The Hockey Show: We Will Miss You, Jim Montgomery
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Hello, welcome to the Hockey Show. My name is Roy Bellamy. David Dwork is to my left. He's from the Hockey News. Ethan Podowski is in the chair for Rose. I don't know what college town she's in, but she's there. She's somewhere. Somewhere with Lucy. On this planet. Slap shots. Let's start with the hot takes. Dave, what you got? My hot take is it's a rule that I would like to impose in the NHL. And if we can roll the video, Igor Shisterkin took a shot at the empty net the other

the other night and it was going in. It was going in the net. And who was it? It was Macklin Celebrini, I believe, blocked the shot. Cherry picker. So my hot take is if the goalie shoots the puck and it gets past the red line, nobody can touch it. You got to let it go. You want to have your chance to block the goalie goalie, you got to do it on that side of the red line. If the goalie has enough time to get the puck, to shoot it down the ice, get the bleep out of the way, he deserves it.

Oh, man. Igor, you deserve your goal. He's been trying for so long. Igor's just starting to get his goal. So that's my hot take. It's a rule change. If the goalie takes a shot, and you can say, he has to be below the goal line. We can work on the semantics. I'm fine with that. But...

You have never been more in the goalie fraternity than this team. Just stopping people from playing defense and preventing goals. Play defense when he's got the puck. Once the puck's in the air, pass interference. What if that happens in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and that puts away Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final? Then don't be down and have the goalie get pulled if you're in the Stanley Cup Final Game 7. No, no, no, no, no. This is a ridiculous take. So biased. No, no, no. I'm feeling this is a good rule. This is a good rule.

It's a good rule. Okay. My hot take is the next coach to be fired in the National Hockey League will be from the state, the great state of Pennsylvania. Ooh, you're going with Mikey Sullivan or you're going with Torts? Oh, man, it's probably going to end up being Mike Sullivan because Sidney Crosby wanted it. That's why.

Crosby wants Sullivan out? Yes. Ooh, he's done. Yes, he's done. I'm completely making that up. The hand of God, boom, it's done. Boom. A character assassination, as usual for me, on Cindy Crosby. So, yes, the next coach to be fired is going to be from...

I don't know that that's the hottest take ever. I think this team looks like they are nowhere right now. And it's either going to be him or the Detroit coach, Lalonde, right? Those are the two hottest candidates you would say right now to be fired? Yeah, well, Detroit's been pretty under-

Yeah, Lalonde's maybe the next head coach. And I read somewhere that they're thinking of bringing in Sergey Fedorov, who's been coaching over in the KHL, as potentially the next Red Wings head coach. So wouldn't that be kind of interesting? Fedorov, he's done a good job with SK St. Petersburg over there, so maybe. Steve Eisenman, I guess that would be a little bit of bias, wouldn't it? If he hires Sergey Fedorov.

I mean, you know, a little reunion there. That'd be nice, right? Excuse me, it's C-S-K-A, not S-K-A. I always confuse the two. This discussion flows perfectly into my win of the week, and we'll start moving into wins. Segway man over there, he's good at this. My win of the week goes to me, because we talked about the next fired coach. You can't say the first fired coach.

because I called the first fired coach a couple weeks ago on this show. I said it was going to be Jim Montgomery. Roll the clip. 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 NHL this season. That's very appropriate, actually. 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 Marchand recently. He benched David Pasternak. The Panthers have been so in the Bruins' heads recently.

that they have just broken the Boston Bruins and the team seems fractured I mean they're not playing very well I know they're still in playoff position but you know some of the teams that we were expecting maybe to get back into playoff position like a Buffalo and Ottawa Detroit haven't really lived up to that standard so 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 like contend for anything and he's got all these problems with his players two

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. So Jim Montgomery finishes this season at 8, 9, and 3 of 19 points in his two-plus seasons in Boston. One of the best coaches in Bruins history, Roy, and he lasts— Two-plus seasons. I'm pretty sure he had the best record in the NHL over his two-plus seasons in the NHL. That's a tough bar to hit, man. With the Bruins. Boston—oof.

But at the end of the day, I mean, they just weren't getting it done. You can see that this year was kind of going nowhere. Feels like the team is falling flat. They're way too talented. I mean, I know their roster is flawed, but they're way too talented to be playing as poorly as they have been. And it just felt like the world was caving in on Jim Montgomery. I think the biggest thing it came down to and why I had that take in the first place is

They failed back-to-back years in the playoffs, and you just can't do that in Boston. And when you don't get a contract extension going into your third year and the final year of your contract, it just suggests to me that after two bad playoff runs, you basically had about 20 games to figure it out and get the ship right. And if you didn't get the ship right, you were going to be canned. And so...

I mean, I'll miss you, Monty. I really will. I'm sure you will. I'm going to miss that guy so much. 120, 41, and 23 is two plus seasons worth the club. And I mean, the playoff run, you say bad playoff runs, but all they did was run into the Eastern Conference champion in back-to-back years and the Stanley Cup winner in one of those two years. So sure, it was the Panthers, but it's not like that they just got beat by some crap team. Yes, it was an eighth seed, but an eighth seed that went to the final. Yeah, but keep in mind how he got here. He was the Stars coach.

He got the Stars to the playoffs at that time for the first time in a long time and then got them into the Stanley Cup final. And then he gets fired because he had a drinking problem. And then he goes to rehab. He gets hired by the Blues. And Craig Berube made him assistant coach. And then he gets his job at Boston. Did a great job. Did a great job. And unfortunately, this season just didn't pan out for him. He's the kind of coach that if he gets on in like a—

Like a Utah-type situation, a Seattle, you know, somewhere that they'll give him some runway and there won't be these grand expectations. He could have some real success. Yeah. Your win of the week, Dave. Sticking with my usual trend of goaltending, my win of the week goes to Artur Shilovs of the Vancouver Canucks. They were playing the New York Rangers the other night. Look at this. Where's his blocker? It's on the ice. Pick it up. No, I'm going to keep playing goal.

He kept playing for like 30 seconds with a bare hand, which is dangerous enough. But then he goes out there and he makes a save. And he makes the save with his chest. He catches the puck and then he gets the whistle. That's ballsy because you could break a finger and you're out for a month at least. So credit to Artur Shilovs for having some grande huevos out there. I'm not exactly sure. I don't think the referee is obliged to call it off if he's...

If the goaltender loses a glove. No, just held it. We just talked last week about Anthony Stolarz playing without a glove and making a save with his bare hand. Yeah, he froze the puck with his bare hand. So maybe we're seeing a trend now where goalies are just getting so fed up with shooters being so good now that they're going to start doing the Hasek thing and taking it to another level, using the blocker hand but using a bare hand. So good on you, Archer Shelobbs. I love the focus. I love that he made the save. And that's a big W on my book. My win of the week.

This winter classic in Chicago is going to be played at Wrigley Field between the Blues and the Blackhawks. They released the uniforms. New Year's Eve, by the way, is when a classic is going to happen. They released the uniforms, and this is how it looks. The Blackhawks are going to be in a base red uniform. They got the usual stripes, which are black and white on the bottom.

It's now in the middle, much like the Panthers and the Canadiens' home jerseys. And you see the shoulder crest is at the sleeve, the sleeve with the tomahawks. And the blues, base white with blue and yellow stripe. Again, kind of like the Canadiens and the Panthers.

They got St. Louis written across the middle. I like it. I like the Blackhawks a lot, actually. Those are beauties. The Blues are kind of like, you know, they're fine. But the Blackhawks one is really nice. The Blackhawks? Very throwback-y. Yeah. Might have the best sweaters in the league. They always look so good. And then the throwback looks they have are always tremendous as well. Yeah. The crest in the middle, it's written circular. It says Blackhawks Chicago, much like the throwback. And they got Chief Blackhawk in the middle. I like it. It's a good look.

So there you go. So that's the win of the week for me. Let's go to the fails of the week, Dave. All right. My first fail of the week is I have two. My first one actually happened last week. Matt Zuccarello blocked a shot from a teammate, Brock Faber, when they were playing against Montreal. Blocked it with his stuff.

What do you mean his stuff? His nether regions. Blocked it so well, in fact, that Brock Faber's shot actually ruptured Matt Zuccarello's testicle to the point where he has to have surgery. And he's out for over a month. To quote the great Chris Whittingham,

It hit him in the penis. No, it didn't hit him in the penis. It hit him in the area below his penis. Yes. And, you know, much more painful. Moving on. Yeah. Prayers up for Matt Zuccarello. Everybody pour one out for Matt Zuccarello. Moving on. You have two fails.

Unless it was both testicles. No. My second fail of the week happened, I think, last night, actually. The Oilers were playing the... Who were they playing? They went to...

The Rangers? I can't even remember who they were. No, you can look at the screen. Because it happened to Marc-Andre Fleury. So Leon Dreisaitl kind of dumped the puck from his own blue line, and it kind of bounced down the ice, bounced through two defensemen, and then it bounced through Marc-Andre Fleury. I don't know how this puck went in. It was the most ridiculous shot that I've seen a goaltender— and Flower is probably just laughing at himself. I think I just saw a Panthers jersey in Edmonton. Of course you did. It was—

Stockholm Syndrome. Yeah, but look at, oh my God. I don't know how that puck went in, but yeah, that's rough. That's rough, Roy. Yeah, that sucks. That sucks, man. That's bad. So that's my fails of the week. What do you got for us, Roy? Yeah, we have audio and video for this one. The Nashville Predators apparently started the game versus the Seattle Kraken with a penalty. I'll let TJ Luxmore explain.

That's so embarrassing.

That's bad. That is bad. So apparently the Predators, instead of writing down what they wanted, which was Philippe Forsberg, they wrote down Stephen Stamkos' number. So yeah, that's not good. You want a hot take about who could be the next coach fired?

bruno so you want to see you over there it's ugly there man and it's not getting any better instead of pennsylvania i think i heard that the on a podcast this week that the last coach to do this also got fired ah that season so bruno i'm a little concerned about the preds i'm a little concerned about bruno i would not be surprised if things keep going the way they are if uh

he ends up being maybe not the next coach fired, but he doesn't see the end of the season. Oh, that's bad. That's not good. He was thrusted into, you know, head coaching because of the issues that Joe Quinville had,

Dating back to his days in Chicago in the 2010 Blackhawks team, and he had to resign from the Florida Panthers as a result of it. And I guess he's just not ready yet. No. I mean, we'll see. That's a big boo-boo. That's bad. That's a big boo-boo. That's bad. Coming up next, we have Linda Cohn from ESPN and the Kraken Hockey Network. We're going to talk about the Kraken and things that are going on.

on around the league, such as the injury to Alexandra Obrezhkin. And goaltending. And goaltending. Yes, because she is a goalie. We'll be back.

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When you head to rhone.com and use code DLS, it's time to embody your most confident self. Okay, joining the hockey show today, it's Linda Cohn from ESPN and the Kraken Hockey Network. And I am pretty excited. I'm a big fan of Linda's because I've been watching ESPN for years.

Geez, I mean, forever, forever. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Yes, it is. So it's a real honor for me to actually get to talk to you. And it must be a real honor for you to be able to witness history because you have Jessica Campbell on the Kraken, who's the first woman to hold a coaching position at NHL. She's the assistant coach for Seattle right now. So let's assess her first two months.

of her coaching career. How is she doing behind the bench? And was it her who pointed out to TJ Luxmore a couple of days ago that the Predators started the wrong lineup?

Yeah, I would go. That was all Jessica. And by the way, I have never, ever seen that. Have you? I mean, I've been watching hockey, obviously much longer than you guys, because you guys are babies. But never, ever. You're welcome. Anytime. You should have me on more often. I'll continue to compliment. But I have never seen that. And I I give credit to Jessica Campbell for sure. First of all, I.

Kudos to head coach Dan Balsma. As you know, it's his first year here with the Seattle Kraken. And those two were on the same staff at Coachella, the AHL team for the Kraken, a very successful AHL team. And we all know Dan Balsma from his earlier coaching stints, cup winner with Pittsburgh and then Buffalo, not as not as great. But Jessica is fantastic. You know, talking to the players about her.

It's it. They just love her. I mean, she's smart and she knows the game. She played the game and it's fantastic. And kudos to Coach Bosma and the entire Kraken organization. There was no pause. There was no hesitation. So when they hired Dan Bosma and Dan Bosma wanted Jessica Campbell with him by his side.

They said, sure, Dan, whatever you want. We love Jessica and she's done a great job so far. And the Kraken are on the upswing. You know, they're above 500. They have a West Coast road trip. They're playing L.A. tomorrow. They play Anaheim. But they just finished a homestand in which they went five and one. So they got to keep winning because, as you guys know, the Western Conference is a hell of a lot tougher and deeper than the East, my opinion. Yeah, especially the way that Colorado and

Edmonton are playing so far this season, which has been pretty disappointing. But it seems to me that the Kraken are basically the most progressive team in the league right now as far as their hiring practices are concerned. Not just in the front office, but on the broadcast team as well. But it's not just that the hiring practices are finding actual qualified people to actually do their jobs. I mean, how are they able to do that?

You know, led by this amazing organization, just, you know, it's Seattle. You know, I have a history in Seattle. First of all, my daughter was born there before I worked at ESPN. Way back when, when you guys were toddlers, I worked for the CBS affiliate in Seattle, K.I.R.O. And it was my first big break. And that's where ESPN spotted me.

But this city is amazing. And it just they don't see that there's any difference. They, as you mentioned perfectly, they just look for the most qualified people for the job.

And I don't know. They just have it going on. Todd Lewicki, he was the guy that spotted me and I've known him and he he brought me in. But Samantha Holloway, who is the owner, a woman owner, it's just goes on and on. They just want to grow the game and they're doing a hell of a great job. The fan base is incredible. And you guys got to get out to the Climate Pledge Arena. Oh, yeah. It is state of the art.

sickness for arenas i mean it is ridiculous to me it's like a museum i mean it's you go in there and you're like you're before you even get to your seat and watching a hockey game you're like i gotta walk the hallways before i get my beer i have to see what's going on here it's really beautiful so uh yeah um it doesn't surprise me that seattle is ahead of the game

Well, Linda, first I want to say thank you for your kind words on Roy and I's age so far. We really do. Because around here, we're kind of the elder statesmen. Yeah, we're the oldest people here, basically. So it's nice to... Hard to believe. Well, I'm 40 and, what, 41? Yeah, so a little bit. You guys don't even look at... What's your secret? Can we compare moisturizers? I mean, what's going on there? You know, cocoa butter over here for me. Yeah.

Can't go wrong with cocoa butter. Yes. Is that the secret? Yes, that is the secret. Oh, man. Yeah, that and shea butter. I got to take notes.

Yes. So, Linda, we're coming up on 10 years this spring on actually the first time that you and I got to meet. You probably don't remember and I wouldn't blame you, but I do have a picture of it if we can put it up here. You and I met on the ice about 10 years ago. You were so nice. And I was so skinny, too.

Even with the equipment on. Yeah. So as a fellow goaltender, somebody, another member of the union, I'm curious. How great was that day? By the way, how great? Can we share? People don't know, or unless you've been bragging about that. No, no, no, no. Let's talk about it. I mean, that was...

That was so great when the Panthers decided to open up. It was, you know, they were desperate for goalies. And I mean desperate because you saw us. Oh, yeah. So what happened was in the backstory, the Panthers had played a game. Go ahead. Roberto Luongo and I believe it was Al Montoya were the goalies. They both got hurt in the same game. Yes. Yes. Lou actually went to the hospital, I think, to get like an X-ray on his shoulder, came back and finished the game because Robbie Tallis, the goalie coach still.

was dressed in his gear ready to go in. So like a day or two later, the Panthers come out with say, okay, because of what happened, we're holding open goalie tryouts. So of course, everybody in the media, who's a goalie, myself, Linda, we had to get there. We had to get on the ice. We had to see if we could cut it with the big leaders. With the big leaguers. And yeah, so-

I don't know about you, but I didn't make the team. Okay. I did not make the team either, but we went live on SportsCenter, which was very cool. Daytime SportsCenter. Kudos to ESPN for taking that live. And then I did a story on it, and it got a lot of great hub for the Panthers. And, yeah, and actually, oh, way to go. Actually, I did really – I stopped 10 of 11 shots, by the way. Sean Thornton buzzed one right above my ear.

by the way. Um, when we had those trucks. Yeah. This is me getting shelled by John Madden here. Yeah. Cause I was going to say that wasn't me. Cause I stopped 10 of 11. That was me and my 500 save percentage. I'll take it against two NHL guys. I'll take my, my 50 save percentage. But,

Those shot that shot though. Boom. Like, right. I was like, Oh my God. So my age, then I did in that moment, I thought I was good. I'm out here. Like I'm a beer lead superstar. And then those guys are just making me feel like I was 10 years old. Oh man. Yeah.

Oh, listen, I'm with you. Like if it was a real game, I mean, I only like when I was getting, you know, going into the butterfly. I remember it 20 years earlier being a lot easier to get back up on my feet. Right. I don't know what happened. So sticking with the goalies, I did want to ask your opinion on the current goaltend. Not us, not the prospective NHL goalies, but the current ones.

Maybe a softball, maybe not. But what is your goaltending Mount Rushmore currently of NHL goalies? And I'm sure Igor Shostakovich is on there because for me, he's like above and beyond. But I'm just curious, one goalie to another. What's your goaltending Mount Rushmore currently? Yeah.

Currently? So you mean like this day of this week? I mean, like red hot right now? Well, no, like this season, like current NHL goalies. Okay. Well, you know, obviously Igor wants to get paid like the best goalie in the league. Pay him. And he probably should get paid $12 million a year. But I said this on a few other radio programs and podcasts.

I love Igor. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I grew up a Rangers fan and all, but he's got to be better. Jonathan Quick is pushing him to be better, like he did last year. I know Jonathan Quick has only started four games, but he's a .091 goals against, three goals allowed and four starts, 4-0. I think...

That guy, the future Hall of Famer, first ballot, is pushing Igor to be better. And he has to be better. I expect I have Igor up here and he's got to remain up there. But here's what I love about Igor that I don't love about the other guys. And this is my long winded answer, because I could tell you right now, I also love Connor Hellebuck. But Connor Hellebuck has proven he's a multiple Vezina Trophy winner because he has great regular seasons. I don't know what happens in the postseason with Connor Hellebuck.

He's not the same guy. I don't know if they use him too much. And Winnipeg is doing the same exact thing because as we speak today, he's played in 13 games, which is, I think, almost all of their games compared to some of these other guys with the low goals against who have not played as many games. You know, the Gustafsons of Minnesota is playing great. You know, I can name a few. I mean, Joey Decord is playing great. He's not in the top five, but he's doing great. He's carrying their team. He's played 15 games, one under the league tall.

Yeah. How about that? So I don't know what's going on there. So if we're talking about best regular season goalies, I'm going with Connor Hellebuck. If you're talking about postseason goalies, I got I would I would have it currently. I would have Igor Shostak in there. That's the guy I want, because what I love about him and I bring this up with other sports as well. I don't care about your league MVPs. Regular season means nothing to me.

If I want my team to win, how do you do in the postseason? And especially when you're talking about a goaltender. And I say this about quarterbacks in the NFL as well. I don't care about, you know, the Peyton Mannings back in the day of league MVPs. How do you do in the postseason? It took him a decade to figure out how to do well in the postseason and win a couple of Super Bowls. One of them did nothing. By the way, one of them he did nothing for. My guy is Eli, as you could tell. Eli saved his best.

For the postseason. Oh, yeah. But anyway, let's get back to hockey. I got a Giants fan for a wife, so I'm with you. We like the Giants in my house. We're good. I don't even want to talk about it. I was down on Daniel Jones from the beginning. What an awful. Then you're happy today. The organization is awful.

It's sad. Now it's pathetic. Now it's absolutely pathetic. It's like I was texting my son. I'm like, and he's a Patriots fan, so he doesn't care about the Giants forever. That's too bad. But he has sympathy for his mom. And I'm like, oh, my God, this organization has never been lower. It's just so pathetic. And it's just it's sad. But anyway, what were we talking about, goalie? So I'd want Igor in the postseason. I'll take on a hell of a buck during the regular season.

Linda, you mentioned that you're with the Kraken now, but your heart lies at MSG. So I want to ask you about the Rangers because I was reading about them recently. They're having a lot of success. Their record's good. They're sitting towards the top of the Eastern Conference. But the vibes feel kind of off, right? The top six isn't playing well.

especially a guy like Zibanejad's not playing very well. The fans don't really seem satisfied. What is the vibe like in the fan base right now? What are your kind of feelings on the Rangers? How confident are you that they can finally not just get back to the Eastern Conference Final, but clear a team like the Panthers or Carolina or somebody and make it back to the Stanley Cup Final?

Yeah, isn't it interesting? Because I talk about the difference in the regular season and the postseason. And, you know, the Rangers, as we all know, have had won president's trophies and had super regular seasons and won divisions, won the Metro. And now they're sort of like, look out now. They're like in a wild card spot. You know, what's going on? So, you know, I...

I just think there's a malaise there. They played a lot of hockey over the years. And, you know, you have to be careful of that. Like, that's why I'm so surprised pleasantly about the Florida Panthers. Right. I mean, they get there off to this amazing start after playing so much hockey the last two years.

Right. I mean, they went to a final loss and then they they won the cup last year. And that that says a lot. So I'm not panicking about the Rangers. I think guys like Mika is going going to figure it out. I think a lot of the guys are going to be just fine that this team is too deep and talented and they will coach with Peter LaVialette. But you brought up a couple of.

teams right now, Carolina and Florida, that are playing much better than the Rangers. And you can make a case the Washington Capitals with Ovechkin, I know he's hurt now, sadly, you know, is a more exciting team. And the Rangers are just scratching out victories. I mean, as we speak now, you know, they lost by a goal to Calgary, you know, you know, good Ranger teams of the past. And I mean, last year,

would not lose a goal by a goal to Calgary, even though the flames are playing well this year. But these are the kinds of things that they're about a goal away and they're going to fix it. And that's why the season is so long. I'm not worried about the Rangers, but if it was, you know, if we were talking in two months from now, I'd be more concerned, but it's not Thanksgiving yet. So I'm not worried. You brought up Alexander Overskin. He's out four to six weeks after colliding with Jack McBain of the Utah hockey club.

fractured his left fibula. Now, he's leading the league. He's tied for the league lead with 15 goals. He has 27 goals to go before reaching the record all time. He's only missed 35 games due to injury. So this is significant if he's going to miss time like this. Do you think that he will return and actually fulfill this record? Or are we going to look at another season of Alexander Ovechkin?

I am heartbroken for Ovi because I believed he was going to break it. He heard all the whispers in the offseason like, oh, it's going to take him at least two years to break this record. That's if he stays healthy and all this. And that's if, you know, father time doesn't catch up to him. And there he was electrifying the league, leading the league in scoring for the first time in a few years at the age of 39. And then, of course, he suffers his broken leg four to six weeks. He's out.

As much as I don't want to bet against ever Alex Ovechkin, I just think this is too much of an injury to come back from and pick up where you left off. And that's a lot of goals to make up. I wouldn't bet on it, but I wouldn't put it past Alex to somehow put it together, put Humpty Dumpty back together again in six weeks and continue on this torrid pace.

Washington as a team is going to miss him because they were playing so well with him. Right. Yeah. So I don't know. And he's their captain. He's their leader. So it is it's heartbreaking. It's tough for him, obviously. And what's at stake and and for the league, because it was pretty darn exciting to see Alex Ovechkin at the top of the goal scoring lead. Well, he's only, what, 26 behind Gretzky. And if he misses, let's say, 20 games, he's still going to come back with like half the season.

So as long as you can hit the ground running, it's certainly within the realm of possibility. Hit the ground running. It sure is. That's why I don't bet against it. Yeah, you're right. You're absolutely right. It's not that big of a number anymore. But you've got to figure...

But you got to figure coming back from a broken leg, you got, you know, I would throw in a throw in about six games of warmup. Like you have to go through a preseason again, so to speak. Right. Yeah. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see. I'd love to see it. I'd love for it to come down to April. Right. To see how close he is. It would be fantastic. And finally, Ryan Reeves has been suspended for a headshot on door. No nurse. Now there are two things here. Yeah.

Darnell Nurse should absolutely know to keep his head up. In that position, coming around the net as a defenseman, he should know better than just to look down like that. And Ryan Reeves is lucky that he wasn't suspended for more than the five games they got because this is his fourth suspension. What do you think about this hit, Linda?

Yeah, I mean, I can't blame Darnell Nurse. I know what you're saying. Hockey players should have their heads up at all times. The guy was playing the puck. I mean, he should have gotten more because of the history, because it was like a Mack truck running into Darnell Nurse. And it got him where it should not have got him in the head. I don't like it. I didn't like anything about this. And I certainly don't blame Darnell Nurse. You know, you don't blame the victim in this case ever. And yeah.

I don't know. I'm not a fan of Ryan Reeves. I know he has a great personality and all, but when's he going to learn? Listen, at least, you know, back in the day, you know, went in the back of the day. But, you know, when Tom Wilson had some issues, many issues.

uh we still realized he was a really good hockey player with good mitts he knew how to score goals and he kind of cleaned up his act a bit uh he doesn't do stupid things i think this was stupid action by ryan reeves i think he should know better yeah um because he does have talent i mean he was a ranger at some point he's been on a million different teams this is not right so i don't like any of it yeah yeah i believe there's a saying out there i think it was frank sabelli who says it um

You sign guys like Ryan Reeves to protect your players from guys like Ryan Reeves. That's funny. That's that's Frank. That's a great line. Yeah. Yes. Linda Cohn, it's been an honor for you to join the show. I'm really happy that we got to speak to you. Thank you for joining us, Linda. Thank you so much. Hey, thanks for inviting me. Anytime, guys. Continued success on the podcast. Well done.

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Folks, listen up. Smirnoff knows there's no I in football. Football's a we thing, an experience that is best joined together with good drinks and good folks. Smirnoff is the world's number one vodka and is the official vodka partner of the NFL. And this year, there are more opportunities to watch football and make delicious Smirnoff cocktails than ever before over the holiday season. From Thanksgiving to Black Friday and Christmas, Smirnoff and the NFL are with you every step of the way. So this holiday season, when you're enjoying the game and your cocktails, please make sure you drink responsibly.

Take a minute, make a plan, never drive impaired. Smirnoff. We do game days. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff, number 21 vodka, distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff Company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. Okay, a little quick Panthers recap here. And it wasn't good. Not the best week. No. Going into this week, they lost back-to-back to the New Jersey Devils. They go into the Winnipeg Jets game on Wednesday, and they shut them on 5-0. It was a...

It was a good effort by the Panthers. Alexander Barkov, goal to assist. Sam Reinhardt, three assists. Gustav Forsling, two assists.

So Gabe Obrowski with the shout-out. 27 shots faced, stopped all of them. It was a more traditional Panthers game, especially after those two games against the Devils. They four-checked, they hit, they scored five goals. Defense was pretty solid. Just overall, it was nice to see them get back to playing Panthers hockey after those two games against the Devils that were a little rough. A little rough stuff. But unfortunately, while we thought, while we hoped that this was the Panthers kind of getting back on track, it was more just a one-off because the next couple of games we're going to get into right now are

Not great. They got on a road trip. They went up to Winnipeg. Back-to-back, back-to-backs in this situation. Back-to-back, back-to-backs. They lost 6-3. Mark Shifley with a hat trick. Morgan Barron with two goals. Not great. And...

Alexander Bokov, he continued his point streak, which would end in Chicago. Sam Reinhardt scored. Matthew Kachuk scored and had an assist, but 6-3 in Winnipeg. Yeah, a little closer than the score would indicate because of the two late empty net goals. Yeah.

The special teams were a little funky in this one. Overall, the Panthers are having a hard time getting back into their game. They're not forward-checking the way they usually are. It's really been in the neutral zone that they've been having trouble, whether it's the Jets or we'll get to the Blackhawks in a second. But both teams doing a really good job of keeping Florida's zone exits a little bit murky and not letting them have the fluidity that they're used to. And as a result, Florida's sputtering a little bit right now. In Chicago last night, they lost 3-1 to the worst team in the league. Very frustrating. Sam Reinhardt.

continuing his point streak. It's now at 12. He's tied with the league lead with 15 goals. Unreal. As I said, Barkov's point streak ended. It stops at nine games. Carter Verhage, at the end of this game, a massive, massive turnover in his own zone with an empty net. And that effectively ended the game. But there was a bright spot in this game.

Conor Bedard had zero shot attempts. I mean, they played... The first line played very good defense against Chicago's first line in that game. Yeah, it was... This felt a little bit more like a Panthers game defensively. But offensively, they just couldn't get anything going. And credit to the Blackhawks. As you said, the worst team in the league right now. But they played some pretty solid defense, particularly in the Panther zone, trying to keep Florida from exiting the zone and moving through the neutral zone. Florida just couldn't get anything going. They couldn't get any speed defensively.

They couldn't even get deep enough to dump it. They were having a hard time. Once they got in the zone, they'd keep pressure. Once they got in the zone, they kept zone time sustainable. I think they had over five minutes of zone possession time last night. It was just getting there that was a really hard time. And then, as you mentioned, down 2-1 late, Carter Verhege with a ill-advised, call it lazy, call it whatever you want, just a weird drop pass with the net empty.

giving Nick Foligno more than enough time to get to the puck. Just a confusing play. I'm sure Carter Verhage, more than anybody, is sick to his stomach about it. But

But Panthers got to get back on track, right? Because now they've lost four of five. I think they've given up like 19 goals in the four losses. Some ridiculous number, which if you go back to like the last eight wins, they haven't given up that many goals. So it's a little bit of a time for Paul Maurice, as we've talked about many times. He knows this team. He's got to push those right buttons and get them back on track. Tomorrow, they play the Avalanche, who are 5-1 and 0 in the last six. So they are surging right now. What do you look at in this game as a preview?

Slowing down Nathan McKinnon, Kale McCarr. If the Panthers are playing good hockey, this would probably be more of a high-scoring type game just because Colorado can put the puck in the net. Not necessarily the best at keeping the puck out of the net. And Florida, when they're on, they're going to be driving offense. Obviously, they're a very good defensive team, matched up against a highly good offensive team, so it should be a good matchup if Florida gets back to playing their game. So you heard it here first, bet the over.

Yeah, that's what Roy said. Yeah. Bet the over. Bet the over. All right. So we're off in the next two weeks. We wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving and whatever holiday that you might celebrate or whatever. My name is Roy Bellamy. That's David Dwork. That's Ethan over there. Jason's in the back. So as you know, there might be another person. Hey!

Yes. There's the boys. There's the boys in the back. Yes. All right, guys. Thank you for watching and listening. We will see you in December. All right. Goodbye. Howdy, loyal listeners. It's Mike Ryan, and we're getting pretty close to wishing folks happy holidays. I'm sure many of you are already in the planning stages of opening up your homes and hosting holiday get-togethers.

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