The Hockey Show: Ovechkin Breaks Ned's Record

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Hockey Show – Ovechkin Breaks Ned's Record

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
• Hosts: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Roy Bellamy, David Droer, Ethan Podowski
• Episode: The Hockey Show: Ovechkin Breaks Ned's Record
• Release Date: April 11, 2025
• Description: From the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and their team share unique perspectives on sports and pop culture, featuring segments like the daily “Local Hour” focusing on South Florida.

---

1. Introduction to the Hockey Show

Roy Bellamy welcomes listeners to a special episode dedicated to hockey, marking a significant milestone in the NHL. The focus is on Alexander Ovechkin’s historic achievement of surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record.

Notable Quote:

“We have ourselves a new goal scoring king in the National Hockey League.” – Roy Bellamy [01:21]

2. Alexander Ovechkin’s Record-Breaking Achievement

The hosts delve into Ovechkin’s remarkable career, discussing his consistency, longevity, and the impact of his recent record-breaking goal that surpassed Gretzky’s mark. They highlight Ovechkin’s physical transformation and relentless performance despite aging.

Key Points:

• Consistency and Longevity: Ovechkin has maintained an impressive goal-scoring average over his 20-year career, with multiple seasons exceeding 50 goals.
• Age and Resilience: At 39, Ovechkin continues to perform at a high level, suggesting a few more productive years ahead.
• Comparisons to Legends: Discussions on how Ovechkin stacks up against Sidney Crosby and his potential Hall of Fame induction.

Notable Quotes:

“He’s only had one season where he’s had under 30 goals.” – Roy Bellamy [05:06]

“Even though technically the place should have been blown down because he was throwing the stick.” – Roy Bellamy [19:09]

3. Personal Wins and Celebrations

David Droer shares heartfelt moments about his family’s involvement in hockey, including his son playing in the Panthers’ development league and participating in a live game intermission.

Notable Quote:

“It was really cool. I was actually on the ice with him. I got to stand there as he came onto the ice.” – David Droer [07:59]

4. Recent NHL Events and Team Performances

The discussion shifts to various NHL teams’ performances, highlighting the Pittsburgh Penguins’ recent playoff elimination and the New York Islanders’ struggles.

Key Points:

• Pittsburgh Penguins: Their third consecutive season missing the playoffs.
• New York Islanders: Criticism of their coaching decisions and player performances, including a notable game where they lost a three-goal lead in the final minute.

Notable Quotes:

“The Penguins are now officially in a playoff drought.” – Roy Bellamy [12:35]

“They pulled Tristan Lennox after he gave up a goal in his first shot.” – David Droer [13:53]

5. Interview with Jim Fox, LA Kings Color Commentator

Jim Fox joins the show to discuss the Los Angeles Kings’ prospects in the upcoming playoffs, player performances, and the significance of Ovechkin’s record.

Key Topics:

• Quentin Byfield: His development and impact on the Kings.
• Darcy Kemper: Outstanding goaltending performance this season.
• Anze Kopitar: His leadership and ongoing contributions after 19 seasons.
• Playoff Predictions: Kings’ chances of facing the Edmonton Oilers and potential strategies.

Notable Quotes:

“Quentin Byfield is a very unique player because for his size, his foot speed and hand speed are just tremendous.” – Jim Fox [19:30]

“Ovechkin breaking the record from the same spot he scored a million goals from.” – Jim Fox [36:59]

6. Nostalgic Moments and Hockey Memories

The hosts reminisce about classic hockey moments, including the 43rd anniversary of the “Miracle on Manchester” game where the Kings made a historic comeback against the Edmonton Oilers.

Notable Quotes:

“Heavens Kopitar is going to have his jersey hung up right next to Dustin Brown and Luka Robitaille.” – Roy Bellamy [22:10]

“We ended up going on to win the series too, which was only game two.” – Jim Fox [35:13]

7. Reflections on Playoff Formats and Rivalries

A discussion ensues about the current NHL playoff format, with some hosts advocating for reverting to traditional division-based playoffs to enhance rivalries and competitive balance.

Key Points:

• Playoff Structure: Comparing the current 1-8 format to older divisional systems.
• Rivalries: How the existing format affects longstanding team rivalries and series repetition.

Notable Quotes:

“The league used to have divisional playoff matchups before they switched to the 1-8 style back in 1994.” – Roy Bellamy [27:40]

“If we go to 1 through 8, the Lightning would be playing the Panthers.” – Sports Commentator [49:57]

8. Final Week of the Regular Season and Playoff Preparations

The hosts provide an update on the Florida Panthers’ final regular-season games, key player injuries, and their readiness for the playoffs. They discuss strategic lineups and the depth of the Panthers’ roster.

Key Points:

• Player Injuries: Matthew Tkachuk and Erik Ekblad’s statuses.
• Lineup Strategies: Balancing offensive and defensive roles with available players.
• Playoff Matchups: Potential first-round opponents, including the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Notable Quotes:

“The Panthers have the depth to cover off right now because you’re talking about... they have too many good players.” – Sports Commentator [44:35]

“This is what, six straight years now.” – Roy Bellamy [42:21]

9. Closing Remarks and Upcoming Segments

The episode wraps up with light-hearted banter among the hosts, teasing future content such as Roy learning to play hockey and upcoming playoff coverage.

Notable Quotes:

“Don't miss it because Roy's gonna learn how to play hockey and that's gonna be coming.” – Ethan Podowski [50:14]

“We will talk to you next week and it will be playoff time.” – Roy Bellamy [51:15]

---

Conclusion: This episode of "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz" offers a comprehensive and engaging exploration of Alexander Ovechkin’s historic record-breaking achievement, alongside insightful discussions on various NHL teams, personal stories from the hosts, and expert analysis from Jim Fox. The blend of statistical analysis, personal anecdotes, and spirited debate provides listeners with a rich understanding of the current state of hockey as the playoffs approach.

Notable Timestamped Quotes:

• Ovechkin’s Achievement: Roy Bellamy [01:21]: “We have ourselves a new goal scoring king in the National Hockey League.”
• Personal Story: David Droer [07:59]: “It was really cool. I was actually on the ice with him.”
• Penguins’ Drought: Roy Bellamy [12:35]: “The Penguins are now officially in a playoff drought.”
• Jim Fox on Byfield: Jim Fox [19:30]: “Quentin Byfield is a very unique player because for his size, his foot speed and hand speed are just tremendous.”
• Memorable Game: Jim Fox [35:13]: “We ended up going on to win the series too, which was only game two.”
• Playoff Format Debate: Roy Bellamy [27:40]: “The league used to have divisional playoff matchups before they switched to the 1-8 style back in 1994.”
• Panthers’ Depth: Sports Commentator [44:35]: “The Panthers have the depth to cover off right now because you’re talking about... they have too many good players.”
• Closing Tease: Ethan Podowski [50:14]: “Don't miss it because Roy's gonna learn how to play hockey and that's gonna be coming.”

This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting key discussions, insights, and memorable moments, complete with timestamped quotes for reference.

Transcript

[Home Depot Announcer]

Right now at the Home Depot shop. Spring Black Friday savings up to 35% off select appliances, plus free delivery from top brands like Samsung. Get tech you can trust to simplify your daily routines. From all in one washer dryers to smart refrigerators with family hub. Upgrade your kitchen and laundry with trusted technology from Samsung, ranked number one in customer satisfaction. Get spring Black Friday appliance savings and free delivery now at the Home Depot. Visit jdpower.comawards for more details. Free delivery on appliance purchases of $396 or more. Offer valid April 3 through April 23. US only. C store online for details.

[Lifelock Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. It's tax season and we're all a bit tired of numbers, but here's one you need to $16.5 billion. That's how much the IRS flagged for possible identity fraud last year. Now here's a good 100 million. That's how many data points Lifelock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed. Save up to 40% your first [e-mail] podcast terms apply.

[Sports Commentator]

Center, send in Wilson on the flank. Cross is Ovechkin.

Fires score.

[Lifelock Announcer]

The chasing days are done.

[Sports Commentator]

Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer.

[Lifelock Announcer]

In the history of the NHL.

[Roy Bellamy]

We have ourselves a new goal scoring king in the National Hockey League. Welcome to the Hockey Show. My name is Roy Bellamy. David Droer is right there in the shipping container is Rose and Ethan. Welcome back, Rosie. We got everybody back. It's a great thing.

[David Droer]

Family's back together.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right, so let's just start off by saying how great this guy is who just broke this record, right? Alexander Ovashkin, the great eight. Now, the guy right now has the body of David Wells. He's plump, like just straight up.

[David Droer]

I thought you were just gonna say David.

[Sports Commentator]

David Wells making me smile. Roy, thank you for pulling that out this morning.

[Roy Bellamy]

You're absolutely welcome.

[David Droer]

The man did throw a no hitter Hungover.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, he did. I'm sure. I'm sure Veskin just broke the record. Hungover.

[Sports Commentator]

You never know.

[Ethan]

He took Ned's record.

[Sports Commentator]

Yes, David Wells threw a perfect game.

[David Droer]

Yes, he took Ned's record.

[Sports Commentator]

No, Ned has fallen down. Rosie, I'm very sorry for your.

[David Droer]

Ned still has the most points, but he doesn't have the most goals.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Sports Commentator]

By the way, Rosie, crazy stat. Ned Gretzky, if he never scored a goal, would still have the most points in NHL history.

[Ethan]

Why?

[Roy Bellamy]

Because of the assist?

[Sports Commentator]

Because that many assists, he has more assists. Than any other player has points.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh, yeah.

[Sports Commentator]

Ned Gretzky was really good. David Wells threw a perfect game, by the way.

[David Droer]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes.

[David Droer]

Oh, yeah. I said no hitter.

[Roy Bellamy]

We don't talk about baseball. We talk about. We talk about hockey. 895 goals now for Alexander Overski.

[David Droer]

You're the one that brought up David Wells.

[Roy Bellamy]

I brought it up. I didn't know you're going to continue with the.

[Sports Commentator]

You bring up David.

[David Droer]

You know how the attention deficit thing works.

[Sports Commentator]

You bring up David Wells, we get excited.

[David Droer]

You send Rose and I on a tangent, we're gone.

[Roy Bellamy]

Gosh. I mean, look up pitches. I mean, in his 20 year career, he has an 82 game average of 49 goals per season.

[David Droer]

That's crazy.

[Roy Bellamy]

That, that's crazy. He has league records in power play. Goals for 325 game winning goals. 136 shots on goal. 6,852.

[David Droer]

7 million.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. 7 million.

[David Droer]

7 million shots on goal.

[Roy Bellamy]

Called a trophy winner. Three time heart winner. Three time Ted Lindsay award winner. That's MVP for the players there. Voted by the players. Con Smite trophy. Wonder when the Capitals won the Stanley cup in 2018. He's led the league in goals nine times. Led the league in points in 2008 and will be a first ballot hall of Famer as soon as he hangs up his skates. He scored 45 goals against the Florida Panthers in his career. He is better than Sidney Crosby.

[David Droer]

I still remember back like, I guess when he was like a rookie, back when I was on the ice crew for the Panthers and we. You have to get there super early. And he would come out into the ice with his yellow lace skates and his tinted visor and just pop, pop, pop. Popped in the boards. Nobody's out there. The arena's still dark.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. Yeah.

[David Droer]

And there's this young kid, Pop, just working his hands. It's crazy, man.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's also crazy that the Panthers could have drafted him.

[David Droer]

They did draft him. I think they tried. They drafted him.

[Sports Commentator]

They tried to. They never actually said they tried to.

[David Droer]

Yeah, the NHL tried to draft him.

[Roy Bellamy]

Are you paying attention to the show, Rosie?

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[David Droer]

So you have to be a certain age to qualify for the NHL draft. Right. So the Panthers tried to claim leap years.

[Sports Commentator]

Yes.

[David Droer]

Made Ovechkin older.

[Sports Commentator]

He was two days. He was two days shy of the cutoff. So because of the leap years, they tried to claim that he was actually four days older than the cutoff. And so you know what?

[Ethan]

The Panthers find a lot of loopholes.

[David Droer]

I think this is Brilliant.

[Ethan]

I love that about the Panthers, honestly.

[Sports Commentator]

Like, I love brilliant. It was a brilliant play.

[Ethan]

I love the Panthers, but they found loopholes. But they're legal, so.

[Roy Bellamy]

So you're talking about long term IR now.

[Ethan]

They're intelligent.

[David Droer]

Rose is okay with cap circumvention. That's the translation that I just got from that.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. Congratulations, Rose. You are now now one of the bad guys.

[Sports Commentator]

I guess these season by season goal, go goal totals for Ovechkin are absolutely insane.

[Roy Bellamy]

He's only had one season where he's had under 30 goals.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, and. And you know, he had a kind of a dip from 2010 to 2013 where he went. A dip, quote unquote, where he went 32, 38, 32. And then he responded with 51, 53, 50. He scored 52 in his rookie year. He scored 65 in his third year in the league. He's got a 56. A 50, 51 in here. Some 48, some 49. And at the age of 39, he's got 42 in 62 games. It's absolutely absurd.

[David Droer]

The year he scored 24 goals, by the way, was the lockout year where they only played 45.

[Sports Commentator]

No, that's the COVID year.

[David Droer]

The COVID year.

[Sports Commentator]

Then he also has a lock year where they only played a certain amount of games.

[David Droer]

48 games in 20. Yeah.

[Sports Commentator]

And he scored. Yeah, so he scored 20. Oh, 32. Sorry. So he could have done this a long time ago if it weren't for Covid and the lockout. He probably could have done this three or four years ago, which is insane to think, but it kind of was fitting because he ended up scoring, tying Gretzky in one less game than Gretzky broke the record or set the record in. Right?

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. How much gas is left in his tank? You think that's it?

[David Droer]

No, I think he's probably got another couple years left.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[David Droer]

Yeah, why not? The guy. What, he break his leg this year and he still scored 40 goals? Yeah, like he's. He's okay. He might have David Wells body, but underneath that. That dad bod exterior is a champion, a heart of a lion. Like, I don't want him to retire anytime soon, all right? And I don't think he should.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right, so he's got another year or two left in him, according to those bud Lights.

[David Droer]

Dude, let's go.

[Roy Bellamy]

Let's go to the Miller Lights, Ashley. Yeah, whatever it is, Millerites, because keep.

[David Droer]

Pumping the light beer.

[Ethan]

Keep pumping the cold, cold, cold.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, I keep pumping that Jake Jagermeister.

[David Droer]

You.

[Roy Bellamy]

Do you feel. Do you feel the same way, Ethan?

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, I think he's got at least another year. I think he's gonna go for 900, and I don't know that he'll get to a thousand, but he's certainly gonna, you know, see how many he can get before he feels like. I think next year is the last year of his contract, so we'll see how he feels after next year. But he's at least got one more in him for sure.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right.

[Ethan]

Okay. We're gonna go to our wins NFL.

[Roy Bellamy]

Okay. Can I do the show? Can I do the show? As I was about to adjust to perfect what you were doing.

[Ethan]

Tell me. Tell me.

[David Droer]

I love you guys. This is.

[Roy Bellamy]

We're back.

[David Droer]

This is fun.

[Ethan]

Yes.

[Roy Bellamy]

Go.

[Ethan]

Right now. We don't have much.

[Roy Bellamy]

I don't feel like it now. I feel like doing something else. Wins and fails of the week, Sponsored by Jagermeister. Server code or don't serve it at all. Jagermeister. Damn. That's code. For more, visit jagermeister.com Drink responsibly.

[David Droer]

The way we drink.

[Roy Bellamy]

Hey, man, I drink it cold, right?

[David Droer]

No, responsibly.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, well, it's the only way, because if we don't, then we're in big trouble if we don't.

[Ethan]

Let's go to it.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes. That's what I'm about to do. Thank you, David.

[David Droer]

Yes. My win of the week. My win of the week. So on the hockey show, we've celebrated growing the game of hockey, both big picture and in our own families. Princess Claire has started her journey to becoming the next PWHL player. My son has been playing in the Panthers development lead for the first time this year. And last night, he got to play on the Panthers ice during one of the intermissions. And to say it was maybe the proudest of proud papa moments I've had up until now is a bit of an understatement. It was really cool. I was actually on the ice with him. I got to stand there as he came onto the ice. We're seeing pictures of it right now. He had this huge smile on his face. It was just an awesome, awesome moment, and I'm happy that I can share it with you guys. Just very cool, man.

[Roy Bellamy]

That's. That's fantastic. I mean, that's the moment that you're not gonna forget there for your child to play on actual natural National League ice. Yeah, is. That's. That's very special. So good for you. And that kind of makes me kind of makes me proud. Even though that's not even my kid, but that makes me proud.

[David Droer]

Known him since he was born. I mean.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. All right, my winner of the week's. My win of the week goes to the celebration of Alexander of Rashkin. This time he went home. This is from the first home practice as he's walking out. It was an open practice. Everybody was there. They were chanting Ovi's name. Ov.

[Sports Commentator]

Ov.

[Roy Bellamy]

There's actually sound to it. But yeah, it was pretty cool seeing everybody celebrating him as he went home.

[David Droer]

Oh, that's exactly.

[Roy Bellamy]

That's exactly what. And what happened there. And Obi actually did a belly. He did the celebration that he did when he broke the record.

[David Droer]

I read. I don't know if this was accurate, but I read that they had exactly 895 fans for that.

[Sports Commentator]

Wow.

[Roy Bellamy]

They had maximum tickets for.

[David Droer]

Well, for the goals. Right?

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[David Droer]

So I don't know if that was. That was accurate. I guess I probably should have looked it up before bringing it up, but either way, just very cool.

[Roy Bellamy]

Also, it was a good week for him. It was also a good week for Project Pat and Juicy J, because as you know, Oveskin likes to sing bands to make a dance before they go out into the ice. The Capitals gifted both Project Pat and Juicy J, who made that song. Late 90s, early thousands. Eras or jersey.

[David Droer]

That's a good touch.

[Roy Bellamy]

That. That's. That's very nice. And Juicy J posted on his. On his Twitter account and yeah, those look good. Those look real good. So good for them. Ethan Roy.

[Sports Commentator]

You know who else it was a good week for?

[Roy Bellamy]

Who's that, Ethan?

[Sports Commentator]

Me. Very good week for me.

[Roy Bellamy]

Why?

[Sports Commentator]

And I'm going to tell you why. Because the Florida Gators won the national championship of basketball and that is my win of the week. Our show did a terrible job celebrating properly. The Florida Gators.

[Roy Bellamy]

We don't talk about college basketball.

[Ethan]

That is my job.

[Sports Commentator]

Rose can talk about Ariana Grande and Wicked. I can talk about my Florida Gators. They went into San Antonio. They beat Auburn in the semifinal. They beat Houston in an incredible game in the national championship. It was an unbelievable moment. Look at the scenes here inside the odome with 11,000 students watching the game in a watch party inside the Odome. It was absolutely incredible. Look at the scene here on University Avenue. Oh, my goodness, the things I would have given to be in Gainesville and for this to happen while I was in school there. I am so happy that my Florida Gators won the national championship. That is my win of the week.

[Ethan]

Okay, I'm going to go to my win of the week now.

[David Droer]

Thank you.

[Roy Bellamy]

What the fuck is the matter with you? What is the matter with you?

[Ethan]

That is my job and we have to believe that. But my win of the week is. I'm back, ladies and gentlemen. For now.

[David Droer]

Some of me's going on on that side of the glass.

[Roy Bellamy]

Sounds like a fail for me.

[David Droer]

A lot of me, me, me.

[Sports Commentator]

I'm happy to have Rosie back. I miss Rosie.

[Roy Bellamy]

Jesus Christ. I was until the start of this show.

[David Droer]

I mean, better mood now.

[Roy Bellamy]

No fails, David.

[David Droer]

My fail of the week. The Dallas Stars became the first team in NHL history to lose a game that they were winning by three goals with a minute to go.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh no.

[David Droer]

One minute left, three goals ahead. And they lost in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks. You know, the Canucks were still playing for their playoff lives at this point, but what the hell? Like, I don't really know what to say about this. They're pumping goals in like they're pumping gas.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh man.

[David Droer]

Well, boom, boom, boom. Casey De Smith, I think was an old goal because I don't think Jake Ottinger would ever let that happen in a million bajillion years.

[Roy Bellamy]

But holy, dude, that was a disastrous end of that game.

[David Droer]

Major fail.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, that's, that's not good.

[Lifelock Announcer]

No.

[David Droer]

You know, you won't want to go towards the playoffs with that little thing in the back of your mind. Oh yeah, we just gave up a three goal lead.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, well they're going to fix that before the regular season ends. I mean that, that, that's, that's terrible. My bill of the week. For the third season in a row, the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from playoff contention.

[David Droer]

Penguins, islands in the nit.

[Roy Bellamy]

They are now officially in a playoff drought. Haha he he. Ha ha ha ha ho ho ha. Speaking of ha ha, I have another fail of the week. Continuing my streak of talking shit about the New York Islanders because they like to play racist.

[David Droer]

Your fails make you really happy.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes. I love people failing. They played the Rangers last night and as they were giving up six goals, they pulled Marcus Hogberg to put in Tristan Lennox to give him some a little bit of playing time.

[David Droer]

And after first NHL action.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. And after one goal on two shots, they pulled Lennox and put Hogberg back in. The Rangers won 9 to 2.

[David Droer]

I, that I don't like at all. Like you're letting like, okay, we're getting pummeled. We're going to put our young goalie in. Let him have some NHL Experience let him get his feet wet in a meaningless game, and they pull him after he gives up a goal in his first shot. And they're like, no, that's enough, kid. Come on off. Like, what the. What are they doing to that kid's confidence? When I read about this, I was very upset.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. Well, the Islanders playoff hopes are effectively over. They have eight points to make up with four games go. I don't think they're going to win out, and I'm very happy that that's not going to happen because I've seen enough. I'm done with them. Could not happen to a more deserving team, in my opinion.

[Sports Commentator]

Ethan, for a team that's really not good, we spend way too much time talking about the New York Islanders. Yes.

[Roy Bellamy]

I love pointing out that they're not good.

[David Droer]

I'm going to talk hockey team, though.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, but they're bad and they're irrelevant, and nobody cares about that.

[David Droer]

But they do play hockey. They're not a college basketball.

[Sports Commentator]

You know what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk about the New York Islanders some more. So my feel of the week comes from their AHL squad. A player here is going to shove a ref right into the boards. My fill of the week isn't necessarily the shove into the boards. It's this guy who then goes over and pretends like he didn't mean to shove the ref into the boards when he clearly extends his arms here. If you're going to do this, watch. He pushes him, and then he goes over like, oh, sorry, I didn't mean to. No, buddy, Come on, own it up. Suck it up. You pushed him into the boards. Live with it.

[David Droer]

It's not a great look.

[Sports Commentator]

It's not a great look in general, but then to go over, like, you.

[David Droer]

Can see he was looking the other way, and then all of a sudden, he turns his head, the ref's there. And it was a quick thing. So I'm not convicting him of the crime, per se.

[Sports Commentator]

He definitely.

[David Droer]

It's a bad look.

[Roy Bellamy]

He flew backwards about 20ft. It was. It was bad.

[Sports Commentator]

You know what else happened to the Islanders this week?

[Roy Bellamy]

What's that, Ethan?

[Sports Commentator]

They gave up the 895th goal.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes. Haha he he ha ha ha ho ho ho haha he ha.

[Sports Commentator]

But they did have a great. One of the great tweets of all time. This reminded me, Roy, of your incredible Sam Reinhart to one Florida tweet. We have a picture in here, if we can put this up of just a moment. That has a very funny tweet attached to it, which is the New York Islanders. This is the 895th goal, the record breaking goal. WSH Goal 2 1. Hashtag Isles. I have a feeling Lou Lamar Ella went to whatever 24 year old social media admin was firing off this tweet and said do not put any extra emotion on this. Make sure this is the most bland tweet of all time. I don't and I think it's perfectly fitting.

[David Droer]

Lou Lamar ello credit for a very smart social.

[Sports Commentator]

I'm not giving him credit.

[David Droer]

You're saying that he told the social. No.

[Sports Commentator]

Okay, fair enough.

[David Droer]

Four year old social person was smart enough to realize that. What Great move, Great play. Not for sure. Why are you going to give Lou credit me?

[Roy Bellamy]

My, my tweet was more on the positive side. Joyous situation.

[Sports Commentator]

I bring up that tweet all the time. I have a shirt of it.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes, you do. I saw that shirt. I like that shirt.

[Ethan]

Rosie, my feel of the week is I don't have any more time, so. No, I'm joking. I don't have a feel of the week. But thank you very much for throwing it at me.

[Roy Bellamy]

You're welcome. As very much a failure. On your point, on your point. I appreciate you not having a fail.

[Ethan]

Garcelle.

[Roy Bellamy]

How's that a fail?

[David Droer]

Well, because he didn't make the playoffs.

[Ethan]

That'S not a fail.

[Roy Bellamy]

But.

[Ethan]

But he's very handsome.

[Sports Commentator]

My one of the week is another win of the week is Rosie for getting a shout out on the what chaos podcast.

[David Droer]

Yes.

[Sports Commentator]

That's exciting.

[David Droer]

The biggest star of our show.

[Sports Commentator]

Rosie has big. Rosie has fans out there.

[Ethan]

I'm telling you, they crack the code. They crack the code of how this works.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right, for you guys watching on DraftKings Network, you can watch our next interview with Jim Fox from the Los Angeles Kings. He is the color commentator and we're going to talk to him about what's going on with the Kings and the potential playoff matchup and the fact that Wayne Gretzky's record has been broken. And you can also listen to us talking about the Panthers in the third segment. So that's coming up next. We got Jim Fox and the Panthers recap and preview for the rest of the season. You can watch that on YouTube. Jim Fox.

[Lifelock Announcer]

Coming up next, the Dan Lebizard show with Stugotz is sponsored by Better Help. Life gets busy and your mind carries it all. But just like your body needs care, so does your your mental health. This is an investment in clarity. In peace in you. Let's talk numbers. Traditional in person therapy can cost anywhere from $100 to $250 per session, which adds up fast. With BetterHelp online therapy, you can save an average of up to 50% per session. With BetterHelp, you pay a flat fee for weekly sessions, saving you big on cost and time. Therapy should feel accessible, not like a luxury. With online therapy, you can get quality care at a price that makes sense and can help with anything from anxiety to everyday stress. Your mental health is worth it, and now it's within reach. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. It's convenient, too. You can join a session with the click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life, plus switch therapists at any time. Your well being is worth it. Visit betterhelp.com dob today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com DLB.

[Roy Bellamy]

We'Re joined by Jim Fox, who is the Los Angeles Kings color commentator. And right now it's looking like the Kings and Oilers for the playoffs if.

[David Droer]

Oh my God.

[Roy Bellamy]

Again?

[David Droer]

Kings and Oilers? No way.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, we'll get to that in a second, but I want to start off with this goal by Quinton Byfield, which he ended up scoring with one hand. He gathered the puck with one hand.

[David Droer]

This was sick.

[Roy Bellamy]

And somehow scored with one hand, even though technically the place should have been blown down because he was throwing the stick. Technically. Now, Quinn Byfield was drafted fourth overall, and I don't think that he's reached the ceiling yet. I think he's going to be in this league for years to come. Jim, thank you for joining us. Why don't you give your description on Quentin Byfield?

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, Quinn Byfield is. He's very unique because for his size, you're talking about a kid that's six five, he's 230 right now. He might get a little bit bigger. His foot speed, his foot speed and his hand speed are just tremendous. So to put that type of speed into a body that size, you don't see that too often. And I think with Quentin, when he first came to the league, he was going a million miles an hour and not much was happening. Now he's going a million miles an hour and a lot is happening. And that has to do with just the understanding. I think, you know, up here, you know, inside your head, things start to slow down. Even though you're still playing at the same pace, and that's where Quentin is right now. He's. He's not well. He can be dominating, but I think he still has another level to get to.

[David Droer]

Jim, I don't think enough people are talking about the season that D'Arcy Kemper has been having for the Kings. We hear a lot about. I mean, obviously Connor Hellebuy, you hear about Dustin Wolfe in Calgary, but D'Arcy Kemper has been lights out all season for the Chains. Like, we know he had that big year for Colorado a few years back. Then he went to Washington, and maybe some people kind of forgot that this is actually a very good, good goaltender. Just from your perspective, has he gotten enough credit? Because it feels like he could be the team MVP this year.

[Sports Commentator]

He will get the credit. I think his numbers are just too good right now. You know, at this time of the year, that's when everyone, certainly in my position, because, you know, you don't see everyone. We don't. We only see the east twice a year, and then it might be a full calendar year before you see a team. So I think it's fine to be in that position where you're kind of under the radar. No problem with that. But I think now at this time of the year, when everyone starts to look through the numbers and look through the stats, I think that will be there. It's kind of a double whammy, positively for the case because, you know, it was uncertain. It was. You know, I credit Rob Blake for going out and getting Darcy, but, you know, there was. There were question marks there. Now he's not only turned that question mark around, he has completely eliminated that right now because of his consistency. Man, I can't. I'm going to jinx him. I can't remember the last time he allowed a bad goal. You know, you're allowed one every once in a while. He's just not done it. He's been just phenomenal.

[Roy Bellamy]

Anze Kopitar is currently in his 19th season. 19 years for Hanse Kopitar, and eventually he's going to have his jersey hung up right next to Dustin Brown and Luka Robitaille and the guy who just had his record broken for goal scored all time.

[David Droer]

Oh, yeah, him.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, that dude. How much gas do you think is left in Kopitar's tank?

[Sports Commentator]

Well, I think they're starting to manage him a little bit more. I think they're starting to, you know, make sure that he's put in situations where. Because, I mean, he's carried the team. He's carried the team for 19 years. I mean, you could argue he's three points right now away from Adrian Kempe again for leading the team in scoring. So, you know, what more can you ask for? And I think it's. It's one of those where they are starting to, you know, because by field has emerged, because you already have Phil to know you're in situations where you don't necessarily need Andre to be the guy. And I'm speaking more shutdown defensively now. You can spread that around, and I think that's hugely important because then it saves him a little bit more energy when he has the puck and maybe he can start producing a little bit more, which he's doing now since the trade deadline. I mean, he and his line have been producing more so than ever before. So it's. It's impressive to get to understand him, to. To be around him for so many years. If there is a player that exudes that even keel, it's Andre. I mean, he's. He's the type of guy that you would never be able to tell whether it's good or it's bad. And then you think, you know, sometimes you think, oh, I need to see a little bit more energy from Andre. No, he knows. He knows it's 82 games. He knows it's a playoff. He knows all that. And he's just trying to set the tone that way to make sure everyone can thrive because you're not getting too high or too low.

[Roy Bellamy]

As we mentioned earlier, the Kings and Oilers are looking to have a. The fourth straight year of a first round playoff matchup. Four straight years. And that's what it's looking like after looking at the Pacific Division standings right now. Tell us how things are going to be different because the Kings are. Oh, and three so far.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, I can tell you how the Kings will be different. We already talked about it. Quentin by field's a different player, and as a center, that's a very important position. So now he's in that area where he can be a difference maker. I think that Darcy Kemper coming aboard with the consistency that he's shown in goal is different than the Kings have had in the past. I think that Kevin Fiala, who is just filling the net now, has taken strides in his game where he is now a solid teammate. And I'm not saying before he was selfish, but he was taking bad penalties. He was a risky player at times. The reward didn't necessarily outweigh the risk. And he was tough to play with because, you know, you can never guess what's he going to do next, what's happening. And dynamic, but not necessarily reliable. Kevin Fiala has turned that around completely. And if there's one underlying factor, I think that's the difference right there with Kevin Fiala, the way he's approached the game and the way he now plays the game for his teammates, I think that's huge. So there's those things going on. There's one more year, of course, under the, you know, Jim Hiller comes aboard as the head coach and you know, from my perspective too now, again, based on expectations coming into the season and where many people have the Kings, you know, he should start, his name should be out there for coach of the year. So. But I think he's had one full season, right? He came in as an interim last year. This year he has a training camp. It does seem like the Kings, man, they commit to defense, they expend a lot of energy in non offensive situations and that's usually an indicator of, you know, success in the playoffs. And then you take it one more step. This year, the Kings record, I think it's the third best in the league versus teams that are in the playoffs. So they played very well against the top teams. And when you get to the playoffs, that's all you play are the top teams.

[David Droer]

So after four straight years of the same playoff series, what's your take on the league maybe considering going back to the 18 situation instead of what we've had now? I know that it feels like it's a pretty polarizing topic. Some people are really for it, some people are really against it. But when I see this situation, my first thought is, man, why not just go back to 1-82736?

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, I mean, the way I look at it is what were the reasons you went to the current. And it was because at the time they were trying to build rivalries. And there's no question they built rivalries. But to your point, there's a lot of two, three matchups right now throughout the entire league that are going to get into a situation where, you know, Dallas, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Florida, you know, Kings, Edmond, you're one of those teams is going to be out in the first round. That's, I think what if people are leaning to change it to 1 8, then that's probably what you're looking for. I know there's been a lot of years during that where it really would not have changed what was going on that much. But I'm the type of person that says, I only worry about what I can control and just whatever happens, it happens. I do understand, though, the point that when you lose top teams in the first round, it might hurt as you, you know, just that competitive balance issue. You work so hard to get into the playoffs, and it's very difficult to do. So then you get a, you know, Dallas, Colorado matchup of the first round, and you're going real good. Team's gonna be out.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, but the league used to have divisional playoff matchups before they switched to the 18 style back in, what, 1994 or something like that.

[David Droer]

Yeah, like the Smythe Division and the Campbell Conference and all that stuff.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. And there are less teams in the league, so you got more teams in the league now. It just doesn't make any sense for me for them to keep this format.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, it's. If you're. Are you talking about expanding the number of teams?

[Roy Bellamy]

No, I'm not expanding the playoffs, but just the fact that this playoff format is. Now we're complaining about it. We got the same teams all over again, but there are 32 teams in this league. We could actually. Yeah, we can actually expand the playoffs if we actually think about it.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, a lot of people have talked.

[David Droer]

About that, you know, play in or something.

[Sports Commentator]

I'm for the more. I'm for the more traditional. Let's keep it the way it is. Right now. Only half the teams make it. And that means you have to put a high priority on the regular season, which means the paying customer comes to games during the regular season and they're getting top quality product because every game means something when you get to that. But, you know, I understand the 18 issue. All I know is this. If we go to 18 next year, seven years from there, they'll be saying, let's go back to the rivalry set up, because it just keep. It goes in cycles and it keeps changing. And there are reasons why they do make the changes at the time they do. And then maybe those become obsolete. Maybe you have to just look to change every five years.

[David Droer]

So, Jim, I want to ask you about something that I've been very excited to ask you about. I was a little surprised that my cohorts on this show are not familiar with the movie Mystery, Alaska, because it's one of the best hockey movies. One of the, you know, could be top five, could be. It's really. It's a really good hockey movie. It's made 1999. Mike Myers was in it. Hank Azaria was in it. Hank Azaria is amazing in it.

[Sports Commentator]

Mike Myers, Russell Crowe.

[David Droer]

Yes, he convincingly played a hockey player.

[Roy Bellamy]

Convincingly.

[David Droer]

But someone else who was in it was, was Jim Fox. Jim Fox was in it. He had an awesome scene with Mike Myers. One of the best scenes in the movie. I just wanted to ask you, like, what do you remember about doing this now? It's like 25 years ago. I think it's one of the iconic hockey movies of this generation. Just what's your take of it? How much fun was it working with Mike Myers?

[Sports Commentator]

It was crazy. I mean it was. Mike did not have any lines. Mike completely improvised everything that happened in that scene. So the big. Remember this? The setup, the setup of the state, you know, okay, you get there and they have cameras obviously shooting you. But you know, when I work, I'm supposed to look into the camera. In a movie you're not supposed to look into the camera. So I just asked the director, I said, can you set up a, you know, a fake camera that I could look into, you know, to protect, so that I'm not looking at the real cameras? Because I, I, the first five times I broke up, I, I just started laughing and we had to do another tape.

[David Droer]

That's awesome.

[Sports Commentator]

They could, you know, they could cut it a little bit around that, but that was it. I mean, the first one was. I just started, man. About three seconds into his answer, I just started because I had, I had scripted questions, but his answers were. And every take was different. He just did something different every time. And that was, that was the fun. That was fun. That was it. I remember going for the, you know, costumes and things of that sort. And you know, you go there and you get, and you're ready to go and they have stand ins there for you, a guy the same size. So they had, you know, they're measuring all the tapes and what's going on, lighting and making sure it's perfect. All. And the other thing I remember is this. There is no question that the best place on earth to get food is on a movie site.

[Roy Bellamy]

Ah, catering.

[Sports Commentator]

Ooh, man, oh man. That's all they do is eat. And it is there 24 hours a day. It's set up completely. It's fresh. They're moving. There's more people moving on, working on the catering than there are on the movie.

[David Droer]

Priorities.

[Ethan]

I have a question because I want to be that in the, in the, in the future. Yeah, no, how do you make it to be part of the movie? Like, I know I'm not That good. But I can go to improvs or do something like that. So how do you get that part?

[Sports Commentator]

Well, it's. I think it's a funny question.

[Roy Bellamy]

It is a funny question. He's not an actor.

[Ethan]

I know, but you got it. That's.

[Sports Commentator]

Be an NHL analyst. Rosie.

I played myself, though. I played Jim Fox, so. Oh, my God, really?

[Ethan]

But I don't know anything about hockey, so I think I'm very far.

[Roy Bellamy]

That's great, Rosie. Thank you for that.

[Sports Commentator]

You know what? It was the producer on the show called me up and said, hey, we've got a. An under 40 old timers tournament. I want you to play hockey. David E. Kelly.

[Roy Bellamy]

Ah, David E. Kelly from. Yeah, I get a call at home.

[Sports Commentator]

I get a call home. David Kell waiting for, you know. Okay, yeah, sure. I played in some celebrity events with him before. He's a good hockey player. Really good hockey player. So he gets on, yeah, I'd like you playing this 40. And I said, David, I'm not under 40. So I think he was stuck. I think he wanted me to play in the tournament. And at the same time, once he made the call, he was stuck with me. So that's how I got the part.

[Roy Bellamy]

You mentioned that you. I can't call it Old Timers game. That's just rude of me. But I would say that it's a celebrity game. It was a benefit for the firefighters who fought the.

[Sports Commentator]

Right.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. Who fought the fires that ravaged Southern California. Why don't you describe that game?

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, that. That was. You know what? Even for Hollywood in LA, it was big. I mean, that was big. Danny DeVito and I can go through the list, but, you know, to be honest, Hollywood stars that we don't necessarily see around Kings games and they showed up in droves. It was great because the people in attendance were firefighters, their families, or people displaced by the fires. So they were the people that had a chance to be entertained. And I'm sure they needed a little bit of break at that time. Will Ferrell was there as one of the. I mean, every. It was just. And, you know, it was. It was great to see everyone come together, but to me, and I went up in the stands and I sat down a couple times just to talk to people, and it was great to see the firefighters and their families or people that, you know, were looking for a new home or trying to, you know, interim period where they really didn't have anywhere to live. That was the best part for me. It was so good to at least see them Maybe take a deep breath, maybe smile, maybe laugh, maybe whatever. That was the best part of the day, Jim.

[David Droer]

Yesterday was a fairly significant anniversary in LA Kings lore. It was the 43 year anniversary of the miracle on Manchester. For those of you who don't know, the Kings were down five to nothing in a playoff game going into the third period against Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Yari Curry, Grant Veer, yada, yada, yada, and those ridiculous Edmonton Oilers. And then the Kings came back and won the game 6 to 5. They won the series, which was, it was just all very amazing. So I just want to take you back 43 years, if I can. Jim, what do you remember about that game? Like what's, what's. Tugs at the heartstrings when you think about it.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, it's wow. You can't plan it, you can't predict it, you can't write it, but you can live it. And we certainly did, you know, five nothing down after two cliches up the yin yang. Okay, let's just go win a period, you know, let's, you know, try to get back on track, those types of things. And it's, it was, you know, until it was 5:3, then, you know, you're probably still not. And then, if I'm not mistaken, when it was 5 4, I think Mark Messi basically had almost a breakaway. There was a chase for loose puck. Mario Lassard, our goaltender, came out, he missed it, and Messi was in behind basically, and he missed, which would have probably put the game out of reach. So just so many things that were going. And then Darrell Evans scores, you know, the goal and. But like you mentioned, we ended up going on to win the series too, which that was only game two. So, you know, that was something that was, you know, built and built and built. You know, going into the series, it was the highest margin of difference between, and still is of the underdog beating the favorite as far as points in the regular season.

[David Droer]

Wow.

[Sports Commentator]

And then of course, as far as deficit comebacks, you know, down five after two, that's, that's the largest ever. So, you know, till I die. That'll be something that's etched in my memory, there's no question.

[Roy Bellamy]

Finally, your last season with the Los Angeles Kings, you got to play with Wayne Gretzky and I mean, it was a very short time, but when you see Alexander Ovechkin break what was perceived to be one one of three unbreakable records that this league has, what was going through your mind?

[Sports Commentator]

Well, what's Going through my mind was, you know, what most everyone was saying four or five years ago, there's no chance he's going to break the record. No chance. And then he ends up doing it in a year where he gets, you know, breaks his leg, misses games, comes back, scores at the Same level at 39 years old that he scored at when he was younger. So that's, that's the one thing that, that's what caught my attention right away. And it's brought up all the time, but at 39 and you're still scoring at a, you know, half a goal a game pace, 40 goal, 50 goal pace, that's something special. And then just try to figure out, you know, and you know, when you play him and he scores from, you know, the left dot, one timer, and you go, why don't you guard him? What you. And then he ends up breaking the record basically from the same spot that he scored a million goals from. So incredible athlete that's, you know, anyone that's played the game before knows that to go through the type of game hockey can be with the physicality and the injuries and things of that sort, but then to still be at the level he is right now at that age, that's a study right there. That is some the people the lab coats got to get him and figure out what he's done because he's done it very well.

[Roy Bellamy]

He'll be covering the Kings all his first round series. Again, Los Angeles Kings color analyst Jim Fox. Jim, thank you for joining us.

[Sports Commentator]

My pleasure. Thanks guys for having me. Appreciate it.

[David Droer]

Thank you guys.

[Jim Fox]

Tech is not really my thing, and as I'm trying to build out a website recently, I'm really starting to feel kind of frustrated. Do you ever feel overwhelmed trying to manage your web hosting while juggling a million other tasks? Sort of like I do. Even if tech isn't your thing, like me, Kinsta's managed WordPress hosting is just a relief. Their expert team handles it all. And with Kinsta, there's always a human ready to help rather than an automated bot. We've all been there. Something goes wrong, you just need an answer or some help. But instead of being able to ask a question, you're dealing with some fancy AI powered chatbot who doesn't understand your issue. That's not going to happen with Kinsta. There's always a real life human ready to help out. Kinsta will give you peace of mind and let you focus on your business rather than dealing with tech issues. For us, that means more time watching games and getting you the best stakes possible without having to worry about troubleshooting tech issues. Tired of being your own website support team? Switch your hosting to Kinsta and get your first month free. And don't worry about the move. They'll handle the whole transition for you. No tech expertise required. Just visit kinsta.com dan to get started. That's K-I-N-S-T-Com dan.

[Podcast Host]

Ever feel like your paycheck disappeared before you even know where it went? You're not alone. Tracking your spending can be tricky, especially when little expenses sneak up on you. Late night food deliveries, I'm raising my hand. That happens to me all the time. Impulse online shopping, sporting event tickets. And don't even get me started in organic baby wipes and diapers. I mean, that's costing me a fortune right now. Finances can feel overwhelming, but Monarch Money makes it simple. Think of it as your personal cfo, giving you full visibility and control so you can stop just earning and start growing. More than just a budgeting app, Monarch Money is a complete financial command center, helping you manage accounts, investments and goals all in one place. Levitar show listeners get 50% off their first year by using code [e-mail] without a clear financial picture, your biggest money goals can feel out of reach. Monarch Money makes managing your finances effortless even for busy lives. It takes all your accounts, credit cards and investments so you always know where your money stands. No more guessing, no more stress, just a clear, organized view of your financial life. Get control of your overall finances with Monarch Money. Use code [e-mail] in your browser. For half off your first year. That's 50 off your first [e-mail] with code dan-a n.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right, it's time to recap the week that was for the Florida Panthers and to preview next week, which will end the regular season. But before we do that, we're going to throw it to Ethan because he said before the segment started that something funny happened. So go ahead and do something.

[Sports Commentator]

That was a great interview that we just did with LA Kings broadcaster Jim Fox, but my favorite part was in the middle of it. I'm sitting back here listening, and I can't remember who said something about Wayne Gretzky and rose to my right just goes, oh, Wayne Gretzky.

[David Droer]

She actually called him Ned Gretzky. To Jim Fox.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah, not one of your finest moments.

[David Droer]

I love it.

[Ethan]

I think he's got like, he's got to be Ned.

[David Droer]

But I feel like I'M going to make a mistake and call him Ned when I don't mean to.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah. In front of like, Elliot Friedman or something you're going to be talking about.

[Ethan]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

That's. That's unbelievable. All right, let's talk about the end of whatever that road trip was that the Panthers had. They ended up losing the Ottawa three. Nothing. And they lost to Detroit two to one before going back home to play Toronto. Granted, the Panthers had eight players. Players out for Detroit, but I hadn't.

[David Droer]

Seen a list of healthy stretches that long with this team in a long time.

[Roy Bellamy]

It was. It was bad.

[David Droer]

There was a lot.

[Roy Bellamy]

It was bad.

[David Droer]

I played. What, with no forsling? Reinhardt, Bennett? Barkov.

[Ethan]

No Barkov.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, he.

[Sports Commentator]

He was hurt.

[Roy Bellamy]

He's back now.

[David Droer]

He's back now. He scored last night. You're okay?

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, we'll get to that in a second.

[David Droer]

Your other B boy, Barzell, he'll be done soon, but Barkov, he'll be playing.

[Roy Bellamy]

The Panthers clinched a playoff spot in their loss to Ottawa. That was inevitable. So whatever. But I mean, think about this now. This is what, six straight years now.

[David Droer]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

Going to the playoffs.

[David Droer]

I include the. The bubble qualification round as postseason. So this is the sixth straight year they've been qualified for the postseason because by definition, the postseason is after the regular season ends and they played after the regular season ends. So, yes, six straight years.

[Sports Commentator]

We're starting to take it for granted.

[Roy Bellamy]

No, no, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not.

[Sports Commentator]

Maybe not, you guys, but there are fans out there that are starting to.

[David Droer]

Take it for granted that weren't around.

[Sports Commentator]

Yeah.

[David Droer]

In the dark ages.

[Sports Commentator]

But people are very unhappy with the way the Panthers have been playing recently. And I mean, look, the Panthers haven't even been playing poorly recently. They just haven't really been getting results. I think that's been the frustrating thing and that's why fans are so fed up. But there's been a lot of frustration out out there about the way they finish the season. But this is still an incredible team. An incredible year considering where they were not too long ago. Six straight postseason appearances, two straight appearances in the Stanley Cup Final. A Stanley Cup Final win of. And now this year, they're looking again like a threat to win the Stanley cup as long as they're healthy. So can't take it for granted.

[Ethan]

If you're saying that the roster, half of the roster, is just for that.

[Roy Bellamy]

One game against Detroit, though.

[David Droer]

No, they're working. They're holding players out to get them healthy for the playoffs.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's all planned Tkachuk is hurt, though. Kachuk is hurt in healing.

[David Droer]

But yeah, I'm hearing some new, new news regarding Matthew Tachuk. New as in very recent and up until now had been hearing that he was tracking toward returning early in the first round was the hope. And now maybe, maybe not so much. We. We'll see. We've got about less than two weeks until the playoffs start, but maybe maybe a little bit longer of a timetable for Matthew Tachuk as it stands.

[Roy Bellamy]

Right. So we're looking at. We're looking at both Tkachuk and Ekblad not playing for the first two games of this series.

[David Droer]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

Probably longer.

[David Droer]

Potentially like it. You know, it's very fluid and with injury talk, you never know. But from. From what I'm hearing, maybe prepare for a little bit longer without to Chuck, maybe.

[Roy Bellamy]

Okay.

[Sports Commentator]

The good news is the Panthers have the depth to cover it off right now because you're talking about. We were talking about like seven players.

[Roy Bellamy]

That could be on the fourth line.

[Sports Commentator]

They have too many good players. Like we were talking last night, I was running through what the playoff lines would look like because I thought last night against the Detroit Red Wings, the first line of Mackie Samoskiewicz, Alexander Barkov and Sam Reinhardt, that looked like that should be the first line in the playoffs, in my opinion. And then you look, you talk about Verhege down with Bennett and hopefully could Chuck. You start going through the lines and all of a sudden you get down in the fourth line and you're picking between Gadget, Sturm, Nosek, Boquist, Erod Greer and. And Puyarve if they. Yeah, Puyarve if they hang or if they keep on Puyarvi onto the playoff roster. So I just think that they have the depth to cover off possibly losing Chucky. Right. Because worst case scenario, Brad Marchand bumps up to the second line, Erod bumps up to the third line. Boquist bumps up to the fourth line. There are too many players on the team. When Chucky is in the lineup, you're going to have to be picking probably between Greer and Jesper Boquist, who have both been awesome for the Panthers this year.

[David Droer]

Now, to your point about losing close games and playing well and finally getting results. I asked Paul Maurice about that last night and his answer to me was he brought up Matthew Tkachuk and he said Matthew to like a point per game guy. So you remove a point per game guy and then we're losing a bunch of close games. Maybe those games go our way. That leads me into, okay, well then what happens when the playoffs start, when every game is closed. So it's gonna be interesting to see how things play out over for the Panthers over the next few weeks as we get into the playoffs.

[Roy Bellamy]

The Panthers are currently in the middle of a four game home stand. They beat Toronto 3 1. That was a.

[Sports Commentator]

Why did we give Rose the button?

[Roy Bellamy]

Because she's back in her seat now.

[David Droer]

That's like Street Fighter.

[Roy Bellamy]

What was that confirming supposed to be.

[Sports Commentator]

Like a Hulk smash kind of sound?

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, I don't know what that was.

[Sports Commentator]

A new kid.

[Roy Bellamy]

Play it. Play it again, Rose.

[David Droer]

Oh, okay.

[Roy Bellamy]

Alexander Bach off. Tomas Nosek and Sam Reinhart were both all in the lineup against Toronto. And Conover Hagee finally busted out of his 13 game goalless drought. Finally. Good God.

[David Droer]

Rough year for Carter because he's putting up tons of shots. He's getting plenty of chances. Like all those numbers are up to par with his career in Florida. But the goals, not so much.

[Roy Bellamy]

We mentioned that Aaron Ekbad is going to return Game 3 in the first round, most likely against Tampa.

[David Droer]

Yep.

[Roy Bellamy]

He was cleared for team activities outside of traveling and playing, so that's good. He was had. He had a chance to practice with the team before we saw a game against Detroit.

[David Droer]

We saw him working out.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, we saw him. Yeah, he rented. He rented ice time for that one.

[David Droer]

To stay in shape. I mean, that's what these guys need to do. They get their ice time. They work on their own. Like he wants to hit the ground running for game three.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. And Brad Marshall got his first goal as a Panther in the game, in the win versus to train.

[David Droer]

Nice goal, too. Yeah, nice little flip of the wrist. Nice pass from Uvis Polinskis.

[Sports Commentator]

On the subject of. On the subject of Verhege, he had a maintenance night against Detroit, which I think was really good. You get him. You get him a goal. Finally. Yeah, let him kind of sit down, kind of re. You know, collect himself because he's had a tough year and it hasn't necessarily been, like you mentioned, David, because of his play, he's still generating a ton of chances. It's just the puck refuses to go in the net.

[Roy Bellamy]

He's got the yips.

[Sports Commentator]

And when you look at his shooting percentage, his career average is his career.

He's got.

Before this here.

[Roy Bellamy]

I'm sorry.

[Sports Commentator]

Don't say the yips, Roy.

[David Droer]

Would you guys stop?

[Sports Commentator]

Sorry.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right.

[Sports Commentator]

Don't say that word.

[Roy Bellamy]

I'm sorry. I won't say yips.

[David Droer]

What's going on here, Rose? Respect.

[Sports Commentator]

So anyway, for him.

[Roy Bellamy]

Turn your mic on.

[Ethan]

I Disconnected. What happened?

[Sports Commentator]

Are you.

[Roy Bellamy]

You're not paying attention to the show?

[Ethan]

No, no, no, sir. What? What happened? What happened? What happened? What did you say?

[David Droer]

No, no, no.

[Sports Commentator]

Don't worry about it. So anyway, so for Hagee. For Hagee, last year his shooting percentage was 13.8. The year before, 15.3, 14.4, 1714. This year his shooting percentage is 7.6. If he was shooting like his usual self somewhere in the 13 to 15 range, he's probably a 30 goal scorer this year. So I think Carter Verhege is going to be fine. You know, he's going to score some big goals in the playoffs and that. Because that's what he does, he scores clutch goals and I think he'll be okay come playoff time as long as he gets one to go in. It just feels like the floodgates will open eventually for him.

[Roy Bellamy]

Final week of the regular season. Next week they got Buffalo and the Rangers at home on Saturday and Monday respectively. And they. The Rangers is the first half of a back to back before they go to what would be their first round opponent, most likely in the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. So that's what we're looking at.

[David Droer]

Five years.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, I mean, we were talking about this with Jim Fox. Like it's a lot of the same matchups every year because the bottom echelon of each division has not felt like they haven't gotten any better.

[David Droer]

The playoff teams have pretty much stayed the same.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. So that's why we should probably look into, you know, going back to one.

[David Droer]

We got Canadians in the playoffs though, this year, for what it's worth. Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa. But I'm saying Canadian teams. Yeah, it's kind of nice.

[Sports Commentator]

For what it's worth, if it were 1 through 8, the Lightning would be playing the Panthers.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, that. That's also true. So you can't.

[Ethan]

Before we go, remember, Roy is going to be learning how to play hockey. He doesn't want to give me equipment. So if I die, it's because of Roy.

[Roy Bellamy]

What are you talking about? You need to talk to the guy.

[David Droer]

Equipment. It's not free.

[Ethan]

No, I know he is not free, but, but, but we need to find equipment for me because I'm going to be there. But do not miss it because Roy's gonna learn how to play hockey and that's gonna be coming.

[Roy Bellamy]

You're saying that like you invited them to the Baptist Ice Flex.

[Ethan]

I'm not inviting you. Don't go there. You'll see the videos.

[Roy Bellamy]

I'll send them to you for David Dwark, Ethan Podowski, Rose Arias and Mike Malley and Jason Rosado. Was it. What is your last name? Jason? No, no. What's your last name? Granados.

[David Droer]

Not even close.

[Roy Bellamy]

Roy. I thought I was close. And whoever else is back. There's like eight people back there.

[Ethan]

Gabe. And was that the other Danny?

[Roy Bellamy]

I don't know, I, I, I don't know.

[David Droer]

I, I did see both Danny's.

[Roy Bellamy]

They're putting a new camera in the back. Rosie. How about that?

[Ethan]

Oh, hey, you said you can go there next time.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh, wow, that's cold. That, that's cold.

[Sports Commentator]

Well, let's see how it is.

[Roy Bellamy]

We will talk to you next week and it will be playoff time. So enjoy everybody. Last week of the regular season.

[Ethan]

Thank you very much.

[Roy Bellamy]

See ya.

[Lifelock Announcer]

The Dan Lebatard show with Stu Gotts is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life gets busy and your mind carries it all. But just like your body needs care, so does your mental health. This is an investment in clarity, in peace, in you. Let's talk numbers. Traditional in person therapy can cost anywhere from 100 to $250 per session, which adds up fast. With BetterHelp online therapy, you can save an average of up to 50% per session. With BetterHelp, you pay a flat fee for weekly sessions, saving you big on cost and time. Therapy should feel accessible, not like a luxury. With online therapy, you can get quality care at a price that makes sense and can help with anything from anxiety to everyday stress. Your mental health is worth it, and now it's within reach. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform platform, having served over 5 million people globally. It's convenient too. You can join a session with the click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life. Plus switch therapists at any time. Your well being is worth it. Visit betterhelp.com DLB today to get 10 off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com DLB folks, listen up. They're here and they're hot. Get ready because Jimmy John's is turning up the heat. After years of perfecting the cold sandwich, toasted sandwiches are finally here. Try one of their three all new toasted creations. The Toasted Chicken Bacon Ranch all natural Chicken Creamy Homestyle Ranch Applewood Smoked bacon, melted provolone, fresh veggies, all on a perfectly toasted French bread. Good God, does that sound delicious? Or the Toasted Roast beef and Cheddar Premium Roast Beef Melty Cheddar Creamy horseradish sauce, crispy fried onions, fresh veggies, golden toasted French bread. It just keeps getting better. And the toasted Ultimate Italian salami capicola, smoked ham, applewood, smoked bacon, melted provolone, shredded Parmesan, Fresh veggies toasted to perfection. Or take your favorite Jimmy John classics, like the number 9 Italian nightclub or the number 11 country club, and get them toasted. Order now at jimmyjohns.com on the Jimmy John's app or stop by your local Jimmy John's today.