Maple Leafs vs. Penguins LIVE Post Game Reaction | Leafs Talk

Maple Leafs vs. Penguins LIVE Post Game Reaction | Leafs Talk

[Applause] Leaf talk. Sam McKe Brent Gunning from uh the North Pole joining us tonight on Saturday night in lie of my good friend JD Bunkis. If you’re watching on Sports Net Plus on YouTube, you’ll see a wonderful festive scene that’s just looks like you look like a hug right now, brother. I just It’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful thing. Uh I will say rare something that we get to say off the top of the show recently. Leafs win and even and even more rare Gunnar, the Leafs win in regulation for the first time since I believe the Mammoth the was that November 6th like couple days after the Jays lost the World Series in game seven because I remember I was still in a funk from that and I still am right now. But it’s been almost a calendar month since the Leaf’s last regulation win and uh they do it tonight. Uh, lots to get into, but I guess the biggest story from the game would be the underachievers line. Not exactly the perfection line, but the underachiever line, the third line with McMahon, Wah and uh, and Joshua. Have a good night. Score three goals. What’ you take from tonight? Hey, the spare parts line gets it done. And and how how dare you you you throw uh, you you throw ill will towards that win against the Mammoth. That’s why Matias Machelli had the belt first and last time. I’m sure he’ll ever touch that thing uh this year. So, now he’s holding Mike Zidberger’s belt in the in the breast box. Heyo. Uh no, look, I uh I think that was it, right? It’s just it it’s remarkable to me how a game like that, not 72 win, but just a game that didn’t have a lot of nerves. It wasn’t, “Oh my god, what’s about to happen?” That felt so common in every other Leafs regular season after what, the first year of of the Matthews era. And this year it just feels so so different to see a game that plays out that way. That was the biggest takeaway to me honestly. Yeah, it just Yeah, that that’s actually really, you know, I don’t think they were necessarily dominant tonight. I mean, they I think they benefited from some pretty poorest goalending from the from the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I thought some of the defensive zones like I I thought quite frankly I thought the lease won cuz the Penguins were dog crap tonight if I’m being fully honest. But listen, you can’t just come on here and be negative Nancy every single night. Like last night, me and or I guess last evening because of a 5:00 puck drop. But man, me and Bonus yesterday, it’s like these clips that are coming out after I’m like, “Oh my god, I’m such a meanie.” Like it’s just so negative. Like I’m a fan at the end of the day and it’s just nice to come on here after a game where they just shot seven in the net. It was a bit of a laugher. Like Matthews fires one in the net on a wrist shot. Nick Robertson gets off his little schnide that he’s been on. you see Dakota Joshua. So like I’m not really projecting forward too much in terms of what this means or what it’s like oh is it the turnaround maybe but probably not but just like as a singular event tonight was really enjoyable. We we used to joke all the time about how people will who didn’t really watch like a ton of Leafs, but like you know they’re the team, so you got to talk about them be like, “Well, that high-flying Leafs.” It’s like, “Oh, you don’t watch the game at all.” That’s there are going to be takes that come out of this game like look at that Leafs back at it. 72 win. Can they build off it? I’m like, did you watch the game? Like that was not that was the least dominant 7-2 win in the in the history of recorded human hockey is is kind of kind of what it feels like. Uh, I no longer live and deserve to win Ometer Lamb. But I don’t know what that looked like. It wouldn’t have been as lopsided as the score, I would imagine. So, yeah, that’s that that’s another thing that jumped out was just how for a 72 dominating win. That didn’t feel like, you know, the Leafs were a title wave just rolling over the boards every time. It just kind of kind of happened. And that’s fine cuz it’s happened to them a lot this year. So, it’s fine for them to be the team that it happens for at least once. Um, so to get into some of the more specifics of the game, uh, I don’t know, like I’m pretty frustrated by how good Dakota Joshua looked tonight. Oh my god. Like I I I don’t think my like emotion watching that was like, “Oh, great game.” It’s like, where the hell have you been? First period, he run somebody over. Yes, it was Dumba. He caught Dumba with his head down in the in the offensive zone. He goes to the front of the net on the first goal. wins a battle, gets in the like right in the sort of blue paint area. He’s a he’s tough to move. They Bobby McMahon ends up tipping one in that goes in for the first goal of the game. You know, he scores a goal. He’s in on the forche. He carries a puck with one hand to the net where the guy has to haul him down, draws a penalty towards the end of the second period. Like I I understand some guys that like need a little bit of a poke and a prod to get going, but like this guy is an established NHLer and he makes what does he make three and a half? That’s a great hit. What does he make? $3.5 million like from now until eternity. But yeah, you shouldn’t have to like you should, you know, maybe be hard coached a little bit and have conversations with the coach and maybe have your ice time diminished and which they’ve done all that stuff. It shouldn’t take you going to the press box to look like this. And guess what? Okay, pre, you know, good for him. And he only ended up playing 1251 tonight. I I think as a compliment, it felt like more than that because of his shift being impactful. But like I would like to see this continue for a few games, maybe like the rest of the season without him having to be like scratched again because I found myself watching him tonight being very frustrated saying like I could get why if you’re a coach of a hockey team tonight would drive you insane. Nuts. Drive you absolutely nuts. And yeah, I was about to make a Google Glass joke, but I guess we’re off that. We’re on to like Oakley AI or whatever it is now. Metal Glasses. Ally just Ally just ordered Metaglasses. I’m like, “You dork. You dork.” Anyways, you’re going to have to regail me with the tales of what exactly those things exactly. I don’t know. She’s like, “They’re cool.” I’m like, “Sure, cool.” Apparently, the reason I bring it up is because we need to find some way to like put Dakota Joshua’s direct deposit in his visor. Like, so when he’s skating, he’s just like, “Yeah, that’s right.” Like, you’re right. I should do it. Look how much they give me every two weeks. This isn’t once a month. No, every two weeks. Okay. All right. That’s the way you have to motivate him apparently because yeah, it shouldn’t take a healthy scratch, especially on a team like this where like jobs aren’t necessarily up for grabs, but roles have been. If Dakota Joshua just came in here and skated like the wind and ran over somebody like he did Dumba once a week, forget every game. He would have had a more locked and loaded role on this team. So, I think that’s the frustrating part about it. Like, you do hope it can be a spark. You do hope it can get him going. But, yeah, man. It’s uh it is nuts to have to poke and prod a player like that who that’s supposed to be it, right? It’s like I know he had the 18 goal season. I’m not sitting there holding my breath waiting for that to rear its ugly head again. And I don’t think he should be either, right? This is a guy who’s going to get you 10 plus and when it’s like, oo 14, you should be really happy about that. Uh but it shouldn’t be a statistical thing with him. It should be all the other stuff you saw tonight. So yeah, if you’re if you’re chief, you like go pull that up in the video room and you’re like I I was about to say, is this so hard? Yes, it is very hard, but it’s like that’s the job and that’s why the direct deposit looks like it does. But if you’re playing 13 minutes a night, I don’t know how many shifts that equates to. Yeah. But like they should be able to I should be able to notice you more. And I Bunk and I disagreed a little bit last night on like he liked him yesterday a little bit more than I did. You know, I I didn’t think he was particularly great. Uh, but tonight I thought for stretches of the game he was their best forward and I just I want to see that a little bit more. Totally. The worst part about that the worst part about that for you though is now like whether Bunk was right or not about yesterday now is reflexively right cuz it’s like oh he’s building on it. So unfortunately you got to hold that L buddy on on his on his prey year uh his like preview show for the Leafs this year. We did our like bold predictions. Which one of these is worse? Okay. He said Dakota Joshua 25 goals. I said Matias Pelli 80 points. Uh Joshua Joshua goals is so much worse. Machelli points is ridiculous. Uh they’re both terrible is the answer you’re actually looking for here. But yeah, Joshua goals is way worse. You could see a world where Machelli like skills it up with second assist. There’s no such thing there’s no such thing as a second goal. like you score it or you or you don’t. I I thought you were gonna bring up whipping boy draft because I was I was I was hot to trot on and he was gonna be fan whipping boy. Yeah. And the good news for that is like that race is not over. Long season, lot of hockey left. Whipping boy’s he decided here. Boy, we are in we’re barely making the turn to the Kentucky Derby here. Like there’s a lot of rowing left to be whipping. All right. The next thing I wanted to bring up is I was impressed with Hill to be tonight. I I thought I thought that like early in this game he had to be pretty sharp and like every Leaf’s game the goalie has to make a bunch of really good saves early and I I it’s funny cuz CeCe does a fabulous job of course along with Craig Simpson on Sports Set and Hockey Night in Canada. He calls him like the Hilda beast after he makes a great save. And I just like it’s so funny that the Leafs are continuing like the lineage of super average to below average goalies with unbelievable nicknames. It’s like the Hilda Beast is immediately a top five hockey nickname. Like I like I I don’t even I guess we don’t really do you know Sparky anymore. Like we don’t really do nicknames anymore. But like the Hilda Beast is such a good nickname. And he was the Hilda Beast tonight. Like I I give this kid credit where I mean when’s the last time he played? I guess he got in that Montreal game in the third period, right? But he didn’t face much if I’m not mistaken the score effects in that game. Leafs controlled that third period and there wasn’t a ton of time for him. But his last start, I can’t even remember it there through so many of these games. But like you could see why like a goalie, you know, he’s got some like he’s just big. Yes. Moves around well. Like he is eerily similar to the monster. Eerily similar to the monster. Yeah. Right down to like even like little long face. Like it’s a it’s a tall head even a little a little bit. That was the name of my metal band in high school. Yeah. It was great. I can’t wait. Uh hook me up with some merch if you got me poking around in Andy’s garage up there in the sound. Okay. Uh but but no, I think uh also Dennis Hildabby like there’s never been a person who benefits more from being in the game. So I don’t have to look for look at shots of him on the bench where he like the confidence I have in now watching him play versus the confidence I have when they would cut to him on the bench is night and night and day. And honestly it’s like there I know that we’re all like questioning what exactly they built here in terms of this hockey team. But they didn’t give him a three-year deal cuz they saw they thought he stunk, right? Like they they saw something in there and it’s goalies. You’re going to take a million different different cracks at this. Uh, but yeah, I really like what they’ve what they’ve got out of him. And yeah, it’s just funny that like the way this has been trending, the team back in Pittsburgh, I’d be lying if I didn’t have the like, is this going to be a casuo night? We did it. We did it last night where it was like the exact same thing where, you know, Malcolin walks down the slot, first shift, bar down, you’re like, “Oh god, the Brube’s getting fired after they lose a close one to Florida on Tuesday or whatever they play.” So, like, it did it did have that feeling. And yeah, I I wrote down in my notes here uh cuz I had to write notes physically because if I try to do them on my notes app on my phone now, I’ll just go on TikTok and distract myself because the league games are so hard to watch recently. But I wrote down in the third period he’ll be on Malcolin with a star right after Sid made it 52. Yep. There was a little wave there and he came across and robbed Malcolm. I I I like it. I think it was Malcolm and he robbed it was I know what the player you’re talking about. Yep. And Chief’s life had to flash before his eyes. Like that goal goes in like let’s live in that alternate universe where that goal goes in. It was pretty early. Like Sid would have Sid score with like 13 minutes left. 14 minutes left in the third. 14 minutes left and then CC’s like oh all of a sudden the last 10 minutes of this game are a little different. Oh you think? Yeah. And then and then it’s just that and then that one goes in and like listen they blow that lead like Chief’s probably not getting on the plane to Florida like they like let’s let’s let’s not let’s call a spade a spade. So I thought it was just funny. It was a really great save by him and I was impressed. So I mean they’re going to need him. I mean Solars is disappeared. He’s in the North Pole with you know he’s disappeared. Hype down Anthony. I’m doing a show over here. Oh. Oh. Oh. No. I think honestly I think the thing with Hildabby what I wrote down in my notes is what do you think the Oilers would trade for him? That’s and that’s just like that’s the level of of where I’m at. What do you think the Oilers would trade for Wall? Well, yeah, of course. If they were just calling to get a guy, that’s the guy they’d take. But it’s just th this is this is the thing with Hillby is that you have had the primus of the world. We can go back to the Michael Hutcherson experiment a thousand years ago. You know what it looks like when there’s a goalie? you cannot win with and I don’t think anybody’s sitting here going, “Oh, Dennis Hilby is going to go win a cup.” But that’s a goalie you can win with. The the floor is good enough there and if he’s the third goalie in the orc, that’s all you really should be looking for out of him. Yeah. So, I would say if I’m if I’m the coach, like he’s earned another non-backto back start for me on this trip. Agreed. I think I think I think I go wall obviously Tuesday night against the Panthers division game but last game of a road trip in Carolina bit of a scheduled L like and then I think they have a I forget what their schedule is but then they probably play on the Saturday night here back here right I would imagine yeah and then then you just go for me you just go uh the Carolina with Hillbe and then you give wall the Saturday night like just it’s a nice little break Tuesday to Saturday he’s playing a ton like I know you really got But at the same time, the coach is like, “We need every single point we can get so I can keep my job.” So maybe he won’t do that. But if I was the coach or the general manager, whoever makes these decisions, Keith P, I would be deciding maybe whoever I don’t know the disconnect. I don’t know who even makes decisions. But yeah, so uh good for Hill to be um other thing I had wrote written down tonight which I think is very interesting. So Knander’s playing with Ken and Tvaris. Yep. And Knander is like, you know, one of the stars in the league. And, you know, I thought that he was noticeably pretty good tonight. He passes to Cowan. He does. And like that’s, you know, that maybe if I don’t know, like somebody listening to this like, what does that mean? Like, of course, he passes to him. No, but like he looks for him. He doesn’t just pass to him. He looks for him. There was a play and I don’t know if this is actually the goal. This is I think maybe the goal we’re showing here, but there was a play right before this where they were I think on a twoon-one or they were like it was like a play that was very wasn’t that long maybe even the shift before this where he looked for him. I was like Willie just passed a count in that spot. I’m like that is that’s some trust. That’s like that is like you know a status symbol that one of like the more you know I don’t know like you know he’s a little stylish. He I don’t know what maybe not selfish isn’t the right word but likes to shoot it in the net. likes to get his cookies and the fact that he’s looking for Cowan. I I gotta tell you, man, I was very critical of the Leaf’s use of Cowan. I was very critical of them, you know, kind of asking a lot of them, but he’s answering the questions. No, he was good again tonight, man. He absolutely is. You he needed some success from an offensive standpoint, right? Like him just going in there and being an energy guy and like, “Oh, great. Lot and Lorent like sure if that’s how he wanted to get his feet wet I wasn’t going to complain but if he was going to be an NHL player especially playing with the guys you you need to see the puck go in he does it a couple times in a row now it it is just it it is telling to your point of how Neander looks at him. I think part of it honestly is just okay. Uh if Austin Matthews isn’t like Austin Matthews all the time, maybe we need another guy on this team and it’s like Tvarz is there as well. But they need like Neander’s not a dummy. He’s going to be here for the foreseeable future. And if he wants it to go well, Easting Howen better be a part of it going well. So I think there’s something to that. But also guess what? If he does that two times and he hammers the puck into the corner like we wanted John Tvarz to do on his 500th goal, then you’re not going to continue to get that pass from him. But you do. So I think that’s just it. This is again like newander. Do I think he’s sitting there like on hockey DB all day as he’s waiting for his YouTube video to upload? No, I don’t. But it’s like he knows the backstory. London Knight, World Juniors, first round pick, all all of these things. He’s aware of it. And then the fact that you get the positive result on the goal tonight, he’s just going to continue to look for him. It’s the thing about Willie is we sometimes get so bogged down in like is this guy a passer? Is he a shooter? Willy’s just a playmaker. Sometimes the play is for him, sometimes it’s for somebody else. But you give him a competent player and the way he’s going right now, the way he’s feeling, and that’s exactly what Cowan is. And it’s perfect for him to be like the young energy guy on that line, but if it’s not going well, it’s rarely his fault. It’s honestly it’s a really really nice thought for him right now. So, uh, a goal plus two tonight in one shot that went in, one hit, one block shot. 1844 tonight for Eastern Cowan. And that was his third goal in the year. Seven points in sorry, eight points in 15 games, playing almost 15 minutes a night. I I’m pretty excited that he looks like this. Yeah, me too. I have to admit because I listen like not to get too grim but we’re I think we’re all kind of seeing their next lives flash in front of our eyes here in terms of what the next thing might be. Mhm. And it’s nice to know that you got one of them. Yes. So I I I I’m impressed by this kid and it as an own sounder uh praising a career London Knight, it really it kills me with every ounce of my being. Kid seems like an absolute stud. Loves it. Loves to shoot the puck in the net. Digs for the puck. So impressed with Cowan again tonight. Yeah. And I know you guys obviously would have touched on it last night, but God, that that release uh on the last goal he’s scored before tonight was just uh just incredible. Just ripping it right underneath the bar. So I love love love what you seen out of him. And happy happy that he’s just getting some real run here as opposed to up and down and in and out and Marley and not this is not Marley and me. Uh Marley with Willie is what I what I would like. So, two things. Oliver Recman Larson scores a great goal in this game. Yep. I sent out a tweet with a little uh little devil here saying Oliver Reman Larson trade value up. So, I was being a little bad boy. That’s okay because listen, like he’s playing well, man. He really He’s playing really well and he’s leading the league for Swedish defenseman. I mean, there’s some pretty good Swedish defenseman out there. Like, that’s a pretty good stat. It’s kind of their thing. Yeah, it’s true. It’s kind of It’s kind of their dice move. But here’s what I’ll say. Sucks that he got hurt. Like I I don’t know. I didn’t see where they got hurt. They mentioned it that he hadn’t been on the bench. They didn’t show where it happened. Maybe they were furiously certain. I I didn’t see what happened, but like I hope it was a precautionary thing in terms of in terms of Yeah. Like that’s what I’m hoping for. But this sucks from all perspectives. This sucks if you think that the Leafs are going to get back into it. And this sucks if like he’s got a tweak or whatever and they’re out of it and like you know he’s hurt and you can’t trade him for as much as he did before. Hope Oliver Deckman Larson is uh back and healthy on Tuesday night cuz he’s been awesome. It’s great goal tonight. Fired it. Pedigree. Great. Well, great goal pedigree. You’ve always brought this up like from the second he dawned the blue and white. You you mentioned it cuz you can’t see it. You could just like you could just notice it every once in a while. He’s not a guy that’s all over the place with that, but yeah, you can just see the skill kind of shining through. Honestly, one of the better moves of the Tree Living era. Like probably a for sure top three. I’m I’m trying to think off the top of my head like just the bringing him in and and doing what he’s done. Starts looked really good, but I would say that’s run out of steam. TBD on on that. Yeah, TBD. Uh what was the other team? What was the other guy he signed that off season? There was three right the extension, right? Yeah. Oh my god, I’m such an idiot. Like it’s like I should do this for a living or something. Lorent people loved on the PTO last year. That’s great. Awesome. You found a guy in a PTO. This is This is different. Oh, Ben Wa off the street is good from Luke in the chat. Yeah. Hey, that one’s Oh, again, right. Like, well, the team sucks. So, every signing looks bad right now, so maybe. Yeah, it’s Well, and we probably shouldn’t judge a fifth defenseman when the team’s terrible, right? It’s like when they’re going well. 56. Woo! Look at that guy all of a sudden. that Benois that Benois need more. Yeah. Uh okay. Just off of the off of the Oel thing. Uh Matthews up top on the power play like O would be the one that we were both forgetting. Okay. Again, but it’s like I don’t know. They got a season out of him and like can I see him again before I buddy? I think he’s a development coach now. Patches. Oh, that’s pretty good too. That’s pretty good too. Okay. So, all the old hurt guys that they got for one year, that’s his that’s his special. Uh, okay. It’s almost like they’re trying Taniv is a development coach for the Leafs and I think literally uh Michigan has patch ready as an actual coach literally. And I and I can vouch that yesterday was a PA day out here and Jake Muzin was running a children’s hockey camp with Kyle Clifford. So, I can vouch for for that. That’s awesome. I love those guys doing that stuff. That’s awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And K will be doing that in literally three years. Yes. Yes. Once he’s allowed to turn a light on in his house, he will he will in fact uh do that. Okay. Uh you good on all the old guys? Sh living side that we’re good for eight months. We can move very past now to now to a guy who’s not that old but maybe looks like it all the time. Uh Austin Matthews. Yeah. What do you think of him up top on the power play? This is not like first time we’ve seen this. There’s literally no iteration of leap power play that we haven’t seen. just felt like he was up there a lot tonight. And I know Ool goes out, so they shift some things around, but yeah, that was that was notable to me. Well, they’ve done the five forward thing now and they’re trying to maybe put him up there. Like honestly, why not? It all sucks. So, just like there’s there hasn’t been like an enjoyable thing that they’ve been able to get any traction with. And I would argue that it’s looked by far the best that it has in the last three games when they’ve done it or two games that they’ve done it. The first game was against Columbus that they did it Wednesday night, right? Mhm. So, this would have been the third game that they’ve done it and I would say their power plays look the best in the last three games that it looks all year. I mean, that’s not a high bar. No. But I’m good with it. I’m good with it. Like, they snapped it around pretty good tonight. They got one. It was the second unit that gets one, but that’s still a that’s still a check mark for Savvy, so good for him. Yeah. And Nick Wash fires it in. And his reaction pulled me a lot. Oh man, he was fired up for that one, eh? Yeah. 5-1. I was like, “Holy crap, these guys need these guys are feeling it, boy.” It is hilarious just how much we’re all searching for anything. Like they talk about how like the road trip’s going to continue and Simmer’s like, “Well, I mean, they get to watch football tomorrow, off day, get on a plane. Those are I mean things people enjoy those things, right? It’s uh it’s just remarkable how we’re all searching for it. But to answer your question, bud, I I I’m good with it. Just do whatever to make it somewhat Can we get it in the the 20 to 15 range in the league? Let’s do that. If we can get it up there, then that’s that’s going to be helpful. Yeah, would be nice. I just I I like it. You’re right. Like I’m not sitting here going, “Oh my god, this is great. I love it. They’ve unlocked it.” just kind of it just kind of forces different looks. Obviously, still despite what he is this year, there’s the gravity of Matthews on the power play. And if you have him up top, maybe it kind of pulls some people up there, allowing more of the seam passes or getting it into Dvar in the bumper. So, yeah, I think there’s I think there’s some like reasons it would make sense as opposed to just shrug Leaf’s power play. But that has been how we’ve talked about it for the entirety of like what five years now. Yeah. Except I mean the thing is like we talked about this and you know it’s a no marner zone here but I mean we talked about the special team is the special teams is where they’re going to miss the most and the power play for the Leafs looked by far the best it ever looked in this era with him up top. So I mean he’s pretty good. Although okay this is not a Leafs game take okay but I’m so sick of this Marner. The reason the Leafs suck is because of Marner not being here. Like every day on X, I got to see a 100 tweets from a 100 Dumbos about like if I’m not mistaken, this was at least 11th win tonight, right? Yep. I think they have one more win than Vegas unless Vegas played today and won. Uh no idea if they did. No idea if they did. Uh I’m just quickly scrolling. They they are playing right now against San Jose. So, as of right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are having the worst season that anyone can ever remember, have more wins than the Vegas Golden Knights do. And Mitch Martner is on pace for 78 points. Okay, he’s not perfect either. The Leafs have been bad, but it’s not because of one guy leaving. You can talk about the guys they replaced him with. We can have a conversation about that, but like enough testify. God. No, this this goes back to what I was saying about the people who and look obviously there are some people who went into this with a bias of like the loss of Marner will impact this season or not impact but will crater this team whatever but this also goes to the people who are just like it’s the people who are saying oh man this high-flying Leafs team what team have you been watching like Mitch Martner helped the Leafs obviously of course very good of course but the idea that they weren’t going to have a guy like William Nander driving a line right behind him and maybe allowing him to kind of be step even more into the limelight wasn’t going to help. No, I’m I’m happy you brought that up. We can move on. But preach, preach. Uh so, a couple funny ones for the and I just a couple quick funny ones down the show. I don’t have a ton more, but uh you know, last year around this time I went to Detroit for Bills, Lions, Leafs, Red Wings. What a trip. And this weekend in Pittsburgh was a big miss by the boys. big miss because you had you had Leaves Pittsburgh tonight and I mean like it’s a bad night to be a what’s the beer they drink there? The uh it’s a bad night to be a Yingling in Pittsburgh tonight boy because those Leaf fans are heading to the bar and they are not going to be leaving until it’s late late. So if you’re in Pittsburgh, you’re listening to this tomorrow morning with a big time hangover. Have a great time. It would have been a great double dip. I did the double dip last year in Detroit. I really never financially recovered from it, but it was unbelievably good. So, I’m I’m a little sour I didn’t look at the schedule a little bit better and plan this because it would have been a great trip for the boys. Would have been a great trip. Oh, as soon as they mentioned it on the broadcast, I immediately just like pre-missing out. Like, I would not have gone. It was not something on my to-do list. But I was like, “Oh, but why aren’t I there? This is so sad for me personally.” Yeah. Would have been an Alzheimer. I have uh I’ve done like one of those like bus trips. I did it down for the Canada US outdoor world juniors game and uh yeah, extremely gritty. Uh would not have made it back to the country if it wasn’t for the best man at my wedding, Daniel. So uh if you’re listening to this buddy, I’m still forever grateful for you uh shephering me back to back to the great white north all the way to the North Pole where I’m doing the show from. Speaking of your boys, I was playing hockey with your boy Rich. He’s going to love this so much. Well, we played hockey. I was in the dressing room and he was like, “Sammy?” I’m like, “Oh, I recognize you.” And he’s like, “Oh, I was going to drunk.” Anyways, yeah. Uh, we played hockey at Mimico Arena. Speaking of gritty, uh, the next thing I wanted to say, uh, quickly this podcast last year, the dudes, Connor Der, we’re big time Connor Der guys on this podcast. Love Connor Der. And they were talking about on the broadcast like Connor Der day in the paw. And so I was quickly picked up my phone to do some research on this. Sure. Do we h do we have the Oh, here she goes. Look at that. Attention. Uh, the PA region is excited to unveil announce the unveiling of our Connor sign. Oh. Oh, you got the sign, too, Luke. Give me the sign. Put the sign up. Put the sign up. Oh my god, that’s incredible. That honestly though, that little picture right there is so good. I I just Oh, that’s beautiful, man. In least colors. This is It’s amazing that it’s in least colors. Of course, they’re by far the proudest of that. But here’s here’s what I’ll say. Like, you know, this is amazing. And like, I didn’t want to pull this up to make fun of it. No, I wanted to pull this up because of what a huge deal it is making the NHL. And like you know we live I’m from I’m from Own Sound. You know you’re from the general Toronto area. I live in Toronto. People from this area make the show all the time. Of course it’s better better facilities, more money. Lot lots of reasons that people around here make the show but like the paw is a tiny little place. And like I just I love this stuff, man. And like the the the fact that he’s on the NHL star is doing a lot of work. Like let’s let’s not let’s not let’s not call let’s call a spade a spade. But I just love this. The dudes love this. If me and Bon had known, we would have flown to the paw. We would have been there a lot. They they should open the dude ranch in honor of the dude himself, Connor Der. No, man. I I completely echo everything you said like, okay, so you know, it’s funny. I was just at my kids hockey practice this morning. And again, to your point, like these are not it’s not an incredible thing that somebody from Burlington or Oakville or whatever made it to the OHL, but or the NHL. And I’m sitting there and I’m looking at the Owen Power jersey and then I had a Leaf Sabres game with my kid and I’m like, that’s the jersey that’s hanging up in your rink where you practice and it’s like that’s one of 10. Can you imagine if it’s one of one forever kind of like I hope hopefully some kid proves me wrong about that. But it’s just no, I I love it. I am such a sucker for driving through small towns and it’s like home of X, home of Y. Uh, I love it. Love it. Can we get Can we get the poster up one more time? One more time. Like this is uh if you’re watching on YouTube plus this is um uh what’s what’s it called? Is my passion. Uh Photoshop is graphic design. I love it. Shout out to P. Shout out Connor Derer took a bad penalty tonight, but I I just love that stuff. So, yeah, because he’s a leaf at heart and he wanted to help the boys out. That’s why that’s why. Yeah. Uh just quickly checking my notes if I had I thought Aaron Asham was from the Paw, so I was like, “Oh, but he’s from Portage La Prairie.” So, I I thought I was like, “Wow, they’re really slandering Asham, but he uh he was from a different part, which I’m sure there’s an international side.” So, uh, I would imagine, uh, him telling whoever it was to go night night in the in the tilt there was a was an all time asham moment. Yeah. One more quick thing. Gino Malcin has always been the sneaky dirtiest guy in the league and I love it. I love it. I love it. There’s not a lot like there’s different types of Russians, right? Like there’s always been different types of Russians. Go on. The forwards aren’t usually the gritty guys. Like, you know, it’s always the deep. Yeah. Yeah. Like the gritty the gritty guys are always the dmen. Yes. But I would say that if Genny Melin plays with the most heart of any Russian ever. You think that’s fair? Uh I mean off the top of my head I’ll blindly agree with you. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. There’s not any Well, I mean like Obie’s Obie’s a pretty passionate guy himself and I seem to recall a lot of early in Go on. I guess but he did punch. I guess Obie’s there, but I I always think of Malcolm when I think of like the guy who will get in somebody’s face the most. Like I guess the the visual of him punching out Fetchnikov is kind of counterintuitive to this, but I think that was more of a one-off. I just feel like I’ve seen Genny Malcin in 10 time more scrums over his career than I have with Alex Ovetchkin. I just I I love Malcolm, man. There’s there is one potato face guy just yelling at every No, it’s impossible. It is impossible not to love him. That story Sid has told. I mean, he told it once. We’ve all heard it a billion times. Like, yeah, but three years Russian Super League, bud. Uh, get in front of me. I’ll be going last here. It’s just how can you not love it? The only way to settle this argument is for us to just show this to Gino and Obie and see who gets more mad about it. That’s the only way each other for a while, right? Remember that correctly? Because o Yeah, because remember when uh Malcin was like helping Obie with like the shootout challenge in the Allstar and they’re like, “Oh my god, it’s the thawing of the Cold War.” Even though both guys are Russian. Well, because when Obie first came into the league, he’s kind of chilled out on this a little bit because he’d been here for a million years now. But it was like any Russian that came into his orbit, he had to big dog them like I am number one Russian. You’re number two at best. And that was definitely the case with uh with with Malcolin a bit there. But yeah, man. Uh, super fire. I have I have always had the softest of soft spots for for Malcolin. Absolutely loved him. Smite winner and the man who killed Mike Babcock as Leaf’s coach with that with that with that hammer by Casua. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I think that’s it. I’m just looking at my notes quickly. Let’s just end this now. Uh, Gunner, thanks a million for joining me. Listen, they won. Don’t know what it means. It was fun on a Saturday night to just talk about a win and not like another pathetic loss. So, thanks for joining us on on YouTube and Sportsnet Plus. If you’re listening on Apple, uh Spotify, wherever you get your pods, give us a thumbs up. I love the little comments on uh on on Spotify. So, get a little more comments on Spotify, even if they’re mean. I like the comments on there. So, uh preferably nice, but I like the mean ones, too. Um thanks a lot, guys. Uh we’ll be back Tuesday night against the Panthers with JD. Uh it’s been Le Talk. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.

Sam McKee and Brent Gunning react to tonight’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins immediately following the final horn!

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