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I search the Internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of o. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that.
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Ben Green
This is the athletic hockey show.
Sean Gentili
What up? What up? It's the Athletic cocky show for May 27, 2026. Sean Gentili here with Sean McIndoo, buddy. We are Frankless today. Frankie Corrado is on assignment for tsn. He's in Kelowna. He's doing the Memorial Cup. I appreciate the gimmick that he's leaning into on the broadcast here we saw him, let's see, today is Wednesday. On Monday I believe he was in a kayak.
Sean McIndoo
He was.
Sean Gentili
On Tuesday he was in a Zamboni. This is, he's doing pre game hits. The kid is a true multi dimensional media superstar.
Sean McIndoo
It's, it's like I said in the group chat, he got called out on being a terrible driver by someone who will remain nameless, shall remain nameless and has apparently decided to prove them wrong by piloting every possible vehicle. The problem, and I hope Frank knows this is like when you start this, strong expectations get set.
Sean Gentili
That is my concern. Like when you go kayak in Zamboni in back to back days, what is he gonna fall? Like what, what do you do? Like is he gonna be driving a school bus today? That. Are you allowed to be doing trenchant analysis of junior hockey when you're, when you're driving, you know, a fire truck or whatever, whatever the next move is
Sean McIndoo
in colonial, it's, it's gonna be the school bus. It's, it's gonna be when the camera pans back to the terrified children that, that's really gonna nail it. I mean, there's kids on the bus. Oh. Oh, man.
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
Sean McIndoo
I don't know, man. This guy better be in an airplane by the end of this, is all I'm saying. A tank. I don't, I don't know. One of. One of the three tanks that we have in Canada gets. Literally.
Sean Gentili
I mean, that's more of an us thing.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. Let's. Let's just say we're trying to get some these days. But yeah, we'd have. We'd have actual Frank the Tank. Do you ever feel like he has more fun when he's not.
Sean Gentili
I do.
Sean McIndoo
With us. Okay.
Sean Gentili
Yeah. I, I was. I'm glad you said that because he's. Again, kayaks and ponies. He's talking about rating raiding the Delta Pantry, which we've discussed on this podcast with. With O Dog. Yes. Like, this is. I, I'm. It's fomo. I don't know what I'm feeling right here. I feel some degree of resentment to what's going on there.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah, it's tough.
Sean Gentili
All right. We have a Western Conference champion and we're still going to. We'll talk about them in a minute. We're also going to talk about the Montreal Canadiens, what they have to do. Even the Eastern Conference final. Kind of pretty important game for tonight here at the Bell center between them and the Hurricanes. And I know I'm going to talk of Kenny Malkin at the end of the show, but first, McIndo. Golden Knights sweeping out the Colorado Avalanche. They're in the ceiling cup final for the third time in franchise history. 75 playoff wins, not bad for a team that's existed for nine years. Also, just to underscore how crazy this was for Vegas, they were. They're the first Cup Final team with under 40 wins in an 80 game season since the 20 since the 2002 Hurricanes. It's been a while. They were a 95 point team in the regular season, which would not have put them in the playoffs in the East. Just to contextualize, you know, what we've witnessed, the Washington Capitals fans, congratulations.
Sean McIndoo
They finished ahead of the Western Conference champions in the regular season and didn't lose a single playoff game. So to me, that's a successful season.
Sean Gentili
There was a point, there was a point in the Caps history where they would have hung a banner for that Ted Leonzis would have. Next to the Washington Mystics attendance banner, there would have been more, more points than the. Than the Western Conference champions. Undefeated in the playoffs in a year in which they didn't qualify, but they've, they've progressed beyond that.
Sean McIndoo
So again, just shout out to everyone in November and December as we all try to convince ourselves that Game 32 of the NHL regular season really matters.
Sean Gentili
It don't.
Sean McIndoo
The Vegas Golden Knights, the loser Point Merchants, the pillow fight winners. I'm seeing that quote brought up a lot.
Sean Gentili
Again, every pillow fight has a winner.
Sean McIndoo
Yep. And look, it's all that aside, I don't think anybody coming into the playoffs looked at the Golden Knights and went, oh, this is a bad team. You know, we looked at them all year saying, when are they going to get going? Because they can't, they can't be this bad. They're not a 92 point team or whatever they were on pace for, for most of the season. They're not, they've got more, they've got that higher gear and I mean, the timing has been ideal. This is how you do it. Now, the side of this that I don't buy that I've seen a little bit of, not a ton is people going like, well, this is just a veteran team. They played it cool during the season and then they, they knew that they had the gear. They knew they could step on the guy. This team was going to miss the playoffs with like a couple of games left in the season. So if they, if they did this on purpose, they were really playing with fire because we, we almost had total disaster. But right now, I mean, the team they remind me of a lot right now is the Florida Panthers from a couple of years ago. Not the year they won the cup, the year, ironically, they lost to Vegas. But that was the year, remember, they, they had won the President's Trophy the year before. They go out, they trade for Matthew Chuck, they hire Paul Maurice, and then the last night of the season, they're going to miss the playoffs. And then it all comes together and, and they beat Boston and they go in the roll and you're sitting there going, oh, these guys are geniuses. We knew it all along. And yet you're still looking at it going, man, they were this close to disaster. So maybe the regular season does matter. You just don't know where the last week matters. November, November's going to be going to be a bit of a slog also,
Sean Gentili
like, they're getting goaltending. That was always such a huge problem for them. Like they're an 879 goaltending team in the regular season. And I, a lot of that was Carter Hart as well. But, you know, I, I look at that as One of their. That, that to me, at the start of the playoffs, and this is a team, by the way, that I picked to win the Stanley cup in October.
Sean McIndoo
I.
Sean Gentili
Even on a record, I. Right. And yeah, and then I watched them for four months or five months or six months and was like, oh, never mind. Like, this isn't going to work because they don't, they don't have goaltending. You know, the, the power play was whatever. Like, you know, they're firing their coach
Sean McIndoo
with Mitch Marner chugging along at under a point a game. That bum.
Sean Gentili
Yeah, that. Yeah. I have a feeling he's going to come up short.
Sean McIndoo
He doesn't have to.
Sean Gentili
We can, we can, we can skip it.
Sean McIndoo
We can skip that.
Sean Gentili
But I think that does underscore
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Sean Gentili
brings up the goaltending question. And I saw a really interesting piece from Tango Tiger. It was just, it was just a graph this morning on goaltending plotting, you know, regular season save percentage versus postseason save percentage for all the various goaltenders in the playoffs this year. There is no relation between those two. If anything, there's a negative relation. Right? So. So this is just pure coin flip stuff. This is the stuff we try to hide from as people who are paid to watch hockey and analyze it and write about it and talk about it. I think the ugly secret, and you and I have talked about this plenty of times, is that nobody understands goaltending basically, and that's. And that's what matters. And you can say, like, okay, I don't like Team X's goaltending situation coming into the playoffs because of past performance or whatever. Guy X is not playing well right now. So, you know, they're behind the eight ball. It like, very truly, statistically does not matter this season. So you might as well flip a coin or go with your gut or just be like, yeah, whatever. I, I think, I think Carter Hart's gonna be good or Freddie Anderson's gonna be good for reasons that I can't quite explain. And then, you know, you have as much chances of being right about that as wrong. And that's, and that's really tough. That is, that makes, to some degree that makes analysis that we do in things we say and things we write about. If you understand the volatility of the most important position in, in the sport, like, I, I know that always when I'm making predictions, I'm like, well, you know, goaltending could just blow all this up. And I think to some extent we're going to credit Vegas for, for, for the way that for the way they played, you know, shortly. But I think they're the biggest, you know, clearest example of that. If you get bad goaltending, you are going to struggle, and if you get gold, good goaltending, you're going to have a chance. And it's tough to know when you're getting it right. And I think they're putting that principle, you know, in action pretty clearly here.
Sean McIndoo
It's. You're. You're right. Goaltending feels very random. I understand that. It's not entirely. And if Jesse Granger was here, I'm sure he would be explaining to us how Carter Hart changed the angle of his head by 2 degrees and that's what, that's why the numbers are better. And look, there's. There's truth to that. But you're right. This is something I've, I've struggled with in hockey for a long time, and goaltending is a big piece of it, but it's not the only piece. If it's like, you don't want to read too far down that scroll of knowledge of how much randomness there is in this sport because at, at a, at a certain point, it doesn't make it more fun.
Sean Gentili
Correct.
Sean McIndoo
Realize how much of this is, if not random, is. Is decided by such tiny margins that it, from practical standpoint, it is random. Right. I mean, there's. There's no way that anybody at the start of this playoffs was like, okay, I know that right now we all say Vegas doesn't have a goalie, and, and Colorado has two goalies, but I think a month from now, Carter Hart's going to be on fire and both of Colorado's guys are going to be iffy to the point where they won't trust them.
Sean Gentili
So that's why I think it's going
Sean McIndoo
to be Vegas in four in the Western Final. Nobody. Nobody said that. Nobody would. Would have said anything like that. But what you would have said is if you were the sort of person who's both paying attention and also not very fun, you know, you would have been like, Sean, Sean, who's your Stanley cup pick? Who's going to meet in the finals? You know, 16, doesn't matter. About to embark, you just go, I have the two teams at the hottest goalie. Yeah, that'll be it.
Sean Gentili
And that sucks to. To some extent, but also, like, I, I don't. It's something. It's something. It's something I struggle with. Like, you try to go tending, like,
Sean McIndoo
goaltending is part of the goalie is part of the team. And I hate when we, like, you know, when we go the other way and we act like it's not. We go, ah, you know, PDO this or that. And it's like, oh, yeah, they got. They have. You know, if. When the Winnipeg jets win the President's Trophy because they have the best goalie in the league, that's part of the team. They went out and got that guy, they drafted him, they developed him. Now he's in the lineup every night. He's part of the team. But it's. You know. Yeah, it'd be like if the NFL. If every year in the. In the playoffs, two quarterbacks just got super high and, you know, and it could.
Sean Gentili
And it could be. It could be any of them, like, and it could.
Sean McIndoo
You have no idea.
Sean Gentili
16. And it doesn't matter.
Sean McIndoo
You could be sitting there going, oh, this team's. And suddenly J.J. mcCarthy throws for 500 yards every playoff game. And we all just go, yeah, well, that'll happen.
Sean Gentili
Sometimes it's like there's some degree of nihilism that gets brought into it because you're like, okay, we just need to accept that. All the work you do, and as much as you think you might know, the only thing you can be certain of is that it can all get thrown out the door by goaltending performances.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah, exactly. And, I mean, look, there is absolutely an alternate universe, not very different from this one, where we're having the same conversation about Connor Ingram and what a genius Stan Bowman is. And. Oh, my gosh, by the way, Stan, speaking of how smart Stan Bowman was, what an idiot Kelly McCrimmon was, thinking he could pick some goalie off the scrap heap who hadn't played in a year and a half, and that was going to solve the problem. Boy, what dummies they are in Vegas. It's. Yeah, it's interesting to a point, because a little bit of randomness and anything that, you know, we want the unexpected to happen, but when it starts getting too random, it becomes a bummer. So I'll tell you what. Let's talk about. Other than the goaltending, let's talk about all the other good things that Vegas did, because there were a lot. This was. This was a fantastic effort, top to bottom, up and down the lineup.
Sean Gentili
Mark Stone, what a.
Sean McIndoo
What a player.
Sean Gentili
Let's start with him. The dude comes in and we knew that he was going to be an X factor, right. Because we. I think you and I talked about it pretty extensively. Just. Still one of the absolute best two way players in the league. Like he was around the top 20 in goals per, in goals per 60 this past season. He's there with dry Seidel, he's there with McDavid. Like this is a remarkably productive player still. And he also is one of the most impactful two way forwards in the league. Right. So. So you have this elite offensive production when he's in the lineup. You have this incredible le level of defensive impact that he brings to. And I thought that him being out of the lineup, we knew that he was going to be out of it for some amount of time. One, game two, game three, like what? Like whatever it turned out to be. I thought him not playing was going to be the death knell for the, for the Vegas Golden Knights. It wasn't. We saw them handle business when, when he was out and then he comes back, scores goal scores goals in consecutive games. Huge one to open up game four. It was, it was within five minutes of puck drop, which is just a completely deflating thing. If you're the Colorado Avalanche, you have this, you know, your season's truly on the line regardless of whether you think they could come back from 30 or not. And then the old injured guy comes out and sticks a shaving you, you know, four minutes, 45 seconds into the game. That's just demoralizing for that for Colorado. And it's a testament to how good Mark Stone is. And I feel like, I feel like it does get lost to some degree because the dude only plays 60 games every regular season. We know he's going to be dealing with injuries. We know there's going to be an out of sight, out of mind element to him. He is unbelievable. And I think that is a huge part of why we're taught, we're talking here. It's May 27th and Vegas is just booted Colorado in four games. Yep.
Sean McIndoo
Absolutely. I mean, he is, I don't think you could call him underrated. No, he's properly rated and he's, he's, he is properly rated as a player. But I think his, his impact maybe gets underrated just because as you say, like he, at this point in his career, you know what you're getting and what you're not getting. What you're not getting is 80 games.
Sean Gentili
Right.
Sean McIndoo
And you're not getting four full rounds of the playoffs.
Sean Gentili
Yeah. And then he's going to miss some time during the playoffs. Yeah.
Sean McIndoo
And it's, and look, I mean it's, this is going to be a big part. Not to get ahead of ourselves on, on the Stanley cup final, where we don't even know half. Half the equation yet. But does Mark Stone last seven games in the Stanley Cup Final? Is he in and out of the lineup? I mean, that is. This is a crucially important piece. But when he's there and healthy enough to contribute, he's fantastic. And he's. He's fantastic in a way that, yeah, he's never going to win the Art Ross. He's never going to win the heart trophy, probably. He's. He's looks like he might never win that Selkie because he's. He's not going to put together the final season that the, that people need. But when he's out there, and I mean, just. Didn't you see, like, on that. On the breakaway play, like, you see the puck go up and you see, oh, there's a golden knight right there. He's going to catch the puck and he's going to put it down, and then you go, oh, it's Mark Stone. Okay, I think I know how this is going to end because some people just have it in the, in the playoffs.
Sean Gentili
And I mean, he's got. He's got the juice and he always. And he always does their. Like that. That little. That little touch pass that he had in the in game. Dude, it's incredible. All right. On the, on the Colorado end of things, on one hand, Vegas knew how to beat them, right? Trap, trap, trap. Traps them more clog up the neutral zone. They gave up some degree of zone time, but what you stopped was the transition game that Colorado really uses to kill people. So credit to them there. But on the other end of things, man, I mean, like, we can't get past the McKinnon Makar of it, all right? Like, their two best players were in various states of disrepair by the end of it. They also didn't have Valerina Chushkin last night, which is. Which is important. Sean, I'm wondering what's the percentage breakdown here for you? Like, how much credit are you given to Vegas? And then how much. How much blame are you. Are you giving to injuries for Colorado when you try to sift through this in terms of. Of what, of what went wrong?
Sean McIndoo
Like, I'm. I'm. I'm struggling with this question because my instinct is to say 50. 50. My instinct is to say 50%. Vegas playing an extraordinary series, and 50%, the fact that two of the very best players in the world were nowhere near 100% for, for the games that they even did play. And the reason I'm struggling is I. I don't want to take credit away from Vegas.
Sean Gentili
Right.
Sean McIndoo
Like I say, they. They just up and down the list, go down the checklist of everything they needed to do, they did it all. So I don't want to seem like I'm. I'm taking anything away from them. I guess what I would say is, as a hockey fan, I feel cheated that Vegas played as well as they did, and we didn't get to see how that would measure up against the real Colorado Avalanche. We got to see Vegas at their top strength up against a pretty seriously
Sean Gentili
diminished version of the abs.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. And I feel cheated because it's absolutely possible that this version of the Vegas Golden Knights would have beaten absolutely anyone you put in front of them, including a healthy, fully functional Colorado team. We just didn't get to see it.
Sean Gentili
And.
Sean McIndoo
And look, it's not. It's not sour grapes. It's not, you know, it's not, whatever. Making excuses to point to the fact that Colorado A, ran into a hot goalie and B, got absolutely decimated by injuries. And I think that's important because, look, if you're Vegas, if you're a Vegas fan, you don't care Too bad. So sad.
Sean Gentili
That's fine.
Sean McIndoo
Nobody. Nobody's saying you need to apologize for. For winning that series. But if you're Colorado and you've got to make some evaluations going forward.
Sean Gentili
Right.
Sean McIndoo
That you absolutely do have to cut through the. The. The hockey BS of you make your own luck and all this stuff and say, here's. Here's what were actual flaws that were exposed, and here was us just wasn't our year.
Sean Gentili
Yeah, that's the. That's the challenge is. Is not being overreactive, but also. But also recognizing that this is a pretty profoundly talented team that has made a. Made early exits, you know, consistently over the last. They scored seven goals in four games. You know what I mean? Like, this is not. There's not a ton. There's not a ton to hang your hat on when it comes to results there. And it's not. And it's not just because of. Of McKinnon in Makar. Like, you. You don't. You don't injury your way. Like, I don't care how good those guys are. Like, seven. Seven goals in. In four games just isn't going to happen. It's. It's. It's not going to work. It's.
Sean McIndoo
It's not. But I mean, again, like, if this was. If this was The Oilers and McDavid and Draisaitl were both beaten up and out of the lineup and missing. You know, nobody would, would sit there and go, hmm, I wonder what the Oilers problem was. And, and look, Colorado's a better team than Edmonton. They've got more of that depth. And, and that's, it's disappointing in a way that some of that depth didn't stand up and, and really, really be counted. But there aren't very many teams ever in the history of the NHL where you can take their two best players and basically drop them down. 50% effectiveness and they still win a series against a really good team playing really well.
Sean Gentili
I think the issue is that it looked like they knew that they were cooked without those guys, without, without those guys at full strength. You know, like there needs to be some level of belief that gets instilled. The rest of the dudes in the lineup, they're like, whether you have kill McCard 50% or 0% or 80, whatever it is, you know, the other guys need to, I, I just, you just, it just, I didn't get the sense that that happened. That's a really bad series from Marty Natures too. Like that, like he was, he was the guy. Like, he's the guy who's wearing, he's wearing the dog collar. You know, when all is said and
Sean McIndoo
done there, he's the guy you need to step up. And I know that I, I, I know there's people who are absolutely sick of the, the long shadow being cast by the Miko ran in decision over this playoffs.
Sean Gentili
It's relevant.
Sean McIndoo
It is. I mean, that was your guy. That was your third elite player. There was a decision made to move on. And part of that decision was thinking that Marty Natures could, could replace a big chunk of that. And during the regular season, he did. During the playoffs, end of story.
Sean Gentili
He did not.
Sean McIndoo
Roll credits. Yeah.
Sean Gentili
Landiscog's 34, McCann's gonna be 31, Brock Nelson 35. Kadri is going to be 36. Of like all their best players are, are on the wrong side of 30 outside of Makar, basically. And I, I suppose natures. So I think that's what the post mortem is here. Like, is this, that, that is like this standard issue question for the discussion surrounding the Colorado Avalanche right now is like, did we watch their cup window slam last night? Like, like, like did it close it? I. And, and it didn't. It didn't. Because as long as you have McKinnon and Makar in the mix in a In a pretty astute front office. Like, you assume they're going to figure something out, but these chances are not unlimited. Like, it, it can. Sometimes the end can come quickly and they know that. It's even like once you win it, it's really hard to make it back. If it, if it weren't hard for them, they would have done it already.
Sean McIndoo
Right?
Sean Gentili
So I, I think there needs to be, you know, some kind of balance between saying, like, look, when you have those two guys at the top of the lineup, I don't care if McKinnon's going to be 31 years old like you, you should have a chance. But you also need to acknowledge that there's something missing with the mix in everything that goes. That goes below those two because, you know, what we saw in the series was not, Was not good enough. We need to bring up Mitch Marner. Man, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know, I know you don't feel like congratulations.
Sean McIndoo
I know you don't feel like trophy winner. It's already been decided. The voters, all, everyone who votes on it has already already written the article, apparently. So I can think of one guy who has.
Sean Gentili
I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure. When, when me and Wishinski were eaten in Raleigh last week, he was, he was, he was drafting his Mitch wins
Sean McIndoo
cons story and just, and just calling up everybody for his disgusting. Like, any behavior, like any, any rabid lease homer. Like I care what some blogger thinks. Did I click on that link?
Sean Gentili
Did I click on that link and do a control f Mac and do.
Sean McIndoo
Yes, you might want.
Sean Gentili
Yes, I did.
Sean McIndoo
You might. Yeah. And, and you know what? Hey, tough, Tough break for Pavildorfev, who's scoring all these crucial goals and actually is the most valuable forward so far on the Vegas Golden Knights. But sorry, kids, get a narrative.
Sean Gentili
Did Greg cut that out of the. From you?
Sean McIndoo
I really enjoy how all the fans in media who spend the entire season complaining that everything's about the Maple Leafs, watching Mitch Marner get two points and immediately turning to every Leaf fan and being like, what do you think? How does this affect you?
Sean Gentili
Yeah, man, I, I was, I, I watched, I watched that game with Myrtle yesterday. Right? Someone who's been around Mitch more than. More than anybody. And we're sitting, we're sitting at the bar and they show Marner on the Sportsnet camera and he goes to talk. He's. He's talking to Sean McKenzie and I just kind of like, I looked, I looked at James. I was like, well, what do you
Sean McIndoo
think I'll say this when it comes to Mitch Marner, he. And part of the reason why, as a Leafs fan, this doesn't bother me as much as it. As people seem to want it to bother me is that first of all, as I said in. In Wish's article, this was never happening in Toronto. Nobody in Toronto who watched Mitch Marner is kicking themselves going off. We just kept them for one more year. This was the year 10 was the year he was going to explode. No, it wasn't. If, if he was in Toronto. I mean, first of all, they, they missed the playoffs by a mile this year, but even if they were in the playoffs, we'd be having the same Mitch martyr conversation. Like he, it wasn't going to happen in Toronto. And the other thing is he chose to leave. He had his eye on the door all of last year. He had made his mind up that, that he wanted out. This wasn't the Leafs going, we're getting rid of this because this guy's a bum and he can't win in the playoffs. And then he's proven everyone wrong. I mean, if anything, he's proven everyone right, including himself, who said, I got to get out of here and go somewhere where I've got a chance. And he picked a great spot. He picked a great team. He has fit in well. He had his ups and downs during the regular season and he's been fantastic in the playoffs so far. He's done exactly what everyone in Toronto was waiting for him to do, that he never did with the Leafs. And so, okay, good. Good for him. But it wasn't going to happen in Toronto. And I will say that the one part that has been very funny was his quote about, you know, what was different in Vegas? And he's like, man, they just, they stay calm. Nobody panics here, nobody starts. And it's like, dude, I don't know if you know this, but those nine playoff runs in Toronto, those were televised. We could see those. We saw how you react. Not them. Not everyone around you. You. We saw you crying in the penalty box. Yeah, they're not throwing your gloves around like, that was you, dude. Like, we, we all.
Sean Gentili
Nobody here has tantrums on the bench. Whenever stuff doesn't go well during the, during the season. It's pretty cool.
Sean McIndoo
I wonder who he's talking. He's probably talking about John Tavare. Noted tantrum Hever John Tavares. Like, dude, I'm sorry Willie Nylander yelled at you one time in playoff run number eight or nine. Or whatever it was. We've lost track. But it's. Yeah, that, that was very funny. But anyways, yes, he's. He's gonna win the Con Smythe at this point and congratulations to him. And I can't wait for all your hilarious tweets about it. Everybody that you've got queued up should
Sean Gentili
tag him on it. Actually tag at down goes Brown on all socials for your fear. Mitch Marner wins the contest.
Sean McIndoo
I'll give you a rating, but I'm sure they're all going to be eights and nines and tens out of 10. Absolute bangers.
Sean Gentili
We're going to take a break and then we're going to talk about the two teams. The only two remaining roadblocks that can
Sean McIndoo
stop the speed bumps, the speed bumps
Sean Gentili
on the way to. On the way to Mitch Marner, Con Smythe winner. Stick around.
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search the Internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic source in various stages of ooze. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that.
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Jake Stauch
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Sean Gentili
All right, we're back. McAd. We got a game four in Montreal tonight. Habs trying to even the Eastern conference finals at 2, take things back to Raleigh in a decent spot. I. I think there are two bits of concern here that in play, one for each team. The concern for Canes. The Canes have to be still, they're not scoring more three goals a game. It's happened twice in 11 playoff games. Both time they scored four. It hasn't happened against Montreal. There's a world in which no matter how much volume and how much quality they manage, they get a couple bad bounces in both directions. Maybe Freddie allows in a squeaker or a questionable one. Did not think he looked great in game three. And then all of a sudden we're going back to Raleigh. Tutu in the shape of the series differs significantly. I think the concern on the Habs side is. Is a lot more pressing and a lot more. A lot more possible. And that's that the house of cards falls down. Right. You credit them for capitalizing on those chances. The Suzuki line's been good on balance over the course of this series. They haven't gotten much of anything from anybody else. There just don't seem to be. There haven't been enough shots there. Marty St. Louis said as much over the last couple days. They had 12 in game two. They had 13 in game three. Both of those games went to overtime, which is. Which is crazy. So I don't know that the chances are there, period, for them to win certainly three times in four games. So. Which just adds to the importance here, right. If they want to have a chance, they have to win tonight. Because we know, you know, based on the way the first three games the series went, that they're just not going to spend a ton of time in the offensive zone. Certainly not enough to win three games out of four against this team. So I think that adds to the importance of.
Sean McIndoo
Of this.
Sean Gentili
Like it's stupid to call, you know, a game four in a series that's two one crucial because. Of course it is. But I think because of the way those two teams have played along the way to the 2:1 result, you know, I think. I think it makes even more important.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah, this is. I mean, you're not beating this Carolina team three times out of four, getting 13 shots a night or three times out of five. Like it's. And. And this is. I'm more scared as a Montreal fan right now than a Carolina fan. That's. That's even.
Sean Gentili
Got him. Got him, Jeff.
Sean McIndoo
Delete that. Do not put. Don't put on The Internet. If I was a Montreal fan, which I'm not, but if I was, I, I. I'd be more worried. And it's not just that they're down two games to one. I mean, that. That's. That's obviously part of it, too. But this, this series right now is. This is a Carolina series that we're seeing play out. They are just strangling the Montreal Canadiens. And we talked in the first segment about goaltending and which goalie gets hot. Montreal's got the hot goalie.
Sean Gentili
Yes, they do.
Sean McIndoo
The Hurricanes are getting goalied, but they're still pushing through it and they're still winning games. And yeah, it's in overtime and one bounce here and there, but. But even that, like, usually when you have overtime in the playoffs, you sit there and you go, hey, man, if that bounce had gone this way or that way, we get a totally different result. And it almost doesn't feel that way in Game 3 because Montreal never got near the net in overtime. I mean, Nick Suzuki had the one chance early on, and other than that, it was just Carolina waiting to see who was gonna. Who was going to be the hero, because Montreal wasn't generating anything. And that's. That's what scares you. Like, it's great to have the hot goalie, but when you have the hot goalie and you still aren't winning.
Sean Gentili
Yep.
Sean McIndoo
That. That gets real scary. And, you know, I'm at the point where. And I think most people are. You kind of throw game one out. You burn the tapes on that one. That was. We all. We all said, Carolina Hurricanes have not played a hockey game since the late 80s. They're going to be rusty. And it went. And it was. It was the rust game. And Montreal blew their doors off and they banked the win, which is what they needed to do. Hey, full credit to them. But I. That as far as my analysis going
Sean Gentili
forward, I. Yeah, the version, the version of the Carolina Hurricanes that we got in the first 12 minutes, that game disappeared. Like, we have. We haven't. We haven't seen it since. I don't. I think it's fair to say that we're not going to get that version of that team again.
Sean McIndoo
I know that you can always. Any series, season, game, anything, you can always say, well, if you take away their worst part, they're pretty good. But here, there was a very clear such a.
Sean Gentili
And it's such a small part, and there was such a. Such an obvious explanation. Like, I, It. It seemed almost too, like, I think people almost Psyched themselves out it after game one where you're like, well, you know, it can't. Just because it's so clearly because of Russ. It can't. That just can't be the, that can't be the answer.
Sean McIndoo
No easy answer actually is McIndee's razor
Sean Gentili
is what that logical principle is called.
Sean McIndoo
And I mean the, the other thing that, that would make me nervous if I was a Montreal fan here is we've. We had the conversation going into this series about the two first lines.
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
Sean McIndoo
And how both of these teams were really being carried by the other lines. In Carolina's case, straight up by the second line. And in Montreal's case it was. It wasn't quite as obvious, but it was. You know, we all knew the numbers with Suzuki and Caulfield, especially at 5 on 5. They weren't getting it done. And it was sort of like, all right, which, which line wakes up first and, and the Suzuki line's been better, as he said. But the fact that it's Fetchnikov who gets the OT winner makes me kind of wonder. All right, is this. And it wasn't like they had a dominant game. It wasn't like he scored the circle where. But. But he got the goal and you know, he gets the goal or, or maybe Sebastian Al gets the goal and we're not sure who scored it and they're arguing about it. Great. Those are the two guys. You need to do something because I was watching game three, especially with, with without just being like where, where what is this guy? Where is the elite player here that you know, where is the first line player? And maybe that is what jump starts them. And if it, if that's what it comes down to, I mean if, if it's, if, if we're gonna have the shots be 30 to 15 every night and Carolina's so called stars are finally going to start playing like it. This series is. Is done. Unless I mean it's goaltending isn't going to do it. We need dominic hasic late 90s level goaltending and even that might not be enough. So if you're Montreal, you got to get the big guys going, you got to keep getting the goaltending and you've got to find a way to get shots. And no, we don't mean just you skate over the blue line and you fire a weak Wrist shot from 60ft out. But I mean get, get some real chances going because the percentages, you can try to play the percentages to an
Sean Gentili
extent and, and the gaps, the Gaps too much.
Sean McIndoo
It's. It's too much when you have to win three of three of five, and certainly if you have to win three in a row, it's. It's. It's not going to happen.
Sean Gentili
Yeah, I'm going to be watching the AHA line pretty closely tonight. I think that was the. That felt like the final puzzle piece that needed to fall in for Carolina to, you know, really. We certainly took them seriously as a Cup contender before this, but that was the thing that wasn't going right. That line was controlling play and, like, getting chances and whatever. Like, I don't. I don't think game three was quite as good as they made it out to be. But, man, if. If those guys, if any of the three of those guys starts to cash in on chances, that's Ajo, that's Feshnikov, that's Seth Jarvis. You know, then whether it's tonight, whether it's the rest of the series, whether it's a Cup final, I think in a lot of ways, like, it look out like, because stuff could be. Stuff could get ugly. But that's been the question for them. That's always been the question for them. It was the question for him last year is fetch Nikov and Aho and whatever. Are those guys going to have enough juice to get it done when they need to get it done? And I think game three was an example of that. Of that happening. Like, the trick for Carolina has been that they've insulated those. Those guys better. Like, it doesn't just. Doesn't just. It doesn't just land on those. On those two or three guys. You have the second line that carried them through the first two rounds. You have Nikolai Ehlers playing on a checking line with Jordan Stall and Jordan Martinook. And that's. That's kind of crazy to watch, honestly. And it is incredibly effective hockey that they're. That they're playing out there. Like, that's a huge issue for Montreal. They. They. They have no answer for the stalling period. They don't know who to like. Nothing has worked in terms of trying to find a matchup for that group. So that's.
Sean McIndoo
That's.
Sean Gentili
That's going to be interesting. But, man, I, I do think so much of this, not just this series, but whatever comes next for Carolina is going to be dictated by what Ajo and Svetchnikov and Jarvis do. So I think if you want to watch, if you're watching this game for this series, if you're maybe watching for the next one, what Whatever. Like, pay attention to what those guys are doing because it's. Because it's important. Important stuff. Let's take a break. We're going to come back and then we're. You know what? Actually, no, that's not true. I skipped something here. I was in the press box, so it was tough. You know, you never really. Yeah, you get. You certainly get a diff. There's a lot of things that are different when you're watching a game in a press box. Officiating is definitely one of them because you get swayed by the crowd. You don't have access to the same replay that you know that you do when you're watching a game on TV. So, McAdoo, I need to know,
Sean McIndoo
was
Sean Gentili
the officiating as bad as it seems? Like people in the stands and elsewhere and on the Internet want us to believe it was. I don't have. I don't have a sense. It felt like it was bad on both sides. I felt. I felt like. I felt like it was a poorly called game and both teams were screwed in one way.
Sean McIndoo
I didn't think it was awful during regulation. Yeah, there were the two very obvious missed calls in overtime. The trip on Lane Hudson and then the too many men.
Sean Gentili
You mean the trip and the embellishment on Lane Hudson that would have caused four on four hockey for a little bit. Maybe.
Sean McIndoo
Maybe. Although, I mean, that's.
Sean Gentili
I think they did him a favor there.
Sean McIndoo
They may be. They. Maybe. But the point is, I understand, as a Montreal fan, why you would be.
Sean Gentili
Yeah. Because you are on that.
Sean McIndoo
And, and, and the. Stop it. And you know, hey, you're. You're looking there going. If they're not going to call anything, then I guess maybe you do have to embellish and you get into all this nonsense. Look, referees don't call penalties in overtime, okay? They just don't. The only penalties they call are the ones they have to call, which is puck over glass. For some godforsaken reason, that's the one thing you can't do in overtime. You want to break your stick over someone's head, go ahead.
Sean Gentili
This is year. Year 15 of hearing the McIntu playoff.
Sean McIndoo
Puck over puck over the glass. And it goes over there. Okay, Like I'm talking. If it goes that way now, if it goes there, that's fine. That's totally okay. But if it goes there, that's a penalty and your team's going to lose the playoffs on a power play goal. And the other one that's supposed to be obvious is too Many men. But they had let the Hudson penalty go. So, I mean, I didn't. As a neutral fan, I did not feel like that was a game decided by the officiating. I, I didn't love officiating, but I, I felt like it balanced out. And now, I mean, it, it could have gone the other way because, I mean, Hudson gets tripped and the puck just kind of slides off. And if Carolina player picks that up and scores. Oh, my goodness. We're. We're still cleaning up downtown Montreal, probably
Sean Gentili
because we might have gotten a really late play penalty call now, one too, like, oh, this is. This is.
Sean McIndoo
It might have to, right? Because, I mean, we, we all know it, we all say it, that, you know, the officials don't want to decide the game, but sometimes not making the call is deciding the game in the game. At the end of the day, I didn't feel like coming out of that game that the officiating was the conversation, but it was, it wasn't great. But welcome to the playoffs, man. Like, and again, I, I don't. I'm not here to defend the referees, but all these fans who say they want the rulebook just called the same way in the playoffs that they call it in game one of the season and call it the same in overtime, as you would call it the first shift.
Sean Gentili
No, you don't.
Sean McIndoo
You do not. You would hate it. You do hate it. I've seen it happen and I've seen, you know, when it happens to your team, suddenly all that. I just want consistency.
Sean Gentili
We saw it happen with. We saw it happen with the Hurricanes in that fire series. That was, that was the refs calling it tight and calling it by the rule book, and it was, it was unwatchable at points, so be careful.
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. This has not been an officiating series so far.
Sean Gentili
We'll see.
Sean McIndoo
We got a ways to go.
Sean Gentili
Yeah. Because one team had one registered shot after the second intermission or whatever it was. You know, it's tough to, Tough to blame the refs when that's going on, huh?
Sean McIndoo
The refs weren't out there blocking shots yet.
Sean Gentili
Maybe, maybe one or two. You never know. Take a break. We're going to come back and tell you what we learned.
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Sean Gentili
Get the feels@contentful.com all right, McIndoo, I would like to tell you something that I've learned.
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What have we learned?
Sean McIndoo
Sean?
Sean Gentili
I learned that the Pittsburgh Penguins learned that it served zero functional purpose to let Evgeny Malkin walk away. And there was some open question as to whether that was something they understood. He's a franchise icon. He's still a really effective player, and he just signed a one year, 5.5 million dollar contract for next season. There was no reason for them not to do this, Sean and I'm going to read some texts that I sent in a group of largely Pittsburgh Penguins fans yesterday because there is some degree of like, you know, should they have done it? Should they assign him for two like there's, there's a weird amount of litigation that's going on in, in that fan base over this. No reason not to do it. If he stinks, they'll stink. So that's good news for them. If he's good, that'll be fun for you guys. And his presence won't stop them from doing a single thing. He was a more this is, this is the crucial part. And this is something I don't think people know. If Kenny Malkin was a more productive player than Sidney Crosby last season, the Penguins won his minutes dramatically. He averaged exactly as many five on five points per 60 minutes as Crosby did. If you include the power play, he had him beat decisively there. They generated more goals and chances with him on the ice than they did with Sid. They allowed fewer. So, you know, maybe it's the cliff next year. I, I'm not, I don't think that in two years, you know, we're going to be having. I certainly think the Crosby's situated to play longer than, than Malkin is. The durability is a question. He's got the knee injuries and blah, blah, blah. He missed time last season. That's all, that's all understood. But I think it, I think we need to underline just how good he was and just how good they were with, with him on the ice last year. And if you're in this mode where you have Sidney Crosby and Eric Carlson and whoever else still on the team, you're clearly too good to tank, you know, and you, you, you're not, you're not going to add the third best prospect in the draft next year. You might as well lean in a little bit, like, enjoy it. Hope, hope those, hope that Dubas can improve the roster elsewhere and avoid going out on terrible terms with, with the third best player in the history of your franchise, because that's what it would have been. So I, I think that's, I think that's a fine move by Pittsburgh.
Sean McIndoo
I think there are, there are three reasons why you move on from, from a player like this in this situation. Number one is that he's not good anymore. That's clearly not the case. This isn't Chris Latang, which is a different problem to solve with a couple years left on his deal. But, but Malkin's still good. So it's, it's not that. Reason number two is because you're planning to tank and you're worried that somebody's too good for that and they're not
Sean Gentili
going to do that.
Sean McIndoo
That's not, that's not where they're at. The third reason, which is the interesting one, is because you just feel like at a certain point you have to rip off the band aid and you have to start the new era. And we saw that in Chicago where they basically made the decision we're moving on from Patrick Kane and Jonathan Tapes and they not even so much trading Kane at the deadline the first time, but there was some talk would he come back. And Kyle Davidson basically said, no, we're not even going to entertain that this is a new era, we're not trying to do the transition thing, etc, etc. That is where I think on its own, maybe you make the case that it's time to Move on. If you're Pittsburgh, except you've got Sidney Crosby and you're not doing that with him. So there's no point ripping the band aid halfway off. That just hurts. And then you still have a band aid.
Sean Gentili
There's nothing. And there's also nothing under the band aid. Like, there's, there's no, there's no point in doing it right there. He's not, he's not blocking anybody. Having his contract on the books for next year isn't going to stop them from doing anything. And I think that's the crucial thing, because it's clear, it's clear based on the way Dubas has moved, not just currently, but over the last couple years, that the primary goal there is trying to get better by adding players who are like, you know, 25, 26, you hope, whatever. There's very obvious names on the market there that you can imagine them going after. Having Malkin around does, doesn't stop you from doing any of that. There's not some kind of, there's not some kind of stud prospect come that that's playing, that's getting blocked from a top six spot like whatever, and, and
Sean McIndoo
even the con, even the fact that, you know, I'll admit the, the dollar value was higher than maybe I thought it would be, but it's heavily bonus laden. And, and the bonuses, a lot of them are tied to team success. Making the playoffs, going deep in the playoffs. So if all the bonuses hit, oh boy, what a terrible problem to have. We just won the Stanley Cup, I guess, I guess our salary cap for the year after is, is tighter than we thought. And even if it's because it's 35 plus the bonuses kick over to next year if you need them to. I don't know, two years from now, I don't see the Penguins necessarily being flush up against the cap because they've got so much talent. And if they do, again, nice problem to have so totally. And, and there is, there is way more value than people want to think in just letting a franchise icon finish his career.
Sean Gentili
ABS that's it.
Sean McIndoo
I, I, I don't, you know, I, I don't think Evgeny Malcolm playing for the Kings next year is like a Jerry Rice as a Seahawk level of, of sad because he's still a good player. But let him, let him play his whole, let him play his whole career. There's something to that. And you know, Crosby's going to play his whole career in Pittsburgh. Letang might, because I don't know how you get out of that. So go ahead.
Sean Gentili
Yeah. And you know, is this, this is Kyle doing the trade market dirty because now we know that Eric Carlson's not going to be a part of it or whatever. Like, that's, that's what this signifies, right? Is that like, you know, maybe, maybe Ricard Raquel and Brian Rust and in Carlson and these, these, these older guys, they stick on this team like he's, he's in a tough spot. I agree. But I think there is absolutely tons of, tons of value and you know, making sure that that dude finishes his, his career in a, in a, in a Penguins uniform because it was pretty clear that he wasn't going to. If, if they, at one point, and, and, and it.
Sean McIndoo
Look, at some point a year ago, if you had said, oh, you know, they're going to sign them, you go, well, what are they doing? Well, they, they still think they can win. All right, well, prove it. Go out there and make the playoffs. If you guys are real. Well, they did. They did exactly. They made the playoffs. They had home ice in the playoffs. What, what else? They, they've earned it. They, they kind of made the dubious decision for.
Sean Gentili
And if it doesn't work, then, you know, then you rip the Bandit off and then you say, okay, we tried it, we tried to do this, you know, half measure and you trade everybody except Crosby and you and you, and you stink for a year. Whatever.
Sean McIndoo
You trade, you trade Crosby. Absolutely.
Sean Gentili
You trade Crosby to the Maple Leafs. What have you learned, Sean?
Sean McIndoo
I, I learned that there are people in Colorado who think this is all Jared Bednar's fault and that they think
Sean Gentili
because he played pie gal for 15 minutes on, on Monday night, or that
Sean McIndoo
is, I mean, he was that. Look, I mean, if you're playing poker during the playoffs, I mean, that's just tampering with Sonny Meta. You're just trying to get Sonny's attention there to get him to perk up.
Sean Gentili
No, he's playing. He's playing. He's playing Pie.
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Sean Gentili
You put down 20 minutes and just hang out for an hour and do it.
Sean McIndoo
Who cares? Leave alone fake poker for fake poker players.
Sean Gentili
I knew you were. I gotcha.
Sean McIndoo
I'm shocked at that. I mean, we talked the whole segment about injuries and goaltending and all that. I don't know what he was supposed to do. I don't know how spoiled you have to be as a fan base, as an organization, whatever, to look at this and go, it's a coaching problem. So I, I was shocked at that. And, and you know, who knows? I mean, there. There's weird rumors about Chris McFarland and what's going on in Colorado, so I guess we'll see. But that doesn't make any sense to me. I will say this. The other thing I learned from John Tortorella's press conference, where he had that little parting shot about leaving Gerard Jared, but. So John Tortorella can't stick up for his fellow coach.
Sean Gentili
Interesting. Interesting timing.
Sean McIndoo
Not. Not a. No courts in Bezzi.
Sean Gentili
So.
Sean McIndoo
So when it's the media and the fans, then John Tordrell is very brave and he's willing to stand up for his coaches, but when it's his own team screwing over Bruce Cassidy, no comment. I got. I got nothing to say. Hey, part of the playoffs, it's about picking your spots, and John Turtorella knows how to pick his spots, and he picked. He picked his spot on this one, and he's. He's back in good standing with the coaches association.
Sean Gentili
Interesting.
Sean McIndoo
Except for Bruce Cassidy. Interesting.
Sean Gentili
Also, we got. He referred himself as a guidance counselor last night. We got. We got nice. We got a nice guy torch yesterday, he wasn't sprinting for the airport in Long beach or whatever. Whatever.
Sean McIndoo
No, he was. The night he was.
Sean Gentili
He's.
Sean McIndoo
He's the. He's the nice guidance counselor instead of the mean vice principal. So that's good. We'll see how long it lasts. That's pretty good.
Sean Gentili
Five more games. Sean, what's your post today?
Sean McIndoo
I don't have one up today.
Sean Gentili
What the hell? Dude.
Sean McIndoo
Dude. I'll give you a peek behind the curtain, and hopefully this doesn't. This doesn't end up retroactively biting me. I. I filed a post last night, and I expected to wake up this morning, find out it gone out, and it didn't. Now I. I think it probably just got either overlooked or, you know, there was a series ended last night. Things get busy. I understand something happened. I'm a little bit concerned. I'm a little bit concerned this post. I might have finally crossed the line and written something that was so stupid that the editors are like, no, we're not putting this on the site. And I don't even want to say what it was, but it's. I'll tell you off.
Sean Gentili
Great. Okay.
Sean McIndoo
I was gonna say wait until maybe. Maybe it'll go out later today. Maybe it'll go up Thursday, or maybe you will never see it or me ever again. Because I finally. I have that doubt about. A few times a year I write something and I'm like, this is, maybe this should stay in the inside voice. And, and then I hit send and it goes out and, and whatever happens, happens. They, this one, they. I didn't, I didn't even get the little check mark in slack. Like I just got nothing. I got, I got no, sold completely on this one.
Sean Gentili
Yeah, you like, you checked it. You check to make sure that it actually, that the message actually went through. You're like, maybe, maybe they don't know
Sean McIndoo
I just put that one in my drafts or something. I don't know. No, it's, it's there and it's just awkwardly, awkwardly trying to make eye contact. And the editors are just head down pretending it didn't happen. So we'll, we'll see how that goes. But you guys might be in for a treat tomorrow or might be in for a new co host next week.
Sean Gentili
I can't wait. That's such a great reason to end the show. Thank you, Sean McIndo. Thank you fine folks for watching and listening to this edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Eastern Conference final game four tonight in Montreal. Enjoy that Haley and I got you covered tomorrow. We'll talk to you real soon.
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Episode: Avalanche eliminated in stunning sweep
Date: May 27, 2026
Hosts: Sean Gentili & Sean McIndoo ("McIndoo")
This episode reacts to the Colorado Avalanche’s stunning four-game elimination at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. The hosts break down the causes of Colorado’s abrupt exit, the impressive—and improbable—run of Vegas, and dig into broader NHL playoff themes: the wild variability of goaltending, the impact of injuries, what Colorado needs to learn, and a look at the current Eastern Conference Final and key franchise moves elsewhere in the league.
Carolina is dominating shot volume, but lacking finishing; Habs are being “goalied in,” not generating offense outside the Suzuki line, and being dramatically outshot (12 shots in game 2, 13 in game 3—both OTs).
Carolina’s stars—Aho, Svechnikov, Jarvis—showed up in OT, and “if any of those guys start to cash in, look out, because stuff could get ugly” (39:22, Gentili).
Montreal is “getting goalied” by their own netminder, but still can’t turn the tide.
A highly engaging episode breaking down the surprise Vegas sweep, the shaky future in Colorado, and the maddening—but fascinating—volatility of NHL playoff hockey. The hosts explore big-picture questions (windows closing, how much luck matters, how teams should handle icons), plus dissect ongoing Eastern Conference storylines and controversies, all with clarity, wit, and a critical eye for empty narratives.