems.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay? There we go. All right. Thank you.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Hey, standing over stock, boys. Standing all thanks, fellas. Standing all. Thanks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Stauffer a great guy and biz. Just an amazing call by you. Like, I, I love talking stuff. I wanted stuff on, but yeah, I had him on to, to kind of, you know, deal with my dirty work that I knew you were going to bring to me. And I had a guy who knows what he's talking about and can answer the questions because correctly. So you called it. You were bang on.

[Whitney]

Unbelievable call by Biz. I didn't even put that bang on.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He does it all the time. He does all of his dirty work.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You were bang on. I didn't want to say with him on, but because I don't want to put him in, in a tough spot like get rid of Stan Bowman, like get a new gm. Stan Bowman, he might be a great guy. We had him on years ago. He inherited that, that team in Chicago and I don't. I can't believe he was hired to begin with. And a couple. I mean, pod Colson was a great move. Ingram was solid. But boys and I'm not saying the offer sheet stuff was on him. He kind of ate that sandwich right as he came in. But boys, like, I. I would if I could have chosen a new GM or a new coach. Chose a new gm, I think.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I think them not bringing back Ken Holland was insane. Insane. And I. And I, and I. I'll stand by this.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I don't know that I'll give you.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Because I didn't dig is. I think the reason that those offer sheets came was because there was already news and he'd caught wind that he wasn't coming back. And there was some shady stuff going on in the background. Like, oh, I put this. I put this Picasso together, and all of a sudden I'm not going to be the guy. They hadn't even. They hadn't even finished the Stanley Cup Series yet. I think at that point, they might have been down three, nothing. And all of a sudden he's, oh, I'm not coming back. Oh, I put this together. When's the last time we've been to the finals here in Edmonton?

[Whitney]

I know who Edmonton should hire as a GM. Two GMs.

[Merles]

Double.

[Whitney]

From Hellkirk, Alberta, Shane Doane. And from Edmonton, Alberta, Ray Whitney. Ray Whitney was a stick boy for the Edmonton Oilers. Shane Doane grew up a hardcore Edmonton Oilers fan. Thought he was going to get drafted by them. They didn't take. Bring those two guys in, start this thing off fresh, you think? I think there's a better chance McDavid stays if Shane and Ray Whitney are there than anyone else.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I love that.

[Merles]

Who would their coach be? Who would they hire as the coach is?

[Ryan Gagnon]

You know who they should go get? The guy who Gargoyles just let go.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that's other chick didn't even know his name. We. We became 0.2% owners of a team. The team then had a really hard year and the coach was fired. So stay hot.

[Whitney]

There was a. There was a lock. There was a what didn't they lock?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, the players basically quit in the coast because they were being fed dog food on long bus rides.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And then Scott Burt was let go. And we're at the helm of that one, boys, so the heat's on us.

[Ryan Gagnon]

We finished dead last, by the way.

[Whitney]

Only ways up.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, just a pack of losers here. And we got another loser coming on next. But before we get to him, we got to talk about Rougiette. You guys ever get a limp stick?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Rhonda's gonna get it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I'm not talking about on the ice. Rug yet. Ready is a custom compounded three in one erectile dysfunction ED treatment designed to get your brain and body back.

[Ryan Gagnon]

He's gonna be getting my saber.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Sort dissolves. Let me do the ad read.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Sorry.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It dissolves under the tongue. No pills or water needed. Works in 15 minutes on average. Why is everyone raving about it? Well, most ED meds only target blood flow. RUSI at Ready combines Tadal, Sidol and Aporamine. How about that word? Oh, my God.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Rhonda.

[Paul Bissonnette]

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[Ryan Gagnon]

Rug yet? Wedding cake. By the way, at my wedding, everybody's gonna be okay. The Buffalo Drills.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know, after a big night in a sack with no limp stick, you want a nice coffee. And that's where Stella Blue comes into the mix. Stella Blue coffee is more than just great coffee. It's coffee with a purpose. After a big night in the. That's why we started We Brew to Rescue a nationwide campaign using proceeds from our new Ready to Drink cans to fund 1, 000 pet adoptions this year. Every can you crack open helps a real pet find a real home. Simple as that. Made with 100 Colombian coffee, each 11 ounce can delivers smooth drinkable energy with a boost of protein. Available in espresso cafe mocha and espresso sweet cream. They're the best canned lattes out there, period. Drink Stella Blue, fuel your day and help save a pet's life. Get yours now at Stella Blue Coffee.com, amazon and Cerec realtors across the country.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I actually have Stella Blue in this coffee cup right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, well, we have a guy on who went up and he mushed a city, Chiclet style. Where is R.A. bring the R.A.

[Ryan Whitney]

Bonjour, everybody. Welcome to Ari's world here in the Spitting Chick Cuts podcast. Live from Ruse Catherine, right outside my window.

[Whitney]

Get out of the city already. You're not saying.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Still there already?

[Merles]

Shirt on.

[Whitney]

He's got a Bruin. Shirt on.

[Ryan Whitney]

This is dog walking. It's my nightgown. No, I literally. It was cheaper to stay another night than it was to come home yesterday. It would have been 300. No, for real.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I heard that one much Honey. Honey. It was cheaper to stay.

[Ryan Whitney]

So there's no honey wet. There's no more honey.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, dude, it was literally super sex though.

[Ryan Whitney]

300 more to come home. They've been closed for years, so I heard. So it was cheaper to stay and I, I got a cheaper hotel. I got a late checkout. So yeah, I'm coming home in a couple hours. But dude, just a blast. A different animal. And even for the loss, I'll tell you, the place is pretty freaking festive. Walking around after, I can't imagine what it would have been like had they won. I was with the guys at HF tv. These guys are great, but holy. We walked to friggin Moose Jar and back before we did this post game interview they wanted to do. I don't know what the hold up was, but I had a good time hanging out with them. Then I met up with the con man at Hurley's. They got friends at Hurley's, but it's crazy thing that happened there with. So I. I'm going to take a leak right now. Yeah, I'm a middle aged fella. Sometimes I'll. I'll pisses coming a little at the missions we don't necessarily expect. And so you know, sometimes I go in the stall because like. And then you start. Then if you're, if there's a line, you wait the stage fright because you can't piss bubble. But it was kind of quiet in the bathroom. All of a sudden I hear dudes like hey, what's going on there? Something like. I thought it might have been a bouncer and I was like, bro, I'm 53, bro, I'm just trying to get a piss off here. He's like, oh what? I'll come in and smash your head and come. I'm like, I'm like, what the. Like, like what happened to friendly Montreal? I don't know if it's a Hell's Angel. I mean it's not a bouncer because a bouncer would have heard it different. And I know I'm going to stall. I know you can make the obvious joke here. No, I was taking a piss and like now I'm standing there with my schmenzer, my hand not sure if the door's gonna get kicked in. I'm gonna get bundled and you know, con man's out with like eight buddies. So I'm like, he don't know what I look like I can't see him. So I leaned down. I just looked between my legs to get a. To get a look at the footwear. Kind of take a number, so to speak. Just showing him in the bar. If I see those sneakers, I'll recognize. That's the idiot who started. Started, you know, trouble.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Get it?

[Ryan Whitney]

Get a piss, you know, so whatever. I went outside. Nothing. Didn't see him or whatever. Nothing happened. But it was just kind of weird, man. I just wanted to take a leak, and some dude threatening my life just doesn't usually happen here.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I thought something was gonna happen.

[Whitney]

Wait, so nothing happened?

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, I mean, I got my life threatened while trying to take a piss. I mean, that was kind of unusual. Never happened before. Yeah, but the game itself, awesome. I got to catch up with Knuckles after. After the first, so. So I. I went down. You know, I had to go down a couple, like, lower sections. It was like, you know, less than a minute left in the period. You know, there's a couple. Dude, there's no empty seats at lowest, man. There's no surprise in Montreal. So I see an empty seat. Oh, my God. It's literally 45 seconds left till the buzzer. Then I'll go down, see, Chris and I sit down and, you know, people get up with the last whistle before the period. And then the guy leans forward to me and says something in French, you know, I have no idea what he's saying. And the lady behind me goes, he told you. You're sitting in Yvonne Cornway a seat already.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That was the most Canadian legend.

[Ryan Whitney]

Dude, he wasn't. I wasn't. I don't know if he was fan.

[Whitney]

Hey, see you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Boys, this is Yvonne, Corey. I mean, crazy boys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's all over. It's over.

[Ryan Whitney]

But you think I had any idea it was a random load sheet. Great seat, by the way.

[Whitney]

What adult is taking another person's.

[Ryan Whitney]

Dude, did you not hear the first?

[Whitney]

Sit in the seat. Yeah, if you're going to.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Hey, we're watching the intro. We're watching the intro of the pregame intro. Always carrying out the torch. I'm in the upper deck. Oh, okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

If there was a side do not City, I would totally respect that. I was just literally like, all right, there's 30 seconds left. I'm going to meet Chris. 50ft of. Well catch. You know, last few seconds of the period. Unbeknownst to me, it was the Roadrunner. So my apologies to the Roadrunner Habs legend. So, yeah, I figured he's gonna get a kick out.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Imagine that. French Guy and he sees you and you know, whatever the woman said he said to you, he said something way worse.

[Ryan Whitney]

I didn't hear.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, yeah.

[Merles]

Imagine they saw his, like, Boston Bruins boxers hanging out of his pants.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Games. What game is it going? Game six. He's in Bellaville's wife's seat. Like, he was like, what the is going on here? Like, come on here. It was cheaper. Stay in the penthouse of the Four Seasons. Working a lot of fat and with all the poutine I've been eating.

[Ryan Whitney]

But no, like, obviously the atmosphere, unreal. I was up section 315 road J. I mean, not a bad seat in that bind.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How much was that ticket? Ra.

[Ryan Whitney]

I paid, I think with fee. 3, 319. I think I paid for it. Prices were actually a little bit higher going into the game, so, I mean, I saved a couple bucks by getting it a day or two early. That plays. No Sherlock loves Hudson, man. Like when they were like announcing the lineup, he got the biggest bump out of anybody. And. And during that, that. That, you know, the allow go then disallowed the fans. Nobody in the building had any clue really what was going on. It was like this huge delay and we saw the thing go up to nothing. And then they come back and said it was disallowed. It was just, you know, a lot of confusion. Not much of an update inside.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Shout out to the refs. Some of them do it. You gotta get on the mic and you just gotta give people the breakdown and say, guys, it was deemed a good goal on the ice. Now we're going for goaltender interference. This is what we're looking for. Be right back in a few minutes.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They never explained it.

[Ryan Gagnon]

They gotta. They gotta explain to the fans. Because if you're live in attendance, like, people are like, what the going on here? Obviously, they. They all right. Did they play the replay? Over and over on the board.

[Ryan Whitney]

They showed, I think maybe one or two after the call to see the, you know, the glove on the net.

[Ryan Gagnon]

But, you know, while it's going on.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, but I think people thought it might have been. I forget what say, but cut to kind of cut through the crease. I think people thought it was him. And Biz, you did raise a good point earlier that his stick does come in contact with. With Dobish's glove. Who is it? I. Quinn, I believe Quinn.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, I don't know if that caused it to, you know, to go in for.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I kind of said. Because it was Helenius. That was the goaltender interference area. The guy driving okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

And if. And you know, if that caused them, did he. Did it not put in position to make the save? I mean, he. He sort of did make the save because it went in his glove, but I could see why they overturned it. But either way, you know, it was after the Thompson wacky bounce. That's still two. Two more than half the game left. So, you know, you know, no excuses for to not get the W by.

[Ryan Gagnon]

What was the reaction? And were people like, did people not know that that had gone in right away? Like. No, that was. That's a one in a million.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was so bang bang quick. I mean, that. That's the game. Like, I mean, because I was down that end too, and there was zero reaction from anybody that that might have been. Been a goal. Because you think. I mean, it probably a fraction of a second dope, which is, you know, glove on the puck is actually over the goal line. But no, there was zero reaction that that might have actually even been a goal. Like. Like, what's the place usually.

[Whitney]

Usually at home too. Like, if they think it's a goal, they won't show it on the screen to get the crowd's reaction.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, like you're talking about the goal interference one. Yeah, yeah, the. The do. The dovish one that hit off the. The. The. The Mooring. It's not even like the what?

[Merles]

Yeah, wasn't it the Zamboni door?

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah, Zamboni door mooring. It's like whatever you want to call it. He dovish wasn't even far out of his net. He was basically on the goal line. That's what's even crazier about it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was just sliding. He was just starting to slide across as it was going to go in the other corner. It was just awful timing.

[Merles]

Oh, what I heard is that they've told him that on that end to stay in his net, to not come out, and that's why he was in there. And then funny enough that if he did come out behind the net like he normally does, it might have just skidded right across the crease to the other side.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Oh, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, because it hit the back of his right. Right leg up, Patty, and it went right in. But yeah, that definitely, I mean, took the air out of the building. But not. Not completely. Like I said, I was like more than half a game left. But yeah, just an awesome unreal atmosphere. I could check that one off the bucket list. And what. You know, I know they were giving you grief earlier about the playoffs not being so good this year, which I Disagree on that sentiment.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, I meant I said the beginning of the second round.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, but 87 of games decided by a goal or two goals with an empty net. Two or more goals with an empty netter. That's absolutely insane. Stat. I mean, Merle's good thing on the Wagoon right now because those puck line Jesus would be killing me right now if I haven't got so many of them.

[Merles]

The draws are all over the place though. But one more thing on Montreal. Any, any. What do they call them? Show shens the hot dogs. How many hot dogs?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh. So, so anyways, I, I, when I met Con man earlier in the day though, those boys are getting a tool. I, I landed, took the cab. They were getting a two o' clock style. I was like, if there's one thing I don't need is a two o' clock start. So I ran back to the. They had a. It was an Airbnb, but it was like. It was right on St. Catherine Street. It's a, it's like a loft, but it's like a hotel too. It was real cheap that, you know, it's this big loft, but like five bedrooms or. Anyway, so I went back there, took a quick nap, showered up, and then went to Hurley's before, after the game. And then Duns, man, I was Jones and I hadn't got my smoked meat yet. And there's a couple Duns here that awesome, like brisket sandwiches open like five in the morning. After Hurley's, I popped in there, stuffed my face. That was my knockout punch. Went to bed and then had to be up yesterday to check out of that place and then check out this place. And I stayed in last night, obviously we had the show today and, you know, I watched the game. I was a little tired from the night before. So, yeah, it was cheaper to stay at night. That's, that's the one we're saying. But it really was, it was like 300 more to fly home and as opposed to like 110 for a hotel and a lake checkout. So, you know, no brainer for me on that end.

[Merles]

Sound like my casino stories when I say. Oh yeah, you know, I got to stay for free though.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Boys, breaking news here. I just took a phone call Ra. That guy outside the, your, the bathroom stall. It was corn. Ya.

[Whitney]

Okay, good. Yeah, good.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Took his seat like sea bass ready to pound your face in for mushing the goddamn Canadians.

[Whitney]

They. I'm texting Gortz right now. They better change that seat out. Get them a new One.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Literally no clue. And I mean, there were, you know, five other seats. I could. I could have jumped them, but yeah, I got. Apologies to the Roadrunner. That was a. A little social misfit behavior. But yeah. What are you gonna do? I'm just glad I didn't get my face kicked in when I was up taking a piss of freaking Hurley's.

[Merles]

Let me ask you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Merles]

I got my picks already out there on game notes yesterday. Another shameless plug by me there. What do you got for picks tonight? Sabers, Montreal and then Vegas Ducks.

[Ryan Whitney]

I like Montreal tonight. I think. I know they play. I mean doish outside that. That. That tough bounce he suffered the other night. He played unreal game. That other save he made late was incredible. Upl played pisser as well. I think that's going to be like a. A 2 1, 32 game. Most likely will go to overtime, but I'm taking Montreal. They'll come back here with a chance to wrap things up in six and out the coast. I like the Ducks. I think the Ducks, they've been having a hell of a season. I think they easily extend this. I'd say maybe 4:1 tonight, go back to Vegas for a game seven. We haven't had a game seven for a while. We're due. So they Sabatons. I always butcher that. And the Ducks for tonight.

[Whitney]

Quack, quack.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Like it?

[Merles]

I like the Ducks pick. I'm on the Sabre, obviously.

[Whitney]

I like that game. Going to OT Merles. That Buffalo, Montreal.

[Merles]

That's a good call. Let's get on it. I'll get on that.

[Whitney]

I'm on it right now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I know. We're wrapping up quick here. A couple last notes on the classic recommendation. I'm not sure. I doubt you guys watched Tenenbaums last week, but I'm gonna give you a two for one this week. Folks out there, the movie heads are alien and Aliens. The second one, first one come out 79. Ridley Scott horror, sci fi, awesome flick. And then The Seagull come out 86 by Jim Cameron. More of an action sci fi flick, bros. You must have seen Alien or Aliens. No, I get you.

[Merles]

I. I was never really big into the sci fi. I know I come across that athletes

[Ryan Whitney]

really on it for some reason.

[Merles]

I'll tell you what I'm hooked on right now because I'm here living alone. So I'm waking up. Weird hours. So I throw on Netflix. Is it Harlan Corbin, this author. Yeah. And they've turned all these, all his books into these shows. It's always like these English actors. They're thrillers. Oh, I'm hooked. I can't stop watching them eat. Not each night.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So.

[Merles]

Netflix. Check those out.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right, boys. Well, great time up here. No, no plans for any other games, but, you know, things could change spur of the moment. So flying home in a couple hours. Get home for these games tonight and always great chat and boys. And see how things go this weekend, boys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right. If. If I'll pay for your flight and ticket, would you switch it to Buffalo right now?

[Army]

Yes.

[Ryan Gagnon]

We got.

[Whitney]

I'm in on that.

[Merles]

Fill up my car with some shell gasoline. I'll drive out there with. Wow.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, maybe.

[Ryan Whitney]

I can't. I. I don't think I have anything.

[Whitney]

You have nothing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

Like, what the are we doing?

[Paul Bissonnette]

You can find a flight and then you could find a ticket. You. You buy them and then I'll. I'll bring the cash over when you get home.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I might have a buddy who has a ticket. I'll take Texas.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right. So I, I, So just a flight to Buffalo.

[Whitney]

You have to root for Buffalo, though. You can't wear anything. Montreal?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Whoa. Well, no, I'm saying what's. Whoa, whoa, whoa? Because I'm flying on porter from out of Montreal. I can't get a porter flight in Buffalo.

[Merles]

You can't be a saber stand all of a sudden.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Here's the deal. Here's the deal. I. I didn't finish.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay. Yeah. Everyone jumped on her.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You have to wear a Canadian's hat and a sabers T shirt.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

Sitting Pat La Fontaine seat.

[Army]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Now, now that, that's a whole, A whole other thing that, that just kind of goes against, like, I don't know. I know I have a Canadian side.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's all up to you. It's all. You just throw it out there. But the show ends.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know, but it would be actually too, like, because I'd have to fly from Montreal to Buffalo and Buffalo. So it would actually be two flights. I'm just throwing that out there.

[Ryan Gagnon]

All right, we'll figure all that out.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right, let me. Yeah. Let me just check. Check in, whatever. I know. I just, I. I don't want to say yeah. And then have to bail out.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Also ra. What would be fun too, is, is like we could also send you on a train to get there. That's a fun train ride to do.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

Trains are the best, dude.

[Ryan Gagnon]

Trains are the best. You on a first class train ride, you go all the way down to Toronto and then maybe we get your Car from Toronto.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Merles]

Where's the puck drop?

[Ryan Gagnon]

We.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, it's that. That too.

[Merles]

And there's no direct flights from Montreal to Buffalo. I just looked them up.

[Whitney]

Really?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Merles]

Unexpected Expedia. I don't know if you got. If Porter does that way, too. I don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, just hop on John Bellable's wife's chat. I'm supposed to be there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, there's. There's definitely going to be a Game 6, but it would be a little more, you know, adventurous to do it straight from here. Yeah, let me. Let me poke around, if it's feasible. Yeah, maybe Quite so, but I just can't. I don't. I don't know until I see the. See the transportation options, but. But it's fun. It sounds like a fun idea either way, so.

[Whitney]

Yeah, that'll be awesome.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'll check back off here, but always a blast, boys. Enjoy the games tonight and I'll be in touch in a little bit.

[Whitney]

Have fun in Buffalo.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Thank you, Ra. Thank you to everyone for listening. We appreciate it. Shout out, Merle. Shout out Army. Shout out. Stuff the legend. Thank you guys so much, everyone. We appreciate it. We'll be back to you Monday. Things could all be wrapped up, boys, and we'll be talking conference finals. So have a great one. Won't happen.

[Whitney]

Won't happen again.

[Paul Bissonnette]

A bad habit worth breaking, but it's taking time.

[Ryan Gagnon]

I don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It don't matter. It's going to happen. It's going to happen again.

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