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Ari
Hey, Spit and Chiclets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.
Big Cat
Hey, guys, it's Big Cat.
PFT Commenter
When you're on a long road trip traveling between cities, anything can happen.
Big Cat
Flat tires, endless traffic, stopping to see a 50 foot wooden alligator.
PFT Commenter
But I suspect everything actually happens for a recess.
Big Cat
Like, is Grit Week really a time to visit different training camps? Or is it just an excuse to
PFT Commenter
check out different places to get a Reese's? And when we stop to fuel up, or are we really stopping to refuel on Reese's?
Big Cat
After countless miles thinking about chocolate and
PFT Commenter
peanut butter, it all starts to make sense that everything happens for a Reese's.
Big Cat
What's up, guys?
PFT Commenter
It's PFT here.
Big Cat
Grit Week is here. We're back on the road, and you already know that we're bringing Twisted Tea
PFT Commenter
along for the ride as the official drink of Grit Week.
Big Cat
The new Twisted Tea summer party pack is 5% alcohol.
PFT Commenter
It's realized tea. No carbonation. It's. It's perfect for long days, longer nights,
Big Cat
and whatever happens after practice interviews.
PFT Commenter
Plus, you've got multiple flavors in the pack, including a hard lemonade that's made with real lemons.
Ari
And the can turns blue when it's
PFT Commenter
ice cold, so you can always tell when it's ready. Grit Week Twisted Tea tea time. Let's ride.
Big Cat
Twisted Tea Brewing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio.
PFT Commenter
Please drink responsibly.
Ari
Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is basketball sports.
Big Cat
I brought it toward the Coyotes and I asked them if it was okay if I joined a spit checkouts podcast full time.
PFT Commenter
Ryan Whitney's got a pink Whitney out there now.
Big Cat
Get that on camera.
PFT Commenter
Heath Yandel, the son man, is a full time member. Marley just got an assist from Chris Be.
Keith
Whoa. We're buzzing right now.
PFT Commenter
What is up, folks? Pinkies up. You know why? Game 7. The Montreal Canadiens are delivering us another Game 7. They had us in the first round, they got us another one tonight. And it's all gonna be pinkies up from here on out the rest of the day. For Sabres fans, Canadiens fans, just getting your game ready with a little pink Whitney, you know, on ice, with soda water. Doesn't really matter. Whatever you're into, it's pink Whitney. It's pinkies up. And shout out. Everyone out there who's representing with us with just. Just flashing a pinky at me. That's all I need. I got one today on a morning walk. Guy just gave me a pinkies up. Yes, I'm A morning walk guy. I'm officially 65 years old, so it feels good. I'm ready, though, boys. Oh, my God. I needed a game seven. You know, I didn't think there was a chance in hell we were getting one after games, after game five. And we'll get into all this but biz. I know that you. You were just a classic mush. All the tweets. I believe there was three or four. I looked back of.
Knuckles Nyland
Of.
PFT Commenter
It's over, remember?
Big Cat
I lost count.
PFT Commenter
It's over. And you sent the one. This is it. I have no rooting interest, but it's Montreal's time. It will end. I was like, okay, that's a good pregame tweet. It was a long one. There was. There was two or three more before opening puck drop on Saturday night, and that's all that we needed. That's all that we needed to get Buffalo back into this thing.
Big Cat
Yeah, I was that a merly reverse.
Keith
You were trying to do reverse psychology?
Big Cat
No comment. No comment.
Keith
Wow.
Big Cat
I felt like I wrote my, like, college thesis. That's how long that tweet was.
PFT Commenter
And it was no grammar mistakes. People have been on me, but my grammar. Shut up.
Big Cat
Oh, there was one. I said. I said, the streets of Montreal will fill with join instead of joy. I don't know.
PFT Commenter
I knew what you meant, though.
Big Cat
Okay, well, I appreciate that. I was so tired from reading that or writing that tweet that I was supposed to go see G and his buddies who were in town on a bachelor party. I was like, I thought. I thought I took an Ambien after writing that, I was zonked. So I shout out to all the college students out there writing papers and not having chat GPT do it because I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you do it. Pinky's up to you.
Keith
They don't do it. They have chat GPT do it.
Big Cat
I. But there are the. The far and few between that actually put the. Put the blood, sweat, and tears into it like I did.
Keith
So shout out to them.
Big Cat
Shout out to me and my 100 word count.
PFT Commenter
I don't know if this is great to say as a dad, but I'm sometimes wondering now, like, why are we spending so much time with math for kids at younger ages now? Maybe this is very stupid of me,
Big Cat
but so they could just really need
PFT Commenter
to know math in the next 30, 40, 50, 100 years of life? Like, I'm pretty sure it might all be taken care of.
Big Cat
I think it's more to exercise the brain.
PFT Commenter
I like that.
Big Cat
And like, I mean, leave tips. Those Sudoku puzzles don't solve themselves right. So you got to do something. But going back though, boys, to that game in Montreal, like I had every feeling that they were going to close that out.
PFT Commenter
Did you save it one sec? Because I did too. I did too. But I just want to, before we bring in a guest, this will be the 203rd game seven. Just a couple stats just to lead us off. 203rd game seven in Stanley cup playoffs history. The second of this year obviously. Montreal and Tampa in the first round. 19th consecutive year with multiple game sevens in the stand. They got playoffs now having two through two rounds, I don't think that's ideal. I'm looking for four, which is maybe a little bit of a reach. Three I feel like you can guarantee yourself. Right? But no, we got two through two rounds. Maybe we'll have a couple more. Yep, yep. Three of the past six Stanley cup champions required a Game 7 win along the way. That's Florida in the second round last year as well as against the oilers in the 2024 final. That's when they beat your old team biz Toronto and my team, the Oilers Tampa bay in the 2021 Stanley cup semifinals. The team that scores first 152 and 50. That's a 752 winning percentage. That's incredible. And, and good math. Good math. And, and this obviously this past year, I mean this past series first round Montreal scored first. They ended up with nine shots on net. They got the win. 105 of the 202 all time game sevens have been decided by a one goal margin. So that's only 52%. So you're not guaranteed a close game. But we should have gotten a stat for maybe an empty net two goal win which I consider a one goal victory.
Big Cat
I'll put a busy stamp guarantee on this.
Keith
Well, there we go.
Big Cat
It's going to not only be a one goal game, this one's going to overtime. This series, despite it going seven, every game has felt lopsided, especially in store. Like there hasn't been a lot of like barn burners in a good way where you're on your edge of the seat to the final seconds. This is going to overtime. Busy stamp of approval. Hot take right there.
PFT Commenter
Well that was my next stat that 50 game sevens have required overtime. That's 24.8%. Right. So half of the one goal victory margins are OT ones and we got 14 game sevens have required multiple OT periods. The last one. Do you guys remember? It was last year, Florida. Nope.
Big Cat
Multiple overtimes last year.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. St. Louis at Winnipeg after the miracle come back.
Big Cat
That went to second overtime that game when they tied it up in the last seconds.
TJ Oshie
Yes.
PFT Commenter
I didn't, I didn't think that either. I don't know. Is it? I might be double checking that right now. I don't know. He's got it on there, but I believe him. I believe him. And 27 players in this series have played in a game seven. Obviously everyone in Montreal. So my last news before we bring our guest in is we're streaming this game. So for anyone out there, you get, you know, and, and we're, we're out there, we're doing this for you guys. We love doing it, but we don't get to listen to volume on a game seven.
Big Cat
Well, I get my nap time too.
PFT Commenter
And Biz, if you fall asleep tonight, there's a punishment. There's a big time punishment. I'll quit the podcast. Okay. I don't know if we want that either, but there will be a punishment if you fall asleep. Now we don't have volume and I think for everyone out there, you should realize no volume on a game seven. That stinks. But we have each other. So for everyone at home, you got the game on espn, you got the announcers going. I think It'll be Sean McDonough, Ray Ferraro, and then just have us over there and if something big happens, we'll obviously have been on a little bit of delay. We got a time up tonight. We all have to be on the same page tonight and then maybe go over for some reactions. So I hope everyone wants to, to join us a little bit for a very special stream of game seven. And with that, go ahead, Biz.
Big Cat
I was just gonna say before we bring in our, our guests, our special guest, like this guy survived death yesterday. This guy we're about to bring.
PFT Commenter
Yes, and we'll get into that. And, and this is our guy, Merls. Now, Merles, before we bring him in or as we bring him in, he is currently in the stands in Sweden at a soccer practice scouting for his five year old daughter.
Big Cat
No, he's scouting the next prospects do, seeing if they're doing summer sports.
PFT Commenter
If these, if his daughter isn't on that field and he's at this soccer practice, we have a big time issue. But in terms of surviving death, as you boarded the plane to Sweden, I believe you found a tick on your body. That is not good.
Merles
Yeah, Trying to do my best Sheldon, Keith, background for you guys there with the blue skies. It's nice if you want to see the soccer practices over there. No, this is Sweden for you guys. But, yeah, so I went for a little run. I go. I like to go for a little hero run before I get on the planes. You know, loosen up, get hydrated. I go and shower, and I'm rubbing down the back of my leg, and, like, it almost felt like a big zit. I was like, oh, my God, like, what. What kind of ingrown hair is that? I'm like, no, it's not. That must be, like, a piece of tape from, like, a band aid or something. So I keep pulling at it. You gotta rip the thing off. I don't know if any of you guys have had one.
PFT Commenter
I. I had one on me once, right. My leg, and I was gone.
Big Cat
I didn't realize how dangerous these things were.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, business. What's the big deal? They carry Lyme disease.
Merles
So I don't have my glasses on, obviously, in the shower, my contacts, so I can't really see the thing. I'm like, what do I. What is it? Oh, it's a tick. I put it on the. On the counter. Things still running around. I couldn't kill this thing, so I completely panicked. Call my brother. He's. He was an old athletic trainer.
Ari
He was.
Merles
He was completely no help at all. He's like, call somebody else. So thank God I. My old doctor o'. Brien. I've talked about him before. The guy saved my life many times. Big Montreal Canadiens fans, by the way.
Big Cat
Oh, that's bringing it.
Keith
This is all girls.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah.
Merles
So I call him. Yeah, he's me. He's like, make it a FaceTime call so I can see the. See the bug so I can see the leg. And he's like, don't worry. You're going to be fine. I'll call in the medicine. I'm like, well, I'm leaving in an hour. He goes, oh, that's a little tougher. He's like, what do you mean? I'm like, I leave for Newark in an hour. So he made some extra special calls. I picked up the medicine, got out of there. He.
Keith
He.
Merles
He thinks I'll be fine. It hasn't grown any, but. Yeah, make sure you're checking yourself. Make sure you're checking your kid for ticks. Because I was always a guy. It's never going to happen to me.
Big Cat
Just in case. I think just in case, we should all say something very nice to Merles. Just in case.
Merles
Well, yeah, Yan's first text was, you're a goner or something.
PFT Commenter
That was.
Keith
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I damaged you, though. I damaged you. In which I said, I believe as long as it doesn't burrow its way into your skin, it's still on top and you pick it off, it should be good. But you, you know, you are a guy that, that. That it's not, you know, you're a little bit of a mush. So I. I really hope that you're okay. I'm. I'm. I'm knocking on wood for you. I'm praying for you. And we appreciate you grinding through a tick bite to. To join us from tick bite and
Merles
then 18 hours of travel. But, like, hey, just like the Sabers, I was dead. I was a dead man walking after game five, you know, I was almost dead. Keith had me dead. I had the Sabers dead. And then all of a sudden, that happens Saturday before we.
Big Cat
Before we move on to. To talk about game six, Merles, I got one last question. Did you invent Lyme disease?
Merles
No. No, that. That's one thing I'm not taking any sort of credit.
Big Cat
Okay. All right, well, good to know.
PFT Commenter
So Biz already? Biz already said it. I was with him. It was over. I mean, I saw that crowd in Montreal. I think they said 20,000 out there. And as the playoffs have gone along, the crowd outside the Bell center, it's gotten deeper and deeper. And at the point Saturday night, the camera went to it, and as far as the camera could see, there was people. I'm like, oh, my God. And after game five, which was a kicking in, which UPL is pulled, Lyon comes in. It's a disaster for the Canadiens. I'm like, this is it. This is over. But just like in the first round, they have a chance to close out Tampa. They lose one, nothing. That game, this one, they give up eight. What the hell? Switched. And going into game six, were you like Biz and I and saying, this thing's done?
Merles
Oh, it's completely done. I. It was the first time I didn't even make any bets on a game this entire playoffs because I wasn't betting against my Sabers. And I, like, they're not gonna win. There's no chance they can win.
Keith
Are you gonna bet the game 7? How do you feel about games?
Merles
Wow. Yeah, I feel like I probably shouldn't now, but I, I, you know, I don't dig. I don't dig. Like, Biz, you know, we're not.
Big Cat
Now you do for Ticks.
Merles
I sent a text, like, probably 10 minutes left in the third period to somebody in the organization so it would be the first thing they see, like when they come off the bench or out of their office. I won't give away my sources. I said, don't even let the guys go home. When you land in Buffalo, go directly to a hotel, set up the team meals. You got to treat this thing exactly like you did in Montreal because they stink at home. So I don't know if they've done it. I. I haven't.
Big Cat
They stayed at the Marriott. They stayed at the Marriott.
Keith
It was all Merles.
PFT Commenter
It was Lindy Ruff. He should have given you credit. He said right after the game, like, we're trying to figure out a way to get this game played in Montreal. Now both. I think the road team in this series is four and two. It's, it's, it's a place where you'd think both have crazy home ice advantage. I'm also now at the point where home ice advantage, like, doesn't matter in the Stanley cup playoffs. Like, I know before the game.
Big Cat
I don't think it, I don't think it matters for, for young teams. I think that young teams sometimes have a problem like channeling it, which. Both of these teams are fairly young teams, right? Like, usually you're able to like channel that energy and use it wisely and use that, like you said, that crowd advantage. And especially when you got six time Stanley cup champion Larry Robinson coming out with the porch. I mean, how do you not end it? You go up three. One there and then you. And then you throw up all over yourself.
PFT Commenter
Eight.
Big Cat
Was it eight unanswered goals?
PFT Commenter
Seven. Seven unanswered.
Big Cat
Like, when's the last time that happened in a playoff game? That might be a, like a first time ever.
PFT Commenter
I'm somebody also, along with my home ice advantage doesn't matter anymore in the Stanley cup playoffs. I'm also a little. I've always been like, coaching is kind of overrated a little bit. The players are the ones out there doing it. There's only so much a coach can do. And maybe as a guy who said coaches kind of, it's time for them to be fired. I'm, I'm playing both sides here, but we have two incredible coaches in this series. And Lindy Ruff put his stamp on this series with those lineup decisions and those changes in game six, the amount of flip flopping he did and lineup changes that he. So he ended up putting Tage Thompson on the first line with Benson and Josh Norris. Unreal call right there. I think having Benson with Thompson and then Thompson over on the wing made a huge difference. Now it seems to me that Thompson's definitely battling something. And as probably, what, eight out of every 10 guys left playing is battling something.
Big Cat
Yeah, Every list comes out after every series, and it's like, yeah, trainer, CVS receipt. Yeah, train. The train. They got fans.
PFT Commenter
No, it's like a World War II, like, injury recap for guys. You're seeing stuff. You're like, what the going on? How are these guys playing? Cut a go, had a broken spine. The guys out there playing for Anaheim, but Benson's the best player on Buffalo.
Keith
Like, I think they put whatever line they're putting you on, it's to. He can go to any line and get whoever going. And that's why he put him there. He is their best player.
PFT Commenter
He put Krebs on the fourth line, and then McLeod became the center of the second line with Tuck and Josh Doan. And then what he did was, which I. I had seen certain Sabers fans calling for Zach Metza to play. And I hope I'm saying his name correct, he was on the Quinnipiac winning team when they beat Minnesota FUS. And he's undersized. I want to say he's 5'9 defenseman, but, buddy, he can move, he can fly around, and he's done a good job with limited ice time. So Lindy Ruff makes some ballsy moves. They go down three one and also go back to game five. It was only a matter of time before Demidov popped up his goal in game five. His first ever career playoff goal was a complete snipe. He just drags it in and rips it. Pinkies up. And then I said, he's gonna. Once he gets one, the floodgates are going to open. That shot in game six was. I mean, that's a straight up. Ovechkin, Stamkos, all time, one timer, back foot, knee down, two one. And was that. That made it two one or three?
Big Cat
Yeah, Jake Evans made it three one shorthanded.
PFT Commenter
And the Jake Evans goals are unbelievable. He's great. And going back to last year where Montreal lost in the first round, there was a lot of discussion about moving on. Maybe they were going to trade him at the deadline. They came to an organizational decision. Let's resign him at a hell of a deal. I think two and a half, maybe two, and he's been great. But murder. That was the goal where I was
Keith
like, before you go to Mer. Because I had a Mer moment with the Dem.
PFT Commenter
Oh, hey.
Ari
Oh, yeah.
Big Cat
Respect.
PFT Commenter
With. I'm sorry.
Keith
I'm sorry. So I'm. I'm looking at. I'm watching Demidov during this whole playoffs. He's not looking like himself. He's not getting the shots off. He's not making those cut in moves that he's doing. The puck's coming off his stick a little bit more. So I go back and I watch all of his highlights from this year, and what do I notice? I thought his stick was longer. And what do I notice? He's using white tape all year, making plays, having an unbelievable year, almost going to win the Calder cup. And then this series in this playoffs, he's got black tape. I text someone from their organization like a Merles and be like, hey, we got to get this guy back on the black tape. Boom, he gets back on the black tape.
PFT Commenter
No, the white tape.
Keith
He was using the black and struggling. Goes back to the white.
Big Cat
So you had them take all the black tape out of the locker room?
Keith
I actually flew up there. I don't know if they should know this because it's security. I flew up there and I took all the renfrew tape out of there.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. So little do we know that Keith has he changed the series for Demidov and Mur has the Buffalo Sabres staying in America. So the Chickleton announced their presence. But. But on the Evans Gomer. Yeah, Lion, I tweeted out, save the puck. Save the puck. Well, I was like, you have to save one of these because you forget about wi fi jack eyes. Goal was kind of brutal too. And nope, Therehere we go. Upl back in. Now in Montreal, the goalie doesn't sit on the bench. He's where the team exits for the locker room. And the camera pans over the door to the locker room. UPL's getting the stuff. But at that point, I'm like, this is crazy, man. They cannot get a save. And an all time coaching decision again. Everything switched.
Big Cat
Merles, I can kind of hear all these conversations going on at your soccer game right now. You want to go for like, maybe a little loser laugh away.
Keith
They're like, who is this creep in the stand without a kid?
PFT Commenter
Oh, my daughter's out there. I swear.
Merles
Yeah, it's packed here. That was a disgrace. Like, the goaltending all series has been a disgrace. But that's. That's the good thing about hockey. Like, UPL needs to play one good game tonight. They play one good game. And they're moving on and everything is settled. And speaking of the goalies, when Yan's. When you said you pulled a Merle, I thought you were going to say about your call, but that all four goalies will show their face in this series.
PFT Commenter
Well, I did saw them all in this game.
Big Cat
One game.
Keith
But he should have been pulled after. I think it was the fourth one.
Big Cat
What do you mean? No, he only let up three. That was it.
Keith
No Dovish.
Big Cat
Oh, Dolby.
Keith
Yeah, I think they should have pulled him after that fourth one. Got rid of him because, you know, at that point, like, they brought Fowler in, it was basically halfway through the third. It's like, why even do it now? I guess you want to get him some rest because you have to go with Dovish, right, For what he did.
PFT Commenter
Oh, yeah.
Keith
Last game seven against Tampa. So for me, it was almost like after the second period or halfway through the second period, just take him out, get him in the locker room and be like, hey, dude, go sit on the bus, get some rest, get ready for game seven. And, you know, obviously Marty. Marty had the comments after the game in Buffalo where he didn't take him out and they ended up winning it. And he's like, it was my decision. The coach, the goalie coach obviously helps me out. So maybe they were trying to think a little bit too far ahead, like, keep him in and we can come back and win this game. But when your goalie's letting in goals like five hole on the ice or no screen slap shots from almost the blue line, you got to know he's not feeling it. And give him the yank.
Big Cat
Send him to Laval.
PFT Commenter
No, we haven't even mentioned.
Big Cat
I was gonna. Yeah, I was gonna chime in. I mean, I think that we. We jumped a shark here. Ross. Ms. Dahlian boys. I mean, not only the first goal, but the. The first time he's ever been in an elimination game in his playoff career, obviously, because he hadn't made playoffs until this year. Five points, remarkable performance. Everything that this guy dealt with this year, nominated for the Norris, probably going to win it. I mean, at this rate, it seems like a lot of people have him as a lock. Yanza's giving me that dirty look because he's got his boy, Renski, but regardless, top three in the league, defensive defenseman, and all of a sudden he has a game like that when facing elimination. So unbelievable performance. Another guy, too, who we always talk about maybe wanting a little bit more from, especially physically, Owen Power. I think he's led their D as Far as ice time so far in this series, like, and coming back from that fall, turning into a pretzel.
PFT Commenter
I can't believe he was okay after that.
Keith
What a savage.
Big Cat
He must be Gumby or like, what's. What's the guy who could stretch him. Stretch arms.
Merles
Stretch arms.
Big Cat
Oh, it is Gumby. It is Gumby.
PFT Commenter
Strong. You had both. You're.
Big Cat
You're on fire. Look at me. Firing all cylinders. But boys, like, that's a pretty. That first goal. Like, we've been talking about. Lane Hudson. Lane Hudson. Lane Hudson. Because he's been coming down walking, doing all this crazy black magic. Offensively, that was a pretty silky move to cut inside and then go to the backhand top cheddar. Keep the change.
PFT Commenter
I forget the forward that was coming. He was kind of approaching him defensively. He went down on one knee and a guy like Darlene or Hudson or these top end defensemen like, you go to, you're done. Like, I don't really get. Maybe he thought he was going to shoot it. Obviously a great sell by Darlene, but he was actually the first defenseman in NHL history with five points in an elimination game.
Ari
Really?
PFT Commenter
It wasn't just incredible for him.
Keith
Hey, don't say wow. That's my word.
PFT Commenter
Wow.
Ari
Wow.
PFT Commenter
That was a great. For anyone who hasn't seen the clip of Keith saying wow. Like, he's so bored by all of us. I think Big cat said it was for sure to you Biz, I. I kind of laughed at that, but I've definitely got a couple. Wow.
Ari
Shut up.
Big Cat
It just. It's like when you're. The caption was when your friend's telling a brutal story. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
And in your head you're like, stop out of here right now.
Keith
I don't feel like that for you guys. It might have been guest.
Big Cat
I think we gotta let you go soon because you're out driving me.
Ari
I got a. I got a couple
Merles
things for you, though. Montreal's 5 and 0 after a loss in this playoffs. I believe their last two games, they're one and one. Their last four games, they're two and two. Do you guys see that tweet Y last six games, they're three and three. The last eight games or four and four. The last ten games. Five and five. The last. Like it's something ridiculous. It just keeps going. You can look for that tweet. All that said, we're in a game seven and Alex Tuck's been the worst player in the series. So again, our goalie can play one good game. Alex Tuck can play one good game. Everything's forgotten. And we're on to Carolina.
Keith
But Benson with Tuck. Merle Merles, I got, I got one for you before you go. There's been 45 goals scored in this series already. Guess how many in the Carolina two series have been scored?
PFT Commenter
12, 34 combined.
Keith
So. And you guys, you guys won Carolina in the finals. Good call.
PFT Commenter
I'm wondering why. Because you look at Tampa. Tampa in the seven game series had 12 goals against Montreal and Buffalo has what, 21 already? Now granted, like the two, they have some empty netters and stuff, but you'd feel like Tampa would be able to score at least at the same rate as Buffalo. And maybe Buffalo's defenseman kind of flying around have made it more difficult for Montreal because you know, they didn't, they don't have a, A Darlene in Tampa. In Tampa, especially with Headman out, they don't have a Byram if Power's moving around, which he has. Samuelson has the at least one goal right on the back door play.
Keith
Yep.
PFT Commenter
So it's been interesting that Buffalo's had more offensive success than Tampa did against the Canadiens.
Keith
I think both these teams play such a similar type of game where they're deer up in the play and that's why they're high scoring games. And I think Tampa, especially when playoffs starts, like, they know what it takes to win in the playoffs with the low scoring games. Like they kind of can go and play that game where Montreal's young and Buffalo's young. Like they're still playing the way that they played in regular season. Like that run and gun game, which I, I love it. Like it's been fun, it's been entertaining. You're getting a ton of goals. But I think to, you know, really buckle down and win this game. Like Biz said, you know, a one goal game going to overtime. It's, it's, it's one of those things you got to figure out as an organization, a young organization to win these games. And you know, Buffalo obviously has this, has, has a game 7 played this last series against Tampa and, and I think there's only six guys on Buffalo that have played in the game seven. So maybe a little bit more, more credit to Montreal for this game going into it. Maybe they have a little bit of an upper hand, but you never know.
Big Cat
Do you hear who's banging the drum? Oh, the tick that they found. No way.
Merles
That might not be true. But I do know this to be facts that they've put the beer Sabers back on sale for this game seven. Yep. So everybody's gonna be getting real belligerent. Real life.
Big Cat
He went to go buy another one.
PFT Commenter
Like, hey, they should honestly have
Knuckles Nyland
stays
Merles
out of the box. Referees, put away the whistles. Let's have a nice 3, 2 OT game.
Keith
Yeah.
Merles
Game 7 style.
Big Cat
I agree.
Merles
I will see you guys tonight on the stream.
PFT Commenter
Yes, Murray, we appreciate. I think it'll be one sponsors.
Merles
We got four sponsors. The same four sponsors. I'll be ripping the ads all night.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, you will.
Big Cat
Bring the athletic lime and salt.
Keith
You L y me go dodge the
PFT Commenter
police from being in a random soccer practice for little kids.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Merles
So, yeah, some little kid just pulled out his horn and peed behind this. This deck that you guys made me come.
Keith
Okay. All right. Get him out of here.
Big Cat
Fist bump. Seer.
PFT Commenter
I think we. We have seen two of the greatest dives I've ever witnessed in Lane Hudson when Josh Norris hooked him. That was a straight up swimming pool dive. It was incredible. And Josh Doane had an amazing one as well with the head flew back. I think that was game five. So, you know, everyone's doing their best to draw a call. Matheson and Carrier, tough game at home. Game six. You got to think they bounce back, man. I just. I don't know what. I don't know what to expect. Merger said. Just give us a good game, Biz. That's all I want is a good game. I can't have a blow. Game 7. And even though Montreal only had nine shots on. On net in Game 7 against Tampa, it was still a great game. It was exciting. Doble was just standing on his head the entire time. They're trying to hold this lead. They get a late third period goal by New Hook. I need a good game tonight. I think we all do.
Keith
And how do you think Dovish's mental is going into this game after getting pulled last game? Like, that's going to be a tough.
PFT Commenter
I think he seems pretty confident.
Big Cat
He's fine. Yeah, he's pretty calm. And like, also like, like, I think he's playing with the house's money, man. This has been a great year for him. Like, yeah, you're gonna have games like that. And also, like, the. The overall defensively, they imploded too. I'm not just saying, like, it's. It's all on him. There was some rough goals there, but yeah, let's see. I mean, it all goes back to the way that they've been able to bounce back. It's kind of like. Like a New school. Vasilevsky, remember, like, Vasilevsky's number after facing a loss, like, how he was able to. To regroup. So I think that this is going to be. I think it's going to actually be a 4:3 overtime win. I'm not. 4:3 overtime win for who?
PFT Commenter
You don't know who?
Big Cat
I. I don't know yet. And I'll send out a tweet later today. I don't know. I don't have a feeling yet. I need to. I need to just get through this podcast, and then I'm gonna. I'm gonna sit with it. I'm gonna do a little meditation.
Keith
I'm gonna custom.
Big Cat
I'm gonna sit in my pool.
Keith
Because the home teams have struggled so much, it's so hard to pick this game. Right? Like, you want to take. You want to take the home team at least to like. But these roads, they're so good on the road right now. It's like, how do you go against the road team?
Big Cat
So I'm gonna go to this, though. I don't know if you guys saw that viral video, and we talk about the fandom in Montreal and how many people they have outside the building. Well, there was a video that was posted, and it was a guy walking through the. The storm where they all stand to watch the monitor outside, and he had a Jack Quinn jersey on. I don't know if he was with his sister, his girlfriend, his wife, but it was just the two of them, and they were going right through the gauntlet. And there were Canadiens fans not only, like, yelling at them, chirping at them. Somebody threw a piece or a roll of toilet paper at him.
PFT Commenter
Like, that'd be dirty.
Big Cat
It's dirty.
PFT Commenter
It was used toilet paper.
Big Cat
I don't know if it was used. I don't know. Did you see the video I'm talking about, Whit?
PFT Commenter
I did not.
Big Cat
Okay, well, I quote, tweeted it. You can go see it on my Twitter account. And sure enough, Jack Quinn hadn't scored a goal.
Keith
Oh, my God.
Big Cat
All playoffs. So what does number 22 do? He scores two goals. His first two of the playoffs in facing elimination and backs against the wall. So I think that I was shocked to not see Blade Gang come to their defense. I don't know if they were nowhere to be found if they hung out in Buffalo, but I just feel like maybe that was a pivotal turning point in. In fandom. Going overboard and being disrespectful. Yeah, Hockey gods were like a roll of toilet paper. Absolutely not.
PFT Commenter
Also Jack Quinn. The first one Darlene passed to him, I think. I don't know if it hit anything. I don't think it did post it in but it looked like Dovish could have had it. The second one, I don't, I can't recall seeing a snipe from where he was. It hit the top of the net. That was. Its a point of entry like that is just a world class snipe. I actually saw a side by side picture of, of one of Tage Thompson's goals. It might have been against Slovakia in the Olympics. The exact same knee down and no, both those guys can rip it. But like Demidov gets one in game five, he can stays hot. Gets one in game six. Jack Quinn gets his first two. I wouldn't be shocked to see him score tonight. But we do have a very special guest and before we get to him to talk about game seven and kind of fill us in on what he thinks, we got to talk about Noble. This episode is brought to you by Noble. I'm rocking the the shirt. I wore the Journey twos on my walk this morning. Barstool's favorite footwear brand. Noble is a brand known for their best in class footwear. And they're everywhere right now. Walking around city to city, at the airport, grabbing coffee wherever I go. They've got so many great styles and colors, but we've been loving the daily Runner, the Journey too. I just mentioned this is Noble's daily running shoe with an emphasis on comfort. So much comfort, support and dependability. Software you want structured where you need take it outside. You can run or walk. The Journey twos are made to move your way. Biz. Where did Biz go? There he is. I think he might be grabbing it. Pull it out. Biz. I'm watching him maybe unpack a new pair. He must have 50 different pairs of these things. He's putting his headphones in, but I know he rocks them. Biz. Well, how come is the Journey too?
Big Cat
Well, the Journey twos are unbelievable. I got basically ever every colorway and you talked about like the comfort walking on the cloud. You can run in them. You could do your daily runs, go do your groceries. But I also have the golf shoes that they come out with and look at the your. Your course will love you. They don't have the hard spikes. They got the soft spikes. They got the Noble logo underneath. But look at how classy these are. These are the white ones. They have all these different colorways. So they're coming out with actually more golf gear, but unreal. Un buddy. Unreal stuff. They keep innovating and every time you get a new package, it's like the stuff gets better and better. And as you can see, I'm rocking the top. These are the only T shirts I wear.
PFT Commenter
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Knuckles Nyland
Well, I'm trying to play golf this morning, but it's still winter here. Oh, Quebec, it's freezing.
PFT Commenter
We've been battling that in Boston. It's actually like 80 today for the first time. So I'm sorry you're not on the course right now and talking to us Muppets.
Big Cat
Niles, you don't look like. You don't look a day over 60. You're 68 years old, buddy. What are you. What's your routine?
Knuckles Nyland
My routine is no more drinking, no more drugs.
PFT Commenter
You got one of those down?
Big Cat
Yeah, I'm halfway there, buddy. You look unbelievable. Thank you so much for joining us.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah, thanks, Biz.
Big Cat
Oh, man.
PFT Commenter
So, Knuckles, we. We mentioned a couple minutes ago the, the vibe at that arena and outside the arena and the dominance in Game 5 by Montreal, we all had it. It was done, it was over. And I'm sure the city felt the same way. What do you think about their effort? And more than anything, being up 3:1 and then it just switched after UPL went back in for the Sabres.
Knuckles Nyland
Well, it's kind of game five and six was kind of like a microcosm of Buffalo season, right the way they started and the way they finished and games five and six and then game six, boy, you know, they get up three one there. And I think the thing that haunts this team, and it's been covered up quite a bit by the goaltending, was the way they play in their own end of the rink. You know, you saw it in that game. You know, you got defensemen chasing up to the blue line. Talked about this earlier in the year about this team. It's one of the things that haunt them. They get turned around. The offensive team pulls switches on them and they get mixed up. They turn their back to the puck and then do. Bash has a stand on his head and he's done a hell of a job doing it. But after a while that gets old. That gets tough on a goaltender. So that's one of the things. It's too late to really correct it. I think they've done a pretty good job during the playoffs, but boy, it comes back to haunt them every time.
Keith
Knuckles. This team has. The Montreal hasn't lost back to back games since March 14, March 15. Like, what is it about that group? And you know, even last game, you get blown out. Like, what is it that you have the confidence in them to rewrite the ship tonight and have a better game?
Knuckles Nyland
Well, I would hope so, you know, looking at their past, but you control that all out the window. Game seven, you're in the opposing building. I always say, like, you know, guys would rather be home game seven, but boy, game seven, the home team has all the pressure. You have to win. You're expected to win. And I think if they come out and put their game to them, they have a good opportunity. I think the resiliency pot, this team grew together. They went through a lot of growing pains, there's no question. But this coach, Monty St. Louis, like, he's able to park stuff and put it behind. Yeah, he holds his guys accountable, but he very. Comes very rarely uses the stick. It's always a carrot. And I think these guys respond to it. You know, they've, you know, I've talked to a few guys and they said some of the things they've heard him say in the locker room, they never heard come out of another coach's mouth and their young careers or, you know, even in minor hockey. So a lot of credit to him the way he's able to deal with. Deal with these kids. And yeah, they've done a good job at bouncing back. I hope they can do it again tonight.
Big Cat
Do you mean just as far as like positivity, maybe in moments where it's easy to be negative, like, just like the way he's able to inspire them and like, do you have an example of like, of what you're talking about how. Of something that they. They're like, wow, like, we weren't expecting to hear that at that point.
Knuckles Nyland
Well, not so much because I. Again, not so much an example as far as Heron has what he said or knowing what he said. But just for instance, when Kirby Doc had that game, right, like, he stuck with him. This whole city up here was calling for this kid's head and here's a coach backing him big time. And then he comes back and has a huge game, you know, so, you know, he just does things that you don't see those old school conventional coaches do, you know, you know, back in certainly my day. And I'm sure some of you guys tasted this too. It's like, you know, do what I tell you. Shut up. But, you know, that's it. And you don't hear that from Marty. There's no question.
Big Cat
Yeah. You're talking about game. I think it was game two in, in Tampa, right? Yeah. Kirby Doc had that tough, tough icing and then ended up. They ended up scoring the next shift or he went on to the D man, but like you said, stuck with them and obviously like instilled more confidence in him. And that, that line was huge throughout the back half of that series against Tampa where I think they out produced, definitely out produced that top line because the top line went kind of dry, power play and even five on five. But army, army sent in a question here and I was actually going to ask something similar because going back to last game and you played with him and won a cup with them in 85 was Larry Robinson, six time Stanley cup champion. He carried out the torch for game six. And you got the opportunity to do that. Army's question was, how nervous were you doing that? Like, was that one of the coolest moments of your life?
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah, there's no question. Listen, you know, before I did it, it was only hall of Famers, right? It was John Beloveau, Evan Conway, Rashad Cabo. Different guys had the opportunity to do that. When they called me, I was like I was heading down to Massachusetts on Thursday because. And I'm not blowing my own horn here but inducted to the Mass Hockey hall of Fame which was an honor in and of itself for me. But they called me and end up asking me and I'm like, okay. So I had to change my plans and you know, it was emotional for me because again being a kid from Boston coming up here, first English ambassador ever with the team, you know, another whole, you know, LaFleur bringing the, the torch out. LaFleur an ambassador, Bellaville, all, all the greats. And getting that, that call was, it was awesome. So coming out with the, with, with the torch was really cool. Having that opportunity. The fan base was like this fan base is just rabid up here. It's incredible. Like I've never, honestly I've never been in a building like that. I don't think there's one. You know, I went to Liverpool ever Everton last year and they sing the soccer, you know, they sing all. And it's a great, great atmosphere. But the electricity in that building before the game, during the game, especially if they're doing well. The balloon got popped the other night. There's no question. But it's incredible. Like I sit there some nights and I'm like, if I was ever in that Runway waiting to come out, I think I killed someone.
Big Cat
Oh yeah, that's got to be the, that's the best come out in, in the NHL right there because you cut. It's, it's so wide. It's right in the middle of the ice. So it's like the perfect spot to come out where it's you know, front and center and oh my God, that, that ice is lit up. Everybody's on their feet. It's, it's remarkable. There's nothing like it in hockey, that's for sure.
PFT Commenter
Knuckles, we were just saying before you came on or Keith asked the question about Dobush mentally, you know, he gets the hook and now you got a game seven on the road. But I kind of said from his interviews and stuff he seems like a pretty level headed, doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low guy. What, what have you come to learn? You know, watching him and covering him this year in this playoff run about how he might approach this game seven again.
Knuckles Nyland
I think that bad game he had early in the year when he cried after the game, he got it out of his system. Hello.
PFT Commenter
What would you have done to Your
Keith
teammate, if he cried after a game,
Knuckles Nyland
put the torch out on him next practice, one off the head. But, you know, he come out and said, he's a goofy kid, he likes it. I had an opportunity to meet him last year and in a golf tournament in Newfoundland and yeah, I saw him afterwards and he is kind. Yeah, he's nonchalant. He's. But boy, when I see him on the ice, his focus, you know, between breaks, everything. He really is a focused kid. He's. He's surprised a lot of people. We saw a little taste of it last year in the playoffs. I think it was a little overwhelmed. Easy situation to be in, but it was a good taste for him. The kid is resilient. I see him as bouncing back. You know, he. He certainly wants to overcome what happened in Game 6.
Big Cat
R.A. was in attendance. I know you ran into him and he was saying when they were doing the player intros that Lane Hudson got the biggest pop. What's it been like? Just like watching the start of his career and like what he's meant to that team and like what he's able to do at such a young age. Like his motor is, is like out of this world.
PFT Commenter
And quickly, before you go, when you first saw him, like off the ice, you must have been like, what, like, this guy's gon.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna pull out the little tennis racket that you electrocute the flies with. Yeah, well, I saw him the first time. This kid's gonna get killed. And, yeah, you can't. He is so elusive. He's so assertive when he has the puck. His leg, he got these crazy legs that go in directions that normal legs don't go in. And it's crazy. He'll come down the wall, he'll spin off and turn. Like to watch him as much as I have, I just. It's so. Like the one bright point in that game the other night was him. One of the bright points. There were other guys that certainly showed up to play, but not all of them, they struggled. But that kid is. Yeah, he's amazing. You know, the Anderson goal and then the, the Caulfield goal in game five. Like, he's coming in, the goalie thinks he's shooting all the way and he's not even looking at that player. And he gives him the puck. He's looking straight at the goaltender and that puck goes across and they get two tap in goals. Just incredible plays that every night it's something. And for me, my biggest surprise watching this kid is ability. His Ability to defend and he defends well with a stick. When he has to use his body, he'll get it in a way, in such a way where he can take the puck from you. He doesn't overpower guys. He's just so smart, he's so quick. He can take the puck from you and make you look foolish. You could be 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, whatever, 6, 4, it doesn't matter. You can be little Benson. He's going to take it from you. And that to me is the biggest surprise. The way he's able to defend.
Big Cat
Yeah, he's. They call it surfing like how the, the way they defend some of these small guys and how they angle you off. But going back to the, the Anderson goal back door is, is. I'm sure we'll see it a ton tonight. Game seven is every time they have an offensive zone draw and it's on the left hand side for like the offensive team and it's them, they usually have them on the ice and they're running face off plays every time and it's not the same one like you saw the other night where like they're, they're like talking like it's a quarterback ready to, you know, snap back the pig skin and then like all of a sudden they're running roach. So it's pretty cool to see what they've done as far as schemes basically like around this player like because when he gets it at the point and he, you know, right off a fresh draw like he could go anyways a water bug and he creates so much offense from like a dead stop. So it's pretty cool the way that, that Marty's coached that and I'm interested to see how much it happens tonight.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah, listen, it happens against them too. And that's where they really got to be careful. But you know, I think certainly that's where Marty comes and he, he, he got all these schemes. He's able to, to, to set plays. You know, I love about Marty. And you see a lot of NHL teams, you know, there's a timeout and guys come over the bench and the assistant coach got the ball out. Not here. Marty has it every time. And you see all those guys are very attentive. They listen. They're not like looking down the bench talking to someone else while the coach is talking. They're all in there and they all have their nose in there. So that's a good thing. But yeah, he, he's, you know, I've seen him work with Demidoff and Practice a lot of times talking to the kid on the, you know, doing stuff on the wall, spinning off the wall. He did it with Cole earlier where he sets up on the pp, taking that step to the middle to improve his angle. All those things like he really. Yeah, he played the game, you know, the guy that, that certainly not drafted, not supposed to make it set back, setback. And then he becomes a Hall of Famer. So the guy knows what the hell's going on.
Keith
There's no question, Knuckles, the start of periods and started games for Montreal has not been great.
PFT Commenter
Right.
Keith
They're getting scored on giving up opportunities. Like what, what is good? Do you think? It's one of those things where it's just brain farts. Guys or guys are not into the game yet, like, but when it just happens more and more like you, you got to think it's an issue.
Knuckles Nyland
No, I, I was just patting the coach on the back. Okay, now I. Let me look at the. Listen, every game they've started, Suzuki, Slavkowski and Caulfield, they win the draw Slap gets it, he dumps it in. For who?
Keith
Cole?
Knuckles Nyland
Garfield? Chances are he's not coming up with the puck.
PFT Commenter
Not his game.
Knuckles Nyland
I was hoping to see like Anderson and company out there like put the puck in and establish the way you want to play. And I'm not saying those guys can't do it, but they've started every game and it's been a piss poor start every time. Every time they get it stuck right up their hoop. So, you know, yeah, I would like to see that change. I like to see them put out guys that are going to put the puck deep and going and put the, put the body on guys and get that game going before you get the fancy shit going.
Big Cat
You say hoop too, eh? Up the hoop. I like that. You sit right in nicer.
PFT Commenter
You should be a co host up the five hole, boys.
Big Cat
We should look for that tonight to see if Marty changes it up. I, I agree with you Knuckles. That's. That would see Anderson going there with a flying elbow or something. Let's set the tone Malone. Bugsy Malone style.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
In a game seven, I would say like most important player goalie and dovish in Tampa. He proved that. But after him, I'm. I'm gonna say for me, it's Suzuki. I'm interested in your guy, you know, he's the captain. He started it off in Game 7 in Tampa with that beautiful deflection. It was going wide. Good, good a good balance but still a great tip. Is that A guy for you that's like tonight after Doish, he needs to be going, he needs to be at the top of his game because you've seen moments of him being brilliant and then moments where him in that line have been very quiet. It's, it's kind of random how it's worked for the, for the.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah, it has. You know, I, I think Nick's resiliency, Slick Nick, you know, he's, he, he's so level. I have not seen this kid get too high, get too low, which I think bodes well for the whole group along with the coach. Right. To have that example as a captain. But yeah, they've struggled. And again, you know, you know, playoff hockey is so different than the regular season. It's just so different. And all of a sudden it's like for guys who haven't played it and even guys who have a little bit under their belt, it's still a shock when all of a sudden, you know, there's the openings that were there during the regular season aren't there in the playoffs. I think it was game five in Buffalo there when Nick, he had the puck on the side of the net and just inside the dot and it looked like he should have shot it and he ended up passing it for a tap in goal. And like those are the things he can do under pressure. And he does quite a bit. He's, he bigger than I think a lot of people think and he plays that, that 200 foot game. You know, he's really responsible on both ends of the ring.
Big Cat
Last guy I was going to ask you about in particular was Jake Evans. And like a guy who doesn't make a lot of money. There was rumblings that they were maybe going to trade him because they couldn't figure out a contract situation. But eventually they ended up signing him. I think he makes like 2.75, 2.85 million. I've been blown away by, by his performance so far in these playoffs. Not exactly a world burner as far as like the offensive output, but actually in playoffs he's been a lot better than regular season as far as point per game output. But like, what do you see from him? Like, he's been awesome for them in this stretch here.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah, he's been a great leader. You know, listen, face off dot, he's been awesome. Penalty killing and five on five, he's not going to hurt you, you know, he's not going to hurt you at all. And that shorthanded goal was huge the other night and you would think up 3, 1. Well, all right, let's not sit back but let's play smart here. And boy, the wheels fell off but Jake, yeah, he's a leader on the ice. Another kid that's pretty even keeled and just a good example of what you want from an NHL player, another 200 foot player, you know, and certainly the contract was, was I think a bit of an issue there for a bit. But then he ended up saying, listen, I want to play here, I want to be part of this. I wouldn't mind winning a Stanley cup one day. And you know, I give credit to the top. You know, when you, Jeff Gordon, of course we got to bring a guy from Boston up to straight to Canadian though. But they, you know, together and Ken Hughes like being a guy who negotiated contracts on the other side knowing that game and then the two of them together, you know, there was some controversial picks. You know, Slafkovsky was like everybody, why don't you take the other guy? You know, here's a team that needed to get bigger, tougher and stronger. And you know, they made some incredible picks to build this team and, and you know, we talked about the fan base earlier. They've been awfully patient and now they're starting to see some of those rewards and boy, they're letting them know how much they love what's going on here.
Big Cat
Yeah, they got slammed for that slap pick when, when Shane Wright was kind of like the, like the uncontested first overall. Never forget Shane Wright's look to the, to their table after, after he finally got picked. What was it? Fourth. But yeah, they got, they got smoked for, for that one and slaps kind of turned out exactly how they expected.
Keith
And then he struggled a little bit too his first year. So yeah, he was getting concussions. Yeah, sure. Another. Another guy too that struggled a little bit in. You know, we've all played with Russian guys where if they are struggling, you can see it in their body language, they're not giving it whatever. But Demidod's been a guy. He's hasn't been scoring until, you know, two games ago, but now he is. But he never, it never looked like he really was getting off his game. He was still doing the little things, right. Still trying hard. Like, what do you see from that kid?
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah, this is a bright future. You know, he really a lot of talent. He's another one. The spin moves, being able to take the puck with him and not lose it. You know, when you, when you spin like that and you're Trying to, trying to get to the middle of the ice. And what I. He's penetrating now. Like the other night in, in Buffalo, going to the net when he got cross checked down like he wasn't on the outside. He's taking the puck to the net that time. I think that's going to help him. But, you know, we often forget and I know they do here. Slapp was 18 years old, the other kid's 19. It's like, you know, I get it, it's a kid's game today, but they're still young as far as the league. You run into guys who've been around for a while, you know, they're going to, they're going to hand you hat to you, you know, see you later. And I think this, they've got a taste of that and they, the more and more experience they get, the better they're going to be, you know, slap slappers. Living in Finland at 16 years old in his own place, and when he had to, he wasn't sure what to cook, he called his mother and the mother would tell him what to cook. I mean, come on, 16 years old, who does, you know, I was still
Keith
eating boogers at 16.
PFT Commenter
Keith at 16, he was eating Cheez its and Reese's.
Ari
So.
PFT Commenter
Rollback. Last question for you, Knuckles. Use code chiclets on rollback.com Generous 20 off your first purchase at the end of the week. Roth O-B-A-K.com C-H-I C L E T S for the 20 off. Polo shorts, hoodies and more. It's been a while since Montreal and the city got to experience this 20, 21. Even when they were in the finals, it was, it was Covid. You know, the arena wasn't full until you went down to Tampa. What is the city like? Like, how do you describe it for people who've never been there and going around, even at the golf course today, I'm sure it's all anyone's talking about how, how special is this city when they're in the mix, right, like they
Knuckles Nyland
are right now, there's a different vibe. Boy, you know, like when I played here, it was crazy. You know, people going around, they in the car, they get the flag out the window, right? That they pinch it up. When you roll the window up, you see them everywhere. People are beeping at each other. People are wearing jerseys. It's crazy. Everybody has a red jersey. You know, you wear a white one. The game, you're an outcast. And it's like a whole different vibe. The restaurants are gone. Every. It's just crazy. And if they do get out of this round, it'll be even crazier this coming weekend because Formula One is here at the same time. It's insane. Like, just the buzz. The people absolutely love it. They're so passionate about the team here. I always say, people, it's not a hockey town here. It's a Habs town, you know, and they proved that back in the world Junior, you know, they had the world Junior here. No one showed up to the games. They couldn't. They couldn't sell it out, you know, but when the Habs are going, there's nothing like it. And biz.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Knuckles Nyland
I was with you in Arizona when that shit happened. I would have loved.
Big Cat
Oh, I could have used it, buddy.
PFT Commenter
He does, too.
Big Cat
Head kicked in. Yeah, you probably would have did better than I did. I. I was. I was like. Since you just talked about it being a Habstown 85. I was believe. Is that the year you won it? Yeah. 85.86. You played 18 playoff games that year. You scored one goal. Who was your goal against?
Knuckles Nyland
Let me think.
Keith
Just say a Hall of Famer.
Knuckles Nyland
I don't know. Usually I remember most of them, but I don't remember that. I don't know. Okay. In Calgary, I hit the crossbar twice in the same games, shift after shift. Crazy. And I remember the referee come up to me, Bill McCrary, and he said to me, knuckles hit the net. And I'm like,
Big Cat
last one that. What was the celebration like in Montreal when you guys won it in 86?
Knuckles Nyland
Insanity. You know, I. I remember flying back when we trotted back and then just said non stop. Like, non stop. And going to City hall, you know, and then going down St. Catherine Street. It was probably. The run was probably about seven, six miles from City hall backwoods down St. Catherine street, and it was insanity. Like, we were all in convertibles. They had the cup on a float with the captains and the assistants and then everybody else. I was at a convertible with Mario Tremblay and Guy Cavano, and it was insanity. People are passing you drinks and nada. I'm surprised I didn't get roofied. And we.
Keith
You wouldn't have minded.
Knuckles Nyland
Oh, yeah, you did at that point.
PFT Commenter
Roofing himself.
TJ Oshie
Yeah.
Knuckles Nyland
And then we go by Super Sex and the girls are all hanging out the window up top. They take. We would get. It was storefront to storefront. Over a million people. It's crazy. People are nuts here, and I love to see that Again in my lifetime. There's no question about it. It'll be awesome.
Keith
You got. You guys had Patrick Waugh come in as a rookie. You got dovish as a rookie this year. Like there's some signs for young goal. He's there.
Knuckles Nyland
There's no question and follow. You know, coming in the other night, that was a tough situation for that kid to be trust into. But hey, that's. You want to play net, that's what happens. And yeah, doves certainly. I remember Patrick come in another kind of goofy looking goal. He came in and you know, he stood on his head. I mean we had a really good defensive team that year though. You know, we had the least goals against in the league that year and Patrick came in halfway through. So our team played well defensively. Patrick stood in his head. Dobash man, the future looks bright here. Both goaltenders and you know, they might have an issue at some point if you know that's going to be a battle, the two of them when you know, the regular season comes around again next year, which is a good problem to have and hopefully he can get both of them under contract at the same time. But yeah, things, things look good here. I just, I hope for this group they, they get it done tonight. They've shown their resilient and you know, you put some pressure on the home team early and they start gripping the sticks. You never know.
Big Cat
Knuckles, since you brought it up before, we let you go. So like in your heyday when you guys won that cup, like if you go into super sex, like does. Does, everybody knew it was going.
PFT Commenter
He lives there, he lived there.
Big Cat
Does. Every girl. Is every girl like Knuckles?
Knuckles Nyland
No, we used to go to Shea Paria, Wanda's. We didn't go to super Sex. Almost.
Big Cat
Okay, I did. I've been to Wanda's. I went there with. Yeah, I went there with a couple of the guys.
Knuckles Nyland
Being in a cave, that's what that's
Big Cat
where you know, that's when you feel like an NHLer is when you walk into a strip club in Montreal and they treat you like you're. Like you're royalty.
Knuckles Nyland
No, it's crazy.
Big Cat
It's the best. Yeah, the best.
Knuckles Nyland
The lovely, sexy and beautiful champagne.
Keith
Ah, we, we welcome to the main stage.
PFT Commenter
Oh, Knuckles, you're the best, buddy. Have a good round. And I don't know what you'll be doing for game seven. I'm sure you'll be all fired up though and I, I hope we get a great one. So we appreciate it and, and keep crushing it. Up there.
Knuckles Nyland
I'll be licking my wound. So I'm shooting 92 today because.
PFT Commenter
That's okay.
Keith
That's okay.
PFT Commenter
Go to. Go to Wanda's. You'll get licked as well.
Ari
So.
Knuckles Nyland
All right, guys. Good to see you.
PFT Commenter
We never.
Big Cat
We never asked Knuckles about ra. Well, how was the running with RA Was fine.
Knuckles Nyland
You know, he. He was on good behavior with me, which was nice. And. Yeah, he was. He was happy to be there. He had called me and said, you know, I'm thinking of coming up. I'm thinking of coming up. I said, if you. You haven't seen this atmosphere yet, you gotta check it out. You don't. You don't want to miss it. And he. His credit come up and. And got a taste of it was pretty.
PFT Commenter
Might still be there. You know, we're gonna talk to him in a couple minutes here.
Big Cat
Yeah, he cost them the game. He sat in Cornway a seat and then that was the end of it.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah.
Keith
If he tries to. If he texts you again that he's coming back up, say no. Not happening.
Knuckles Nyland
I've already deleted them in my content.
Keith
It's good.
PFT Commenter
All right, Knuckles, have a great one.
Knuckles Nyland
All right, guys.
PFT Commenter
Thanks, everybody.
Big Cat
What a guy.
PFT Commenter
What a guy. Awesome. Had him come on. And. Yeah, I mean, I actually forgot I was Gonna ask him 86 or 93 the year the Canadiens, I think they won 12 games in overtime, but I looked it up quick, it was 93. So let's see if the. If the Habs can get. Can get through. We got a great one.
Big Cat
And what's that?
PFT Commenter
First year 293 was on the 86.
Keith
He was on 85.
PFT Commenter
I don't think he was on the 93 team. I think he was already in Chicago then.
Keith
Hey, one of the all time best nicknames too. Knuckles.
Ari
And.
PFT Commenter
And I love how he just had to throw out. I really wish I was with you at Houston's biz. It might have all gone differently. Those. Those Irish Travelers who disappeared.
Big Cat
Oh, they wouldn't even started 70 at
Keith
that time, he would have been what, 74?
Big Cat
No, he's 68 or 60.
Keith
68. So he would have been 64 at the time and still wanted to smoke. What an animal.
Big Cat
Oh, yeah. What do you mean? About when. When I went down with the Travelers.
Keith
It was like four years ago, right? When was that?
Big Cat
Last year, was it, buddy?
PFT Commenter
Hey, chicklets. World things happen. Like it seems like 10 years ago. And you know, it was like the first round of this playoff.
Big Cat
Sometimes you have cte.
Ari
Definitely.
PFT Commenter
Oh, God.
Ari
Yeah.
Keith
I think we all do.
Big Cat
Wow.
PFT Commenter
I'll tell you who doesn't have cte.
Ari
Thank God.
PFT Commenter
It's not a thing to joke about. Mitch Marner. We are watching it just classic fashion. We are watching greatness.
Merles
And.
PFT Commenter
And I base is going for the jersey. He's going for the jersey. And the Vegas Golden Knights boys, they are moving on. They. They continued their streak of. When it's two two and they win game five. They. They just end series, boys. They end series in game six and they just crushed Anaheim. And it started off. I gotta say, I think It's a top 10 and maybe even higher goal in the history of the playoffs now. I know it. Yeah, it was to win a series. It wasn't overtime. Like the Irishman off the crossbar and against the Blues in overtime and you know, Lemieux goal you think of against the North Stars, but that move between the legs and then just the dominance of Vegas thereafter, they win 51 biz. What did you think watching that?
Big Cat
I mean a significant goal because just eased them off. It was quick, right? It happened early. I mean just a great heads up play all the way from the defensive zone off the dump in a great little like we call them dink plays like just the defenseman. Just, you know, he felt the pressure.
Keith
Theodore.
Big Cat
Yeah, it was Theodore who. Buddy, he's been. He's been their best player right? Other maybe other than Mitch, just for the amount of ice time he's had to lug and do everything that he's doing offensively. But he gets it to Carl Said and then the hockey IQ on Mitch to know that he's like, I'm stretching, I'm gonna. I think he caught Lacombe sleeping a little bit. Who was kind of getting involved on the rush on the other side of the ice when it originally got dumped in. But just the, the breakaway speed to kind of keep him on the back hip. To know that where he had the body position and then to. To. To know that Dostell's on the other side of the net and then boom, between the legs. Like I mean that. And then also the shorthanded assists in that period.
PFT Commenter
Oh that. That was even smoother. I felt like he's just back and forth east to west and it's like I got Howden the King. He's got three shorthanded goals already. Houghton.
Big Cat
Yeah. So I think that as far as Marner, since we're on him very.
Keith
That's when he's at his best.
Big Cat
Shorthanded.
Keith
No, like when he's cutting in. In the middle like that. Even though that's when he's. Like when he was doing that in Toronto, like, that's when he's him.
Big Cat
When. When the other team's on the power play and they have a forward playing defense, he is licking his chops to put them in a blender. You've seen it in both series twice. Well, so now he's got four primary shorthanded assists in this playoff. Runs through two series, which throughout the course of history, I think that Wayne Gretzky is a name that's done it. And there's, like, two other guys that have done that. I'm sure G will find those names. So as far as, like, shutting up the haters like me, I mean, we've taken a lot of L's this playoffs and on this podcast throughout the history. I think no bigger L than me saying that he's not a $12 million player, that he's not a playoff performer. And right now, I would say it's safe to say that he's the leader for the cons mite. I don't want to hear. I don't want to hear any of this nonsense. Oh, they played against Utah and Anaheim. Couple unexperienced offensive teams were. Fuck off. We're not. We're not even going there with the negativity and taking anything away from what he's doing right now. He's shutting everybody up. Does he have a better team around him? Is it a way better fit for him? Is there less pressure? Absolutely. But, hey, he's taken this opportunity. He's running with it, and he's having the best playoff of his career so far. And I tell you what, boys, Vegas Golden Knights have something cooking. And I think that the Colorado Avalanche and their fans, not the players, not the team, but the fan base online. I said coin flip the other night on television, and they're like, coin flip. Coin flip, my ass. Like, we're going to five or six. I.
Keith
Okay.
Big Cat
I think that the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games will beat the Colorado Avalanche.
PFT Commenter
So we're going to get into the series. We have TJ Oshi coming on in a couple minutes. I'm with you, though. I'm not ready to pick Vegas. I'm shocked at how confident ABS fans are. Maybe not confident, because why wouldn't they be with what they've done all season long? But I feel like they're. They're. They're not even, like, looking at Vegas as a threat. Whereas when you have. And Makar is wounded, McCarr's wounded. That's the biggest part. But the way Carter Hart's playing and Vegas is just. I'll tell you what, we'll get into this in a sec. Gary Lawless saying that they aren't cutthroat and that they aren't villains is the craziest thing that's been said in this year's playoffs. This team, they are. It's us against the world. Everyone else, they don't care. Now if Stone can come back then it's an even then it's an even bigger worry for ABS fans. But I, I'm trying to find. I put up a poll who's winning the west. Colorado, Vegas. 81.2% said Vegas, I mean said to Colorado. Excuse me like I just don't see it. I, I'll say 60, 40, but I don't see how. I think the hockey public is it that they hate Vegas or they're. They're just not that confident?
Keith
I think they hate Vegas.
Big Cat
I think we've been talking about Colorado, Colorado, Colorado. So everybody suspects it and you know they've, they've got through to hear where nine games it's taken them. Right. Vegas has gone to six both times. I think that people are probably a little concerned about Stone's health. Is there anybody else significant out for, for the golden knights? I know McNabb's coming back but they're not really other than Stone, if he ends up coming back which is huge. Are not dealing with any type of significant injury. I like their special teams are dialed in. Their penalty kills incredible. I think that they're even on their penalty kill.
Keith
They scoring.
Big Cat
They've scored just as many goals as they've let up. And, and I think that they can play either way. They could play any, any way you want. And they, they got a very deep lineup along with all the acquisitions they made. So if I'm Colorado I'm one not taking them lightly. I think that this is for sure
Keith
going seven games and the longer, the longer the series goes, the better off it is for Vegas too. 100 bigger. They're stronger. Like you look at you look at the difference between when Vegas went up was it three nothing last game and then when Montreal went up three nothing. Like they, they just know how to close out a game. They get the key saves, they get the, you know, smart plays, little dump ins. Like they are a team that's built for the playoffs. They're big, they're mean, they play hard. They want it to go to seven. They're Built for it to go to seven. I think if you're Colorado, you're, you're. You're a little naive if you think that this is going to be a cakewalk over to the Stanley cup finals because this team is ready to roll. Ready to roll. Ready to roll, as Stu Finer would say. But going back to the Mitch Marner goal, I was re watching again and the announcer, it was such a good goal. The announcer called a Mitchell, which I've never heard.
PFT Commenter
Like I kind of. You call him unbelievable Mitchell to get your.
Keith
The full Mitchell on a goal. Like for the announcer to think of that. That's how you know is such a good goal. But yeah, man, this team like they know how to play. They know how to play in playoffs and I sure as hell wouldn't want to play them. I don't think the Colorado players are like the fans and saying, oh, this is going to be a cakewalk. I think the players know they were.
Big Cat
They were licking their chops at potentially getting Anaheim. The fact that they got Vegas now they're like, we're in one, man. They got winners on that back end. Theodore McNabb, like, you, you can. I mean, look at the like Hannifin.
Keith
Michael and Hannifin just won a gold medal. Like.
Big Cat
And last thing I'll say before we bring Oshan is we've got. We've had a lot of hashtags, a lot of people jumping on the Vegas train. Obviously, Bluntman's been a huge a part of this. Dave Portnoy put a massive future on them winning it, which I would consider doing. I would like to know the Con Smythe odds for Mitch Marner and also what the odds are for Vegas winning it. I might sprinkle a little bit on that. And I'm not a huge gambling man. Although I'll head over to DraftKings and. And drop a little bit. We've had the Knights at the round table. Hashtag, we've had the. The itchy for Mitchie. I got my own. We're going tanning for Torts. That tan that he is rocking right now. But he like that. He's been there for six weeks, buddy.
Keith
Yeah, he slept outside.
PFT Commenter
They're. They're 15, 4 and 1 since Tortorello replaced Cassidy. But let's get into the post game. The. The Gary Bettman hammer down on the Golden Knights.
Merles
And guys, I gotta, I gotta jump in here actually.
Ari
So one of our friends at Barstool
Merles
was pretty upset with the. The penalty given to the Vegas Golden
Ari
Knights and he Recorded a video and
Merles
he wanted to send it to you guys. So I'll play it right now.
Keith
It's better be bloody.
Knuckles Nyland
Hey, Wit coach.
Big Cat
Hey, Biz. Hey, Yandel. This is the old Coach Gruden here. I just had to reach out to you guys because Tortorella is my guy. He was a world champion coach of the Lightning. Now he's obviously showing his stuff again in Vegas. But when I find out he gets fined a hundred grand and they lose a second round pick for him not living up to his media responsibilities.
PFT Commenter
That's a bunch of.
Big Cat
And I want to know what you guys are saying about that.
PFT Commenter
I hope they appeal it.
Big Cat
This better be resolved.
PFT Commenter
That's just my opinion.
Big Cat
But I gotta hear from you guys. What do you. What do you think of this?
PFT Commenter
Man?
Keith
I started a gofundme for torts.
PFT Commenter
Let's get into this quick and then we'll have Oshawn. We'll get his opinion after. I biz, I gotta say I disagree with you a little bit. It sounds like I disagree with you. Yance. You guys were disgusted that this was even a big deal. Buddy.
Big Cat
Not disgusted. Not disgusted. Go ahead, go ahead.
PFT Commenter
Okay, I'm sorry. You were disgusted, I believe with the punishment. I, I should have. I should have worded that correctly. I agree. The punishment, it was, it was aggressive. I was surprised by it. Now we found out after they'd been warned a couple times. I don't. They didn't say for what, but there's been some issues with them not having players available. But I'll say Torts not doing media himself. They didn't open the room up. It just made no sense to me. It made. I was so confused by it. The series is over. You moved on. You crushed him in game six. Everything is good. Apparently it was some sort of protest to, to, to mention how disgusted they were about the McNabb suspension. Okay. The media didn't suspend McNabb. It was. It wasn't media members that got called for the one game suspension. It was.
Keith
And you won the game.
PFT Commenter
They won. I just. I don't get. I don't get why they did it. I. And I don't want to hear about curfew. And they had to get out of there in time. They had plenty of time. It made no sense to me. And maybe it is like us against the world and Vegas. This is what they do. And I'm. We don't care if everyone hates us. But I had no clue why it happened. It didn't make sense. And I do. I Do feel for media guys as well. Like, dude, you're trying to. You're trying to get quotes. You're going on to the conference final. You're playing the president's trophies winners. You just had a big game. Marner's in. In the front running with McKinnon. Now they're facing off for the Con Smythe. Why not talk to the media? I. I don't get it. I don't understand it. And people who were like, Vegas fans, like, no, no, it doesn't matter. It's like. It kind of does matter. Like, you need. You could say what you want about media members. You can dislike certain media members. God knows people can't stand some of us or all of us. But you got to talk to the media after a series is over. I actually wouldn't have cared as much if the series was still going on. All right, whatever. You don't want to talk. You just lost a tough game. You just won the Series 5 one on the road. So to me, it was just unnecessary and it was stupid.
Ari
Yeah.
Big Cat
I mean, this. There's a lot to unpack here right now. I don't know if. If Torts is one of those guys that's calculated enough to know that it was gonna, like, turn into this. And also being used. I feel like this is something that's being used to galvanize the group ahead of this series against Colorado. Do you guys think I'm crazy for thinking that?
Keith
I don't think they need it.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Keith
No, I don't think.
PFT Commenter
I don't.
Keith
Crazy for it.
Big Cat
I. I think that they're the bad boys of the NHL right now. That's a double, double barrel to the media. It also might be part of him. Like, he's even said, like, ah, the narrative around Mitch Marner. Like, he's stuck up for Mitch Marner now already towards the media. I feel this is kind of like a you to everybody. We're the bad boys of the NHL. We're cutthroat. We don't give a. Suck my dick. That's kind of how I feel like it's. It's going right now. And as far as, like, I said that, it's a bit ridiculous how big of a deal it was because, listen, they want to get home. They want to get out of here. It wasn't stupid to do. And is it disrespectful to all the media members who, like, want a story after the game? Absolutely. And being a member of the media, I do feel sorry for those people. But I also say that he's now given you a way bigger story to write. Like, which is to me that the fact that they're going full villain mode, like look at the top four teams now. Like we're gonna get Montreal.
Keith
They've been villain mode since they got in the NHL.
Big Cat
I know, but buddy. But it's all eyes on. They got the Mitch Marner storyline. They got the Carter Hart storyline. They got, they got ports in there now with the. With the best hand we've seen since Chris Chelos. Like so they. And on top of like them firing their coach eight games of four playoffs that won a Stanley cup with them, that they're now blocking from going to another team. I just feel like they're embracing it all and it, and it's a perfect little wrinkle in all of this. Ahead of this David versus Goliath, so to speak series that everybody thinks has already been won by Colorado. I love this. If anything, they, they've given the media more to talk about and more ammunition for them to write about.
PFT Commenter
That was maybe his. That was his play. You think I'm actually going to help the media out by having more to talk about than that boring 51 win besides the Marner goal and assist.
Big Cat
And people think like, oh, what a self. This is one thing that people think, oh, what a selfish move by making this all about torts and all this rather than celebrating a series win and then just giving the media what they deserve from. For showing up and moving on. Where I'm thinking like, I don't know man, this seems like a pretty good opportunity where you are, you're, you're, you're. You're the team that's the underdog going into the series to get everybody at practice saying everybody on the outside, them all the people that doubted you, Mitch, the people that are coming at you online for your business and, and so on and so forth. It's us against the world right now.
TJ Oshie
Them.
Big Cat
That's what I think. That. And maybe I'm giving John Tutorella with that tan way too much credit. But I'll tell you what, I'm hashtagging tan for torts. I'm on board. I'm rooting for Vegas. Vegas and 7. Let's bring on TJ Oshi, see what he thinks.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, we're gonna bring him on it. Just, just, just quickly. Great rant. It was a second round pick. I mean that's crazy. Shea Weber, Patrice Bergeron, Layton, Hudson. There are some incredible second round picks out there. You never know. Obviously there's more guys who never make it, but like, that's a big deal. And people have said maybe they'll get it back if they go to the league hat in hand. And they're saying, we apologize now. They still need to let Cassidy talk to the Oilers and the Kings. No, I. They are. They are straight up villains. And maybe that's Gary Lawless has them
Big Cat
locked up in his basement right now.
PFT Commenter
I texted Gary, what's going before the punishment. Okay, what happened last night? What is this? He's like, let me ask some sources. We never heard back from him. He was spending time with his daughters that day. So, you know, I know Gary was busy, but, you know, Gary loved this move. Deep down, he's a media guy. And he still would have said, I don't need any quotes. Fuck them all. Fuck them all were the golden knights. But I say something that is maybe a little more happy to talk about. More enjoyable to talk about is Athletic Brewing, guys. The Athletic Brewing Company and these non alcoholic brews are incredible. Great tasting, award winning non alcoholic beer. No compromises on flavor and no consequences later for enjoying the celebration. This is business drink. This is a full flavor, non alcoholic beer that never feels out of place, fit for all times. There's always a seat for you at the bar. You can drink at any time, anywhere and still go right back to whatever you were doing. Biz. He just left to probably get one and crush it. But there's no hangovers. Great nights don't need awful mornings. Athletic Brew. It offers a variety of styles including IPAs, goldens, extra dark brews, Sours, Hazies and more, many of which are only available online for a limited time. You can find Athletic Brewing best selling lineup at grocery stores or liquor stores near you. Or try a variety of limited styles exclusively for their website biz. What's that one?
Big Cat
One. This one is the Run Wild ipa.
PFT Commenter
That's their best. That's their. My favorite flavor.
Big Cat
This is usually my go to. And then this one's the golden, which I love too.
PFT Commenter
Okay.
Big Cat
I'm gonna go with the Run Wild ipa, which doesn't. It's not like as strong as a typical ipa so that it goes down a little bit lighter, but a lot of cool things about it. Guys. It's low in calories. 65 calories in this can. It's. It's also. I. I said this before and. And they didn't believe me. Given back up to 2 million annually to restore local trails. You guys know I'm a big hiker. This is what I bring on my hikes. I drink this after I get to the top. And obviously I smoke a half a J. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
But that's probably not part of this. That's probably not part of this. But the Run Wild, I mean, it's a good. It's a good name for that one because you can go for a run after. It doesn't affect you. Go to athleticbrewing.com chiclets to find stores near you or get brew shipped right to you. You spoke chiclet to get 15 off your first online order near beer. Terms and conditions and certain limitations apply. Athletic Brewing Company Fit for all times.
Keith
You just missed what Biz did.
PFT Commenter
What he did.
Keith
The TJ Oshi, the cough when you open the beer in the back of the bus.
PFT Commenter
Oh, Sean. He was a pro at that on the back of the bus. What's up, Bose?
TJ Oshie
What's up, brother? How we doing, boys?
PFT Commenter
We're doing great. Thanks for coming on. I think. Before we get into the series, what was your opinion on how it all went down? Did it make sense to you? Do you agree with us? I know you were online listening to Biz rant.
Knuckles Nyland
Yeah.
TJ Oshie
So when I first heard it, my first thought was, along with Biz, where I was like, man, I love that. Like, he's closing the room. It's all about us. Like, as a player, you'd be like, let's go like that. So. So that was my. That was my first thought. I have heard that it was. It was a lot simpler than that. And that we're all making a massive deal out of it that it had to do with. With getting home. And so, you know, I don't want to go too, too deep into it, you know, because I obviously got buddies. But. But I think we're making it a lot bigger deal than it is. I think they should absolutely get the second round draft pick back.
PFT Commenter
That's like.
TJ Oshie
Yeah, that's insane.
PFT Commenter
That was fine.
TJ Oshie
Whatever. Yeah, yeah, the fine. I mean, you know, I don't know if, like, Torch pays for that or not.
Big Cat
No. Bill Foley front wipes that into the office.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, yeah.
TJ Oshie
So. So that's. That's, you know, whatever. That, That's a lot of money. But like I said, that's like. I don't know, that's like the future.
Big Cat
You know what they should do? They should give them back the second rounder and tack on another 50 grand and give it to all the media members to go have a night out on the town. Yeah, the interview. And once again, to Me, they got a way better story to write. And that that's. The Vegas Golden Knights are the Villains of the National Hockey League. And I know you got buddies on that team. Osh, but are they not the villains?
TJ Oshie
Yeah, I, I think they are the Villains. But I, I, I think, I mean I'm sure the media would love to just have a hundred thousand dollars.
PFT Commenter
What an idea.
Ari
First, could one happen?
TJ Oshie
Hold on a second. How do we get in this thing? Yeah, I mean I'm media now.
Big Cat
Yeah. Well let RA throw the party too.
TJ Oshie
I will, I will say too though. Wait, I'm not sure if you were talking about it, but I, I, or, or biz if it was you. But I don't think Torch is the kind of guy that wants the attention. I think he likes to play to go like on the ice. He obviously has like, you know, his, a lot of his interviews are viral because he's just so blunt and direct. But I personally like, I don't think he wants like a big, all the big stories around the team. I think he would rather just get on the ice and play. He's a little bit more old school like that, but I, I definitely could be wrong.
Big Cat
Well that he's got to be smarter than to like not know that that's going to turn.
PFT Commenter
But I was just gonna say it might, it, we, we have. It might have not even been his call. That could have come from up top. Even if, if the disgust of the suspension was the main reason for this, where OSHA is saying there's a chance it was just get out of town. It could have been like McCrimmon or like somebody else. Like hey, don't talk to him like you. I don't know. I, I don't know if it was
Big Cat
just him, but they sent out Howden and marner for like 10 minutes. I wonder if it's the question about me asking Mitch about, about why Torts has a better tan than Chris Chelios after six weeks in Vegas. That might have set him off for him to be like, we're out of here. These guys are clowns in the media world. Do you think that that could have
Keith
been it for sure. Sorry Torts, but if you're the player, like you don't care about the fine. Obviously, even if a player gets fined, it's that second rounder and we all know how, how Vegas is like they could use that next year for a trade to bring in a guy to both.
Big Cat
Yeah, they'll get Matthews for it.
TJ Oshie
Well, I think they need all the Picks, they can, right? Like because they're, they're aggressive every year. Like yeah, second round pick that's a potential trade target or I mean it could be a draft pick or whatever.
Keith
But no, they don't even, they don't even go to the draft.
TJ Oshie
They don't, they don't need to after the, after the way they came in the league. They're set for 10 years.
Big Cat
So let's not get into the weeds about that. What do you feel and how do you feel about Vegas's play and where they're trending and you know, people were a little bit nervous about them, you know, during the pillow fight division during the regular season. Are they even going to make playoffs? What do you make of their game right now and how dangerous are they and can they beat Colorado?
TJ Oshie
So I think they're trending exactly how they should be. I think they needed Mitch Marner to play like this in order to really get the job done. They're not quite as fast as some of the other teams. I think they, they can, they can play fast, which is, is different than straight speed. But I think they're going to need Mitch Marner. They're going to need him to be a superstar against Colorado. They're going to need to be healthy. I don't know where Stone's at, how he's feeling overall. So like you have to be healthy against Colorado. I think Minnesota had a phenomenal roster. They had act out and Brody now and you just can't, you can't do it. So I mean my, my gut tells me that Colorado is the heavy favorite I think in the entire, the rest of the playoffs remaining. I guess five teams right now will be four. But if Mitch Marner plays how we saw him there in that last series, like you Colorado show that they can get scored on. Minnesota was scoring goals on them at certain times, but they're going to need Stone healthy and he's going to have, need some big goals. Some of those big turnovers that he creates into odd band rushes, those power play goals around the net. So I think a lot's going to rely on that.
Big Cat
He could, he could give Wedgie some fits. I mean Blackwood's a taller goalie but like, like that's going to matter, that net front presence and how good he is around the blue paint below the goal line, like helping with the kill. As ugly as it looks, I mean he is such an effective player. Have you ever seen a guy like such an ugly player be so effective than Mark Stone?
PFT Commenter
No, but no.
TJ Oshie
And I've also never seen a worse knob in. In the history.
Keith
It's crazy.
PFT Commenter
I don't even.
Keith
Besides, biz is underneath his belly button, like, covered wagon.
PFT Commenter
Oh, I'm glad you were on right now. For a couple different reasons, but one is the stone. And it. I think it's pretty obvious to everyone. It's his back. And as a guy who, you know, he had to retire because you're back. I was on with our. Our friend from barstool, Liam Blutman. He's a die hard Golden Knights fan. I went on his spaces or his live stream and he was asking me like. Or we were talking about stone, and with the back, it's not something that Toradol can really fix. Or is it like, if. If say he's like, all right, this could be it on my career, which has been sort of discussed, like, if he can come back and play, are we even gonna see him again after this? Is this something you can even shoot up or. It's not. It's not even possible with, like, the back control and everything. The way it does was.
TJ Oshie
I don't know exactly, like, what.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
TJ Oshie
What his history is. I have a little bit of an idea because he's actually the one that referred me to the guy that got me my stem cell injections where. So I can sit like this and not have to, like, be fidgeting around right now. So he helped me out a ton with that referral. But the back, you can't. It's not something you can shoot up. You can't numb it and just all of a sudden, like, play through it. First of all, like, I numbed my hand for my last. The last game I played because my hand was broken and I couldn't even feel my fingers. So then you can't feel your stick. Imagine your back, like, you numb that. Your whole leg goes numb. You can't skate. So. Or if, you know, you put too much in there or whatever, the back, there's just nothing you can do. When. When. When the nerve roots, when the inflammation gets in there, when those things get pinched off, there's no way to fight through it. There's been times where I've. I've tried so hard just to, like, get to the bathroom or whatever, and it hurts so bad that all of a sudden it feels like you're on fire. It feels like someone's pouring lava, like, inside your body. So. Jesus, you can't. You can't go that. But it is something where you get that inflammation out. The alignment's right.
PFT Commenter
You re.
TJ Oshie
Stabilize the core. All of a sudden, it was like two weeks ago, like nothing happened. Right. If you get everything firing correctly and everything's going where it should and you're, you know, the, the discs are where they should, there's enough room for the nerve roots and. And you're stabilized, then you're. You're good to go.
Keith
But is. Is there even more worry? Because, I mean, we all watch the playoffs and everyone's getting cross checked in the back every, like the. In front of the nets. A war with guys. So is there more, like, where the trainer might be? Like, okay, you have to be 100 to come back with this just because of how much wear and tear you're taking during the playoffs?
TJ Oshie
Yeah, but there, I mean, you can, you can push it. You know, you might not make it through the whole series, but, you know, you get down to nothing or something and be like, hey, we need. We need to. Let's try to get two or three in here, give ourselves a chance. Like, you can do that.
Keith
I've.
TJ Oshie
I always found the cross checks weren't the issue. Like, that's necessarily the issue. It was, you know, you. You hit someone or you move a certain way and maybe your pelvis shifts a tad, right? And then you feel like you're getting a little sore. You push it. It's amazing. And a lot of mine came actually on the back check because you almost like you're skating harder than you. Than you should really. I don't know. Then maybe you. Because you want. You're trying to stop the other team from scoring a goal, which I think he was coming back, right? Yeah, it was same as biz, buddy.
Big Cat
There's. I. I gotta get the video. We were playing against the Texas Stars, and I was going hard on a back check, and it. No, like. Yeah, you literally feel like somebody shot you from the top balcony. And going back to what you said, you, first of all, the nerve goes, and then that's the direct pain. And then everything around it, as far as the muscles, they seize up because they're protecting the nerve. Right? So, yeah, it just like you said, it's. It's an undescribable pain. When that happened to me, I tried to push through it, like, because I had to continue to shift. I couldn't just bail on the shift. So I'm in the D zone, like, straight up trying to act like, like, pray to God this D man doesn't get the puck. And, like, starts working me like, Lane Hudson.
PFT Commenter
I'd Be like.
Big Cat
And then finally we got out of the zone, down the tunnel. And then for like two weeks, I'm like, legs up on the bed. Like, I feel like I wanna. You're like majorly, majorly depressed because of the amount of pain you're in. So every time I've seen him kind of oh and keel over and you could tell the amount of pain in pain he's in, I'm like, that has to be back and it has to be like a pinch nerve or something.
TJ Oshie
Yeah, it's the. I was in between that or like a groin or something just because it seemed like he was leaning to one side. But when you go up like that, that's typically the, you know, the response from, for a back. But it's, it's just, it's one of those things you just, unless it's good, you just can't grind through it because you could take one, you could take one shift and it'll just go again. If it's not prepared, if it's not ready to play an NHL game, you just, you can't do it. I mean, there's been good weeks where I've, that I've had. I'm like, man, I feel good. Maybe I should start working out. And I like, you know, get in the gym twice, do almost zero weight. And then the day three, I'm like, oh, nevermind.
PFT Commenter
Nope, not even close.
TJ Oshie
And so like it's, it's just one of those things where it just takes over the whole body and no matter how, how high your pain tolerance is, your brain will not let you grind through something like that.
Keith
And are there times where if you're skating just by yourself in a practice where you know where you're going, you're controlled, your, your body's controlled, but during a game you don't know, right? You're making different turns. So is there times during like a practice where you're skidding, you're like, oh, I could play. But then once the game starts, you're like, oh, no chance.
TJ Oshie
Yeah, early for me. It was like that at the end. I, I could, I could tell when it was going. You know, I think the last time my back went out we were on a. Back to back, I don't know, Carolina, we were going to Tampa and me and John Carlson go through security and it's like a long walk out on the Runway to get to the, to the plane. And he was just asking me how I was doing because obviously, you know, I was in and out of lineup quite a bit at this point. And I was like, dude, I feel like it's gonna go. Like, I'm gonna play to try to play tomorrow. But I think it's going or. No, we were heading. No, sorry. We were heading to Carolina, and sure enough, I'm stretching out the hamstrings, did all my warm up, did all my core. Literally just bent over to do like a couple extra, like, little toe touches. Back goes out. Don't even make it to warm ups. So it wasn't even. It was like I told you, hours later. You know, you just. You can just feel it coming. And I'm sure he's probably pretty dialed on everything that he. You know, he's been working so hard through all this stuff for so long that I'm sure he knows when he.
Big Cat
Yeah, because actually it happened. I think it was. Was it. Maybe it was in March against Pittsburgh, and I think he was back like two weeks later, maybe a little bit less than two weeks later. It happened against Pitt. It was actually on our broadcast. So, like, you mentioned, like, he's been through it so many times, it seems now where they kind of know the protocol in order to reset it. So I would not be shocked if we saw him to open up the series. I definitely wouldn't be shocked if I. We saw him halfway through this series against Colorado. I'm asking you about more gameplay in hockey. Like, do you want to talk Colorado a little bit? What about Carolina? Have you ever been in a situation where you've had this much downtime between series? Like, have you ever experienced that in your entire career?
TJ Oshie
No, I haven't. And honestly, I've been. I've been down on Carolina this whole time because I'm like, I feel like it's going to be the same story. And I don't. I don't. With the secondary scoring. They have that second line. I think that's something that they've been missing in years past where, like, aho was. You know, that top line was getting all the points. And they. I mean, I hate Caroline.
Big Cat
I just.
TJ Oshie
I just.
Big Cat
I've had so many times, everybody.
PFT Commenter
I don't get it in the end.
TJ Oshie
Well, hold on, hold on. They. They heard his back push me from behind. I shattered my collarbone into four in, like, game. Game four of the series when we were trying to go back to back. I leave the series, we lose in seven. I was pretty upset about that. So that kind of sticks around, really. Probably mostly just that maybe it's just one guy that I'm mad at. The locker Room that is not even on the worst locker room's terrible. And honestly, the X ray machine, if you ever.
Keith
It's a bone bruise machine.
TJ Oshie
Shatter your collarbone. The X ray machine is, is so far away and you have to walk it and yeah, brutal. But when I broke over, when I
Keith
broke my jaw in Carolina, the dentist for the team walked in. He goes oh God, no, no.
PFT Commenter
And I was like, I don't need that from the doctor.
Big Cat
I used that X ray machine there when I up my knee. I don't know if you guys. That's. That's my torn ACL right there. There it is on the, on the left side.
TJ Oshie
Yeah, that's a good one.
PFT Commenter
We're missing some skin on that X ray. I guess you don't see skin on it.
Big Cat
It doesn't detect skin. It just does the bone and the girth.
PFT Commenter
It's actually the longest modern day break between series. So they won May 9th in the fourth game against Philly. It'll be May 21st on Thursday when they kick it off against Montreal. Buffalo winner. It's crazy. Although I think that the. When we've talked about this, the way that they practice and, and Rod, I don't.
Big Cat
They're not around.
PFT Commenter
Zero. Zero worry for me. They're in the boza and we have to talk more. Colorado, Vegas. But I think I'm picking Carolina in that series. Like I. This is, this is the year they get out of the east. But osh back to Vegas and Colorado more importantly. So Malinsky's practiced. He's been back full time practice player. So he's ready to go. It looks like now Burns is banged up. Lekkonen hasn't skated the last two and McCarr's obviously injured. So that to me is the biggest worry. And Makar, you can just tell like physically he's getting little bumps and you know, you could tell like something's wrong. He's going to the bench. Is that the biggest worry for you on. On stopping Colorado from moving on is. Is the McCar injury, whatever it is. Yeah.
TJ Oshie
Yeah, that's probably the biggest worry, I'd say. Obviously we all know Burnsy and how valuable he is and how good he is with the puck and finding guys for high tips and all that stuff.
Big Cat
Stuff.
TJ Oshie
Makar, I will say the one thing. If you're able to play through it in playoffs and you have a couple days off, it's not like the regular season where you go in in the morning and you got three, four hours, then you go home in playoffs you're doing treatment all day long, like, especially on the road. You're. It's like 15 hours of like constant. You know what I mean? So you can heal a lot quicker. I think this break's probably going to be good for them because if he was playing as it was and now he gets a little bit of a break and then they. They start up, I'm not too worried about him. And he did look different, but he still is an impact player.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
TJ Oshie
You know what I mean? Even with whatever he's dealing with. So I, I still got Colorado high up there. That's. That's definitely the one worry. Vegas, any. No matter who it is, Carolina, like Minnesota, Vegas. To beat Colorado, you just have to be at your absolute best right now. You have to. You have to have your best game. Everyone has to be all in. You need your star players selling out to block shots. You need your star players scoring big goals. You need depth scoring. You need goaltending. They're just the way that they attack the game is, I think, different than anyone else in the league right now.
PFT Commenter
And down, down three, one in that game five against Minnesota, late, they win. I guess the biggest part of finishing that off then was McCarr and, you know, they don't have to do the game six. They're not going back to mini. And then like you said, it's treatment all day for extra time compared to if that series had kept going. I said before Anaheim, Vegas that if Carlson could maybe outplay Eichel, that that would give them their best chance. And. And now it just moves on to McKinnon and Eichel. Right. And. And obviously Eichel got the. The better of them in the gold medal game. But that to me is like the matchup I'm looking at because Eiko's been great. It's not. It's not like Makar where you have. You haven't seen the highlight, real plays. But he's still 15 points in 12 games. So when you look at him versus McKinnon, how do you see them matching up? Like, McKinnon's more explosive, but Eichel, he can skate. With him, it just looks different.
Keith
And what Jack does defensively.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
TJ Oshie
So what I always look for for Jack is his skating. If he's like, gets the puck and he attacks and he actually tries to like one on one guys, which he should. He can. He's big enough. He's skilled enough. He's got this massive reach. So if he's attacking people, I'm like, oh, gosh like, look out. Like, that's a different Jack Eichel. If he. If he continuously pulls into the zone and pulls up and is only looking to pass, then I get a little bit worried because when you got a guy like Jack Eichel attacking you, every. The. All the guys on the ice have to somewhat pay attention and almost, like, try to help out. The same thing when McKinnon's come down the ice, like, I talked to our defenseman in Washington, like, John Carlson even.
PFT Commenter
I was like, what.
TJ Oshie
Like, what happens when he's coming? He's like, you just retreat.
PFT Commenter
Like, just panic.
TJ Oshie
Just. Just try to contain them so that someone can come help. So if. If Jack attacks the game, like, really absolutely attacks, he.
Knuckles Nyland
The.
TJ Oshie
At least once a game, twice a game, he should do, like, that little, like, stutter, step, drive wide, use his body and drive to the. To the net, run over the goalie if you have to. But, like, it just. It creates fear in the other team. And then now they're worried about that instead of. Of just their jobs, what they have to do, and picking up trailers. And so that's. That's my. That's the one thing I look for for Jack. Like, if he's attacking like that, like, there's no one else built like him that can do what he does in the league.
Keith
I. I always think of the clip when. I think it was Petra Angelo at the outdoor game when Makar was coming down on him, and he was just going, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. And that's one of the best, like, Demon, you know, in the last 15, 20 years.
PFT Commenter
Was it McKinnon or Makar?
Keith
No, McKinnon.
PFT Commenter
Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you said McCarr. But I know. I couldn't remember. Yeah, both of them. When they're full tilt, you're screwed.
Keith
Yeah, but even you. You talked about the depth scoring in. In Carolina with their second line going, like with Vegas Howden scoring. Dorothy, I'm scoring. Like, these guys, they're finding their niche right now. They're scoring, you know, five on five, five on four, four on five. Like, they're finding ways to score no matter what the situation is.
Big Cat
Is.
TJ Oshie
Yeah, and that's what you need, right? Once you get away from Maar, get away from. Get away from Taves like that. Those are the times. Those are the matchups. You got to take. Try to take advantage. Not. No disrespect to, you know, both sides on the. You know, the. The last pairing or the last two pairs, but those are the times you got to take advantage because the other guys are just so smart and so good. Howden's been awesome. I got to see him in Utah and, man, like, he's just kind of always in the mix and always in the right spot. And you kind of need those guys scoring those big goals right at the end of the year. When someone wins the cup, you kind of look back and, yeah, that whoever wins the. The Con Smythe, you know, everyone. You know, the big dogs are usually the big dogs if you're going to win a cup. But I remember looking back and I remember talking. Everyone talked about Devonte Smith, Pelley, Brett Connolly, Lars Eller scoring the game winner. You know what I mean? Like, you will need those guys, and I think that they've been great. I think they'll be here in this series. I just. I'll keep going to. To Mitch Marner and how he's playing and how Jack Eichel's playing personally, because there is so much star power on the other side that you got to kind of try to match that and hope that some of your death can take over.
Keith
The play that Howden made on. On the shorthand goal when Marner came in, it reminded me of something that you would have done where he went to the net, like, trying to be an option as like a tip or whatever, and then busted his ass wide to get open for a. One time. It was just like a little. He took two hard strides to get open. Just a great hockey IQ knowing that a forward. I forget who the four. I think it was Kalorn, like, yeah, new A forward was there and like, just found that open area. It was just such a hockey IQ play.
TJ Oshie
Yeah. And I love. That's like one of those, like, little things within a game. That's why, like, something about summer hockey I love too, because, you know, obviously guys aren't trying as hard, but everyone's. Everyone knows you're trying to, like, just. It's all offense and all whatever, but you find these little, like, things to do to try to get open. And that was actually one thing where, like, obviously in summer hockey, like, guys aren't gonna, like, stick with their back check, but if the game gets intense, guys start back checking. And it's almost like the Michael Jordan when he pushes off against. In. Was it in Utah?
Keith
Utah.
TJ Oshie
We're like, that same thing. Like, you can give a couple strides and then let them go by you and find little soft areas. But I love high IQ plays like that. That's why my favorite players in the game aren't necessarily like, the, like, the most flashiest or best goal scorers. Like, I just. I absolutely loved the really smart guy. That's. I was. I mean, I'll say it until I die. I was so fortunate to play with Backy Nick Backstrom where, like, his mind was just, like, I tried so hard to, like, you know, think how he would think I didn't get there, but that's because I tried and tried to see what he was doing. That's why I was able to score so many goals in Washington compared to St. Louis.
Big Cat
One thing that you said when you first hopped on that I agree with is you said that, like, maybe Vegas isn't the fastest team, and obviously in this series, they're going to be outmatched speed wise, but they play fast. I think from a, from a hockey smarts perspective, they let the puck do the work. And I think that that's one thing that Colorado really has to be aware of because they get horny and excited and get their D joining in the rush. And I felt like Anaheim was doing that almost too much considering they were leaning so much on Jackson Lacombe, too, where he'd be up in the play where, like, his winger would be like, all right, I'm taking off. And the minute it was turned over, it was gone the other way. So if Colorado is not smart, they can get caught and, and, and, and. And they could end up losing the series. Oh, hello.
Keith
One of the first. One of the first things you learn as a kid, and I'm sure, osh. You teach it. I'm sure wit teaches the puck moves faster than the player. So, like. And they do a really good job at that.
TJ Oshie
Yeah. And that's why I love playing with Backy. And, and when we got to. I think once Labby became the coach, he's very analytical and he wanted, like, slower players play with faster players, think that that would speed them up, but really, because you move on the same level.
Knuckles Nyland
Right.
TJ Oshie
Because you're the same speed. Me and Nikki weren't the fastest players, but we can move the puck. And so the fact that, like you said, biz the puck kind of does the work, but you're moving on the same level. And so it looks like you're fast because the puck can zigzag through everyone and you can do little switch plays and cross, that was always hard at the end of my career because I always play with a bunch of younger and faster guys typically. And I would get the puck, make a nice, like, little you know, body position play, look up and the guys would just be gone. Oh my gosh. I gotta like flip it or throw a five foot sauce through the neutral zone just to get it up there. But yeah. So biz. That's what you were saying. Like the, the puck, the puck does the work because the guys are all at similar speed and they're smart enough to get to open areas, which is much different than Anaheim where like some of the they like they just get the puck.
Big Cat
They're burners.
TJ Oshie
A lot of it's just. They're burning right. They're skating. And that's why it looks fast. At some point though, you know, if it doesn't work and you're going balls out like that, it creates a turnover. Now everyone's going fast this way, the puck's coming back this way and you can really create a lot of offense off of that.
Big Cat
Like what is William Carlson considered a fast player?
TJ Oshie
No, I mean I think he's a decent skate. I think he's just decent, good all around.
Big Cat
Yeah, yeah, like, but like Mitch Marner, I would say that he's not really known for his speed and I think that, that, that that breakaway goal the other game is exactly like. Like you talk about it. They know they're nowhere. Guys are cheating and where they can expose. Let's spread each other out and let the puck do the work. And that was a prime example of it. So if I'm Colorado, considering how active and, and much they have their D involved, especially with Makar Malinsky, is there anybody on their third pairing who. I mean Burns I guess does to a certain degree.
Keith
But Manson jumps up too. Like he's not afraid to jump up.
Big Cat
I would just, I would tend to. I know it's a positive about their game. I would just tend to. I think that this series is going to be more like the LA series than it would be than the Minnesota series as far as high score and I.
PFT Commenter
And they have to. Vegas has to just be so physical with them.
Big Cat
Like I beat them.
PFT Commenter
Talk about movement of the puck and speed. Like Colorado is not an overly physical team. I don't consider them that way. And Vegas can. Like Barbershev is going to have to have a huge series. You're going to need to see him running around and, and like even Anderson on D, like he'll throw the occasional big hit. That, that to me, if they can't, if they can't physically like be all over Colorado, then I, I'm picking Colorado nonetheless.
Big Cat
That's where they're going to need Landy to be Landy. Nachin has not been anywhere near where he was when they had their last run. Kadri was a little better towards the back half of that second round. But they need like vintage cadre being a savage. And then Nelson. Nelson's kind of been, ah, they got to have the. These guys have to be their best players. Like they got weapons and they got guys, but they gotta play like them. Like Dorothy is being way more of an impact than Nelson or cadre.
PFT Commenter
I know you gotta run. ESPN has this series. Will you be in the studio or on, on site? What's your. Are you done for the year?
TJ Oshie
I'm done for the conference finals. I'm gonna swoop back in for the finals. Okay. I don't think I'll be doing like studio or the games. I think it might just be something else, you know, like Scott Van Pelt or, you know, some other things. But yeah, I got, I'm almost, almost through my, my contract and my days. I do want to say about Vegas and I talked about this with, with Doubter at some point over the last.
Big Cat
I don't know. I play with him so great. He's the best. So great.
TJ Oshie
I actually just saw him his anyways. But, but I, I, we were talking about it maybe a month ago and I was like, man. Or it was after the Utah, the Utah game that I did. I think it was game four. And I was like, I feel like you guys have a little bit of a feeling of just kind of the way you guys play of, of kind of us in 2018. I don't want to keep referring to myself, but one thing we did against Vegas that we really wanted to do, that I think Vegas now should do against Colorado is just the offensive zone cycles of like not taking that shot until you're like like good and ready. And it's a high quality shot because like how, how pissed is McKinnon gonna get if he's in the D zone over half the game? Like he doesn't play in the detail.
Knuckles Nyland
Not really.
PFT Commenter
That's how Hitch wanted you guys to play in St. Louis. Don't throw it away, right? No.
TJ Oshie
Hitch want us to shoot everything and not stick handle.
PFT Commenter
Oh, I thought it was all about the cycle with him. My apologies.
TJ Oshie
No, he didn't love the cycle. He loved the forecheck. Like the forecheck was his, his big thing. But we did that against Vegas and I feel like they ran through everyone in the west and there I think the 1 every series like 41 or whatever it was. And we just wear them down. Wear them down. But not like, yeah physically, but like just made them play defense and just constantly do it. And that's. I think that's Vegas's best chance. I talked to Doubter about that a couple weeks ago, a month ago. And I have noticed. I don't know if I'm not saying he like went to the team and told him this, but I have noticed when they're at their best, they have these shifts where like they start getting. Got forwards changing in the middle of the shift while they're still buzzing in the, in the ozone. They might not score there, but it comes out and then they come back in and get a big goal and they got.
Big Cat
And they got some big guys in that bottom six like that Cole Smith. They got Doubter, he's doing Kolasar Sizzins. Like who else do they got in the bottom six that are just big, huge mutants.
TJ Oshie
Well, they need them too. At the start of the, at the start of the playoffs, I think doubters line was playing like under 10 minutes, averaging a night. And then I think they got a little more trust from Torch. Doubters obviously really good in the face off circle or typically is. And, and they've been playing a lot more. I think he's earning the trust and that the doubter had in Washington that he can shut down other teams. Top line.
Big Cat
It's gonna be interesting. Oh, I'm. I can't wait.
PFT Commenter
We appreciate you coming on. Glad you're feeling better. You just mentioned you can actually sit and not be fidgeting around RA style. The whole.
Keith
Who do you like tonight? Who do you like tonight? Game seven.
TJ Oshie
Yeah, this. Like, I've never like, I've seen series that were like back and forth but like not like the goal scoring that's going on here. Like it's, it's like just someone like tighten it up like a little bit.
PFT Commenter
No. Like, no.
Knuckles Nyland
I don't know.
TJ Oshie
I know business looser than.
Big Cat
Looser than a super sex box that series.
TJ Oshie
I. So I don't know. These are the two teams. Like, I, I think we all know what Colorado is. We know what Vegas is. We know what, we know what Carolina is. Like, I don't know what, what these two teams are.
Big Cat
They don't know either.
Keith
Summer hockey.
TJ Oshie
I know but I, you know what? Oh man, I like, I really want Buffalo to like, just for like the city of Buffalo and just the buzz. Like so like I kind of want Buffalo to make it, but Montreal's earned a Lot of respect for me. Those young guys talked to St. Louis before 1 of the games in Tampa and I think they're doing some, some really amazing things over there. So I think it's a win, win situation. Probably going to be nine to four or something tonight. All right.
PFT Commenter
Oh, buddy, we'll talk to you. We'll catch back up in, in the next round. Since you're. Since you're off from work, we're gonna drag you on here again.
TJ Oshie
Appreciate that. See you, boys. Be good.
PFT Commenter
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TJ Oshie
The.
PFT Commenter
The back injuries. He knows. He knows what Mark Stone's feeling more than anyone else. Also, another cutter and cutter. Yeah, we did. We me. I mentioned that quickly, but it came out.
Big Cat
I mean, I just want to let people know. So he. He had a. I believe a broken L1 L2 disc that if you add that up, that's L3. And I had a L5.
PFT Commenter
Okay, so you were. Yeah, you. You're tougher and an S. You're tougher than cutter goatee. That's much respect to you, biz. Much respect. Another guy who knows a lot about back injuries, considering the last time I saw him, he had a cane. Is ra. Why don't we throw it over to Ra's World right now?
Ari
Hello everybody. Welcome to Ari's World. Here in the Spitting Chiclets podcast, boys, the best three words in sports. Game seven, Buffalo, Montreal. No, as I said, the best three words in sports. Did I that I not?
PFT Commenter
No, you did.
Keith
You did.
Ari
Yeah.
Big Cat
Yeah, I think you did. Wondering if mother doesn't know how to count. He doesn't even know the difference between black and white tape.
Ari
But you know, I mean the wheel of the playoffs every year but the second round, definitely a little bit lackluster. You know, we had a five game series, a six game series where the last game wasn't close, in a sweep. So it's nice that we are getting the game seven right here. It's a coin flip. I mean DraftKings, we got Buffalo minus 118, Montreal minus 102. I think a draw is probably a good play there. Plus 290. Oh yeah, it's going ot very likely. But. So this is a crazy stat, this Sam Block at the block spot on Twitter. Wild stats. The Canadiens 1 and 1 in the last two games. 2 and 2 in their last four, 3 and 3 in their last six. 4 and 4 in the last eight. 5 and 5 in the last ten. 6 and 6 in the last twelve. 7 and 7 in their last fourteen. 8 and 8 in their last.
PFT Commenter
Merle stole your thunder there already. Although he 4 and 4, I don't think he went up to 8 and 8. So you, you, you, you outlasted him. He's, he's in jail right now in Sweden. He was creeping on a yacht.
Big Cat
I missed that. Can you go over it one more time?
Ari
Yeah. Wow. But yeah, both teams, only two and four at home. Buffalo five, one on the road. Habs five and two on the road. The save is. This is like weird stat. First team to be down by multiple goals on the road in a playoff game but end up winning by five points plus goals. So another wacky stat, boys. Great hearing from Knox, man. He's the best. Like, it's like home. When I hear him talking, he sounds like my, my twin. It was great catching up with him up in Montreal. One of my favorites and I've done, I think I've known him 33 years now and the first time I met him, man, he would had every right to punch me in the mouth too because I was being, being a wise guy to him. Yeah, it was 1993, Keith. I don't remember the Dunny Cup. It was a friend of ours, Jimmy Dunavin. Passed away and they had a golf tournament in his honor. And it was summer of 93 and yeah, I can't obviously, you know, you guys see me on a golf course. So I was a volunteer at the course and I was registering people and he committed. He had a Canadian tattoo. I was like, yeah, nice hat. You know, like being a typical wise ass boss. He's like, yeah, they only win 23 Stanley Cups. I was like, yeah, because they had guys butt ended Middleton's teeth out. And he goes like, all right, Fresh prick. Got you. You know. So I ran into him on the course a couple times. He was giving me like the fist. And so whatever, you know, we had beers at the end of the day, flash forward about a month and a half, two months later, I'm in santabio's. I sit down. Who's right next to you but Chris Dylan. I goes, hey, how'd you hit him a couple weeks ago? He goes, oh, yeah, I remember you. The Middleton fan, the fresh brick, right? Yeah, that was it, the event. Like pal Sensei, you know, he checked in on me when I was going through my night in the ruts a couple years back and he's a good man, so it's great to have him. Plus he's got terrific insights. Cause a leggy season, man.
Big Cat
What's the, what's the Middleton incident? Was there like a playoff series where like he was like hit and, and they didn't call it or something?
Ari
No, just a total nasty butt ended his, you know, top four teeth out. Just like blatant butt end. I, I, I think he might have got, you know, the gate for that.
Big Cat
I honestly don't remember, but who gave Nyla?
Ari
Yeah, just, yeah, you could go, you could pull like just a straight up, like not like a record. And I do that. It was just like, you know, I mean, Knuckles was Knuckles when he played.
Big Cat
Kid just never got caught.
Ari
Nifty's teeth. Oh, he got, I mean, he got penalized for it, but I honestly don't remember if he got suspended, but it was, you know, pretty nasty. But, you know, like, it was kind of ballsy me to, to be melting off to him anyways, but like I said, it was good to catch up with him. Oh, just talking about another local legend, Chris o'. Sullivan. Keith. You might. You must know Sully, right? Back in the day, that maniac.
PFT Commenter
I know Sully.
Ari
Yeah, I know. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's, he was at Montreal too. Him and, him and pk. They're like Mel Gibson and like Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon, the way they hang out all the time. So what are you guys doing? I know the, we got the podcast tonight. This, the live stream 7:30 kicking off it. What, what's your take Keith? What do you got in this one? Real quick?
Keith
I'm hoping for a five or six, five overtime game honestly, like osh too. I, I, I'm fine with either team advancing. Obviously I've been on Montreal's coattail so I'll be rooting a little bit more for Montreal but either team wins will be great. It'd be good for the game, good for their cities. But I'm just hoping for a good game. Even though everybody has fun, even though Montreal won that, you know, the game against Tampa with the nine shots. Like I need a little more action I think tonight.
PFT Commenter
Ra. Who do you think gives Carolina a bigger fit?
Ari
You know what I think it's like the series. I think it's pretty equal. I mean I already wrote down Carolina in six regardless of who they play. I just think these, whichever team survives this series is going to be a little spent. They both had to use, you know, two goaltenders. Dobish has been solid but he's been a little leaky and if Freddie Anderson stays healthy, the way he's playing, man, I just, I, I can't see the Carolina losing to either team. I don't think anyone matches up particularly like better, better or worse. I mean, I think, you know, Carolina is going to beat whoever they play. And while we're at it, I get Colorado in seven as well over Vegas. That should be a great series. So. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Basically I mentioned Duns last week. The smoked beat place. They like followed me on Instagram So that, that 800 trip paid off and writes here.
Big Cat
Okay.
Knuckles Nyland
Wow.
Big Cat
Hey, I'll say boys. I, I keep flip flopping though on like originally I think we were texturing the group chat. We thought that a better matchup would be Montreal giving Carolina more of a problem. Think I know but I speed the more I think about it like the, the, the, like the size of Buffalo, if they can use it when they're, when, when Buffalo's using their size, they're, they're dangerous and they're lethal and we see that in glimpses and I think it was is Knox who was saying it was kind of an embodiment of their, their season overall that game.
PFT Commenter
Right.
Big Cat
They fall down 3. They fall 3 to 1 early in that game. They're playing like a lot of holes defensively and it feels like they, they cleaned things up and they started using their size, so I don't know, man. I, I, I. Either way, though, I think we're, we're spoiled as far as the storylines is concerned. We have the favorite in Colorado, out west that everybody knew was going to be here. We got the bad boys. We got this kind of team that everybody seems to hate in Carolina, who now with, with Florida out of the picture, it's kind of like, are they destined? Are they actually going to do it? Is it, is it, is it actually believable that they're going to do this?
PFT Commenter
And if they can't, they might never.
Big Cat
If they can't, that's, that's what makes me nervous. It's like, you're going to have this young team that's going to get past this, this second round, either Buffalo or Montreal, and they're just going to be riding on a high where, oh, my God, we're already at the conference finals. Like, we're way, either team is way ahead of schedule, so it's like, you know, will that layover effect Carolina? So either way, the top four is going to be an incredible story. So I don't really have, like, a favorite, either Montreal or Buffalo. It's going to be unreal, and I can't wait to cover the series. So, Ra. You're kind of, you, you don't, you don't care either. You don't have a feeling.
Ari
Well, I, I financial, you know, I bet Montreal, actually, I put the play button way back in October. I got him at 50 to 1. Although I did pick buffalo and seven on the show, just, like, based on hockey prognostication. But I'm rooting Montreal, man, you know, 50 to 1. It was way back October. I kind of forgot I put it in because I went on the wagon and popped up. I said, oh, so, yeah, definitely root for Montreal. And like I said, it's crazy how many people are actually rooting for Montreal around here, where I know we've talked about a few times, but like I said, there's just not that simmering hatred that, like, you know, we sort of grew up. Like, I did the interview with those crazy Canadian fans.
Big Cat
Are they jealous because Buffalo beat out Boston?
Keith
Oh, maybe.
PFT Commenter
No, no.
Ari
It's just the rivalry. The rivalry is not there anymore.
Merles
For years and years and years, it was like, we hated the half, we hate the Habs, but we haven't had a playoff series against them in years.
PFT Commenter
Play each other again.
Merles
Instantly, Instantly.
Ari
I think the comp, the combo of, like, right the lack of hatred recently. And also, like, Montreal's a awesome team to watch. They're fun. And when you watch that place on tv, man, like, I just went up. That's why I went up to. I had experience while I had the opportunity.
Keith
So does Boston think they're big brother right now? And they're like, oh, okay, we'll root for the little guy?
PFT Commenter
Not.
Ari
I mean, Montreal is way ahead of, like, what Boston is right now. But that's kind of how it's been, though. I. I do kind of think that's
Merles
how it's been for the past, like, 10 years. Like, the.
Ari
The Habs have sucked.
PFT Commenter
Like, they haven't been.
Merles
They haven't. We haven't cared about them.
Ari
We haven't thought about them one time.
PFT Commenter
Now they're back.
Ari
It's like, all right, have your fun, but when we see you in the
Merles
playoffs in a year or two, we'll
Knuckles Nyland
hate you as much as we used to.
Ari
Like, like, okay, the. The jinx, you know, they used to call it bad. It did a reverse. Like, the Bruins didn't beat Montreal in a series, like, since like 1944. And then finally 1988. Like, Cam Neely, man, he owned Patrick Wise, great as wires, nearly owned him. They beat him that year. Then they beat him, like, four out of the next five series. And then up until, like, you know, I think 2015, the last time they played, the Bruins have basically won, I think, 75 of the series with the Canadians, you know, after the Canadians own them for, you know, half the century. So, yeah, the rivalry could use a little something. But, yeah, I think, like, people like that game the other night was perfect for, like, a new fan. Like, I think I. I said that on Twitter Biz. Like, you know, like, not a coach's dream, but, like all the scoring, just, just, you know, the, the face washing after the whistle. Just like for the. For the hockey. Like, newbie. That was a fantastic game. Especially like prime time Saturday night. So it was good.
PFT Commenter
Five goals in the first period.
Ari
Yeah.
Big Cat
Yeah, that was back to back games. There was five goals in the first. Right?
Ari
Sloppy Hockey's entertaining hockey.
Big Cat
You said, like, if you're a newbie hockey fan. It kind of reminded me of a tweet that I saw. Can we pull it up? I think it was Rob Perez, and he's typically a basketball guy. Oh, yeah, he. He wrote how much he loves hockey, but he does find it difficult to follow the puck, like, where the puck is gonna go Now. I posted, like, oh, like, should they maybe do an alt cast where they have that. That whatever you call it, like the fox traps are on it. Like they do. Yeah. Like as an alt cast or maybe some form of alt cast where it's maybe a little bit more easy, it's easier to follow for newbies. Maybe they describe certain things that are happening to dumb it down for the casual fan. I was pretty. A little surprised to see the amount of negativity from hockey fans just like shunning and being like, oh, pay attention. More like, who gives a. Like, not caring where it's like, well, okay, well, that's not very nice and inviting to people that are trying to get.
PFT Commenter
You don't want to gatekeep it.
Ari
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
More and more people coming. You can't be the gatekeeper. Like, oh, well, you're an idiot. Then it's like, well, if we're having people come over that never have seen it and they just want to know certain things or be able to follow the puck better. Yeah, you're crazy if you're not thinking that. The NHL as a whole isn't thinking of ideas.
Big Cat
Yeah, well, they've. Yeah, they've tried a lot of different types of camera angles, and I think they said the better one that suits the game is the way that it moves now. Because when you're changing all these different camera angles when you're watching on tv, it does give you a bit of a headache when you're just seeing, like, way too much movement. I think that newbies and casuals maybe don't under. Understand like the lefty and righty and maybe the body movement to predict where, like, we see a guy kind of shift a certain way and we obviously know, well, there's no way he's passing that direction because you can't get any leverage on it. And he just wouldn't. So it's a little bit easier for us to know. Like, okay, well, you're a lefty. You're a lefty at the top and your hip, your hips are shifted a certain way. We know he's just going to snap at D to D here. It's easier for us.
PFT Commenter
Crazy. You know, you play NHL, it's like the, it's the opposite view. Like, and you play the video game. You're, you're, you're behind the net and you're following the puck up and down that way. And we've seen the cameras that are behind the net for power plays and stuff. Like, they ever, with technology, make it better to cover the game that way because then you don't lose the puck on the boards.
Merles
Right.
PFT Commenter
Because it's against the boards on the close side of the camera, you lose it. I don't know. I'm just like thinking out loud. Like, I can't picture that.
Keith
Then you get the hockey traditionalist who hate.
Big Cat
Yeah, but different cameras. But that's, that's why I said I think that there needs to be an alt cast.
Ari
Yeah.
Big Cat
It has to be a different cast for newbies. And maybe some of the traditional traditionals will actually like watching it the way you just described with it. So you just have to have it on those networks on a different, like, like a side channel that they don't care enough about. Like, kind of like when. When they do true tv where they
PFT Commenter
stuck us like what we did.
Keith
Yeah, I do, I do like the, I do think that the more you watch hockey, the more of a feel you get. It's like anything, like anything new you do, you got to do it more and more to appreciate it and understand it. Like, I, I do think if you're a new fan, just continue to watch it and then you'll understand the game a little bit more. You'll know where guys or you'll know where you think guys are going to move the puck, whatever. But just putting in the hours of watching I think will help.
Big Cat
Agreed.
Ari
It is. I mean, you know, it's common for everyone to lose side of the park too, you know, watching, you know, an entire game.
PFT Commenter
My mom still doesn't know where it is and she was watching that games
Ari
for my whole life. As far as like the, the response because it's like, I mean, like social media, it's so goddamn. Everything's so toxic, man. It's like it wasn't this bad.
Big Cat
Like, Twitter's pretty brutal now.
Ari
It is brutal. So yeah, you don't, you don't want people to get down on that. So let's go to the fun stuff. Okay. Barring in.
Big Cat
Well, it was a good discussion.
Ari
No, absolutely.
Big Cat
But yeah, I think it was better than that last story you told.
PFT Commenter
Oh, the follow on Instagram from the beef place.
Ari
Yeah, yeah, I got, I got, I got a little. Had a reboot.
Big Cat
I try to keep it a little bit more high.
Ari
I'm gonna redeem myself with this one. Barring Injury, for the 46th consecutive season, a former teammate of Yara Mayaga will appear in the Stanley cup final. Colorado's Brett Kulak or Vegas?
Big Cat
Well, I mean, it's the conference final, right?
Ari
But. Yeah, but. But Colorado or Vegas is going to
PFT Commenter
win, so he's got a former teammate
Ari
on either team firing in firing.
PFT Commenter
This has to be coming to an end somewhat soon. I would think in the next three, four years. Although maybe not actually.
Ari
Yeah, I, I mean, I have to do a deep dive, but yeah, basically they were Both on the 2017, 2018 Calgary Flames. And yeah, like, I'm sure there's, you know, guys he played around the Bruins and you know, even back then that are probably still around.
Big Cat
We'd have to get a list of guys that he. He that are currently playing that he played with and then know and narrow it down. If they're on the Bruins, it ain't happening.
Ari
Did you guys see that? The fly is at the end of the season, they have this paint the ice event. Something went down and they painted like a, you know, like a police chalk outline. But they did it like where Crosby got the embellishment penalty. I think. I think we can pull it up on the screen here.
Big Cat
That's pretty funny.
Ari
It was absolutely hilarious. And they were like rip bozo. Which is a little hot. No, I'm definitely not either. There it is. Yeah. Never change. Feel you love them biz. Are you familiar or do you know Reynolds? He does TVA and the French speaking. You know, I just want to give him a welcome back. I'm not sure if you guys heard. He suffered a pair of strokes and one of them during a press conference. And you know, Maddie St. Louis, a very classy gesture. He acknowledges return when he got back on the beat. So just glad that he's doing well. I started interviewing him on. On YouTube earlier. So. Welcome back Bell, and keep doing what you're doing, man. You know, so I just want to give him a shout out and uh, I have it as a head coach open and now I, you know, I don't know. I've been. I've been wondering maybe a certain alumni might be in the run of fart played over overseas this year. It was a former New York Ranger, easy.
PFT Commenter
I could see that.
Ari
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I don't know if he'd ever want to, but Jimmy Beasley.
Ari
All right. Is that a source?
Merles
You're pretty close with the VZ family. You know, some guys that seem. You're saying that like you're.
Ari
You have a source there. We don't. We don't. We don't name names. I haven't. No. I just thought it's my gut. My gut instinct that don't be surprised if. If I don't know, man.
Big Cat
I wouldn't trust that guy.
Ari
Dude. She should is big Enough. Come on, bro. All right, we got to congratulate our buddy. Jake Tebow not only graduated from college, but he gave the commencement speech as well to his fellow graduates. You know, I told him, stretch it out, man. Do at least seven years, but didn't take my advice. But listen, man, he's a guy we, we met through unfortunate circumstances like if viewers or listeners who are on the way. He suffered an accident in hockey and was paralyzed from the waist down. And he's still at his hockey scholarship. He went to school, last four years, graduated. If anybody is going to walk again, it's this kid. He actually did walk at his graduation and you know, he walked up to the stand for his commencement speech. It's easy to find on Instagram, Twitter. He's, he's been a great pal to me. A wit. He's just a beautiful human being. And another guy who I was going through my, my horseshit a couple years back and this kid's decades younger than me and he was like, you know, Yoda talking to like Skywalker, giving me sort of this wisdom that, you know, I, you don't expect from a 22 year old kid. So, Jay, congratulations, pal. Enjoy your vacation. We love your pal. We'll catch up soon. So.
TJ Oshie
He's the best.
PFT Commenter
Inspirational. Such a good human.
Big Cat
He's golfing and everything now too.
PFT Commenter
Oh yeah, we're gonna play golf again coming up here. We played last year. He comes over for dinner. He's just a great. His parents are awesome, his brother's great. It's just, it was such a sad story. And then you've seen what he's done so far. And that kid is going to be so successful in life. Like he is going to be running a business at some point, I'm telling you. And he's, he's. It's been a joy to get to know him. I remember going in to the hospital after it happened and his energy and his enthusiasm and I was like, I was just so impressed. And it, it's, it's been very special. As you said already, be. Become friends with them and get to know his entire family. So that was awesome. I saw poochagross tweeted it. Elliot Friedman tweeted it.
TJ Oshie
And.
PFT Commenter
Just a cool story, you know, in, in the face of something so difficult.
Ari
Yeah, he's, he's been a frequent visitor down the, down the club as well. He's a, he's a big hit down there. He's one of the boys. They love having him come down. He come down with Coopers down there last year and, you know, they traded numbers and stuff. So, yeah, he's another, he's another guy who loves the, the club. So. We will actually want to extend our deepest condolences to Tommy, Scotty and Brian Fitzgerald. The loss of the mom, Sharon. She passed away the other day. She was a quintessential hockey mom, a nurse for several years. Just a. A classy and beloved woman. Also want to extend our sympathies to the extended Fitzgerald, McDale and Tkachuk families on their loss as well. Sharon, she was a peach, great lady. So you know Tommy, Scotty, Brian and their clans. We wish you our best and again, extend that deep Pacific. All right. Classic recommendation. We got to do this one right here. The Deer Hunter we talked about a few weeks ago, it's been all over Instagram lately. Won five Oscars. It's. Yeah, it, it's. It's about, you know, these steel workers and they, you know, three or four of them go off to Vietnam and it's not really the most realistic Vietnam movie. My uncle was there and I asked him, he said the Hunt is the least realistic. To my experience, he's. Apocalypse now is probably the most accurate. But. But that's sort of irrelevant. It's just. It's more about like what war does to people and how, you know, disguise. It leaves and it's, it's an incredible movie. It's like three hours long. Like I said. Best picture, best director, Christopher Walker.
Big Cat
Why is it called Deer Hunter?
Ari
The deal. Because early on, like the first, you know, well over an hour, they show the, you know, these guys have their normal lives, they're all still workers. They go for beers after and they go deer hunting earlier in the movie in the, you know, the hills of Pennsylvania. And it's. Yeah. Then they end up, you know, most of them go off to Vietnam and, you know, go through this horrific stuff. But it's, it's, it's a beautiful movie and it's actually busy. It kind of has a, A significant role in movie history because it was such a huge hit. Michael Cimino, the director, he basically got carte blanche to do his next movie. And. Yeah, it's called Heaven's Gate. And he was like, he just was spending well. I mean, he was doing more tooth than Tony Montana on a Sunday. But like non stop. It was the biggest bomb in Hollywood history. It went. It was so bad, it bankrupted a studio. And then after that, the studios are like, no, we're not letting the directors run the show anymore. And then they, like. That's basically when the studios, like, took control of the movies. Because in the 70s, you know, you had Spielberg, you know, Coppola, Scorsese, all these guys, you know, very independent voice. Like, they're making these independent movies. The studios had no say. And then after the Deer Hunt, the success, this guy made a bomb. And then it basically kind of altered on a whole Hollywood history.
Big Cat
Was it a bomb? Did you see that movie?
Ari
Yeah, Heaven's Gate? Yeah, yeah. I mean, saw it. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Seen every movie.
Big Cat
When you say it was a bomb, though, like, what was the budget at the time?
Ari
Oh, it was. It was. And current dollars? Probably half a. Half a billion dollars, I'd say by half a billion. Like, if you. If you were to prorate it for. For like, maybe Jeek and P. If you were to prorate it by today. Yeah, it was. It was an obscene actual.
TJ Oshie
Wow.
PFT Commenter
It was.
Merles
It was 35 million back in the day.
Keith
What year?
Ari
1980.
PFT Commenter
What year was it? Because I'm gonna do it.
Big Cat
I mean, what was the godfather?
PFT Commenter
35 million in 1980.
Big Cat
I would assume that's 200.
Ari
The godfather is probably 2025.
Keith
I'd say 135.
PFT Commenter
That's about 141 million. These it.
Ari
Yeah. Either way, like, it.
Merles
It bank.
Ari
You know, the success of one movie ended up, you know, like, altering the. The course of Hollywood history. So a little nerd trivia.
Big Cat
Well, I think that it's. I think it's kind of been a trend where that'll happen, then they'll kind of cut back and not. So now it seems to be there's like a little bit of pushback because people want different new things now where it's all the same. It's all AI. It's all Star Wars. It's all. It's all like.
PFT Commenter
It was Matt Damon on the show, the hot ones, you know, where they, like, eat the hot food or whatever. And the guy asked him about basically, like, studio spending and stuff. And he was mentioning that the reason that the Marvels and all those are made is because they know they're making the money back where what you're spending now to make it back. And it was all about how now you don't get the DVD sales that with the stream, like all of a sudden the studios would know they'd make all this money after the film came out of the theater on DVDs that now is gone. So the spending is just so different based on, like, and recouping the money.
Big Cat
And it's actually shocking to me, how much they spend on promotion?
PFT Commenter
Oh, yeah, I think it's half. It might be half the budget.
Ari
Usually half a billion, you know, half a million. But like this, it's just, you know, the stockholders call the shots. It's like the, you know, the, the art part of it is, like, kind of gone. It's like it's secondary. It's, you know, I mean, it's always been about making money, but there's always been like, like, you know, a section or a significant part of us, like, all right, let's do something, you know, artistic here. That's why, like, whether you like that or not, the PTA movie with the ones just thought, oh, one battle after another. Like, you know, they, they. I don't even know if that, like, turned a profit yet. But that's, that's the type of thing that studio would do all the time. Like, okay, even if we lose a little money here, it's going to be at least an Oscar contender. Of course, I won a bunch of award, so that cachet is like, priceless. That, you know, to have a. Even if it didn't make it. Yeah, the boss cost of. It's like, there's still.
Big Cat
There's still some people out there fighting for the, the art of it. And they're basically saying, hey, we're not going to make a profit here. We're just trying to break even. There was actually another movie recently that came out where it's kind of clawing back to close to even, but I'm drawing a blank.
Ari
But I mean, yeah, they'll always be like, good independent filmmakers. And, you know, whether it's from other countries, like, you know, that guy who directed Parasite, you know, there's always going to be, like, fresh voices out there. Just. It's just tougher and tougher for those people to get their voices heard the way. The way the studios are being run these days. But anyways, I got a good recommendation.
Big Cat
Budgets. The Odyssey. When is that coming out?
Ari
July. Okay, so 16th or the 22nd. Yeah, I'm.
Big Cat
That is like one of the biggest budgets in the history of film.
Ari
Half a bill, actually. No, I'm. I'm not even sure it is way, way up there. But like, he, he didn't do any, like, cgi any. Like, he did all practical effects. Like, he had, like, ships built.
PFT Commenter
250 mil was the budget.
Ari
And that's a heavy tag. And, and the promotion will probably be at least another, another 100mil anyways. But, like, they built like these.
PFT Commenter
But I Don't.
Big Cat
Why do you. Why do you have to promote that? Everybody who's interested in film knows that this movie is coming out. Like, why would you need another 100 mil to promote it? That's to me to get the people
PFT Commenter
who want 5 million on the promotion. And it's.
Big Cat
I'm not even an avid film person, but I know about this Odyssey. Everybody's been talking about it, word of mouth. So anyway.
Ari
Yeah.
Big Cat
100 sheets, though.
Merles
Yeah.
Ari
Incredible. Yeah. Incredible cast. It looks. It looks pretty wild too. Like I said, none of the cgi. Like AI. It's like legit. He built like the Trojan horse. Like a 100 foot high one.
Big Cat
He had Travis Scott's in it.
Keith
Really?
Big Cat
Some weird cameos. Yeah, they have weird cameos in it.
Ari
Did I. Oh, did. What's his favorite? Avery didn't make the cut for that one, did he?
Big Cat
No, no, he's.
Keith
I think he is.
PFT Commenter
It was a way of filming and I. Iceland, I think so now.
Big Cat
I don't know how much he'll be shown on screen filming it. Like, sometimes you get cut out of the movie. I don't know how. How that works, but I would imagine
PFT Commenter
you'll see his face based on his appearance in Oppenheimer.
Ari
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
He might have even a bigger role.
Big Cat
You might get more airtime than Damon.
Keith
Didn't he tell us he had some lines?
Big Cat
Yeah, but once again, like, sometimes those types of things get left on the cutting room. I was going to get more playing time when I was an NHL player and look how that turned out.
Ari
How are you on, right here on Netflix, the new Martin short documentary. It's called Marty Life is Short. You know, the comedian, movie star. He was on SNL 100 years ago. Legit, awesome documentary. Like, whether you're familiar with his work or a huge fan like myself. Give it. Give it a look. It's a. Like a real, you know, about. Like just a good guy. Like a slice of life. He's going through a lot of. In his life and he's Canadian.
Big Cat
He's Canadian.
Ari
Absolutely. One of the funniest Canadians ever, if not the funniest.
Big Cat
And he's stroking off Muskoka in it, boys.
Ari
Yeah. Is that what. Snug?
Big Cat
Nice.
Keith
You think he's the funniest Canadian?
PFT Commenter
I mean, you guys, he's.
Ari
No, he said he's. He's definitely up there. I mean, I mean, Jim Carrey's, obviously.
Big Cat
Is he. Is he from Ontario? Because there was.
Keith
Norm MacDonald is funnier, I think.
Ari
Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah.
Big Cat
Is he from Ontario? G. There was a clip I saw on social about how like how people from Ontario. There's a crazy amount of successful people from Ontario.
Ari
Yeah. Phil Hatman, another funny bastard.
PFT Commenter
We know you're successful.
Keith
Mitch Marner.
Merles
No, from the Hammer. He's from Hamilton.
Big Cat
Hammer, Hamilton. There you go. No, but it's, it's like abnormal amount of people. Like I think Jim Carrey, like the list was going on.
PFT Commenter
How many people live in Ontario.
Big Cat
I think that there's 10 million people in Ontario.
Ari
Eugene. Rick Moranis.
Big Cat
11 million people.
Ari
Joe Flattery. Yeah. John Candy. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Mitch Marner, Very successful from Ontario.
Ari
Hilarious.
Big Cat
He's also. Who's also a lover of Muskoka.
Ari
But anyways it's, it's. Yeah, it's a good like life affirmat. Doc. It's funny what I said. You don't have to be familiar with them. If you are. Obviously you'll probably like it more. But the funniest thing he ever did was on old SNL skit. You could pull it up on YouTube when him and us, Christopher's guest, they do the sacred eyes swimming skit. I don't know if you ever seen it where Keith legit. Give it, give it a look. See? Legit. Like the funniest thing he probably ever did. So give that a look, Marty. Life is short, boys. Game seven. Enjoy.
PFT Commenter
And yep, 7:30, our YouTube channel. I can't wait. I just want a good game biz called overtime. RA Said he likes to draw. Bet that'll be going in on my DraftKings account. Thank you Ra for coming on. Thanks to Osh, thanks to Knuckles Nyland and we appreciate and thanks to Murr. As long as he can get out of jail for the stream tonight we'll. We'll have him and arm dog on. And we love you all for listening. Game seven or as Ari said, game seven. Have a great day.
Big Cat
Tanning for toys, right?
Knuckles Nyland
Won't happen.
Keith
Won't happen again.
PFT Commenter
A bad habit worth breaking.
Keith
But it's taking time.
Big Cat
I don't know.
Knuckles Nyland
It don't matter.
PFT Commenter
It's going to happen.
Knuckles Nyland
It's going to happen again.
Ari
Sa.
Date: May 18, 2026
Summary by: [Assistant]
Episode 647 is a classic playoff edition of Spittin’ Chiclets, digging into the NHL’s high-stakes Game 7 action. Hosts Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette ("Biz"), Rear Admiral (R.A.), and Keith Yandle are joined by Montreal Canadiens legend Chris "Knuckles" Nilan and Washington Capitals veteran T.J. Oshie. The episode is packed with in-depth playoff analysis (specifically Montreal vs. Buffalo), lively banter about playoff resiliency, coaching trends, player health, and iconic fan moments. Off the ice, the episode touches on hockey lore, the changing culture of hockey media, and some irreverent side stories.
[01:51 - 06:10]
[02:56 – 03:40]
[08:33 – 11:48]
[11:48 – 14:40]
[14:44 – 17:11]
[17:45 – 18:31]
[21:18 – 23:25]
[19:38 – 21:16; 23:43 – 25:26]
[40:28 – 42:14]
[37:23 – 39:39]
[44:01 – 46:17]
[57:05 – 58:07]
[50:37 – 51:55]
Hosts discuss off-ice fan behavior – including the viral incident in Montreal where a Sabres fan in a Jack Quinn jersey was bombarded with (possibly used!) toilet paper.
“Hockey gatekeeping”: The panel expresses frustration with fans who shame newcomers for not being able to follow the puck – advocating for accessibility and alternate broadcasts.
[65:00 – 79:21]
[83:41 – 116:33]
Oshie: “Vegas is right where they need to be. But they need a healthy Stone. If Marner keeps playing like this, they’ve got a shot. Colorado is the heavy favorite, but if Vegas can get crazy physical and keep Colorado chasing the puck, anything can happen.”
Smart Play: “The puck moves faster than the player. Vegas lets the puck do the work.”
[126:50 – 127:39]
For more episodes and special playoff streams, check out barstool.link/schiclets.