Yeah it is. ooooh babyyyy We're still here. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. All that blowing is me blowing the dust off of all of this gear that we haven't touched in a bit. Sorry for the wait, everybody. It's been a busy time for all of us and, you know, same old excuse as usual. We're back here. We're going to talk about what's been going on. There's no possible way we can catch up on everything because as much as I want to talk about the Arizona Coyotes that are now the Utah whatevers.
We're gonna save that for another time because it's Leafs in the playoffs and once this is done, we'll talk about Utah and what's going on there. But apologies because I know everybody's been waiting to hear about my opinion on that because I've been screaming about the Coyotes for the entirety of this podcast. So when it finally happens, I wanted to talk about it, but we were not around. So yeah, sorry about that. But don't worry, I have much to say at a latter day. I cracked myself up.
You get it? Latter -day Saints, Mormons. Come on, that was good. Fuck you. That was funny. Also, I don't have to try to be quiet because I don't have downstairs neighbors anymore for the next couple of days because they moved out and the new ones are moving in. So yeah, that's fun. Woohoo. And I don't have to hear doors slamming every 30 seconds and people that are somehow up until five in the morning and also up at eight in the morning. I don't. Anyway, moving on. This is what happens.
It's been a while. I haven't been able to air my frustrations to people that have no idea who I'm talking about. So I can just it's like my my diary, you know, if you're watching on video, you can see I've got my little Playmobil Bruin and Leaf guys here. Only the Bruin one shoots because if you're a new listener of this pod, I just I will get to the all this in a sec. I just want to explain where these came from.
I went into a antique store kind of like like an antique toy shop, I guess it was less like furniture and more like trinkets and things, you know, one of those antique stores. And the guy was a Leafs fan here in Ottawa, but like a very, very, very troubled, like old like he's been a Leaf fan for like, long enough that everything was cynical. Like he had all of it because he's a Leaf fan, but it was all that like cynical Leaf fan shit.
So he had this in a case with a little card that says, Nazam Kadri gets suspended again. And it's So that's why the stick on the leaf player is like zip tied up because he had this setup that he is high sticking the other guy and there's a ref one too between them. So I was like, okay, that's hilarious. How much for that? And he's like free to a good home. Take it. So I now have it. And I thought when would be more appropriate to pull up my Leaves and Bruins little Playmobil set than tonight.
So here it is on top of What is actually a Mitch Marner, what do you call it? Pop, dude, Funko Pop. Yeah. I just needed something to get the height and then, you know. I broke out the brick wall school of goaltending shirt for tonight and I've conveniently situated the camera so that my Tavares jersey is over my shoulder after driving that play. Hell yeah, actually, you know what? I was gonna start with it, but I'm just gonna for the sake of it.
Yeah, I was going to play that intro instead, but you know, since you brought it up. So we can get into the game quick, but I messaged it in our group. I had a chance to talk about it over the podcast. A good omen before the playoffs happened to me as I was driving down the highway. I pass on the highway, one of my all -time favorite players, and leave it to me to recognize someone as we're doing 110 down the highway in a vehicle beside me.
Someone who... details of this, by the way, so I'm glad you brought this up. Because when I read this, I was like, cool. And then I thought about it, because I went back to work, and I was like, wait a second, how the fuck did you recognize somebody on the highway? Were you driving? I was driving. So any frequent listener of our podcast knows I'm all over the place all the time. I was somewhat local this day. I was just in Mississauga. So driving down the 401 heading towards Woodstock.
And there's this Audi like riding my ass. And it's a nice like S series little SUV, like a very nice vehicle. All blacked out.
and I had an opening so I got over and it came up past me while the vehicle in front of me was going slow hence why I was going slower so he couldn't really go very far and I glance over and it's like wait a second I know who that is I was like no there's no way like Google show me Gary Roberts in Toronto and my phone pops up with all these images and the one there's one of them he's got like blood down his face almost like the Gilmore photo right
and I zoom in on it and I grab my phone and I slap it against my side window. And I'm just driving and I glance over and I'm, I would have around someone if they touched her brakes, like it would have been a bad scene. But I'm staring at him. I'm staring at him and he's on the phone, he's talking. Hands -free, of course, unlike me. And he glances over and he does like a double take and the biggest shit -eating grin goes across his face like you could ever imagine.
and he gives me a big thumbs up and starts nodding and I'm like, oh my God, yes, what are the freaking chances? Oh, that's so sick. Yeah, I was wondering, like, how did you manage to get a glimpse of somebody on the highway beside you and put together who it is while driving? But dangerously, that's how. Got it. You Oh man. So welcome back to Leafs Late Night. I'm your host Roscoe joined by Beener. We are expecting Sully later at some point.
We are presented by Inside the Rink, where it's never too late for the Leafs ever, ever as we are now forcing game six. Not gonna lie. It's been a painful series, starting without Nylander and then we find out Matthews has been battling something and then... they start battling each other on the bench and now we're without Matthews and it's just Sammy not up to the same confidence level that he was over the last couple weeks before the playoffs.
Like things have not felt as rock solid for these first couple of games and rightfully so Leafs Nation's been a little angry and a little frustrated and kind of feels like things are on repeat but maybe this is even worse than last year. But tonight, sure enough, like you said, Tavera's driving the play and Maddie Nye's burying the OT winner. So keeping the life support on, but I don't know. Are you as glum about this as I am?
Cause I'm like, I'm really struggling to feel like there's a light at the end of this series. So, throughout the course of this podcast, I've felt, and I could be completely wrong, but I've felt that I've been more of the steady, reserved one out of all of us. You, Dardee, Sothe, Steph, we love you Steph. But, I have felt literally every emotion, including the newest emotion of Numb. Like that game on Saturday was probably the lowest I've felt with regards to a Leaf game.
God, um, since the Kessel era. Like it, it, it, it was bad. I don't, I don't recall ever truly feeling that, that low. The effort was just, it was not there. Like, To me, the best part of that whole game was seeing the emotion on the bench from the boys. Because that's something we hadn't seen. Like, we come out game one and understandably you could pretty much write an ink that Dolmy was gonna do what he did.
All the pressure on him, his dad playing for the team, coming out, he wanted to make an impact, show like he's the type of player, like he's gonna come out playing hard like that to the point that he's gonna take some stupid penalties. And that happened. We should have expected that and I wasn't overly concerned after game one. But with how game two was obviously significantly better. But like with how everything's gone since then, it's...
It's really interesting and to see all the the negative the negativity and the things going on online like I was with everybody we called for it what January for Keith to lose his job like I was to the point I think I even messaged in her group like fire Keith Keith shouldn't be coaching for game five. Well, yeah, and it's like I've said in the past two on the show, the the minor decisions and the minor impact that he does have, like on what happens on the ice, he still manages to screw up.
Like when they brought Nylander in and took Dewar out, it was like what you could have taken any number of people like Ryan Reeves could have come out of that lineup. who has since the first game been kind of non -existent and almost a liability has probably cost more goals than he's created scoring chances.
Like putting out PP1, putting out like even tonight when Domi is dominating on the faceoff dot and in these crucial positions, you're not putting him in that position instead of you're putting Taveras. Like he just, like the power play has been atrocious for a month now. And I don't know, it's when you have this lineup on paper, And these issues are still happening year after year in the playoffs. Like I said, the one who chokes the most is Sheldon Keefe.
Like he gets out coached year after year in the playoffs because he just can't settle on something. He has 82 games to figure out what his lines are supposed to be. And the week leading up to and all through the playoffs, he just forgets everything, throws it all in a blender and says, let's start from scratch and just start putting random guys together. Like I get the whole, if it's, if it's December and you want to throw William Nylander with Yarncroak, and Holmberg for the Swedish line.
That's fun. Sorry, but not in the playoffs in game four. What the fuck are you thinking? Like this is just, that line makes no sense as like a playoff line. That's a novelty line. And I mean, look, he scratched TJ Brody for the first game and then brings him back and his play has been mediocre still. Like we have a cycle of, a massive cycle of defensemen you can go through when he's still. not playing the right people and playing the right people together in the right positions.
Like I just, I can't, if this is it, if they go down in either game six or seven, like it can't be Keith again next year. I don't care what the record is through the regular season as everybody screams after like, it's like through May to August, everyone says the regular season doesn't matter. Then it starts and everybody forgets that they said the regular season doesn't matter. But then. you can try to shit on Keef and it's like, oh, but look at his regular season record. That's fine.
His playoff record is horrible. Like he does not have whatever it is. Like the same thing that's been running through the rest of this team, there's like a stage fright when it comes to the playoffs that they just crack under the pressure. And I don't know where it starts, but having the head coach be part of that problem is not a good thing.
Like if it's coming from him down and you know, there's another thing to that, which is a, The fact that Matthews is the pseudo captain and not quite the captain yet, but like then he goes down and it's, everyone's a little confused as to like who's in charge because Tavares has definitely taken a step back from that role and like Nylander's back, is he calling the shots tonight? Like this committee is definitely shaken. There's a rift there as we saw on the bench.
Like they're not, they're not all listening to the same message anymore. Like it's getting hard to watch. Like again, tonight and game two, both looked fine, but it's not the games when they look good that are the problem, it's the games when they look bad that's like, holy shit, what happened to the team from two nights ago?
Like that last goal, sorry, last thing, that last goal in game four, the third one where it just bounced past the defense and went in, like that kind of effort, you see Nylander just kind of gave up on the play, it bounced through everybody and they're just like, whatever, we're done here. Like if that's the effort. pack it in. It gives us nothing to watch. And it was at home too, guys. Come on. People are paying a lot of money to...
Well, and this is one of the few takes I don't think I, or I think I've ever disagreed with Joe Bowen on. Like I love Bowen. I even said for, what was it, Game Two? I was messaging that I synced up the feeds and it was so refreshing to watch the video and have the audio Bowen rather than Cuthbert. But like he was getting on the fans.
If I'm paying a thousand dollars a seat to go see a playoff game, and I see some of the shit that was going down with some of the players in those two home games, 100 % I'm gonna boo. Why am I gonna stand up and scream my heart out and give everything when that's the effort they give? Yeah, exactly. Right? Like, it... I get what he's saying. It's almost weird when we see some of these other buildings and how loud it is, like you can't hear the announcers.
But at the same time, give us something to cheer for. Look at when Reeves was leveling guys. When, you know, when we had a chance to win one of the other games. And like, big hits. And I want to say it was second period. And we were right there. Everything was looking good. Those hits, the crowd was electric. Look at when my dad and I were there in the regular season when Matthew scored his 60th. Like the whole arena was vibrating with chants of MVP.
Like that arena will get loud, give us something to cheer for. Yeah, it's like they talk about the fact that Toronto's, or like, elite fans in general are a smart hockey market. Like they pay more attention than any other. Like I'd say most other fans, like top five of most hockey educated fans. Like we know what we're watching. So you can't flip that around and say, hey, you should just cheer for whatever happens.
It's like, no, like we know that we're watching a team that should be far better than this. Give a bullshit effort for the like 20th time in a row. This is getting so annoying and people like you said are paying so much money to sit in these seats to watch an effort that should be from November, not April. Like, oh my God. Okay, hard right turn. Let's talk about what has been working so far and then we'll come back to what's not because we got to do this as like a sandwich. What has been decent?
Um, Eddie. Eddie's been what we wanted him to be. Like he's been this year's version of Shen basically. Like a steady senior defenseman who's come in, he's played a little bit physical, hasn't done anything, you know, absolutely amazing, but he also hasn't done anything crazy out there that's going to cost a lot of... A lot of problems and a lot of goals against the first game He had that oopsie where him and Reeves both went after the same guy Initially in my head it was Eddie's fault.
He shouldn't have pinched at the same time With where the players were when he started to go in Reeves was out of the blue line Reeves should have stayed out there He was trying to be a little over aggressive and overzealous. So you could kind of pin that on Reeves if you wanted to single out anybody I mean, that is how he plays. It's like, he's always gonna chase the body, chase the puck. If he makes a mistake, he's going after the guy. He doesn't really play positionally.
But to me, Eddie's been good. Really, Benoit, I've been singing his praises for a while, saying he's probably the next Jersey Abbey. I've been really happy with him. And then just probably the fact that clearly Marner still isn't 100%. Like, I'm not trying to give him a pass, because some of the effort isn't exactly there, but people saying that he's shying away from contact. I wouldn't necessarily say he's shying away from contact.
You're seeing a player that is used to being able to skate at 100 miles an hour and dangle at the same time, but because his ankle still isn't where it should be coming back from a high ankle sprain, he's trying to do everything at 100 miles an hour, but he can only go 70. So he doesn't have the confidence, not the ability. Yeah, it's definitely a negative, sorry. I went right to the negative again there. I was just... Like, ooh, Forsberg just took a puck in the back, sorry.
Yeah, it's just clear that that's there. And then obviously tonight with Wall, like no offense to Sammy, but the team plays completely different when Wall's out there. And he settled everything down. You saw right from when he jumped in to take over the third period for Sammy, his first shot was a ridiculous cross crease pass and a great pad save. And that's typically not the type of save you get from Sammy. Yet again, nothing against him. He's the...
You know, the way he babbled back this year was absolutely incredible from what he went through, but different goaltending creates different plays in front of you. And a lot of tonight stems from how calm he is back there and the confidence that he gives everybody. Yeah, and it's funny because that's shifted back and forth this season, right? Like, Walls had a couple runs where he's fallen out of favor and the team starts to not play as confident in front of him.
And then they put Sammy in and it's the same effect. So, you know, it's just about having your pulse on the team. And it's unfortunate, kind of like what happened with Boston last year, where they ran Swamen all the way up until like the last game and then they decided to put Al Mark in and blew it.
Like, I feel like we kind of... pulled that this time where Wall should have come in much sooner in the series and played back and forth with Sammy or at least figure out earlier on in the series if you play better or worse with him if you have a shot. Like that was the whole point of having both goalies. You weren't waiting for Sammy to get injured.
Like this is a one A and one B. Yeah, and like, aside from the goal tenant, if you look at the players that everybody was excited to see, you look at Domi, you look at Rutoosie, they've been factors, but it hasn't necessarily been like amazingly positive. Like Domi's first game, tonight he was incredible. Like filling in top line center, his face -offs, everything. I give him... full props for how we played tonight.
But the first game, the stupid penalty, and I get people are on key for calling him out, he's the only player that played with her, blah blah blah, whatever the hell you want to say. But you can't be taking penalties like that. And then with Burt, like, Burt's been doing a really good job of getting under Marshawn's skin, but same thing, a couple ill -advised penalties, and it's one thing to get under his skin, but you need to be able to do what Holmberg did tonight.
get under his skin to the point that, you know, if you're taking penalties, he's coming with you, but also you being under his skin so much, he can't even play his game. Because previous to this, he was still playing his game. He was still getting chances, getting looks. And, you know, that is something that we need to prevent as much as I hate the guy. You can't just give him open shots all the time, isn't it?
Yeah, and I mean, just to add to that, aside from all of the calls that have been like just bad discipline on the Leaf side, there's been, I feel way less frustrated with the officiating this series than I have in years in the past, as far as like things going uncalled or things seeming one -sided. Like, yeah, there's some things that have been uncalled like in game four, where Marshawn took Matthews down behind the net, took somebody else down too.
There was like, like, These WWE takedowns seem to be the Bruins thing where they just grab onto you and fall down. But other than those, there hasn't been a lot that's been a blatant missed call or people getting violent and it just being whatever, that's playoff hockey.
They've definitely reigned that in because I think the fan base and the general managers and coaches and players, everybody was getting frustrated with the fact that it was basically two different games and it didn't matter how your team was built for the regular season. And if you were built to be good in the playoffs, you would basically barely make the playoffs. So I'm glad that they've fixed that a bit.
Yeah, so I'm glad you brought that up because this is the first time I can actually remember since the lockout that I haven't been annoyed at the officiating. And I'm not trying to blame the past Leaf loss was on officiating because at the same time, like even with the Carrie Frazier thing against Gilmore, Toronto still had a chance to win game seven and they didn't do it. Like. officiating is what it is and it's always going to be an issue, it's never going to be perfect.
But, okay, there's been a little over -embellishing on the Boston side of things, but at the same time there's been a lot of stupid penalties from Toronto. Like, a lot of stupid penalties. And there's been calls missed on both sides. Too many men calls for Toronto's that have been actually missed, which is baffling. Yeah, like it's... it... There is not a single time that I can look at this series, like even the McEvoy takedown of Matthews behind the net.
Okay, yeah, I don't like that, but that's the type of thing that kind of gets let go in the playoffs that wasn't, you know, egregious, that wasn't ridiculous. The Burt and Marshawn stuff before that one goal in that game, both of them should have been called. I'm not saying that should have been Marshawn, the least of the power play, but both of them should have been called.
And then if you want to go even further, play Devil's Advocate, the Leafs should have scored a penalty or a power play goal at some point. Like, you touched on the power play, but. think what it's come down to is if the league wants the game to be more entertaining in the playoffs, like when there's a situation where two guys are both engaged in something and you could send them both off for two minutes, it's the playoffs. Let them both get up and keep playing.
Like unless it's egregious, like again, with Holmberg and Marshawn when it was nonstop and it was three separate incidents and they were finally like, OK, guys, break it up. You're both going to the box. But like you said, with McAvoy and same as the Burt and the Marchand thing. Just take Bertusia and put Hohenberg in. Those two plays are the exact same. They both should have been called out. I got my little thumbs up bubble again.
But like I'm saying with the McEvoy and Matthews thing, like there's some times where you can tell that both players were kind of getting at each other and you could call two and it's like, fuck it, I'm not pulling these two guys off the ice. You guys can keep, you can work it out and keep playing. I know you're fine. It is definitely refreshing to see that they're trying.
Like aside from, like you said, missed calls, you can tell what the, I don't know how to put it, like the overall, like what they're trying to. call seems to be on track. there actually seems to be a standard in this series. Yeah. way to put it. They've set the bass level. Not to mention I really loved the fact that the linesmen absolutely took out Marshawn after that home bird thing. That was awesome. everywhere immediately.
People were sending me memes of that and I was like, this just happened like two minutes ago. How is this all over Instagram already? But Sportsnet was like, oh, we're hopping on this one. We're getting those likes. So another thing that I think has been working well, Labushkin and McCabe, like the defense for once, I'm like, you know what? I'm not yelling at glaring.
turnovers and pucks that are bouncing over your stick and not being able to hold a blue line and like like in their own zone and in in the offensive zone all of them for the most part have been pretty good like I'm not putting a lot of this lack of scoring on the defense because I mean look they they showed the stat in the game the Leafs were at about 50 % of what they were scoring during the regular season I think it was 3 .65 a game another at 1 .75 a game so it's on
It's on the forward groups. Like the power play hasn't put anything together. The fourth line has been basically non -existent, but they get, you know, way too much ice time. And you've had an injured Matthews and a Nylander that's out. And I don't know, all these other guys that are trying, but it's, it just feels like we got the short end of the stick again. So the defense isn't the glaring hole that everybody said it was going to be. Like they've been serviceable, they've been steady.
The Brody gaffe last game, that was definitely a gaffe, yeah. But there hasn't been anything absolutely crazy. They haven't defended like we know they can as a unit. Like look at when Riley went out. to put it. When Riley went out, the way the team defended as a five man group on the ice was absolutely incredible. You defend like that, you can beat Colorado, even how they're playing right now.
Like that is the way you should be playing and they're still not doing that, but it hasn't been ridiculous. Like. Matthews and Nylander have been leading that charge this year as much as people like to say Nylander doesn't. This year he really has. And with them both out and not at 100%, that kind of all falls on Marner who's, I don't know, like you said, still dealing with his ankle or whatever it is. And he's been trying.
Like there's a couple of plays where he's pinched back and even tonight, like on that three on two, he managed to get back in time. But I mean, really there's nobody else on the team that's been doing that well. And unless you want to put the fourth line out there and it's like, they haven't been doing it well in this series. So you're without an option.
Well, Dewar's been really good, in my opinion anyways, and ever since Dewar came over, the penalty kill got better, because they put him on there right away, like that's his specialty, that's why you go and get a guy like that. And then Keef goes and ruins it by scratching Dewar when Nylander comes back. But, like, even Lubushkin, who at this point, with the defense that are playing right now, is probably the weak link. He hasn't been bad. Like he's kind of a black hole.
Nothing happens offensively or defensively when he's out there, which you know what? Hey, if I'd rather that than have goals scored against me all the time, but it's, it's been good. Mo hasn't been what he was last year in the playoffs because last year he was just a weapon in the playoffs. It was awesome. But. even he's been a little better than he was for probably most of the season.
Yeah, I think the best way that I can put what I'm seeing is the defense and the forwards are two separate units that are not operating together. Like they have not been able to convert from getting the puck away from the Bruins to getting it back out of their zone. Like their transition has been horrible. Like it seems like the forwards are trying to score and they'll grab it if they can off a turnover and get in.
And if it's in their zone, the defense handle it and one of the forwards goes back and... That's kind of it. Like there's no transition whatsoever. And it's, it's why the Bruins have been able to keep them in. Like, as soon as it comes into the Leaf Zone, I'm like, fuck, they're going to get like six shots. They did a good job in the first period of, of keeping the Bruins away from the net. And they've actually done a pretty good job the whole series of keeping the shots down for the most part.
But like, as soon as they get in there, it's like, well, we're screwed now. There's, I don't know what it is about the communication. Like there's some leadership element missing. And I think it's because... of a combination of you don't have Whitley for the first three games and Matthews is dealing with something. There's just a whole of somebody to lead this charge and keeps not putting the pieces together to fill that gap.
Yeah, and it's really weird that he can't get them to buy into, like I said, what happened when Riley was down. If they play like that for the rest of this series, they went hands down. But you need your other core guys to be able to step up to cover for that and bring everyone together. And they're just not there. I don't know what's going on. Tavares is the only one that's healthy.
And he's been showing it because, my god, the guy with that slap shot goal he took and all the plays he set up and tonight, he's the only one that seems like he's healthy for the first time in years in the playoffs. And now we lose the other guys. It's like... Everyone else gets to LTIR their players until the playoffs and all of ours get hurt as soon as we get here. So it's so hard to get a read on what should be happening if everything was going right.
You know, like it's everyone's talking about trade martyr and blow this up, rebuild around Matthews and Nylander, get rid of everything else. Like it's just so hard to to figure out what this should have been had everything gone right. But it's also sports and that's never going to happen. So. But like that's when you got to, that's where the, the leadership leadership slash coaching needs to come into question because look at what's going on in Vancouver.
They've got three wins in this series, all with three different goaltenders and they're, they're buying in as a unit and they're getting it done. They're having the commitment to do. Everybody does what they have to do. Like. I don't care if it's Matthews going down, Nylander going down, whoever going down. Do what you have to do. If you don't have that game breaker 60 goal score in your lineup right now, yeah, that's going to change things. But you know what you do have?
You do have 12 forwards and six defensemen who are getting paid millions of dollars to play the sport they love because they've been playing it their entire lives. So one player not being on that team isn't going to change how they know they should be playing. to play properly. And skill will never beat hard work when hard work, like when, what's the saying? I've had a couple beers tonight. Hard work beats skill when skill doesn't work hard, that's it.
So it doesn't matter how much skill you have, if you're not working, you can still get your asses handed to you. So if you lose some of that skill, Go back to the old school, work hard, get the shit you have to do done and go from there. That's like this team in a nutshell is too much skill and not enough effort. I don't know where along the lines they figured that like they're good enough that they don't need to give 100 % because they're 90 % is better than most people's 110.
But like that catches up to you when you stop giving that effort all the time. And I don't know where it's stemming from, but like it doesn't matter who we bring into this organization. It just... sucks the effort out of people. Like, I don't know what it is. Like, it lasts only so long. I mean, even Bertuzzi and Domi still have a bit of it left, but if they stick around next year, like, I don't know if it's gonna be the same effort out of them.
Like, that's why I love seeing players like Matthew Nyes. Like when he was trying to go at Pasternak, after Pasternak and Riley were getting into it, and then Nyes tapped on his chest and said, no, go me. And Pasternak didn't say anything and he's just like, yeah, that's what I thought. That's what I thought. Like that edge, that fire, like the kid just doesn't stop.
He has a bad giveaway and he's still in there the next shift doing the exact same thing because he knows that's what got him to where he is. and he knows that's what's gonna make him successful. Like he is our junior Gary Robert. Yeah, and like I said, I mean, even tonight, like we were saying, Domi was fantastic in doing that there's individual efforts every night, but it's getting that cohesive team effort together that seems to come and go inconsistently.
kind of efforts are what drags a team through though. Like 2002, the Leafs were without Sandeen for the majority of their playoff run. And they made the conference finals against Carolina. Like, you can get there. You just, you have to, you have to buy in. So when you have your best player at the time, Sundin was undisputed their best player and he was out and you have Alan McCauley stepping up. Like no offense to McCauley, I loved the guy, but he wasn't Matt Sundin.
No. Like, it doesn't matter if you are hurt, sick, whatever. If you're good enough to play and you play and then you have players going out like Domi, and do, excuse me, doing what he did tonight. It doesn't matter if he's your captain. It doesn't matter if he's been on your team for 400 games or for two games. That's going to drive you to want to make your shift that much better. Like, Jesus Christ, look at what this guy's doing out there. I need to pull my socks up. And...
At the end of the day, that's what this team needs more of. And we've been seeing it so much from Matthews and then this year as well from Nylander, like all year he's been doing it, just getting it done, going out there and both ends of the ice. He's been proving everybody wrong that he can do it and showing that. And it's a little refreshing that we got it from a couple of different guys tonight, because that's not typically the case.
Typically, if we don't get it from the big boys, we're not getting it at all. Well, that's kind of what I mean is like, for some reason, this team lives and dies by, I mean, not for some reason, that's the way it's built, but this team lives and dies by the core and they're not together right now.
Like, I mean, we saw the rift on the bench and hopefully that is a fire like when, when Nylander jumped Ridley Grieg, that it's like, it brings everyone together and the, or at least they can channel it into like something on the ice, but. My God, if this gets worse, like I don't know what this team does in the off season. I just, I don't like how things are looking through this. Like, yes, everyone through the whole regular season improved.
Like Matthews and Neelander both took massive steps this year, but like, if they're the only ones that this team was going to live or die by, like here we are, they're both not here really. And this is what happens. Like the series seems kind of lost. Not lost yet. Not yet. I know. I know, I know. It's tough. Okay. Another thing that's been looking good this series. Well, the Bruins goaltending, which is something I was afraid of before we came into this.
Like, I know we've got some crazy goals scoring on this team, but my God, they've been all year. It's not even just this series. They have not been able to score on Swainman and Allmark and... It's not gotten any better. Even the power play is not helping. So... What, uh... because we have done the same drop pass for the entire eight years of Matthew's tenor, like tenure here. Like that stupid drop pass zone entry is absolutely baffling.
Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph, I was the first period I was listening to as I was cutting the grass because I just, I couldn't watch the first period. So I was listening to it on the radio as I was cutting the grass and they were laughing at it. Like at this point, just start declining the penalties. You're having better zone entrances five on five than you are penalty killing because you cannot do anything other than the drop pass. Yeah, they need to get rid of Gibouche too.
Like, I don't know what happened here. Somehow from January to now, the powerplay went from 50 % to like 8%. This is... it's shocking how bad they are. Well, they've also been doing the same drop paths for eight years though. Well, but yes, you could run one play, but like one play isn't the entire two minutes, right? Like the guys are on the ice to try to figure things out longer than that. You know, turnovers happen. They have to be creative and do other things.
Like, yeah, trying to set that play up is screwing them over, but it's not like they weren't good all year. Like I said, in January, they were literally at 50 % on the power play. They were in first place. and it just from there continuously dropped. Mm -hmm. So I don't know if it just works sometimes where the guys tell the assistant coaches to fuck off sometimes and just do whatever they want, but it's not working anymore.
And if they want a chance in game six and seven, they got to put in more than one power play goal in four games here. Five. They just, they need to play more like they did tonight. They need to continue playing as a team and drive and battle for every inch. It's the playoffs, right? Completely different game and you can't, you can't just get by on skill alone. No, and they've done a good job of staying in the fights.
Like, I mean, we've seen all the stats and the puck battles they're winning and staying physical and standing up to everybody. Like, they have an answer to the Bruins this year physically, which they haven't had any other time we've seen the Leafs play them.
Like, you know, obviously that's what all these guys were brought in for, but actually seeing it work, you know, especially the addition of Edmondson, Lapouchkin and McCabe, everybody's been... and Benoit, everyone's getting laid out in the corners. And offensively, you've got people that are willing to... go in and battle and successfully come out with the puck. So it's something that, again, we haven't seen this team be able to stand up to. So at least there's that.
It's just, again, converting that into goals has been the problem between the Bruins' crazy defense and crazy goaltending, but that's where they are. Regardless of who retires or who changes around or who's playing first line center, the Bruins still have that solid backend and crazy culture. So. It's never easy. No it's not, but they don't have... Like they don't have Norris Caliber defensemen back there. It's not like we're going up against, you know, Headman and McDonough.
No, I'd say that they're better defensively though. Like I'm not as worried about, you know, shots from the point from Boston defense or like, you know, like there's no Kale McCarr there. There's no Eric Carlson, somebody that's going to, you know, carry the puck all the way to the other end. But they do make it really hard to get to the net. And even if you can get to the net, Swainman stops 94 % of whatever comes at him. So that's, they just have at least a system down for keeping pucks out.
Do do. Nice as wrap around almost snuck in. Ugh. There were a lot of wraparound attempts tonight. Like, like a lot on both sides. Yeah, like this is, you get to this point in the series and you're used to everybody's tendencies, so it becomes even that much more difficult. So it's nice to see that, like, okay, yes, Keefe's hand was forced with injuries, but the fact that the leafs could change it up a little bit. Now they've had to, because everything they were doing wasn't working, but...
But it's nice to know that if you run something else, it can also work, right? You're not up shit creek. fancy trying that, Keith. Like, fuck. Well, and that's what the weeks leading up to this were all for, like, from, and even months, like starting in February he was playing around with lines, and I thought the whole point of that was like, you know, okay, backpocketing this one for the playoffs, no, that works. But then he gets here and it's like, hmm, I don't know what to do.
What do you mean? What do you mean? Ugh, it's so frustrating. But yeah, gotta give him credit where it's due. Played the right people in the right positions tonight, and... Man, if only the first period they came out of that one like two nothing. It's wild that the first or second shot has gone in for the Bruins like almost every game. Like it's baffling. They can keep them away for 10 minutes and it's like, oh, they finally got a shot off and it went in.
It might be better off letting their goalies see some shots, you know, for the first half of the first period, but. Well, well maybe. The Frederick Gull and Samsonov killed my confidence in them for this series. I don't know what's up with Sammy, man. Like, it's so hot and cold the last month, but before that it was so solid. Damn. Do you think they run wall back for the next game? Absolutely, they have to. Hmm. I know they should. Do you think they will?
Yeah, like, Keith's gotta know his job's on the line here. He can't be going and doing that. Not that Sammy was the reason we lost, because you can still overcome goals, but with the way everything shifted with that Frederick goal. Yeah, as soon as you let a bad one in, you can see the shift in the team. Like they just they're afraid to let anything get close. They start playing anxious and it's just bad from there. So if like if the confidence comes from the goalie outwards, put ball back in.
And my God, please get a win at home. People pay a lot of money to watch you guys in Toronto. To send people home two games without a win is like torturous. Isn't it like five or six in a row we've lost at home too? Yeah. Yeah. my dear lord those poor fans. I couldn't do it just knowing that like I couldn't drop the 1200 or whatever it is on tickets. That's wild.
Yeah, the only way I'm going to a playoff game is either winning tickets or if they play in Toronto on my actual birthday, then I would go. Fair. Okay, so do we think Matthews is back next game? Hopefully from this illness. Um, to be completely honest, I don't think so. If he was only good to skate for eight minutes this morning. And then with what O 'Neill was saying on overdrive, how he saw him whisper that to the trainer that, you know, I can't fucking skate. Like. What is this? Like...
I'm wondering if it's when he got taken down behind the net to be completely honest. If it's some sort of groin or knee or ankle. Cause that was an awkward, as silly as that sounds, cause it didn't look like much, but it was awkward. And that's when shit happens, right? Like you can go and get absolutely rocked like McNabb got by Jamie Vann last night in the Dallas Vegas game and be perfectly fine. But you fall down a little funny cause you're not expecting to be pulled down and you get injured.
If he's done, I don't know, man. Like this is why it's so hard to keep expectations and confidence up when everything just seems to be going wrong. It just feels like the Montreal series again, where it's like, oh, and JT is down. Like, it's just knowing that we got all the way here and protected everyone for this point. And they all get hurt like as soon as we get to the playoffs. It's just, it's really annoying.
Anyway, so keys to success next game are please, please for the love of God, try something different on the power play. Try something different to get around Swamen. Like you figured it out with some quick shots. Don't, when you've got a two on one, take the shot, don't pass. He's gonna expect to pass, my God. Like stay out of the penalty box. Don't take dumb calls. I don't know. I'm assuming you're talking about the Domi -Bertuzzi 2 -on -1. Like, if Domi took another couple strides, yeah.
Take a couple more strides to get a little bit more speed and then it adds that much more pressure on both the goalie and the defenseman. And I think that would have made the world of difference, even if he did still just look at Bertuzzi the whole time. can't make that pass without looking at Bert? Like, he's probably done it a thousand times. To be completely honest, looking at him the whole time, I probably would have just shot it at the net.
Well, that's what I mean is like, if, if did he try to do like a galaxy brain, like he, yeah, like I'm gonna make him think I'm doing the pass, but he's gonna say like, there's no way he's gonna make this pass. He's been staring at him. He must be shooting it. Like, oh, mind games, like too hard of mind games, bro. Just take the shot. That was a page out of Mitch Marner's book there. For me they need to do a lot of what they did tonight.
They need to just steady it down, don't do anything too crazy with regards to retaliation when it comes to the rat. And then, yeah, lots of shots, lots of attempts. What did I say it was after the first? Like 31 to seven or something shot attempts for the Leafs? Yeah, they got to get a rebound, a weird bounce. Like, look what happened with Nia's goal.
Like, you get something that pops off of his pad, off a skate and into the right spot because he's always going to be, most of the time, in the right position. So you got to get a lucky bounce or a rebound or something. So get like Bertuzzi's been doing, have someone parked in front of him like Boston does with every fucking line. Soon as the puck goes behind the net, there's somebody directly in front of Wall or Sammy or whoever it is. So they just they got to be better about.
creating secondary and tertiary chances. Well, when you when you when goal scoring is at a premium in the playoffs, that's what you need to do. You need to get to those areas. Right. Like we just we need to play as a unit and make sure everybody's on the same page. So that we don't have defense been doing stupid passes when there's no forwards there. Like we need to make sure that we do pretty much what we did tonight. Like. good on the face -offs, lots of fore -checking, lots of shots.
Don't give them anything. When we're in RN, stay on them. Okay, yeah, lay the body and make sure you make it tough on them, but don't go out of your way to lay the body, if that makes sense. Yeah, exactly, because we've seen too many times where somebody gets tied up after they lay a hit because, you know, Boston's good about, they know after they get up, if they start talking shit, you're now stuck with them instead of going back to the play that's going the other way.
And you should be there and they'll catch you on that. So, yeah, just get in, get out when you need to. It's gonna be a rough couple games, but hopefully a couple and not just one. I was like fully prepared for tonight to be it. We'll be back at it on Saturday after game seven. Oh man, we'll see. Okay. How are the other series doing? I literally have not checked. NHL playoff bracket. What's going on? Well, Carolina's advanced, so they play New York round two.
So it'll be the Rangers and Hurricanes. Florida beat Tampa for one. They await the winner of our series. Colorado, yes, Colorado, Winnipeg. The game itself was tied 2 -2 last I saw. I've got the Predators -Conucks game on in front of me right now. A lot of like uneven series. You know, last year we saw everything like almost every game was going to over, pardon me, over time. And so many games went, or series went seven games.
And these are like, I'm seeing a lot of potential for one and for nothing series here. Before Dallas won last night, this was looking like it was going to be the first year since they went to the seven game format where there was no 2 -2 series in the first round. Yeah, this is pretty wild to look at. Like all of the East, I thought the Leafs were getting a rough go, but like the Rangers went 4 -0, Carolina 4 -1, Florida 4 -1, Colorado's up 3 -1, Vancouver's up 3 -1, and Edmonton's up 3 -1.
Like this is crazy. Colorado just scored 4 -3 right now. Well, who's your pick for coming out of the West at this rate? If I had to say this before the playoffs started, I was going to say Dallas, but someone turned the Colorado Avalanche on and it's looking like we're two years ago when they were in the playoffs and they were just a wagon. Like I kind of have to go with the Avalanche right now out of the West.
Yeah, I mean, the fact that they're making Winnipeg look silly is definitely worth noting. Because I mean, like, obviously Vancouver was going to be good and they tend to have Nashville's number throughout the season. Edmonton and LA, I was interested. I thought that was going to go seven, but it seems like Edmonton might be able to close that one out 4 -1 -2.
I want to say Vancouver, Edmonton, just because like we need a Canadian team to make it, but... I think you're right, Colorado's probably just gonna tear their way through this, because they're gonna play the winner of Dallas or Vegas, which is gonna be a good series, but I don't know, with how things are looking there, they might just steamroll through that, so. Weird, quirky fact.
If you would have told me 10 years ago, 15 years ago, that we would be in the playoffs and there would only be two starting goalies out of the 16 teams that are Canadian, I would have told you you were absolutely wrong. Whoa, really? Can you name them? Spencer Knight. Nope. Barbarofsky's starting for the Panthers. And he's American anyways. oh, true. Uhhh... Oh my god. Is Aiden Hill Canadian? Actually Hill I'm not sure but Thompson's been starting for the Knights.
It's Logan Thompson. He's Canadian and Stuart Skinner. Sorry, I guess you could include Talbot, but didn't they start Riddick the other night? Yeah, so for the Kings I'm not sure who their starter technically would be. Almost the entirety of all the other goalies are American or Russian. It's actually really weird. Well, I mean, the Russians have definitely taken over goaltending over the last like two decades, but as well as the American hockey program has gotten better.
But yeah, it's weird because Canada dominated goaltending for so long. Yeah, specifically the province of Quebec, which was ridiculous. Yeah, true. Okay, who do you have for Rangers Carolina? Because Carolina's a full -grown wagon, even though the Rangers won the President's Trophy. To be completely honest, aside from the President's Trophy curse, I think the Rangers might have had an edge, but I cannot stand Adam Fox or Jacob Truba.
And part of me still got a soft spot for Freddie, so I'm going Canes. I think the Cains are gonna do it too. They're like a full four lines and like, you know, whatever it is, six defensemen of terror. Like they will just, they're so fast and oh my God, yeah. They're like if the devils figured their shit out earlier. Um, okay. I think we can wrap it up there. Thank you all for tuning back in. I know it's been a while.
I appreciate all of you who stick it out and have been asking for us to come back. I know y 'all missed us and we miss you. It's nice to be able to talk not about work and not about other things and just vent about hockey, you know. It's good therapy. It is. All right. Until next time. Thank you all. Oh, you know what? Real quick, I did ask for questions and I don't want to go away because it's been so long without checking.
We did have some messages from people here from Aaron at Easy Lifeguard 79. Do you really think we can pull this off? I mean, you just heard an hour of us say whether we do or not. My short answer is I'm ready to be let down. I'm not. Like, they can. I think it's possible. But like, I'm not getting my hopes up too high. Uhh, Mike the Fanatic. Who do you think you are? I am! Hahaha! Go Leafs, go baby, passion!
And then he has the lyrics to Wonderwall, which I'm pretty sure I can't sing on this podcast. And you don't need to hear that. But yeah, that's it, no questions otherwise. I love that. Who do you think you are? I am! I'm pretty sure that's 10 years old this year too. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah. Oh, speaking of, this is what we'll close out with. I just read a crazy stat about the Wii earlier today.
Did you know that the release of the Wii is closer to the fall of the Soviet Union than it is to today? That's a little weird. Oh, well. released in 2006. So that was, what's that? 18 years ago. And the fall of the Soviet Union was officially 1991, which would have been 15 years before the Wii came out. My son's been reading a Ripley's book and it's all these weird facts like you just had. And the one, he was having trouble with a couple words so I was helping him read it.
And I did like a full double take after I read it, like wait, what? The year Toy Story 3 came out is the same year as the last, the last execution by firing squad in the United States. What? Wait, what? Yep, 2010. Holy shit. Actually, that reminds me, I read another one of those. I didn't know this, but Frank Sinatra died the night of the Seinfeld finale. See, like in my mind, having been born in the 90s, like I vaguely, vaguely remember Seinfeld just ending.
Like I was, you know, I was like four or five when Seinfeld ended. But in my mind, Frank Sinatra died in like the 70s. Like he was long gone by the 90s. Like I didn't, don't even put those two things on the same plane. So that was, that was a weird one. But. Inspired by that, I do want to find some some leaf ones like what's closer to now than 1967. Oh Jesus, that's gonna be a big list.
Yeah. No, just another one that always blew my mind was Christopher Lee witnessed the last guillotine execution. What? 1977, France. Oh my god. Okay, so. That's crazy. What the fuck? Okay, inventions of 1968. I mean, okay, no, that's what, let's get something fun. What's, oh, the internet and glue sticks were both invented in 1969. The Soviet Union's first satellite is the same age as bubble wrap. What? 20 products you won't believe were created in the same year. Oh, gotcha. Gotcha.
Well, that's fun. I'm gonna look up something to have for next time. I'm not gonna bore you guys while I actually Google things. but you get the idea. Like Post -it notes have been around for less time than the Leafs have been waiting for a Stanley Cup. So, and like barcodes. Anyway, goodnight. So that was when I don't sign off soon enough. We just get bullshit. Noooo down down down down down once I make my move.