Transcript of The Hockey Show: Prime Italian

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Welcome to The Hockey Show. My name is Roy Bellamy. David Dworker, The Hockey news is to my left. He is the co-host of this show. Ethan Podausky is in for Rosie. Rose right now is, I have I have no idea where she is, but she's listening.

I'm not sure, actually. She's listening.

All parts.

Wherever she is, she's listening.

She's somewhere in the country right now. So, yeah, it's been an interesting week, and we're only going to talk about hockey. All right. Hot takes. Let's start the slap shots to your Hot takes. Dave, what you got?

All right. My hot take comes out of, as I get myself situated here, my hot take comes out of Philadelphia. As we learned... Actually, let's just play the audio. We have that, Ethan, ready to go? Yeah, Ethan. John Torterella talking about how the Flyers are treating their star rookie, Mat Vy Mitchkow, who is having a great first 10 games of his career. Let's hear why he was a healthy scratch last night. I apologize if you answered any of these questions already, but I just see MatVy is out for tonight. What is it that he's not doing that you want to see him do?

Just part of the process. Is it more a teaching thing?

Just part of the process.

I told you guys, With young guys, they can watch games, too, as far as development.

So it's trying to help them.

Now, the reaction to this has been understandably like, What the hell is going on? How are they doing that with a potential Calder Trophy candidate, somebody who's playing very Very well for a first-time NHL kid. I get where tortu is coming from. We've heard that many head coaches here in Florida, head coaches around the league. We've heard that it doesn't hurt for a young guy to get their feet wet, take a step back, watch, and then jump back in. I get it. But 13 games into a season where the Flyers are currently trying to save themselves as I looked at the standings, next to the cellar of the Eastern Conference, but it's still early enough in the season that everybody's tight. So Yeah, honestly, I feel like I lost my whole train of thought just because my hot take was to relax, but now I'm thinking, But is this the time? So I don't know.

That seems like a lukewarm take to me instead of a hot one. Yeah.

I think we need to rename it.

Really ran out of steam there, David.

Yeah. Shit. You want to start over?

No, no. Roy, what's your hot take? Let's go.

Okay. My hot take is a stat that came across my wire because you love to piss me off when stuff like this happens. Okay, there's a stat that has been tracked since 1997, the '97, '98 season. Face-off wins. Okay. And apparently, and this is going to really piss me off. As I say, the Cydney Crosby became the NHL all-time face-off wins leader.

Okay.

There hasn't been a single moment in the history of the sport where we talked about a record of face-off wins being broken. What the hell are we doing here? Who gives a fuck about this? What is this? Face off wins. This is just an excuse for the National Hockey League to once again shove down an achievement that nobody cares about, down our collective throats for Cydney Crosby. I'm tired of this. I'm really tired of hearing about this guy. In 19 years, he's been shoved down our throats ad nauseam by this league. He also, by the way, leads the league in all-time face off losses. So Basically, what this says to me is he's a lady-Volume shooter? Yes, he's a volume shooter. He's a lady Wilkins. See, now I'm suffering. He's the Lenny Wilkins of the face also.

He's a compiled?

Exactly. He's a compiled.

Omar Vesquel, the Omar Vesquel of Hockey. That just compiles.

He's a Lenny Wilkins. Paul Maurice, Most Wins, Most Losses. Wait until the Most Wins, but he's getting up there. Yeah.

I want to have the same take for that one.

It's interesting. I'm actually reading another obscure that Sidney Crosby actually leads the league in in most circular bunny years when he ties the states. Nobody has ever done it in the circumference way that he's done it before. It's pretty impressive, actually. But that's only been kept track since '03 '04.

Yeah, that's about the same level as Face Off wins to me. Yeah, felt that way. Ethan, you got a hot take. What do you got?

I do have a hot take, fellows. My hot take is that Jim Montgomery, as we go to an empty seat, Jim Montgomery is going to be the first coach fired in the financial of the season.

That's very appropriate, actually. The empty seat?

The empty seat was for Jim Montgomery's seat eventually. This guy There has never been a more fired coach in the history of sports. He is just losing control of his team. He was fighting with Brad Marshan recently. He bench David Pternack. And Gino, if you can throw that tweet back up there, I don't know if you can. The Panthers have completely broken the Boston Bruins. That was my opinion. That was his tweet. That's what I got from the fact that David Pternack, the Panthers have been so in the Bruins heads that they have just broken the Boston Bruins. And the team seems fractured. I mean, they're not They're not playing very well. I know they're still in playoff position, but some of the teams that we were expecting maybe to get back into playoff position, like a Buffalo, an Ottawa, Detroit, haven't really lived up to that standard. So they're still in playoff position, but they're not playing very well. Their numbers are bad, their metrics are bad. It doesn't look like they're really going anywhere, going to be a team that we expect to contend for anything. And he's got all these problems with his players.

Two bad playoff runs for him, obviously crashing out in the first round with the best team ever and then losing in the second round last year. He is so fired, and I think he's going to be the first coach fired this season.

Dirty talk. I'm enjoying this. Keep going.

During the offseason, they got bigger and they got slower.

Was the line, the Big Bad The big bad brewins are just big and bad?

Is that your line? Yes, The Big Bad Brewings are just big and bad. Let's go to the win of the week. I'm going to go first. The winner this week, for me, is Ty Domi. Ty Domi managed-Send no one effort.

Yeah.

He managed to pull off something that Very rarely happens. Embarrassed Tom braided. We have a video of Tom braided in full hockey gear, by the way.

I didn't believe this was real when I first saw it. I'm like, What grown adult, first of all, anybody would do this, make a video of themselves like this? But of all, Tom bleeping braided.

I got to explain this.

Claire has better form.

Tom braided is in full hockey uniform, but he apparently doesn't know how to skate. So Ty Domi had him on a skate sled. So he had to push the sled all around the rink so he wouldn't fall.

It looks like he's about to take the snap from the skate sled.

I love seeing Tom braided get embarrassed.

Oh, there he's skating without the sled.

Any embarrassing content of braided.

Got to love that. Look at this. Oh, he almost slipped right there. Oh my God. Now, mind you, Tom braided, after the video, said he was going to kill Ty Domi for releasing the video. Now, Tom braided might have 6 to 7 inches of height on Tye Adomi because Tye Adomi is 5'10, and Tom braided still surprises me for no apparent reason. It's 6'5. But Tye Adomi has 3,515 penalty minutes. Third all-time.

Good luck with that one. As long as they keep their states on, they'll never catch them anyway. Yeah. What's your win of the week, David? My win of the week, also related to Toronto, actually, but a little bit more hockey-centric. It was just an awesome play. It happened in overtime when Toronto was playing Minnesota. If we have the video here, watch. So Minnesota rushes in. A turnover. Oh, no. Here comes Toronto going the other way. There's Max Delmy right there. He tries to push it up. But look at Jared Spurgeon. Hustle his ass off to get back, but then have the presence of mind to throw it up in one motion. Game over.

That only happens in overtime, three on three. That can happen five on five.

That was so cool. But how cool was that play? How smart was that play by Jared Spurgeon to not only recognize, to get on his horse, to backcheck, to stop the rush, but then mid-backcheck, know that they're changing, the leaves are changing. I just got to throw it up the ice. Then there's two of the best young players in Marco Rossi and Matt Boldi. And game over on our boy Anthony Solars, who's been amazing for Toronto this year.

Yeah, he left that net wide open up.

He was probably like, What the hell? We're going for a line change, and now I'm facing a 2 on 0. But I just thought that was one of the smartest hockey plays I've seen in a Well, credit to Jared Spurgeon for that. That was really cool.

Ty Domi, not exactly fleet of foot.

No, Max Domi. Oh, I'm sorry. No, Ty Domi was not fleet of foot.

That was the previous video, but Max Domi, his son, not exactly... He didn't exactly put a lot of effort into it.

It was late in the shift, though, right? Yeah, it was late in the shift, but still, you can't lose an overtime like that. But credit to Spurgeon. Smart man. Ethan.

I don't have a winner this week. I just want to say, Minnesota is really good, really dangerous. And Kaprizov looks like the heart favorite so far.

Dynamite drop in, Monty. Along with Sam Reinhardt. Somebody's going to get a jersey that just says Reinhardt.

That was my idea. That's been my joke for two weeks now, David, is that he's going to... Reinhardt, the Reinhardt Trophy. Roy, what's your loser of the week?

My loser of the week, this is a big time fail here. This is Hurricane's The Faceman, Jalen Chatfield. This is so good. Apparently, he has a pregame retro during the pregame skate after he's done. After he's done with pregame skate, he goes from one side of the ice Across the blue line to his bench, and he goes into his locker. And he falls? But he lost an edge and completely crashed into the boards. It was bad. He lost that edge, crashed into the boards, got up, dusted off the snow, and then he walked to the to the applause of the fans that were around the bench. That's embarrassing.

Yeah, well, you turned the fail into a win.

So credit to Chadfield. No win in that one. No. Dave?

My L of the week comes from the game between the Kings and the Predators. I think most Predators games have come with Ls this week, but this game was just the shit show from the start. There was the official getting hurt. There were multiple pretty crazy, intense fights in this game. There was a lot hostility for a game between a couple of teams that are just fighting to get above the playoff Mendoza Line. Obviously, Nashville in a lot worse space. This was a great fight, but just Haymajors going left and right. The Kings ended up winning this game three to nothing. As Nashville has just been a joke this year. It's surprising based off the moves they made. But yeah, this game was just bonkers. Here they go again. I don't know. It made me feel good as a hockey fan to watch an entertaining shit show.

Yeah, as opposed to last night.

Some decent goaltending, some fun goals. But overall, I feel like we've talked a lot about Nashville this year. They're just a mess. Considering the moves they made, the Stamcoast, the Marcia So, Bruno was a Jack Adams finalist. Just what the hell is going on?

Yeah, we'll get into Nashville a little bit later when we recap the week that was for the Panthers. Ethan, do you have any notes here?

I was just going to say about Nashville, but I guess we'll get deeper into them later. It is interesting to hear them say, and maybe we'll talk with Adnan about this, that Barry Trott saying rebuild already this early in the season. And what do they rebuild with? Are they going to trade the guys that they just signed? I mean, that's crazy. That's 2012 Miami Marlins type stuff. It would be insane to see them trade a Stamkos, a Marsh to say.

Retaining a million in salary.

Oh, wow. How about that? You heard it here first.

Telling you.

All right. Why don't you toss to Adnan here? Because we got like 20 seconds.

No, I'm excited. We're going to talk to our boy Adnan Verte from Prime Hockey. See how it's been going up there in Canada so far. It's been a fun few weeks, and I definitely want to get his take on some of the craziness happening in the lead. So let's talk to Adnan.

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They're annoying. What an old reference.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats. All right, joining us today is Adnan Burke. He is the Studio Host for Prime Canada Monday Night Hockey. It's been a month already, and it seems like he's having a good time. Adnan, what's going on? Do you have any stories about what's been happening in the studio for you?

Roy, it's been fantastic, man. Honestly, one of the great parts of working on Prime Monday Night Hockey has been the experience of going to different arenas. Now, of course, being from Toronto, it's always good to back home and get to see my friends and family, et cetera. But it was a great environment there. I got to see Matt Sandine. Obviously, working with Mark Messier has been fantastic. Blake Bolden as well. First game was in Montreal. That's one of my favorite barns. The Bell Center always is a great crowd. Fans are very knowledgeable. Penguins were playing there. Got to see Sid But I want to talk to you about week three because even as a proud Canadian, I had never been to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Didn't know what to expect. So out of Newark, New Jersey. Exactly. Out of Newark, New Jersey, two and a half hour flight to Minnesota. Minnesota, hour and a half to Winnipeg. Surprisingly, the hour and a half flight to Winnipeg, nicer than the two and a half from Jersey, Minnesota, whatever. Just nicer plane, better food, better mayonnaise, et cetera. But we landed in Winnipeg. I'm like, oh, God, here we go.

And one of the first signs is, let's go bombers. Which a friend of mine said, The Yankees. I got, It's the blue bombers, of course. The CFL team. I'm right. Now, I'll be honest, fellows, there's not a whole lot in Winnipeg, okay? I got right to the hotel, Radisson, 155 a night. It's a five-minute walk from the arena. There's a Dollar Roma across the road, a couple of Canadian staples like Moxies and other restaurants. But I'll tell you what, man, that arena, they're rocking and rolling. Only 15,000 at the Canada Life Center, but that crowd is into it. And that's the one loss that Jets has suffered, which is against the Maple Leaves. And further proof of the power of leafland. I'm telling you, five minutes in, fellows, Jets is yet to lose a game, and you can hear the Goleefs go chance. So it's obviously a very passionate fan base in Toronto, willing to go to Manitoba for a game, but props to Winnipeg. I'm glad I got to see it. Was worried about the cold, but I'll be honest, it was October 25th, and it was 60 and sunny, so I guess I lucked out.

It's not going to be nearly as bomby when I'm there in Winnipeg in February, but very cool to talk to Scott O'Neill, of course, the head coach. This is the second team ever, fellows. Thirteen wins in their first 14 games, along with the Ottawa Senator's V0607. Obviously, Kyle Connor has been tremendous along with Mark Scheifly. They have arguably the best third line in hockey. Nito Nito Ryder just played his 900th game. He's great. And obviously, Connor Hellenbach, two-time Vesna winner. So very cool to get to Winnipeg.

October. Of course, it's not going to be as cold as it's going to be.

We were in Edmondson in June, and it was lovely. So we're not going there in December.

No, we are not. No. No, no. That was past.

Well, here in Adnan, talk about the travel. Just getting there seemed, oh, man, that sounds lovely. Just the nice little two chill flights.

Brings back memories, doesn't it?

Not really. Our travel day, we took like two days to get there. No, thank you.

Not again. No.

Unless it happens. To your point, David, I've never been to Edmonton. My first Edmonton flight is to see the beloved Florida Panthers. Panthers and Oilers, December 16th, me and Mark Messier. So, yeah, that's pretty north of there in Alberta, as you guys know.

The Happy Hours special is at Joey's. Check them out. Oh, yeah. Okay. They got that lime slush. Oh, my God. Best Jack and Coke I ever had in my life.

Remember, they got one in Aventura.

They do, but it wasn't the same. I did go to the one in Aventura, and it felt, looked, but it didn't taste. I wasn't going crazy for the flavors that I went. Maybe something in Edmondson, I don't know. They had that Alberta beef that was delicious. Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know. But talking about the show, Adnan, I was curious, just because you've done work like this before. You're a professional. You've been around for a long time. Is there anything that surprised you about the Amazon Prime broadcast that you love about it that you weren't expecting?

Well, I think one thing that's really cool, David, is when you're in an arena, you are at the mercy of the fans. So quite honestly, so many times I'm in the studio and it's a controlled environment, and it's just point of point B. It's very easy It's Gretsky to Curry, and we get it done. Even college football, when I was on the road, we're in a secluded environment there for ESPN, so it wasn't too abstract. But I'd say that second game, the Leaps, we're like, our studio set up is right where the fans are walking in, gate five or gate six. So I wasn't expecting how loud it was. And normally, I'm always fidging with my earpiece, make sure the volume is loud. When they announced Matt Sundine was coming up, and again, we got Mark Messier with us, right? This is big deal. There's fans cheering. Sundin, I was like, Oh, my God, I nearly blew an eardrum. That crowd was really into it. So it makes me further appreciate when I see Chris Thompson doing Amazon football Thursdays, or I see any broadcasters working Kevin Burkert doing the World Series. People don't realize, David.

Like, Oh, guy, how easy. Just ask guy a question, go to the next question. I'm like, Yeah, but if you can't hear, you're at the mercy of being out there by yourself. I appreciate the least fan of for Sundin. That's awesome. I got to read lips. And by the way, it was one of the first times ever, David, I could say to a player, I can say to him that I found him to be statuesque because right over my eyeliner was the statue of Matt Sundin outside, a 6'4 suite. Normally, you think you use that adjective with a supermodel, Al McFerce or something, but I got to call another man on National Tell. It was statuesque in the case of Matt Sundine because it's a 6'4 sweet.

You just made people of a certain age smile.

Definitely. You mentioned Mark Messier. You have a story, don't you?

Oh, so, Roy, here's the thing. You know, again, my flyers phantom goes back to what? '85, '87. So when I'm talking to him, I'm looking at a guy who made me cry when I was nine years old. And Game7 is a great series. If you guys have a chance to check it out, you'll love it. It's available right now on Prime, not only in Canada, but here in America. And one of them is, of course, the game seven, Oilers Flyers. So I'm watching it and I'm like, I don't know why I'm watching this because this is so painful bringing back the memories. But it's cool seeing Messi, and Gretsky, and a lot of my buddy, Elliot Friedmann. But from Philly's perspective, you see a lot of Ron Hexdall and Dave Pullen. And Hexdall said, to this day, he's met people have told him, hey, because of that series, I became a hockey fan. The quality of hockey was so great. Hexdall, as you guys know, memorably won the Conts might, even though they lost that series in seven. And Dave Pullen is talking about it. Pullen goes like, why would I ever want to... People ask me, have you rewatched the game?

I go, no, I lived it. It was a heartbreak. Why would I ever want to watch that game again? So anyways, I'm talking to Messi off air about it a little bit. He's like, Oh, that game, that was awesome. And then I mentioned Hexdall, and I said, it goes, Oh, Hex, he's really good in the documentary. He goes, For a guy who was so fiery in such a pain out there, like so aggressive and hostile, he was a really good interviewer. He explained I said, Yeah. And he paused and he goes, Not crazy, but a guy for the losing team went in the Conn-Smith. Another pause, and he goes, But he was pretty effing good. Yeah. Even Mark Bensy all these years ago could appreciate that. And the other thing about Moussa, I went to this. We did the Coast to Coast show last night on Prime, which was actually shot in Saccacas, New Jersey, which is where I do MLB Network and Angel Network work. So it's that studio, but the game was available on Prime. Anyways, they wanted us to pre-tape the open. You guys know sometimes these guys get a little bit finicky.

Okay, fine, no problem. We do it, and then they go, Hey, let's do one more. I'm telling you, fellows, Messi is a nice guy. He's down to earth. He's very chill. But he got that glare in his eyes and goes, Why? I was like, Oh, my God. Then I just looked in the eyes of a 26-year veteran who scored almost 700 goals as a six-time Stanley Cup champion. They go, Well, let's just do one more. He's like, First one's always better. I'm like, Well, let's just do the second take. And it was fine. Kevin Weekes is such a legend. He said, It's five. But Moose looks at me and he was like, First one was better. I'm like, Whatever you say, Mass. If looks could kill with that glare, it's unbelievable.

It sounds like he was about to throw one of his famous elbows there.

All right, and you mentioned losing players winning the Conn smith, which brings me to my Florida Panthers. And there's a guy on the Florida Panthers this year that's just dominating. His name is Sam Reinhardt. 57 goals last year.

Welcome to the show, Ethan.

At what point do we stop saying, Oh, this guy's bound for regression at some point, and just say, This is a really good player that's going to score 40, 45 goals every year for the next few years.

And at what point do we actually start calling him Samson?

I love that. Go from Sam Reinhardt to Samson. Ethan, listen, he's awesome. We were watching a lot of that came last night. The Panthers, of course, they took care of business against the Predators. When yet again. I've just been impressed. Florida, again, anytime you can be so good on the road, to me, that's the mark of a great team. They go five and all, they take care of stars, a couple of those games in Finland. Then last night, really all over that Predators team, which looks old and slow and tired. Take that Steven Stamko, who plays the Panthers again. This time is a member of the Predators. But yeah, Reinhardt's awesome, man. There's no question about it. He's a I didn't have a player offensively. He brings so much to the table. I don't know if there's any doubt he could be a 40, 50 goal player, as you said. Panthers look great right now. Mess was saying, he goes, With these teams, there is this hangover at some point. And I said, Is that a cliché? He's like, No, because it hits you around January, February. Because you played so much hockey and you're playing at a high level.

And he goes, Of the 82 games, there's about 15 that are really critical. I'm not saying every game isn't critical. He goes, I know what you mean. Because there's the 15 games. These are absolute measures and baroves, et cetera. And this was not that game against the Predators, of course. But like that, Panthers, or others game will be so. Panthers, Bruin's game in January will feel that way. Because those are the games you can tell whether or not they have it. But Reinhardt, specifically, has been amazing. Panthers look great right now. No question.

You mentioned the Predators. On Tuesday, Barry Tratz was on radio, and he said, I'm trying to do some things right now. We will be limited a little bit because of contracts. If we don't get it going, then I'm going to have to start our rebuild plan. Since then, the Predators lost to the Capitals, and then it got smoked by the Panthers. Is it rebuild time?

I think it is, Roy. Kevin Weeks made a great point to me. He said, They're very right-handed shot heavy. I said, Okay. He started going through the line. He goes, Look at all these right-handed shots, right-handed shots, right-hand shots. I said, Okay. He goes, When you're game planning against a team like this, it becomes very easy because it's like you're only focusing on one part of the ice. It doesn't matter what sport it is. If you're too one-dimensional in one aspect, if you're an NBA team and you're too reliant on threes, if you're a baseball team and you're too reliant on home runs, if you're a hockey team, you have too many right-hand shots, it becomes an issue. Secondly, they said, both mess and weeks, they said, That team out there, they look old and they look slow and they look tired. I like a little grit and I like a little sandpaper, and that's critical to my team. But that can't be the emblem of my team. I need to have talent. Ultimately, if you ask what I want, hard work or talent, obviously, I take both, but I'll take the talent. I'll just take a lazy floater who's exceptionally skilled and somehow we're going to win this game.

I hope in game seven, he learns to backcheck and we'll figure it out. The Nashville, they seem thin on talent, and they just seem old slow and tired. There's a specific stat, fellows. They're 30th in odd man rushes. If ever there was a stat, right, that speaks to, that just sounds like you're old and slow and you're always up on your heels. 30th in odd man rushes. That's crazy right now for Barry Trotz's team.

So they're bad in transition.

Exactly. If you lose that fuck, and all of a sudden, you're in transition, they're in trouble. All of a sudden, like, Oh, God, three on two, two on ones. Specifically, that number must just be outrageous. And I'm with you that it feels like it's rebuild time because I'm like, there's no one there thinking, okay, even if the most optimistic Predator's been, did you think they were going to get 10? I'm like, no, he probably thought playoff team, maybe a six or seven, walker, et cetera. But if it's this bad right now, I think he just turned the page and move on.

So one last thing I wanted to get into before we wrap it up is happening in DC. Altovesh is stored in five straight games. He's 33 goals behind Wayne Gretzky. We were talking before the season, Could it happen this year? And now I feel like we're saying, Could it happen by the All-Star break? Or not the All-Star break, the Four Nations, whatever. No, you're right. This is crazy, and I am loving every minute of it. I didn't think I'd love it as much I am, but it's been so much fun to watch Adnan.

No, I'm with you, David. I think he's an incredible player. It's funny, growing up as a proud Canadian, there's always been that rivalry, Canada, Russia, et cetera. You'd think someone like me would say, No, I want Gretzky to have the record forever. But I'm like, I love Ovejka, man. I think he's been incredible for the sport. He's so charismatic, he's so dynamic, and you're absolutely right. Watching him last year, you said, Oh, man, this is going to be like Willie Mays of the Mets. He's just going to be sputtering towards the end. Will he break the record? Yeah, but it's only because he has a couple of years left on his deal and he's going to be a 20 goal scorer who's just getting garbage goals, empty net goals, power play goals, easy ones. He's not going to be a 40 goal guy. Now, Ovechkin is on pace for 55 goals. It's unbelievable. I was like, Wow. He can hit 60 this year. That's nuts. That's Austin Matthews' territory. And watching the Capitals this week, specifically, that shot when he one times in the power play, it is absolutely a thing of beauty. If you and I, if a three of us had to write down just favorite hockey plays, hockey moments, signature moments.

You go, Man, Ovechkin from the face off circle, one-timer. It is awesome to watch. And as I said, he's been great for the game. To think 900 goals. And again, talking to Kevin and Mark last time, they go, Hey, you know what, dude? He's not sitting there saying to himself, Okay, 30, 25. Let me get to 895. He wants 1,000. This is the way these guys are built. They're going to go, 900. I broke the record. I'm going to get 1,000. Imagine 1,000 goals as I was intervention. These guys are machines. There's no point slowing down. And the capital has been an incredible story. You talk about a team that looks like a legit cup contender. You don't think that energizes Alexander Ovecha even more? It's amazing to think. It's inevitably getting 900 goals. And again, in today's game, fellows, it's so impressive. Again, I adore Gretzky, but that was a much more different style of hockey, much more offensive, fire-wagon hockey. I'll get some people here living in Jersey, a lot of Bossy fans and the Islanders, et cetera. They'll say Bosi is still the greatest goal scorer ever. If you look at goals for a game, I believe Mike Bosi, the late Mike Bossy, 0.76 It's 0.77. So I suppose you could have an argument.

Obviously, the back injuries killed him. But I think for all of us, Ovechkin is going to be the greatest goal of the score of all time. He's a blast to watch.

Mike Bosi bringing him up. That makes God's happy. Prime Canada, Monday Night Hockey. Anne Anberg, thank you for joining us.

Thank you so much, Before I go, Roy, I have to read you Kevin Weeks because he's going to be in your stopping grounds next week. So I said, Listen, Roy is not going to let you off the hook here. Him and David want to have you on the podcast. Got to have you on the hockey show. So he said, Specifically, he'll do it. But he said he wants to know if you're available on Monday night to take him out. I'm not even sure the same restaurant I have here. Oh, yes. He said, Specifically, you need to go...

Joe Stonecrabs.

Prime Italian. Prime Italian, 9:00 PM, you're paying. Is that the place to go?

Bring the metal on our card.

Yeah, that's going to get I'll tell you that. I'll get that garlic bread bowl.

He's happy to do the Hockey Show podcast, but he wants to be at that place, Italian Prime. Give him a little bacon, a little bit of bread bowl. He'll be good to go.

Oh, yeah. That's a deal. We will be there.

Nice. Thanks for it. Thanks, Freud. Thanks, David. We'll talk soon, boys.

All right, brother. Be well. Thanks, Antnan.

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Don Levatard. Come with the frog here, live from Metalog Media Studios here in Miami. Stugatz. The Germans are advancing on France in World War II. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

All right, before we get into the Panthers recap for the week, I want to show a video of a hit that happened last night in the King's Knux game.

Tana Janouh had a match penalty for a hit that he laid on Barack Besser. It looked like the point of impact was to chest, but his shoulder ended up hitting Bester's head. He received a match penalty and will have an automatic hearing from the league.In person.In person.In person. Unless... Yeah. But he's going to have an in-person hearing from the Most likely he's going to get suspended. But again, he had his arm tucked. A point of impact to me looked like it was going to be the chest and the shoulder hit his head. Dave, what do you think about this hit? Do you think he deserves a lengthy suspension on this?

Looks like there's going to be a suspension. I mean, it's not just the hit itself.

It was blindside.

It was a blindside hit. The buck was nowhere to be found. He took a couple of strides, lined him up, knew what he was doing. It could have been avoided, and he could have not raised up. That's what always gets me, is when you see them raise up to make that forcibly hit. So, yeah, I would be surprised if that doesn't end in the suspension. I could be wrong. I thought that I had heard that it was an in-person hearing, but right now, all I see that there is a hearing.

It could be on Zoom.

Yeah, it could be on Zoom.

Ethan, do you feel the same way?

It's pretty ugly, Roy. I mean, it's right up to the chin. It looks Truba-esque, I would say. And anytime it looks Truba-esque, Yeah, well, I mean, with Truba, you see him launch.

There's a bit of a difference between some Truba hits, but yeah, I definitely think that...

I mean, just the way everything's headed, and this is an ugly play. It looks like he takes it right on the chin.

This is the thing that they're trying to get out of hockey. You don't want to get the big hits and all that out of the game. You want to get the ones that can concuss guys out of the game.

But as you said, it was interference.

Yeah, either way, it was a penalty. The puck wasn't there. The hit was illegal, whether or not wherever he hit him. It's just the severity of the hit itself is how you take that to the next level. Yes, where he first touched him, it appeared to his chest, but the motion, it was chest, chin. I think that's a suspendable offense.

Okay, let's give out a number here. Do you say three?

I think that's the over-under, and I'd probably take the under. I'm thinking this is like a two-game suspension.

Two-game suspension.

I'd agree.

All right, two-game suspension.

So I guess maybe the over-under would be like one and a half.

Man, I wish that we could get this on DraftKings, man. We could bet on this thing. I would probably win a lot of money. All right, let's go to the Panthers recap here. On Friday, they beat the stars 6 to 4. These are the two games that were in Finland. The Finland. The Finland Games here. They really trounced They really trounced the stars in both games, really. Let's start with the first one. Alexander Barkoff scored in front of his hometown brother-in, his family. That was very nice. Why don't you go over what happened in game one?

Game one, it was It was a Panthers blitz early on. They jumped out to the 2-0 lead. Evan Rodriguez scored 20 seconds into the game. Sasha Barkoff scored that nice goal to get everybody's attention, and then Dallas fought back a little bit. It felt like not an exhibition game, but it felt like an international game. It felt like a one-off type game because both Florida and Dallas are much more of a tight playoff style of hockey type of teams. This felt like a rush game. This felt like a President's Trophy season for the Panthers, a game from that year where it was rushes back and forth, a lot of scoring chances both ways. But still, Florida, they've created this monster in South Florida that they can beat you in a lot of different ways. In this game, it was Florida dominating for the most part. They were up 6 to 2 before Dallas got a couple of late goals on Bob, who really wasn't that tested in the second half of the game as much as he was in the first half. But just overall, it's a pretty resounding win for the Panthers and a nice start to their global series visit.

Two things from what you said there, David. First of all, I don't want to discredit just what the Panthers did to the stars because it was a one-off in international play. This was a big matchup. I mean, this is the best team in the East against... Well, Winnipeg right now is the best team in the West, I guess, but two of the Stanley Cup favorites, many people would say. It's an early season test to see how do you match up with one of the best teams in the league? The Panthers whooped their ass. I know they got the two goals late, which leads me to the second thing I wanted to mention, which is that Fuentes and I have been having discussions about it concerns him how we have to score four, five, six sometimes Panthers because we're given up too late. A lot of these games are ending up little higher scoring games. Look, I'm not worried about Bobrowski come playoff time. I know that come to the playoff, he'll lock in. But do you guys have a little bit of concern about some defensive issues with the Panthers, maybe because you're starting to see some higher scoring games than you normally would, or is that something you just never worry about with the Florida Panthers?

No. Well, the goals that you're talking about, these late game goals, these situational things that the Panthers were, they were up big, and then they give up a couple of goals late. If these are tight games, you're having different on the ice. You're playing matchups, you're approaching it differently. Last night, you're not putting your fourth-line guys out in the power play.

No, sure not.

You know what I mean?

Those fourth-line guys were out for... I didn't see Kachuk for the last 10 minutes of the game, I swear.

But that's the luxury of being a good team is that you can play this style, and you can shield minutes. You don't have to have Barthov killing every single penalty. So no, I'm not concerned because when the Panthers get locked in, they look great. So for now, I'm fine with the way they're Cool.

I'm going to show that to Fuentes.

I'm not concerned because you're scoring four goals a game. You're doing something right, pretty much.

The Panthers have been scoring like Hotgates lately, too. Yeah. They're averaging five goals a game over this. Don't make me hungry. Do not make me hungry. I'm trying to distract you from the food. Five goals a game of their six-game winning streak they're averaging. That's pretty good.

On Saturday, they played again. They beat them again, 4-2. They did. And that was a little bit tighter.

Covered both games?

Yeah, they covered both games. That was a A little bit tighter. And in the end, the seven finish players from both teams, four from Florida, three from Dallas, combined from 11 points in the series. Alexander Barkoff had four. Nico Mikola and Essa Lindell from Dallas, They each had two. Antoine Lindell, E2, Lusterinen, and Mirre Heskinen from the stars, they each had one. So 11 points from the Finns. The Fins showed up in this season series. I can say season series because they're done.

What I liked about the second game when you talk about comparing the two games, is obviously a much tighter game. Florida held Dallas to their lowest shot output in that third period of that last game. Of all the six periods that they played, that was the best defensive period that Florida played. It was a one goal. It was tied, actually, going into the third. Aj Greer got the game-winning goal. It was about two and a half minutes into the third as I look at the stat sheet here. But that was your more traditional type of Panther game, and they took a Dallas team that is very motivated and very talented, and they shut them down pretty well in that third period. I really liked overall overall, on the whole, both of those games in Finland. It would have been cool if we could have seen them in person.

I think one of the most encouraging signs from the Panthers so far is what they're doing in these third periods, because we touched on it earlier with Adnan about the Championship hangover. We haven't really seen one from the Panthers yet. I'm a little concerned that they're peaking a little early, and maybe they'll start to run in. They're going to run into a rut at some point. It happens over the course of every NHL season. It should have happened already. But it should have happened. Exactly. It should have happened already. To see them come out with the injuries to Barcow and Kachuk, who are so important late in those games, and after playing such a grueling playoff run and a short offseason, with a short offseason in the offseason before, to see them come out to start the year and just still be the same Florida Panthers in the third period and just shut games down. I mean, they shut that game down last night. There have been multiple games this year. I think against the Rangers, they just turned the game off in the third period completely. It's what they do. It's what they're known for.

And despite the thought that, Oh, they would have a championship hangover, they're doing it right out of the gates better than they have in years.

Yeah, shut down city in the third period, just like last year.

Just like last year. What I like about this team, to your point, of the lack of a hangover or what Adnan had said that some of these teams, they experience the hangover in December, January, February. I want to see when the adversity strikes this team, because what we've learned about this Panthers team over the last two plus years under Paul Maurice is that they thrive under adversity. When things happen to them, they overcome it every time. The only time that they didn't was when they ran out of games to play against Edmondson or against Vegas when everybody got hurt. They just ran out of time. Whenever the net's bump in the road approaches, I have confidence that this team is going to be able to overcome that just because that's all they do. They're built for it. They're built for the tough terrain. So, yeah, bring it on. They already did it this year.

Sorry, Roy. Just one more thing. They already did it this year, again, without Barki and Chucky. We were worried that Barki would be out for a while and playing without your two best players to start the year for a fair amount stretch of games. They were great in those stretches of games and more than stayed afloat like we were hoping for them to early in the season. So, yeah, I think you're right, David. They are built for anything that comes their way.

Last night, the Panthers defeated the Predators 6 to 2. Carter Verhege had two goals and assists. Alexander Balkoff had three assists. He has 11 points in eight games. Is that good? What the That's crazy. But the Predators in last night's game, and we talked about this earlier, did not play. They had no fight until just about the end of the second period when they finally got themselves into a Scrum in a game that they got thoroughly outmatched.

They had lost the night before in DC, so it wasn't terribly surprising. But again, is that really an excuse? Because good teams find ways, as we were just talking about, good teams find ways to get things done. But look, Florida was up 2-0 five minutes into the game. If there was any internal juice that Nashville brought into that, Florida pulled it out of them really quick.

Absolutely. I mean, it was just a disastrous game for the Predators and maybe Andrew Burnet's on the hot seat.

Well, I don't know, right? Because didn't Barry Trott's I wanted to answer a question about that earlier this week, that somebody asked them if Andrew Burnet would be on the hot seat. And despite all the issues that they're having in Nashville, it sounds like Bruno is going to be okay for now, that the problems that at least Barry Trott is seeing in that team aren't necessarily due to a lack of-It's not coaching. Yeah, it's not coming from behind the bench. We've talked about it a lot, but I thought Nashville was going to be good. They put a lot of effort into building that team up during the offseason, and to see them fall flat in their face like this, it's still very early. They could still turn it around. It wouldn't be surprising. Edmonton wasn't in a very much better situation at this point last year. Now, granted, Nashville doesn't have Connor McDavid, but they do have Phil Foresberg, Stephen Stamkos, Jonathan Marchesau, UC Sarros, Roman Yosey. Brad D.

Shay.

They've got a very talented team. Maybe they're top-heavy, but still, they're better than what they've shown. They got good goaltending. Yeah? Well, they got a good starting goaltender.

Yeah. All right. Okay. They got a good starting goaltender. But yeah, that was a poor showing for a team that should be better. Definitely. If they don't get it right, it's over for them.

They're in trouble, Roy. You can't make the playoffs in the first month and a half of the season. But you can lose. You can definitely miss the playoffs. Right now, Nashville is trending towards definitely missing the playoffs. I was reading about them the other day, and basically what they were saying is that their metrics, their shooting percentage is super low. It will positively regress at some point. But with the way their other metrics are, that's only going to cause their offense to regress to like, league average. It's not like all of a sudden the pucks are going to start going in and you're going to have this high flying offense that's in the top 10 in the league. They're going to be a league average offense based off chance creation, things they do at five on five, things they're doing on the power play. Stamkos will get rolling on the power play. He scored a power play goal last night, which did you guys both have flashbacks watching that, seeing Sam Coase from his office on the power play against the Panthers? Yeah, unfortunately. But I just think that it might just not be a good team.

They spent a bunch in free agency, but it It happens in every sport where you go big in free agency and it doesn't always pay off. It's so much about drafting, building a core, trading for your core the way the Panthers have. It might just be that they went too big in free agency and they're going to have to blow this up. If they blow this up, like Marceau, Stamco, I don't know if anybody's going to be safe, except probably Foresberg and Sarros, right? It's actually after Sarros signed that extension. You signed that massive deal.

O'reilly.

It's going to be interesting what rebuild they're going to do with some of the contracts they have. But no.

Can we talk about Sam Reinhardt, please?

Okay. We don't have time to get into how- He's very good. How good Sam Reinhardt's season has been. All I can say right now is that the Panthers play the Flyers tomorrow. The Flyers are the second worst team in the Houston conference, and they are dead last in the Metro. I don't want to brush them to the side like I did the first game versus Buffalo because I learned that lesson. But I mean, that should be a win.

Just like the game against Nashville on Thursday should have been a win. If Florida shows up and does what they should do, then they should beat this Flyers team. Right now, they don't have anything in the goal-tending Department.

No.

They just scratched their high-end rookie. It's been a rough year. You want to talk about Hot Seat? I would think Torrance is probably on the Hot Seat.

Yeah. I'm much more interested in the New Jersey games coming up this week because the Devils are off to a great start this year. Hot pick for a lot of people for a deep run, maybe even a Stanley Cup.

That could be a conference championship.

Yeah, definitely.

They've got some good goal tending in Jersey between Markstrom and Allen. Those two guys have been great.

Jack Hughes looks like he's about to get rolling. He made a great play last night. But two games at home for the Panthers against the Devils, that's a big early season measuring stick for the Panthers and the Devils to see how they match up against each other.

Right. Thank you, Ethan. Thank you, Gino. And thank you, Danny. Thank you, David. And thank me.

Thank you, Roy.

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